The Metropolitan Building in downtown Detroit, which was left to vandals' graffiti and neglect nearly 40 years ago, reopened Monday when Mayor Mike Duggan flipped the lights back on during a ceremony to celebrate the building's $33-million restoration.

"Well, are you guys ready to see a building lit up for the first time since Jimmy Carter was president?" Duggan asked the crowd, garnering claps and laughter.

"I mean, think about that. The 1970s, it closed down. You think about 40 years of decline. Since then, we have come all the way back," the mayor said.

The 93-year-old wedge-shaped building at 33 John R St. that has been closed since late '70s is steps away from the newer Boll YMCA, the Z parking garage and other works in progress. It is to house Michigan's first Element Hotel, an extended-stay hotel under the Starwood Collection, as well as restaurants and retail, according to a news release prepared by Van Dyke Horn Public Relations.



Use the slider tool to see the building's progress after four years:

"The first year I was here," Duggan said Monday, "the surrounding building owners sent me panicked messages: 'You've got to knock this building down. It's gonna fall in on us, pieces are falling on us.' "

He said he sent his head of construction to check on the building who reported back that he knew the building "looks bad but it's structurally sound, and with the right developer, this building could be a jewel again."

Duggan gave credit Monday to the Roxbury Group who developed the project with the Means Group, both Detroit-based.

Read more:

Metropolitan Building in Detroit to become hotel project

Iconic Dearborn hotel abruptly closes

Roxbury had done other renovations in the city, the mayor pointed out, like the David Whitney Building and the former Professional Plaza Building, which Duggan referred to as the carpenter's building, near the Detroit Medical Center.

"This was exactly the right team to come in and see possibilities when what all other people saw was decay," Duggan said of Roxbury, whose principal is David Di Rita.

He continued: "I just wanted to come by and celebrate the fact that 40 years later, we're lightning it back up again ... as soon as the switch works."

Here's a closer look at the building.

Staff writer Eric Lawrence contributed to this report.