Thank you Rev. Dr. Smith!

Hi All,

Good news from the corner of Joy Rd. and Beverly!
I had an opportunity to visit Reverend Dr. Lamont Smith today at Chapel Hill Missionary Baptist Church. As you may recall, the CHMBC was brought on board late causing a short delay in the nomination of the Grande to the National Historic Registry.
My objective today was to make certain the church had all the information they required to grant or deny permission for historical nomination. Secondly, I wanted to collect information on CHMBC for potential inclusion in the nomination documents.
I must note that Rev.Dr. Smith was very accommodating and hospitable in welcoming me at his office at the Rev. Roy Allen Sr. center. Rev. Dr. Smith is a very warm and engaging gentleman that was very open to suggestions.
I confirmed that he understood the nomination is largely an academic and honorary one. One that just happens to carry with it certain status and tax benefits! I explained that were the church to pursue preserving all or part of the structure, he would have full support of the FOG and Detroit's preservation community. What architect would not want to work on a re-use project for a Charles Agree building ?
Dr. Smith was very pleased with the notion of leveraging such talent and connections to achieve the CHMBC vision.
Dr. Smith agrees that he can and will support the nomination and would like to potentially present a "re-use" project to his congregation during his annual budget speech in December. His only caveat in this initiative is that the building "meet CHMBC's requirements". At this time, he has no reason to believe it does not.
Lastly, I left Dr. Smith with a copy of panel 1 of the Charles Agree blueprint set for the Grande and a proof sheet of the remaining panels. I promised to get him a complete set including a CD of images. We hope to meet regularly.
Oh, and did I mention that at my request he also gave rare permission for a BBC (yes THAT BBC) team to film chaperoned interior shots for an upcoming film on Detroit Music ??

Thank you Rev. Dr. Smith !


Leo

P.S.
Please bear in mind folks that the church gets weekly phone calls from collectors re: artifacts etc. and the Grande is broken into every weekend. Metal scrappers and souvenirs hunters are all the same in the church's opinion. Please do not call the church directly or attempt to trespass in the building. The church does not need to be burdened with this problem.