Guess which downtown office tower goes belly up next

[E hemingway]

A whole slew of downtown office towers have gone into foreclosure lately, and the conventional wisdom is more are set to come. So which ones are coming next and in what order by the end of the year? Bonus points if you can guess which ones don't.

[Detroit500]

Renaissance Center
Compuware Building
Guardian Building

...Isn't the point of this Detroit YES! as in, "Yes we CAN!", not "let's predict the next failure"?

[Detroitnerd]

Dude, I couldn't care less if they demo'ed the RenCen. Bring in Adamo.

[rjlj]

At least a new office building will be built on the river for the pension board.

[crawford]

I know this sorta a joke thread, but the three buildings listed would be the last ones standing.

Buildings that could one day be at risk [[provided nothing changes)?

One Woodward
Michigan National
Buhl
Dime
Chase
Penobscot
Cadillac Tower
Fisher [[the office, not the theatre)
211 West Fort [[the former Comerica)

Oh, and that little office building facing Woodward, behind One Woodward. What the heck is that thing? Is it even occupied?

[gnome]

CAY

whose kidding whom? It will be CAY, and since the City doesn't own the building, when the City goes bankrupt, the building lease will want be re-written. Oh yeah. Can't wait until the owners kick out the tennants.

[GPCharles]

Don't forget 1001 Woodward, the old First Federal HQ.

[Gistok]

The Michigan Building will still be standing... it's well occupied, and has onsite [[sigh...) parking. And it has an added bonus [[the owner mentioned this last year)... it doesn't have ironclad leases with most of its tenants. That has helped it to maintain an occupation level that would be the envy of dowtown Class A office towers....

[EastSider]

The First National Building is owned by the same company that's losing the Penobscot, so they're at the top of the list.

The Buhl has its own garage, so it's relatively safer. One Woodward also has some parking underneath it. Tom at the Ford has been sweating it out for the last 18 months.

[crawford]

I mentioned the Buhl because it lost some sizable law firms in recent years. It's always been well-maintained, though.

And One Woodward has really high vacancy.

But yeah, both are decent buildings. I've especially liked One Woodward.

They don't have the same degree of issues of buildings like the Penobscot, Cadillac, or 211 West Fort.

I actually think the Fisher could be in serious trouble. Who would be interested in leasing space in that neighborhood now that GM is gone? Just dentist offices and the like? Maybe Henry Ford could use it? Wayne State?

There's really no attraction right now. No GM, Crowleys and the mall shuttered, the hotel on its last legs, and Henry Ford shifting focus to the burbs.

[EastSider]

I was going to mention the Fisher in my post, but decided not to. Even though it has tons of parking, I agree that being so far out of downtown leaves it in a weird position.

Maybe it'll turn into like the Summit Place Mall, totally empty except for the Starlight Theater.

[East Detroit]

The American Center.

Tear that schitt down.

[crawford]

Yeah, that reminds me: all Northland-area office buildings must be virtually impossible to lease out these days.

All the charm, history and style of a decaying sprawlburbia, with the safety, cleanliness and ghetto-fabulousness of the inner city. What a combination.

[MIRepublic]

Why would it matter to the Fisher rather the building across the street is filled with GM employees or the State of Michigan employees? The old building [[GM Headquarters) is probably more full than it's been in many years, not mention the former laboratory building [[Argonaut) is going to be filled for the first time in many years. No, New Center is doing fine all things considered, more full than many other business centers in the metro.

[crawford]

Well, I would imagine it's quite a downgrade to go from New Center's anchor being the biggest, richest corporation on the planet [[filled with millionaires and other top talent) to back offices for sullen state govt. bureaucrats.

I'm sure any expense-account restaurants or nice stores in the area all wept bitterly when GM made its announcement, as did all local commercial and residential real estate brokers.

A corporation like GM has HUGE local employment spin-offs, from law, consulting, and service firms, to the deli and dry cleaner on the corner. Govt. bureaucrats, uh, not so much.

[MIRepublic]

It's been nearly a decade since the state moved in, meaning it's done and over with and has been for years. I doubt that local businesses are still smarting over the move. I'd bet they are happy that a building so incredibly large as Cadillac Place was able to find a tenant at all, no?

[1KielsonDrive]

Give these buildings to the Illitch's to run. And pay them handsomely to do so. Soon enough, they'll make way for street level parking lots, or some type of taxpayer funded arena or theatre.

[Lorax]

Any high-end stores in the New Center were gone long before GM was.

Anyone remember the elegant stores in the Fisher?

Julie's
Moseley's
Foster-Laidlaw

Saks was in the New Center Building

Topinka's was on the Boulevard

Demery's/Crowley's was on Woodward

I'm sure retail space in the Fisher could be had for a song, these days.

[smogboy]

It's so odd to think that there was a time when New Center was actually a retail hub.

[jackie5275]

Renaissance Center
Compuware Building
Guardian Building

...

The Guardian better not go bankrupt with all the money Wayne County is putting into it.

[Detroit500]

Jackie,
That was kind of my point.

[kraig]

Well, I would imagine it's quite a downgrade to go from New Center's anchor being the biggest, richest corporation on the planet [[filled with millionaires and other top talent) to back offices for sullen state govt. bureaucrats.

I'm sure any expense-account restaurants or nice stores in the area all wept bitterly when GM made its announcement, as did all local commercial and residential real estate brokers.

A corporation like GM has HUGE local employment spin-offs, from law, consulting, and service firms, to the deli and dry cleaner on the corner. Govt. bureaucrats, uh, not so much.

Oddly enough, the businesses in the New Center Area are doing just fine with the sullen state bureacrats as customers. On the other hand, business, retail and dining, in the Renaissance and Millender Centers have been sharply declining ever since GM moved in. Has anyone been to the food court in the Renaissance lately? Pathetic. And the Little Caesars that had been in the Millender Center since it opened has also closed.

[digitalvision]

That's mainly 'cuz the corporate types at GM have no time for lunch. Seriously. I don't think it hurts the food court as much as the surrounding businesses - when there were more agencies/lawyers/etc. downtown, they entertained and had longer lunches as well as traveled a block or two.

I was out to lunch a couple months ago with some GM worker bees - and their entire floor was asking them how Sweet Lorraines was because they or their floor mates had never been there. Those folks as a general rule don't patronize anything outside except for the rare special occasion. It's too far to go on the limited time they have. They want to go, but there's just not enough time.

[Linda from Detroit]

I worked in the Cadillac Tower back in the early 70's and it was a scary building back then. Our office moved to the Buhl after an elevator came down to the main floor, opened up and a couple of guys ran out leaving a guy shot and dead inside. I wouldn't be sorry to see it go. I always liked the Buhl Building, Penobscot and Guardian. The David Whitney was great too.

[Gistok]

I worked in the Cadillac Tower back in the early 70's and it was a scary building back then. Our office moved to the Buhl after an elevator came down to the main floor, opened up and a couple of guys ran out leaving a guy shot and dead inside. I wouldn't be sorry to see it go. I always liked the Buhl Building, Penobscot and Guardian. The David Whitney was great too.

Linda... what a horrible thing to say!!

I once went to school with a girl who's brother was murdered in an elevator at Cobo Hall [[stabbed, back in the late 60s)... and I would be damn sorry to see Cobo go...