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  #1  
Old Posted Jun 23, 2022, 5:39 PM
iheartthed iheartthed is offline
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GM non-commital about future presence in Detroit's Renaissance Center

There was a story in the Detroit Free Press speculating about the future of the GM owned Renaissance Center, with some alluding that GM will leave the complex. The complex has been mostly empty since the start of the pandemic, and much of the workforce will continue to work from home for the foreseeable future. Deloitte, the second largest tenant in the RenCen complex, recently announced that they are moving their Detroit office to a WeWork space. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan also had a sizable worker presence there which is being absorbed into other downtown Detroit offices.

https://www.freep.com/story/money/20...rs/7608005001/
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  #2  
Old Posted Jun 23, 2022, 6:13 PM
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Uh where are you getting that thread title from?

Because Barra says herself:
Quote:
"Right now, our plans are to be in the RenCen," she said. "We’ve updated many of the floors. But, um, I think we are focused … we don’t occupy the whole RenCen, we’re a couple of towers right now. But that’s our home, that’s what we’re creating into open space. The HR team just moved to their new floor last week when I was there ... into a new open workspace. So that’s our home.”
Literally declared commitment from the horse's mouth lol.
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  #3  
Old Posted Jun 23, 2022, 7:53 PM
iheartthed iheartthed is offline
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Originally Posted by The North One View Post
Uh where are you getting that thread title from?

Because Barra says herself:
Literally declared commitment from the horse's mouth lol.
I read the entire paragraph:

Quote:
“We are a leaner company," GM's Barra told the Detroit Free Press last month. She emphasized that GM’s headquarters will stay in Detroit, but when pressed as to whether GM would remain in the RenCen or possibly another Detroit office building, Barra said, "Right now, our plans are to be in the RenCen, we’ve updated many of the floors.”
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Old Posted Jun 23, 2022, 8:02 PM
Crawford Crawford is offline
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I think GM stays in downtown Detroit, partially for PR/civic purposes. But probably downsizes.

Marry Barra lives in the fringes of Northville Township, a long way from downtown or GM Tech. My brother lives nearby.

IMO it probably makes the most sense for HQ to be with tech center, like all the other auto firms, and its easier to move HQ to Warren than tech center to Detroit. But we'll see.

Also, can we all agree that the RenCen has never worked? It's a terrible place to work, the layout is ridiculous, its been renovated a zillion times and is still a maze, the street interaction is awful, the ceiling heights are low, and the buildings are ugly. The 1970's were the worst era for office architecture. It doesn't even interact with downtown. But it's too expensive for a demo/rebuild.
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Old Posted Jun 23, 2022, 8:15 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Crawford View Post
I think GM stays in downtown Detroit, partially for PR/civic purposes. But probably downsizes.
Yeah, they're not leaving Detroit as long as they are a standalone company.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Crawford View Post
Also, can we all agree that the RenCen has never worked? It's a terrible place to work, the layout is ridiculous, its been renovated a zillion times and is still a maze, the street interaction is awful, the ceiling heights are low, and the buildings are ugly. The 1970's were the worst era for office architecture. It doesn't even interact with downtown. But it's too expensive for a demo/rebuild.
Designing it to be a fortress was a huge mistake. And the loss of the SEMTA commuter rail feeding into it was a huge blow to its viability. It can be salvaged if they build more development around it.
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  #6  
Old Posted Jun 23, 2022, 8:15 PM
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Originally Posted by iheartthed View Post
I read the entire paragraph:
How does one interpret the response "this is our home, our plan is to be here, we just renovated a bunch of floors" into non-commitment??

GM has no other option in the city, unless they're secretly planning a future move into the Hudson Tower site space they can't really go anywhere and it would make no sense to leave a building they own.

Anyway...

The RenCen definitely needs a lot of work though it's at the age where a reclad is probably necessary and they should replace the single pane glass. I don't think GM is willing to invest into the building what it needs to bring it to it's full potential, which isn't a surprise they're not developers they're a giant car company. New ownership would be probably be good but they're stuck with it for the foreseeable future.
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Last edited by The North One; Jun 23, 2022 at 8:25 PM.
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  #7  
Old Posted Jun 23, 2022, 8:21 PM
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Originally Posted by Crawford View Post

Also, can we all agree that the RenCen has never worked? It's a terrible place to work, the layout is ridiculous, its been renovated a zillion times and is still a maze, the street interaction is awful, the ceiling heights are low, and the buildings are ugly. The 1970's were the worst era for office architecture. It doesn't even interact with downtown. But it's too expensive for a demo/rebuild.
Uh no we cant agree with nonsense sorry. It's a Portman masterpiece and a true city within a city. The towers look cool as fuck, it's like something out of a cyberpunk and it's aged extremely well. It also interacts great with the waterfront. Your tastes are shit.

Sears Tower and the Hancock Center also have low ceilings for today's standards, guess we should destroy it. Lets get rid of the Seagram building as well, it also has low ceilings. Just destroy all the mid-century gems.
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  #8  
Old Posted Jun 23, 2022, 8:44 PM
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Reminds me a lot of the Bonaventure hotel here in Downtown LA which i hate.

In terns of GM, i hope they stay in downtown Detroit as it would be a huge blow for that city if they ever left.
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  #9  
Old Posted Jun 23, 2022, 8:45 PM
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Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan View Post
Reminds me a lot of the Bonaventure hotel here in Downtown LA which i hate
That's because that's also Portman (as are like, all open atrium hotels everywhere).

I agree that the whole concept sucks.
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Old Posted Jun 23, 2022, 10:09 PM
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I hope they stay in Detroit.
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  #11  
Old Posted Jun 23, 2022, 10:57 PM
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Originally Posted by SIGSEGV View Post
That's because that's also Portman (as are like, all open atrium hotels everywhere).

I agree that the whole concept sucks.
Makes sense. Thanks
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  #12  
Old Posted Jun 24, 2022, 12:16 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Crawford View Post
I think GM stays in downtown Detroit, partially for PR/civic purposes. But probably downsizes.

Marry Barra lives in the fringes of Northville Township, a long way from downtown or GM Tech. My brother lives nearby.

IMO it probably makes the most sense for HQ to be with tech center, like all the other auto firms, and its easier to move HQ to Warren than tech center to Detroit. But we'll see.

Also, can we all agree that the RenCen has never worked? It's a terrible place to work, the layout is ridiculous, its been renovated a zillion times and is still a maze, the street interaction is awful, the ceiling heights are low, and the buildings are ugly. The 1970's were the worst era for office architecture. It doesn't even interact with downtown. But it's too expensive for a demo/rebuild.
To me it’s one of my favorite buildings in the world. Incredibly iconic with this futuristic quality.

I remember playing SimCity 3000, I took that Atlanta building that was a landmark there and let the other four towers to grow around to build my own RenCen on my version of Detroit.
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Old Posted Jun 24, 2022, 12:20 AM
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Originally Posted by Yuri View Post
To me it’s one of my favorite buildings in the world. Incredibly iconic with this futuristic quality.
It is cool in that it's kind of a historic ideal of how the future was supposed to look. Kind of a Buck Rogers or Jetsons feel. And certainly iconic.

But from a pedestrian perspective, the RenCen (and all the Portman buildings) are horrible. No urban context whatsoever. RenCen is a maze inside, you're immediately disoriented. The exterior has no interaction with the city.

And they should have build the RenCen in the heart of downtown, not on the fringe. It sucked all the energy and jobs out of the historic core.
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  #14  
Old Posted Jun 24, 2022, 12:54 AM
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Quote:
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It is cool in that it's kind of a historic ideal of how the future was supposed to look. Kind of a Buck Rogers or Jetsons feel. And certainly iconic.

But from a pedestrian perspective, the RenCen (and all the Portman buildings) are horrible. No urban context whatsoever. RenCen is a maze inside, you're immediately disoriented. The exterior has no interaction with the city.

And they should have build the RenCen in the heart of downtown, not on the fringe. It sucked all the energy and jobs out of the historic core.
I imagine it’s like a monument. But as Detroit has plenty of Art Deco skyscrapers in the right side of Downtown, the RenCen is a nice ornament. In fact, aesthetically speaking it’s better that it’s a bit removed from the main cluster.
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  #15  
Old Posted Jun 24, 2022, 2:12 AM
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I like the looks of the RenCen itself but agree that the street level interaction is nothing short of horrific.

https://goo.gl/maps/j2dtjytXEqeFtS8QA
https://goo.gl/maps/Bs4NbvTHWNFGdMu96
https://goo.gl/maps/gUNQPWEuer9XJZGy5
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  #16  
Old Posted Jun 24, 2022, 2:37 AM
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Originally Posted by homebucket View Post
I like the looks of the RenCen itself but agree that the street level interaction is nothing short of horrific.

https://goo.gl/maps/j2dtjytXEqeFtS8QA
https://goo.gl/maps/Bs4NbvTHWNFGdMu96
https://goo.gl/maps/gUNQPWEuer9XJZGy5
I mean, you're only highlighting the bad parts that are more dedicated to utility here.

The complex certainly could use improvement, for sure. But the south facing side is not horrific, it's actually pretty great.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3280...7i13312!8i6656

Jefferson side is not ideal, but not terrible. You could easily walk up here.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3301...7i16384!8i8192

It used to be actually horrific, literally had fortress walls when it was built. But it's made big improvements over the decades.
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Old Posted Jun 24, 2022, 2:46 AM
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We can't have a thread about the magnificent Ren Cen without a pic of it.


Source: wikipedia
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  #18  
Old Posted Jun 24, 2022, 3:40 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The North One View Post
I mean, you're only highlighting the bad parts that are more dedicated to utility here.

The complex certainly could use improvement, for sure. But the south facing side is not horrific, it's actually pretty great.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3280...7i13312!8i6656

Jefferson side is not ideal, but not terrible. You could easily walk up here.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3301...7i16384!8i8192

It used to be actually horrific, literally had fortress walls when it was built. But it's made big improvements over the decades.
Yeah the waterfront facing section is much better. But if we’re comparing the tower in its entirety to something that has excellent street interaction like the U/C Hudson Tower then it’s easy to see there’s a significant difference.
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  #19  
Old Posted Jun 24, 2022, 10:50 AM
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Originally Posted by homebucket View Post
Yeah the waterfront facing section is much better. But if we’re comparing the tower in its entirety to something that has excellent street interaction like the U/C Hudson Tower then it’s easy to see there’s a significant difference.
Architecture had changed a lot in recent decades. Those were a time they were building a city like Brasília or demolishing entire neighborhoods to make room
for freeways.

In fact I was positively surprised by the links The North One provided. I thought it would be even more obstacles between the complex and the city.

And regarding tenants considering to leave the complex for some random suburban campus, it’s their losses. I follow some local instagramers and Downtown Detroit is looking amazing: full of activity, incredibly well kept. About PR, yes, leave a quality urban place like this, one of the most iconic addresses you can have, to be behind a field nowhere.
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  #20  
Old Posted Jun 24, 2022, 11:49 AM
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I could see GM moving to Plano.
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