Took a ride down to the Eastown last Saturday afternoon for a look see. The building has deteriorated some since the appraisal of June 2005. Upon driving around to the west apartment side of the building it is noticible that one or more of the apartments has had a fire in recent times and that/those apartments have no windows and are open to the elements. All other visible apartments look clean and have clean bright white curtains in all windows. The building and theatre as a whole look sound although all doors look like they would need to be replaced. The benefits of the property are it’s location at Harper and Van Dyke, one block from I-94 and only a mile east of I-75 so it is easily accessable from all directions. The block it is on has two well kept homes to the North of it and a mostly demolished building on the Van Dyke side and two or three small one story buildings on Harper next to Van Dyke. One of these buildings is a church which is a plus and on the next block north on the corner is another church, another plus in my opinion. It is a bad area but the pluses are that there are vast vacant areas all around where homes and buildings have been torn down and the land is clean and well kept. The block it’s on itself has large areas of vacant land which could easily be used to build a safe and secure parking structure to make people using the facility feel safe. With enough investment the building and store front level could be brought back – restored – to it’s 1930’s/1940’s condition. This would take some monies since the store front windows have been bricked up some time ago. These unused store fronts could be used for restaurants, coffee shops or other businesses that would attrached patrons coming down for concerts or shows. The theatre itself and these restaurants and shops could hire people from the two local churches to help run them. The Salvation Army or the Detroit Vietnam Vets could manage and run the apartment building and it might be a refuge for vets or people the Salvation Army are trying to help while they gain useful employment at the theatre or the businesses the building houses. There are signs of new development in the area with a BP Gas Station one block south on the east side of Van Dyke and across the street on the west side and new pharmacy and convenience store. There is no reason this site could do for the East Side what the Fox did for downtown. If only I’d won that bit lottery last Friday!
Took a ride down to the Eastown last Saturday afternoon for a look see. The building has deteriorated some since the appraisal of June 2005. Upon driving around to the west apartment side of the building it is noticible that one or more of the apartments has had a fire in recent times and that/those apartments have no windows and are open to the elements. All other visible apartments look clean and have clean bright white curtains in all windows. The building and theatre as a whole look sound although all doors look like they would need to be replaced. The benefits of the property are it’s location at Harper and Van Dyke, one block from I-94 and only a mile east of I-75 so it is easily accessable from all directions. The block it is on has two well kept homes to the North of it and a mostly demolished building on the Van Dyke side and two or three small one story buildings on Harper next to Van Dyke. One of these buildings is a church which is a plus and on the next block north on the corner is another church, another plus in my opinion. It is a bad area but the pluses are that there are vast vacant areas all around where homes and buildings have been torn down and the land is clean and well kept. The block it’s on itself has large areas of vacant land which could easily be used to build a safe and secure parking structure to make people using the facility feel safe. With enough investment the building and store front level could be brought back – restored – to it’s 1930’s/1940’s condition. This would take some monies since the store front windows have been bricked up some time ago. These unused store fronts could be used for restaurants, coffee shops or other businesses that would attrached patrons coming down for concerts or shows. The theatre itself and these restaurants and shops could hire people from the two local churches to help run them. The Salvation Army or the Detroit Vietnam Vets could manage and run the apartment building and it might be a refuge for vets or people the Salvation Army are trying to help while they gain useful employment at the theatre or the businesses the building houses. There are signs of new development in the area with a BP Gas Station one block south on the east side of Van Dyke and across the street on the west side and new pharmacy and convenience store. There is no reason this site could do for the East Side what the Fox did for downtown. If only I’d won that bit lottery last Friday!