Plans unveiled for $221-million Cobo Center facelift

from the Detroit Free Press:




Detroit’s Cobo Center will get a dramatic $221-million facelift as part of long-awaited plans unveiled this morning.

The project will be ready by the 2014 North American International Auto Show, and it will “open up” Cobo to the Detroit River with a new atrium entrance and sweeping architectural changes, said Larry Alexander, chair of the five-member Cobo Regional Convention Facility Authority.

The work will mark the first major overhaul of Cobo since 1989. Cobo was built in 1960. In recent years, Cobo has suffered from roof leaks and other problems, and other cities have leapfrogged ahead of Detroit in the amount of showroom space offered and other amenities.

Alexander said Tuesday that the work would fulfill the promise of a revitalized Cobo made when the new authority took over control of Cobo from the City of Detroit in September 2009. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.freep.com/article/20110302/NEWS01/110302022/Plans-unveiled-221-million-Cobo-Center-facelift?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE