Historical City bank building to become office

GROSSE POINTE CITY — A landmark Grosse Pointe City building that served as a bank branch for decades will be getting new life as a private office.

The building at 17449 E. Jefferson Ave. — whose most recent occupant was Chase bank — has recently been acquired by businessman Michael Aubrey, of Grosse Pointe Shores, who intends to use it as his personal office. In a letter to City officials, Aubrey said there would only be a few other staff members who would be in the building with him.

“They’re not proposing any changes to the building,” said City Planner John Jackson, president of McKenna.

Because the property is technically zoned for single-family residential use, the Grosse Pointe City Council — sitting as the Zoning Board of Appeals — had to approve a variance to allow the use, which it did by a unanimous vote April 21. Jackson said if a nonconforming use has been discontinued for more than six months — which was the case here as the building remained vacant for several years — it would be required to meet existing zoning requirements, unless the council approved a variance.

Jackson said use of the building in the variance would be limited to professional office, which meant it couldn’t become a medical or dental facility, or any similar higher-intensity business.

“They can’t put retail in there,” Jackson said. “They can’t put a restaurant in there.”

Patty Pozios Vasilos, of Sine & Monaghan, Aubrey’s real estate agent, said her client is an entrepreneur who only plans on having about five to 10 employees using the building. She said he plans on making renovations and improvements to the property, including landscaping.

“He is very excited about (the project),” Pozios Vasilos said.

Because of its age and character, City leaders hoped to save the building from the wrecking ball — something that was even noted in a recently revised master plan.

“We heard loud and clear from the community during the master plan process that maintaining and preserving … the quirky buildings of our community (that are) a part of the fabric of our community (was important),” Mayor Sheila Tomkowiak said.

According to the Grosse Pointe Historical Society, 17449 E. Jefferson was built before World War I and served in many capacities, including as medical offices, a hardware store, a barbershop, a drugstore and more, with some of these uses overlapping. For example, the drugstore Schettler’s was there from 1918 to 1947, while the Grosse Pointe Savings Bank and Grosse Pointe Bank occupied the building concurrently, from 1915 to 1954. In 1954, it became a branch of National Bank of Detroit. It later became a Bank One and at some point became Chase. The website showcase.com states that the two-story structure is 6,560 square feet and was built in 1912. Chase closed that branch circa December 2021; there was already another Chase branch nearby in The Village business district.

Some residents who live near the building weighed in publicly on the new plans for it. Mike Ryan, president of the homeowners association for the neighboring English Terraces condominiums, spoke against the use.

“Our association is not in favor of any kind of commercial activity,” Ryan told the council. “We would like to see residential use of that building.”

He said they didn’t want to see the structure demolished, but they would prefer to see it converted into townhomes or condominiums.

Dave Grupenhoff, who lives in the 200 block of Rivard Boulevard, said he felt professional office use “would be fine” as long as there was no after-hours music and commercial truck storage at the building.

“My concerns are traffic, noise and the visual impact of the building,” Grupenhoff said.

Jackson said the building will basically be occupied during normal weekday business hours.

Retired City Municipal Court Judge Russ Ethridge — who lives on University Place — said he would have preferred to see the building be converted into residential units. He said he wanted to make sure that the building wouldn’t be subleased to numerous additional tenants, but was OK with “a small, private office.”

Pozios Vasilos said that as of now, Aubrey “has no intention of subleasing the space,” but he has a brother with a sign company who might want to use part of it at some point.

“If you put up $1 million-$2 million (for the property), why are we saying you can’t have your brother have an office there?” City Councilman Christopher Walsh asked.

The rest of the council agreed, striking a provision in their approval that would have prevented Aubrey from subleasing the building to anyone else.

As Jackson said, with more than 30 spaces in the parking lot, there would be more than enough parking for an additional office tenant.

Walsh said this use is better for the neighbors, as the bank “had traffic coming in and out all of the time,” including for ATM usage. He said neighbors he spoke with were happy to learn it was going to be a private office.

“In my opinion, the neighbors should be ecstatic about this,” Walsh said. “This is a win-win. … These guys are doing exactly what we want — investing in our community. … Nobody’s been putting any money into this building for years.”

He said there would be far less traffic than there had been during the bank years.

As to the presence of commercial vehicles, Tomkowiak said they can’t be parked overnight in any residential district, which would prevent such vehicles from being stored in the lot.