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Urban Renewal Initiative Foundation
Rendering of the proposed A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Center for the Performing Arts at the border of Detroit and Grosse Pointe Park.
The city of Detroit should reject a proposed performing arts center near the border of Grosse Pointe Park that would turn a prominent corner of historic land into a parking lot, city planning officials said in a scathing report Monday.
The Grosse Pointe Park-based Urban Renewal Initiative Foundation (URIF) is seeking permission from the Detroit Historic District Commission to build the parking lot and demolish the remains of a building on East Jefferson near Alter in the Jefferson-Chalmers neighborhood.
URIF wants to build the A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Center for the Performing Arts and an adjacent art gallery next to the vacant lots in Grosse Pointe Park.
But because the parking lot and loading zone would be built on land in the Jefferson-Chalmers Historic Business District, the nonprofit needs permission from the commission to alter the landscape.
A historic district is set up to ensure that a property cannot be significantly altered without approval from the commission.
The Historic District Commission is meeting Wednesday evening to consider the proposal.
The commission’s staff is urging commissioners to reject the proposal, saying the parking lot and building demolition “is not historically compatible with the pedestrian and historic context” of the historic district. The project is “historically inappropriate” and “would create an even larger void in the historic Detroit commercial street wall,” the report states.
The report also criticizes the nonprofit for failing to include Detroiters in discussions about the property, pointing out that only one community meeting was held during the multiyear process.
“A single community meeting scheduled after submission of an application espousing substantial community engagement is insufficient to afford maximum opportunity for input from Jefferson-Chalmers neighborhood residents or community stakeholders for a project of this magnitude,” the HDC staff wrote. “It is also counter to the applicant’s profession of a collaborative effort with the City of Detroit.”
In April, the city filed a lawsuit against URIF for brazenly moving forward with the construction of the arts center without getting the proper permits and approvals. A month earlier, a demolition crew began demolishing a building that was partially on historic land. The portion of the building that was on Grosse Pointe Park land was razed, leaving a partially demolished eyesore in Detroit.
The partial building on Detroit’s side of the border is “an immediate hazard to pedestrians on the Detroit sidewalk,” the report states.
“HDC observed aluminum siding blowing off the building in the wind,” the report continues.
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Urban Renewal Initiative Foundation
The layout of the performing arts center and adjacent parking lot.
Grosse Pointe Park shares some of the blame for permitting the demolition of the building on the suburban side of the border, according to the report.
“It is unclear why the City of Grosse Pointe Park would have permitted and approved the creation of such an obvious hazard to the public,” HDC staff wrote.
The historic land used to be occupied by the historic Deck Bar, a building that Grosse Pointe Park owned and demolished in spite of opposition from preservationists and the Detroit Historic District Commission.
In response to the proposed demolition, the city of Detroit created the historic district in 2008 in hopes of erecting another building that complements the history of the area.
“Full demolition of the remaining buildings will mean that, in the short history of this district, a once fully intact historic block has been completely leveled, which is inconsistent with the goal of historic preservation,” the report states.
Planning officials also warned that the parking lot, which now includes a tiny plaza, will likely contribute to flooding. The Jefferson-Chalmers neighborhood has struggled with chronic flooding for years.
“The proposed parking and plaza surfaces do not incorporate any significant best management practices, such as permeable pavement, bioswales, or native planting buffers,” the report states. “This is a monumental oversight for an area with documented flooding issues. This calls into question the extent of public engagement of area residents and stakeholders during the design process.”
Jay C. Juergensen, a Jefferson-Chalmers resident and lead organizer for the Jefferson Chalmers WATER Project, which advocates for initiatives to address chronic flooding problems, tells Metro Times that the proposed project fails to address his group’s concerns.
“Anything that adds impervious surfaces and doesn’t effectively deal with stormwater management is cause for concern,” Juergensen says. “And we’re not confident the bioswales and the stormwater mentioned in the proposal are adequate given the impact of climate and more intense storms.”
Other local groups have also expressed opposition. Change Is the Pointe, a Grosse Pointe and Harper Woods organization dedicated to racial justice, has called on URIF to abandon the project and look for an alternative site. The group points to numerous nearby abandoned buildings that could be used for a performing arts center, including the nearby Vanity and Monticello ballrooms.
Under the proposal, the theater’s rear would face Detroit.
“The building really turns its back to Detroit,” Graig Donnelly, of Change Is the Pointe, tells Metro Times. “At the end of the day, the only thing the building does to address Detroit is put a parking lot at an important intersection in Detroit. There is a lot of fancy language to try to make it sound like it’s good for Detroit, but at the end of the day, it turns its back on Detroit.”
For its part, URIF submitted letters of support for its project from the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit Opera, the N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art in Detroit, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and Jefferson East Inc., which helped establish the historic business district.
“We know that the arts bring experiences to individuals and neighborhoods that enhance their educational and emotional well-being and build curiosity for the wider world around us,” Judith Dolkart, deputy director of arts, education, and programs for the DIA, wrote in support. “We believe that the arts can drive the health of civic life by offering programs that build community and a shared humanity.”
If approved, URIF says the center would open in Spring 2025, making it several years behind schedule.
So far, URIF has raised $46 million of the required $55 million for the project, despite the group’s failure to get approval from the Historic District Commission.
Developed largely in the early 1900s, the commercial strip on Jefferson is one of the few remaining early 20th-century neighborhood commercial districts and contains architecturally significant buildings. It has been targeted for revitalization and is the site of the popular Jazz on Jefferson Festival. The district is surrounded by intact neighborhoods and includes more than 50 buildings, including two ballrooms, retail stores, banks, apartment buildings and four churches.
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