Rock Ventures, the real-estate arm of the Quicken Loans family of companies, is breaking ground this week on parking garage/retail development in downtown Detroit on what project organizers are calling the Z Lot.
The parking garage will replace two large surface parking lots on the block surrounded by Broadway and Library streets and East Grand River and Gratiot avenues. The two lots share an alleyway in the middle of the block, creating a Z-shape when combined and viewed from above.
The 9-story structure will measure in at 535,000 square feet. That includes space for 1,300 parking spaces and 33,000-square-feet of retail space on the ground floor.
"No matter what we do we will always do ground-floor retail," says Jim Ketai, managing partner with
Bedrock Real Estate Services, which is quarterbacking the project. "We feel it's important to create that sort of urban vitality."
The project will employ a contemporary design that camouflages the parking-deck portion of the building. "It's not just a parking deck," Ketai says. "We challenged out architects."
The parking space will accommodate the growing number of downtown Detroit-based workers for the Quicken Loans family of companies. Many workers are currently being shuttled from other not-so-nearby structures to the Quicken offices in the Compuware, First National, Chase and M@dison buildings. Rock Ventures also has the option to develop the former Hudson Building site nearby, but Ketai says the parking spaces will not be a part of any proposal to develop that site. Work on the parking structure is expected to wrap up by late next year.
Source: Jim Ketai, managing partner with Bedrock Real Estate Services
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.