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General Motors is expected to announce Monday afternoon that it is relocating its global headquarters in downtown Detroit from the Renaissance Center on Detroit’s waterfront to Hudson’s Detroit building.
That was confirmed by a person familiar with the plan who insisted on anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly.
The Hudson’s site on Woodward Avenue is the new 1.5 million-square-foot development by Bedrock, the real estate firm of Dan Gilbert, chairman of mortgage lender Rocket Companies Inc. The project’s skyscraper topped out last week at just over 681 feet, making it the second-tallest building in Detroit, behind the central tower of the Renaissance Center.
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GM spokesman Kevin Kelly declined to comment on the expected news, as first reported by Bloomberg and the Associated Press earlier Monday.
GM CEO Mary Barra and Gilbert will hold a news conference at the building at 4:30 p.m. when they are expected to announce that GM will leave its space at the Renaissance Center office tower where it has had its headquarters since 1996. That’s when the automaker purchased five of the seven towers there for $73 million, according to the Detroit Historical Society . Farmington Hills-based Friedman Real Estate said it bought the RenCen’s 500 and 600 towers in December for an undisclosed price from a New Jersey utility company that had owned them for years.
The AP reported that GM and Gilbert plan to study how to redevelop GM’s RenCen headquarters, but the plan does not involve a sale of the RenCen. That was confirmed by the Free Press source familiar with the plan.
More: Hudson’s site skyscraper reaches full height, is Detroit’s 2nd tallest building
GM mandate was helping businesses at RenCen
The RenCen is arguably Detroit’s most recognizable building, and GM’s brightly lit logo at its top serves as a beacon along the city’s skyline, reflecting Detroit’s spirit. When the logos went dark in November 2023, it sent social media into a frenzy with speculation that GM had abandoned the building. But as the Free Press reported , GM was replacing the lighting as part of routine maintenance at the time.
GM has used the logos atop the RenCen to both celebrate and mourn with the city.
In August 2018, the automaker and its luxury brand Cadillac paid tribute to Motown legend Aretha Franklin after she died by lighting the top of the building pink with the word “Respect.” The pink referenced her hit song “Pink Cadillac” and “Respect” was the title of her classic 1967 hit. In 2011, GM saluted the Red Wings after they won a playoff game by changing the top of the RenCen to the red-and-white Wings’ logo . That same year, an old English “D” topped the RenCen for the Tigers’ Opening Day. After Prince died in 2016, GM lit the top of the RenCen purple to honor the musician.
Most recently, GM animated the lights at the top of the building to include a lion’s tail on it in support of the Detroit Lion’s playoffs in January.
The Hudson’s site consists of two side-by-side buildings: an 11- or 12-story “office block” with over 500,000 square feet of office, commercial and events space, and a 49-story skyscraper that is expected to house an ultraluxury Edition Hotel and about 100 condos and apartments. The Hudson’s site project broke ground in December 2017 and the buildings could be substantially completed by the end of this year.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the daily population of workers at the RenCen has been dwindling as many of GM’s employees, who once occupied the offices there, worked from home. Earlier this year, GM mandated its workers come in on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of each week, which has helped boost foot traffic in the RenCen to help restaurants and other businesses that rely on office workers for daily business.
Steve Ali, owner of Salsarita’s Fresh Mexican Grill located in the RenCen’s food court on the lower level, said the reports Monday that GM planned to move from the RenCen was “a shock, to say the least.”
Last month, Ali and other restaurant owners in the food court told the Detroit Free Press that business had slowly started to pick up with GM’s mandate that people work from the office three times a week.
“I was hoping I’d see a gradual improvement over the year with the number of tenants in there,” Ali told the Free Press Monday. “I didn’t see this one coming. This doesn’t put us in a very good position. This is very shocking and disappointing. I am not sure where it’s going to leave us — even if they redevelop it, it will be a very long time before it’s a viable four towers again.”
But across town the news is being met with enthusiasm. Mootz Pizzeria + Bar is a restaurant on Library street behind the new Hudson’s tower. Walter Gregorio, Mootz’ director of operations called GM’s move, “fantastic.”
“I think it’s fantastic for GM,” Gregorio said. “GM is getting a new spot and it is great for us.”
Tony Sacco, Mootz owner and partner, added that GM’s move is “going to help the core downtown.”
Reduced number of workers at the RenCen
Exactly how many GM employees are still assigned to work at the RenCen these days is unclear and GM is not saying. In October 2022, the Free Press reported that about 5,000 employees were assigned to work at the RenCen, even though many continued to work remotely.
GM’s website said in early March that 857 employees were working at the RenCen. At the time GM spokeswoman Tara Kuhnen said that number had not been updated to reflect increases since implementing the return-to-office policy in January, but she declined to provide an updated figure. According to a screenshot of GM’s website dated Oct. 3, 2023, which was obtained by the Free Press, GM listed 1,320 employees assigned to the RenCen then.
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Kuhnen confirmed a “small number” of employees have been transferred to other locations within southeast Michigan in recent years as the business and hybrid work arrangements evolved, but she declined to provide specific figures.
Detroit’s vacancy rate
Steve Morris, a partner with the Axis Advisors in Farmington Hills, said GM’s move to the Hudson Building “leaves an awful lot of space to lease” downtown and “adds to the vacancy rate.”
Morris, whose firm represents tenants in real estate deals, questioned who would fill that space. He said he’s not seeing companies moving into downtown Detroit from the suburbs, current tenants are not expanding, and are actually downsizing, and construction costs for renovating existing office space are up.
The vacancy rate for office space in downtown Detroit was 19.4% in the first quarter of this year, up from just under 13% in late 2019, according to past market reports from the Newmark real estate firm.
GM expected to move headquarters from RenCen to Hudson’s tower
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