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GM is moving out of Renaissance Center. Now what? (michiganadvance.com)

submitted 7 months ago by raoulraoul@midwest.social to c/detroit@midwest.social

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Rick Haglund at Michigan Advance sustains…

[…]despite sweeping views from its glass towers, the Ren Cen is arguably Detroit’s most unloved building [emphasis mine -- r^2^ ]. Navigating its collection of towers is like trying to find your way through a corn maze. Jokes (I think) are told about people entering the Ren Cen, never to be seen again.

Most unloved building?! Really? Okay, Rick, we get it. Not a RenCen fan. Moving right along…

Early on, the Ren Cen did lead to some new business investment in Detroit and boosted revenues of local restaurants from visitors staying in the center’s 73-story hotel, now operated by Marriott. […] But it failed to spark the promised renaissance, which was likely a naïve assumption.

GM nearly abandoned the Ren Cen to cut costs as part of its 2009 bankruptcy reorganization plan. Then-GM CEO Fritz Henderson proposed moving the automaker’s headquarters out of the Ren Cen and into its sprawling technical center in suburban Warren. […] But the Obama administration, which was financing GM’s bankruptcy, nixed the idea as being potentially devastating to Detroit’s finances. The city filed the nation’s largest municipal bankruptcy in 2013.

Reducing a city landmark, however controversial, to rubble might seem unthinkable. But that’s probably what people thought about the downtown J.L. Hudson’s at its apex in the 1950s when the store employed 12,000 workers and hosted 100,000 shoppers a day.

I'd read a letter to the Editor on the Freep site a few days ago proposing, like Mr Haglund here, to raze the RenCen so I'd assume—right or wrong—there are those that agree with the demolition of Detroit's most visible landmark.

The Freep just yesterday published another article saying…

The Free Press spoke with several area architecture, development and real estate experts as to what possibilities they see for the icon that still dominates Detroit's skyline and is recognized around the world. […] None of those interviewed wished to see the RenCen torn down, [emphasis mine -- r^2^ ] a dramatic idea that gained traction in some quarters of social media[…]

Yeah, life goes on and all; if the demolition were to happen, within another generation the demolished RenCen probably would be as relevant to the city's future population as the Packard plant was to today's generation of Detroiters.

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[–] raoulraoul@midwest.social 2 points 7 months ago

I'm assuming (ass = u + me) you're not just blindly grumbling and speaking of the article here…

The costs for such a conversion would surely be high, he and others said. But the costs may not be prohibitive if the project taps the many financial incentives for development that are now available in Michigan. […] Poris noted how the original RenCen towers will soon turn 50 years old, an age that would open them to qualifying for historical preservation tax credits.

“You are seeing buildings, as recent as the ‘70s, being designated historic, and then you can utilize the historic tax credits to renovate them," he said. […] Even though the federal historical tax credit program discourages big modifications to a building's interior, special exceptions can be granted.

[all emphasis mine -- r^2^ ]

Yeah, I kinda bristled at that as well. OTOH, even though it is prime riverfront property, who's going to touch without some kind of tax incentive?