Dramatic RenCen redesign would remove 2 towers in GM, Bedrock's new concept plan
DETROIT (FOX 2) - The Renaissance Center - and Detroit's skyline - might be getting a drastic makeover with a redesign plan.
A plan would removing the complex's low rise base and the two office towers nearest the river, announced Bedrock and General Motors to "right size" the RenCen's footprint.
The plan would reduce office space and redevelop the remaining three towers into hospitality and housing - leaving most of the skyline intact, while adding a large public space on the riverfront.
A new pedestrian promenade would be created connecting the city to the riverfront, and it would turn the reclaimed land into public spaces. The flow of the improved layout would allow direct access to the buildings and the riverfront.
Mayor Mike Duggan said the Bedrock component is the latest public-private partnership plan which has been used to great effect in recent years, ala the Michigan Central Station.
"We’ve said since the very beginning of this process that we were going to make a realistic decision about preserving as much of the Renaissance Center as possible," Duggan said in a release. "Dan Gilbert’s vision gives us a path forward to preserve and reuse three of the towers and, at the same time, creates a beautiful expansion of public space on the Detroit riverfront.
"We will need a public-private partnership to get this done and avoid the decades of inaction that accompanied so many other Detroit landmarks, like Hudson’s, Michigan Central Station, AMC Headquarters, and the Packard Plant. I am grateful for Dan Gilbert’s leadership in trying to prevent that fate for the Renaissance Center."
The plan to redevelop the 27 acres of the RenCen property sprung from a partnership announced earlier this year, with GM and Bedrock, Detroit and Wayne County.
The study was created to analyze opportunities to redevelop the Renaissance Center site with a team of urban planners, architects and engineers to determine the best possible outcome.
City Council President Mary Sheffield provided one of the numerous positive responses to the plan, saying it will re-purpose the "near-obsolete property" into a destination with affordable housing.
"It’s been said that ‘Change is inevitable. Growth is optional,’" she said. "The proposed plans for the Renaissance Center and the nearby riverfront represents a rare and clear path for growth - growth of our economy, growth of our workforce, and growth of our existence as a world-class City."
First opened in 1976, the Renaissance Center is Michigan’s most iconic and recognizable building. GM purchased the building in 1996, which Detroit officials praise for sparking the eventual development of the Riverwalk.
To date, the City says GM has invested more than $1 billion in improvements to the RenCen site.
Ironically, current City Councilman Coleman Young II's father, the late Mayor Coleman Young was in office to cut the ribbon on the Renaissance Center nearly 50 years ago.
"The fact that this plan will also deliver affordable housing and turn the entire riverfront into an economic engine just takes it to another level,"0 he said in a release. "As my Father said before me…. The programs that will serve The People of Detroit are the same programs that will stimulate the economy. It is my honor to fulfill that principle of service for the next generation of Detroiters."
