Construction finished on Waterman Center in downtown Pontiac

People casually walking into the newly refurbished Waterman Center in downtown Pontiac can't help but stop and stare at "Flight," the building's signature sculpture.

The hanging piece of art dominates the building's 44-foot-tall lobby. It features eleven large triangles of layered glass suspended from a cables that look like the inside of piano.

"It's real playful and fun. It's a really strong piece of work," says Laurel Fyfe, the sculptor of the piece and owner of Fox Fire Glass. The Pontiac-based studio is located across the street from the Waterman Center, 91 N. Saginaw St., and is behind other major pieces of public art, such as the light tunnel in Metro Airport's McNamara Terminal.

Flight commands similar attention at the Waterman Center where the renovation of the three-story, mixed-use building recently finished. Its 59,000 square feet of office and retail space is now 60 percent leased with a variety of tenants ranging from a spa to a dentist office to a UAW legal office.

Work on the building began in the fall of 2005. It once housed a Federal’s Department Store but had been vacant for several years, losing all of its windows before 196 Oakland Properties started redeveloping it.

Source: Leon Yulkowski, managing member of 196 Oakland Properties
Writer: Jon Zemke

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