Detroit’s Renaissance Center could be reconfigured with the demolition of two of its five towers in a massive redevelopment project that is budgeted at over $1 billion.
The Detroit News reports the redevelopment project is being spearheaded by Bedrock Detroit LLC, the real estate company owned by Rocket Companies (NYSE: RKT) founder Dan Gilbert. General Motors, which owns and is headquartered at the complex, is relocating to new offices in Detroit next year, which would leave a significant vacancy at the property.
The 5.5 million-square-foot complex would shed 1.25 million square feet with the demolition of Towers 300 and 400, which be used for a six-acre waterfront park. The central tower, which houses a Marriott hotel, would decrease its rooms from the current 1,200 to 850 while the building’s top floor would be reconfigured as residential apartments.
Bedrock Detroit is budgeting the redevelopment at $1.6 billion redevelopment plan, and it is seeking $250 million in state support and $100 million from Detroit’s Downtown Development Authority to fund the project. Dan Gilbert has pledged at least $1 billion to the project and General Motors will contribute $250 million.
“It’s really a question of finding the right combination of that mix of uses because we see that that is indeed the winning formula for the repositioning of assets,” said Kofi Bonner, CEO of Bedrock Detroit. “We have this incredible asset that the city and the region has in the riverwalk, and we are building on this incredible asset in the downtown area, and the RenCen has effectively walled itself off for decades.
Photo: Notorious4Life / Wikimedia Commons
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