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“Get out, get out … there’s a fire, there’s a fire!”
That was what Wayne State student and former Forest Arms resident Vencent Kirkwood heard during the early hours of Feb. 6, 2008.
Kirkwood was one of more than 100 residents who were running for their lives in what would escalate into a five-alarm fire — the city of Detroit’s most severe classification — over the course of four hours.
The fire began in the apartment of John Christian Robinson, the blaze’s only casualty, and quickly spread around the 109-year-old, U-shaped building. It still isn’t clear what took place in Robinson’s apartment that morning. Probably, it never will be.
There were reports it was a suicide attempt; others speculated he barricaded himself in. Some reports came out that Robinson was a heavy sleeper and smoker and was surrounded by paperwork from a law office he used to lease.
“I don’t know what’s true and what’s not true,” Kirkwood said. “Obviously, if it was a suicide attempt, I would think it would be one of the most selfish things I could possibly think of. Not just to me — first of all to his family and those who loved him or all his loved ones — but to all those other people in that apartment who lost things.
“There were people there I knew who lost passports. They were from China … what could they do? No passports, no money, no credit cards. But who’s to say if it was a suicide attempt? If it was a mistake … that one happened to cause a lot of people agony and stress. God rest his soul, rest in peace. But I don’t know what’s true or not.”
The fire was fueled even more by high winds.
Kirkwood immediately called his girlfriend, Kelly Ford, who was living in Ghafari Hall. Ford brought her boyfriend a coat, hat, gloves and socks, which were given to her by Ghafari resident advisor Mikhail Salacina.
Both Kirkwood and Ford stood and watched.
“There was nothing we could do; the fire was still going,” Kirkwood said. “It was a day that I had to travel with the basketball team. I ended up calling the coach [David Greer] at like 6:30 a.m. and told them I wouldn’t be making the trip.”
Kirkwood never missed a day of class. He never had any nightmares but became extra cautious, telling loved ones to be prepared for anything.
“A couple weeks after,” Kirkwood said, “I would call my girlfriend at night and tell her, ‘Have your keys, maybe a coat and a book bag all in one spot … because if that alarm goes off, you have to run out [and] there’s no turning back. It’s scary stuff to think about.”
Kirkwood was shell-shocked for the first few months afterward. Whenever he heard a fire drill in Ford’s residence, it brought panic. He’s better now.
But should the Forest Arms ever be renovated and reopened, would Kirkwood go back?
“Absolutely. That would be my first choice,” said Kirkwood, remembering the apartment he lived in for five months. “If I could go back to Forest Arms, what a story to be able to tell back to your kids. I would love to go back. I would definitely be first on a list to go back in there.”
He might get the opportunity.
Rising from ashes
The Forest Arms has remained vacant, a shell of what used to be, for the past year.
It’s been on the precipice of becoming yet another dilapidated, fire-damaged building in the city. It’s a sight that has become common in Detroit the past few decades. It could’ve been another statistic of yet another building razed for the sake of a parking lot.
But Scott Lowell, owner and renovator of buildings in Midtown and downtown Detroit, has other plans.
“I hate to see another tragedy, in terms of losing the building,” Lowell said. “It was horrible enough to see it burn down.”
Lowell, a WSU alumni, owns numerous buildings surrounding the Forest Arms, including the Traffic Jam & Snug Restaurant with wife Carolyn Howard. He has renovated the Blackstone apartments and is nearly finished with renovating the Beethoven Apartments at the corner of Prentis Street and Third Avenue.
“I’m very proud of the Beethoven,” Lowell said of the structure that was once commonly known a few years ago as a drug haven. “I’ve learned a lot from the renovation process we’re doing there that I will take with me to the Forest Arms.
“And compared structurally, in terms of damage, the Beethoven makes the Forest Arms look tame.”
He hopes to open the Beethoven within the next few months.
But Lowell couldn’t undertake the Forest Arms project by himself. He’s had the help of Sue Mosey, president of the University Cultural Center Association. The UCCA was organized in 1976 by leaders of WSU, the College for Creative Studies, the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Engineering Society of Detroit.
It was designed to support the physical maintenance and development of the area and to enhance public awareness, appreciation and use of Midtown Detroit.
“The University Cultural Center Association is a limited partner in the project,” Mosey said. “[The] UCCA is assisting in providing funding for the renovation through loans.”
It is estimated that the Forest Arms will cost $9 million to renovate, with work on the brick facade and a new roof hopefully beginning this summer, Mosey said. She expects it will likely take at least two years to complete.
“I feel like I’m George Bailey from “It’s a Wonderful Life,”” Lowell said, referring to the classic Christmas movie. “And if Potter, basically anyone else, bought it, they would tear it down.”
There is still some legal red tape involved with the city before Lowell can buy the Forest Arms. He and the original owner have agreed on a price. Lowell hopes to have the issue with the city worked out within the next few weeks.
“I would hate to promise the moon to people,” he said, “and not produce anything.”
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