Mies van der Rohe’s Lafayette Towers, Detroit // Gehad Hadidi via Flickr
The 2007 collapse of the American housing market dealt a heavy blow to the city of Detroit, and not even the lofty high-design visions of modernist icon Mies van der Rohe could escape the city’s tidal wave of disaster. Two twinned high-rises designed by the German architect in Detroit’s Lafayette Park were foreclosed in February of this year, according to Curbed Detroit, and now the city’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced that the buildings will be up for auction later this month. On July 18, one lucky, deep-pocketed bidder will walk away with rights to both Lafayette Towers and all 584 of their apartments.
On top of that, the buyer must deposit just over $2.5 million into an escrow account that HUD can access in the event that repairs are not on schedule, as evidenced in the illustrated quarterly progress reports the buyer will be required to send.