'Out of left field': RenCen businesses caught off guard by GM departure

WXYZ-TV Detroit | Channel 7
WXYZ-TV Detroit | Channel 7
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Published 2024-04-15
It’s the icon of Detroit’s skyline and a symbol of the Motor City. But soon, the Renaissance Center will no longer be the headquarters of its owner, General Motors. It was a celebration inside the new Hudson's building on Woodward Avenue Monday as local elected officials along with GM and Bedrock Detroit executives announced the new development would soon become the new headquarters for General Motors. But for owners of businesses inside the RenCen, the mood was different.
All Comments (21)
  • @kevinmach730
    Dan Gilbert has plans for the building. He owns the Hudson Tower that GM is moving too, and approached them about downsizing from the RenCen to a new property, likely to cutdown on building maintenance, management, and utility expenses, etc on a bunch of space they no longer need. I assume he will outright buy or lease/manage the RenCen for them with whatever plans he has in store for it.
  • @TheGeneralZubas
    The Renaissance Center would be amazing as a Mixed Use residential/Commercial building. I know living there would be amazing, If I had a job downtown!!!
  • @Toyeboy89
    Even before COVID it always seemed like an empty area when we visited there.
  • @AmericanArgonaut
    Just watch they'll make half of it bars and restaurants and turn the rest into apartments. Odd to see it go. It's an icon of the Detroit skyline.
  • @rosesandcorn
    God bless the life and memory of Reverend Frmr Chairperson Ben Maibach (deceased). The company he led built the building. He loved the Lord and served as the layman minister and elder at Apostolic Christian church in Livonia, served his large family, employees, helped international orphanages, elderly homes, childrens special needs homes. He included prayers in his board meetings. He was so wonderful. I look forward to seeing him someday again in heaven. He said ❤ If the Lord builds it, it will prosper.❤
  • @sundancer3700
    GM doesnt need that much space anymore, at its high point 10,000 people worked there, now down to 2000. Best bet is make most of it apartments but that will take a lot of work and many years to complete.
  • @annettesurfer
    A huge mistake was made back in 2013 when Mary Barra was selected to head GM.
  • @brucebeamon5460
    The writing was on the wall when they CANCELED that major renovation back in 2016 and proceeded to start moving branches out to locations in other states and outside Detroit I feel the pain of those business owners being blindsided by this news I’ve felt for sometime with there GLOBAL REACH if they tried they could have kept that place fully occupied…. I heard someone on line saying it’s nearly feels like a ghost town in there … it was AWESOME and exciting working there in the late seventies . 🤔 are John Portman structures losing their luster ?
  • @blueboat9581
    Boo hoo. The rich restaurant is losing customers. I might shed a tear