Gilbert's $1 billion gift would put the Renaissance Center under a nonprofit and tear down two towers

The Renaissance Center is set to get a new kind of owner. Dan Gilbert is pledging about $1 billion to form a nonprofit that would own, operate and redevelop the complex and the 35 acres of east riverfront around it, Bedrock announced Monday.

The gift will not be repaid: the new organization will be set up as a 501(c)(4) social welfare nonprofit, and neither Gilbert nor his companies will take a profit from the project. Bedrock, his real estate company, will provide project management to the nonprofit at no cost, and once the district is built, any surplus revenue after operating expenses, debt payments and reserves goes to Detroiters and the community.

Bedrock CEO Jared Fleisher made the announcement Monday, and Gilbert did not attend, as he is in intensive rehabilitation from a stroke he had in 2019. "Dan will contribute $1 billion, and his contribution will never be repaid," Fleisher told the crowd.

The plan would demolish two of the towers, the 300 and 400 towers. The full development plan runs about $2.2 billion and covers the 35-acre east riverfront district, which today is mostly surface parking lots. At the heart of it is 18 acres of programmed public space, with concerts and splash pads in the summer and an ice skating rink and holiday celebrations in the winter, plus affordable housing and dedicated space for Detroit-based small businesses.

Bedrock projects more than 8,000 local construction jobs and 2,600 permanent jobs, 8 to 10 million visitors a year, and a direct fiscal benefit to the city of $301.5 million over 30 years.

General Motors owns the Renaissance Center today, and the complex has been largely vacant since the automaker moved its headquarters to the Hudson's Detroit building in January.

The nonprofit has no name yet, and the Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit Branch of the NAACP, will sit on its board of directors and recruit additional members, alongside Bill Emerson, whom the announcement identifies as the former CEO of Rocket Companies. Approvals are still ahead. The Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority approved the project's transformational brownfield tax incentive last week, City Council still has to give the green light on several elements of the plan, and the state has final sign-off on parts of the partnership.

Mayor Mary Sheffield called the announcement a turning point for the city, and said, "This was already the largest, most transformative investment ever pledged in Detroit and one of the largest ever in any American city."

Gilbert's own words came in the announcement. "The Renaissance Center is a symbol of Detroit, and the riverfront is one of Detroit's most treasured assets," he said.