The Wurlitzer Building, a 14-story structure with wild trees on the roof, is now under contract to a developer who intends to renovate it, Louis Aguilar reports in the Detroit News.
The building, at 1509 Broadway, across the street from the Detroit Opera House, has been sold to an unidentified “Israeli developer with major plans,” said Michael Muller, a lawyer for the city of Detroit.
“We’re clearing the way for (the sale),” Muller said, so the deal can go through without any outstanding issues from the court case. “It should close in 30 days,” Muller said. The building is owned by 1509 Broadway LLC, whose managing member is attorney Paul Curtis.
The building once housed the famous Wurlitzer Co., which made pianos, organs, jukeboxes, radios and instruments, according to the website HistoricDetroit.org.
In recent years, the building has been shedding bricks and stone. The city has pursued the current owner over the building in Wayne County Circuit Court since 2011. That was the year a 40-pound chunk of terracotta fell and crashed through the roof of a neighboring building.
