For decades, it was known as the “hammer-and-nail building” for its iconic animated neon sign. Today, it is known as a Midtown Mid-Century Modern landmark that had an extremely close call with the wrecking ball.

And the building owes its creation to the demise of a neighborhood under the guise of “urban renewal.”

The 12-story, 100,000-square-foot building opened in 1966, and, along with a two-story commercial building next door, was known as the Professional Plaza. The buildings were designed by the architectural and urban planning firm Crane & Gorwic. Gerald Crane, one of the firm’s principals, was a longtime professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Architecture and had helmed the original master plan for the city’s new Medical Center district.

A new vision for an old neighborhood

In 1958, the Detroit Medical Center urban renewal plan was announced. It called for the redevelopment of 250 acres of what is now Midtown around a core of what was then four of Detroit’s existing hospitals, supported by a ring of medical-related support buildings, including the Professional Plaza. The area identified for this transformation was bounded by Mack, Warren and Woodward avenues and the newly created Chrysler Freeway (Interstate-375).

The grand plan was the vision of the Arden-Campbell Co., whose principals had worked on the development of shopping centers and the Westland and Northland malls. In all, the developer planned 16 buildings across 15.4 acres. There would be three 12-story, one seven-story, and one single-story medical office buildings, five one-story retail buildings, two general office buildings, and four parking facilities. The price tag for the project was $25 million, the equivalent of about $262 million in 2024 valuation, when adjusted for inflation.

The first of Crane & Gorwic’s proposed new buildings for Arden-Campbell was the Professional Plaza tower, which was to be completely dedicated to medical professional offices, and a two-story building to house medical-related offices as well as retail stores and a bank. Though it would take nearly a decade from the plan’s announcement for the Professional Plaza to be completed, it would turn out to be among the few buildings in the plan to come to fruition at all.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Professional Plaza on Feb. 11, 1964.

A word on ‘urban renewal’

The term “urban renewal” has come to be recognized as a negative one in more modern times. The areas targeted for these projects were almost always lower-income and predominately Black. This is because African Americans were often discriminated against, even in the North, and forced into the least desirable, oldest and most rundown parts of cities and were often forbidden from moving elsewhere by racially motivated housing policies. The area where the Medical Center urban renewal program was slotted for was part of Detroit’s mostly Black Paradise Valley neighborhood.

Indeed, these urban redevelopment programs were carried out under Title I of the Federal Housing Act of 1949, and were known as “Slum Clearance and Development.” The federal program funded local governments to buy land in cities and then clear them of “blighted” buildings, then repackage them for redevelopment by private companies. To the east of downtown, part of Black Bottom was razed for what is now known as Lafayette Park. What wasn’t replaced by new, gleaming Ludwig Mies van der Rohe-designed luxury living was buried under I-375.

Among the many victims to fall under the Medical Center “urban renewal” program was the famed Gotham Hotel, the city’s most renowned Black hotel.

A too-grand vision

Tenants began moving into the tower in early 1966, and a formal dedication was held for the two buildings on April 13, 1966. A time capsule was entombed in the plaza between them.

In the early going, things were good. At the time of its opening, the tower was already 37 percent leased, and there were tenants in the two-story building, as well. By 1971 - several years after the civil unrest of 1967 that saw many offices and residents leave the city - the tower was still boasting an occupancy rate of 97 percent. This led Arden-Campbell to proceed with building the next tower in the firm’s grand plan, going so far as to start taking reservations.

But a moratorium on federal funding in 1974 turned off the tap for these so-called “urban renewal projects,” and with that, the Detroit Medical Center plan fizzled out. Out of the 16 buildings envisioned by Arden-Campbell, the two Professional Plaza structures were the only ones to come to fruition.

On land that had been cleared for these unrealized buildings, two enormous parking lots - one behind the Professional Plaza buildings and another to the north of them - went in. The rest of the land just was left vacant. This was not only detrimental to the street wall and density of the area, but made the loss of the community bulldozed to make way for them more painful. The blocks were cleared for nothing.

Over the years, the tower would become home to a number of medical and dental offices, as well as institutions such as the Wayne State University Cancer Investigation Fund and the Epilepsy Center of Michigan.

From doctors to carpenters (and millwrights)

For decades, the tower would lead a helpful, if yet unremarkable, existence. In March 1997, the top of the tower became home to the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights, the state's largest construction union representing some 14,000 members.

It was the union that gave the building what would become its most defining feature: a pair of large neon signs featuring an animated hammer pounding a nail. There was one at the top of the building on both its north and south sides. At a time when much of the Cass Corridor area had gone dark, its light stood out.

Despite the Carpenters and Millwrights moving in, the tower continued to also be home to a number of medical-related operations throughout the early 2000s, including The Wayne State University Physician Group, U.S. Home Health Care, Knight Drugs, United Medical Management Co., University Pediatricians. The two-story Professional Plaza strip mall building housed a bank and a Chinese fast-food restaurant.

In 1997, developer Walter Cohen of suburban Southfield, Mich., said he was finalizing plans to redevelop the Professional Plaza within two years. His vision called for a new entrance rotunda for the Professional Plaza, but also to build a 100-room hotel, a 1,400-space parking deck with a park on top, and a new apartment tower. All of this was coming at a time when developer Peter Cummings had made a deal to develop the northeast corner of Mack and Woodward avenues (today, known as the Ellington Apartments), and the Detroit Medical Center was erecting the $23.2 million Hudson-Webber Cancer Research Center and moving into new corporate headquarters at a $31 million office building called Orchestra Place. Cohen figured to spend $70 million on the plan.

"We're very encouraged with the progress in Detroit," Cohen told The Detroit News for an Oct. 5, 1997, story. "We plan to add a health club, community room and other services for the apartment tenants. The hotel will be first-class and service the medical community, both for seminars as well as patients and their friends and relatives."

Much like with Arden-Campbell’s original plan, Cohen’s vision wouldn't become a reality either, though he did renovate the Professional Plaza.

In 2013, the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights moved out of its longtime home in the Professional Plaza for suburban Warren, Mich. Many of the other office tenants had beaten them out the door. The neon went dark, and soon, the rest of the building did, too.

It wouldn’t take long, however, for someone to come forward with a plan to do something with it - though that something was not what preservationists and Mid-Century Modern buffs had in mind.

Dodging death

In December 2013, Cleveland developer John Ferchill, who had led the group that saved and renovated the historic Book-Cadillac Hotel downtown, announced his intention to build a new medical project on the vacant parcel immediately to the south of the Professional Plaza. As part of that proposal, the Professional Plaza would be torn down to make way for a 600-space parking garage for the new development. The $60 million plan, co-led by the Wayne State University Physician's Group, called for a five-story medical building, a smaller retail building and the garage. Demolition was projected to begin in May 2014. With the Professional Plaza’s fate seemingly sealed, abatement ahead of demolition began in January 2014. The two-story commercial strip portion of the building was leveled first.

But a year later, in January 2015, it was announced that the Mid-Century Modern Midtown landmark had found a savior in The Roxbury Group, which had already saved the Metropolitan and David Whitney buildings. The group of local investors that were working with Ferchill decided to sell the Professional Plaza to Roxbury instead. The Detroit-based Roxbury planned to turn the tower into 72 apartments and 2,000 square feet of ground-floor retail in a $20 million project.

“We consider the building not only iconic but absolutely worthy of saving,” DiRita told the Detroit Free Press for a Jan. 20, 2015, story. Crane & Gorwic “left an important mark on the city, and we think preserving (the firm’s) most monumental building and really bringing it back is a worthwhile pursuit.”

Quinn Evans Architects served as architect on the project, and Detroit-based Walbridge as construction manager.

In April 2016, the Professional Plaza was added to the National Register of Historic Places to facilitate its redevelopment and make the project eligible for historic tax credits.

In addition to saving the building, Roxbury vowed to save the two hammer-and-nail signs. One was donated to the carpenter’s union; the other was installed in a bar on the building’s ground floor named the Hammer & Nail, in a nod to the iconic neon.

Eighteen months and $22 million after starting the redevelopment, the tower officially reopened as The Plaza. On Oct. 13, 2017, a grand opening was held for the building, attended by Mayor Mike Duggan and Roxbury principal David DiRita.

“This building has a special meaning to me,” Duggan said at the event, while noting that he had met with others whose visions never became a reality. “Everyone thought it was going to be demolished.”

At the time of the opening ceremony, a quarter of the units had already been reserved, Roxbury said. It was proof of demand in Midtown Detroit for housing and that preservation pays.

In December 2023, it was announced that The Plaza’s 72 apartments would be turned into an extended-stay concept with 92 units run by the Marriott hotel group. Tenants were allowed to stay until their leases were up.

Meanwhile, the vacant lot that almost spelled the Professional Plaza’s doom, remains undeveloped. Given that abatement for the demolition had already begun back in 2014, it would have been razed for nothing - just like much of the surrounding blocks were half a century earlier.

Special thanks to Ruth Mills.