DETROIT (WWJ) – Over the weekend the nearly 130-year-old Del Bene building in Detroit’s Eastern Market partially collapsed, leaving one person with minor injuries.
While the cause of the collapse remains under investigation, city officials were quick to condemn the building and announce plans to demolish the building at Russell and Winder.
But on a new Daily J podcast, WWJ’s Brian Fisher learns efforts are underway to save the commercial building. Is it worth preserving?
Devan Anderson, President of Preservation Detroit – a non-profit dedicated to preserving the city’s historic places – is leading the charge.
“If this building were torn down, it would be replaced with a parking lot or a grass lot. Or even if it was new construction, anything that went in its place would pale in comparison to what it was replacing,” he said.
As the Del Bene was built in the late 1890s, Anderson says such buildings that have survived were “among the best built, best maintained and best examples of their time.”
“All the buildings that were haphazardly, cheaply and quickly, with substandard materials and poor construction technologies have all fallen down 50 years ago. So everything that’s left is the best of the best,” Anderson said.
If the building is demolished, all businesses inside would be forced to close or relocate. That includes the flagship store of the iconic Detroit vs. Everybody brand. DvE officials say the cost of lost merchandise, renovations and equipment totals more than $150,000. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the company.
As the debate continues over how to handle the Del Bene building, Anderson says the city is “softening the tone” a little bit, leaving the door open for saving a piece of the city’s history.
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