DETROIT – The long-vacant Mammoth building in Detroit is now in the process of being demolished following a two-year legal battle.
The Mammoth building was a former retail building on the southeast corner of Grand River Avenue and Greenfield Road.
The commercial space was built for Federal’s Department Store in 1949. Mammoth Department Store was the last tenant to occupy the structure before it closed in 2001.
Since March 2022, Detroit’s Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department (BSEED) conducted eight inspections, which uncovered more than 80 violations and resulted in eight correction orders. This led to the city suing the owners in 2023 in hopes of getting the building demolished.
A lawsuit was filed on behalf of the City of Detroit in 2023, saying the owners failed to maintain the building as it sat vacant for more than two decades.
City administrators put the building on its M100 list, which identified more than 100 structures that need to be torn down.
There was also a concern about the structural integrity of the pedestrian bridge that spans Grand River Avenue and connects the Mammoth Building and the Tower Center Mall. Officials said the bridge showed “signs of crumbling and separating concrete” and it was “falling down.”
A court order was authorized in December 2024 to remediate asbestos and then demolish the building immediately.
Detroit city officials announced on Aug. 11, 2025, the building is in the process of being demolished.
The $2.6 million demolition is expected to be completed by the end of October.