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Detroit will soar to new heights in 2022 when a 244-metre-tall skyscraper opens on the site of what was the tallest department store in the world. A groundbreaking ceremony for the tallest building in Michigan was held last week, with Governor Rick Snyder, Mayor Mike Duggan and Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert jointly celebrating the momentous occasion.
Widely seen as a symbol of Detroit's renaissance, the 58-storey tower is the brainchild of Gilbert's Bedrock development company, which has retained the services of New York-based SHoP Architects and Detroit's Hamilton Anderson Associates. The project implants a new vision for a storied property previously home to the 25-floor Hudson's department store, which was closed in the early 1980s and imploded in spectacular fashion in 1998.
Updated renderings for the scheme outline some changes to the overall design, which now features a more rectangular composition, compared to the swooping curves of the original plan. The $900 million development packs the tower floor plates with 300 residential units and an observation deck at the summit. An additional 12-storey mixed-use building will host a large market, with other retail and civic spaces meeting the street.
"The building is conceived around a huge and inspiring new public space, a year-round civic square that, both in its architecture and its culture, will foster and convey the feeling we all share when we work together to imagine what this great city can become," said William Sharples, principal at SHoP Architects.
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