GM selects Chicago-based developer for 13-acre River East project

General Motors has chosen Detroit River East Partners to develop its 13-acre River East Project on the riverfront east of the Renaissance center. Plans include space for commercial, residential, retail, office and entertainment.

DREP will finance and build the project. The company is the local development arm for Chicago-based Mesirow Stein Real Estate Inc. and Morningside Equities Group.

The property is bounded by Franklin to the north, Rivard to the east, the river and RiverWalk to the south and Beaubien to the west.

Gm chose the developers based on their previous experience with urban-style development and the fittingness of State Place, a similar project completed by the group on State St. in Chicago, says Conrad Schwartz, director of Renaissance Center Development.

Schwartz commented that if they could cut State Place off at its foundation and put it at the River East site, it would be perfect. One element of State Place that caught GM’s eye was that the condos where built in an urban setting with articulated heights and roof top decks.

Plans for the project have not yet been finalized. DREP has started due-diligence at River East and is expected to obtain necessary zoning designations within approximately six to eight months. A date for announcing specific development plans, and construction schedules, has not been determined.

Source: Conrad Schwartz, GM employee, director of Renaissance Center development