Redevelopment plan for Detroit's RenCen would demolish 2 towers, add housing
(CBS DETROIT) — General Motors and real estate firm Bedrock announced Monday a development plan for the Renaissance Center and 27 acres along the Detroit Riverfront.
The proposal calls for preserving Detroit's skyline, right-sizing the complex's footprint and connecting the site to "the heart of downtown."
"This iconic landmark's future is important to Detroit and Michigan, and our shared vision with General Motors ensures that its redevelopment aligns with Detroit's economic advancement," said Kofi Bonner, CEO of Bedrock. "Additionally, our collaborative approach makes certain that the reimagined Renaissance Center and the riverfront further augment and support the city's continued growth, benefiting the community and region at large."
GM and Bedrock propose:
- Creating a new pedestrian promenade connecting the heart of the city to the riverfront.
- Removing the low-rise base of the complex and the two office towers nearest the river, creating an inviting destination and reducing obsolete office space.
- Redeveloping three towers into a mix of hospitality and housing, preserving the essence of the skyline.
- Turning reclaimed land into signature public spaces.
- Reconfiguring the flow of the site to allow direct access to the buildings and the riverfront.
In April, the two companies announced an agreement that called for plans to redevelop the RenCen and have GM move its headquarters into a new space in 2025 at the site of the former J.L. Hudson Department Store in downtown Detroit.
"GM has the best possible partner with Bedrock in this effort to redevelop the Renaissance Center," said Dave Massaron, Vice President of Infrastructure and Corporate Citizenship for General Motors, in a release. "Nobody has repurposed more buildings in Detroit than Dan Gilbert and his Bedrock team. This is another chapter in their unprecedented commitment to building the best possible future for the city and Michigan."
While Bedrock and GM have committed to funding a majority of the redevelopment project, the remainder is contingent on public funding. The two sides will meet with state and local leaders in the coming weeks and determine if it's possible to move forward with the plan.
"We've said since the very beginning of this process that we were going to make a realistic decision about preserving as much of the Renaissance Center as possible," said Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan in a statement. "Dan Gilbert's vision gives us a path forward to preserve and reuse three of the towers and, at the same time, creates a beautiful expansion of public space on the Detroit riverfront. We will need a public-private partnership to get this done and avoid the decades of inaction that accompanied so many other Detroit landmarks, like Hudson's, Michigan Central Station, AMC Headquarters, and the Packard Plant. I am grateful for Dan Gilbert's leadership in trying to prevent that fate for the Renaissance Center."
The concept of the RenCen was first conceived by Henry Ford II in the 1970s and was opened in 1976. GM purchased the complex in 1996 and, following renovations, moved its world headquarters there.