Hudson's Site Building Thread

**SpartanDawg** · February-22-17, 03:30 PM

UPDATE OF UPDATE OF UPDATE--January 29, 2020 04:39 PM: Hudson's site tower will not be tallest in Michigan after all, CEO for Gilbert's Bedrock says.

Envisioned at one point to be up to 912 feet tall, the development on the site of the former J.L. Hudson's department store in downtown Detroit isn't going to top the 727-foot Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center on the Detroit riverfront, said Matt Cullen, CEO of Dan Gilbert's Bedrock LLC real estate company. The RenCen hotel is the tallest building in the state.

"It will not be the tallest," Cullen said of the Hudson's tower in response to a question from the Detroit Free Press. He said a determination will be made by June on the precise height as well as a hotel operator.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-e...s-bedrock-says

UPDATE OF UPDATE: Project grows to 912 feet. New renderings released. Jump to latest discussion of this change >>
Attachment 36804

[Previous] UPDATE: Final Rendering - Ground-breaking takes place Dec. 14, 2017.

Finalized Design Rendering seen from the south. Jump to Ground Breaking. >>

They rendered in a Uniqlo Store. That would be awesome!

at 734 feet tall it's about 8 feet or so taller than the roof of the Ren Cen

**mikeg19** · February-22-17, 03:40 PM

8ft? Really man? lol Couldn't hit at least like the 800ft plateau? Either way, bout time we say this.

**SpartanDawg** · February-22-17, 03:44 PM

Originally Posted by mikeg19

8ft? Really man? lol Couldn't hit at least like the 800ft plateau? Either way, bout time we say this.

haha. ren cen roof is listed at 727 feet, this roof is going to be 734 feet. Although I guess the 'antenna' of the ren cen is about 750 feet so it won't be taken without controversy. i think roof height is a better judge since the antennas on top of the ren cen aren't really prominent like on the penobscot or 1 world trade center.

regardless i'm super excited. 52 floors. the tower will be all rental residential. the base of the building includes 4 floors of office space, meeting/event space, and first two floors of building are retail

**mikeg19** · February-22-17, 03:48 PM

Wow. That is a crap ton of new residential coming online if this comes to fruition.

Just need those tax credits approved now to move forward with this.

**MrMichigan** · February-22-17, 03:54 PM

This is great news, plus Senate passed the brownfield bill today.

**hybridy** · February-22-17, 03:57 PM

Originally Posted by SpartanDawg

regardless i'm super excited. 52 floors. the tower will be all rental residential. the base of the building includes 4 floors of office space, meeting/event space, and first two floors of building are retail

is 250 residential units still the number?

the render appears to show the building plinth at the same height of one campus maritus...so there must be a number of parking levels above the retail floors but beneath the office floors.

**Shai_Hulud** · February-22-17, 03:59 PM

That tower looks like a pretty skinny tower.

**313rd** · February-22-17, 03:59 PM

Changing the skyline...I guess my little birdie from two years ago was correct with this statement. Plans significantly changed after the purchase of the garage , allowing them to modify instead of only 16 stories with the existing steel.

**401don** · February-22-17, 04:00 PM

Lots of other residential still under construction and yet Freep had an article on the weekend that occupancy may be reaching the saturation point, as waiting lists are being replaced by incentives.

**SpartanDawg** · February-22-17, 04:01 PM

Originally Posted by hybridy

is 250 residential units still the number?

the render appears to show the building plinth at the same height of one campus maritus...so there must be a number of parking levels above the retail floors but beneath the office floors.

original number was 250 units, 50 being affordable

new number released today was 200 rental units. bedrock is skirting the affordable option requirement in buildings getting incentives by just adding more 'affordable' housing in other properties they own.

hudsons will be [[very likely) 200 market rate rentals

**MrMichigan** · February-22-17, 04:03 PM

hudsonssitedetroit.com

**dtowncitylover** · February-22-17, 04:15 PM

I'm impressed that they are so thoughtful and respectful of Hudson's and the building. It would be so easy to throw away history, like so many do, but they understand what this location meant to millions of people and how it brought people together back then and they want to build off of that, no pun intended. Good on them!

**hybridy** · February-22-17, 04:17 PM

Originally Posted by MrMichigan

hudsonssitedetroit.com

thanks MrMichigan

The proposed 52-story building is estimated to include:
• 250 residential units totaling 441,500 gross square feet
• A nine-story podium comprised of 733,823 gross square feet of mixed use,commercial, office, technology, arts and culture space
• Three stories below grade featuring additional commercial space on one level with 700 parking spaces on the other two levels

We plan to break ground by December 1, 2017.

**southen** · February-22-17, 04:27 PM

I think between this and City Modern you are seeing Gilbert trying to push design in this city again like it hasn't been in a long time. The fact that on the website they mention the UNESCO designation is another indicator of this. Now that Detroit is going "vertical" I think you are going to see this level of quality in other places like the Monroe Block and riverfront. It's a pretty exciting time if you are a fan of modern architecture.

Calltoaction · February-22-17, 04:27 PM

It's the perfect height, not too tall to overpower the skyline but tall enough to make it's mark.

**hybridy** · February-22-17, 04:32 PM

An economic impact study from New York based WSP-Parsons Brinkerhoff estimates the Hudson’s development, which is projected to attract three million unique visitors per year, will:

• Create more than 5,800 direct and indirect jobs and $1.5 billion in new economic output during the construction of the project
• Generate $230 million in direct annual spending and support 3,000 direct jobs once the project is completed
• Generate $560 million per year in economic output, or nearly $6 billion in totaleconomic output over 10 years

**SpartanDawg** · February-22-17, 04:40 PM

didnt notice it before but if you look at the top post of the renderings there is an apple store and a uniqlo store rendered in! i'm sure nothing is final but that's cool to see

**Zads07** · February-22-17, 05:19 PM

I see similarity between the tower and the Washington Monument. Anyone else see it?

The link provided above has some incredible information and the renderings are very high quality. Excited to see this come to fruition.

**emu steve** · February-22-17, 05:21 PM

Will these be the most expensive rentals in the city?

**emu steve** · February-22-17, 05:22 PM

Originally Posted by Zads07

I see similarity between the tower and the Washington Monument. Anyone else see it?

The link provided above has some incredible information and the renderings are very high quality. Excited to see this come to fruition.

YES!!! No Doubt.

**Detroitdave** · February-22-17, 05:24 PM

If that gets built... THAT ... IS ... AWESOME !

**SpartanDawg** · February-22-17, 05:29 PM

from the top!

**ABetterDetroit** · February-22-17, 05:54 PM

Dec 1 this year. Wow just wow. He has a knack for making the waiting worth it.

**DetroiterOnTheWestCoast** · February-22-17, 05:58 PM

While I like the base portion, I find the tower to be ungainly and contrived just in order to be taller than the RenCen. "Mine is bigger than yours."

**Jason** · February-22-17, 06:00 PM

Based on the renderings, many aspects of this design make good sense.

One problem with the Hudsons site is that it's very deep. This design solves that problem by having an atrium in the center of the block, with other circulation spaces [[the gaps you can see from the street) coming off of it. The atrium also aides in navigating the various program elements [[you can look up the atrium and see where you need to get), and an atrium is a more pleasant circulation experience than the standard bank of elevators.

The gaps also seem to correspond to the various programs, making them legible. This also aides in navigation.

The office section being divided that way is also useful for leasing to tenants. It looks like there's basically three office buildings above the rest, each articulated. So a company could lease one of the entire "buildings", instead of being just one tenant buried on floor #5-6 or whatever.

The gaps on the facade also break down the scale of the facade to something more comparable to the surrounding buildings. But it does this without being completely contrived or artificial. It makes sense to break up the massing in that way, and the facades of each section relate to the function of the spaces behind it. This is in contrast to many buildings which have a large number of facade types covering up uniform office space behind it.

imo the swoops and bends and whatnot don't really have much architectural basis and are there for flash/wow/branding/PR. I'm not personally a fan of that kind of capitalist or commercialized spectacle. But Gilbert certainly is, since it has been the core of the designwork in many of his properties. It doesn't mean that everything has to be orthogonal or that there can never be visual interest or spatial richness, but imo it should be more principled and should evolve naturally and be integrated with other design considerations. There's really no reason for the apartment tower to be so bent.

I do like that the tower is slender. The sad state of downtown allowed us to almost entirely dodge the overscaled mega fat office behemoth skyscrapers from the 70s onwards. One Detroit Center is much thicker than its neighboring buildings, but it's thinner than it could have been and the overall proportions help it. Detroit is slightly more like European cities where the skyscrapers have always been smaller scale. The McNamara Federal Building is our primary chunky tower.