Hudson's Site Building Thread

[Dexlin]

Looks like good progress has been made on further removal of the demolition debris, too.

[DetBill]

It's nice enough that the Detroit Lions stay there the night before home games [[I don't know about visiting NFL teams) and most visiting NHL teams stay there, as well as many artists who play at the Fox and other nearby theaters. It's weird to me that MLB teams still stay in Birmingham instead of walking distance to the stadium.

Actually, as of this year, the Lions do NOT stay at the Book the night before games,but rather the Henry in Dearborn, the Book lost them, for some unknown reason, other than the connection between Henry and the Lions ? Odd move, why put your players thru this before the game in dearborn when it only took a few minutes to get to Ford Field before, save their energy. Will never understand this... The Book continues to get many visiting teams now for basketball, football, baseball so they are not suffering revenue wise, just a dumb LIONS move though.
Spouse works at the Book so the info is fact.

[EGrant]

Lions practice facility is in nearby Allen Park, so that might have something to do with it?

[abraham]

I second this.

Who cares about what MLB teams do in their free time?

LOL. I dont care what they do in their prime time, or anytime. Total waste of time and money.

[Nicholas D'Asti]

Any new photo updates as of lately?

[Van Dyke Brown]

From December 13:

[Scottathew]

From December 13:

Great shot, VDB!

I'll get the high angles later this week, I'm telecommuting the next couple of days.

[EGrant]

That's the thing about building skyscrapers, they have to do the "fake work" first before they can start the "real work" and we can sleep at night.

The richest man in the world is receiving $2.2 billion in tax credits for Amazon HQ2. Unfortunately, this is how things work.

[Atticus]

I'll believe this project when I see real work being done. The changing of plans and punting completion until 2023 seem fishy. Freep had a long article last week about Dan's Lansing push for tax credits. Allegedly even with supposedly sky-high hype in Detroit you STILL can't make a profit off new commercial space without credits. But I thought demand was thru the roof right now? Something smells.

With GM and Ford announcing huge layoffs, stock market taking a plunge, and Fed interest rates rising, I'm REALLY skeptical this thing will be built at all or anywhere near what is claimed. If there's a recession next year, I assume they'll have a crew in that hole pushing dirt around for another 10 years.

Yes and no. Demand may be sky high, but that demand is only there for a certain price range. Point being, if the average price is $800/mo for an apartment, you can fill it quite easily in Detroit. But if the average rent jumps to $1800/mo, well then demand is suddenly not as strong.

Point being, if Gilbert and company wanted to build a 100 story building full of apartments at $800/mo, they could fill the place in a week. But $800 apartments don’t bring in enough $$$ to offset construction costs.

On the other hand, if you charge $2400/mo for a studio apartment, you can make money building a skyscraper of $2400/mo studios. The issue is just because people are willing to pay $800/mo doesn’t mean they will also pay $2400 for a studio. The tax credits are used to offset that cost difference.

So yes you can have Sky-High demand, but if the price point is not there, big developments still don’t pay for themselves.

[Dmberko11]

Yeah, but fake work is a ruse straight out of Donald Trump's playbook. Put a crew of guys in a hole, park some heavy trucks and push some dirt around so you can con investors, media and/or masses into believing a HUGE PROJECT is being built.

Lol. I'm sure they tore the parking garage down and are playing in the sandbox as a PR stunt. That's rich.

I'm also dissapointed at the slow-going with the project thus far. If there's no visible evidence of construction by Summer then I'd get real suspicious. Gilbert has credibility unlike slumlords like the ilitches

[Atticus]

Lol. I'm sure they tore the parking garage down and are playing in the sandbox as a PR stunt. That's rich.

I'm also dissapointed at the slow-going with the project thus far. If there's no visible evidence of construction by Summer then I'd get real suspicious. Gilbert has credibility unlike slumlords like the ilitches

In fairness, the project is progressing on the timeline they said it would. If you go back and read the details, it basically implies that they are right on track. Further, Gilbert himself said they had until January 2019 to finalize the height of the tower, because winter is when the footings to bedrock go in.

Based on their schedule, by spring they should have the footings and foundation work done. Next the underground garage starts. Then by fall 2019 the underground garage or basement portion should be more or less constructed. Point being, we have another 10 to 11 months yet before either of the structures get much above street level.

Having nothing above ground level for the next 10 months should make the worry warts and tin foil hat people on the board happy though... because for all of 2019 they happily can claim that Gilbert is “only” building another parking garage, and the rest is all a farce.

Be patient, projects like this take time.

[Dmberko11]

In fairness, the project is progressing on the timeline they said it would. If you go back and read the details, it basically implies that they are right on track. Further, Gilbert himself said they had until January 2019 to finalize the height of the tower, because winter is when the footings to bedrock go in.

Based on their schedule, by spring they should have the footings and foundation work done. Next the underground garage starts. Then by fall 2019 the underground garage or basement portion should be more or less constructed. Point being, we have another 10 to 11 months yet before either of the structures get much above street level.

Having nothing above ground level for the next 10 months should make the worry warts and tin foil hat people on the board happy though... because for all of 2019 they happily can claim that Gilbert is “only” building another parking garage, and the rest is all a farce.

Be patient, projects like this take time.

Yeah I'm not worried. I'm pretty confident Gilbert will go through with this, Monroe block and even the fail jail site as promised. He puts his money where his mouth is. Refreshing.

[NSortzi]

Just because there's no steel rising doesn't mean there's no construction happening. They've been drilling caissons, which are crucial to the foundation of skyscrapers, and reinforcing the old walls around the site for weeks. It takes time. And Atticus stated, the project is moving on time. Patience.

[Detroitdave]

This a definitely a page out of the Illitch’s.
they have played the city of Detroit for decades!
yeah I know tigers ,red wings , not the fox it was pretty much done before he got , but all they ever do is make huge promises and want and get HUGE tax breaks and the city has very little to show for it.
they got a sweetheart deal with LCA and a promise to close Joe Louis and no competition for 30 years from the city.
it doesn’t get better than that! You get a head start all the way to the finish line, wtf
until they start fulfilling their promises on comerica,LCA ,untied artists,Madison and the Adams and stop building surface lots, then I’ll trust them ,until them the city should stop dealing with that family,they’ve gotten all they are gonna get from the city , for decades in my opinion
the wells dry illitch family go to the burbs and try that crap.
in my opinion

[EGrant]

This is a thread about Hudson Site construction, not the "illitch" family.

Anyway, more caissons are laid out on the site, ready to be dropped into the holes they are drilling right now.

[Detroitdave]

This is a thread about Hudson Site construction, not the "illitch" family.

Anyway, more caissons are laid out on the site, ready to be dropped into the holes they are drilling right now.

My appoglies , this building will get built .Outside of a war or market crash , it’ll get done.
Mr Gilbert’s track record speaks for itself ��

[Zads07]

I'm not an expert in building skyscrapers and I don't think many on this blog are, but saying you are skeptical because no 'real work' has been done is kind of a farce.

I would say in cleaning out the 'tub' as we'll call it is important before laying any kind of foundation for Michigan's tallest building. Have patience young padawan.

[Worldsgreatest]

This discussion is absurd, stop derailing the thread with pointless drivel. This project was formally announced in 2017! It is moving remarkably fast, most developments take 4-5 years to get to this point.

What exactly do you consider fake work? everybody who follows high rise development knows that the ground/foundation work takes the longest and they just started drilling caissons and have caisson equipment on site.

[CrashDummy]

This discussion is absurd, stop derailing the thread with pointless drivel. This project was formally announced in 2017! It is moving remarkably fast, most developments take 4-5 years to get to this point.

To be fair, it has taken more like 10 years to get to this point. Deadlines to develop this property have been extended multiple times.

[EGrant]

Nice video covering some of the work going on at the site:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update...14289700093952

[Scottathew]

Here are some pictures from about 3:30pm today!

[stasu1213]

I had always wondered what was the original plan for this spot after the Hudson's building was razed in 1998. I was surprised that the Compuware Building wasn't built on this spot instead of the corner. I know that the steel beams protruded from the ground. Did the Archer administration had a master plan for this particular spot. Were the plans stalled or changed during the Kilpatrick administration? I was thinking of a 5 to 10 story glass and steel building for this site that would house retail on the ground level and businesses or condos on the top level. I wonder what had changed over the years

[O3H]

Why tall, who cares how tall it is -- make it economically viable

[Scottathew]

Why tall, who cares how tall it is -- make it economically viable

Many folks care about how tall. Height is a sign that real estate is valuable. Going vertical enables density. Density means more businesses. More businesses means more demand. More demand means high buildings. The cycle continues.

I do also agree that viability is also crucial, but height is will contribute to what we want downtown to be.

[Detroit Stylin]

I had always wondered what was the original plan for this spot after the Hudson's building was razed in 1998. I was surprised that the Compuware Building wasn't built on this spot instead of the corner. I know that the steel beams protruded from the ground. Did the Archer administration had a master plan for this particular spot. Were the plans stalled or changed during the Kilpatrick administration? I was thinking of a 5 to 10 story glass and steel building for this site that would house retail on the ground level and businesses or condos on the top level. I wonder what had changed over the years

Dan Gilbert changed