FeedsQuo Vadis could be torn down
Click image to enlarge
The old Quo Vadis Theater, vacant for more than five years, will be entered into the Wayne County Nuisance Abatement program after a deal to redevelop it as a fitness center fell through.Westland Mayor Bill Wild said he hopes a firmer hand will help turn an eyesore into new development.
The city will place the old Quo Vadis Theater into the Wayne County Nuisance Abatement program, he said. The program forces property owners to either clean up their buildings and bring them up to code or tear them down.
“We’ve had success with the program before,” said Wild.
The old theater, on Wayne Road across from Westland Mall, has been vacant for more than five years. It’s been deteriorating longer than that and, even today, the old signs are still up and broken lights jut up from a parking lot riddled with craters. The theater is still owned by National Amusements, the firm that also owns the shuttered Showcase Theater about a mile up the road.
A new fitness center had been planned for the Quo Vadis Theater, but that deal recently fell through, Wild said.
“I think it’s time they took care of this blighted situation,” he said.
Westland Building Director Roger Shifflett said demolition of the theater is a possibility, but it probably wouldn’t happen for a year or more. The nuisance abatement process is a slow one, he added, that might take a little longer because of the size and expense of the project.
“We’ve been advised to put in a little extra time on this,” he said.
The process typically takes place through the Wayne County Court system. Westland officials build a case about the code violations there and demand they be fixed up. He said the city is gathering paperwork now, and the next step would be a show cause hearing. He said there is no definitive timetable for the program.
“A lot of times it really depends on what they’re intent is with the building,” he said.
Should the show cause hearing not be successful and the owners run out of appeals, the property could eventually be placed in the Wayne County land bank. If that happens, the city would have the first opportunity, but Shifflett said any opportunity like that is probably a year away.
“It’s a very long process,” he said. “We’re just at the very beginning.”
Another project scheduled nearby is still going to happen, said Wild. All the demolition permits have been issued for the old Denny’s restaurant at the corner of Wayne Road and Central City Parkway. That long-vacant restaurant will be razed and a new Sonic restaurant will be constructed in its place.
“They’ve got all their permits,” Wild said. “That’s going forward.”
Demolition on that could start on Monday, he said.
