DETROIT – The city of Detroit describes the former Mammoth retail building as a “dangerous eyesore,” and has filed a lawsuit with the goal of having the building demolished.
The Mammoth building is a former retail building on the southeast corner of Grand River Avenue and Greenfield Road.
Since March 2022, Detroit’s Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department (BSEED) has conducted eight inspections, which uncovered more than 80 violations and resulted in eight correction orders.
Colin Matthews lives near the roughly 100,000-square foot building, which is commonly called the Mammoth Building. Mammoth Department Store was the last tenant to occupy the structure before it closed in 2001, according to Herb Strather, who was listed as a defendant in a lawsuit that the City of Detroit filed on April 25.
Strather, who identified himself as one of the owners of the property, said needed help to demolish and redevelop the site.
“There’s American Rescue dollars available. That will provide the gap for what is missing. And I want the city to work with me. That’s all I’m asking for the city to work with me. So, I can finish off my legacy,” he said.
City administrators put the building on its M100 list, which identified more than 100 structures that need to be torn down. They said American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds support the cost of demolitions.
“No longer are we going to stand to allow our community not to receive what they deserve,” said Detroit City Council President Pro Tem James Tate.
The building has sat vacant for more than two decades with peeling paint and a crumbling facade. Time has not treated the building well. Detroit officials allege that the owners, identified in the lawsuit as Grand River Place, L.L.C. and Greenfield Penthouse Manor, L.L.C., have failed to do any better.
“The Mammoth Building is an example of the kind of degradation that we’ve had to live with in this city for the last 20 to 30 years,” said Conrad Mallet, corporation counsel for the City of Detroit.
He said there is also concern about the structural integrity of the pedestrian bridge that spans Grand River Avenue and connects the Mammoth Building and the Tower Center Mall.
The complaint stated that the bridge “shows signs of crumbling and separating concrete.” Mallet put it more bluntly at a press conference on Friday and said the bridge is “falling down.”
Mallet clarified that the bridge did not pose an imminent risk to the drivers or pedestrians below on Grand River. He added that if it were necessary, there would be emergency repairs or demolition.
But Detroit resident Colin Matthews was concerned about blight and safety.
“I’ve owned the house right there for 30 years, and they have not done anything. He (Strather) hasn’t even maintained the building,” he said. “It’s open right now. People go in and out of that building all the time.
The commercial space was built for Federal’s Department Store in 1949, according to research shared in the complaint.