with some banqueting space on the first [[or 2nd?) floor for weddings and functions at the DOH. The rumor he told me was that Gilbert was going to put up a 20-30 story residential tower. Yeah I had heard about this from one of my buddies who is a manager at the Detroit Opera House, at last August Theatre Tours. Last edited by Gistok April-29-19 at 08:37 PM.

The irony is that with the Ilitch's tying up so many empty lots downtown, it makes the other properties more desireable. I bet the Ilitch owned Madison-Lenox site will remain parking, even though it would be a wonderful adjacent addition to this development. This would really make that section of downtown sizzle. Having other banqueting space attached to the Opera House Grand Foyer in a new development, would be ideal for the Opera House, which like other downtown theatres, make a lot of money off of weddings and other functions. The Grand Foyer at the Opera House, which would be ideal as a banqueting spot, is unfortunately split into 2 halves by a large staircase that spans the opulent space. The Opera House configuration isn't ideal to that kind of development. One thing that the Detroit Opera House needs more of is banqueting space.

I think that initially Gilbert was interested in the site, but other developers, who may offer a better fit to what the Detroit Opera House wants, came forward to offer better development. I agree with the Centre Street facade as being a dead zone, and not a nice way to tie together the Opera House area with the Harmonie Park area. and cost $20 million to build about a dozen years ago. The Opera House Garage is indeed a cash cow for Michigan Opera Theatre.

Detroit opera house parking