I love it when we can save old buildings and make them useful again. I think future generations will thank us for it. Today's MEGA announcement was filled with brownfield redevelopment projects, two of which I had shot before in my travels because I thought the buildings looked cool. I'm not sure what the inside of the Freep building above looks like, but the outside is pretty ornate, as most of those old buildings are. They designed with some style back in the day, and featured decoration that would cost an absolute fortune to produce now. From the Wiki page:
The Detroit Free Press Building is a building designed by architect Albert Kahn and constructed in downtown Detroit, Michigan, in 1924 and completed a year later.
The high-rise building has two basement floors, and 14 floors above the ground, for a total of 16 floors. The building features Art Deco architecture style, and incorporates a great deal of limestone into its materials. Its design features stepped massing in the central tower and flanking wings. The building is adorned with bas-relief figures, sculpted by Ulysses A. Ricci, symbolizing commerce and communication.
Today, they received a state credit that will help clear the way for development. And that means jobs, both now and in the future.
Among the Detroit-area projects is the redevelopment of the former Detroit Free Press building in downtown Detroit by Free Press Holdings, LLC. That project will receive a $10 million state brownfield credit, and $443,000 in state and local tax revenue. The $73.2 million renovation will create first floor retail and restaurants, commercial space and apartment space in the second through 13th floors. It's expected to create 211 new jobs.
The other I had a shot of is the Knapp's Building in Lansing. It sounds like they have been trying to do something with this one for years – and get this – the outcome of this situation may be dependent on the tax bill in Congress.
But at least one – the Knapp's project – needs several other financial components to fall into place before construction [...]
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