"Bleeding Rainbow" Building Up for Auction, Bidding Starts at $550K

A building known for a massive abstract mural goes on the auction block today. 2937 East Grand Blvd, an Albert Kahn-designed industrial building between New Center and Belle Isle, has housed businesses as disparate as industrial supply storage and a war games/live action role play business with a military theme. Auction.com's site for the building touts the 9-story, 72-thousand square foot structure's "unlimited potential as a loft-conversion, storage building, or any of a variety of other uses."
Offered by the Friedman Brokerage Company, the building, at the corner of Beaubien Street and Grand Boulevard, opened in 1913 as the headquarters of the Detroit Storage Company. A towering presence in the Milwaukee Junction neighborhood, the building serves as canvas for "The Illuminated Mural," painted by College for Creative Studies-trained artist Katherine Craig with help from neighborhood children and other volunteers. Potential buyers should know that the mural has protection under the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA), and cannot be removed from the building.

As former HQ for Tango Down Tactical, the building hosted many a round of simulated war in six of the nine floors, and also offered billiards and video games. Though Tango Down moved on, the firm's old signage remains, adding a nicely ironic counterpoint to Craig's 9-story hippie rainbow waterfall. The auction runs June 23 - 25th. Opening bids start at $550,000. - Rebecca Golden

· 2937 East Grand Blvd [auction.com]
· Katherine Craig [8 mile]
· Building with 'bleeding rainbow' mural in Milwaukee Junction up for auction ... for now [Crain's]