I hadn't been down to REO Town, in awhile, or simply hadn't paid enough attention, but it appears that the renovation of the former Michigan Electric Supply Company at 1118 South Washington directly south of Studio Intrigues' headquarters has finally been renovated. Some old pre-renovation pics:
It doesn't exactly appear to be a fancy renovation, especially considering the renovation Studio Intrigue did to its own building (which has lofts on the upper floors).
Also, it appears full repairs have been done to the former Danzo Hardware building (now a loft building owned by NeoPhase) directly south of what was REO Town anchor store Dave's Discount. It was damaged in the fire, but it appears they've rebuilt the entire wall, and it actually looks very nice. Here's a picture I took of the building back in 2006:
They've been slowly working on the Michigan Electric building for quite awhile now. They just started putting the windows in on the upper floors within the past week or two. I really hope they can get a retail business on there as opposed to just office space.
Yeah, that's why I said it was finished (accidentally typed "finally renovated" instead of finished). It's taken them forever. I knew it was done because it now has the "for sale/lease" sign in the front window. Instead of repainting it, they simply powerwashed the old paint off revealing the old, dark-red brick, but they did a pretty poor job of powerwashing since you can still see the old paint color, throughout. The old paint also had the effect of staining the red-brick so it now looks almost something like charcoal.
Regardless, there has been a solid amount of lofts added in REO Town in the past decade (more so than probably added to Old Town in the decade, to be honest), and they've been doing it quietly as the local media doesn't much report much of anything out of REO Town unless it's sensational (in a bad way).
BTW, I just noticed this, yesterday, but the former Southtown bar/club at Washington & South just a bit south of the Michigan Electric Supply Co. Building also has a sign saying it's owned by the Land Bank and that they are seeking proposals for its redevelopment. I'm not sure how long they've owned it.
There was a story in Capital Gains a few months ago about someone turning it into another club, but I guess that plan must have fell through. I think that a bar/restraunt would still be the best business for the area.
The Land Bank got the south bar a few months back, they trimmed some of the overgrown brush on the backside of the building and buttoned up the building. I've heard the building is in pretty rough shape, a lot of copper was stripped out of it and there is a "sky light" (read, "giant hole") in the roof along with some pretty major mold issues. If you look at the property map, though, between that property, the Michigan Electric, the City Parking Lot, and the Studio Intrigue building (and the Bozzo's station which is owned by the same folks as the Studio building) there is a pretty decent little chunk of land there, a lot of it backs up to the river (and is out of the flood plain to boot)... with some partnership and vision I think there is a lot of potential to do something there that involves the riverfront and adds something to REO Town.
Lancity, you make a good point. I had almost forgotten about the river being behind there. I've been skeptical of REOtown in the past, but things are shaping up for it to rival Old Town. With the Deluxe Inn, Southtown, Cadillac Club and Discount Daves gone the area has several good sites for development. Also I noticed the other day that the old six floor apartment building on Washington is up for sale, that's another building that could be transformed into something neat.
On another note here's a pic of Troppo from today:
You've got to resize these pictures before you post them, here, man. Really.
LanCity, to do anything with the river, there, someone's going to have to buy out the residents that actually live on the river behind those commercial businesses. There are a half-a-dozen houses at the ends of South Street, Cottage Avenue, and Gross Court right there on the river.
Very true, I wasn't forgetting about them... the City Parking lot opens up right to the bank and I think some of the property behind the Studio building extends all the way to the river bank as well... maybe some of the houses could be gotten by a developer, or maybe the City would be interested in doing some river trail stuff on that side of the river too.
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Eridony
It doesn't exactly appear to be a fancy renovation, especially considering the renovation Studio Intrigue did to its own building (which has lofts on the upper floors).
Also, it appears full repairs have been done to the former Danzo Hardware building (now a loft building owned by NeoPhase) directly south of what was REO Town anchor store Dave's Discount. It was damaged in the fire, but it appears they've rebuilt the entire wall, and it actually looks very nice. Here's a picture I took of the building back in 2006:
Regardless, there has been a solid amount of lofts added in REO Town in the past decade (more so than probably added to Old Town in the decade, to be honest), and they've been doing it quietly as the local media doesn't much report much of anything out of REO Town unless it's sensational (in a bad way).
On another note here's a pic of Troppo from today:
LanCity, to do anything with the river, there, someone's going to have to buy out the residents that actually live on the river behind those commercial businesses. There are a half-a-dozen houses at the ends of South Street, Cottage Avenue, and Gross Court right there on the river.