Dive Brief:
- General contractor Barton Malow has shared details about the construction timeline and design for Quicken Loans billionaire Dan Gilbert's $909 million downtown Detroit tower, according to Crain's Detroit Business.
- The residential high-rise will include an 800-foot-plus-tall residential tower — pegged to be the tallest building in Detroit — and a second mid-rise, mixed-use building that will feature a public skydeck in addition to retail, office and event space. The new development will also include a street-level market, 93,000 square feet of exhibit space and a 700-car underground parking garage.
- Barton Malow said demolition and preliminary site work will begin by the end of this year or in early 2018, with completion scheduled for the summer of 2022.
Dive Insight:
Over the past year, Dan Gilbert has been making waves in his vision to transform downtown Detroit.
In September, Gilbert's development company Bedrock updated the building's 5-year-old plans for the development. The move increased the estimated cost by $125 million, raised the main structure's height by 65 feet and replaced the one-building design with two buildings connected by a walkway.
Plans for another Gilbert-led downtown Detroit development, a $1 billion soccer stadium complex, also saw a significant shift earlier this month when it was announced that the Ford family would join Gilbert's and Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores' bid for a Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise. If Detroit were to secure the MLS bid, the Fords have offered up Ford Field to house the new team.
The proposal upends Gilbert's previous plans to build a new soccer stadium and associated mixed-use development on the site of a stalled jail project in downtown Detroit — a deal that Gilbert and Wayne County were reportedly close to making.
The Fords' addition to the franchise application is considered a solid move, though, as the family has a long history in professional sports, as do Gilbert and Gores. Still, the MLS has stated a preference for franchisees to play in new, soccer-specific stadiums.
According to Len Moser, vice president at Barton Malow Company, soccer stadiums have special design features that set them apart from other sports facility projects. For many stadiums, that can mean standing-only sections, narrow sideline space that allows fans to sit closer to the team, and aluminum seating and cantilevered roof overhangs that amplify vibration and noise during the match. Together, those features help create a more intense, intimate fan experience on game day, and could explain the MLS' inclination for its teams to play in such venues.
