[nfbmi-talk] Great Project for Detroit and Western Wayn Chapters to work on

[Fred Wurtzel]

hello,

 

NFB could get in on the ground floor of planning.  Attention to Braille
signs, described videos and similar matters could rais our profile and be a
very positive activity.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources said this morning it
anticipates as

many as a million visitors a year coming to its planned discovery center to
be built

in the historic Globe Building on Detroit's east riverfront.

Features will include a 60-foot climbing wall, an archery range, simulator
rides

demonstrating kayaking and other water sports, and classrooms to teach
schoolchildren

and other visitors outdoor safety as well as the science of natural
resources and

wetlands.

The details were revealed at this morning's meeting of the city's Economic
Development

Corp., a quasi-public board that holds title to the Globe building for the
city.

Built in stages from the late 19th Century, the Globe was one of the city's
most

important industrial buildings in the pre-automotive era. A young Henry Ford
worked

there before starting his car company, and the building, which served as a
dry dock,

is a link to the city's past as a center of shipping. It has been mostly
vacant for

decades.

Under a deal approved this morning, the EDC will sell the building to local
developer

Roxbury Group for a dollar. Roxbury will then develop it to DNR's specs with
the

help of a $11 million financing from the state's Natural Resources Trust
Fund. DNR

will eventually purchase the building when it's ready in fall 2013 for a
total project

cost of $12.8 million.

About half of the historic building will come down, with the rest preserved
and renovated

for the DNR space, which is adjacent to the William Milliken State Park, as
well

as the Detroit RiverWalk.

"We envision that we could easily on the low side see a million visitors
every year,"

Vicki Anthes, chief of the DNR's planning section, told the EDC board this
morning.

EDC board member Conrad Mallet called the DNR plans a "fantastic
opportunity" and

a "great use of that building."

The DNR had initially planned a much smaller space inside the Globe
Building, but

scaled up the plans to about 50,000 square feet of "outdoor adventure"
exhibits,

activities, and classrooms, as well as office space for about 20 DNR
staffers now

based in Southfield.

"It was part of the vision for Milliken (state park) right from the get-go,"
Anthes

said. "We had our eye on the Globe Building."

She added, "This has evolved to be a grander and really a more holistic
approach

to what we want our visitors to experience. We believe this is the right
thing for

us to do here."

Contact John Gallagher: 313-222-5173 or

gallagher99 at freepress.com