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National Historic Trusts Seeks to Preserve Hotel

DETROIT-The long-vacant Madison-Lenox residential hotel has been named one of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. Ilitch Holdings has been denied permission twice to demolish the building.

By Dan Heaton | Updated on May 25, 2004

DETROIT-An abandoned Downtown residential hotel has been named one of 11 Most Endangered Historic Places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Madison-Lenox Hotel, on the corner of Madison Avenue and Randolph Street, is the only location in Michigan named to the annual list.

Detroit’s prominent Ilitch family, which has extensive property holdings in the area around the Madison-Lenox, wants to demolish the old building to make way for parking for several nearby attractions, also owned by the family’s company, Ilitch Holdings. Ilitch Holdings also owns the hotel and has applied for permission to demolish it, but has been denied twice by the Detroit Historic District Commission. Ilitch Holdings also owns the Fox Theatre, Comerica Park, Hockeytown Cafe and other entertainment venues in the city.

“What the Motor City needs is more preservation, not another parking lot,” says Richard Moe, president of the National Trust. “Historic preservation is a powerful tool for accomplishing Downtown revitalization. Detroit has already seen preservation’s effectiveness firsthand in a number of successful projects, such as the Rose and Robert Skillman Branch of the Detroit Public Library, the Inn on Ferry Street and the growing number of historic buildings slated for conversion to downtown residential use. A reuse strategy for the Madison-Lenox could help bring livability and economic vitality back to the inner-city area.”

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