The buck hoist has been removed from the Hudson’s Detroit skyscraper, another step toward completing the 685-foot tower.

“Buck hoist,” you may ask. (More like a WTH hoist, am I right? Those things terrify me.)

The buck hoist — sometimes called a construction elevator —  is essentially the external vertical transportation system you see on large buildings under construction, whether being renovated or built. They move things like workers and materials to different levels of a building.

Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock LLC, in an Instagram post last week, called the system’s removal “a significant milestone in the project’s progress.”

“The next step will be enclosing the zipper portion with glass, which will complete the façade of the tower.”

The zipper is the section on the north side of the tower where the buck hoist had been.

A Bedrock spokesperson said Tuesday that the final piece of exterior glass should be installed in February, weather pending. The buck hoist had been in place from March 2022 until December 2024. 

The project is entering its eighth year of construction, although there’s been a steady stream of news about it in the last year or so.

The $1.4 billion development formally topped out in April, reaching its max height of 686 feet and making it the second tallest building in the state, and the tower crane was removed in October.  

It officially was named Hudson’s Detroit, and Bedrock inked a deal with General Motors Co. to be the anchor tenant in the office component of the development, which sits on the northern portion of the 2.3-acre site at Woodward and Grand River avenues.

Also, Bedrock formally confirmed that the tower will be home to a luxury Edition Hotel, plus Edition Hotel-branded condominiums.