Hudson's Site Building Thread

**EGrant** · March-17-20, 11:16 AM

I noticed that too. The uncovered surface area on the tower side looks more in line with some of the original designs that had a skinny tower coming out of the block portion, which covered the entire site.

They could also be uncovering the caissons in phases?

**Metro25** · March-17-20, 02:14 PM

Does the crains article have any renders on it? It's premium so impossible for me to look.

**Jason** · March-17-20, 04:56 PM

Originally Posted by mikeg19

On a construction note, viewing the youtube feed, it's kinda amazing to finally see exactly the surface area the tower will cover on the site. I admittedly thought it was going to cover more area from the conceptual drawings. The "base" or "cube" or whatever name they are calling it now will be what we are all going to be staring at on street level. Can't wait to see this thing start rising.

If you look at the video from February 29th, you can see to the left of the current rectangle are some more caissons. There should also be ones to the right of the rectangle for the back part of the tower.

The smaller and more tightly packed caissons correspond to walls for the core of the building, containing elevators and stairs and stuff. The bigger caissons correspond to columns like you'd expect.

**DetBill** · March-18-20, 07:10 PM

Originally Posted by DetroiterOnTheWestCoast

Second tallest, +/- 680 feet.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-e...ower-be-second

its a nice height, But I don’t think I will ever understand why they just didn’t go the 40 or 50 feet higher just to make it the tallest building in Detroit and to make that statement. It would’ve been great for bragging rights, and for a symbol of going forward. Strange decision to finish it up that much shorter than the RenCen , but oh well, hopefully it’ll look nice.

**313WX** · March-18-20, 09:07 PM

Originally Posted by DetBill

its a nice height, But I don’t think I will ever understand why they just didn’t go the 40 or 50 feet higher just to make it the tallest building in Detroit and to make that statement. It would’ve been great for bragging rights, and for a symbol of going forward. Strange decision to finish it up that much shorter than the RenCen , but oh well, hopefully it’ll look nice.

With all of the economic uncertainty we're now facing with the Coronavirus, I'd be surprised if it's that tall.

**SammyS** · March-18-20, 09:09 PM

Originally Posted by 313WX

With all of the economic uncertainty we're now facing with the Coronavirus, I'd be surprised if it's that tall.

https://youtu.be/PcGwkyzmPmA

**313WX** · March-18-20, 09:23 PM

Originally Posted by SammyS

https://youtu.be/PcGwkyzmPmA

Meh, it had to actually be said. I'm sure others were thinking it.

**Metro25** · March-18-20, 10:35 PM

Does anybody know if they're getting ready for a pour on this excavated section? They did the same thing with other parts of the site

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lOl7unfews

**mikeg19** · March-19-20, 09:14 AM

Originally Posted by DetBill

its a nice height, But I don’t think I will ever understand why they just didn’t go the 40 or 50 feet higher just to make it the tallest building in Detroit and to make that statement. It would’ve been great for bragging rights, and for a symbol of going forward. Strange decision to finish it up that much shorter than the RenCen , but oh well, hopefully it’ll look nice.

Just my opinion, but if the Ren Cen is 727ft [[I believe) and they made the tower 730ft, to me it's just tacky to say "were the tallest". If you're gonna do it, it needs to be substantial. Again, just my opinion lol.

From Bedrocks perspective, or a construction perspective in general, another 50ft on the tower probably equates to several million dollars. I'm sure there are others on this board more qualified to quantify that cost, but from a financial standpoint it probably just didn't make sense to add another few stories if they couldn't secure or plan programming for that additional space. Given the current unforeseen economic climate, it's hard to see the office portion being filled in anytime soon. [[Unless everyone from the Penobscot Tower gets the hell out of there before it crumbles under them)

**mkd** · March-19-20, 11:40 AM

Why not just throw a decorative spire on there to get past 727ft.

**gumby** · March-19-20, 12:09 PM

Originally Posted by mkd

Why not just throw a decorative spire on there to get past 727ft.

Why does this even matter to people?

**Atticus** · March-19-20, 12:20 PM

Originally Posted by mikeg19

Just my opinion, but if the Ren Cen is 727ft [[I believe) and they made the tower 730ft, to me it's just tacky to say "were the tallest". If you're gonna do it, it needs to be substantial. Again, just my opinion lol.

From Bedrocks perspective, or a construction perspective in general, another 50ft on the tower probably equates to several million dollars. I'm sure there are others on this board more qualified to quantify that cost, but from a financial standpoint it probably just didn't make sense to add another few stories if they couldn't secure or plan programming for that additional space. Given the current unforeseen economic climate, it's hard to see the office portion being filled in anytime soon. [[Unless everyone from the Penobscot Tower gets the hell out of there before it crumbles under them)

The tower won’t even be open for another three years yet. By that point we will have a vaccine and the Coronavirus will be in the past. The economy may be slow to recover [[and let’s be honest, we were due for a recession anyway), but the uncertainty of March 2020 will not be a thing in 2023 when the structure opens.

**stasu1213** · March-19-20, 12:39 PM

RenCen won the height envy contest

**401don** · March-19-20, 01:04 PM

Originally Posted by mkd

Why not just throw a decorative spire on there to get past 727ft.

Dan could hire a mural artist to spray paint it. He seems to like that.

**Metro25** · March-19-20, 01:14 PM

Originally Posted by gumby

Why does this even matter to people?

It doesn't.

Only a small portion of people on the internet care about exact skyscraper heights.

**bigboat** · March-19-20, 02:56 PM

Originally Posted by Metro25

It doesn't.

Only a small portion of people on the internet care about exact skyscraper heights.

Ford stock today is at $4.37 a share and Ford is borrowing another $15 billion to weather this downturn.

This building is what it is when completed. It could look outstanding still and maybe shorter than originally forecast, but if done well it can look very nice with a high quality glass facade that make it stand out.

**mikeg19** · March-19-20, 03:08 PM

Originally Posted by Atticus

The tower won’t even be open for another three years yet. By that point we will have a vaccine and the Coronavirus will be in the past. The economy may be slow to recover [[and let’s be honest, we were due for a recession anyway), but the uncertainty of March 2020 will not be a thing in 2023 when the structure opens.

If the economy is slow to recover, then it would be an issue in 2023 when it opens. I don't think DG is waiting until 2023 to start calling companies to fill in office space. Bedrock wants those leases locked up now. So yea, in the past few months as the Coronavirus has impacted the global markets, among other things, it's going to be harder for Bedrock to fill in that office space. I highly doubt there are going to be a glut of companies looking to relocate into a new high rent building if the economy is going to be marginal or on the downswing for a few years. Obviously nobody knows how long this downturn will last or if it will just be a few month blip but in the end it's going to have a ripple effect.

**Gistok** · March-19-20, 04:29 PM

Let's put this into perspective, shall we.... the addition to finish off One Campus Martius is 310,000 sf. The total office space planned for the Hudsons block portion of the development [[no office space in the Tower)... will be 343,000 sf. That is the top half of the block, with a huge skylit atrium covering most of the middle.

So it's not as though a lot of office space is being generated here.

**Atticus** · March-19-20, 07:47 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

Let's put this into perspective, shall we.... the addition to finish off One Campus Martius is 310,000 sf. The total office space planned for the Hudsons block portion of the development [[no office space in the Tower)... will be 343,000 sf. That is the top half of the block, with a huge skylit atrium covering most of the middle.

So it's not as though a lot of office space is being generated here.

Good points, and as far as the Tower goes, they are adding one luxury hotel and a 100 or so residential units. Even in a downturn, Downtown Detroit being fairly void of luxury hotel space, can easily absorb that.

**stinkytofu** · March-20-20, 09:25 AM

Originally Posted by Gistok

Let's put this into perspective, shall we.... the addition to finish off One Campus Martius is 310,000 sf. The total office space planned for the Hudsons block portion of the development [[no office space in the Tower)... will be 343,000 sf. That is the top half of the block, with a huge skylit atrium covering most of the middle.

So it's not as though a lot of office space is being generated here.

Fair point.

Side note - if folks find it workable, current events may lead to more companies needing less office space and more of their employees working remotely.

**Gistok** · March-20-20, 11:06 AM

Originally Posted by stinkytofu

Side note - if folks find it workable, current events may lead to more companies needing less office space and more of their employees working remotely.

That's a very good point. The future outcome of this may be that more employees spend more time working at home in the future... and the demand for commercial office space may drop quite a bit.

**JonWylie** · March-20-20, 11:46 AM

Originally Posted by Gistok

That's a very good point. The future outcome of this may be that more employees spend more time working at home in the future... and the demand for commercial office space may drop quite a bit.

I feel like this will be a good dry run to determine if companies can operate without a physical office. I suspect a lot of companies will see a decrease in business due to the virus so it will be interesting to see if they attribute any of the loss to their employees working from home. In the short term, I imagine employees will be eager to get back into the office when they can after being out of weeks or months.

**stasu1213** · March-20-20, 01:07 PM

I had said on another thread pertaining to the Hudson's site that the planned height maybe lowered due to a recession or event that would cause a change in plans. Unlike Toronto Detroit put stipulations and red tape in the path of this development prolonging the next phase until some economic downturn or event that causes the change in plans

**JonWylie** · March-20-20, 01:13 PM

Originally Posted by stasu1213

I had said on another thread pertaining to the Hudson's site that the planned height maybe lowered due to a recession or event that would cause a change in plans. Unlike Toronto Detroit put stipulations and red tape in the path of this development prolonging the next phase until some economic downturn or event that causes the change in plans

What type of red tape and stipulations are you talking about?

**mikeg19** · March-20-20, 02:37 PM

Originally Posted by JonWylie

In the short term, I imagine employees will be eager to get back into the office when they can after being out of weeks or months.

Precisely. I fortunately can perform my job from any remote location and will be working from home for the foreseeable future. But it is much easier to perform duties and complete tasks when I can just spin my chair around and ask someone a question rather then calling them or setting up web meetings. I think most people agree that there is a balance to the work from home lifestyle. It might be nice to have 1 work at home day a week or even 2, but full time? No thanks.

Regarding Hudson's building, I'm wondering how the coronavirus could impact the construction timeline. From the webcam it looks like they are still moving along but at some point could there be a hindrance or disruption to the supply chain where they aren't getting materials needed to continue? Should be interesting to see if that delays anything over the next few weeks.