DETROIT — A controversial plan to create space for a new Detroit apartment building by possibly demolishing two old houses in the city’s West Village neighborhood received tentative approval on Wednesday night.

Historic District Commission members heard a mix of praise and criticism during a public hearing for the proposed four-story, 47-unit development known as The Coe at West Village Phase II. Following a lengthy discussion, they voted 4-0 to grant the project’s developer a “notice to proceed.”

However, the commissioners attached two conditions to their approval that the developer, Clifford Brown of Woodborn Partners, must fulfill before any work can begin. First, a good faith effort must be made to market the two old and empty houses to anyone willing to save and relocate them. And second, the apartment building must be redesigned to be less monolithic in appearance, and the new drawings submitted to the commission for approval.

The commissioners briefly considered issuing a temporary denial until presentation of the new building design drawings, but changed tack once Brown told them that approval with conditions would allow him to obtain financing for the $16 million project while the design is adjusted.

“Our goal is to have a beautiful building,” he said.

Prior to the vote, about a dozen people voiced their opinions — with slightly more opposition than support — during the public hearing. Some were firmly against razing the two houses on the development site at 1514 and 1532 Van Dyke. They are among the oldest houses in the West Village and are believed to date to at least the 1890s.

Others spoke out against the proposed design for being out of place in a historic district.

Resident Joanne Warwick called the design “boxy, bougie, ugly.”

“There is so much vacant land in this city that this does not need to be done here,” Warwick said. “It is totally out of character for a historic neighborhood.”

And Robert Rhoades noted how The Coe at West Village Phase I, which opened in 2017 with 12 apartments, was also a contemporary architectural design.

“Maybe something can continue to look like a historic neighborhood when one modern building is built,” Rhoades said, “but if you build another and yet another … when does it stop being an historic neighborhood?”

But other speakers praised Brown for holding numerous community outreach meetings about the project and said there are many groups and individuals who do support it.

Resident John Bolt said it would be wrong for the commission to reject the plan and the developer’s significant investment in their neighborhood.

“I just can’t think of a more parochial institution than a historic district blocking real growth for a community for plainly subjective reasons like this,” Bolt said. “No one wants to buy those houses. They’re not nice homes. They’re damaged dramatically — it’s going to be very costly to fix them.”

Brown told the commission that he hopes to essentially give the houses away for $1 to someone who can relocate them. The cost for such a relocation, he said, could be about $400,000.

Although the commission previously issued a “notice to proceed” for the development in 2022, including with potential demolition approval of the houses, the developer recently revised the project’s design for cost reasons, so a new approval became necessary.

Following Wednesday’s meeting, Brown said he believes he can satisfy the new approval conditions and get the development built.

“I appreciate everybody’s patience, even the people who weren’t for it,” he said.

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the Detroit Free Press and then was distributed on the USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.

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SAVANNAH, Ga. — A federal government building in downtown Savannah is officially slated for demolition as part of the U.S. General Services Administration’s push to reduce the federal real estate portfolio.

The Juliette Gordon Low Building A at 120 Barnard St., on Telfair Square’s northeastern trust lot, is slated for demolition starting May 25. GSA has cited multiple recurring maintenance issues and the lack of a foreseeable federal tenant as reasons for the demolition.

“After an evaluation of the building’s current condition and its long-term viability for federal use, GSA has concluded the building is not suitable for continued use due to significant deferred maintenance requirements,” a GSA spokesperson stated.

Savannah Mayor Van Johnson announced the news at a press conference, adding that GSA’s decision requires no permissions or permitting from the city of Savannah. Juliette Gordon Low Building A is not a contributing structure within Savannah’s Downtown Historic District. Contributing resources are buildings or sites that add to architectural or historic value that makes a district significant.

Demolition is expected to take three months, and GSA has plans to restore the site with grass and landscaping, according to a GSA memo shared with the city of Savannah and obtained by the Savannah Morning News. GSA also plans to extend security fencing from the nearby Tomochichi Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse as well as install exterior lighting and security cameras at the site, according to the memo.

Multiple traffic impacts are anticipated during demolition, including full closure of State Street between Whitaker Street and Barnard Street for two to four weeks, the memo states.

“We recognize we may not be able to control what happens, but we can make sure that the public knows what we know,” Johnson said.

The building is currently unoccupied by any federal services. Recently, it has been used as construction offices during a renovation of the Tomochichi complex, the GSA spokesperson stated. Specific deferred maintenance issues at Juliette Gordon Low Building A include recurring roof leaks, a nonfunctional elevator, plumbing problems, and an aged HVAC system with limited function, according to GSA.

The Trump administration has sought to “right-size” the federal government’s real estate portfolio. The effort was launched in April 2025 via an executive order aimed at allowing agencies to assess office space based on cost-effectiveness and “mission suitability,” according to a White House fact sheet.

GSA manages roughly 363 million square feet of space across 8,397 buildings, including courthouses and post offices in addition to office buildings, according to GSA’s website. The agency stated in a Jan. 20 press release that it has disposed of 90 properties and reduced its portfolio by 3 million square feet.

Juliette Gordon Low Building A is the first known planned demolition in Savannah during Trump’s second administration.

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the Savannah Morning News and then was distributed on the USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.

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The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde last week began the third phase of demolition at its 23-acre property, recently named Tumwata Village, in Oregon City. Multiple structures will be razed during the next four to five months.

The site had been home to the Blue Heron paper mill for years until the business closed in 2011. Grand Ronde acquired the property, part of its ancestral homelands, in 2019. The Tribe unveiled the site’s new name last year.

All structures are located on the northwestern section of the property, close to downtown Oregon City. Among the buildings scheduled for demolition are two that housed paper machines – Mill D and one known as the “Butler Building.”

Phase one of demolition took place in 2021, and phase two followed in 2022. This phase won’t be the last; the Tribe anticipates additional demolition will be necessary to achieve its full vision for the site. That includes environmental and cultural restoration as well as thoughtful new development and creation of public access to Willamette Falls.

Since purchasing the property in August 2019, the Tribe has started environmental remediation (August 2019), unveiled its vision for the site (March 2021), launched demolition (September 2021), and secured support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (May 2021) as well as $2 million for infrastructure improvements from Congress (October 2021).

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The first step toward reopening O’Bryant Square — demolition of the current structure — is moving forward. Transportation Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty has signed off on an emergency procurement letter to move forward with demolition.

The O’Bryant Square Plaza and Garage first opened in 1972 and was named for Hugh Donaldson O’Bryant, Portland’s first mayor. The garage provided about 100 parking spaces during that time. In 2018, a retaining wall in the southwest corner of the garage was found to be structurally deficient. A portion of the deficient wall had been reused from a building on the site that was built around 1915. Leaks into the garage were also discovered.

These safety concerns prompted the closure of the garage and plaza above it in 2018. A fence has closed off O’Bryant Square to the public ever since.

With an agreement now in place, demolition is expected to start in early 2023 with estimated completion during summer 2023. This will include the removal of all hardscape and structures, filling the structure with dirt, and then covering the surface with a new layer of grass.

Portland Parks and Recreation will begin work in early 2023 to program the new space in the near term, while designing a permanent new park long-term. Portland Parks and Recreation and the Portland Parks Foundation are collaborating with the Center for Public Interest Design, along with the Harvard Loeb Fellowship, to convene a community outreach effort March 7-11. Portland Parks Foundation Executive Director Randy Gragg said the event will bring various stakeholders to think about how the park can best serve those around it.

The demolition is a chance to restart, Gragg added, stating that the park was designed for a particular era.

“In its early days, it was an important public space,” Gragg said. “Lots of things happened there.”

As Pioneer Courthouse Square was built, the energy at O’Bryant got sucked away, Gragg added.

The park will be programmed first by Portland Parks and Recreation and designed later. An architect is not selected for the project at this time.

“We are very pleased to see that Portland Parks is moving forward with demolition of O’Bryant Square in early January,” Tim Eddy, president of Hennebery Eddy Architects, stated in an email. “Hennebery Eddy’s office space has overlooked the Square since 1992 – we have seen the good and the not-so-good aspects of the Square for the past 30 years.”

In 2018, Hennebery Eddy convened a focus group of local property owners, architects, landscape architects, city officials and interested parties to chart a path toward reopening the square, in some form, as soon as possible.

“While we haven’t reviewed the demolition plans we are excited to hear that this is the direction the project is headed,” Eddy said. “In short, completing this work is essential to the health of downtown and it can’t happen soon enough.”

An agreement for demolition is expected soon with Northwest Infrastructure LLC (NWI). The estimated cost of the agreement is $4.5 million.

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By Gillian Flaccus

The Associated Press

PORTLAND — Federal regulators have issued a final environmental impact statement that supports the demolition of four massive dams on the Klamath River to save imperiled migratory salmon.

The staff’s recommendation, which largely echoes an earlier draft opinion, tees up a vote on the roughly $500 million project by the five-member Federal Energy Regulatory Commission later this year.

The removal of the four hydroelectric dams on the lower Klamath River – one in southern Oregon and three in California – would be the largest dam demolition project in U.S. history.

The aging dams near the Oregon-California border were built before current environmental regulations and essentially cut the 253-mile-long river in half for migrating salmon. Those fish have been hit hard by warming waters and low river flows caused by severe drought and competition for water with agricultural interests.

The project on California’s second-largest river would be at the vanguard of a push to demolish dams in the U.S. as the structures age and become less economically viable and as concerns grow about their environmental impact, particularly on fish.

Northern California tribes have been fighting for years to remove the dams. They applauded the latest news.

“We can see the light at the end of the dam removal tunnel,” Karuk Chairman Russell ‘Buster’ Attebery stated. “I am so proud of everyone in our river communities that have worked so hard for the past 20 years to realize our vision of river restoration.”

Coho salmon from the river are listed as threatened under federal and California law, and their population has fallen by anywhere from 52 percent to 95 percent. Spring chinook salmon, once the Klamath Basin’s largest run, have dwindled by 98 percent.

Fall chinook, the last to persist in any significant numbers, have been so meager in the past few years that the Yurok Tribe canceled fishing last year for the first time in memory. In 2017, they bought fish at a grocery store for their annual salmon festival.

In recent years, as many as 90 percent of juvenile salmon sampled tested positive for a disease that flourishes when river flows are low.

If the dams were to remain, power company PacifiCorp would likely have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to retrofit the structures to comply with today’s environmental laws. Also, the utility has said the electricity generated by the dams no longer makes up a significant part of its power portfolio.

The original demolition proposal foundered after regulators initially balked at allowing PacifiCorp to completely exit the project.

A historic deal reached in 2020 made Oregon and California equal partners in the demolition with a nonprofit entity called the Klamath River Renewal Corporation, which will oversee the project. That deal also added $45 million to the project’s $450 million budget after concerns that the available funds weren’t enough to cover any overruns.

Oregon, California, and PacifiCorp, which operates the hydroelectric dams and is owned by billionaire Warren Buffett’s company Berkshire Hathaway, each provided one-third of the additional funds.

Some critics have said Oregon and California governors were irresponsible to assume financial responsibility for cost overruns and object that part of the project is financed by a voter-approved California water bond.

Some local and state officials worry about flood control and residents who live around a large reservoir created by one of the dams have unsuccessfully sued to stop the project.

The dams that would be demolished are the Iron Gate, Copco 1 and Copco 2 in California and the J.C. Boyle in Oregon.

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By Ashok Sharma

The Associated Press

NEW DELHI — Two apartment high-rises in India were leveled in a controlled demolition on Sunday after the country’s top court declared them illegal for violating building norms, officials said. The buildings, one nearly 328 feet tall, became India’s tallest to be razed to the ground.

More than 1,500 families vacated their apartments in the area more than seven hours before the towers crumbled inward. The 32-story and 29-story structures, which were being constructed by a private builder in Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi, were yet to be occupied.

“Largely, everything is OK,” said Ritu Maheshwari, a government administrator, after the demolition. “It happened as expected.”

The demolition was completed within seconds but followed a 12-year court battle between residents in the area and the builder, Supertech Limited. The Supreme Court found that the builder, in collusion with government officials, violated laws prohibiting construction within a certain distance from nearby buildings.

Construction of the two towers also was illegal, the Supreme Court said, because the builder did not receive mandatory consent from other apartment owners in the area.

Ahead of the demolition, the towers were surrounded by scaffolding, fences, barricades and special covers to block dust generated by approximately 88,000 tons of debris, officials said. Disposal of that debris will take three months.

Residents of units nearby were expected to return to the area Sunday evening after experts examined the impact of the demolition. Some apartments are located just 29.5 feet away from the blast site, and the required safe distance is 65.6 feet.

“It would come in the top five demolitions in the world in terms of height, volume, steel and tightness of the structure,” said Utkarsh Mehta, a partner with Edifice Engineering, which brought down the building in collaboration with Jet Demolition from South Africa at a cost of $2.25 million.

Mehta said 7,716 pounds of explosives were drilled into thousands of holes in the columns and shears of the towers. Experts used the waterfall method of demolition in which one story collapses upon the next.

Joe Brikmann, director of Jet Demolition, said earlier he was confident no harm would come to the buildings adjacent to the demolished towers.

“The buildings in this area are in a high seismic zone (zone IV) and built to experience earthquakes, which are much stronger than vibrations from an implosion; we are confident that the implosion of the towers will not cause any damage to properties,” Brikmann said, according to The Times of India newspaper.

Worldwide, the tallest building demolished with explosives was 541 feet tall. That event occurred in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on Nov. 27, 2020, according to Guinness World Records.

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When the historic United Workmen Temple was demolished last fall, many in Portland were upset by the loss of the 1892 vintage building.

Formerly located at the corner of Southwest 2^nd and Taylor, it is one of two historic unreinforced masonry structures torn down to make way for the ambitious Third and Taylor project, which will see a 20-story hotel and 10-story office tower emerge from the rubble.

The second to fall is the old Lotus Hotel building, home to one of Portland’s most famous nightspots, the Lotus Cardroom and Café, from 1924 until its closure two years ago. The 1906 structure currently is being demolished as general contractor Turner Construction ramps up work on the two new high-rise projects planned for the site.

Check out a photo gallery below of the demolition during its early stages, and don’t forget to check back in a few days for the full story.

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A recent move by the city of Portland to ensure that planned demolitions of historic properties must wait at least 120 days is welcomed by preservationists, according to Restore Oregon Executive Director Peggy Moretti.

“Closing the loophole is not a magic bullet but does give some breathing (room) to start a dialogue with the property owner and maybe propose alternative solutions,” she said.

The Oregon Supreme Court recently ruled that new owners of a property deemed historic by a local body don’t have the right to remove that designation. In response, Portland officials on Aug. 29 issued “a ” that reinstates a 120-day delay after a demolition permit is sought for structures listed on the city’s Historic Resource Inventory. The change took effect Sept. 1.

Now the city is in line with state law in regard to delays for historic demolitions, Moretti said.

Restore Oregon for years has put pressure on the city to close a loophole that allowed property owners to evade the delay, Moretti said. Meanwhile, many citizens have issued complaints about the high number of demolitions taking place in the city.

Historic preservation guide

Many owners of historic properties want to know more about how to protect them, Moretti said, and Restore Oregon has created a tool that can help. The nonprofit on its website offers a free download of its new .

The 70-page guide informs owners how to document their property, create a rehab plan, find funding sources, work with preservationists and gain community support for preservation.

“It helps them understand how to approach a historic preservation project with information like funding models, grant funding and tax credits,” Moretti said.

The booklet includes substantial details, such as a lengthy checklist for evaluating every aspect of a building’s physical condition, descriptions of applicable regulations and a look at the state of the real estate market. One chapter gives tips on funding sources for historic restoration and rehabilitation – including bank loans, urban renewal funding, federal tax credits and grants.

Establishing a historic district

Another way to save historic buildings, Moretti said, is by seeking historic district designations for their neighborhoods. A demolition request for a building in such a district is made to the Portland Historic Landmarks Commission, she said, and it’s not an easy sell.

“You’d have to make a pretty strong case,” she said.

Owners also can protect their property with a historic , Moretti said, and the Restore Oregon website gives details about that option.

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After dropping his plan to charge developers $25,000 for razing habitable single-family homes, Portland Mayor Charlie Hales is now looking for other ways to pay for affordable housing.

The week before Christmas, Hales’ office sent a letter to stakeholders informing them that he was abandoning a demolition tax proposal he had formed to achieve two goals: discourage adverse developments in residential neighborhoods, and pay for ambitious efforts to tackle rapidly rising rents and homelessness.

Hales introduced the one-of-a-kind idea in September. Public hearings were held Oct. 14 and Nov. 25, and the proposal went to a vote Dec. 2. Three commissioners expressed opposition – Steve Novick, Amanda Fritz and Nick Fish – but the mayor left the meeting committed to identifying revisions that could win over a majority of commissioners.

Ultimately, he couldn’t find any.

“In subsequent conversations with commissioners, Mayor Hales concluded there are no reasonable changes to the proposal that will satisfy a majority of the City Council,” the mayor’s policy director, Jillian Detweiler, wrote in the letter. “As a result, he will withdraw it.”

The mayor’s office now plans to put forward two proposals addressing negative impacts of demolition – one revising infill development standards to make new houses compatible with existing neighborhoods, and the other promoting the use of deconstruction over demolition to lessen environmental damage.

After Hales announced his tax proposal, building groups and others responded with stark opposition. Oregon Home Builders Association CEO Jon Chandler called the idea a “stunt” that would violate a state law banning cities from establishing excise taxes on construction activities.

Some building industry professionals and neighborhood association members expressed concern that the proposal would misfire and actually increase construction costs and rents, according to Paul Grove of the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland.

“I think the council was very thoughtful on the proposal and understanding about the impact to affordability it would have had,” he said.

In recent months, Hales and Dan Saltzman, the commissioner in charge of the Portland Housing Bureau, have helped set aside $204 million to meet affordable housing goals. New, permanent funding sources are still being sought, the mayor’s spokeswoman, Sara Hottman, stated in an email.

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Two old buildings in downtown Portland have sat mostly vacant for decades, but a proposal to replace them with new structures is getting plenty of pushback.

The design for redevelopment of 7/8 of the block between Southwest Second and Third avenues, and Taylor and Salmon streets originally called for preservation of the 123-year-old Ancient Order of United Workmen Temple and the 109-year-old Hotel Albion. But at a recent design advice hearing before the Portland Design Commission, representatives of Ankrom Moisan Architects presented a new proposal wherein the two buildings would be demolished and replaced with a 20-story hotel and a 10-story office building.

Restore Oregon, a nonprofit, recently filed with the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals an appeal of the city’s decision to allow removal of the two existing buildings from its Historic Resource Inventory. That action was performed by the Bureau of Development Services, at the owner’s request, according to Restore Oregon Executive Director Peggy Moretti.

“We would love to see those buildings not come down,” she said. “And we would like to understand why in the world they can’t be integrated.”

Restore Oregon also sent a letter to Portland City Council urging it to close a “loophole” in city code that allows owners to circumvent a 120-day delay for demolitions of historic buildings.

“The intent is to allow time for public input and exploration of alternatives to demolition,” Moretti said. “The fact that someone could just go and the same day they apply get a property removed is a direct contradiction (to city code) and is also counter to state code.”

The Portland Historic Landmarks Commission also sent a letter to the Design Commission, calling the Temple building “one of the most architecturally-significant downtown buildings” remaining from the 1890s.

“Frankly, we have not seen the demolition of a historic resource of this caliber in our near-decade of tenure on the Landmarks Commission,” the letter states. “It is unprecedented and unthinkable that this would be allowed.”

Murray Jenkins, a principal with Ankrom Moisan, told the Design Commission that as the firm evaluated possible preservation of the buildings, “challenges were great.” He recounted some of the buildings’ problems.

“The Temple building is one of the tallest unreinforced masonry buildings in the city, and while it was under separate ownership, it had not been maintained or upgraded over the years and is in a bad state of repair,” he said. “Floors three through six are still being used for storage, since the 1920s, and it’s also currently on the city’s dangerous building list.”

Jenkins said that 3-D scans of buildings were performed and found that the Temple building was “bearing point loads versus spread footings.” The Hotel Albion, referred to throughout the meeting as the Lotus building because the Lotus Cardroom and Café operates on the first floor, also showed structural limitations, he said.

“In the Lotus building we learned that there were load-bearing masonry walls internal to the building footprint,” he said. “So not only external walls were load-bearing, but we also had internal load-bearing masonry walls. This unfortunately led us to the conclusion that reusing the existing Lotus (building) was not feasible.”

But Jenkins made clear that he and others from his firm were looking for direction as to how to proceed because of both buildings’ structural problems.

“The challenges we face with these buildings are as tough as it gets,” he said.

Michael Great, also a principal with Ankrom Moisan, told the commissioners that his firm’s preference would be to save the two buildings. However, he added that the new design, although “not fully vetted,” would provide much more flexibility.

“What we’re asking you today is for your feedback on design direction,” he said. “We want to listen to what you have to say and further evaluate our choices. We understand there is great value in trying to retain the Temple (building).”

Commissioner Jeff Simpson said he would support any attempt to save the two buildings, but understood their lack of structural integrity. He asked if some of the Temple building’s original features – such as skin and materials – could be retained.

Great replied that would be difficult because of the six-story, unreinforced masonry structure’s substantial height.

“It would be a very complicated solution to maintain the facades,” he said.

Commissioner Tad Savinar asked if the Hotel Albion had any current uses.

“No, everything is empty above the first floor,” Great said. “It is an unserviceable and unusable building from an occupant comfort standpoint. The current owner has not found a use for it that’s appropriate, and the upper floors have not been used for at least 50 years.”

Commissioner Don Vallaster said he would rather see the Hotel Albion saved because it is only three stories and would be simpler to work with.

“I don’t think the Temple building is going to be a big loss,” he said. “It’s kind of like Centennial Mills. It’s old (and) it’s there, but what are you going to do with it? Maybe it’s time to move on.”

Commission Chairman David Wark and Savinar both favored saving the buildings. Wark said he would “absolutely 100 percent prefer restoration over demolition.”

Savinar criticized the lack of detail in the proposal for the new buildings and said that he would have high expectations for any design calling for replacement.

“If you’re going to tear down a historic building, you’d better come back with something great,” he said.

The project is still in the design advice stage and no date has been set for its next appearance before the Design Commission, city planner Hillary Adam said.

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