The General Motors World Headquarters is shown June 12, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan.
Bill Pugliano | Getty Images
General Motors is moving its headquarters deeper into downtown Detroit after spending more than 20 years in its riverfront home at the Renaissance Center, a person familiar with the matter said on Monday.
A GM spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment, but the U.S. automaker has scheduled a press conference at 4:30 p.m. EDT with CEO Mary Barra and Dan Gilbert, an owner of property in downtown Detroit. Gilbert also owns the Cleveland Cavaliers team of the National Basketball Association.
The Michigan automaker will now place its global headquarters a few blocks away from the so-called RenCen, in a sleek new high-rise building called Hudson’s, which will be the second-tallest skyscraper in Detroit.
GM remains the only member of the Detroit Three automakers to have its headquarters in the Motor City. Ford Motor‘s home base is nearby in Dearborn, Michigan, and Chrysler parent Stellantis has its main North American office in Auburn Hills, Michigan, about 30 miles outside of Detroit.
Ford is in the process of rehabilitating Michigan Central Station in downtown Detroit — the city’s historic but dilapidated former rail station — to be a large hub for tech workers and software engineers.
The GM headquarters — with its glowing logo pasted atop one of the towers — has become an important part of Detroit’s skyline since the automaker purchased the property in 1996. The move to this location was “a milestone that helped spark a downtown renaissance,” the company says on its website.
GM and real estate firm Bedrock, which is led by Gilbert, plan to study how to redevelop GM’s Renaissance Center headquarters, the Associated Press reported earlier on Monday, citing a person briefed on the plan.
When the automaker allowed remote work during the pandemic, Barra fielded questions about whether GM would remain on the riverfront.
The company has since instituted a policy where workers are asked to come to the office three days per week.
GM also has a technical center in Warren, Michigan, that is the home base for many of its workers.
