GM Moving Global Headquarters to Detroit's Renaissance Center

05/21/96

GM announced that it will buy Detroit's Renaissance Center, and that the center will house its global headquarters. The Renaissance center cost $350 million to build in 1976 and is a 5.3 million square foot complex that comprises four office towers, retail shops, and a Westin hotel.

GM did not disclose how much they paid for the complex, but Detroit real estate sources say the automaker paid only $72 million. The automaker bought the complex from Highgate hotels, an investment firm out of Texas that recently purchased the property form its original owners, which included GM, Ford, and others.

GM intends to use all 2.1 million square feet of the four office towers that surround the hotel. The first phase of the company's move involves relocating several hundred corporate affairs personnel from the historic General Motors Building, where corporate headquarters were housed for 76 years. Other headquarters and administrative personnel will move to the Renaissance Center over a period of years.

GM estimates that it can save hundreds of millions of dollars over the next quarter century by centralizing its engineering, testing, and administrative functions.

Dennis Archer, Detroit's mayor, hailed the move as a huge boon for the city. Archer says that the Renaissance Center is the city's most popular tourist destination, attracting 12 million visitors a year. GM's move to the heart of Detroit is expected to boost occupancy rates and attract new businesses. Current estimates place downtown Detroit's vacancy rate at somewhere between 16 and 22 percent.

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel