Demolition of the former Globe Trading Co. building began last spring and construction is now ramping up to turn it into a 43,000-square-foot outdoor activity center for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

I was able to tour the building, located on the Detroit River waterfront, to see the progress that Detroit-based contractor Walbridge Aldinger Co. has made.

Kevin Spiess, the Walbridge project manager, spent about an hour showing me around the 100-plus-year-old building, some of which was spared the wrecking ball during the demolition process last year.

Walls and steel more than a century old stand next to new walls and steel made to look just as aged.

During my visit, workers were busy hanging windows on the third floor and using power saws.

When finished, the center will include a 60-foot-long archery range; a 15-foot waterfall; simulators for things like all-terrain vehicle riding; a retail shop; a 14-foot by 5-foot aquarium; a food court; a cafeteria and meeting room; banquet space; a lab area; video monitors with a live high-definition stream to a baby bald eagle’s nest; a deer blind tower; features on urban gardening; a time capsule; and plenty more interactive goodies scattered throughout.

Not to mention a donated Cessna airplane suspended on the second floor. It will be delivered to the site in pieces next month. Yes, a Cessna.

I’m not sure what a Cessna has to do with natural resources and conservation, but it’s pretty cool, nonetheless.

Another surprising thing was how difficult it was to orient myself at the $12.8 million center, which Spiess said likely won’t be complete until late summer. Without clear designations or landmarks for any of the building’s rooms, it remains labyrinthine.

The first three months of the project involved demolition and remediation of things like asbestos, Spiess said.

“I think about 60 or 70 percent of the building was good to leave,” Spiess said. “Seventy percent of the building is now dried in with windows and doors and roofs.”

Some of the old graffiti on the inside remains and will remain at the request of the DNR, Spiess said.

Funding for the project comes from $11 million in Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund money and a $1.8 million brownfield tax credit previously awarded to the site for a failed loft development project.

The Detroit-based Roxbury Group, the project’s developer, purchased the site from the Detroit Economic Growth Corp. for $1 last spring. When complete, the center will be sold back to the DNR for $11 million.

Upon completion, the DNR will make the center its Southeast Michigan field office by relocating about 20 employees from its current location in Southfield.

On the first floor, the DNR will process wild game, as well, Spiess said.

“They’ll process raccoons, whatever wild game, a goose that was poached, whatever. They’ll do it right here.”

The Globe building was constructed in phases between 1892 and 1900. It was about 100,000 square feet when constructed. Vacant for more than 20 years, the building was an automotive manufacturing and foundry facility until 1950, and a warehouse from 1950-1991.

Ann Arbor-based Hobbs & Black Architects was the architecture firm on the project, which is on Atwater Street between Orleans and St. Aubin streets.

Kirk Pinho: (313) 446-0412, [email protected]. Twitter: @kirkpinhoCDB