LakewoodAlive To Host A Virtual Community Conversation On May 26 Celebrating Historic Preservation Month

Historic Detroit-Warren Building then and now.

LakewoodAlive announces it will host a community conversation entitled “Historic Preservation: Embracing the Past to Invest in the Future” from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 26 via Zoom. This conversation will offer insightful dialogue about how we can celebrate our historic building stock, take steps to preserve what we have and leverage resources to breathe new life into these buildings’ second century.

Often called a Streetcar Suburb, Lakewood’s historic roots run deep from Native American trails to farms to plank roads. While the streetcars are long gone, much of our history is visible today in our homes and businesses. How can we work to ensure that these beautiful buildings remain viable and central to the unique sense of place Lakewood celebrates?

The community is invited to attend this free conversation as LakewoodAlive seeks to discuss how communities that celebrate historic preservation stand apart from others and how preservation can be an economic driver for the future. The discussion will delve into the two recently established national historic districts in Lakewood (Downtown and Clifton Park South) and what that means for those neighborhoods while exploring the desire and importance of seeking new historic districts in our pre-war historic community.

Ian Andrews, Executive Director of LakewoodAlive, will oversee a distinguished group of panelists for an informative discussion. LakewoodAlive invites those in attendance to participate by asking the panelists questions. Ultimately, we hope that the attendees will leave having a deeper understanding of historic preservation and appreciation of our historic building stock.

Those who wish to attend may register for this free event by visiting the LakewoodAlive Facebook page and clicking on events.

The panelists participating in this community forum are:

• Michael Fleenor, Senior Project Manager, Historic Preservation Group LLC.
• Peter Ketter, Director of Historic Preservation, Sandvick Architects
• Marcia Moll and Rick Sicha, principals, Placemark Collaborative
• Frank Scalish, owner, Scalish Construction