"Ernst & Young will move 400 workers to the top three floors of what will be the first new multitenant office building in downtown Detroit in about 15 years, the company said."

"The $54 million, 10-story building at Woodward and Michigan avenues -- to be called One Kennedy Square -- is slated to open in April 2006."

Great news for Detroit and another step in the right direction with the focus being on the center of downtown, Campus Martius Park.

i see that overall for this project about 600 office workers from the burbs will be now working dt. thats a nice step for dt detroit.

good,although only 10stories

You have to understand that for Detroit that's equivalent to 53 stories! ;)

Rumors have been floating around about the ground floor retail. I have heard some rumblings with regards to Detroit born Cheesecake Factory. What about House of Blues, or ESPN Zone? All of these might also work in either the Monroe or Hudson's Block developments when they are announced shortly.

Cheesecake Factory is from Detroit and they dont even have one, or do they dont know, or someone had told me the other day that they didnt. I always thought it started in Southern California though I am probably wrong. A Cheesecake Factory in downtown would be a large step in the right direction for other ground level development and the office tower is a great thing to hear for a great downtown like Detroit's.

The mom and pop who started selling the cheesecakes from their home were from Detroit. That's where the operation originated. Once the family realized they "had something going", they packed up shop and moved to Los Angeles where they opened the first store.

I emailed Cheesecake Factory earlier this year and they responded that they do not have any plans for Detroit in the near future but are always looking at new locations. That didn't sound very convincing. I even mentioned Campus Martius or the riverfront in my email.

The only restaurant I heard through the rumor mill for Kennedy Sq. was BD's Mongolian BBQ. I know there is talk of a PF Chang at Orchestra Place in Midtown, but that was probably consistent with there being an Ellington Loft development across the street which doesn't seem to be anymore??.

j/k...but really, where is the Ellington?

What is going on with the Ellington? I thought it was 60% pre-sold? It appears that construction has stopped. BTW, don't count Cheesecake Factory out Michi, you may be surprised at what appears downtown. The fact is, we are good enough for these kinds of developments now and our fine city is back from the dead. We have to get over this inferiority complex thinking Detroit can't attract major players because it is and will continue to.

Too bad they did not decide to renovate one of those glorious 1920's skyscrapers just sitting and waiting for developement.

I wish it would be called building and not TOWER, because it is only 10 stories, however, it will add more much needed density downtown. Here we go with the infamous Cheesecake Factory stuff again... :) I concur with the fact that Detroit should renovate its beloved vacant old buildings first and fill that office space in order for new stuff to possibly happen downtown! Detroit's got a considerable amount of them.

Too bad they did not decide to renovate one of those glorious 1920's skyscrapers just sitting and waiting for developement.

Well, there's only a few vacant skyscrapers left. One of them has plans for a $40 million renovation into lofts while the others are far too large and outdated for this type of development. Besides, it's always good to see an empty lot replaced by a new structure, even if it is only a ten story building.

And really, steel, why do you think Downtown has so many abandoned skyscrapers?

The only major ones are:
Broderick Tower - 34 floors
David Whitney Building - 21 floors
United Artists Theater Building - 18 floors
Detroit Free Press Building - 14 floors (While unused, it is not "rundown")
Lafayette Building - 14 floors

Broderick Tower is probably the closest to being renovated, however all but the UA Building has had a redevelopment proposal at one time or another. I'm sure that in the next decade or so all will be rehabilitated.

Is there a design yet?

Here it is:

http://www.detnews.com/pix/2005/05/15/business/b015-office-0505n_2.jpg

I've been in contact with firm that designed the building, and they informed me that this is just a preliminary design that will go through a few more changes, or refinements.

Too bad they did not decide to renovate one of those glorious 1920's skyscrapers just sitting and waiting for developement.Not necessarily. I understand what you mean, but with this kind of development, the demand will rise for reuse of the old skyscrapers if only for the reason that a new company is downtown with new workers, activity, stores, restaurants, etc...It's a spin-off effect and is good.

hudkina, I think steel just meant use of some of the underused ones...ie, Stott...which we all know could use tenants even though it is occupied.

Judging from previous statements he has made about Detroit, I don't think so.

Do you guys think if there were more new office towers going up that the older office towers be converted for residential use?

I'm sure a lot of them will be converted to residential, but I think most of the larger ones will remain commercial. But who knows. Even 1001 Woodward is converting a good portion of its office space into residential space. Maybe a more mixed-use approach is what we'll see with the upper floors being converted to residential and the lower floors remaining office space.

A new 2 story building is being erected in downtown Detroit, quick grab a camera, you might never see this again.

If 2 stories is the minimum there's actually several being erected in the downtown area. The YMCA, the PriceWaterHouseCooper Building, hell even the Au bon Pain building was a recent edition to our "skyline".;)

Kansan, there is a lot of construction going on in Downtown and Midtown Detroit. More than there has been in at least thirty years. These forums tend to skew all of the good stuff going on in the city because they are made of up people that are very deeply immersed in what is going on from day to day. To the outsider, and for someone who hasn't been there in let's say 5 years, the city will look completely different today. Be careful with the stereotypes, they're mostly bs.

10 storey it's a news :applause: Detroit it's not growing to fast, :drool: I'm very sorry to say this.:doh: