I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw for myself the 680-foot tower going up on Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit—not too far from where, in 1920, blinked the country’s first, four-way, three-color traffic light. Next to it, already completed, was an adjoining 12-story building, into which General Motors will move its global headquarters in January. And whose lower three floors already house perhaps the most exciting new meeting space in the Midwest.
Together, the two buildings are called Hudson’s Detroit. The tall tower will be home to downtown’s first five-star hotel, 210 guest rooms flying the flag of the Marriott EDITION brand, in 2027, plus 97 luxury Residences at the EDITION. The event space is named The Department at Hudson’s. More on all this in a moment.
I used to live and work in downtown Detroit. Like a lot of urban America at the time, it was pretty bleak, apart from a few lively pockets like Greektown. On quiet streets, tawdry or empty storefronts rose to faded, if stately, facades that had formerly known thriving businesses and wonderful hotels. I wasn’t from there, but hardly a week would go by when someone wouldn’t tell me how great it had been.
Learn More: Notes From the Road: Detroit
And one of the glories of that bygone time was the J. L. Hudson Company department store, one of the great urban emporiums of America. That grand dame—for a time, it was the world’s tallest department store—was shuttered in 1983, its imposing landmark of a building demolished in 1998.
But that was then and now is now. Even The New York Times has proclaimed downtown Detroit great again. On my recent drive-by, the streets were pulsating with fresh activity. New restaurants. New retail. People on the streets. And, most impressively of all, so many of those ancient dinosaur buildings with good bones had been brought back to life, beautifully restored. Much of that is due to one man, Dan Gilbert, and his real estate investment company, Bedrock. A founder of what became Quicken Loans (now Rocket Mortgage), he’s the richest man in Michigan. His father owned a bar in Detroit.
Homage to a Detroit Legacy
Every longtime Detroiter of a certain age remembers Hudson’s for its cuddly Christmas Santa Bears, for the magic of shopping at the holidays. Take Mary Barra, for example, GM’s current CEO. At the Automotive News Congress, the trade publication’s annual industry event held at The Department in September, she recalled her mother taking her to the store’s children’s-only shop. “It was this really cool area smaller than this room, where you would go in—for me, it would be my $7, and I would be buying Christmas presents without my parents.”
Marriott is marketing and managing The Department, one of few instances in which it oversees meeting space but no hotel rooms (although the Detroit EDITION, which will have more than 16,000 sq. ft. of its own event space, will be steps away). Planners can earn Marriott Bonvoy Events points for their bookings.
Why did Marriott take this on?
“Like many people, I was a bit hesitant when the conversation first started,” admits Julius Robinson, Marriott chief operations officer for the western United States. “And that’s only because I hadn’t been to Detroit in a very long time. After just one visit, you find yourself rooting for this city. You want it to be successful. You want to see the renaissance come to full fruition.”
He also notes that of the nearly 6,000 hotel rooms surrounding this project, nearly half are Marriott branded, with a new downtown JW Marriott in addition to the Detroit EDITION on the way.
A Setting for ‘Flawless Execution’
And, of course, there were the exciting particulars of this from-the-ground-up development. The Department’s 15 meeting and breakout rooms (named to pay homage to the J. L. Hudson legacy) encompass 56,000 sq. ft. of fully customizable space which can host up to 2,000 guests—but that’s just the beginning.
Wrap-around covered terraces with heated flooring give sweeping views of downtown; advanced soundproofing and custom dividers between spaces allow for simultaneous events; a full suite of AV offerings designed by Theatre Projects, said to be the oldest continually operating theater, arts, and culture consultancy in the world, brings customizable, concert-level sound quality and the ability to stream events globally. A retractable seating system automatically places up to 336 leather seats in a variety of formats and then stores them again. Street-level load-in elevators can transport freight the size of a sport-utility vehicle—up to 16,000 pounds at a time. On-site commercial catering kitchens are managed by a leading Michigan special event design and catering firm.
“The building is built with flawless execution in mind,” Robinson says. “I characterize it as a meeting planner’s dream.” He predicts planners who typically only look at Chicago as a mid-American market will be impressed. “And then we’ve got a lot of East Coast corporations who would like to do something different.”
Trina Anthony, who’s lived all over in her Marriott career of 17 years and moved from Los Angeles to become director of sales and marketing for The Department, is thinking ever bigger. “I would put it toe-to-toe on a national basis. We just need to get the word out about how incredible this space is.”
I, for one, can’t wait to do a FAM tour.
