Dan Gilbert and General Motors are another step closer to reimagining the Renaissance Center after the approval of a $75 million commitment to be used to redevelop the building and the nearby area.
It’s all part of a $1.6 billion plan to connect the area outside the Ren Cen with the riverfront and create a family friendly entertainment destination built around civic spaces that draws tourists from across the region.
Bedrock calls it “a once-in-a-generation transformation that will create a more accessible riverfront, given the current underutilization of the space surrounding the Ren Cen.
Earlier this year, representatives from General Motors and Dan Gilbert’s Rock Family of Companies presented to Detroit City Council members their plan to knock down two towers and bring greater public access and amenities to the riverfront using hundreds of millions of local funds and state tax capture.
The Marriott Hotel inside the cylindrical 72-floor center tower would become a mix of about 800 hotel rooms and 200 apartment units, with an observation deck. One tower would be converted from office space to about 400 apartment units. The other tower would remain office space.
Rock vice president Jared Fleisher pitches a vision of a new Renaissance Center that would anchor a thriving riverfront, similar to Chicago’s Navy Pier. Fleisher and General Motors vice president of infrastructure David Masseron echoed similar sentiments that the funding will allow the public to take back the riverfront.
Masserson said at the meeting Wednesday the previous urban planning reduced public accessibility.
The Detroit Downtown Development Authority on Wednesday, approved the public funds to reimburse Bedrock for the cost of razing the Ren Cen’s “podium,” the large square which connects the four 39-story office towers to the base of the building. Another $55 million will reimburse Bedrock for the cost of redevelopment of the entire complex.
“By eliminating much of the inward-facing, dated and impossible to navigate concrete podium super-block, The Ren Cen can be ‘opened up’ to Jefferson, downtown and the waterfront,” designers wrote in conceptual renderings which show the complex easily accessible from Jefferson Avenue.
The $75 million deal approved by the DDA this week requires an extension of the Transformational Brownfield Program which developers have used for large projects, such as the Hudson’s building in Detroit, or a pro soccer stadium in Grand Rapids.
The state Legislature must approve an increase of the cap on the fund, which needs more funds to be used for the Ren Cen proposal.
It’s unclear when lawmakers could vote on such a proposal. State Rep. Alabas Farhat, D-Dearborn, introduced legislation to add more money to the fund earlier this year.
Fleisher during the DDA meeting Wednesday told board members the $75 million in public funds would be awarded only as reimbursement for demolition and construction work as it happened, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Board members voted unanimously in favor of the commitment, with one member abstaining.
General Motors in January will relocate its global headquarters out of the RenCen after decades in the building. The company will move to Bedrock’s new Hudson’s Detroit building.
