Mammoth building demolition begins on Detroit's west side
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The Mammoth building. Photo: Joe Guillen/Axios
Demolition began Monday of the Mammoth building, a west side landmark remembered for shopping trips past and more recently as a hulking, vacant eyesore.
Why it matters: The site, at Grand River Avenue and Greenfield Road, can be redeveloped once the demolition is completed, making the area safer and more attractive for future investment in the Grand River commercial corridor, city officials say.
What they're saying: Councilman James Tate, whose district includes Mammoth, recalls hanging out there as a child when it was a Kingsway department store.
- "For the last 20 years, it's been creating even more memories, but those memories aren't good like the ones we had before. It's been bringing down this neighborhood, this community, our side of town," Tate said at a press conference at the site.
Catch up quick: Mammoth was one of several vacant commercial buildings involved in a wave of lawsuits the city filed two years ago.
- The strategy was to force property owners to either fix up the structures or cede control to the city so the structures could be demolished, redeveloped or both.
The latest: Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Brian Sullivan recently denied a request to delay the demolition, the city's corporation counsel, Conrad Mallett, said Monday.
- Before Judge Sullivan's ruling, a Michigan Court of Appeals judge in July rejected an attempt to delay the demolition by the building's owners, businessmen Bahy Hammoud and Gihad Nagi, the Free Press reported.
- The building is structurally unsound and the city "will be suing the owners for reimbursement associated with this demolition," Mallett said.
State of play: The city is paying for the $2.6 million demolition up front. Local demolition company Homrich is doing the work.
- The building will be completely torn down by late October, per city officials.
What's next: The city will begin marketing the Mammoth site for development this fall, Mayor Mike Duggan said.