Excitement is growing inside General Motors that the company will move from its world headquarters at the Renaissance Center on the Detroit River to the new Hudson's Detroit building in Woodward – so much so that the company will now double the space it planned to occupy. new location, sources said.
GM confirmed to the Detroit Free Press on Monday that it plans to lease four floors of the Hudson building, rather than the original plan to occupy two floors, when it moves into the building late next year or early 2026.
“It's good news that we're taking more space in our staff building,” a person familiar with the plans told the Free Press. The person asked not to be named because they are not authorized to share this information publicly. “There's a lot of excitement all around and a lot of people and groups have put their hands up and said they want to be there.”
Hudson's $1.4 billion project is a combination of two new buildings: A 49-story building and a 12-story “office block.” A total of 1.5 million square meters is planned. The developer is Dan Gilbert's real estate company Bedrock.
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A person familiar with the project said plans call for a restaurant on the top floor of the office. GM will now occupy floors 8 to 11. The new global headquarters at the Hudson site will be home to key employees of GM's subsidiary companies with functions such as communications and accounting, as well as senior executives, the person said. GM employees have been working under a hybrid system since the beginning of this year that requires them to be in the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
As the Detroit Free Press reported in April, the Hudson skyscraper is slated to include a 210-room ultraluxury Edition hotel and about 97 condominiums and apartments. Real estate brochures show that each floor in the neighboring office tower has less than 50,000 square feet of rentable space. That means, based on a typical office space allocation, a 50,000-square-foot office can fit about 285 to 300 people if it allows 150-175 square feet per person, according to Zippia.com. The number can vary depending on the shape of the office, the desired density and any public areas such as meeting rooms included in the space.
GM spokesman Kevin Kelly confirmed GM's expansion up to four stories, but declined to say how many GM employees will be given the building or other details. In Michigan, GM employs 51,400 people, Kelly said.
