Exploring the Abandoned Macy's Midwest Headquarters
philipithomas.com
philipithomas.com
Warning: I got so caught up in exploring what's been explored I spent over 4 hours of a Friday night engulfed in the secrets hidden in plain sight of somewhere I've lived for 10 years.
While not maintained as of recent the archives are a blast and I made me long for a small, yet trustworthy group of people willing to put some time and effort into continuing the legacy. Then again, sometimes the dream is far more entertainment than the reality...
Anyway, we got in to all of them at one time or another, sometimes via ridiculously elaborate plans.
What finally put an end to it for most of us was returning to one of our favorite buildings and finding someone had set up a wire tied to the inner doorknob that went off somewhere in to the dark hvac room. Our imaginations about what might be at the other end of that wire convinced us that maybe we weren't as invincible as we thought. You never know who else is going in those places.
There was also this weird abandoned castle out in the woods. It was like a funhouse castle, wooden walls, but with fake stone on the outside. Turrets, fake drawbridge, the whole thing. No clue whatsoever how it got there. Must have been some old amusement park? But no one ever found any info on it.
Anyway, it involved parking on the side of this long stretch of country road, then walking a couple hundred yards through some woods. One night as we pulled over to park, this fat redneck dude comes out of the dark woods over to our car. Our windows are down and I'm in the passenger seat.
He points a MAC-10 right at my chest and tells us we need to be leaving.
For one time in my life I have literally nothing to say.
We drive off at a crazy rate of speed and never go back.
Being the south, there's a lot of things that could have been going on there that night, but the place was a few miles from where a crazy mercenary type had his commando training compound, so our theory was his people were using the place that night.
This guy, who also made suppressors for the MAC-10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitchell_Werbell_III
So yeah, things happen in abandoned places.
"The mission, which (according to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Special Subcommittee on Investigations of the House Commerce Committee) was financially subsidized, and to be filmed by CBS news, was aborted when the participants were arrested by the FBI. WerBell was released without being charged."
...A war funded by the news?
There were always a lot of rumors swirling around him. Probably a healthy mix of lies, half-lies, and truths.
His compound was along this road that ran between towns, fenced in, with a rotating police light on a tall pole next to the gate. Supposedly when the light was on, that meant training was "in session", I guess as a warning to anyone who might want to enter. Anyway, it meant that all the locals were aware of him.
One rumor was that he provided School Of The Americas* (a couple hours away) with special training the military couldn't / didn't want to provide directly.
After his death, his son ran the place for a while, and one of this instructors, Jason Lau, opened a specialized kung fu school in the area. Their military supply retail outfit, Brigade Quartermasters, continues in operation- http://www.brigadeqm.com/aboutus.asp
The county I grew up in was very, very, very right wing. Still is to some extent. So he was in the right place.
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Hemisphere_Institute_fo...
I noticed (especially on the linked-in-another-comment detroiturbex) that there are tons of abandoned offices, buildings, libraries and schools in America. Who owns these? How difficult would it be to purchase one, and how expensive? It would be cool to live in one of these (with power and running water, of course) and have freight elevators, PA systems and escalators in your home.
It varies. Sometimes they are still owned by the original tenants but often they are owned by a real estate investor that did triple net leases to large clients. In some cases, the buildings are owned by the city or some other government entity.
The best way to find out is to take a trip to the local courthouse.
> How difficult would it be to purchase one?
Assuming the owner wants to sell, probably a bit difficult. But no more difficult than any other large commercial real estate purchase. The buildings usually don't have some special status just because they are "abandoned". Things that WILL make acquisition more difficult, however, is if the building is an historical landmark, condemned, has asbestos or other environmental problems, is scheduled for demolition by the city, has lots of lien holders and a complicated title, etc. But all of this is just another way of saying that large real estate transactions can be challenging. There's a reason there are large law firms exclusively devoted to this stuff.
> how expensive?
It depends on why it was abandoned. If the existing tenant just went out of business or otherwise moved out due to their own problems or reasons, then the building will probably be priced similarly to other properties in the area (in other words, it's not a given that 'abandoned' somehow entails a price break).
If there are severe location problems (like many places in Detroit, for example) then there may be breaks based on that.
Lastly, if there are severe environmental, structural, or other problems with the property itself, you might be able to purchase it for a song, but that doesn't mean you won't have to spend megabucks to fix it so you can get a certificate of occupancy. Watch out!
Another way to think of all this is that the word 'abandoned' is a romantic term with connotations of artistic urban decay. However, sometimes it's just a vacant building. There's nothing special about it just because no one is currently in there.
> It would be cool to live in one of these (with power and running water, of course) and have freight elevators, PA systems and escalators in your home.
Probably not as cool as you're envisioning. Every one of these things has to be maintained and/or replaced. That's probably going to be just slightly more expensive than calling a residential plumber. Your heating, water, and sanitation bills are likely to be atrocious simply because it's a large building in (probably) an area zoned for commerce. What good is all that space if you have to keep all of it dark except for a few hundred square feet?
Then, of course, you have to worry about squatters and other people who won't realize or won't care that there's someone living in there. I don't know about you, but I'd prefer my home to be a sanctuary and not have to constantly worry whether I'm going to run into a trespasser who may or may not be friendly.
But hey, despite all this if you can find a really cool abandoned building and live in it, be sure to blog about it and take pictures so we can all live vicariously through you!
This sort of real-estate tends to be priced based on the income it can produce. Or might produce. If you have enough money, probably not that difficult.
But keep in mind that the building probably sits empty for good reasons. Obsolescence being the most obvious. There isn't much call for that type of retail space.
Not much for the second largest building in St. Louis. Then again, they were looking at a considerable bill for renovations.
But there's still a number of large buildings waiting to be rehabbed. The Railway Exchange is the biggest of these (but at least it's partially occupied!)
One of the best (and first) success stories is the City Museum:
It's a living example of the mantra: "New ideas need old buildings" :)
"The 1930s derelict water works Chris Jones and Leanne Smith fell in love with was huge and its design had clearly been inspired by Gilbert Scott's Bankside power station, now better known as the Tate Modern. But nothing would deter the couple. 'We looked at it,' said Chris, 'and saw our home.'"
Took insane amounts of work from the two of them, but they really made something of it. The interior looked fantastic by the end of the process. Their work desk was made out of a Mini, I think it was?
Worth watching if you can track it down and have an interest in that sort of thing.
Sorry about that."
Bummer.
It makes me wonder how many other interesting abandoned "structures" fill up floors of Manhattan skyscrapers for example.
Mostly empty post office on 8th Ave & W 33rd St.: http://www.scoutingny.com/?p=2691
Abandoned law offices in lower Manhattan: http://www.scoutingny.com/?p=2164
Biplane on top of a Manhattan skyscraper: http://www.scoutingny.com/?p=4202
The old one was as beautiful as Grand Central in it's time, I feel like we really lost something when it was demolished for and replaced with the present day abomination. It's like they finally realized what a loss it was and are trying to remedy it AND preserve another nearby beautiful building.
This http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Penn_Station1.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Penn_Station2.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NYP_LOC4.jpg
was replaced by this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Penn_Station_concourse.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:New_Jersey_Transit_termina... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Britney_Spears_MSG.jpg
If anything feels like a retrograde in civilization, Penn Station is it.
It won't completely replace what was lost, but I have high hopes it's a move in the right direction.
I love GCT, it's one of my favorite train stations in the world. London Paddington [1] and Antwerp Central [2] are also quite stunning and both have an interesting history.
In the same vein, I'd like to recommend watching the new drama series 'Mr Selfridge' starring Jeremy Piven. It depicts the early days of legendary London department store Selfridges [3]. Starting March 31, it'll air on PBS [4].
[1] http://theworklife.com/graham-miln/files/2012/01/Beautiful-i...
[2] http://dairyfreetraveler.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Antw...
[3] http://london-sightseeing.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Sel...
[4] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/programs/series/mr-selfr...
As an aside, I read reddit's r/architecture and find lots of the modern architecture discussed there quite dreadful, the group think seems to think that lots of flat rectangles with random material use. Everything looks same-same, unlivable and boring.
Walk around Grand Central and it's a model of efficiency, the number of people that can move about that facility without getting jammed up on thresholds and transitions, and oddball "innovative" hallways is staggering. Tall ceilings bring in ample natural light, the information desk is stunningly easy to find and offers the most important piece of information a train rider needs, a clock, large and high enough you can see it clearly from pretty much everywhere.
And it's simply a beautiful building as well.
It's magnificent. I'm convinced that the post WWII reaction to these older styles is where we collectively lost our minds, and we're only now starting to get them back.
However, I know of contemporary architecture that accomplishes that as well. For example, take a gander at Louis Kahn’s National Assembly Building of Bangladesh [1] or Ton Albers' Gas Union building in Groningen, The Netherlands [2]
[1] http://www.archdaily.com/83071/ad-classics-national-assembly...
The Baroque Château de Maisons-Laffitte [1] would look splendid next to the Palais Garnier [2] built 200 years later all in a fictional city next to the Pantheon [3] built 2000 prior!
[1] - http://www.maisonslaffitte.net/ [2] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palais_Garnier [3] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantheon,_Rome
I think this influence carried forward and evolved into Art Deco [4] somewhat, and the war simply killed off this entire line of movement.
[4] - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Chrysler_...
And then we end up with eyesores like the J Edgar Hoover building
If anyone else wants to see more of this kind of thing, I've spent a lot of time looking at places on the Detroit Urbex site.
I'm sure there are some other good explorations out there, and I hope this thread turns up a couple other hidden gems that don't pop right up on a Google search.
Wow. Eerie as hell.
The main thing on my mind as I was going through the pictures and their descriptions was, "this is what everything is going to look like after World War 3. Except with more dust, ash and perhaps dead bodies."
Here's a few:
http://detroiturbex.com/content/index.html
http://www.forgottendetroit.com/
If anyone is interested the DetroitTurbex group runs tours.
I've been in that building plenty of times- most recently for startup events- and the lobby + 13th floors definitely have a languished feel to them (12th floor has been better refurbished and has a lot more activity). I had absolutely no idea, though, the rest of building was so empty.
Quite a bit different from my childhood: that was the flagship downtown Famous-Barr department store . . . where they decorated the window displays every Christmas . . . getting nostalgic here.
*Ever been in the WU tunnels (not just the big one between Duncker & January halls)? Pretty expansive system right under students feet that most have no idea about :)
I've not been in the tunnels, but in my undergrad I spent a lot of time up on the roof of the library (I was the KWUR engineer and our transmitter rack and antenna lived on the roof). Pretty awesome view from up there.
Nice big database of spots. There are certain guidelines and unwritten rules, so try not to spoil it for everyone else.
Personally, the 2 on the top of my need-to-checkout-list for UE is Pripyat and the catacombs beneath Paris.
I've never felt more alone (as if I'm the only person left) when exploring long abandoned locations at night.
"A microphone for the PA system. Some of them still work, and we assume that they still play in the main (functioning) mall."
J G Ballard would have loved this place.
Anyway, all of this reminds me about a documentary I saw called Urban Explorers (you can probably find it on netflix)... pretty interesting stuff out there.
Thanks for the post!
The only thing I can think of is it would cost more to pay somebody to go through it all and put it up for sale than they could make back. I have a hard time believing it, though.
So they're probably holding off until they have some sort of actual plan for the place, then they'll bring in some company that specializes in turning over that kind of stuff.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midtown_Exchange
I believe it was the largest building by square footage in the state until the Mall of America opened.
Now it looks like they're turning into some sort of giant food market. That place is huge, gonna be a lot of food I guess.