In a move that has a lot of Detroiters scratching their heads, General Motors announced yesterday that they intend to move their world headquarters from their current location in the iconic Rennaissance Center in Downtown Detroit, an enormous complex they actually own, a few blocks north to the newly built, Dan Gilbert-owned, Detroit Hudson Building. No real explanation was given for the move.
This will leave the 5.5 million square foot Ren Cen essentially empty, with no re-development plan in place. At a press conference yesterday announcing the deal, GM CEO Mary Barra said, "Together with Bedrock, the city and the county, we will work to reimagine the Renaissance Center for its next chapter", - And we all know that "reimagine" is millennial-speak for "We have no idea what to do with it."
This is an obvious huge win for Dan Gilbert's Bedrock, who just years earlier was trying to buy the Renaissance Center from GM. And making this deal even sweeter, Bedrock will apparently become the new leasing broker for this site once GM is out.
And while we certainly have nothing against Dan Gilbert - we genuinely appreciate all he has done for this city- this particular deal with General Motors, in our opinion, appears to do absolutely nothing for Downtown Detroit. Nor, for that matter, for General Motors. But, of course, we could be - and we hope we are - wrong.