Detroit's massive whale mural won't be covered by ad

An outdoor advertising firm has been denied a request to cover the massive Whaling Wall mural on the side of downtown Detroit's Broderick Tower with a massive ad.

Detroit's Board of Zoning Appeals voted 5-1 Tuesday to reverse its decision last week that had granted permission for the firm, The Detroit Media Group, to place an ad over the 108-foot painted wall mural that is seen by thousands of baseball fans from Comerica Park.

Explaining their reversal, board members said that they lacked enough time before the Dec. 4 meeting to fully review paperwork that had been submitted only shortly before the meeting.

"There were some things that were found out later," board member Vivian Teague said, 

Teague added that she personally likes the whales mural, which was created in 1997 by artist Robert Wyland to draw attention to the endangered humpback whale.

"If we don't reconsider (our Dec. 4 decision), we will maybe help destroy some of the prettiness in the buildings of the city," Teague said.

Board members also heard a letter read aloud from Detroit City Councilwoman Raquel Castañeda-López, who opposed covering the mural with an ad.

The advertising firm did not disclose what specific ad it was considering for the wall space.

The whales mural was previously covered up from 2006 to 2012 with giant ads for Jeep, Verizon and "The world's first Touch Screen Blackberry."

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Tuesday's vote was a setback for the Broderick Tower's primary owner, Michael Higgins, who claimed in an affidavit last month that the anticipated money from renting out ad space on the building is "an essential element" to repaying the building's substantial renovation costs.

Broderick Tower reopened in 2012 as a high-end apartment building after standing vacant for decades.

Higgins did not respond to a Free Press message seeking comment.

An attorney for the advertising firm, Timothy Stoepker of Dickinson Wright, said he had no comment after the vote, but didn't rule out future court action concerning the board's reversal.

"I’m not done," Stoepker said. "I have to discuss that with my client."

The board specifically voted to deny the advertising firm's request to toss aside a determination by the city's Law Department that the old sign ad permit for Broderick Tower had been "abandoned."  

Earlier this year, an updated sign ad permit had been erroneously issued for the tower by the city's Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department, according to James Ribbron, director of the Board of Zoning Appeals.

Reviving the 2000s sign permit is crucial for Broderick Tower's owner because, since the start of 2018, Detroit officials have only allowed a few older downtown building signs to remain up and required newer ones to come down.

Contact JC Reindl: 313-222-6631 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JCReindl.