Sold: Historic State Savings Bank Escapes Apop's Neglect

The State Savings Bank escaped demolition last year. On Friday, it escaped Apop altogether. Crain's reports that Dan Gilbert has liberated the historical building from its owner/neglector of more than two years, Andreas Apostolopoulos ("Apop"). Now, instead of worrying about the State Savings Bank crumbling into historical pudding, we get to wonder if Dan Gilbert truly is planning to make it a Detroit-centric auto attraction.

Gilbert has publicly yearned for some sort of auto-centric attraction in the past, saying that Detroit needs to "leverage the sexiness of the car." Bedrock hasn't committed to any specific use for the State Savings Bank, but someone named Stan Finsilver spends several paragraphs telling Crain's that the SBB was bought specifically to bring out the Motor City's sexy.

Apop still dreams of building a parking garage for his Penobscot Building tenants. His business partner, Steve Apostolopoulos, tells Crain's of having purchased "other land now to accommodate a parking deck about two blocks away." Is he referring to land cleared by Apop's last demo project?

· Things Look Soggy Inside the State Savings Bank Building [Curbed]
· LIVE: Demo State Savings Bank for a Parking Garage? [Curbed]
· State Bank Demo Denied, Apop Tears Down Next Best Thing [Curbed]
· Gilbert buys State Savings Bank building [Crain's]