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

[JBMcB]

1. Gilbert will do something with Ren Cen - Probably a hotel or residences.

Residences maybe. Converting a high-rise into apartments is pricey, you have to redo the water, fire, and HVAC systems, and possibly the electrical as well. My brother-in-law worked on a small-scale conversion, and he said they gutted everything inside and completely redid the entire building. It was a huge, expensive project, and the building was a fraction of the size of one of the renaissance center towers. It wouldn't be impossible, just an enormous, expensive undertaking.

I doubt the lease the Mariott has with the building would allow the building to rent out space to a competing hotel.

2. For GM, 100% back to the office...

Not quite. The Hudson site tower is smaller than GM's office space in the Renaissance Center. They shed quite a few people in the buyouts last year, and a good chunk of the workforce is still working hybrid, a couple days in the office and a couple days at home.

[detmsp]

Residences maybe. Converting a high-rise into apartments is pricey, you have to redo the water, fire, and HVAC systems, and possibly the electrical as well. My brother-in-law worked on a small-scale conversion, and he said they gutted everything inside and completely redid the entire building. It was a huge, expensive project, and the building was a fraction of the size of one of the renaissance center towers. It wouldn't be impossible, just an enormous, expensive undertaking.

I doubt the lease the Mariott has with the building would allow the building to rent out space to a competing hotel.



Not quite. The Hudson site tower is smaller than GM's office space in the Renaissance Center. They shed quite a few people in the buyouts last year, and a good chunk of the workforce is still working hybrid, a couple days in the office and a couple days at home.

You can probably also add windows to the list of complexities/costs you've already mentioned. I think it's pretty rare to have an apartment where you can't open the windows... imagine how much it would cost to replace a few windows for every unit? I'm guessing they'd all have to be custom made too.

[Atticus]

You can probably also add windows to the list of complexities/costs you've already mentioned. I think it's pretty rare to have an apartment where you can't open the windows... imagine how much it would cost to replace a few windows for every unit? I'm guessing they'd all have to be custom made too.

Agree with this and the preceding post. Very expensive to do, and massive undertaking. Not as simple as just erecting some new apartment walls, and calling it habitable.

But… not impossible either.

And should it happen, which I think is more likely than finding office tenants to backfill all that space, downtown will gain a bunch more residential units for those who want to live a walkable urban lifestyle with great views of the river and the skyline. To me it’s still a win. It will take a while and be expensive to get there, but ultimately a net positive.