Does Dearborn Really Need a New City Hall?
Dearborn City Hall was built in 1922.
For 90 years, the corner of Michigan and Schaefer has been the home of Dearborn City Hall.
Now, it appears that could change.
The Dearborn Press & Guide on Sunday reported that a proposal to combine administrative offices for the city and Dearborn Public Schools is getting serious consideration.
Call us nostalgic, but Dearborn’s City Hall building needs to remain the hub of Dearborn. The building may need repair but it is simply too important of a symbol to this city to simply leave it to others (like an art community) or, worse yet, raze.
Dearborn City Hall was built in 1922. According to Press & Guide editor J. Patrick Pepper, the parking garage behind City Hall is “falling apart and could require a complete rebuild within the next couple years. An addition put on in 1981 that connects the main City Hall building on Schaefer Road to the western annex also is in need of a new roof liner.”
Dearborn Public Schools administration is currently is housed in the 1950-vintage Ten Eyck facility on Audette. The Press & Guide reports that the former school building has “several structural issues that need to be remedied. For one, the roof leaks in some places and needs to be replaced. Even more pressing is a settling foundation on the backside of the building that has started to cause significant cracking in the cinder block walls.”
“Those are very major expenses that will need to be address so if there are opportunities to save money we’re definitely interested in exploring our options,” DPS Spokesman David Mustonen told the Press & Guide.
So where would Dearborn City Hall and the Dearborn School District relocate?
Top on the list is the old ADP Detroit sales headquarters on Michigan Avenue. Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr., told the Press & Guide that the property is about to revert to bank ownership and that within the next few weeks it should be on the market at a bargain-basement price.
The building is located across the street from Ford Motor Co. world headquarters and sitting adjacent to a nearly half-mile-long campus of other municipal properties, the move would consolidate all of the city’s biggest entities into one central location, the Press & Guide says.
The idea of combining administrative offices has been on the table for several years and was one of the considerations in 2003 when the city spent $2.3 million to purchase the 5.9-acre parcel between the ADP building and Henry Ford Centennial Library, the paper says. Part of the purchase agreement with Ford Land Development Co. was that the property, which is a grassy field, had to be turned into an office space within 15 years.
The Press & Guide says Dearborn could have a potential buyer for City Hall in the developer ArtSpace, which is looking to establish a live/work facility for artists in Dearborn. The mayor recently gave the Minneapolis-based nonprofit a tour of City Hall. With its big windows and tall ceilings, the Georgian-Revival style building fits a lot of criteria ArtSpace looks for in a redevelopment project.
“The timing of this is extremely good when you look at all the factors from the efficiencies too possible savings,” O’Reilly told the Press & Guide. “But we’ll do a thorough evaluation of it and if it works we’ll pursue it and if it doesn’t we won’t.”
January 23rd, 2012 at 7:54 am
Anyone else get scared when they read “bargain-basement price”??
January 23rd, 2012 at 10:11 am
Sorry but this is such a stupid idea!!! No wonder these politicians wanted the tax increase by 3.5 mills. It has nothing to do with paying police or firefighters. It has everything to do with moving them to what they feel is a more comfy office building. No offense but the School and City Administrations need to stay seprate!!!
January 23rd, 2012 at 10:40 am
You have got to be kidding me! I read this in the paper this weekend and couldn’t believe the stupidity. These politicians need to be replaced. There is nothing wrong with our beautiful City Hall. It is paid for! The repairs and maintenance on that building would be far less than going into debt and spending the new millage money that was just approved on a new building. …and what would happen to our beautiful City Hall building – I will tell you it would be vacant and stand empty like Jacobson’s and Monkey Wards did for years, until they spent even more money to buy the property and develop it. Can we all say “Shaheen”?, and the 3million dollar purchase of the Monkey Ward building and then the sale of the building to Shaheen and his buddies for a million dollars! A $2M loss to the city. They say they have a “prospective” art person interested in the building, please! when did art people ever have money of their own? This is a stupid idea that needs to be stopped before the city spends any more money thinking about it, or investing thousands of dollars in consultants to tell them how it would work. STOP THE MADNESS – NOW!
January 23rd, 2012 at 11:43 am
Should this work out to create a huge savings to the city, then perhaps it might be a feasible option. However, it seems that the city’s timing of these announcements is not pleasing many citizens who are more concerned with saving outdoor pools, libraries and services, as they should be.
January 23rd, 2012 at 12:21 pm
approve
January 23rd, 2012 at 12:21 pm
approve
January 23rd, 2012 at 12:47 pm
I agree with the folks that think this is a STUPID idea. The city hall is a wonderful symbol of Dearborn and should stay that way. Fix the building and stay. There will be a rebellion if the city uses the millage for their own luxury purchases rather than preserving Dearborn’s history. Right, we do not need more consultants such as the Keenan report that has had no effect that I know of. Poor use of our tax dollars.
January 23rd, 2012 at 1:39 pm
The parking garage is crumbling? Maybe we could put in a metered lot… it worked so well for the businesses along Michigan Ave. in West Dearborn.
January 23rd, 2012 at 4:54 pm
This is so wrong on so many levels. I suspect the underground parking garage issues are exagerrated to make the idea more appealing.
January 23rd, 2012 at 5:39 pm
I live a block north of city hall. I think it’s a beautiful building. I think it should be vacated immediately. It’s ninety years old, a big waste of heating and cooling energy, the central concourse that wa built 30 years ago is sinking, the roof leaks and the parking deck is crumbling. If the ADP bulding is in good shape and if we can get it for a bargain price, I say go for it.. Consolidating city and school buildings into one campus in the center of town makes excellent sense and will save citizens lots of money down the road. Stop being so reactionary, . If the money’s in the capital improvement budget of both the city and the school board,go and buy the building.And if ArtSpace buys the city hall, it can only do wonders for my neighborhood.An artists community in East Dearborn? Great.
January 23rd, 2012 at 10:59 pm
The question I have is – I thought Dearborn was in a financial crisis? Funny how both Dearborn and Dearborn Heights get extra tax money and it’s business as usual.
January 24th, 2012 at 6:11 am
The parking garage has been repaired before. But not that well.
Also, go to the parking lot across the street and look at how much the top deck is sagging. It’s EXTREMELY noticeable.
The building is falling apart.
January 24th, 2012 at 6:53 am
Come on folks this administration is playing us like a fiddle. A 3.5 mil increase in our taxes and now the mayor is singing another tune. He has said that no pools are closing, no libraries are closing, no ten percent pay decrease for he or his appointees and now, let’s move city hall. Although I agree the place is crumbling not only structurally but this administration has been a complete disaster! I’m sure another “committee” will be created so the mayor can ignore their input too.
The only bright light I see is that the police won’t have to go as far when they arrest Terry Jones illegally again! Maybe Mark Somers can rent space there when he, O’Reilly, Walling and company have another brilliant idea.
January 24th, 2012 at 7:01 am
Hey, the administration will be closer to the train station so they can “get the hell out of town.”
O’Reilly is saying we now five years to correct our financial disaster. Ever wonder why he wanted the majic five year sunset clause?? So he won’t make any tough decisions until after his re-election. He is so busy trying to keep his job that he has forgotten to do his job. He and the city council have not made any tough decisions and keep kicking the can down the road. It’s hard to eat a steak when your sitting on your hands.
January 24th, 2012 at 8:34 am
OK, city hall is crumbling and old. It is in need of repair or replacement. BUT, we are in a finnancial emergency, according to our leaders. If you spend more than you have you are further in debt. There are more important things to spend money on in Dearborn, when you don’t have any, like Homecoming and Camp Dearborn. Save your deficit spending for these luxuries.
January 24th, 2012 at 10:28 am
This is why I did not vote for any of the millage increases. I learned when I voted for the money for the Recreation Center and that monstrosity Performing Arts Center was what we got. Oh, yes Ford bailed them out on that. But do we know how much we are subsidising the whole kaboodle on a yearly basis? They tell us that a rate increase will be for one thing, then go on a Real Estate spending spree – or whatever else fits their fancy, and totally forget what the taxpayers want. (I remember one Council member saying that because the people elected them, that they will agree with whatever decisions they make.) When we get an Administration that knows that the voters expect them to do what they say they will do then and only then will I vote for a millage increase. If only the rest of the city felt the same.
January 24th, 2012 at 1:36 pm
Put us deeper in debt big boy. Between you and Somers you are killing our City, and now you want this latest request. You must believe we are all chumps, however you are going to see with your little buddy Somers that this is going to be the start of your demise, big fella, people now can’t stand you as much as your little puppet Somers. Enjoy what you have now, because you are going to crumble, one large chunk at a time.
January 24th, 2012 at 1:55 pm
Lois I agreee with u, get the WHOPPER (O’Reilly) and his yes men closer to the train station, and hope they leave this City once and for all, because we all know how much they have cost us, so they can leave their bills owed behind — just leave. If thats what you want is a new City Hall, simply add it to the bill you have already accumulated with lawsuits, and mis-management — just get out of town fast.
January 24th, 2012 at 2:19 pm
When are politicians going to learn to work within a budget??!! They seem to put a list together of all the things they’re going to do within the fiscal year and THEN try to find the money to do it with. Nobody seems to understand “living within your means” anymore. When you make a budget, you start with CASH ON HAND … not what you THINK you’re going to have, but what you ACTUALLY have to work with. If you have a building that is PAID FOR, it is much cheaper to make annual repairs than to go out and buy a whole new building. I hope the city voting population votes smart and gets a whole new administration into offices!
January 24th, 2012 at 5:32 pm
Get with it people Big Jack, and his muppet City Council, are playing us, just remember this next time at the polls.
January 24th, 2012 at 8:06 pm
As long as they don’t bring Fakehurry in as the preferred developer of ADP, it might work.
City Hall a ridiculously old building, it should be a movie set, or moved to the Henry Ford. If someone will pay us decent cash money, move.
But justify the expense by using it as a reason to cut the payroll currently in that building complex by 20%. Let’s leverage a new campus and state of the art technology with some creative and very extreme thinking about eliminating a lot of jobs and budget obligations. Think like Rick Snyder, not some old Dearborn pol.
In my business, we have had to do a lot more with a lot less, and I would commend that “best practice” to His Honor. It is very possible, and should be done.
Btw, very funny about the paid parking around City Hall . . . hmm, maybe that is a good idea, especially if the Mayor has to run out to feed the meter. Might help him understand why its (he’s) not too popular.
January 25th, 2012 at 8:47 am
Supt. Of Schools shut down the Big Boys prospective plans, by saying he was premature in alerting the media of a possible consolidation. Then again thats always been the way the Big Boy operates, tripping over his mouth, and feet before something comes to fruition. I personally believe he likes to see his name in the papers, even though it makes him look like a complete fool most of the time. Work on the budget, forget about your pie in the sky ideas, that are as goofy as you ad Somers appear to be.
January 26th, 2012 at 7:49 am
I thought the City was broke and that is why they needed a bail out with more tax revenue. You threw them a few bucks to ‘help’ out and now they have enough money for a whole new place? O’Reilly and this Council sure know how to spend. I don’t trust any of them. As far as Whiston, I am sure he and O’Reilly made some back door deal about the joint venture. When O’Reilly spilled the beans before Whiston realized he needs to speak to the Board of Ed, Whiston denies it ever happen. Whiston plays this School Board. I hope having some new blood like McDonald might allow some fresh eyes to see what is going on. We need some fresh eyes on City Council too as well as a new leader, Mayor.
January 27th, 2012 at 1:16 pm
Does anyone know what the life expectancy of parking structures are? My gosh if they can ‘t last 50 years than what is in store for the monstrosities in West Dearborn. they will be falling apart before they are ever used!! Maybe we should get better contractors and not cronies to do the building for the city and things will last as long as our beautiful city hall. Old buildings have upkeep – shame on Dearborn for not keeping up the old building and letting it get to this point.
January 28th, 2012 at 10:07 am
Mike you seem to think you are some great thinker,however look a little deeper this current line of thinking is what we can expect from this administration. They just aren’t forward thinking, they just follow what the Big Boy tellsthem, and then they rubberstamp it, because they want somebody to do their thinking for them. Get rid of all the bums in the next election.
January 29th, 2012 at 10:32 pm
And they couldn’t afford $120K per year to keep Snow Library open?
January 30th, 2012 at 6:07 pm
I, too, wonder if there is really a viable buyer for the City Hall property, Draona, but please, the Wards site was bought by the city from Shahine, then sold to the hospital group. Does anyone have the numbers for the sale to the hospital group?
January 30th, 2012 at 8:05 pm
I read somewhere that the sale of Dearborn Towers was held up because of asbestos. Can the Arts group handle that and the lead paint in the city hall building? I feel they should stay where they are and fix what needs to be fixed on a budget – can the city actually stay on a budget? The present City Hall is magnificent looking from the outside and represents the many years that Dearborn has been a city. The suggested newer building certainly will not.
January 31st, 2012 at 11:59 am
Mary Anne u are so right, however if it is truly ready to crumble, maybe they should house Somers’ courtroom in there, because he cost the City enough not to refurbish it, and they can all crumble together.
April 10th, 2012 at 5:31 pm
How can the Non-profit afford the repairs, sound like another politic spin into failure.
April 11th, 2012 at 10:50 am
Quit the BULL: you have raised an excellent question. Don’t be surprised that such a deal would probably be the sale of City Hall for next to nothing so the group could handle the millions in repairs it needs. Lots of pitfalls with this ill-conceived plan . . .