How Detroit is converting old downtown office buildings into lofts, hotels

In downtown Detroit, old office buildings remain the new frontier for housing and hotel developments.

At least five office-to-housing or office-to-hotel conversion projects are under construction this spring, promising nearly 300 apartments, over 100 hotel rooms and multiple food and beverage spots. Meanwhile, four more projects could be on the horizon.

News about two of the future projects emerged in April: a possible partial conversion of one of the smaller Renaissance Center office towers to residential lofts, and a possible full conversion of the long-empty Executive Plaza office complex at 1200 Sixth St. into the future “Wayne Tower,” complete with 450 apartments and a hotel.

This growing lineup of conversion projects underscores how the downtown Detroit of the future, once envisioned as a “live, work, play” destination, is leaning more toward “live” and “play” in the post-pandemic era.

“We are transitioning from what was traditionally a central business district to something that I’d like to consider more of a central connectivity district,” said Eric Larson, CEO of the Downtown Detroit Partnership. “The public spaces, the quality of life, the food and beverage, the nightlife and entertainment and sports all are driving more residential and hospitality — and that bodes very well for these conversions.”

Here are details on the conversions that are underway and the projects that could come next.

Harvard Square conversion

Bedrock is busy converting the 12-story Harvard Square Centre building, 1346 Broadway St., into a 42-unit apartment building that will be called The Belle. A spokesperson said construction crews are on pace to finish by the project’s previously announced spring 2026 completion date.

The building opened in 1926 and has been mostly vacant since the late 1990s, although it did host the Paris Bar on its first floor until a decade ago. Bedrock bought the building eight years ago from prominent Detroit landlord Dennis Kefallinos.

The project is converting floors 2 through 10 into mixed-income apartments and keeping the ground floor as retail space. Twenty percent of the units are to be set aside as affordable at below-market rents.

Reckmeyer redevelopment

Next door, work is underway on a hybrid conversion/new construction project that will create 80 new apartments along three existing storefronts at 1322 to 1336 Broadway.

This project, by Detroit-based developer Basco, will incorporate two of the historic storefront facades and build a new nine-story building behind the facades.

One of those facades is believed to date to the late 1800s when it was originally known as the Reckmeyer Building and housed a fur clothing business. The other historic facade is from 1914 and was once an office and factory for the old MacDiarmid Candy Co.

A Basco representative said they are still aiming for a mid-2026 completion.

Merchants Building hotel

A redevelopment plan to turn the nine-story Merchants Building, 206 E. Grand River, into a 100-plus room hotel received some city approvals two years ago and workmen have been spotted at the site. The building dates to 1921 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The specific brand of hotel has not been announced, and the status of the conversion was unclear last week. The project’s developer, Detroit-based Method Development, did not respond to inquiries.

1133 Griswold coming along

The conversion of a seven-story former office building at 1133 Griswold near Capitol Park and the Prime + Proper restaurant into 25 apartments is coming along and on pace to finish by the end of the year, according to developer Richard Karp of RKP Group.

The Albert Kahn-designed building dates to the early 1920s and originally housed the United Savings Bank of Detroit. In 1971, the building’s early limestone cladding was taken down and a pink granite exterior — since removed — was installed.

The conversion work began in 2023 and is adding four new floors to the original building, bringing the total to 11 floors.

United Artists Theatre conversion

A project to convert an empty 18-story office tower at 150 Bagley into 148 mixed-income apartments —  the Residences @150 Bagley — has been underway since spring 2022 and is now said to be over 85% completed.

The building is from 1928 and was once attached to the United Artists Theatre, before that abandoned movie theater was demolished several years ago. The $85.1 million office-to-housing conversion project has faced rising costs as well as a work stoppage in December, but it was recently approved for a bigger Downtown Development Authority loan to help get the work back on track.

While the property is owned by the Ilitch organization, a local development team that includes developers Emmett Moten Jr. and Richard Hosey is doing the conversion project. A small chain of southern comfort food restaurants, Kitchen and Kocktails, is said to have plans to open in the building once it is ready.

Future Fox Theatre office building conversion

Looking ahead, a future office-to-hotel conversion is planned for the 10-story Fox Theatre office building at 2211 Woodward. That project, part of the $1.5 billion District Detroit megadevelopment approved in 2023, calls for transforming the building into a 177-room hotel.

Construction on the project was once expected to begin in the second quarter of 2026, although the current timeline is unclear. The brand of hotel also hasn’t been announced.

Future RenCen Tower 600 conversion?

Most are familiar with the five original Renaissance Center towers that date to 1977. But there also was a second phase to the RenCen, one that built two additional, smaller 21-story towers on the east side of the riverfront property.

One of those little siblings — Tower 600 — was purchased at auction this spring for over $9.2 million by an investor group, Stockbridge Enterprises, led by a local doctor.

More: How downtown Detroit went from an office space shortage to a glut

Dr. Mahmoud Al-Hadidi made headlines in April when he revealed a vision to convert a portion of the mostly empty office tower to apartments. The group is still deciding how many apartments it might put in there.

Future conversion of original RenCen towers?

The original Renaissance Center complex has been pitched for what would be the mother of all conversion projects in downtown.

The property’s owner, General Motors, is collaborating with Bedrock on a $1.6 billion proposal that would demolish two of the four 39-story office towers to build park space, convert one of the other office towers to residential and keep the remaining office tower as office.

The fifth tower — the 73-floor Marriott hotel in the center — would have its upper floors converted to residential while the other floors stay hotel rooms.

The redevelopment plan was revealed last fall, but has been on hold this year amid discussions in Lansing over possible public support.

Future Executive Plaza conversion?

An empty office complex at 1200 Sixth St. near the edge of downtown, known as the Executive Plaza, could be a popular residential address in the future.

The complex consists of two building built in the 1960s and 1970s, the tallest being a 22-story black tower. It is across from the downtown Greyhound bus station. The complex has been empty for about 20 years, since the state of Michigan moved its offices from there to New Center.

The property is currently in receivership, but Southfield-based Blackacre Management has a pending $5 million deal to buy the buildings and some nearby parking lots. Blackacre hasn’t publicly announced its future plans, although a company website describes the site as the future “Wayne Tower” with 450 apartments, plus a hotel component.

Contact JC Reindl: 313-378-5460 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on X @jcreindl

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How Detroit is converting downtown office buildings into lofts, hotels