General Motors to Move from Long-Running Detroit HQ Into a New Location Across Town
Automakers have an impact on industries that reach far beyond cars and drivers. Real estate is one area where the sector has a significant footprint, and one of the industry’s biggest names is making waves in Detroit’s downtown. General Motors recently announced a move from the Renaissance Center (RenCen), the building it purchased in 1996, to a new location at the Hudson’s Detroit building further north.
The move is scheduled for 2025, but the decision could leave a significant part of the Detroit skyline empty. GM owns five of the seven RenCen towers, and its absence will open quite a vacancy in the complex. There will be costs associated with the move, and GM will take on leasing costs it didn’t have before, but the new location will help cut unneeded office space.
GM CEO Mary Barra said the automaker would work with developers to find a use for the old buildings but also noted that the company was committed to the Detroit area, calling the new building a “new city landmark.” The automaker will reside on the building’s top two floors, with around 100,000 open square feet across them. That’s a significant reduction from RenCen’s 2.3 million square feet.
GM President Mark Reuss said the company hadn’t determined how many employees would move to the new location. He did say that GM’s executives and corporate offices, including finance, legal, and other departments would make the move.
[Image: Linda Parton via Shutterstock]
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Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.
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At least gm is not moving to New York.
Anyone know what the commercial real estate situation is in downtown Detroit? Apparently GM owns the old HQ and is leasing the new one.
The Renaissance Center was spearheaded by Henry Ford II to revitalize the Detroit waterfront. The round towers were a huge mistake, with inefficient floorplans. The space is largely unusable, and rental agents were having trouble renting it out.
GM didn't know that, or do research, when they bought it. They just wanted to steal thunder from Ford by making it their new headquarters. Since they now own it, GM will need to tear down the "silver silos" as un-rentable, and take a financial bath.
Somewhere, the ghost of Alfred P. Sloan is weeping.
Got cha. No big.