Ilitches working on plans to develop downtown properties

Excerpts from the article:

In addition to the two-year, $2 million sign and terra cotta exterior restoration of the Fox, projects unveiled by Olympia Development of Michigan L.L.C. were:

• Co-marketing, with the city of Detroit, a 5-acre site that includes the United Artists Building and Theatre on Bagley and the former Statler Hilton site between Bagley and Washington Boulevard. Included would be air rights to connect the two properties across Bagley, Atanas Ilitch said.

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick called the joint marketing agreement “a golden opportunity partnership” because of its location, with a People Mover stop and proximity to thousands of workers at the headquarters of Compuware Corp. and PricewaterhouseCoopers, plus the IBM-Visteon workers coming to One Kennedy Square.

• Restoration of the 101-year-old Fine Arts Building at 44 W. Adams on the north side of Grand Circus Park, for which SmithGroup Inc. has been hired to develop design alternatives. A likely reuse would be as loft apartments or condominiums, said Carl Roehling, SmithGroup president and CEO. The former Adams Theatre auditorium inside the building is damaged beyond reclamation, he said.
• Restoration of the 82-year-old, 10-story Detroit Life Building at 2210 Park Ave. as a mixed-use development, with Ilitch Holdings planning to use some office space for its growing business units. J.C. Beal Construction of Ann Arbor and Kraemer Design Group have been retained to develop renovation plans.

At 244 Madison, site of the former Madison-Lenox Hotel, Olympia is evaluating various proposals, Atanas Ilitch said. Temporarily, the property is capped with asphalt to allow a parking use, he said. By spring, the plan is to landscape the location to create a park atmosphere, with Schervish Vogel Consulting Architects P.L.C. handling the design.

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