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Get a room…Trades ready to renovate historic hotels

Date Posted: July 21 2006

DETROIT - Three years ago this month, a festive press conference was held aside the shell of the Book-Cadillac hotel, proclaiming "The Next Chapter" was about to be turned on the mammoth building, empty since 1984.

It took awhile to turn the page. Since then, the original reconstruction financing fell through, and it took this long to set up another incredibly complicated money package that involves an unprecedented 22 public and private investors. With the money in place, it now appears the Book is back, again.

Construction could start on the 33-story hotel at any time. The $180 million transformation will offer a 455-room hotel and 67 luxury condominiums. The hotel, will offer flat-screen televisions and high-speed cable and wireless Internet access in each room, a swimming pool, whirlpool and state-of-the-art fitness center, as well as onsite retail and fine dining.

"This has been a long, difficult effort, but I have always believed one of Detroit's greatest landmarks was worth the attempt," said Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on June 27. "Today's announcement makes all of the work to overcome all of the obstacles we have encountered worthwhile. The Book-Cadillac certainly is one of the most challenging projects the City of Detroit has ever worked on. It also is one of the most significant as it will anchor three main streets vital to Detroit's redevelopment."

Unless there's another hiccup in the financing, the savior is The Ferchill Group, the Cleveland-based developer which specializes in redeveloping urban landmarks like the Book.

This month, "we will begin the transformation of this historic and long-neglected corner on Washington Boulevard and Michigan Avenue to anchor downtown Detroit for investment and create catalytic opportunity with its connections to the Convention Center, Riverwalk and the City's celebrated sports arenas and ballparks," Ferchill said.

Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council CEO Patrick Devlin said a union-only project labor agreement for the Book is in the works. Ferchill wants to work with a Cleveland-based construction manager.

The history of the Book-Cadillac mirrors the rise, fall, and ongoing rebirth of downtown Detroit. Completed in 1924 - during the zenith of downtown Detroit's decade-long skyscraper boom - The Book brothers, Herbert and Frank, had the hotel built in the Venetian style of the Italian Renaissance by architect Louis Kamper.

"Downtown's largest and arguably most beautiful vacant skyscraper is the Book-Cadillac Hotel," says the Forgotten Detroit website. "Long a rival to the Statler (demolished last year), the Book-Cadillac offered 1,200 guest rooms and some of the most amazing interior spaces in the city. It is the supreme symbol of 1920's Detroit's wealth and optimism."

Continuing, "The Book-Cadillac featured five floors of grand public rooms and shops. Among the amenities were large lounges, three dining rooms, a coffee shop, three unique and functional ballrooms, and a tea room. They were the most richly decorated interiors found in any Detroit hotel.

"A popular stop for traveling salesmen, the Book featured 38 'sample rooms' for them to show their wares to guests. Three basement levels contained the most modern boilers and laundry facilities of the time. The total cost of construction exceeded $14 million."

The Book hosted Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson and Nixon, and baseball legends Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams, among many others.

The hotel changed ownership and names over the years. It also underwent several interior renovations in an attempt to keep up with modern styles and meet the perceived demands of the customer.

But by the end of the 1970s, the hotel met the same fate as the nearby Statler Hotel and the Fort-Shelby. Businesses were leaving downtown Detroit in droves, and the owners announced the building would close. The Book stayed open for the Republican Convention in 1980, but a plan to revitalize the Book by reducing rooms and adding offices fell through.

The building closed for good in 1984. When the building was no longer guarded after a few years, vandals stripped anything of value from the building. The building trades also stripped the building of hazardous materials when the renovation was announced three years ago. Much of the interior spaces on lower floors had been wrecked by vandals or water damage.

Now, the hotel promises to be the biggest and most significant renovation project in downtown Detroit since the opening of the Fox Theatre in 1988.

"This project reflects the tenacity of the Detroit community, particularly its leaders for moving this project forward against all odds," Ferchill said. "We are proud to play a role in the preservation and renewal of one of the City's most storied assets. We respect the sentiment Detroit has for this architectural treasure and remain committed to seeing this project through to completion."

WHEN IT WAS COMPLETED in 1924, the Book-Cadillac was the world's largest hotel. Empty for 22 years, renovations are about to begin.