Steve Neavling
This 140-year-old building in the Cass Corridor was once known as “the heart” of Detroit’s old Chinatown neighborhood. Now it’s about to be demolished.
Activists and a Detroit city councilwoman are embarking on a last-minute effort to halt the demolition of a historically significant building that was once “the heart” of the city’s old Chinatown neighborhood in the Cass Corridor.
The Ilitch family’s Olympia Development received a demolition permit from the city last week and plans to soon raze the dilapidated, 140-year-old building at 3143 Cass Ave. as early as Monday.
Fearing demolition could come as early as Monday, Councilwoman Gabriela Santiago-Romero requested “an emergency review” of the property and is urging city officials to “establish an interim historic designation and stop demolition.”
In a letter Friday to various city officials, Santiago-Romero said the building was “the heart” of what was historically known as Chinatown and is culturally significant to a community that was displaced from the downtown area in the 1960s.
“The (Chinese Merchants) Association, which served as a localized government of sorts with their own elected members by and from the Chinese Community, used the space as their hall, where they helped one another find jobs, practiced what we now call conflict resolution and mutual aid, and provided enrichment programs for youth and seniors alike,” Santiago-Romero wrote. “Further, the Chinese and Chinese American community would host an array of events, including those of social, educational, and religious nature, at the hall. With this knowledge, it’s unquestionable that 3143 Cass Ave. is a major contribution to the Chinatown Historic District and an undeniable part of our city’s rich history of diversity.”
Santiago-Romero concluded, “As we continue to develop and invest in our communities, I believe that the city can and should preserve our history as we write our future.”
Before the Chinese Merchants Association purchased the building, it served various roles – a ballroom, fraternal hall, and restaurant.
ODM Management, an Ilitch-linked entity, purchased the property for $50,000 in 2004, according to public property records, and has done little to nothing to preserve the building.
In 2018, the city declared the property a dangerous building, and the city council signed off on the designation at the time. But in 2020, a separate survey for the city found that the building has a long and storied social history worthy of preservation and historic designation.
Francis Grunow, a local preservationist and frequent critic of the Ilitch family’s treatment of historic buildings, is also calling on city officials to order an “emergency review” of the property in hopes of saving it in the eleventh hour by establishing an interim historic designation.
“This is quite troubling since historic structures in this part of the Lower Cass Corridor are regularly finding new life, including the commercial strip on the block north that contains the Peterboro Restaurant, Iconic TaSoo, and 8 Degrees Plato,” Grunow wrote to City Clerk Janice Winfrey on Thursday. “In fact, the building immediately to the north, the former home of Chung’s restaurant, was sold in May and is slated to be reopened for food and beverage service.”
Since Olympia Development received more than $400 million in tax incentives to build Little Caesars Arena and what it promised would be surrounding vibrant, adjacent neighborhoods in the Cass Corridor about a decade ago, most of the buildings have been demolished or are still vacant.
North and west of the arena, abandoned apartment buildings still dot the landscape, despite promises from the Ilitches that they would renovate them.
Late last week, crews removed windows from the building at 3143 Cass Ave. and searched for asbestos. A chain-link fence was also erected around the building.
Subscribe to Metro Times newsletters.
Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
