Wall Street Journal profiles Book Cadillac, Ferchill

The Wall Street Journal ran an extensive piece on the Book Cadillac, its developer, John Ferchill, and downtown in general.

Excerpt:

Shortly after the Book-Cadillac deal, another developer approached Detroit officials to build a separate condo project on top of the hotel's adjacent garage. David Di Rita who says his Detroit company has sold about half of the yet-to-be-built units, including penthouses for as much as $800,000, said the Book-Cadillac "accelerated the notion that the [downtown] Washington Boulevard area could sustain high-end residential, restaurants and shops."

"It's no accident that [the mayor] talked about the Detroit Tigers and the Book-Cadillac hotel" in his recent state of the city address, Mr. Ferchill says. "These are the two things" that are going to bring Detroit back, he says.

Read the entire article here (requires subscription), or take a free peek at DetroitYes.com on this forum thread.