What does Detroit’s RenCen stand for?

Welcome back. I’m still Malachi Barrett. 

The City Council is not meeting and municipal offices are closed this week amid the bustle to prepare Detroit to host the NFL Draft from April 25-27.

This freed up some time for me to look into the history of the Renaissance Center on the heels of big news that General Motors will move its corporate headquarters out of the iconic riverside complex. I gleaned some insights from old news reports and architecture guides.

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GM’s decision to move into Dan Gilbert’s under-construction Hudson’s building a few blocks north sparked varying interpretations on what it means for the city. Gilbert had floated the idea of buying the “RenCen” from GM a few years ago and will have a say in the building’s future. 

One thing is sure: The Renaissance Center has tremendous historic value as an emblem of Detroit’s long-running efforts to revitalize downtown and riverfront real estate. 

It’s also a physical reminder of Black leadership, closely tied to former Mayor Coleman Young’s legacy of steering Detroit through crisis. 

“It’s symbolic of how the city is going to move ahead in the face of problems,” Young told the Detroit Free Press in 1975. “It truly represents faith in the city.” 

The “RenCen” was a cornerstone of Young’s efforts to bring people back downtown after the 1967 uprising. Landing the NFL Draft suggests Detroit has come a long way in marketing the downtown as a safe and inviting environment.

I noticed parallels between RenCen’s debut and conversations we’ve documented about the state of downtown today. Then and now, reducing crime, relocating businesses downtown and expanding hotel capacity were viewed as important for the city’s success.

Young talked about enhancing the city’s charms and selling residents on visiting shops, parks, entertainment and big festivals. Mayor Mike Duggan speaks in similar terms about how projects like the Hudson’s Detroit and the riverfront Hotel at Water Square are driving Detroit’s revitalization. 

Both mayors embraced striking changes to Detroit’s skyline. 

Young used his strong relationship with President Jimmy Carter to secure federal funds to develop riverfront land and provide public access to the waterfront for the first time in decades. Duggan has used his partnership with President Joe Biden to direct federal pandemic aid toward parks and public infrastructure projects. 

‘Architecture should lift people’

The RenCen was the largest privately financed urban development project of its time. That’s a big difference from how downtown projects are financed today.

Laws passed since the RenCen’s completion allow developers to draw large taxpayer-funded subsidies. Gilbert’s project secured a controversial $60 million tax incentive in 2022. 

Half a century earlier, Henry Ford II brought 51 corporate investors together to raise $337 million for the RenCen. Ford reportedly aimed to restore the confidence of Detroiters in their city.

It shows how buildings can also serve to define the legacy of its planners – news reports framed Ford as rediscovering a city his grandfather “built.”

Ford recruited Atlanta architect John Portman, who was at the height of his fame for designing large-scale urban projects in other cities.

Portman is considered the most significant architect of city revitalization projects for his time. His hotels in Los Angeles, Atlanta and New York became glittering symbols of urban renewal built on neighborhoods that city leaders denounced as blighted or slums. 

Portman’s work is divisive among architects and urbanists. 

Portman said his designs were meant to inspire a sense of awe in visitors. Portman described himself as an optimist, noting in a 1981 interview that American society had “become engulfed in cynicism” after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

“Architecture should lift people,” Portman told the Petoskey News-Review in 1977. “It should make people feel good. It should make them want to use and participate in their urban environment.”

Where Portman saw “explosive” open spaces and dramatic concrete forms showcased in his work, critics labeled the RenCen as uninviting and insular. Some panned the RenCen’s confusing layout (an intentional move to encourage exploration) and identified a failure to maximize the riverfront location. 

Newspaper columnists described the RenCen as important to Detroit without really being in it; a concrete fortress at the edge of the city, or an enclave protected by big money. There were concerns that instead of revitalizing Detroit, the RenCen would draw business from the rest of downtown. 

A 1977 Free Press report described the building “as relaxing as a park, as safe as the suburbs and enclosed to let in the sun but not the cold.” 

“Some people resent these great indoor spaces, which beats the hell out of me because people love them,” Portman said in a 1988 interview with the Lancaster New Era. 

‘A Site for Shore Eyes’

The impressive scale of the building was impossible to ignore one way or another. The RenCen is Michigan’s tallest building and was the tallest all-hotel skyscraper in the world when it opened. 

It took enough steel to create 16,000 Volkswagens and more concrete than the Pontiac Silverdome. More than 2,000 workers labored on the project, some for more than two years. Ford promised a 100% union construction crew.

The Detroit Free Press describes an incident where construction worker Tom Clark slipped on a beam while working and fell 30 feet. Clark thought to himself “Oh Lord Tom, you’re going all the way down” as he fell, according to the Free Press, but landed on scaffolding and was pulled to safety. 

Timothy Nester was not as fortunate. He fell four stories while working on a skylight and died. 

The Renaissance Center was named through a contest that drew nearly 141,500 entries vying for a $5,000 prize. Other suggestions included “Carmopolis,” “A Site for Shore Eyes,” “Autopia” and “Carmelot.” 

Six unbuilt towers were planned by Portman as part of an elaborate proposal that went far beyond what was finished. The towers would have added housing, offices and another hotel to the riverfront. 

Two towers were added in 1981 before a series of renovations from 1985 to 1990. GM purchased the building from the Ford Motor Co. in 1996 and moved its world headquarters from the historic Cadillac Place state office complex in New Center. 

Private funding continued to support the building throughout its life. GM spent $500 million on additional renovations.

In 1974, Young reflected on what would have happened if the project failed to secure financing. He said the site becoming a “reminder of a failed ambition” would have been “the worst tragedy that could have happened to Detroit.” 

Today, the Renaissance Center contains a mixture of offices, retailers, several restaurants and the Marriott hotel. Five original towers are owned by GM, while two others were bought this year by Farmington Hills-based Friedman Real Estate. 

The Renaissance Center is outside the footprint for NFL Draft events. Downtown attractions throughout the year largely center around Gilbert-owned properties surrounding Campus Martius, a few blocks from the Hudson’s project.

Detroit’s riverfront is a key part of this new chapter of the city’s long-running revitalization, but the RenCen’s place in those marketing pitches is unclear for now.