JR Afternoon with Chris Renwick
GM and Dan Gilbert’s Bold Vision for Detroit’s Downtown Transformation
So, it feels like the old way Detroit would have done business is if GM moves out of the rent and then we'll have to just ransack the place and they'll move to the Hudson and we'll have to find another use for that property on the riverfront, which is such a valuable piece of real estate. Well, as Daniel Haus points out in his piece, it's good for GM, good for Dan Gilbert and it's good that maybe we're rethinking the way that we deal with these types of buildings here in Detroit. Daniel Haus, the senior business editor and business columnist, Anthony Detroit News joins me. Daniel, it's good to have you and look, this plan is, it is pretty different, it feels like than what we would have done, you know, 10, 15 years ago. Yeah, I don't think there's any question about it. I mean, as you point out in your intro, I mean, this is mutually beneficial. It's two development and business heavyweights coming to a conclusion that status quo is not going to work. And they need to get aggressive with that property and change some of its use. I think what comes out of this plan is a big bet on downtown residential. I mean, you know, it wasn't too many years ago when downtown residential was kind of a joke. As people as people know, as Dan Gilbert has taken over more buildings downtown and renovated them and and other developers, you know, there is demand for housing downtown and the center tower, the hotel will be converted into a smaller hotel and they'll put luxury condos above it for some pretty breathtaking views. Well, and the realities are, I mean, you know, obviously, General Motors wants to keep the integrity of the building, it seems. And Dan Gilbert kind of being the visionary that he is in particularly the way that he's kind of carried the mantle of the Carmanos and of the Michelages of the world that you mentioned in your piece, you know, he's able to kind of reinvigorate and reimagine how to use a lot of these spaces, whether it's, you know, putting up a new Hudson building, but even now, I mean, the way that they're going to kind of position this, it feels kind of fresh, really. Well, I think Dan, you know, Dan has a record of being creative bullish on Detroit and financially sound and it has the ability to draw financing and to make things happen. I don't think there's any question about it. You know, there will be pitfalls, there are already critics that are coming out and lamenting and criticizing, frankly, pretty openly that the plan to get $250 million in state funding to do what basically would be addressed infrastructure needs and open some of the area up to more public access. I think their argument is, at least, that because this benefits the public, it is fair to be asking for public financing in that portion of the building. Now, people immediately will bring this up and criticize it, but I think one of the components we see at so many of these investments, and we've seen it with a lot of the battery and EV investments in the state and other states, is there's always a public component because there is a public need that is in a public good that is oftentimes, in many cases, serviced by the creation of these entities that create jobs and generate tax revenue for the locality and the state. Daniel Haus from the Detroit News joins me. You know, one of the things you brought about, you mentioned the public funds, is the timing of this is pretty, it's pretty expedient when you consider Republicans just want control back of the House in this last election, and the fact that it's being rolled out now might seem to indicate that they're trying to get this done before Republicans get back into power in the lower chamber in Lansing. Well, that and, you know, you have a more friendly legislature for the governor to be able to get this through, I mean, if it would be a black eye on any governor, if the rent send became a white elephant, so to speak, on the river, it's very iconic, it's, as people have seen when sporting events and they take, they pan shots, you can't help but see the rents and, and I think they recognize that and recognize that it does have it in a lot of ways, a soft spot and in the culture of this community. What I think is also really interesting here, and I pointed it out at the pieces that the big moves, the big development moves in this town in the last 20 years have been homegrown. It hasn't been foreign money coming in here. It hasn't been New York money coming in here. It's been, it's been local people who have marshaled support and finances and, and creativity to, to do things. You mentioned Mike Ellis, Pete Carmanos, you know, Bill Ford Jr. did. Oh, yeah. He brought Ford Field down to the next America park with Data Deal with Mike Duggan before he was the mayor, you know, Bill Ford more recently did the Michigan Central Station, something we thought we would never see. Uh, his uncle Henry for the second along with Max Fisher led a group of investors to build the rents in. And after the 67 riots, I mean, it was one thing after another, and they're all the commonality here is that it's all local people who understand the culture of Detroit and, and the city and the politics and the war from move of, of our environment. Do you think anything that includes, you know, the, the complete tear down of the rents and do you view that as potentially, at least in the eyes of, of the state or even the country that it would, that, that that would put a ding in the armor of where Detroit has come, if they were to just kind of take it down completely? Well, I mean, I think if you look at, you know, I heard this during the NFL draft that a lot of people coming in from out of town were kind of a gassed in a positive way at how many old buildings had been made, had been made new again that Detroit rather than tear everything down and put up a bunch of glass, buildings that you could find anywhere in the, in the country, if not the world, they hung on to their heritage and rebuild it. I think carrying down the rents and would be kind of a, a turnabout in that. That's also part of the city's heritage as well. And I think what they're trying to do here is recognize that it is part of the heritage, but that the times have changed. And there's probably a permanent step down and demand for Class A office space. The hope is that there's a rising demand for, for downtown housing, for more publicly accessible land and various venues will be pretty much east of the rent center, as you know it today. They're reckoning with it. I think tearing it down would, would be a black eye and, and would probably be a ding on the narrative of the Detroit comeback. It would suggest that they're kind of going back to the old way, which is just either to A, you know, demo something in totality or B, let it hang around for 20 years and do nothing with it, or even worse, let it hang around for 20 years and then demo it. Right. Yeah. And, and let it degrade and sink into oblivion and that's not what, what you want either. You know, I think with this plan, at least for me, in my perspective, is it's kind of the best of both worlds. Like you get to keep the, the iconic skyline while still giving yourself more of an opportunity to expand what's happened on the riverfront. And I know this is just the first proposal and I'm sure things will, will change either minor changes or major changes, but the realities are, I mean, this feels like a good middle ground. Well, I think that's the intent. Now, you know, in this town and a lot of other towns, there's always going to be opposition. There's always going to be people questioning whether this ought to be happening. There are going to be people talking about why is, why are the taxpayers being asked to put up $250 million when General Motors makes $3 billion in the last quarter? Well, there are a lot of reasons for that. The public stake though, right? But there is a public stake and, and, you know, I suppose if you were going to wall the whole thing off and say the only way you're able to get on the grounds of that property, the General Motors owns on the, around the, the rent send and east of the, east of the rent send is you have to pay a fee to get in. I suppose then you could say the argument and it's private property, but that's not what they're doing. They're basically opening this up to the public and saying anybody can come, anybody can avail themselves of, of, of some of the spaces there. The ones that they pay the fees that everybody else pays to use the mean how it works. So I think that's the intent. Ultimately, I suspect it will probably be successful and I'll move ahead with it. Yeah. It's too big to defeat in a sense. And again, I think when Dan Gilbert's name's on it, when GM's name's on it, I think it carries certainly a lot of weight. Daniel House, thank you so much, my friend, appreciate you talking with you and hope you have a good Thanksgiving. You too. Thanks very much. Yep. You got it. 808590957 more coming up here on W.J.
November 26, 2024 ~ Chris Renwick and Daniel Howes discuss Detroit’s property development shift, highlighting GM and Dan Gilbert’s Rensen building plan, balancing revitalization with heritage, amid debates on public funding.