Monroe Block Development

According to user "Michigan48" from skyscraperpage.com, He went by the site the other day and noticed a sign that said Neuman Smith/Bedrock is attempting over a Zoom meeting on the 23rd to change the zoning to allow for a 535' tower that is 95' wide with 15 loading docks as opposed to the 450' tall tower that is 60' wide and with 6 loading docks. It also said the structure would bee about 946,000 square feet. This is interesting because it means Bedrock is still thinking the tower could be as large as originally proposed. To me that either means they somehow secured an anchor tenant or they think Quicken takes up enough space to built the tower at its original scale.

user "DetroitSportsFan" also
Found this on the board of zoning appeal’s website.
https://detroitmi.gov/sites/detroitm...%2C%202020.pdf

To be clear, this isn't a change in the height of the office tower, rather the official request for a variance from what would be allowed by-right at the site. It's still being proposed around the original 536' we saw it last proposed at.

Anyway, nice find. I'm not really surprised. I'd think that it'd be office space that will rebound first before things like hotels. And the governor was just talking about, today, changing regulations that allow for more spacious offices. So the trend of increasing smaller workspaces has been completely turned on its head for the forseeable future.

One thing to think about is that Gilbert's companies didn't have a lot of space to begin with, with employees crammed into the floor plans of buildings in open-office designs. In a post-COVID world they may need more space for employees.

Not to be a debbie downer, but some big time tech companies are having their employees stay home basically forever [[Twitter). This seems to be the "cool" thing to do to keep young employees happy. Quicken wants that type of talent. I'm in a wait and see approach, but still fairly strongly feel office demand downtown is going to take a significant hit from this.

Nonetheless, unexpected good news about the Monroe Block there. Would love to be proven wrong.

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Originally Posted by stinkytofu

Not to be a debbie downer, but some big time tech companies are having their employees stay home basically forever [[Twitter). This seems to be the "cool" thing to do to keep young employees happy. Quicken wants that type of talent. I'm in a wait and see approach, but still fairly strongly feel office demand downtown is going to take a significant hit from this.

Nonetheless, unexpected good news about the Monroe Block there. Would love to be proven wrong.

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There's really no point in speculating about what the demand for office space will be in the future. Until we see some companies in Detroit actually cancelling their leases, it should be expected that people will come back to work when it's safe.

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Originally Posted by stinkytofu

Not to be a debbie downer, but some big time tech companies are having their employees stay home basically forever [[Twitter). This seems to be the "cool" thing to do to keep young employees happy. Quicken wants that type of talent. I'm in a wait and see approach, but still fairly strongly feel office demand downtown is going to take a significant hit from this.

Nonetheless, unexpected good news about the Monroe Block there. Would love to be proven wrong.

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The tech industry has a completely different culture.

Detroit's companies, conversely, have a very old school mindset. AIS is the expectation.

Wasn't Duggan teasing a big office relocation to the city awhile ago?

You guys think this might have something to do with that? I mean what other building this deep in the planning process would put a roof under such a thing?

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Originally Posted by 313WX

The tech industry has a completely different culture.

Detroit's companies, conversely, have a very old school mindset. AIS is the expectation.

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One other aspect to keep in mind:

If a worker never has to report to the office, then theoretically it doesn’t matter where they live. As long as they have an Internet connection, they could live in Hawaii and still “work” in One Campus Martius.

And while that may not matter to a business itself [[provided the worker can get the job done), it does matter to Bedrock/Gilbert. Given the residential and first floor commercial space they own, Bedrock’s is at an advantage to have people living, eating, and reporting to the office in Downtown Detroit. Even if it is only for a day a week, having that report to the office setup keeps workers tethered to downtown, which Gilbert obviously wants.

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Originally Posted by Atticus

And while that may not matter to a business itself [[provided the worker can get the job done), it does matter to Bedrock/Gilbert. Given the residential and first floor commercial space they own, Bedrock’s is at an advantage to have people living, eating, and reporting to the office in Downtown Detroit. Even if it is only for a day a week, having that report to the office setup keeps workers tethered to downtown, which Gilbert obviously wants.

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Exactly, the tech companies don't care about investing in Palo Alto and San Francisco all that much.

If the 535’ height holds, this tower would become Detroit’s 5th tallest.

1- RenCen [[727’) 2- Hudson’s [[680’). 3-Ally [[619’). 4- Penobscot [[565’). 5- Monroe Tower [[535’)

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Originally Posted by Atticus

If the 535’ height holds, this tower would become Detroit’s 5th tallest.

1- RenCen [[727’) 2- Hudson’s [[680’). 3-Ally [[619’). 4- Penobscot [[565’). 5- Monroe Tower [[535’)

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An interesting footnote on building height. The RenCen is 727 ft. from it's main entrance, but 748 ft. tall from it's back [[Winter Garten) entrance.

Also the Penobscot Building is 654 ft. tall to the top of the red beacon.

If we’re counting antennas, the Marriott at the RenCen is 755’ and the Penobscot is still the second tallest in Michigan.

Very happy that it seems this didn't get a height reduction unlike Hudsons. This height is very appropriate and needed in the center of the city.

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Originally Posted by Satiricalivory

Very happy that it seems this didn't get a height reduction unlike Hudsons. This height is very appropriate and needed in the center of the city.

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Anyone attended the zoom meeting today, and what is the latest updates from that??

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Originally Posted by shawring

Anyone attended the zoom meeting today, and what is the latest updates from that??

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User "Michigan48" from skyscraperpage.com was saying that he tuned in a little late, He also said that the meeting some of the big take were that Bedrock only wants to build 6 loading docks but 12-15 were required at a minimum for the site, which was approved. Also, they basically said that the purpose for doing this meeting now would be to make sure they were shovel ready when tenants are signed on. Apparently, this process has been ongoing since March, probably meaning that the design for phase 1 was finalized around that time. To be honest, I don't care how many loading docks that gonna be at the site and the Monroe Block renderings is great the way it is,no need for big changes. I just wanna know is that when's construction is finally gonna to kick off?

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Originally Posted by THE FURY 617

User "Michigan48" from skyscraperpage.com was saying that he tuned in a little late, He also said that the meeting some of the big take were that Bedrock only wants to build 6 loading docks but 12-15 were required at a minimum for the site, which was approved. Also, they basically said that the purpose for doing this meeting now would be to make sure they were shovel ready when tenants are signed on. Apparently, this process has been ongoing since March, probably meaning that the design for phase 1 was finalized around that time. To be honest, I don't care how many loading docks that gonna be at the site and the Monroe Block renderings is great the way it is,no need for big changes. I just wanna know is that when's construction is finally gonna to kick off?

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I have a feeling construction won’t start until Hudson’s is well underway or close to being wrapped up which at the rate they’re going could be 4-5 years. That’s just an opinion and I hope a wrong one at that. Bedrock is just now realizing how hard it is to build these things. To their credit at least they’re trying. Once one of these projects goes up in Detroit it’ll be a game changer. All they need is a spark. Let’s not forget about the Chemical Bank HQ and that new 16 story building announced in Greektown came out of nowhere.

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Movement on site this week. Related to the Hudson site, or something more?

Looked like they were digging trenches, perhaps for utility work.

Neat! The window near my desk at work has a great view of this site. However, I haven't been there since mid-March...

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Originally Posted by 48307

Neat! The window near my desk at work has a great view of this site. However, I haven't been there since mid-March...

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Lucky. I've been onsite since March. I'm definitely enjoying this lack of traffic though.

anyone know whats going on there

Looked like they were digging trenches, perhaps for utility work.

Although there has been some concern whether or not this gets built, a glimmer of hope may be that the architecture firm SHL has been reposting renderings from the project the last two days with language to suggest it is still a go.

There was a triple wide construction trailer sitting on the site for the past two years. Today they took two out of three of the sections away.

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Originally Posted by MrChrome

There was a triple wide construction trailer sitting on the site for the past two years. Today they took two out of three of the sections away.

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Site clearing about to begin? If I recall, the only work they did was a few scoops of earth during the groundbreaking.