Mayor Mike Duggan’s administration said Wednesday it is ordering the immediate demolition of a historically significant but dilapidated building in Detroit’s old Chinatown neighborhood, despite the city council’s last-minute efforts to save the structure.
The city council on Tuesday voted unanimously to impose a one-month delay on the demolition, but the city’s legal department determined the vote “has no legal force or effect and does not take precedent over the interests of public safety,” said David Bell, director of the Detroit Buildings, Safety, Engineering and Environmental Department (BSEED).
“It has been the position of our inspectors for some time that this building is a public safety hazard that needs to be addressed,” Bell said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. “We are now of the opinion it needs to be addressed immediately. … The owners have a valid permit to demolish the building and in the interest of public safety are free to act on that permit.”
The city council was hoping to convince the Ilitch family’s Olympia Development, which owns the property, to preserve the two-story brick building at 3143 Cass Ave.
In the meantime, Janese Chapman, director of the Historic Designation Advisory Board, planned to draft a report detailing the historic and architectural significance of the building and its importance to Chinese Americans.
Preservationists denounced the Duggan administration’s call for an immediate demolition, saying the city council and Olympia Development had reached an agreement that could ultimately preserve the building by adding it to the National Register of Historic Places.
“It certainly seems that Mayor Duggan is forcing the issue in an unfortunate manner,” Francis Grunow, a local preservationist, tells Metro Times. “Why now? As of yesterday a process was worked out to resolve the issue of the city’s conflicting view on the matter. Nobody wants to see the building left to rot. With the revelation that it is eligible for designation, why not let that process work itself out? It’s been 20 years. Why can’t the mayor wait until fall?”
In the 1960s, after the Chinese American community was displaced from downtown, residents moved to the Cass Corridor, opening restaurants and other businesses. The Chinese Merchants Association bought the 3143 Cass Ave. building and used it for social, educational, recreational, and religious purposes. A theater inside the building was used for Chinese opera.
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, if anything, 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 2021, a separate survey for the city found that the building has a long and storied social history worthy of preservation and historic designation.
In his statement, Bell emphasized that the council ordered the building to be demolished in 2018.
“In the five years since, the building’s condition has gotten much worse, with portions of the roof and interior walls collapsing,” Bell said. “In May of this year we gave the owner the option of taking down the building itself or letting the city do it and then reimburse the city for its costs. The owners chose to take responsibility for the demolition and obtained a valid permit to do so.”
Councilwoman Gabriela Santiago-Romero said she met with representatives of Olympia development on Monday, and they agreed to hold off on deciding to demolish the building for at least a month. Santiago-Romero also said Bell agreed, but he adamantly denies that.
“Contrary to some published reports, I never supported a 30-day delay in demolition,” Bell said.
Metro Times couldn’t immediately reach Olympia development or Santiago-Romero for comment.
The controversy over the demolition comes as the Duggan administration plans to demolish or redevelop about 100 vacant commercial buildings during the mayor’s third term.
Bell sent photos to Metro Times showing the deteriorating condition of the building:
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