Lincoln Park sets redevelopment/demo deadline for Mellus building

It's becoming crunch time for downtown Lincoln Park's Mellus Newspaper building.

The city's Downtown Development Authority plans to put the historic structure on the August dangerous building review agenda and wil hold a public hearing next month. That means the city has basically set a Sept. 1 deadline for a developer to step forward and renovate the building or, this fall, the city will follow through on demolition bids that it is now soliciting.

The Lincoln Park Preservation Alliance has been working to save the single-story building on Fort Street for the last few years. The 1940s building is on the National Register of Historic Places and is an intrinsic part of the downriver suburb's history, serving as the home of Lincoln Park's local newspaper for decades.

Local preservationists think saving the Mellus and the adjacent Pollak (named after Pollak Jewelers) building is an important step toward preserving downtown Lincoln Park's heritage. The Mellus still has its original porcelain-enameled Moderne commercial exterior while the Pollak building retains its terrazzo entrance sidewalk.

Mellus Newspapers moved out in 1986 and a West Bloomfield-based landlord bought it. He didn't put it on the market until two years ago and it has not been extensively marketed since then. The city bought the building last year and has moved forward with plans to raze it for a surface parking lot.

For information on the Mellus building, contact Leslie Lynch-Wilson at LALynch@wideopenwest.com or (313) 598-3137.

Source: Leslie Lynch-Wilson, president of the Lincoln Park Preservation Alliance
Writer: Jon Zemke

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Historic Sites, Redevelopment, Wayne County

Lincoln Park sets redevelopment/demo deadline for Mellus building

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