Roslonski filed a lawsuit against the city Monday, more than two years after a house he was restoring suddenly was destroyed.
He said he put more than $30,000 into the property on the east side of Detroit after buying it for $7,000. One day in summer 2006, he couldn't find 13405 Flanders.
"I drove up and down the street three times - where is my house?" Roslonski said.
His lawyer, Jeffrey Dworin, said the house was taken off a demolition list, then apparently reinstated without Roslonski's knowledge.
"It happens," Dworin said.
A message seeking comment was left with the city's law department, which was closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday Monday.
Roslonski is suing Detroit for his losses under a federal civil rights law. He fixed another house on the same street and sold it for $85,000.
"I see all these boarded-up and burned-out houses. I'm trying to make the city a better place," he said.
