In Wednesday’s (3/16) Detroit News (Michigan), Darren Nichols writes, “The Detroit City Council approved a plan today that will raze the historic Ford Auditorium, the onetime home of the Detroit Symphony that’s been largely vacant for two decades. The council unanimously approved, by a 7-0 vote, a $754,000 demolition contract to Adamo Demolition of Detroit… The approval came despite some concerns over plans to replace it with an amphitheater. … ‘It is time to capitalize on all the promise of our riverfront and I applaud City Council for working with us to approve the demolition,’ Mayor Dave Bing said in a statement. ‘This represents an important step forward in eliminating blight and allowing us to utilize one of our greatest assets.’ … The facility has been largely vacant since the orchestra left in 1989. Since its closure, plans for the auditorium’s reuse have come and gone, including proposals for a Comerica bank headquarters, a Gospel Music Hall of Fame and an aquarium. The only reuse that stuck—for a year—was a homeless shelter in the mid-1990s.”
Posted March 18, 2011
