Detroit's Metropolitan Building Gets New Life With Developer David Di Rita And Historian Dan Austin

Developers on Monday took the wraps off the redeveloped Metropolitan Building, which will re-open soon as the 110-room Element Hotel by Westin after four decades of abandonment.

As Dan Austin of HistoricDetroit.org tells us, she's a "real looker" of a building, with a triangle-shaped footprint and terra cotta tiles adorning its impressive facade. But the Metropolitan survived several scrapes with demolition over the years — plus an effort to decontaminate it of radioactive elements back in the '90s.

Also joining us to discuss the project and some of the redevelopment challenges is David Di Rita, founder and principal of Detroit-based Roxbury Group. Along with Detroit's Means Group, they steered the $33 million renovation projection, which is quickly nearing completion.

Di Rita takes us on a virtual auditory tour of the refurbished interior. He also goes into detail about the forthcoming rooftop bar (!!!).

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