General Motors is preparing to pull out of its longtime spot along the Detroit waterfront with plans to relocate its headquarters back to downtown, the latest major U.S. company to shift its office space.
The global automaker, based in the city since the mid-1920s, is relocating next year from its iconic Renaissance Center tower to a planned Detroit skyscraper, closing out a nearly 30-year run of operating from the more than 745,100-square-foot complex it has owned since 1996. GM signed a 15-year lease for several of the top floors at Hudson's Detroit, a 1.5 million-square-foot, mixed-use project being developed by local firm Bedrock.
The Hudson site at 1208 Woodward Ave. — about a mile north of GM's current headquarters — is under construction and, upon completion, is set to include the future 12-story office building as well as retail, hotel, residential condominiums and large event spaces.
Bedrock, led by the chairman of mortgage lender Rocket Companies Dan Gilbert, plans to also work with GM, the city of Detroit and Wayne County to come up with a plan to redevelop the seven-building Renaissance Center over the following year.
“We are proud to remain in the city of Detroit in a modern office building that fits the evolving needs of our workforce, right in the heart of downtown,” GM CEO Mary Barra said Monday in a statement. “Our new headquarters will provide collaboration areas for our teams, executive offices and display space for our vehicles."
She added that "Dan Gilbert and Bedrock have done so much to make downtown Detroit a great place to live, work and visit. We are thrilled to be a significant part of the historic Hudson’s project and also look forward to working with them to explore new ideas and opportunities for the Renaissance Center site and the riverfront.”
The relocation reverses GM's move nearly 30 years ago when it shifted to the Renaissance Center from a previous spot it housed downtown. The company purchased the waterfront complex in 1996 and said it has no plans to sell it.
GM's move to newer but smaller space is the latest high-profile example across the United States in which a spectrum of office tenants are adjusting their real estate portfolios to adapt to a post-pandemic reality where they don't need as much space.
Portions of workforces have yet to return to a full five-day workweek, and some companies have offloaded extraneous space in a bid to curb expenses and prioritize profitability.
While the multinational manufacturer issued a directive earlier this year that called its corporate staff back to the office at least three days a week, the move appears to involve less space than GM occupies in the tower at 300 Renaissance Center.
The automaker occupies about 614,500 square feet in the 39-story Renaissance Tower, according to CoStar data. It isn't clear how much space it leased at Hudson Detroit, but the office tower at 1208 Woodward Ave. will include a total of 558,000 square feet once construction wraps up. GM and Bedrock didn't immediately respond to emails from CoStar News requesting additional details.