Detroit’s most infamous counterculture hotspot is out there.
The previous Grande Ballroom, at 8952 Grand River, has been put up on the market for $5 million. The property, which fell into disuse within the early Nineteen Eighties, is owned by the close by Chapel Hill Missionary Baptist Church, which bought it in 2006 for $60,000.
A sale announcement was posted on-line Sunday by the Dorsett Brokerage Improvement & Administration Group of Detroit.
A church consultant who spoke to the Free Press declined to elaborate on the potential sale.
The long-dilapidated constructing has been the supply of a few of Detroit’s most enduring rock mythologies, lengthy immortalized in songs and films, together with the 2012 documentary “Louder Than Love.”
Continued:2022 Grammy Winner Chucho Valdés Named Artist-in-Residence for Detroit Jazz Competition
Continued:Jack White to carry out the nationwide anthem on Detroit Tigers opening day at Comerica Park
From 1966 to 1972, the Grande reigned as Detroit’s premier rock venue, the nerve heart of town’s hippie musical tradition. Touring friends included Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and the Who, whereas native artists corresponding to Ted Nugent’s MC5, Stooges, Frost and Amboy Dukes had been regulars.
In October 1968, MC5 – the venue’s home band – recorded their explosive debut album, “Kick Out the Jams”, at two Grande exhibits. A 2,000 sq. foot mural commemorating MC5 was painted on the east facet of the constructing in 2018, in celebration of the album’s fiftieth anniversary.
To an earlier technology of Detroiters, the Grande was greatest generally known as a sublime West Facet ballroom, which hosted dances and massive band events. It was sister venue to the East Facet Vainness Ballroom, which has undergone important rehabilitation and growth within the Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood.
In 2018, the Grande earned a spot on the Nationwide Register of Historic Locations, overseen by the Nationwide Park Service. Whereas this standing doesn’t present the safety provided by another state and federal historic designations, it may present a monetary profit to a developer via Michigan’s new State Historic Tax Credit score program, enacted in late 2020.
Longtime Grande Ballroom advocate Leo Early, writer of “The Grande Ballroom: Detroit’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Palace” in 2016, mentioned officers at Chapel Hill Missionary had been discussing a potential sale for a number of years.
However the church had additionally had the concept of restoring the unused and vacant constructing itself – probably for combined residential and industrial use – together with new assembly house on the second ground, website of the previous ballroom.
Demolition was prohibitively costly, Early mentioned.
This week’s gross sales itemizing claims that “it is a main undertaking for a critical developer who’s acquainted with large-scale initiatives; thus understanding the historical past related to the constructing and having the imaginative and prescient to revive an iconic monumental actual property within the metropolis of Detroit.
He additionally asks that the $5 million price ticket not intimidate potential patrons.
“Vendor will take into account all good officers,” the itemizing reads.
Contact Detroit Free Press Music Author Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or [email protected]
More Stories
Maryland Deathfest Might Occur After This 12 months’s Competition
Gwen Stefani debuted an incredible new hair look whereas making a significant Instagram announcement
Ronald Reagan shooter John Hinckley Jr. performing in Brooklyn NY