It was where the upper crust ate lunch, had a cocktail, made connections and brokered business deals. In the day, Presidents like Franklin Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover and Harry Truman visited, and businessmen like Henry Ford II hung out.
By 1996, the Detroit Club on Cass Avenue and Fort Street in downtown Detroit only had about 30 members. And according to the Detroit News, the building was almost sold around then, but the sale fell through.
Then, according to Louis Aguilar in the Detroit News:
John Booth II, retired president of broadcasting firm Booth American Co., took control of the building. According to Crain’s Detroit Business, the club borrowed about $325,000 to pay taxes and keep the building open for the next 16 years.
Now, the building, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005, has been sold, according to the Detroit News.
Aguilar goes on to write:
The 35,000-square-foot, Romanesque Revival building at the northeast corner of Cass Avenue and Fort Street was bought last week by Emre Uralli for an undisclosed amount, according to Lorna Abraham. Lorna and Nick Abraham had owned the building since 2011. The two are longtime members of the Detroit Club and they hoped to revive its one-percenter glory.
New owner Uralli said Thursday afternoon he couldn’t comment because he was rushing to board an airplane.
“I believe you will see more of the same in the future,” Lorna Abraham said Thursday. “It will be a place where top business leaders will meet and socialize.”
