DETROIT (WWJ) – The Book is back.
After a ribbon-cutting ceremony earlier this summer, a public grand re-opening party and open house was held Wednesday night at the historic Book Tower building in Downtown Detroit.
Once the city’s tallest building upon completion in 1926, the 38-story building had been vacant since 2009 until Dan Gilbert and Bedrock purchased it in 2015.
Bedrock COO Ivy Greaner said at that point, parts of the historic building “looked like a warzone,” with missing chunks of marble and demolished wood.
But after a nearly $400 million renovation, the Book is now home to high-end ROOST apartments, restaurants and event space. And many of the marble touches that gave the Book its grandeur have been brought back to life.
Restored features of the building include a three-story art glass rotunda in the entryway, intricate hand-painted plaster ceilings and elegant marble features.
“We actually uncovered these beautiful tiled, domed ceilings that they had just put drywall up because in the office building it gave them more square footage to lease,” Greaner told WWJ’s Jon Hewett. “It is pretty amazing how much of this building has been restored.”
Architectural Digest named the Book Tower one of the "World's Most Beautiful Repurposed Buildings" earlier this year.
On Thursday the public was invited to take in the restored building, with free food trucks, live performances and even an augmented reality experience exploring the past and present of Book Tower.
The next chapter for the historic building at Washington Boulevard and Grand River Avenue will include more than 200 luxury apartments, 117 ROOST apartment hotel rooms and more than 52,000 square-feet of retail, office and dining space.
Gilbert said at the ribbon cutting back in June the Book and the surrounding areas was “known as the trendiest part of town.
“The road was lined with some of the most prominent businesses, high-end shopping, upscale hotels and restaurants,” Gilbert said. “You will find many of these things when you go in the Book once again, but that’s not where the story will end.”
More information on the restored building is available on the Book Tower website.
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