The Renaissance Center in Detroit has served as GM’s headquarters since 1996, but the General is moving to the smaller Hudsons Detroit space in 2025 (or maybe 2026). RenCen’s future has been uncertain since GM announced it was moving out, but now it sounds like its planned renovation will be much cheaper for Michigan taxpayers than originally expected.
The latest pitch by GM and Dan Gilbert’s Rock Family of Companies planning the renovation involved $350 million in public subsidies. $100 million would come from Detroit’s Downtown Development Authority, and another $250 million would come from the state of Michigan via the brownfield tax incentives program.
“The ask is for the transformational brownfield program to be extended, and whatever that generates,” Rock Family of Companies vice president Jared Fleisher told Crain’s Detroit Business. “I’m going to tell you right now that it’s not going to generate $250 million … I wouldn’t be surprised if the true value of it might save the taxpayers $75 million to $100 million.”
In other words, the original estimate of $350 million in subsidies could be reduced to around $250 million. However, Fleisher doesn’t think his real estate firm and GM can execute their plans for the RenCen for much less than that in subsidies.
“So, [Republican Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall] is already going to win, if you will, for the taxpayers,” Fleisher said. “That’s a great win for him, and we’re going to have to figure it out. But once you cut to the bone, you can’t cut any deeper.”
There are also plans to add an observation deck to the top floor of the Renaissance Center‘s center tower, similar to the tops of skyscrapers like One World Trade Center in New York and Willis Tower in Chicago. The RenCen’s center tower is the tallest building in Michigan, and an observation deck would attract the general public and give them a unique view of Detroit.
Other plans for the RenCen renovation include demolishing two of the towers, converting the center tower into a hotel for the lower levels and apartments for the upper levels, removing the 103-foot-tall podium surrounding the base of the complex, and developing a new public park inspired by Chicago’s Millennium Park.
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