The Renaissance Center in Detroit will be saying farewell to its last remaining major office space tenant.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan plans to vacate Tower 500 of the RenCen starting this fall and relocate all 1,400-plus employees who work there to its other downtown buildings by year's end, the health insurer told the Free Press.
Tower 500 is one of a pair of shorter, 21-story towers that were built in the early 1980s next door to the original five-tower 1970s Renaissance Center complex. Blue Cross has been leasing most of Tower 500. The building's twin — Tower 600 — is mostly vacant.
Towers 500 and 600 are not part of General Motors' and Bedrocks' future $1.6 billion Renaissance Center redevelopment plan, which calls for demolishing two
of the original towers and converting the remaining three to a mix of housing, office and hotel use.
In an interview on Tuesday, July 28, Blue Cross spokesperson Meghan O'Brien described the health insurer's relocation from Tower 500 as a "workplace strategy decision." The employees will be reassigned to two nearby Blue Cross buildings: its Jefferson Building at 441 E. Jefferson or the Blue Cross headquarters at 600 E. Lafayette.
Blue Cross says it has about 6,000 employees in total in Detroit. They work a hybrid schedule and are required to be in the office between one to four days a week, depending on job title.
The coming move, O'Brien said, "allows us to make better use of our facilities while creating work environments that support collaboration, connection and flexibility."
"But just as important, it’s really key to note that this does not change our commitment to Detroit," she added. "Our employees will remain part of our downtown Detroit campus and we remain invested in the city and its future.”
There are few office tenants left in the Renaissance Center since GM moved its global headquarters in January to the gleaming new Hudson's Detroit development along Woodward in downtown. GM owns the original five RenCen towers.
Management and leasing for Tower 500 have been handled by Farmington Hills-based Friedman Real Estate. Executives with the real estate firm said at a public meeting two years ago that Tower 500 was fully occupied by Blue Cross under a 15-year lease.
The Blue Cross spokesperson declined comment Tuesday about the status of its lease for the tower, calling it a confidential matter.
A Friedman Real Estate representative couldn't be immediately reached for comment.
Blue Cross previously relocated employees from Tower 600 to Tower 500 in early 2024, following the sale of both towers by a New Jersey utility company. The buildings' manager has previously declined to publicly identify the owner of Tower 500.
Last year, an investor group led by a retired local doctor last year bought Tower 600. Dr. Mahmoud Al-Hadidi recently unveiled plans to redevelop the 21-story tower as a mix of office space, 200 hotel rooms, 86 mixed-income apartments and six for-sale condos.
Detroit City Council last week approved the $65 million project for various tax abatements and a future Brownfield tax capture.
Contact JC Reindl: 313-378-5460 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on X @jcreindl.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan plans to leave Renaissance Center
