On June 11, 2010, the City of Detroit, Michigan announced that it would acquire the former MGM Grand Detroit temporary casino building (originally the IRS Data Center) for $6.23 million, in order to repurpose it as their new police headquarters complex. The renovated building also houses the crime lab operated by the Michigan State Police, as well as the Detroit Fire Department headquarters.
Now, the historic former police headquarters building in Detroit’s Greektown neighborhood, designed by famed architect Albert Kahn, is about to be redeveloped by Dan Gilbert‘s Bedrock company, in partnership with Pike Pointe Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of Syncora Guarantee Inc.
While plans and programming for the approximately 240,000 square-foot building are still taking shape, and a development timeline for the site has yet to be finalized, the partners are committed to preserving the historic nature of this architectural gem.
Detroit-based Bedrock specializes in acquiring, renovating, leasing, financing, and managing commercial and residential buildings. Since its founding in 2011, Bedrock and its affiliates have committed more than $5.6 billion in acquiring and developing more than 100 properties in downtown Detroit and Cleveland totaling more than 16 million square feet. Bedrock’s real estate portfolio now consists of more than 330 office and retail tenants in Detroit’s technology-centric downtown.
“We are excited to work with Syncora to revive a priceless piece of Detroit architecture,” said Bedrock CEO Jim Ketai. “Greektown and its neighboring districts have experienced tremendous growth and have several new transformative developments coming out of the ground in the near future, making this the perfect opportunity to begin this building’s next chapter.”
Ground was broken on 1300 Beaubien in late 1921 and the Detroit Police Department’s traffic unit was the first to set up shop there on December 22, 1922. DPD vacated 1300 Beaubien and moved into the Detroit Public Safety Headquarters at the intersection of Third Avenue and Howard Street on June 28, 2013. The building has sat vacant since then.
“We are pleased to be able to steward the next phase of this iconic building through our partnership with Bedrock,” said Mary Jane Constant, Managing Director of Pike Pointe. “This building holds an important role in the city’s history and we are excited to have Bedrock’s commitment and expertise to guide its redevelopment.”
Featured photo of former Detroit Police Headquarters by Mike Russell via Wikipedia.