Bell Building (Detroit, Michigan)

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Built in 1929-30 as a warehouse, garage, and office space for Western Electric, Western Electric used the building as its Michigan headquarters until 1958, after which it was used by Michigan Bell and its Yellow Pages operation until 1999. The six story, 255,000 sq. ft., building features a twelve story tower which held a giant two story yellow sign which read "Find It Fast Yellow Pages".

After sitting vacant for almost twenty years, the building was acquired by the Neighborhood Service Organization a non-profit organization that does a lot of work in the city and suburbs around mental health, homelessness, and developmental disabilities. They offer community programs, a suicide hotline and also the Tumaini Center at Second Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., which is a walk-in center serving the chronically homeless in Detroit that has been open since 1975. They see about 3,000 people annually at the center, in a city with a homeless population of around 20,000.

The NSO Bell Building is a groundbreaking effort that provides permanent, supportive housing for homeless adults annd support services to help them stabilize and turn their lives around. It also is the home of NSO's headquarters and its 200 member administration staff.

The $50 million community investment is providing 155 safe, fully furnished, one-bedroom apartments for formerly homeless adults. NSO will provide mental health, addiction treatment, intensive case management, financial literacy, nutrition classes and other on-site support in one location to better help residents restore their lives. A health care clinic is located in the building for residents and the community to utilize. The facility also includes amenities such as a gym, library, computer room, art and music rooms, and a chapel.

www.nso-mi.org/bell-building.php
detroit1701.org/Yellow%20Pages%20Building.html