JC Reindl

Detroit Free Press

The owner of a famous Berlin techno music club who wants to open another one in Detroit got his first thorough tour this week of the proposed location — an abandoned auto body factory.

It wasn't your typical look-see by a big-name international visitor.

Dimitri Hegemann, 60, navigated up treacherously dark and railing-less staircases, trampled broken glass on filthy floors, saw the remains of a suspected arson fire and had to tip-toe around clumps of fallen asbestos. Nearly every wall was covered with graffiti, and half of the windows were broken.

Detroit's Fisher Body Plant No. 21 could be viewed as a hopeless eyesore. But Hegemann, founder of the world-renowned Tresor club and record label, sees in it potential for a nonprofit arts venue and techno nightclub with authentic industrial grit — and perhaps a co-working space, youth hostel and a pop-up restaurant.

"I still think it could be done," Hegemann said after his Wednesday tour. "The place fulfills my expectations."

The Berlin resident arrived this week in Detroit to meet with city officials and give a public presentation Saturday of his ideas for "redeveloping, greening and repurposing" the old six-story Fisher Body Plant. With deep connections across the globe, he is hopeful about obtaining financing for such an undertaking — if he and his development advisers decide that the project is feasible in coming weeks.

The Albert Kahn-designed factory is owned by the City of Detroit and situated along Piquette at 6051 Hastings St., near the interchange of I-94 and I-75 and about a mile from New Center. Hegemann is not discussing details of his negotiations with the city, although he did say he is open to leasing with an option to buy.

Hegemann's plan has already encountered one possible new hurdle this trip. Detroit City Councilwoman Raquel Castañeda-López said she advised Hegemann that his idea to gradually redevelop the factory by floor or in sections — a "one-room strategy" — may not please state and federal regulators, who could object to having artists and club-goers in proximity to potential environmental hazards.

The German is to meet Monday with officials from the Detroit Economic Growth Corp. to discuss potential brownfield redevelopment incentives.

"The actual cleanup of the site could be pretty costly to get rid of whatever environmental toxins are there," said Castañeda-López, who nonetheless supports the project.

A longtime fan of Detroit techno music, Hegemann is well known in Europe for his Tresor nightclub, which first opened in 1991 in a former East German department store and later reopened in a decommissioned power plant complex called Kraftwerk Berlin.

Hegemann said he is not in Detroit to make money. He said he believes that his Fisher Body Plant project could help elevate the city's arts and cultural scene, attract more visitors and give a boost to the economy, similar to what happened in Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

"The main intention is to bring more people to Detroit," he said. "The whole thing for me will be an art piece. Maybe it takes 10 years."

Hegemann has for months been eying the Fisher Body Plant, and his interest in Detroit has been the subject of media reports across Europe. Since his last visit earlier this year, the building sustained minor damage in a suspected arson fire that charred a portion of the second floor. A Detroit firefighter was injured during the blaze when he jumped from a 40-foot aerial bucket as part of the building collapsed.

Although Hegemann previously had been inside the body plant, on Wednesday he received a guided tour of all six floors by Detroit artist and photographer Scott Hocking, who has been visiting the building since the mid-1990s.

"It's good for you to see the extent of what would need to be done on every floor," Hocking told the Berlin guest.

He guided Hegemann and a small group into the structure and past sophisticated graffiti murals and bare concrete ceilings covered with icicles. Hegemann acknowledged the scale of the needed cleanup effort, yet was awestruck by the possibilities.

"It's a luxury to have so much space," he said. One of Hegemann's challenges in Detroit is unrelated to real estate; he said he can't imagine a techno club that would be required by state law to stop serving alcohol by 2 a.m.

"We have no last calls in Berlin," he said. "The night is a time for creative people ... our club in Berlin opens around 12, but nobody comes before 1:30 (a.m.)."

A member of the tour group, music journalist Walter Wasacz of Hamtramck, explained the concept of alcohol-free after-hours clubs. But Hegemann remained skeptical. "I must say that as a European, (that) won't work," he said.

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

Public presentation

■ When: 4-6 p.m. Saturday

■ Where: Trinosophes, 1464 Gratiot Ave. near Eastern Market.

■ Who: Presentation by Dimitri Hegemann, founder of Tresor nightclub.

■ Topics: His plans for redeveloping, greening and repurposing Fisher Body Plant No. 21.

■Also discussion on how reusing abandoned spaces transformed post-reunification Berlin.

Who is Dimitri Hegemann?

■Longtime fan of Detroit techno music.

■Founded the famous Tresor techno club in Berlin.

■Tresor opened in 1991 in the basement vault of a former East Berlin department store.

■Club reopened in 2007 in a renovated electrical power plant.

■He briefly owned a Detroit nightclub in 1994, but bowed out amid asbestos issues.