FLINT – Shuttered since 1973, the former Durant Hotel reopened last month for its new life – as a landmark apartment building. A wedding in the building’s grand ballroom marked the building’s opening event on Aug. 13, and tenants began moving in two days later.

Formerly a 264-room hotel, it’s now called The Durant. The eight-story building was gutted, redesigned and rebuilt for the lease of 93 apartments, ranging from 500 to 1,200 square feet. Kevin Prater, who developed the property along with Richard Karp Associates, said units in the building are 40 percent leased.

“We went from not having a single stud wall up on Jan. 15 (2010), to being ready to open Aug. 15,” Prater said. “This has been an outstanding process for us.” He called the union trades from Goyette Mechanical – electricians, plumbers and sheetmetal workers – “superstars for us.”

The estimated $30 million construction project moved in a hurry, but the preliminaries of obtaining financing and hazardous materials abatement slowed the process. Amazingly, the building remained in sound structural shape in the 37 years it was left empty, which helped make redevelopment feasible. Construction work on the project was led by Build Tech and Wolverine Construction.

“It was a shell of a building when we got here,” said IBEW Local 948 electrician Jamie Carmode, who was working with fellow Goyette electrician Jeff Jordan. “This place went from being empty to a building of this magnitude in just seven months. To me that’s pretty remarkable.” Added Jordan: “It’s really impressive what went on here. It’s a very nice building.”

As we reported back in March, on the outside, only a small area of weathered brick and mortar on the building’s exterior needed to be replaced during the renovation. New windows were installed to match the original look of the building. A two-level parking deck to serve the building was built off the back.

The inside was a different story. Brian Hearn, project architect for Kraemer Design Group, said water incursion did a significant amount of damage to interior woodwork and plaster. He said the use of ruined samples of those materials, plus the availability of old photos, helped them recreate the main floor interior finishes as much as possible. The target era, he said, was the 1940s and 1950s.

“I’m pretty sure we captured the look and the feel of that point in time,” Hearn said. “A lot of people care about the building, and they’d stop by and share their memories. It was a little difficult at first, but it was a great experience.”

He said from the start, there were numerous entities that were involved in the decision-making on the design, including owners, the city, and local and state historical groups. Hearn said the decision was made to demolish the original main ballroom at the back of the building, and transform what had been a dining room into the new ballroom.

“We tried to be accommodating as possible,” Hearn said, “but ultimately we wanted to bring back the original grandeur of the building while keeping it functional and profitable for the owners.” Hearn said the color scheme in the lobby and ballroom are “period colors” which weren’t on the walls of the hotel, but were in fashion during that time.

Opened in 1920, the Durant was for years Flint’s preeminent hotel. Over the years, the hotel at 607 E. Second Ave. hosted luminaries like Frank Sinatra, Glenn Miller and Doris Day. The Durant became headquarters for Gov. Frank Murphy in 1936-37, as he helped negotiate the end of the violence associated with the Flint Sit-Down Strike. Named for William C. Durant, the founder of General Motors, the Durant’s fortunes mirrored those of its host city, and by the early 1970s, there weren’t enough travelers to Flint to keep the hotel’s doors open.

In July 2007, the Genesee County Land Bank announced that it had secured $150,000 in federal funds as a small down payment to get the ball rolling on the renovation process. The federal money was secured by Congressman Dale Kildee, and other investors followed. “I can remember attending many functions at the Durant,” Kildee said. “The Durant Hotel is a reminder to us all of the rich history of Flint and of the people who helped write that history.”

Prater said the apartments are being marketed to young professionals, professors and graduate students associated with the nearby University of Michigan-Flint and Kettering University. “There’s a great deal of interest in the Durant in the community,” Prater said Aug. 12. “Just about every day for the last month I lead a tour through the building. People are very happy that it turned out so well.”

When it originally opened, the first floor had a drug store, a shoe store, a hat store and a bank branch. So far, the commercial build-out spaces on the first floor have not been leased, Prater said, adding he hopes that will change when the economy improves.

“It’s amazing that after all these years, this project happened at all,” Hearn said. “This building was almost demolished. Time and time again people came through and said it was a big, hulking giant and there was nothing you could do with it. But others believed and made it happen.”

TESTING CIRCUITS in the new ballroom of The Durant in Flint is Matthew Decker of IBEW Local 948 and Goyette Mechanical. Matthew was taking care of punchlist items as the former hotel would be turned over to the owner two days later. This ballroom occupies space that had been a dining room in the old hotel

ORIGINALLY opened in 1920, the Durant Hotel in Flint has been transformed into 93 apartments.

THE RENOVATED DURANT lobby two days before it opened last month. The paint scheme isn’t popular and will likely be changed, said developer Kevin Prater.

THE DURANT HOTEL lobby, same view as above, date uknown. Photo credit: Genessee County Land Bank