A fire destroyed a dilapidated home near Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena, one of the last arena counties not to sell its property to the Ilitch family firm.
The fire broke out in the early hours of Monday and the debris was still smoldering as of 9:45 am.
The two-story log house at 2712 Cass Ave., dates back to the late 1800s and was once valued at $5 million, making it the most expensive home on the market in Detroit when the new Red Wings and Pistons arena opened in 2017. .
But, in recent years, it has dropped from $3.9 million to $2.5 million this spring, according to Shane Parker, broker/owner of S&P Realty in Grosse Pointe Park.
Park said the house was unoccupied at the time of the fire. He said he and the property owner are waiting for the Detroit Fire Department to determine the cause of the fire.
“We were selling it as vacant, so I guess there’s no change there. It’s still listed for $2.5 million,” Parker said Monday morning. “He had to downgrade at some point, because knocking him out would be the only option.”
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In the year The house, which was destroyed by an electrical fire in 2013, was once occupied by a caretaker. The home has racked up several City of Detroit violation tickets over the years.
A Detroit Fire Department representative could not be reached for comment Monday.
The heat from Monday’s fire damaged a parking lot attendant booth and payment terminal in a neighboring district of Detroit.
The homeowner kept a low profile and Parker declined Monday to identify them. Parker declined to share details about any negotiations for the property.
A representative of Ilitch’s firm referred all comments about the fire to the Detroit Fire Department.
“If the price is right, we probably will,” Keith Bradford, president of Olympia Development, told the Free Press about the possibility of buying the home in a January 2020 interview.
Land records show that the property on Cass was sold to a joint family partnership of six individuals for $25,000 in June 2002. That sale happened years before the rumor — which eventually turned out to be true — that a sports venue to replace Joe Louis Arena and the Palace of Auburn Hills was to be built in the area.
Although Parker said ownership of the house remained in the same hands, records show that in November a $1 million real estate transfer was made to the “Scheherazade Love” trust.
The property is currently zoned in a business district, so a variance would be required if a prospective buyer wanted to build another residence.
ConnectJC Reindl as if313-378-5460 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter. @jcreindl. Read more about business and sign up for our business newsletter.
