A Dozen Game-Changing Buildings in Metro Detroit

[gnome]

You re correct Lowell, Compuware certainly changed the game at Campu Martius. without that building, there would be no skating rink, bocce court, circlular traffic circle ... in fact, I would bet you we'd still have that lovely Kennedy Sq Fountain/outdoor mens room.

for me, There is one building that I find quite interesting. It is on Telegraph at Swanson, across the road from that circular hotel that is now closed.

The thing that makes the building interesting is that it is almost completely below grade. Up top there is a parking lot that appears to be part of a scenic overlook. The parking lot is bisected by what looks like a water pumping station. one of those poured concrete windowless bunkers, but on the backside are a couple of doors and an elevator.

You hit the button and if god is with you, they send the elevator up, you climb inside and go down a few stories and the doors open up to some sort of design or architecture firm. The building is actually built into the side of a hill that overlooks a a flood plane/plain of the upper Rouge. The entire east side of the building is glass and inside the view is otherworldly.

it isn't a game changer, because it is the only building I've ever seen that looks like it. But,it is cool.

[DetroitPlanner]

Lowell, to be fair the RenCen only made the list because of the changes that GM did to the building to open it up to the river and to remove the bizarre barrier along Jefferson.

I agree that Compuware did what the RenCen was supposed to do. Bring life back into the CBD. I have always maintained that if the goal of the RenCen was to re-energize Detroit it should have been built on Kern Block and not the River.

Just imagine what would it have done to keep retail along Woodward. When it opened in 1977, Woodward still had a very active retail scene. Hudson's was open as well as dozens of other pre-amalgamation retail stores that were also well known back then.

[Wheels]

I have always maintained that if the goal of the RenCen was to re-energize Detroit it should have been built on Kern Block and not the River.

There may have been a slight problem with size and space?

[Gistok]

There may have been a slight problem with size and space?

Agreed... Crowley's was still in existence and open...and they took up a lot of the space of the Compuware garage. So it was basically just the 5 sided Kern block that was availalble back then. Had the Hudson's and Crowley's blocks been empty back in the early 1970s when the RenCen was planned... then that site would have likely been selected.

[canuck]

Lowell, to be fair the RenCen only made the list because of the changes that GM did to the building to open it up to the river and to remove the bizarre barrier along Jefferson.

I agree that Compuware did what the RenCen was supposed to do. Bring life back into the CBD. I have always maintained that if the goal of the RenCen was to re-energize Detroit it should have been built on Kern Block and not the River.

Just imagine what would it have done to keep retail along Woodward. When it opened in 1977, Woodward still had a very active retail scene. Hudson's was open as well as dozens of other pre-amalgamation retail stores that were also well known back then.

Makes sense. The retail sector would have benefited from a more central positioning, and likewise retail in the RenCen might have blossomed in a better way. A lot of factors come into play but massive projects need to be sanctioned by urban planning study or else they can negatively influence the patterns of behavior in a city.