The former Gold Dollar bar, a piece of Cass Corridor's avant-garde past, was demolished Monday after a mysterious fire in July ravaged the vacant building owned by an entity linked to the billionaire owners of Little Caesars and the Detroit Tigers.
The building has been empty since 2001. It was bought by an Ilitch-linked limited liability corporation in 2015. The building had a collapsed roof since at least December 2017. Squatters frequented the building, Detroit Fire Department officials said. On the night of July 22, what was left of the damaged structure was destroyed by the fire.
On Monday, a demolition crew had taken down most of the building by early afternoon. A spokesman for the Ilitch organization could not be reached for comment Monday.
The former Gold Dollar is one of an estimated 34 empty buildings in the city that are controlled or owned by entities-linked to the Ilitch group, according to a Detroit News analysis.