DETROIT | Hudson's Detroit | 685 FT & 240 FT | 49 & 14 FLOORS

[NYguy]

Don't usually get many proposals from Detroit, so this would be great....



http://www.freep.com/article/2013112...S06/311250097/

Gilbert hopes to recapture Hudson's magic with new iconic Woodward structure







TO MARK its 75th anniversary the J. L. Hudson Co. rigged up a horse-drawn delivery wagon used long ago. Soon streetcars will also disappear.


By John Gallagher
November 25, 2013

Billionaire Dan Gilbert, author of major changes in downtown Detroit, hired an architectural dream team to design an iconic new structure on the Hudson’s site in hopes of recapturing energy on that part of Woodward from decades ago when it teemed with pedestrians, holiday shoppers and commercial life.

Gilbert, chairman and founder of Rock Ventures, said the project “is an opportunity of a lifetime, and we are committed to getting it right. ... Our goal is that this project will become not only a symbol of Detroit’s past and present, but more importantly, highlight the high-tech potential, creative future of opportunities for Detroiters and visitors from around the world.”

Jeff Cohen, founder of Rock Companies, part of Gilbert’s business network, said New York-based SHoP architects will spend the next several months brainstorming how to achieve the biggest impact for the city.

“We told these folks that they had a white canvas,” he said. “We didn’t want them predisposed to anything.”

The possibilities are almost endless — a soaring modernist tower to rival the Renaissance Center as Detroit’s postcard image. Or something closer to the ground, like SHoP’s low-rise, swirling and innovative Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn. Or something like their work on the glass-and-steel Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. The footprint is big enough that the only limits height-wise would be human engineering.

Certainly the building will include residences and most likely commercial space. But Cohen said everything else is open — including the question of public space like plazas or an auditorium, or whether General Motors, Ford Motor and other big Detroit names will participate in the planning.

Of key importance is to capture or recapture a sense of street-level excitement. The Hudson’s store and its stretch of Woodward Avenue used to draw tens of thousands of visitors at peak times. Visiting Santa Claus in the downtown Hudson’s was a rite of passage.

Gregg Pasquarelli, a principal with SHoP, said the design team was excited to be working on such an open-ended project.

“When you’ve got a city that’s going through some really interesting times, and you’ve got an open program, and you’ve got a fantastic client, that’s the best combination you can have,” he said.

The former Hudson's store property between State Street and Grand River in downtown Detroit is owned by Dan Gilbert's Rock Ventures. Jessica J. Trevino/Detroit Free Press

[NYguy]

Some concepts from an earlier competition...


http://hudsons.opportunitydetroit.com/

Redesigning Detroit: A New Vision for an Iconic Site



• Video Link

As part of the Opportunity Detroit campaign, we invited Detroiters and citizens of the world to imagine the possibilities for one of downtown Detroit’s long-vacant, most significant pieces of real estate:
the site of the old Hudson’s Department Store.

The creative and architectural communities were invited to give us their ideas for what could be built on the site through the Redesigning Detroit: A New Vision for an Iconic Site competition.

More than 1,000 people from around the globe registered, and nearly 200 of them submitted ideas. The enthusiasm from Detroiters and Detroiters at-heart shows Opportunity Detroit is REAL.
Many designs were submitted from southeast Michigan. In total 23 states and 22 other countries were represented.

After spending several hours observing and critiquing nearly 200 inspiring designs for the historic Hudson’s site, the judges and the community have spoken.

A panel of five distinguished architects and urban planning experts from across the country judged the entries. The “Redesigning Detroit” juried competition awarded $15,000 for first place,
$5,000 for second place and $2,500 for third place. The winners are:

http://hudsons.opportunitydetroit.com/entries/

[scalziand]

Just a reminder that when the Hudson store was demolished, it was the largest building ever to be imploded.

• Video Link

[JayPro]

I'm seriously wondering aloud right now how hard Detroit needs to work from essentially turning into the largest ghost town on the planet before erecting anything that looks like Libeskind's WTC1 in the middle of a Depression-era skyline...an apropos analogy for how depressed that town has bee since the domestic auto collapse.
Hell...even Ren Ctr. is *still* out of place there, apropos of nothing.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by JayPro

I'm seriously wondering aloud right now how hard Detroit needs to work from essentially turning into the largest ghost town on the planet before erecting anything that looks like Libeskind's WTC1 in the middle of a Depression-era skyline....

Detroit faces major, major challenges. But I feel we need to save our cities, not write more of them off. If something positive can be done, then I'm all for it. There is enough negativity working against it as it is.

That being said, we still don't know what SHoP will come up with.

Billionaire Dan Gilbert, author of major changes in downtown Detroit, hired an architectural dream team to design an iconic new structure on the Hudson’s site...

Gilbert, chairman and founder of Rock Ventures, said the project “is an opportunity of a lifetime, and we are committed to getting it right...”

Jeff Cohen, founder of Rock Companies, part of Gilbert’s business network, said New York-based SHoP architects will spend the next several months brainstorming how to achieve the biggest impact for the city.

“We told these folks that they had a white canvas,” he said. “We didn’t want them predisposed to anything".

We'll see what they come up with, as a first step. But I'm for it whatever it is because that city is so beaten down already, almost anything would be welcome news.




http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...sign-mixed-use

Rock Ventures picks New York architects to design mixed-use development on Hudson's site





By Sherri Welch
November 25, 2013

Rock Ventures LLC has named New York-based Shop Architects PC to lead the design process for a mixed-use development at the former Hudson's site in Detroit's Central Business District.

Shop Architects will work with Detroit-based Hamilton Anderson Associates to create a development for the 2-acre Woodward Avenue site bordered by Gratiot, Grand River and Library Street, Rock said in a news release. Rock Ventures' investment in the project will be determined once the programming and design are finalized, and the timetable for the project will hinge on the company securing the necessary financing, said Carolyn Artman, senior public relations manager for Rock Ventures, in an email.

Constructed as an eight-story building in 1891, Hudson's Department Store was an iconic fixture in downtown Detroit and a shopping destination for millions for nearly a century. It expanded to 25 stories and 2.2 million square feet before closing in 1983 and being imploded in 1998.

Shop Architects and Hamilton Anderson will be charged with designing a development for the site that honors Detroit's architectural legacy and complements its recently renovated and newer buildings, said Jeff Cohen, founder of Rock Companies LLC, a member of the Rock Ventures family of companies.

In the coming month, the two architectural firms will meet with local stakeholders to discuss programming and design concepts, Rock said in the news release. They plan to host, early next year, a lecture series for the community to learn more about their firms, the Hudson's site and what it will take to get a project of this magnitude underway.

..."Designing a signature architectural project from the ground up in downtown Detroit — or any great city — is an opportunity of a lifetime, and we are committed to getting it right," said Dan Gilbert, chairman and founder of Rock Ventures.

In March Rock hosted a competition to solicit ideas for potential uses from architects, designers, planners, artists and the public. The contest attracted more than 200 entries from around the world. In June, Rock awarded $15,000 to a team from Rome, Italy that came up with a concept for "Minicity Detroit."

[NYguy]

A few more images of the site...


http://www.archdaily.com/452116/shop...ntown-detroit/











Aerial view of Detroit with former Hudson’s site visible at left center.

[Steely Dan]

that would be a fantastic hole in the downtown fabric to fill with iconic architecture! very interesting.......

[mousquet]

^ I was thinking the same, curious about what they're going to build there. Most what they spared of the surrounding fabric is still lovely. They must do something ambitious enough right there. I'm just noting more and more redevelopment is planned over there anyway, just as anybody should've been expecting. Overly done denigration or pessimism has been as idiotic as boring for too long.

[animatedmartian]

Originally Posted by JayPro

I'm seriously wondering aloud right now how hard Detroit needs to work from essentially turning into the largest ghost town on the planet before erecting anything that looks like Libeskind's WTC1 in the middle of a Depression-era skyline...an apropos analogy for how depressed that town has bee since the domestic auto collapse.
Hell...even Ren Ctr. is *still* out of place there, apropos of nothing.

There's not so much obstacles in the problems themselves but rather the perseverance (or previously lack thereof) to find sustainable solutions to them. I think a good number of Detroiters feel the city needs a great investment to show the world the city isn't as devastated as news headlines would lead you to believe. Sure, the city has lost a great deal of wealth and population, but it's really not that hard to rebuild cities unless there's a lack of will to do it.

An iconic high rise in the middle of downtown won't get rid of the problems the city faces, but at least it'll change how people think of the city. Better than the RenCen in the 70s, this new icon will likely build on what's already occurring within the area, unbeknownst to quite many, actually.

• Video Link

• Video Link

• Video Link

[NYguy]

http://shoparc.com/mediaitems/all

MOTOWN tunes at SHoP in honor of our Detroit project's First Thursday presentation

The cousins at the Detroit Hudson's site!

[Onn]

Hope they put something good there! This site has been there forever (at least 14 years), driven by it like 50 times. I could never understand why they just left the columns sticking out of the ground like that.

[scalziand]

I doubt those are the columns from the original Hudsons building, since they would have been quite damaged in the implosion. I'm guessing that they built the parking garage there with the columns sticking out so it would be easy to build something on top of it when the time comes.

[LMich]

I don't think Onn thought they were left from the old building. Rather, until he found out their purpose, he always wondered what the point of them was. And, yeah, these aren't the original columns. They were specifically built to help facilitate development atop the underground garage, which, while it uses some of the original retaining walls of the department stores basements, it a mostly new construction, itself.

BTW, what are SHoP's "First Thursdays"? Is this important to this project?

[Onn]

Originally Posted by LMich

I don't think Onn thought they were left from the old building. Rather, until he found out their purpose, he always wondered what the point of them was. And, yeah, these aren't the original columns. They were specifically built to help facilitate development atop the underground garage, which, while it uses some of the original retaining walls of the department stores basements, it a mostly new construction, itself.

Right, right! That's what I meant yes! I knew there was a newer garage underneath, but I could never understand why they didn't build anything on top. This project is long overdue.

[animatedmartian]

Gilbert has not forgotten about the Hudson's site despite still making a lot of moves in other parts of Downtown.

Sometime in the next few months, he expects to announce a plan for the site of old Hudson's department store on Woodward. "We definitely plan on building a special type of building. We keep going back and forth on just what," Gilbert said.

It will not be a Quicken headquarters, he added, saying he's very happy with the campus-like feel of owning or occupying a number of buildings around Campus Martius, where his Bedrock Real Estate partnered with Meridian Health to buy the former Compuware building in a deal completed in January.

http://www.freep.com/story/money/bus...bert/24158393/

[BVictor1]

I remember when the implosion happened and I'm as disgusted 17 years later. I remember going to the Hudson's warehouse sale with my grandmother back in the early 90's, I just can't remember if it was in the old store or somewhere else downtown. I have noticed more activity downtown recently as the stadiums and Greektown Casino have helped to draw people. I hope whatever is built on the site is sweeping and soaring. Nothing has punctuated the skyline since Comerica Tower.

[Busy Bee]

^agreed. What a waste.

[animatedmartian]

Gilbert's vision for Hudson's site: One-of-a-kind building
By John Gallagher, Detroit Free Press. March 4, 2015.

In terms of architectural significance, the building that Gilbert plans at the old Hudson's store could rival or exceed anything built in Detroit since the Renaissance Center in the 1970s.


Businessman Dan Gilbert plans to reinvent the now-vacant Hudson's site in downtown Detroit with a uniquely designed building meant to attract attention around the world.

Just how ambitious those plans are can be glimpsed in what an early design for the site shows — a cutting edge glass-and-ceramic design, including a facade that could open in the summer, and a combination of retail, residential and other uses.

Matt Cullen, president and CEO of Gilbert's Rock Ventures, confirmed the images shown in an architecture lecture last month by Gilbert's architects reflect some concepts they like but not a final design.

"I will say that's not the current design," Cullen said. "We're at a stage where we're trying to determine what we're going to build there. ... I can't tell you exactly what we're doing. We're refining it, and we're getting smarter. It will be retail. It will be mixed use, and those are not new factoids."

The general architectural vision is being refined by New York-based SHoP architects, a firm hired by Gilbert in late 2013 to work on the Hudson's site. Gregg Pasquarelli, a principal in the firm, presented the preliminary plans in February during a lecture at the Southern California Institute of Architecture.

.....

But Cullen emphasized that there is no final programming for what the building would contain, no budget, and no timetable. He said Gilbert's team could make some final choices by the end of this year.

Last week, when asked about the site, Gilbert said, "We definitely plan on building on the Hudson's site, a special type of building. ... We're looking at designs. We keep going back and forth. We keep debating."
....

In his Feb. 11 lecture in California, Pasquarelli said the project had just gotten the go-ahead from his client to move ahead from conceptual images to more detailed design plans.

But Cullen said that the design has changed in significant ways since Pasquarelli gave his lecture. For example, he said the current thinking no longer includes a trio of museums that Pasquarelli discussed. Also, Cullen said that residential has been added and that issues such as how the building's retail storefronts would interact with Woodward Avenue still need to be hammered out.

...

Screencaps from the linked video in the news article.

[MolsonExport]

Some fascinating visions posted in this thread. I sure hope that Detroit can revitalize while saving as many of the old buildings from the glory days as possible.

[NYguy]

Looks like a new landmark for Detroit...