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[FONT=Verdana]After years of debate and false hopes, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has decided to raze Tiger Stadium, the historic but decaying home of Ty Cobb, Hank Greenberg and the 1984 World Series champion Tigers.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]In its place, Kilpatrick envisions a ring of retail shops and residential housing surrounding the historic playing field, which will be preserved as a nonprofit park and ball diamond.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]The mayor said his conceptual plan, revealed in detail to the Free Press on Thursday, is the best chance to boost the outlook for the Corktown neighborhood and to save and celebrate one of America's most famous baseball fields.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]"We joined in partnership with the Corktown community to take the necessary steps to move our city forward," Kilpatrick said.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]"The decision meets our goals of increasing economic development while maintaining the integrity of the neighborhood. The future of the Michigan and Trumbull site will honor and preserve the memory of Tiger Stadium."[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Scott Martin, executive director of the Greater Corktown Development Corp., a community-based housing development agency that brought the plan to the city last year, said the neighborhood badly needs a boost that new homes and retail stores can deliver.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]"We see it as a huge economic development tool for our neighborhood and for the city as a whole," he said.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Under the plan, the playing field would be used for Little League games, concerts and other community events. The dugouts and a few other parts of the stadium would be saved.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]The plan envisions saving a small part of the stadium near the corner of Michigan and[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Cochrane, which would be redesigned as a community welcome center displaying photographs and memorabilia of the Tigers.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]The mayor's plan eventually will go to the City Council for approval. But that won't happen until Jackson and his staffers at the DEGC develop a more detailed program for the site and for which portions of the stadium can be saved.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]A lot of planning must take place before demolition actually can begin sometime this fall. Among other things, Jackson said the city would hire a historic salvage consultant to determine whether the stadium seats and other artifacts can be sold to the public in a fund-raising program.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]The city will pay for demolition, expected to cost about $3 million to $6 million. The developers chosen to build the retail-residential projects would have to come up with the money to do so, broadly estimated at somewhere between $40 million and $70 million depending on how many units are built.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]While at least 90% of the stadium structure will be razed, a big question remains over what exactly to save. The city plans to hire architectural consultants and planners to survey the stadium and help decide what can and should be kept.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]One thought is to retain the locker rooms and the press box where Ernie Harwell broadcast games for decades. Other suggestions include keeping a row of seats.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]Peter Zeiler, a business development staffer at the DEGC, said the plan preserves the best of what made Tiger Stadium special.[/FONT]
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