Apr. 16, 2003 - Restoration of Detroit's fabled Book-Cadillac Hotel appeared closer than ever Tuesday as some of the final pieces of a development proposal fell into place. 

In one move, Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced approval of a Michigan tax credit for the project. 

This week, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick hinted during media appearances that a deal to remake the city-controlled Book-Cadillac would be ready perhaps by the end of April. 

Meanwhile, an executive with Kimberly-Clark, the Dallas-based corporation leading the restoration drive, is hiring contractors to begin preparatory interior work at the long-closed downtown hotel next month in the expectation that a final deal would be signed soon. 

Should a remake become reality, the hotel would operate under Marriott International Inc.'s Renaissance Hotels banner with the name Renaissance Book-Cadillac. A restoration would cost $140 million to $150 million. 

The piece of the financing approved Tuesday came in a so-called brownfield credit that would reduce the amount of single business tax Kimberly-Clark would pay the state. The tax credit is worth up to $10 million. 

Kimberly-Clark is a consumer products company that also has an investment division that does projects similar to the Book-Cadillac around the nation. 

Kimberly-Clark is so confident the deal will go through that it is hiring contractors to begin interior demolition next month, said Lynn Fournier, director of tax credit investments for the company. 

"We're on a very tight time frame, and our goal is to have it open in fourth-quarter 2005" in time for the 2006 Super Bowl scheduled to be played in nearby Ford Field. 

By coincidence, another project financed by Kimberly-Clark, the Renaissance Grand Hotel in St. Louis, celebrated its opening Tuesday. The 916-room hotel was built in 1917. 

Walt Watkins, Kilpatrick's chief development officer, was attending the opening in St. Louis on Tuesday, as were other City of Detroit development staffers. 

Originally designed with 1,200 rooms, the remade Book would offer about 450 hotel rooms plus 83 condominiums as well as meeting rooms, a restaurant and other amenities. 

George Jackson, president of the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., an arm of the city overseeing the project, said Tuesday he was very optimistic but added that a final agreement is "close but we're not there yet." 

Of the state tax credit, he added, "It is a piece, and it's a very important piece, and we're putting together a number of different financial resources to make this happen. It looks very positive, but it is by no means a done deal at this point." 

Jackson said he appreciated work by Granholm, her staff, and the Michigan Economic Development Corp., an arm of the state, to help a deal that "will be a major shot in the arm for the city." 

A successful deal would represent nothing short of a miracle in the annals of urban renewal. Built in 1924 by the three Book brothers who reshaped much of Washington Boulevard in the 1920s, the hotel for decades ranked among the city's finest. But it closed in 1984 after eight owners and four names, and since then has stood vacant, stripped of most of its Italian-inspired interior decoration, one of the city's decaying eyesores. 

For many years, the fate of the hotel was tied up in bankruptcy court involving a partnership that had owned the hotel in the '80s. In recent years, the city managed to gain control of the property, clearing the way for the current deal. 

Fournier said the main lobby and other public areas of the hotel will be remade to look as they did originally, while the private rooms will be completely modernized. 

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(c) 2003, Detroit Free Press. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. MAR, KMB,