New life for historic Cadieux Stage building on Detroit's east side
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Aretha Franklin (left) and Grand Funk Railroad, each at Cadieux Stage on Detroit's east side. Historical photos courtesy of Cadieux Stage
An east side studio with a retro vibe and a storied history just got a facelift.
Why it matters: Built in 1937, Cadieux Stage saw famous traffic in the past. The 20,000-square-foot building has hosted Aretha Franklin shooting a music video with a youth choir, Bob Seger practices and a Grand Funk Railroad performance, Chris Lee, who is nearly done renovating the building, tells Axios.
- Now, after noticing a local demand for arts space, Lee is looking to fill the building with creatives again.
State of play: Lee, who grew up in Detroit and previously restored his great-grandparents' house near Boston-Edison, wanted a historic real estate project.
- He bought the building at 4925 Cadieux Road last year from local photographer Jerry Farber.
Flashback: Cadieux Stage originally housed Wilding Studios, a commercial filmmaking company, per Lee, who has a collection of old photos showing celebrities using the space — including Franklin.
- Farber then refurbished and reopened the building in the early '90s, per Free Press archives. The paper dubbed it the "city's oldest existing sound stage."
Details: The space is now set up for things like film production, photography, music videos and events, with two sound stages and a green room, as well as dressing rooms, offices and photo studios.
- Tenants so far include Aliado Studio, a marketing agency.