Thanks dfunk for the correction about the access issue and the date of the copper heist. Every time I passed by the Lee, it was secure or else I would have been tempted to check out the inside. Then I wonder about the risk about tresspass for me.
There are good pictures of the Lee (complete with the green copper roof) on http://www.forgottendetroit.com. Also many other hotels, theaters ect. Also has a nice after and before pic of the Lee Plaza lobby.
Perhaps you can make a link to forgotten detroit on this website.
The copper from the Lee Plaza roof was stolen in a time period of 40 days around December of 2005.
It is certainly not true that LP was always secured. At times the cinder block was collapsed. During other periods, the front door swung wide open while scrappers worked daily taking out pipes.
When I first went in the building, we went into a manhole, down to the basements, and back up into the building. That was 7 or 8 years ago.
I rode past the Lee Plaza on my way to downtown Detroit (via Grand River Ave) on Sat Jan 02 2010.
So I just took a diversion up West Grand Blvd to see the Lee.
It wasn’t too long ago (perhaps 7 years ago) that the roof of the Lee Plaza was green… that is copper. Looked nice from a distance. Then on a more recent trip (a few years back)the Lee Plaza roof is all black, that is the tar paper…. meaning the copper was stolen.
Yet when you look around the Lee Plaza, it is closed up (with cement block). I believe it was always securred with cement block. So I wonder how they got the copper. Perhaps the scrappers used a helicopter and decended upon the building like commandos. Just like how much of the green copper was stolen off the now restored Book Cadillac.
As a kid (in the early 1960) my family used to pass by the Lee Plaza on our way home from my grand mothers (she lived at Warren and Livernois) to our home at Seven Mile and Ryan Rd. Going down West Grand Blvd and seeing all the buildings was always neat.
Oh I know dude, there’s been quite a few structures were I was actually relieved when they were finally demolished. Soup Kitchen Saloon comes to mind, that building was tortured before it was finally dozed.
No demo plans for Lee Plaza to my knowledge. A few years ago they opened it up for some Canadian prospectors. They said “no thanks”.
I almost didn’t click on this post. I didn’t know what was I was going to see – 1. A half demolished smoking hulk, 2. More f@*&ing graf tags creeping their way up the sides like some urban ivy, or 3. A freshly painted sign posted out front proudly proclaiming the complete, historically accurate renovation that would provide a Phoenix-like rebirth of the entire area…
…yeah, number 2 as usual.
The plight of this structure burns at me more than the MCS! This one could have been saved but the piranhas have stripped it to the exoskeleton…nothing left worth saving.
Now, I just want it to disappear in the blink of an eye and be erased from my memory. So terribly, terribly sad…
Thanks dfunk for the correction about the access issue and the date of the copper heist. Every time I passed by the Lee, it was secure or else I would have been tempted to check out the inside. Then I wonder about the risk about tresspass for me.
There are good pictures of the Lee (complete with the green copper roof) on http://www.forgottendetroit.com. Also many other hotels, theaters ect. Also has a nice after and before pic of the Lee Plaza lobby.
Perhaps you can make a link to forgotten detroit on this website.
The copper from the Lee Plaza roof was stolen in a time period of 40 days around December of 2005.
It is certainly not true that LP was always secured. At times the cinder block was collapsed. During other periods, the front door swung wide open while scrappers worked daily taking out pipes.
When I first went in the building, we went into a manhole, down to the basements, and back up into the building. That was 7 or 8 years ago.
I rode past the Lee Plaza on my way to downtown Detroit (via Grand River Ave) on Sat Jan 02 2010.
So I just took a diversion up West Grand Blvd to see the Lee.
It wasn’t too long ago (perhaps 7 years ago) that the roof of the Lee Plaza was green… that is copper. Looked nice from a distance. Then on a more recent trip (a few years back)the Lee Plaza roof is all black, that is the tar paper…. meaning the copper was stolen.
Yet when you look around the Lee Plaza, it is closed up (with cement block). I believe it was always securred with cement block. So I wonder how they got the copper. Perhaps the scrappers used a helicopter and decended upon the building like commandos. Just like how much of the green copper was stolen off the now restored Book Cadillac.
As a kid (in the early 1960) my family used to pass by the Lee Plaza on our way home from my grand mothers (she lived at Warren and Livernois) to our home at Seven Mile and Ryan Rd. Going down West Grand Blvd and seeing all the buildings was always neat.
Oh I know dude, there’s been quite a few structures were I was actually relieved when they were finally demolished. Soup Kitchen Saloon comes to mind, that building was tortured before it was finally dozed.
No demo plans for Lee Plaza to my knowledge. A few years ago they opened it up for some Canadian prospectors. They said “no thanks”.
Is there a demo date set for this one yet? Looks pretty gutted.
I almost didn’t click on this post. I didn’t know what was I was going to see – 1. A half demolished smoking hulk, 2. More f@*&ing graf tags creeping their way up the sides like some urban ivy, or 3. A freshly painted sign posted out front proudly proclaiming the complete, historically accurate renovation that would provide a Phoenix-like rebirth of the entire area…
…yeah, number 2 as usual.
The plight of this structure burns at me more than the MCS! This one could have been saved but the piranhas have stripped it to the exoskeleton…nothing left worth saving.
Now, I just want it to disappear in the blink of an eye and be erased from my memory. So terribly, terribly sad…
These are sweet pix of the city. They go nicely with this sort of thing: http://apocalypsecakes.wordpress.com/2009/12/20/detroit-holiday-clearance-cake/