GM, Bedrock want 'Navy Pier' style entertainment district for Renaissance Center revamp

The plan proposed by General Motors and Bedrock to transform the Renaissance Center includes a huge entertainment attraction on the riverfront.

A rendering of the 1/4 mile park proposed at base of the Renaissance Center near the riverwalk. Photo courtesy of City of Detroit

The city this week released a new rendering from the plans proposed by General Motors and Bedrock to renovate the public space nearby the Renaissance Center.

The conceptual image includes restaurants, residential, market space and a ferris wheel. Developers and the city have compared the planned district to Chicago’s Navy Pier.

“(Dan Gilbert) wants to build a quarter mile, Michigan’s finest family and entertainment destination all across the river,” Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said during his final annual State of the City address Tuesday. The remarks took place inside Gilbert’s new Hudson’s building.

Duggan said he supports the plans from Gilbert’s Bedrock and GM to tear down two of the complex’s riverfront facing towers and bring greater public access and amenities to the area.

The latest, more detailed image revealed by the city Tuesday shows a vibrant park and entertainment venue in place of two towers that would be demolished. The hotel sits between the proposed 400-room apartment and office tower, above what looks like a concert stage located near what is currently the building’s existing atrium.

Developers want to use tax capture through a state program that directs future tax revenue generated by the development over 30 years to developers, called Transformational Brownfield.

Duggan said he told GM CEO Mary Barra “don’t just sell the buildings,” reliving the city’s troublesome history of abandoned buildings sitting empty for decades, like Michigan Central or the Packard Plant.

“Dan (Gilbert) called and he said ‘We’re working on new ideas now, I’m not sure if you’re going to like it or not, but I want you to look at it because I think it’s the only thing that could work,’’ Duggan recalled, with Gilbert sitting in the audience.

Gilbert told the mayor that Bedrock could save three of the RenCen’s towers, including the center building, where without the two riverfront facing towers, hotel guests would have a view of the river for the first time.

This slide was part of the mayor’s State of the City speech Tuesday. Photo: City of Detroit.