In mid-May, Detroit's mayor joined community leaders from the Virginia Park neighborhood to celebrate the grand reopening of Weston Hall, a 102-year-old five-story apartment building.
Originally constructed as part of a five-building project, Weston Hall earned praise from local reporters circa 1924 for offering modern luxuries – gas, electricity, and even an elevator – at prices young families breaking into the area's growing middle class could afford. But the Great Depression, mid-century suburban flight, and one of the worst urban riots of the 1960s took a toll on the area. The Hall survived the riots, only to fall into the hands of a purported slumlord in the 1980s and slide into terminal decline. Like many buildings in the heart of Detroit, the Hall was fully abandoned by the early 2000s, left to rot.