A Tale Of Two Downtowns

Is the current battle over the Mellus Newspaper building in downtown Lincoln Park about ego, economic development, or a simple lack of imagination?

City officials have pushed to demolish the historic structure at 1661 Fort St for the last year while a grass-roots group of preservation-minded local residents have pushed back to save it. Members of that group, along with other third-party observers, say city officials are hell bent on tearing down the building, despite a developer who wants to renovate it and create dozens of new jobs. City officials have steadfastly maintained the Mellus is a blight that needs to go.

But as the situation in Lincoln Park unfolds it becomes more and more apparent that what's going on in the Downriver suburb is a microcosm of how Metro Detroit struggles to deal with its reputation for unfriendly behavior toward business and failing to maximize the redevelopment of its urban core.

The truth is, some local communities are suffering because of their inability or unwillingness to evolve, while others have embraced new ideas about how they can revitalize their downtowns.

One such city is Royal Oak, whose downtown is thriving despite our damaged economy. More directly, the Detroit suburb recently went through a situation similar to the standoff in Lincoln Park. And its resolution could provide a lesson for how a community can turn a sow's ear into a silk purse. After several years of blight and weeks away from the wrecking ball, Royal Oak officials had all but written off 401 N Main only to allow a developer to bring the building back to its former glory… and then some.

"Everybody needed to take a chill pill," says Jim Rasor, a city commissioner with Royal Oak. "But at the end of the day it's done and it looks good."

Politics as usual

As Yogi Berra used to say, "It's déjà vu all over again."

Lincoln Park is treading in the same demolition waters when it comes to the Mellus. Local officials have said "No" to Zafar Mahmood who wants to create dozens of new jobs without the aid of tax credits. The reason: A disagreement over the value of a building where the two sides are only tens of thousand of dollars apart.

The owner of Detroit-based Hands-On-Healing Home Health Care heard about Lincoln Park's designs to tear down the Mellus and came forward with a plan to turn it and two adjacent vacant buildings (also owned by the Lincoln Park Downtown Development Authority) into the new home for his company, creating 30 jobs immediately and a total of 50 within two years.

He offered $500 each for the Mellus and Pollak buildings, which are currently set for demolition, and another $10,000 for the adjacent Dorsey building. The DDA paid $95,000 for the Mellus and adjacent Pollak buildings last year and $175,000 for the Dorsey Building in 2005 during the real-estate bubble. The DDA's attorney, David Tamsen, calls the offers for the Mellus and Pollak reasonable but insists the Dorsey is worth at least $100,000. However, he concedes that estimate is a guess.

Blair Reese, an architect representing the developer, has defended the offer (which is still good), saying the Dorsey isn't worth much in this market and that all three buildings need a substantial investment. And the alternative is the city paying pricey demolition costs and adding more empty lots to its struggling downtown.

The Lincoln Park Preservation Alliance, a grassroots group working to save the Mellus, identifies Lincoln Park Mayor Frank Vaslo as the driving force behind the demolition. Leslie Lynch-Wilson, the group's president, and a couple of other outside sources see the city's push for demolition as the will of city officials like Vaslo who made up their minds a long time ago and are too stubborn to consider reasonable alternatives.

"I don't think that's good business. I think it's politics," Reese says. "The mayor wants the Mellus down, and that's all there is to it. Are they business friendly? No."

Repeated attempts were made to contact Vaslo and members of the DDA over the last week, but none proved successful.

State of the Mellus

The Mellus (named after local newspaper mogul William Mellus) made it on the National Register of Historic Places (no easy feat) because it served as the home to Lincoln Park's local newspaper for the heart of the 20th Century. The 1940s-era building still sports its original porcelain enameled Moderne commercial building exterior, while the adjacent Pollak building (named after former occupant Pollak Jewelers) retains its terrazzo entrance sidewalk.

Lynch-Wilson, who has a degree in architecture, and her fellow preservationists maintain that even though the buildings are in disrepair they are still structurally sound and ready for easy redevelopment with the help of historic and brownfield tax credits that can subsidize as much as half of the costs. They see redevelopment of the Mellus as a potential linchpin for revitalizing an empty section of downtown by attracting more businesses, jobs and foot traffic.

"If you tear it down all you get is a vacant lot," Lynch-Wilson says. "What good is a vacant lot?"

City officials have not come up with a plan to build anything on the site, but have said the demolition of the buildings would provide more parking for a downtown that many say has more spaces than cars. Tamsen says the DDA is open to saving the buildings "if someone will come up with a viable offer." Translation: Someone with a detailed business plan and deep pockets.

Ernest Zachary, president of Detroit-based Zachary & Associates, toured the Mellus and Pollak buildings in mid-January. Zachary is the former head of the city of Detroit's Community and Economic Development Dept's Finance Division. His latest project is an ambitious renovation of 71 E Garfield, a building in Detroit that was in far worse shape than the Mellus. He describes the Mellus' condition as "not bad" and "very easily redeemable." He went on to describe it as "in reasonable shape for a building that has not been lived in" for a long time.

"Oh God no, I don't see it as a dangerous building," Zachary says. "If you have an office tenant for it, it would be an easy turnaround."

Clouds on the horizon

Which brings us back to Metro Detroit's dubious reputation when it comes to playing nicely with businesses. What role should local government play when it comes to facilitating entrepreneurship? Should local officials be allowed to play Sims when it comes to helping decide what businesses can and can't set up shop in a business district?

"I can't imagine why they would be against allowing a business to grow?" says Michael LaFaive, director of fiscal policy for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a libertarian-oriented think tank based out of Midland. "Time and again I have heard zoning officials called grassroots tyrants. They can often impede the growth of a business. It is distressing that there are public officials that can decide what does and doesn't flourish."

While speaking early last year for another story on the Mellus about an idea that was being floated of setting up a coffee shop in the Mellus, Steve Duchane, Lincoln Park's city manager, brushed off the idea of an independent coffee shop as one whose time had passed. He maintained that local officials should have the ability to decide what type of businesses are preferred because city resources (time and money) are spent helping the business open.

It drove home the point that different local municipalities are at different ends of the learning curve when it comes to creating and supporting vibrant city centers. There are those that are married to old ideas, thinking that taking the easy way through demolition will provide the same sort of high and regular return that the hard work of reusing and maximizing existing assets does. That's not the case. Time and again healthy downtowns have shown that creative adaptive reuse is the equivalent of organic eating compared to the empty calories of building rubble.

But all is not lost for downtown Lincoln Park as long as the Mellus stands. It can still easily follow in the footsteps of the Royal Oaks, Ann Arbors, Mt. Clemenses, Ferndales and Wyandottes - downtowns that have all proven their viability by turning their biggest money pits into economic engines. Case in point: Royal Oak's 401 N Main, which had a demolition dumpster parked next to it before its fate was secured.

Business Climate Change

Then city of Royal Oak officials were pushing hard to demolish 401 N Main, a two-story building that had fallen victim to neglect, a number of failed redevelopment proposals, and an owner who just didn't care.

Today it stands as a shining example of just how much is possible on the northern end of what is arguably Michigan's most vibrant downtown. The building is now home to 15 attorneys and support staff from two of the city's prominent law firms, Corey and Flood, and Lanctot & Connor.

"It's a good-looking building," says Jim Ellison, mayor of Royal Oak. "It complements the area and there has been a resurgence of the whole block around it."

Ellison didn't always speak so glowingly about 401 N Main. He helped push the city to get it on the dangerous buildings list and sign a demolition contract in 2007. Local stakeholders and preservationists rallied to find a developer and save it. Their efforts produced one of the most stunning turnarounds for a downtown structure in Metro Detroit. But that ship didn't turn on a dime, and not without a fight or two.

"A lot of times it [these sorts of debates] goes beyond common sense and becomes about winning the battle," says Jim Schneider, president of Royal Oak-based Schneider+Smith Architects, which designed the renovation of 401 N Main.

Luckily, cooler heads prevailed and local businesses and taxpayers came out on top. The building now has an assessed value of $286,170 that produces $14,649 in taxes each year. For that to happen meant some important people swallowed their pride so downtown could continue its redevelopment. The city ended up giving 401 N Main one more chance, and for good reason.

"I wanted to give them every opportunity to save that building," Ellison says. "If it had been torn down it would have just stayed an empty lot."

Not without sin

That's not to say all preservationists are the righteous warriors, fighting the good fight against the selfishness and incompetence of local officials. Far from it. When a building reaches the place that the Mellus is now, there is plenty of blame to go around.

Royal Oak's Jim Rasor does not shy away from making such a point. He sat on the city's Zoning Board of Appeals when 401 N Main was hugging the dumpster. The attorney even considered redeveloping it himself and adds he fought the city to save his own century-old house from demolition.

Rasor points out that local officials have a duty to remediate problems quickly to prevent harm to local stakeholders. He adds that such blights often sit ignored until local government starts to put the demolition wheels in motion, a move that gets historic building huggers all hot and bothered.

"Eventually you let the contract out to demolish it and someone comes out of the woodwork and says 'I want to save it,'" Rasor says. "Dude, where have you been?"

However, Rasor believes that local officials should be much more willing to say, "Yes" to redevelopment offers and much more hesitant to approve demolition contracts. Easier said than done in an economic climate that offers no easy answers. It requires doing the hard work first, before the point of no return looms on the horizon.

"I think we have this culture where it's easier to put things in a landfill than reuse them," Rasor says. "That, I think, is wasteful and it's shortsighted."

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Jon Zemke is the news editor for Metromode and Concentrate. He is also a preservationist and a bottom-line guy. He thinks more good things would get done in Michigan if opposing sides made good-faith attempts to be reasonable.

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All Photographs © Marvin Shaouni Photography
Contact Marvin here

Photos:

Current condition of the Mellus building

Downtown Lincoln Park

Historic courtesy photo of the Mellus building

Newspaper mogul William Mellus

Leslie Lynch-Wilson, president of The Lincoln Park Preservation Alliance

401 N Main Pre-renovation - courtesy photo

401 N Main Post-renovation