Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Settlement with Detroit creditor is a significant step toward saving the DIA

Here's some exciting news!

The city of Detroit's bankruptcy trial is winding up, and it was announced last week that the city had reached a settlement with its biggest remaining creditor, FGIC (or "Financial Guaranty Insurance Company").

The settlement allows FGIC to develop a hotel and office and retail space at the Joe Louis Arena site. But I'll quote the most exciting sentence from the Freep here:
FGIC also was the last major creditor pursuing monetization of the Detroit Institute of Arts and its collection of masterworks, making such an option far less likely, said Wayne State University bankruptcy law professor Laura Bartell.

The Art Newspaper1 expands on this:
If both the city council and Judge Rhodes approve Detroit’s proposed plan—which they are expected to do—the DIA will be spun off as an independent non-profit. The state of Michigan has teamed up with local and national organisations to pledge $816m over 20 years to the cause. The money would essentially fund a “buy-back” of the collection from the city of Detroit while providing pensions to retirees from the city’s police and fire departments.
Yay! I haven't made it to the DIA since moving back to Michigan, but I will soon.

1 I haven't heard of The Art Newspaper before, but I did some fact-checking on this article and I think it's legit.


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