Redeveloped Bell Building will Lose Iconic Yellow Pages Sign

By Veronica Grecu, Associate Editor

As part of a redevelopment project that aims to transform the historic Michigan Bell Telephone Company building into shelters for homeless, the iconic Yellow Pages sign that has been hanging for almost 50 years from the tower will be taken down. According to Neighborhood Service Organization (NSO) officials quoted by MLive.com, the sign will take about one week to be dismantled and all of its pieces will be recycled. Apparently NSO intends to keep the white telephone that’s part of the sign to advertise the agency’s crisis hotline center that will be operating in the building. NSO will also try to preserve some of the letters and the rest might be sold as scrap metal, reports MLive.com.

Back in April NSO broke ground on a $50 million redevelopment project that will create 155 one-bedroom apartments for homeless adults, as well as administrative offices for the organization. Once completed, the 255,000-square-foot building will offer treatment for drug addiction, mental-health counseling and case management services, a library, arts and computer rooms, a gym and fitness center, a chapel, a laundry facility and recreational space. As revealed by The Huffington Post, each unit will be equipped with a refrigerator, stove, garbage disposal, dishwasher, internet connection and central air conditioning.

Located at 882 Oakman Boulevard, the Bell building was built in 1929 by Western Electric; since then it has been used as a warehouse, office, garage and even publishing house. In 2009 the building was listed on the National register of Historic Places.

Photo courtesy of NSO website