SHoP Architects and Detroit-based Hamilton Anderson Associates have released updated renderings of their proposed 2-acre development for downtown Detroit. Set to become the city’s tallest structure, the building will occupy the site of the demolished J.L. Hudson Department Store, the flagship location for the country’s former largest retailer.
New images reveal a 734-foot-tall residential tower rising on top of a 9-story podium totaling over 1.2 million gross square feet. A parking garage offering over 700 spaces will also be constructed underneath the building. The mixed-use project will include a variety of commercial, office, technology, arts and cultural spaces expected to become the heart of downtown Detroit.
“The building is conceived around a huge and inspiring new public space,” said SHoP Principal William Sharples in a statement, “a year-round civic square that, both in its architecture and its culture, will foster and convey the feeling we all share when we work together to imagine what this great city can become.”
The massive development will rise where Hudson Department Store stood, a 25-story department store once the tallest of its typology in the world. With over 2 million square feet of space, it was the cornerstone of the Woodward Avenue shopping district. When Detroit’s economy began to plunge in the 1970s, the famous retail giant closed and was eventually torn down in 1998.
Dan Gilbert, co-founder of Detroit real estate firm Bedrock, which is developing the site, hopes the project will breathe life back into downtown after sitting as a vacant lot for nearly 20 years.
“Our goal is to create a development that exceeds the economic and experiential impact even Hudson’s had on the city,” said Gilbert. “We believe this project is so unique that it can help put Detroit back on the national — and even global — map for world-class architecture, talent attraction, technology innovation and job creation.”
The Downtown Development Authority just approved the project’s timeline, which is set to start with a groundbreaking on Dec. 1, 2017. The complex is expected to open on Dec. 1, 2020. The plan is part of the Michigan Thrive Initiative, which passed in the state Senate this week.
Images via SHoP Architects