2 Renaissance Center towers sold to new owner
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Farmington Hills-based Friedman Real Estate’s purchase of the 500 and 600 towers from a New Jersey-based publicly traded utility company marks a major central business district office ownership shakeup. Jared Friedman, executive managing director of acquisitions and business development for Friedman Real Estate, confirmed the purchase from LMC Phase II LLC in a text message late Wednesday afternoon.
He described the two towers as “beautiful buildings that have always been corporate occupied,” leading to them being “in such great shape.”
The two, 21-story towers were constructed in the 1970s; they were the last two buildings constructed in the Renaissance Center complex, opening in the early 1980s. Friedman noted that they are “very different” from the larger General Motors Co.-owned portion of the Renaissance Center complex, with easier access and a dedicated parking garage.
Earlier Wednesday, Friedman announced a new office lease extension with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan in which the Detroit-based health insurance giant remains the 307,000-square-foot 500 tower’s sole office tenant. Sandy Alston-Childs, vice president of corporate services for Blue Cross, said in the press release that the lease extension “reflects our unwavering commitment to downtown Detroit, where we have been a member of the business community for more than 80 years.”Jared Friedman said the 600 tower could be available for a corporate user if it wanted to lease the entire building or it could be suited to smaller users with 17,000-square-foot floorplates.
“Since the construction of 500 & 600 River East towers, it has been the chosen home for prominent corporate tenants. We are excited to present a significant and rare opportunity to the market for a corporation to make 600 River East Tower a space of their own,” David Friedman, the co-founder, executive managing director, president and CEO of Friedman Real Estate, said in a press release announcing the BCBSM lease.
The Southfield office of Cushman & Wakefield worked on the lease deal, while the Royal Oak office of Colliers International Inc. worked on the sale transaction.
The purchase price for the buildings is not yet known. Jared Friedman said the sale closed Thursday.
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