• Bedrock said the final glass panel was installed on the 47th floor of the Hudson’s Detroit tower.
• Additional work, however, is ongoing on the 1.5-million square-foot development.

The final glass panel was installed on the Hudson’s Detroit tower exterior, the major downtown construction project, marking “the completion of the façade of the landmark development,” officials announced Tuesday.

Work is ongoing on the 1.5-million-square-foot development, according to its developer, Bedrock Detroit. 

The announcement is perhaps part of Bedrock’s promise to make news “in the near future,” after Downtown Development Authority officials questioned why the development has taken so long to finish the project.

The construction of the new development also has raised questions about what to do about Detroit’s Renaissance Center, which opened in 1976 and was aimed at revitalizing downtown Detroit, but has been described as “almost vacant.”

Bedrock, Dan Gilbert’s real estate firm, said during a late February development board meeting it hoped to finish the first of its two new side-by-side buildings at the Hudson’s site in Detroit by this spring, then the second one before year’s end.

The project is set to house hotel rooms and condos, both of which will be branded under the name EDITION — a luxury boutique partnership between Ian Schrager and Marriott International.

More: Detroit development officials told why it’s taking so long to finish Hudson’s site

The timeline Bedrock outlined seemed sufficient for the development board to grant a one-year extension to Bedrock’s Dec. 31, 2024, development agreement deadline for achieving “substantial completion” of the project.

The new deadline is Dec. 31 of this year.

General Motors, which has long occupied the RenCen, is leasing four floors in one of the project’s buildings and is expected to move in by late 2025 or early 2026.

In a separate Tuesday announcement, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said designating the RenCen as a “historic office building,” which some have urged, “would have killed any realistic hope of redevelopment.”

He was speaking about City Council members overwhelmingly voting 8-1 to deny the historic review on Tuesday.

The mayor added the city “can now move forward to explore all alternatives and develop the best solution for our city’s future.”

The Hudson project — a $1.4 billion development — is expected to include shops on the ground floor, with conference and events space directly above them, various offices, and a rooftop bar and restaurant.

Bedrock said the final glass panel, which ranges from 11 to 16 feet tall and weighs up to 2,200 pounds, was installed on the 47th floor of the tower. It took about 100,000 hours to install all the glass panels, and the tower’s façade now includes a total of 4,677 of them.

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.