Ren Cen Proposal
A story that will inevitably dominate the Detroit news cycle for months to come, a proposal for the Renaissance Center post GM has come online and has caused quite a stir. I’m sure you’ve all seen it, essentially the two towers closest to the river - 300 and 400 - are proposed to be torn down with the space being used to better connect the complex to the riverfront and free up space for public parks.
This plan has been rumored for a while now, and most people figured there’d be some sort of “right sizing” of the complex once it was announced that GM would move out. Still, it’s pretty shocking to see the renderings with two of the towers gone, as the Ren Cen has been a fixture of the Detroit skyline for decades. In addition to tearing down two of the towers, the middle hotel building would be converted from purely hospitality to a mix of high end residential at higher floors, and the two remaining towers would be split between office space and potential residential conversion.
The idea behind this is to realign the complex to better serve the needs of the downtown commercial building stock, as well as give better access to the public from downtown to the river. To complete this renovation, Bedrock has committed to about $1 billion in funding, GM another $250 million, and the two are looking for another quarter of a million in public funding. The hope, according to Bedrock and GM, is to avoid a mostly vacant building like we’ve seen in the past with Michigan Central Station, the AMC Headquarters and Packard Plant.
It’s a bit surprising to see the plan calls for a net removal of hotel rooms, as that has been the point of constant conversations within the city that more rooms are needed. The Westin at the Ren Cen is one of the largest hotels in the city, with 1300 rooms, and this new plan calls for removal of about 450 rooms. For reference, the new AC Marriott in Midtown is 154 rooms and the JW Marriott under construction at the Joe Louis site is planned to be about 600 rooms. I do think adding some condos to the tower is a smart idea, as I don’t think the disconnection from downtown that has plagued the Ren Cen won’t be seen as much of detriment.
Now the redevelopment of the towers is not fully detailed, but the idea floated is that one would be kept for newly renovated office space and the other would be converted to residential, or some combination of the two. Obviously, the change from four towers to two is the most visually shocking part of this redevelopment and is seemingly the most controversial (of the physical aspect). The thought that the usage of all four towers would need to be changed, there just isn’t the demand for the office space to justify all four, but many hoped that more of the towers would be converted to residential, hospitality, or even retail instead of being torn down.
I do wish that all four towers would be renovated and kept, but there may be some motivation by the development team to free up site lines for the other towers, allowing residents, hotel goers, or office workers to have view of both the river and downtown, unobstructed by another tower. I think there’s some desire to free up more room at the base and on the side of the river for activation, but I don’t entirely see the need to tear down all four towers if residential conversion is a viable option for one. At the very worst, you could stagger the renovations to not bring them all online at once.
Not mentioned specifically in the plans, but expressed through some of the renderings, are hopefully the plans to activate some of the parking lots that surround the Ren Cen. If there is a substantial tear down of some of the building, it would mean there’s less need for parking (there’s probably too much already) and we could see something done with those lots east of the Ren Cen. There’s constantly been plans being floated by parties like Bedrock about new activation for the east riverfront, and this may play a huge part in it. If their pitch to get the state to kick in money for the redevelopment, Bedrock and GM need to make this area a focal point, as it can really be pointed to as a community asset that the state should think of investing in.
Monroe Block/Cadillac Square Updates
Within the past month we’ve also seen some more announcements regarding the long delayed “Monroe Block”, which is now being billed as “Cadillac Square”. A new rendering has been released showing one of the anchor tenants front Campus Martius, that tenant being “Cosm”, an immersive technology venue which has locations in LA and Dallas and a future location in Atlanta. The venue features a huge screen designed to view live sports events and other immersive exhibits. This new concept takes the place of a proposed music venue that Bedrock had planned but stays in the same realm of entertainment hospitality.
As you may recall, the Monroe Block project has been floated for a number of years and through a number of iterations, looking to redevelop the block between Campus Martius, Monroe, Cadillac Square, and Randolph. Recently the last remaining buildings on the block were torn down to make way for the NFL Draft stage, with the anticipation that the Bedrock development would kick off soon after. The development is still planned to have various residential, retail, and a potential office tower. Earlier this year, Bedrock was given an extension by the Downtown Development Authority to start construction no later than May of 2025.
While some may think Cosm is gimmicky, and it kind of is, it’s honestly a huge addition to downtown that needs some more entertainment options. It would be really great if the venue was also used for movies or other types of events, but I know it’s main pull its sports. While it’s not the movie theater that we’ve all been hoping for (and that Big Sean promised), it’s an extremely unique thing that should draw people from the surrounding area downtown every now and then.
Eastern Market Site
A large site near Eastern Market has a new set of plans, and this one has a development team I’m sure you’ve never seen before. The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priests, which oversees St. Joseph Shrine in Detroit, is in the process of purchasing a 4+ acre lot along Gratiot near Eastern Market and Lafayette Park for a project they are calling DeSales Park. The site, which abuts the Dequindre Cut, was once home to Joe Muer Seafood, was planned for a redevelopment that never came to fruition by The Platform.
Now, the church says it wants to utilize the site to build a church hall, a playground, a building for various church programming including a food pantry, and ultimately a middle school. The church has used the site in the past as parking for some of their larger events, but this plan would transform the church’s campus into a major part of the neighborhood. Recently, the church has gone through several fundraising and restorations projects to help grow the parish and looks to continue on that path with their new project. The group that oversees the Church already has schools in France and Belgium that it sponsors, but this would be its first in the United States and would look to establish a presence as a major private school in the City.
Interestingly enough, when you take a look at the website outlining the DeSales Park project, it points to the MDOT redesign of I-375 as a positive for the area in increasing property values, pedestrian access, and providing a need to secure the land now before it becomes too expensive. The also mention opposing the reopening of Orleans to Gratiot. I think this project will be interesting the watch, the Church is more involved in the planning and development scene than I would have thought, and maybe they end up working with the city in making sure there’s enough pedestrian access between the two sites with better sidewalks on Gratiot and maybe even a connector over the cut.
Initially, and maybe still, I was disappointed to hear that this was the plan for the site. I really would have thought a residential development with a large retail component, maybe something grocery or food related to tie into Eastern Market, would have been great here. I am fairly intrigued as to what a new school may have to offer and potentially be a great anchor for the area, but regardless, I hope the Church is able to put something together to make sure this site is activated sooner than later. They have said they’ve already engaged with an architect, so hopefully we’ll be seeing some renderings soon.