DETROIT — Bedrock Real Estate Services announced today that it has purchased the Detroit Media Partnership building at 615 W. Lafayette, home of the city’s two major news organizations, the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News. The building and an adjacent parking garage and two surface lots are included.
No future use for the building or parking areas was announced. No price was announced. Bedrock is the real estate arm of Quicken Loans founder and Chairman Dan Gilbert’s family of companies.
Joyce Jenereaux, president of the DMP and Free Press, said: “Dan Gilbert and his team are putting forth tremendous effort to rebuild and revitalize our beloved city, and we are thrilled that Bedrock will be the new owner of our building. It is very comforting to know that this property will be part of Detroit’s comeback after serving the city so powerfully all of these years.”
The 404,000-square-foot building was constructed in 1917 and designed by famed architect Albert Kahn.
Advertisement
Article continues below this ad
“The Detroit Media Partnership building is a historic gem that has been a fixture in downtown Detroit for nearly a century,” said Jim Ketai, Bedrock’s CEO and Managing Partner. “We take great pride in breathing new life into Detroit’s historic buildings and look forward to transforming the DMP building to provide forward thinking, growth-oriented companies a new place to call home.”
Bedrock will oversee the redevelopment, management and leasing of the properties. Bedrock and its affiliates now own, control or manage more than 60 properties in Detroit’s urban core, totaling more than 9 million square feet of space.
The Detroit Media Partnership recently announced that it will move its headquarters and 550 employees of the partnership and both newsrooms into the Federal Reserve Building, located at 160 W. Fort Street in October. Bedrock owns and manages the Federal Reserve Building, which it acquired in 2012. The DMP is the business agent for the Free Press and the News.
