GM, others pitched Wayne County on moving offices to the RenCen

Representatives from General Motors Co. and Detroit development players have pitched Wayne County on moving its offices to the Renaissance Center from the Guardian Building in downtown Detroit.

Within the last several months, the idea was posited to Wayne County as part of a multi-party series of discussions about the future of the state’s most prominent and polarizing office complex. The fate of the RenCen is in limbo as GM — which owns the majority of it — plans to vacate and move its global headquarters to Dan Gilbert’s Hudson’s Detroit project next year.

A source familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Wayne County has received proposals from GM representatives and others about a move. Pitches have been made about a relocation to the main GM-owned complex, which consists of four 39-story office towers flanking a 73-story hotel skyscraper, as well as the second phase of the development, the two shorter 21-story office towers that opened in the 1980s that GM does not own. 

The location and layout of the RenCen complex on the Detroit Riverfront may pose challenges to county government operations serving the public.   

 

“Identifying suitable usage for the Renaissance Center, once General Motors relocates, is a critical issue for our region and Wayne County is at the table looking at all viable options,” Wayne County said in a statement Friday afternoon. “As we explore possibilities, one of our top concerns is ensuring our government offices are readily available and accessible to the public. We are doing our due diligence and will decide based on what’s in the best interest of our constituents.”

The source said Wayne County officials are skeptical such a move would happen.

Emails were sent to spokespeople for GM as well as Gilbert’s Bedrock LLC real estate company, which is involved in the discussions, seeking comment Friday. 

This week, Gilbert said at the Mackinac Policy Conference that executives and bureaucrats were deliberating over the complex’s future. 

“But I think that everybody is interested in keeping some very exciting and promising development on that property, whoever comes up with it,” Gilbert said at the conference. “We are in a sort of a brainstorming mode right now, and that’s just very important. Those (buildings) have been landmarks for the city for decades now and it’s beautiful riverfront land and property.”

Wayne County is among the leaders at the table discussing the RenCen’s future, Gilbert said this week. And Wayne County Executive Warren Evans delivered official remarks during the April news conference in which GM announced it was moving its headquarters from the RenCen to the Hudson’s Detroit development. 

The prospect of Wayne County moving out of the Guardian Building has been discussed over the years, including when the county teetered on insolvency in the middle part of the last decade. 

However, those conversations have always been punctuated by two things: The county wants to be in a location with convenient access to all county residents, and there are millions in outstanding capital improvement bonds that need to be retired if the county was to sell the Guardian, a 40-story Art Deco skyscraper at 500 Griswold St. that opened in 1929. 

“This building is not particularly good for customer service for a county office — it just isn’t,” Evans said in an interview with Crain’s three years ago. “Would I rather be in another building that was more accessible to the public and had better parking? Yes, I would.”

Crain’s reported in 2021 that the county owed about $44 million in bond debt out of $60 million it was authorized to issue in 2008 when it bought the building from Detroit-based Sterling Group for $14.5 million. It’s not known how much the county owes today. The bonds are to be retired by 2055. 

A Wayne County relocation to the RenCen has undoubtedly been one of many possibilities for the riverfront complex going forward, although its ultimate fate remains under deliberation behind closed doors.

Officials have said they are exploring ways to reuse the five-skyscraper portion of the RenCen owned by GM, although demolition of at least some of the complex remains an option.  

The automaker is committed to coming up with “a good solution” for the RenCen, GM CEO Mary Barra said at the Detroit Economic Club earlier this month. And Mayor Mike Duggan told The Detroit News earlier this week at the Mackinac Policy Conference that “what can be saved will be saved,” without vowing to keep the entire complex standing.

“There’s not a demand for four stories of office towers, and there won’t be any time in the foreseeable future,” Duggan told The News. “What can be saved will be saved. We didn’t bring Dan Gilbert in to demolish the Renaissance Center. We don’t need Dan Gilbert for that.”

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