Urban Real Estate Update: Detroit June 16-18 2000

By: Jeff Glenn, driver of the # 73 Boise Cascade Office Products Barber Dodge Race Car

Urban Vacation Destination - Detroit

For a tour of urban blight and decay, downtown Detroit will not dissapoint. I can honestly say that this is one of the most interesting cities I have ever seen. I was fortunate to have half of a day to explore downtown and the area along the water on the way to Belle Isle. Our Hotel, the Best Western Detroit at 231 Michigan Avenue was in the heart of the now vacated city center. It was literally the only occupied building on its block (both sides of Michigan Ave. It lies directly across the street from the Cadillac Hotel, which at one time was one of the largest and grandest hotels in Detroit. It was amazing to see building after building, skyscrapers from the early 20th century just sitting vacant, boarded up and neglected. I drove out the old Highway 12, past the now dormant Tigers Staduim, Corktown - Detroit's oldest neighborhood (where one could see a burned down shell of a house, a boarded up house, and an occupied residence all next door to each other.) I also found the Michigan Central Railroad Station - a gigantic train station built in 1913 off of Michigan Ave, just outside town near the old Tiger's Stadium. Even the buildings on Belle Isle, Detroit's island park had seen better days.

To continue the tour, click the link below the photos.

THE CADILLAC HOTEL, Across the street from the Best Western Detroit at 231 Michigan Ave.

	Cadillac Hotel. A 28 story hotel built in 1924, that has been empty since 1986. Architect: Louis Kamper. Location: Washington and Michigan Size: 28 stories with 1,200 rooms. Talks of renovation are met with skepticism ….. "Its 1920s-era rooms are smaller than hotel guests expect today, and ceiling heights are lower. That could limit the feasibility of any renovation…"
Michigan Ave. entrance	I poked my head inside where one of the boards had fallen off of a window....
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