GM to plan move from RenCen to Dan Gilbert’s Hudson’s tower

[Gistok]

When GM bought the Rencen in the mid 1990s [[they paid $78 million, and sunk in another $500 million)... Ford occupied one of the towers, and shifted all 1,700 employees to Dearborn, leaving them with virtually no jobs in the city. Now when GM moves to the Hudson's block... how many more jobs will be lost to Warren as they downsize?

So every time the RenCen switches hands, it becomes a negative for downtown's office worker counts.

As for converting the towers to residential? That is not exactly a feeling of urban living. It's like living in a shopping center built to look like a labyrinth. Any costly conversion to residential will mean some very expensive living downtown... not just the expense of the conversion, but also the added cost of waterfront views. It will take years for that upmarket residential to get filled.

Also with GM moving out of the RenCen, the folks who own the 1400 room Marriott will not be pleased [although it won't matter for the convention crowd]... since the business clientele will want to have their overnight hotel stays closer to the offices they are visiting.

[Burnsie]

... Ford occupied one of the towers, and shifted all 1,700 employees to Dearborn, leaving them with virtually no jobs in the city. Now when GM moves to the Hudson's block... how many more jobs will be lost to Warren as they downsize?

So every time the RenCen switches hands, it becomes a negative for downtown's office worker counts.

The GM RenCen purchase was initially good for downtown, as of 2003 GM had about 6,000 workers in there, about 600 more than what it had in the GM Building. One of the 39 story towers remained leased to other tenants. And the former subsidiary EDS was getting ready to move 1,500 people into Tower 500.

Admittedly it's laughable now to read the 1996 articles and GM speculating that it would eventually relocate up to 20,000 people to the RenCen.

In addition to the pandemic devastating GM's presence downtown, it's simply a smaller company than what it was 20 years ago.

It should've just moved back into Cadillac Place instead. Probably would've fit into all the excess space the state is trying to lease.

[Danny]

There goes their $100 million dollar building.

[casscorridor]

My guess is that at least one of the towers will be converted into residential.

There are still office tenants in the other ren cen towers, so I wouldn't expect them to be converted straight away but maybe in the long run those will be as well.

As others have said, tearing the whole thing down would probably cost more than adaptive reuse, not to mention the bad PR.

This will be a net positive for the city in the end.

[stasu1213]

The GM RenCen purchase was initially good for downtown, as of 2003 GM had about 6,000 workers in there, about 600 more than what it had in the GM Building. One of the 39 story towers remained leased to other tenants. And the former subsidiary EDS was getting ready to move 1,500 people into Tower 500.

Admittedly it's laughable now to read the 1996 articles and GM speculating that it would eventually relocate up to 20,000 people to the RenCen.

In addition to the pandemic devastating GM's presence downtown, it's simply a smaller company than what it was 20 years ago.

It should've just moved back into Cadillac Place instead. Probably would've fit into all the excess space the state is trying to lease.

That would had been interesting had Gene4al Motors stepped backward into their original building. There are still not enough employees to even fill all of the empty offices in each of the towers of Cadillac Place. Listen carefully to what Barra had said. She said the GM will not abandon the downtown area. Not to keep it’s headquarters downtown. General Motor’s woes began much earlier than the pandemic. They began after the bailout and the company was forced to cancel two of it’s lines; Pontiac and Oldsmobile. That’s when the downsizing of office workers began at their headquarters. To General Motor’s credit they did save the RenCen after Ford had abandoned it. They made the complex more inviting through renovations which cost millions. If it’s true that Gilbert was flirting with the idea of buying The RenCen in 2018 he saw that he probably had a vision of what he could do to utilize each tower and every square footage of the complex without allowing the complex to gobble up majority of the offices and firms that the RenCen had done when it first opened in 1977. I could see Fortune 500 global companies taking up the 4 towers. Don’t be surprised if Honda, Toyota, Tesla, or some other foreign car Corp open offices in one of the four towers.

[Burnsie]

General Motor’s woes began much earlier than the pandemic. They began after the bailout and the company was forced to cancel two of it’s lines; Pontiac and Oldsmobile...To General Motor’s credit they did save the RenCen after Ford had abandoned it.

Oldsmobile's extermination was announced in Dec. 2000 and its last car built in spring 2004; GM didn't file for bankruptcy until June 2009. Ford didn't abandon the RenCen, and didn't own it. GM bought it from Highgate Hotels, which had bought it from several insurance companies. Until GM's purchase Ford had no intentions of moving its 2,450 employees and contractors in Towers 200 and 300. At the time, those leases ran until 2005.

[Airforceguy]

Owner of non-GM RenCen office tower looks to expand potential uses

The new owner of one of the Renaissance Center office towers next to the General Motors complex is looking for the flexibility to change its use.
An entity called Michigan Acquisition East LLC that’s tied to Farmington Hills-based Friedman Real Estate owns the 600 tower, a 21-story, 336,000-square-foot building at St. Antoine Street and East Jefferson Avenue. Michigan Acquisition East LLC is seeking Planning Commission approval to expand the building’s potential uses. Its current planned development, or PD, zoning district only allows for office use. The Friedman affiliate is looking for an amendment that would allow for most uses currently permitted in the B5 zoning district, which includes things like multifamily housing, hotel, office and other uses under the city’s zoning code.Messages were sent to Friedman as well as Planning Commission representatives on Friday and Monday seeking additional details on the proposed change.




The planning commission meeting is May 16, and the public hearing on the rezoning request starts at 6 p.m., according to a city notice that went out Friday. Toward the end of 2023, Friedman paid $15 million for the 500 and 600 towers of the Renaissance Center, which had been owned by LMC Phase II, the entity tied to Newark, N.J.-based publicly traded utility company Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. [[NYSE: PEG).

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-e...potential-uses

[401don]

Owner of non-GM RenCen office tower looks to expand potential uses




https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-e...potential-uses

So the two buildings we thought were fully leased have problems also. Sounds like the owners received some cancellation notices. This is more bad news.

[Gistok]

So the two buildings we thought were fully leased have problems also. Sounds like the owners received some cancellation notices. This is more bad news.

Maybe this will answer some of your questions... 500 Tower has a long term lease with Blue Cross... but the 600 Tower is the one with problems.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/bu...m/72050500007/

I bet the Southfield firm that bought the 2 towers late last year is livid with GM...

[sirrealone]

I bet the Southfield firm that bought the 2 towers late last year is livid with GM...

In just the few months I worked there, one thing that was made abundantly clear was that GM doesn't give a rat's you-know-what about any entity outside of their own walls.

[Sthoms3355]

It's a globalist corporation and the only thing they care about is profit and control.

[stasu1213]

Owner of non-GM RenCen office tower looks to expand potential uses




https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-e...potential-uses

Let the palm greasing begin!!!

[Canadian Visitor]

Gistok.... check your messages.

[Margaret's boy]

Hank the Deuce should have picked a better architect for the Ren Cen.

[Airforceguy]

Detroit planners set stage for future new uses at RenCen tower

City planners have taken a step toward allowing Renaissance Center Tower 600 to be used for more than just office space.With the Detroit Planning Commission’s approval on Thursday night, an entity connected to Farmington Hills-based Friedman Real Estate, which owns the 336,000-square-foot Tower 600 of the seven-building complex, could add uses like hotel, multifamily housing, restaurants, retail or others.
The Detroit City Council needs to sign off on the zoning change, as well. There is no set plan for the tower and future users as of yet, Planning Commission staff said. Commission documents say it’s only about 10% occupied after Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan vacated 165,000 square feet — roughly half — of the building in February to consolidate into Tower 500 next door. An email was sent to a spokesperson for Friedman Real Estate as well as an executive there seeking comment Friday morning.It’s the latest change for the Renaissance Center in the last six months. First, Friedman, through a network of affiliates, purchased the 500 and 600 towers from a New Jersey-based publicly traded utility company in December, spending an estimated $15 million on the buildings and land, plus what an executive said was $10 million to $15 million to retain BCBSM and consolidate employees into the 500 Tower. The health insurer signed a long-term lease there.
Friedman then quietly flipped the leased 500 Tower to an entity called KPI 500 Tower LLC, connected to Florida-based Kawa Private Investments in a deal estimated at $30.4 million. The LLC is registered at Kawa's Florida address and lists its deputy CEO on its business incorporation documents.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-e...s-rencen-tower