General Motors stated on Monday that it would relocate its headquarters from its famous home along the Detroit River to a new office building downtown starting next year and will begin work on redeveloping the property. The announcement was made at the location of the former Hudson’s department store, which the Bedrock real estate company is transforming into a 12-story office skyscraper that will house General Motors.
To reimagine the seven-building Renaissance Center, which serves as the company’s present global headquarters and a prominent feature of the city skyline that is frequently seen on television sports broadcasts, Bedrock will collaborate with GM, the city, and Wayne County. According to GM CEO Mary Barra, moving to a brand-new, cutting-edge office building in the middle of the city will boost GM in attracting top personnel in the future. About one mile (1.6 kilometers) to the north of the Renaissance Center is the new location. She said that the relocation maintains GM’s corporate headquarters in the city for the foreseeable future.
Barra continued;
“We’re going to be in the heart of the city. Our people are already excited to be in Detroit and live here. I think having this workspace that’s modern and new that fits the way people work today, I think it’s going to be an attraction.”
The office building on the Hudson’s location on Woodward Avenue, according to Bedrock Chairman Dan Gilbert, was planned and constructed to house a large enterprise. Along what was once America’s first paved road, the structure and the nearby tower will include residential quarters, a luxury hotel, conference spaces, and stores. For the past century, GM and Detroit have come and gone together, and Mayor Mike Duggan is happy to announce that “GM and Detroit are rising together again.”
Future Prospects for Renaissance Center Amid GM’s Shifting Headquarters Strategy
It’s unclear what will happen to Renaissance Center, which housed GM throughout both its brief bankruptcy and mortality in 2009 and many years of record earnings. However, the powerhouse of the automobile industry will be ending an era with this decision next year. With 73 floors, the main tower is Detroit’s highest structure. Many of the companies that were housed in the building have closed, and the number of GM employees has decreased over time, particularly during the pandemic.
Barra stated that GM is receptive to suggestions for the Renaissance Center complex, which the business purchased almost thirty years ago. She claimed the corporation has made over $1 billion in investments there. Although it’s not selling the building right now, it could. Bedrock owns and renovates several office buildings in the downtown area of the city. According to Barra, GM, Bedrock, and the governments will investigate residential, commercial, and mixed-use options for the landmark tower complex, also referred to as the RenCen locally.
On Monday, Barra Said;
“I am confident that together we can create a right future for that site.”
According to Duggan, Gilbert will know what to do with the complex going forward. After purchasing the tower complex in 1996, GM relocated its corporate offices from a location north of the city center. The business has been based there ever since. Bedrock has been driving the downtown revitalization for several years by acquiring assets. Rocket Mortgage is a lending firm that Gilbert also owns. GM’s main headquarters will remain located in the RenCen building, which is located just across the Detroit River from Canada, Barra confirmed to The Associated Press in a 2022 interview.
However, she clarified that she was unable to forecast what would occur in the next five, ten, or fifteen years. Since then, over 5,000 GM white-collar employees have taken early retirement buyouts, and many more continue to work a hybrid office-home schedule, which reduces the amount of office space that GM requires. The corporation occupies around one and a half of the towers at RenCen, which have not seen much foot traffic in years. A large portion of GM’s workforce, including engineers and product developers, is located in a modernized technical center from the 1950s in the suburban Warren area, north of the city. Following its bankruptcy in 2009, GM explored relocating its headquarters to that location.
Henry Ford II organized a group in the 1970s intending to revitalize Detroit’s downtown, and he used that alliance to build the Renaissance Center. The Hudson’s skyscraper, which will include 1.5 million square feet of retail, office, eating, hospitality, and residential space, is slated to have its last structural steel beam installed, according to a Bedrock announcement made last week.
