With General Motors leaving its longtime headquarters at the Renaissance Center, the fate of Detroit’s largest structure is not yet set.
Photographer: Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocketThe Battle Over the Fate of Detroit’s Renaissance Center
Motor City officials and preservationists see different futures for RenCen, the soon-to-be-former headquarters of General Motors and once the world’s largest development.
When General Motors Co. announced last April that it would be vacating the Renaissance Center, concern over the fate of downtown Detroit’s most recognizable structure turned into speculation that the distinctive skyscraper complex would be demolished. Once unthinkable, plans to take down two of its five office towers — and then some — are proceeding.
Developer Bedrock Detroit, in a partnership with GM, has tasked Gensler and James Corner Field Associates with reimagining the nearly half-century-old mega-complex. Their $1.6 billion concept involves significantly reducing its 5.5-million-square-footage by demolishing two of its original five towers as well as an early 2000s podium addition while creating new public outdoor spaces that connect to the Detroit River.