As soon as a toilet was installed in the former bank that Lynne Savino and her husband purchased to turn into their Detroit dream home, they moved in, placing their bed in the middle of the construction zone.
Savino would wake up in the living room, then work on a new part of the project that would take the property, vacant for 10 years, into a modern, airy, artsy single-family home.
“I did not have a shower for a month. I didn’t have a laundry room for two months, and I didn’t have a kitchen until September,” said Savino, who would trade cooking meals and bottles of wine to use a shower and washing machine at her friends' homes until the conversion progressed far enough.
“I thought it was fantastic. … The sunlight would be pouring through the half-round windows at the top, and I had two cats at the time, and it was just heavenly.”
Her husband, Michael, was a cement contractor, and the two did much of the work by hand to convert the limestone bank building into a two-bedroom, two-bathroom residence, listed now for $1.3 million. It’s located in West Corktown, one of the oldest parts of Detroit, said listing agent Endrina Halili Malkowski of Keller Williams Legacy.
“It is the most unique building that’s been renovated completely and being used as a residential building currently,” she said.
The couple toured a church in Detroit’s Woodbridge neighborhood, a former veterans hall in Hamtramck, and a handful of warehouses before selecting what was originally the People’s State Bank.
Built in 1925, the rectangular structure went through several different bank branch ownerships before being used last as an after-hours club in the early 2000s, a space that would remain open past legal alcohol serving hours, according to Savino.
The property fell victim to scrappers and graffiti artists, but the couple knew they wanted to take on the conversion, despite any challenges. They used the funds from selling their home in the Green Acres area to purchase the building and get to work.
The couple purchased the former bank in an estate sale for $66,000 in 2013, which included the neighboring property, a bar at 3415 Michigan Ave., according to public records. That building, used by the sellers as an Airbnb property with three loft apartments, is also listed for $485,000. The properties can be sold separately or together.
“The bar next door was filled with the Highwaymen, a motorcycle club,” said Savino.
The average house price in the Southwest portion of Detroit is $124,480, according to Homes.com data, with an average price per square foot of $110. The Savinos’ 3,000-square-foot home is priced at $433 per square foot.
On May 15, a former manufacturing building converted into a single-family home sold in the Woodridge neighborhood, 3 miles from the converted bank, for $1.3 million after listing initially for $1.49 million. Its final price equated to $299 per square foot, according to the Homes.com listing.
‘$30,000’ copper vestibule
The bank had an open floor plan with a main level that included a vault and employee bathroom, and another basement-level vault, which was turned into a wine cellar. Both vault doors were long gone before the Savinos purchased the property, likely due to scrappers who also pulled out the radiators, according to Lynne Savino. The couple didn’t touch the bank’s exterior during the conversion, besides giving it a new roof.
Thanks to the after-hours club painting over the entryway of the building, scrappers didn’t notice a large copper vestibule at the entrance, which remains there now, without the white paint.
“I call it my $30,000 vestibule because copper is expensive,” said Savino. She used nut picks to dig into the vestibule’s bevels. “That was my project because I don’t know how to do that much stuff, but I can strip paint.”
The couple installed a loft with a bedroom and second bathroom, previously a DJ booth from the club. To figure out spacing and layout, Savino said she taped newspaper to the floor as a visual marker. The couple designed the home, keeping much of the original character, with bits from the bank's different uses.
It still has its original marble windowsills, which include the engraved signatures of former partygoers or scrappers. The basement also maintains spray paint and scribbled words.
The home includes a 20-foot-long kitchen island and custom mural of a koi fish by local artist Phybr, who also spray-painted murals on the exterior of the Airbnb building next door and the backyard’s storage container, which once housed all of the Savinos’ “worldly possessions” until they moved into the completed home. The container will be included in the home sale.
The residence has also been used for Savino’s cooking class business and as an event venue, both of which began by happenstance with owning the home. It’s even hosted a wedding reception for a friend who worked for the city of Detroit, and the couple was married by Mayor Mike Duggan.
“From the beginning, I always told my husband that it’s a space that should be shared. It’s big, it’s cool, it’s a great Detroit story,” said Savino.