The People's Theater: How Lakewood Can Get the Detroit Theatre Historic Preservation Status

My heart aches thinking about a McDonalds potentially taking center stage on Lakewood's main drag.

The unhealthy food, historic food system altering, and laughable low prices aside, the proposed McDonald's would permanently take the place of a Lakewood landmark.

Since 1924, the Detroit Theatre's marquee and screens have been a part of the fabric of the community. 

As concerned citizens spoke out at the meeting Wednesday night about the future of the theater, it became obvious that the first step we, concerned Lakewood residents, need to make is to get the building designated as a historic landmark. How does a community band together to save a building in their town?

It's easy.

Step 1: Organize- First we name the group (idea: People's Theater Co-op or Lakewood Detroit Theater Co-op) a website and Facebook page could be easily created to serve as the place for all save-the-theater info. The Facebook page could be where all interested residents join the movement.

Step 2: Submit Historic Preservation nomination inquiry for the Detroit Theater to the Planning and Development Department of the City of Lakewood (this could be done today!)

Step 3: The Planning and Development Department submits the nomination inquiry to Lakewood's Heritage Advisory Board (their next meeting is June 23rd, so it would be ideal if they received the nomination inquiry before their next meeting).

Step 4: Heritage Advisory Board works with the applicant(s) on the application and reviews it and readies it for submission to the Planning Commission.

Step 5: Planning Commission reviews the nomination and votes on whether or not the building gets historic designation.

Step 6: "Before changing the exterior of a designated historic property or a property in a historic district, an owner needs to submit an application for a Certificate of Appropriateness." Demolition falls under the certificate of appropriateness review, as do several other design and alteration projects (see below for a link to the presentation on the preservation ordinance).

Step 7: The group decides whether to pursue community ownership of the Detroit Theater or another buyer committed to preserving the integrity of the building steps forward and McDonald's, hopefully, doesn't engage them in a bidding war.

In 2008, the city of Lakewood revised the historic preservation code and you can find it here.

As the City of Lakewood noted in the historic preservation ordinance, "a green building is an existing building," and, "investment in a historic building reinforces the value of adjacent buildings, nearby businesses, and the local government," and, "historic preservation creates more jobs than the same amount of new construction, because a higher percentage of the project budget is for labor instead of materials."

I'm ready to help in any way that I can to be part of a community-driven effort to get historic preservation designation for the Detroit Theater and find a suitable future use for the space, one that, preferably, doesn't involve the sale of mass-produced mystery meat patties.