What would Detroit look like if the RenCen hadn't been built?

**Jimaz** · April-07-09, 08:17 PM

The video I mentioned is Detroit Wildlife by Florent Tillon. The RenCen tour segment starts at about 10:15 into the video. It was discussed on the old DetroitYES at Discuss Detroit Â» DISCUSS DETROIT! Â» Detroit Wildlife "video".

Good find, Mpow.

**Bob Green** · April-08-09, 10:54 AM

Maybe we would still have the train station that was where the Ren Cen is now.

LodgeDodger · April-08-09, 11:03 AM

Maybe it's my mood, but I'm glad the RenCen is where it is currently located. We could have some rotting hulk sitting there that is the subject of many news articles and online threads. A rotting hulk owned by some mega-rich, a**hole that cares nothing for the city.

**oneway** · April-08-09, 02:10 PM

I'm constantly conflicted by the location and architecture of the RenCen, which is why it's quintessential Detroit.

**Gistok** · April-08-09, 04:07 PM

Um.... I want to clarify a few misconceptions about the Renaissance Center and its' location...

1) there was no train station where the RenCen currently sits. All I remember was some large silos and industrial building with train tracks running to the complex. These were demolished to build the RenCen, not some old train station that got demoed.

2) as much as folks want to lament the building of the RenCen... all you have to do is look at what happened when GM took over in the 1990's... a LOT of the tenants moved to the suburbs [[including the 1,700 workers that Ford had). So had the RenCen not been built in 1977... there was no guarantee that other office towers would have been build scattered around downtown. Other office buildings in the suburbs could have just as likely been built to house the folks who moved to the RenCen back in 1977.

**iheartthed** · April-08-09, 05:14 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

2) as much as folks want to lament the building of the RenCen... all you have to do is look at what happened when GM took over in the 1990's... a LOT of the tenants moved to the suburbs [[including the 1,700 workers that Ford had). So had the RenCen not been built in 1977... there was no guarantee that other office towers would have been build scattered around downtown. Other office buildings in the suburbs could have just as likely been built to house the folks who moved to the RenCen back in 1977.

But where else could those office workers have gone in the 1990s besides the suburbs? There have only been 3 office buildings built downtown in the past 40 years...

**Bob Green** · April-08-09, 06:36 PM

Correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure there was a train station just east of the Ren Cen where the GT commuter trains stopped [[want to say it was at the end of Brush Street). They demoed it and replaces it with bus stop-like shelters, much like the Birmingham Amtrak station, at least until they got rid of it in the early 80s.

**Gistok** · April-08-09, 08:45 PM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

But where else could those office workers have gone in the 1990s besides the suburbs? There have only been 3 office buildings built downtown in the past 40 years...

Well considering that 211 W. Fort was empty after Comerica moved to One Detroit Center [[now Comerica Tower) in the early 1990's, One Woodward Ave. [[former "Gas Building") was not full, neither was 150 West Jefferson, and other buildings in the CBD... there was plenty of space for folks to move to, but some [[such as Ford) still opted for the burbs.

As for a Train Station on the site of the RenCen... that tiny 2 story building [[not exactly a large masterpiece such as the former Romanesque Revivial 4th St. Station), nor the large silos [[flour company?), hardly count as something architecturally significant to be lamented due to the building of RenCen.