Bedrock Buys 'The Icon' Along Detroit's Riverfront

DETROIT — Bedrock, Detroit’s largest real estate developer purchased the former UAW-GM training center along Detroit's Riverfront, the company said Wednesday in a news release.

The purchase will add more than 18 acres and 880 parking spaces to Bedrock’s growing downtown portfolio, as Bedrock continues expansing from the Central Business District to the East Riverfront, the news release said.

Kofi Bonner, CEO of Bedrock said Detroit’s riverfront was one of the things that captured his imagination and inspired him to locate in Detroit.

"The adjacency of the area to the Central Business District and the eastern neighborhoods provide a unique opportunity to connect the vibrancy of the downtown core to the vitality of the riverfront communities," Bonner said. "Bedrock can build on this legacy to provide a more robust environment with improved sustainable infrastructure, parks and mixed-use developments, fueled by people occupying mixed income housing, retail, entertainment and office spaces."

While plans and programming for these ideas beside the Aretha Franklin Amphitheater and Atwater Beach are still underway, Bedrock is in the early stages of imagining a vision for the area, which includes sustainable infrastructure, mixed-income housing, dining, office and public space.

The training center, commonly referred to as "The Icon" is a 420,000 square foot multi-purpose development located at 200 Walker Street, situated almost exactly midway between Hart Plaza and Belle Isle.