Last Detroit abandoned building is checked off a notorious list (2024)

Outlier Media reports for you. Donate now to keep accountability in your community.

Downtown Detroit was certainly a lot different 20 years ago. Along with a Lululemon store and $80 co*cktails, there’s no better example of the change than what is colloquially referred to as the “dirty dozen.”

A February 2004 issue of the Detroit Free Press identified 12 abandoned skyscrapers in and around downtown, noted for their historical significance and dismal state. The Free Press dubbed them “Towers of Neglect.”

A little more than two decades later, the dirty dozen is no more. Transit advocate David Gifford recently posted a write-up detailing what happened to all those buildings. Let’s briefly recap.

Book-Cadillac Hotel: The opulent hotel closed in 1984. It reopened in 2008 after the Cleveland-based Ferchill Group poured about $190 million into a renovation that in many ways signaled downtown’s turnaround. Its newest owner, Oxford Capital Group, completed a $23 million renovation in December.

David Broderick Tower: The 34-floor skyscraper’s last tenant left in 1993, though most of the other tenants had been gone years before that. The building reopened in 2012 after a $50 million renovation. A group of investors that included local developer Michael Higgins, until his death last year, have owned the Broderick since 1976. They put the building up for sale in February. Its most popular feature, the “Whale Tower” mural, was painted by Robert Wyland in 1997.

David Whitney Building: The building has one of the most spectacular atria in the city. But the Whitney closed in 2000. The Roxbury Group turned it into a hotel that opened in 2014 following a more than $90 million redevelopment. The firm recently completed a more than $20 million renovation in March.

Farwell Building: The former office and retail building closed in 1984. A mix of developers from Lansing and Detroit converted the Farwell into a mixed-use development with apartments on the upper floors. It reopened in 2019.

Fort Shelby Hotel: The hotel sat mostly empty for more than 30 years from the 1970s until its reopening in 2008 as a DoubleTree hotel, following an approximately $82 million renovation by local developer Emmet Moten.

Lafayette Building: The unique office skyscraper, one of Detroit’s only non-theater buildings designed by C. Howard Crane, closed in 1997. The city acquired the building, and after it failed to find a developer, the Downtown Development Authority completely demolished the Lafayette in 2010 to the ire of preservationists ever since.

Madison-Lenox Hotel: The three buildings that made up this hotel complex were the oldest buildings on this list, built between 1900 and 1905. The city seized the hotel for tax delinquency in 1993 and intended to tear it down, despite developers’ hopes for a restoration. Then the Ilitch family bought the building in 1997 and leveled it in 2005. The Madison-Lenox was one of only two structures at the time on the National Trust for Historic Preservation that were demolished. The site today is a surface parking lot.

Metropolitan Building: This Gothic-like skyscraper was originally nicknamed the Jeweler’s Building for its many associated jewelry businesses. It closed in the 1970s and sat vacant for decades until 2018, when it was redeveloped by two Detroit-based firms into a hotel with a popular rooftop bar.

Michigan Central Station: The station is the last building to get removed from the dirty dozen list. It closed in 1988, then Matty Moroun bought it in 1995 and did almost nothing with it until he sold the station to Ford Motor Co. in 2018. Michigan Central Station reopened this month following a six-year renovation of multiple buildings in the area that cost around $950 million.

Statler Hotel: The building that kicked off development on Grand Circus Park closed way back in the 1970s. The city demolished it in 2005. Today, a new apartment building sits on the site.

United Artists Building: The C. Howard Crane-designed office building closed soon after its adjoining theater closed in 1972. The tower is getting redeveloped into apartments by a group of developers that includes Moten. But the developers also leveled the opulent theater in January. Chalk this up as a half-win for preservation.

Wurlitzer Building: The uniquely narrow building that served as office and retail space for its namesake organ company lost its last tenant in 1982. The Wurlitzer reopened as a hotel in 2018 following a $23 million redevelopment from Brooklyn-based Ash NYC.