Dan Gilbert Details $2.1B Downtown Detroit Development Plans
Real estate mogul Dan Gilbert unveiled massive development plans Wednesday that will be undertaken by his company, Rock Ventures. The multipart project would add about 3.2M SF to Detroit's urban core and facilitate the creation of about 9,000 permanent jobs in the city, he said.
Gilbert said $1.9B for the project is coming from debt and equity, while $250M will come from bond funding through the new state incentives for transformational brownfield site projects, Crain's Detroit Business reports.
The plan has a number of moving parts, such as the redevelopment of the former J.L. Hudson's department store site, new construction on a two-block area east of Gilbert's HQ, the redevelopment of Book Tower and Book Building on Washington Boulevard and a 310K SF addition to the One Campus Martius building Gilbert co-owns with Detroit-based Meridian.
The Hudson site building would measure 1M SF and, at 800 feet, be the tallest building in Detroit, besting the Detroit Marriott at Renaissance Center. It would include 330 residential units.
The Book Tower project will include 95 residential units, a hotel and 180K SF of office and retail space. The One Campus Martius addition probably will be the first of the projects finished.
"It's developments like these that will allow us to compete for opportunities that don't come around often," Gilbert said at the event detailing the plans. "We have to compete and the only way to compete is through public-private partnerships working together."
