Detroit’s Renaissance Center , home of General Motors , is an immediately recognizable part of the city’s skyline. It’s also nearly empty and only getting emptier , but GM has plans for what to do with the building after its offices have fully moved out. It wants to renovate three of the center’s towers, and demolish the other two, but only if it gets some of your tax dollars from the city and state.
Otherwise, the company may just tear down the whole thing. The Detroit Free Press spoke with GM representatives about the plan, and the company confirmed its ultimatum: Either GM gets cash from Detroit and Michigan, or the city loses a good chunk of its skyline. The outlet also spoke with a local urbanist and architecture professor, who put things more plainly: GM confirmed in a statement to the Free Press that full demolition is a possible alternative to its proposal to partially demolish and renovate the complex, after it faced pushback from a chorus of lawmakers opposed to helping publicly fund a plan to tear down two towers and renovate three.
That plan has also drawn critics from the architectural and preservation communities, who called it shortsighted and ill-conceived. By threatening to tear down the group of skyscrapers that includes Michigan’s tallest if taxpayer support doesn’t come through, the developers are trying to force their vision on the public, said Detroit-based urbanist and University of Michigan architecture professor Craig Wilkins. “It’s.
