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Vinsetta Garage co-owner Curt Catallo and K.C. Crain of Crain Communications announced plans today to redevelop a portion of the abandoned Brewster Wheeler Rec Center as a bar and restaurant. The restaurant will be built on top the building's basketball court on the north side of Brewster Street.
"No where will you find a building more deserving of saving than the Brewster Wheeler," Catallo said at a press conference led by Mayor Mike Duggan earlier today.
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The abandoned Brewster Wheeler Recreation Center was once a training ground for Joe Louis. [Photo]
The $10 million restaurant project will offer "culinary training for at-risk girls," as well as a kitchen incubator, culinary arts studio, catering space, and community and meeting space for the Detroit City Chess Club, Alternatives For Girls, and the Slow Roll, according to a press release. The Detroit Free Press reports that the restaurant will also feature a rooftop beer garden and a basement bar. Plans include preserving of the historic boxing ring where Joe Louis once trained, according to Catallo.
A promo video offers a look at the abandoned Brewster Wheeler Recreation Center.
The rest of the building will be developed into "100 to 150 new multi-family, mixed-use units." Brewster Street will also be reopened as part of the development agreement.
Construction on the restaurant is expected to begin by the end of the year according to The Detroit Free Press with tentative 2016 opening.
Correction: Joe Louis's name was misspelled in the original vesion of this post.
