Cadillac Place

**stasu1213** · January-30-24, 10:17 AM

Thinking about the success Ford development the former train station I was wondering would it be a great idea if a corporation could purchase the former General Motors World Headquarters [[Cadillac Place) and transform that building into something as great as Ford had transformed the train station into. May former offices in those four towers had been closed off for going on 35 years since GM vacated the building in the late 90s

**expatriate** · February-01-24, 12:37 PM

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that if the State had not stepped in to take over the building after GM abandoned it, it might be a ruin today. I have no idea how much of the building is occupied or if the State has or can sublet any of it. The New Center will have to have its own renaissance if that massive building is to prosper. Perhaps someone on this exchange knows more about this.

**gratiotfaced** · February-01-24, 01:44 PM

Cadillac Place would be perfect for residential conversion, no? It's a pre-AC office building, so there's narrow corridors and plenty of windows on smaller floorplans. A few hundred new residents would add a lot of activity to New Center.

**K-slice** · February-01-24, 03:53 PM

I went in there on a weekday afternoon and it was dead in there. Empty retail, sparce people, very depressing. One would think the state would need at least this much office space in Metro Detroit and could fill up this building easily.

When it comes to their vacant retail, if I remember right, there was some talk a few years ago about changing how the state leases retail spaces in the building. Right you have to be blind or deaf to rent a space from them, or something like that.

**Gistok** · February-01-24, 09:06 PM

The state has owned Cadillac Place since 2011.

Back in the late 1990s they moved all of their various offices around metro Detroit [mostly from the 2 building Michigan Executive Plaza along the Lodge] to this building. But they have by no means filled it up.

As absurd as it sounds, the state only leases office space to non-profits.

**stasu1213** · February-01-24, 10:02 PM

It would take a giant such as Ford to purchase this building from the State and make something out of it. It's not in a dilapidated condition as the Train Station was before Ford had renovated it. I don't know why the State had moved out of the building on Sixth and Lafayette into a much older building. The shot in the arm for that area had already started with the Henry Ford Hospital development. Maybe some of the empty offices can be converted into micro apartments especially to housed medical personnel working at Henry Ford. The lobby of it and the Fisher need serious retail in the storefronts especially national chain retail

**Burnsie** · February-02-24, 02:43 AM

A 6/10/2001 Free Press article indicates that the state would begin moving 2,800 workers into Cadillac Place in August of that year. How many are left, and do any of them show up more than twice a week? Another article indicates that GM had about 5,000 workers in there in 1985, down to about 3,000 in Sept. 1996, basically before anyone had relocated yet to the RenCen. In 1996 GM said it expected to eventually have 9,000 workers at the RenCen. Now apparently two of the towers are empty. What a joke.

**stasu1213** · February-02-24, 05:48 AM

Originally Posted by Burnsie

A 6/10/2001 Free Press article indicates that the state would begin moving 2,800 workers into Cadillac Place in August of that year. How many are left, and do any of them show up more than twice a week? Another article indicates that GM had about 5,000 workers in there in 1985, down to about 3,000 in Sept. 1996, basically before anyone had relocated yet to the RenCen. In 1996 GM said it expected to eventually have 9,000 workers at the RenCen. Now apparently two of the towers are empty. What a joke.

Detroit was on a major decline during the period between 1985 to 2001. The State is just leasing Cadillac Place. Who is or are the actual owners of the complex? Making something out of that building as Ford had the for train station will help revitalize the Grand BlvD/Woodward area.

**401don** · February-02-24, 08:53 AM

Originally Posted by stasu1213

Detroit was on a major decline during the period between 1985 to 2001. The State is just leasing Cadillac Place. Who is or are the actual owners of the complex? Making something out of that building as Ford had the for train station will help revitalize the Grand BlvD/Woodward area.

The State bought the building in 2011.

**expatriate** · February-02-24, 04:21 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

The state has owned Cadillac Place since 2011.

Back in the late 1990s they moved all of their various offices around metro Detroit [mostly from the 2 building Michigan Executive Plaza along the Lodge] to this building. But they have by no means filled it up.

As absurd as it sounds, the state only leases office space to non-profits.

I assume even nonprofits pay some sort of rent which is probably better than having the space vacant.

**ABetterDetroit** · February-02-24, 04:41 PM

The future of Cadillac Place is a bridge that will probably have to be crossed at some point. Hard to see the State of Michigan being the right long term steward of this massive building. At 1.4 Million square feet it would be better off in the hands of a professional property management/development firm that would view it as a revenue generating asset rather than a government entity just using some of the space to keep it occupied. Back in 2011 it made sense for the state to help the city an GM due to currant crises. For many decades, not so much.

**Gistok** · February-02-24, 05:55 PM

Gov. John Engler was the brainchild behind leasing rejuvenated Cadillac Place, in 2000... a good move I thought. Then in 2011 the state had the option to buy the building, which they did.

I don't have any problem with the state staying there, but maybe sell it as ABetterDetroit suggested. They should keeping it their Detroit offices, but they should consolidate the state used space to specific floors, and the rest should be rented out as office space to other businesses.

**Burnsie** · February-02-24, 08:15 PM

Originally Posted by stasu1213

Detroit was on a major decline during the period between 1985 to 2001.

The GM Building headcount going from 5,000 to 3,000 in that timeframe was due to salaried cutbacks stemming from GM's shrinking market share & cost cutting, not the city's decline.

**stasu1213** · February-02-24, 08:21 PM

Originally Posted by Burnsie

The GM Building headcount going from 5,000 to 3,000 in that timeframe was due to salaried cutbacks stemming from GM's shrinking market share & cost cutting, not the city's decline.

I stand corrected

**KnnNike** · February-07-24, 01:41 PM

Originally Posted by K-slice

One would think the state would need at least this much office space in Metro Detroit and could fill up this building easily.

The problem is suburbanites. SoM still has remote work policies in place, and suburbanites don't want to drive 30+ minutes to the office.

**stasu1213** · February-07-24, 02:07 PM

Originally Posted by KnnNike

The problem is suburbanites. SoM still has remote work policies in place, and suburbanites don't want to drive 30+ minutes to the office.

Many State workers are currently reporting to their offices twice a week

**gnome** · February-09-24, 12:09 AM

Originally Posted by KnnNike

The problem is suburbanites. SoM still has remote work policies in place, and suburbanites don't want to drive 30+ minutes to the office.

what a strange statement. Do you have anything to back that up with?

Does the 30 minute commute only impact people who live outside the city, or do city dwellers hate driving 30 minutes to work?

Does the hatred of a 30 minute commute vanish if the commute is only 27 minutes? Again is that hatred of commutes strictly geographic? Do folks in New Hudson grind their teeth and start to write their manifesto every day?

specifically why does a Ferndalian or Refordite hate? Since 2000 Detroit has lost about 250,000 citizens; did they leave to satisfy your theory ?

**stasu1213** · February-09-24, 06:52 AM

Originally Posted by gnome

what a strange statement. Do you have anything to back that up with?

Does the 30 minute commute only impact people who live outside the city, or do city dwellers hate driving 30 minutes to work?

Does the hatred of a 30 minute commute vanish if the commute is only 27 minutes? Again is that hatred of commutes strictly geographic? Do folks in New Hudson grind their teeth and start to write their manifesto every day?

specifically why does a Ferndalian or Refordite hate? Since 2000 Detroit has lost about 250,000 citizens; did they leave to satisfy your theory ?

Most surbabanites who commuted 30 minutes to their jobs in Detroit worked in the downtown or midtown offices, hospitals and other businesses where they had paid for parking. Many Detroiters who had and still are commuting 20 to 30 minutes to their jobs had and still ate employed at factories and other blue collar jobs where parking is free and plentiful with the exception of Ferndale, Royal Oak, and other inner ring cities where there are metered parking. There are many reasons why surbabanites would rather remote work than to commute 30 minute in Detroit.

**jackie5275** · February-09-24, 04:12 PM

Originally Posted by K-slice

I went in there on a weekday afternoon and it was dead in there. Empty retail, sparce people, very depressing. One would think the state would need at least this much office space in Metro Detroit and could fill up this building easily.

When it comes to their vacant retail, if I remember right, there was some talk a few years ago about changing how the state leases retail spaces in the building. Right you have to be blind or deaf to rent a space from them, or something like that.

There was more activity in the building before the pandemic & remote work. You'd have to wait in line for 30 mins at the Subway shop in the basement during lunchtime. Yes, the state wants to lease to the disadvantaged. They chased a few good businesses out.

**Gistok** · February-12-24, 03:09 PM

Maybe someone [[Airforceguy) can tell us what is going on with The Platform Group [New Center developers] and them selling off the company??

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-e...roit-buildings

**royce** · February-12-24, 03:42 PM

The State, by moving into Cadillac Place, saved it from being abandoned. Leaving those crappy buildings in Corktown was a no brainer. However, the State, in my opinion, is not a very good property manager. This can also be seen on Belle Isle. Years after taking the Island over, they still haven't updated the athletic field. The problem, as much as the State says it has money, is that it doesn't. A private developer who is willing to take on Cadillac Place would most definitely do a better job of running the place than the State.

**stasu1213** · February-12-24, 06:46 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

Maybe someone [[Airforceguy) can tell us what is going on with The Platform Group [New Center developers] and them selling off the company??

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-e...roit-buildings

Platform Group is just another fly by night company who probably purchases gems such as the Fisher Building making empty promises then flip them

**Gistok** · February-12-24, 08:46 PM

Noooooo... you need to read up more....

Platform Group built Whole Foods in Midtown... and built The Boulevard... the largest housing development in New Center [[231 apartments).

They also spent $30 million on restoring the Fisher Building... inside and outside... before they sold 1/2 interest to the MSU Endowment Fund.

They may not have done everything that the set out to do... but they certainly made major progress in New Center...

https://www.freep.com/story/money/bu...it/2618625001/

**stasu1213** · February-13-24, 04:48 PM

Originally Posted by royce

The State, by moving into Cadillac Place, saved it from being abandoned. Leaving those crappy buildings in Corktown was a no brainer. However, the State, in my opinion, is not a very good property manager. This can also be seen on Belle Isle. Years after taking the Island over, they still haven't updated the athletic field. The problem, as much as the State says it has money, is that it doesn't. A private developer who is willing to take on Cadillac Place would most definitely do a better job of running the place than the State.

The State is not in it for profit. Spaces that could be used for retail the State will use it for non profit organizations or just let it sit empty for years. I never understood why the State had vacated it's Sixth Street office building