FEBRUARY 25, 2015
DETROIT, MICHIGAN
Water from a burst pipe is being blamed for flooding the
lower levels of the mostly vacant 38-story David Stott building in downtown
Detroit.
Authorities have pumped about 2 million gallons of water
from the building as cleanup crews work at the site.
The pipe burst earlier this week, WDIV-TV and WWJ-AM
reported. The flooding happened during bitterly cold temperatures in the city,
leaving icicles hanging from portions of the interior of the building.
The extent of the damage to the 1929 building wasn't
immediately known. Kenneth M. Creighton, senior vice president of DDI Asset
Management LLC, said in a statement that the flood happened sometime between
Sunday morning and Monday morning. He said an insurance investigation is
underway to determine the cause, but it is likely the result of a frozen pipe
during the recent record-cold temperatures.
A Chinese developer, DDI Group, purchased the
210,000-square-foot David Stott Building on Griswold Street for $9.4 million
and the 302,000-square-foot Free Press building on West Lafayette for
$4.2 million in September.
In March 2014, Crain's reported that the broker who sold the
building at auction to Shanghai-based DDI Group and one of the main
tenants in the Stott building were concerned the investors wouldn't
spend what's needed to maintain and lease them out, let alone renovate
them. The building has been mostly vacant since the sale.
There also were issues with the maintenance of the elevator
that services Skybar, which took up the entire 33rd floor of the Stott
building. Detroit Yoga, which occupied 2,500 square feet, left its space citing
landlord concerns.
DDI has two tenants in the David Stott Building, Creighton
said in a statement: One is a local creative agency that it is helping to
relocate while the flood damage is being assessed and repaired. The other
tenant, Skybar, is the subject of a previous court-ordered eviction action, but
has been granted temporary tenancy pending an appeal.
"The majority of the leases inherited upon purchasing
the building have expired, and we have elected not to renew them as we study
the feasibility of redevelopment or resale of the building," he said.