Five Downtown Detroit Buildings Add to Dan Gilbert’s Real Estate Portfolio

By Veronica Grecu, Associate Editor

Two weeks after completing the purchase of One Woodward Building—a 26-story Class A office tower at the corner of Woodward and Jefferson avenues in downtown Detroit—Dan Gilbert’s Rock Ventures announced five additional acquisitions that were brokered by the company’s real estate arm, Bedrock Real Estate Services.

With these newly acquired assets, which are also located on Woodward Avenue, Rock Ventures’ real estate investments in downtown Detroit account for 15 buildings totaling 2.6 million square feet of commercial space, as well as three garages with 3,500 parking spaces, according to a press statement from the company.

“It has been an exciting year of opportunity in Detroit,” said Dan Gilbert, founder and chairman of Rock Ventures and Quicken Loans, who added that the focus in 2013 will fall on residential, rail and retail properties.

Dan Gilbert’s investment spree in Detroit properties began in August 2010, when Quicken Loans moved its headquarters in the city’s Financial District and relocated 1,700 employees. To date, Gilbert’s portfolio of companies has moved more than 7,000 people to work in downtown Detroit.

The new acquisitions are:

–          1201 Woodward (known as the Kresge Building), a nine-story,  54,000-square-foot structure built in 1891 to house the former Kresge store. The building will be renovated to offer first floor retail space and office or residential space on the upper floors.

–          1217 Woodward, a five-story, 30,000-square-foot building located immediately north of the Kresge Building. After renovation, it will provide retail space on the ground floor and office or residential space on the remaining floors.

–          1412 Woodward, a vacant three-story asset that Rock Ventures plans to renovate to accommodate first floor retail and office space above.

–          1301 Broadway (or the Cary Building Lofts – pictured at right), a 20,000-square-foot structure built in 1906 on the west corner of Gratiot Avenue and Broadway Street. After extensive renovations, the building will feature residential space on the top for flours and retail space on the ground floor.

–          1521 Broadway (or the Small Plates Building), a five-story structure totaling 9,300 square feet on the west side of Broadway Street between John R and Witherell Street. The building features the Small Plates restaurant on the first floor and four residential loft apartments above.

 Image courtesy of Quicken Loans, Inc.