18-04-2025
Renaissance Center Tower 600 auction winner wants to add big apartments
Ready for some Renaissance Center lofts?
An investor group led by a metro Detroit doctor has bought one of the two smaller Renaissance Center towers in downtown Detroit, and plans to convert some of the 21-story office building into big apartments.
Dr. Mahmoud Al-Hadidi, a pulmonologist, said Friday that his investor group, Stockbridge Enterprises, placed the winning $9.2 million bid last month for Tower 600, one of a pair of shorter towers to the east of the original five-tower 1970s RenCen complex that aren't owned by General Motors.
Al-Hadidi said the sale closed Thursday and the final price was a bit higher than their auction bid because of closing costs and other fees.
Tower 600 is mostly empty and its previously owner was a different group of investors, one whose majority owner was said to be Irvine, California-based, F&F Capital Group. News of the finalized sale was first reported by Crain's Detroit.
"We believe in Detroit, we like the location," Al-Hadidi said in a phone interview Friday morning. "The view is spectacular and what possibly is coming on the RiverWalk is amazing. So we see the value there.'
He said his group is still determining its plans for Tower 600, but is looking to move Stockbridge Enterprise's Michigan office there from its current location in Warren and it may convert a portion of the tower into apartments.
"Most of it will stay as office building,' Al-Hadidi said. "And we are planning to make a few high-end apartments — large apartments, not small apartments.'
How many apartments hasn't been decided, he said, and their timeline for completing the project is "a couple years, at least.'
"We just closed so we are evaluating the situation," he said.
The Tower 600 sale comes at time when the future of the original Renaissance Center complex is in flux.
GM has partnered with Dan Gilbert's Bedrock real estate firm for a proposed $1.6 billion RenCen redevelopment plan that would demolish two of the five towers and the labyrinthine "podium," then rehab the remaining three towers as a mix of housing, hotel and office use.
More: How GM and Bedrock would demolish 2 RenCen towers on Detroit's riverfront
Asked his thoughts on the GM-Bedrock proposal, Al-Hadidi said, 'If it happens, it's great. If it doesn't happen, it's still OK.'
Al-Hadidi said Stockbridge Enterprises owns various properties in Michigan, Illinois, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. The firm has multiple investors and he is its chief executive. He said Tower 600 isn't the largest building that they have bought, although he declined to say which property in their portfolio is.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan was a Tower 600 tenant until early 2024, when the health insurer moved its workers to Tower 500, where it now leases most of the building.
The website for last month's online auction put Tower 600 as having 334,000 square feet and being just 11% occupied. Its tenants, as of earlier this year, included Great Expressions Dental Center, the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy and the Canadian Consulate.
Towers 600 and 500 opened in 1981 as the second phase of the Renaissance Center development. Prior to the auction, the pair had last changed hands in late 2023, when they were sold by a New Jersey utility company.
Farmington Hills-based Friedman Real Estate has managed the two towers and was a minority owner in Tower 600. The firm couldn't immediately be reached for comment Friday morning about the recent sale.
Contact JC Reindl: 313-378-5460 or jcreindl@ Follow him on X @jcreindl
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Renaissance Center Tower 600 auction winner wants to add apartments
