David Stott being neglected. Flooding and frozen pipes. this is infuriating

[stasu1213]

Does the David Stott building sits on Griswold

[hortonz]

I have a question that may or may not be relevant. If Detroit had more clout in Washington, would the David-Stott building be in such bad shape? Downtown Windsor's crown jewel, the Paul Martin building is probably in even worse shape but lo and behold, the federal government has no trouble coming up with funds to save buildings with less historic value in Ottawa, Toronto or Calgary. If Detroit had the kind of political clout that Chicago or NY have in Washington, wouldn't the federal government find a way to move its' employees into the building. My follow-up question is this: is Detroit short-changed when it comes to the number of federal government employees who work in the city? Could Washington move the Dept. of Homeland Security into the city?

[Gsgeorge]

I have a question that may or may not be relevant. If Detroit had more clout in Washington, would the David-Stott building be in such bad shape? Downtown Windsor's crown jewel, the Paul Martin building is probably in even worse shape but lo and behold, the federal government has no trouble coming up with funds to save buildings with less historic value in Ottawa, Toronto or Calgary. If Detroit had the kind of political clout that Chicago or NY have in Washington, wouldn't the federal government find a way to move its' employees into the building. My follow-up question is this: is Detroit short-changed when it comes to the number of federal government employees who work in the city? Could Washington move the Dept. of Homeland Security into the city?

I would guess it might have something to do with the fact that the United States has 9.5 times more population than Canada; Canada's largest city has a metro area with a population only a little bit larger than metro Detroit and Windsor. So I would imagine funding those types of projects on a federal level in Canada would be considerably easier. Not to mention Canada has more historic protections available for buildings than in the United States. I always found it befuddling that a building on the National Register of Historic Places cannot be legally protected from demolition if the owner is so inclined.

In the same sense, only the feds really do have the money to restore a building such as, say, the train station. So a government tenant, as boring as that seems, may be the only hope for those types of buildings. I wouldn't mind seeing a government department at Michigan Central [[it would be foolish to reject any offer to renovate the MCS) but at the same time I would feel a bit disappointed it was not a more public use.

[Hermod]

In the same sense, only the feds really do have the money to restore a building such as, say, the train station. So a government tenant, as boring as that seems, may be the only hope for those types of buildings. I wouldn't mind seeing a government department at Michigan Central [[it would be foolish to reject any offer to renovate the MCS) but at the same time I would feel a bit disappointed it was not a more public use.

Detroit doesn't have a Robert Byrd in the Senate. He forced a lot of federal offices to move from the DC area to West Virginia.

Michigan senators never had that kind of clout and Michigan senators haven't focused so much on Detroit.

[Khorasaurus]

In the same sense, only the feds really do have the money to restore a building such as, say, the train station. So a government tenant, as boring as that seems, may be the only hope for those types of buildings. I wouldn't mind seeing a government department at Michigan Central [[it would be foolish to reject any offer to renovate the MCS) but at the same time I would feel a bit disappointed it was not a more public use.

Disagree, and I think there are several successful renovations around town that show this is false. These renovations are expensive, but not so expensive that only the federal government can afford them. There just has to be a market that will cover the cost of paying off the debt incurred to renovate the building, just as with any real estate development.

I also think the Feds are highly unlikely to renovate a building for their use. They usually build new when they need a new facility somewhere.

[p69rrh51]

Designed by Donaldson & Meier. David Stott Building 1150 Griswold built in 1929 Downtown Detroit, MI. Includes a rendering of the building from a 1928 Thumb Tack Club of Detroit publication.

There is a large number of photographs of the building under construction at the Burton Historical Collection.