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In 1998, Detroit's 29-storey J. L. Hudson Department Store became the tallest and largest building ever imploded. The spectacular scene followed a barrage of controversy — the elegant building, designed in the Chicago School style of architecture, had prominently served as a staple of downtown retail from 1911 until its closure in 1983. Despite calls to save what had been the tallest department store in the world and the second largest after Macy's Herald Square in New York City, its fate was sadly sealed just one week before Halloween. Since then, 1206 Woodward Avenue has worn out its welcome as a four-level underground parking garage, leaving a considerable gap in the Detroit cityscape. But plans by billionaire businessman Dan Gilbert would pump new life into the storied site with a striking building designed by SHoP Architects and Hamilton Anderson Associates.
Back in 2013 the Gilbert-owned Rock Ventures purchased the two-acre site, which currently benefits from a Renaissance Zone designation designed to spur redevelopment. Expiring in 2026, that classification bestows generous state and local tax reprieves on the property. The exact height and massing of the replacement building has yet to be publicly shared, though some sources indicate that a 60-storey edifice could be slated for the site. If built to that scale, the project would easily become one of the tallest buildings in Detroit, sharing the skies with the 73-floor Renaissance Center.
A lone image of the potential development — showing a billowing metallic roof supported by glass walls — was released in 2015 along with some preliminary details about the yet-to-be-finalized project. It would include 225,000 square feet of retail, commercial, and community gathering space plus 250 apartments, some of which could be targeted as affordable units. Gilbert is hoping that construction will begin in early 2017 with the building largely completed three years later.
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