Signature Associates

CEO says Bedrock’s top priority is to ‘transform the whole riverfront’

Jared Fleisher, the new CEO of Bedrock, says the company is focused on delivering long-planned developments after years of laying the groundwork to draw businesses and activity back into downtown.

The Hudson’s Detroit tower is near completion. The long-awaited Development at Cadillac Square and the Life Sciences building are underway. And the key project priority Bedrock hopes to tackle next is the redevelopment of the Renaissance Center along the riverfront.

“We’re now in a building phase,” he said at the Department at Hudson’s, in view of the skyscraper under construction next door. “We’re in what I’ve called the era of execution.”

Fleisher, 42, is expected to deliver a keynote address Thursday at Hudson’s Detroit during the Detroit Policy Conference. This is the first time the venue, which opened last year, will host the Detroit Regional Chamber’s annual event, a departure from the Sound Board Theater at MotorCity Casino.

A former senior executive at the Rock Family of Companies, Fleisher stepped into the role as CEO in December after years advising company founder Dan Gilbert on commercial real estate and economic development strategy. He replaced Kofi Bonner, who reentered retirement after guiding Bedrock through the pandemic.

Fleisher confirmed that 30 to 35 Bedrock employees were laid off last fall, calling it “the most difficult thing I had to do in my career.” He said the company needed to rebalance staffing as it moved from pandemic-era activation efforts to large-scale construction.

“We’re now in the building phase,” Fleisher said. “By the grace of God, we’re going to redevelop the Renaissance Center. We want to transform the whole riverfront.”

The riverfront project is now Bedrock’s top priority, with the Renaissance Center as its “linchpin,” Fleisher said: “It’s the gateway. It is not viable as an asset. It’s 2.7 million square feet of largely empty office space. The kind of trajectory it’s on is it’s just going to be empty and deteriorating and blighted eventually.”

General Motors Co., the owner of the Renaissance Center, and Bedrock are planning an estimated $1.6 billion redevelopment of the five-tower complex that would reduce its footprint by demolishing two towers and opening its frontage to a new public space.

The redevelopment depends on Transformational Brownfield legislation, which Fleisher said is critical to making the project feasible. Bedrock has committed $1 billion to the project, with GM pledging an additional $250 million.

While the Downtown Development Authority approved $75 million toward public infrastructure upgrades for the project, a request for at least $175 million in transformational brownfield capture from the state has been met with bipartisan backlash.

Fleisher expressed confidence that Michigan lawmakers will ultimately agree to help fund the redevelopment.

“The Renaissance Center today is generating virtually no revenue because it’s empty,” he said. “If we do reauthorize this legislation, you’re going to continue to see massive projects. I remain optimistic it’s going to get done, because there’s too much at stake.”

‘Wanted to be a part of this’

Fleisher, a Los Angeles native, said his path to Detroit was “a simple twist of fate.” He had no prior connection to the city before working with Gilbert as an attorney with Squire Patton Boggs in Washington, D.C. His first project was the QLine, where he led federal advocacy and strategic efforts that secured funding and approvals for the streetcar system along Woodward Avenue.

Fleisher said that work eventually expanded to other efforts, including securing federal blight funding to demolish abandoned houses. In 2014, he said, Gilbert asked him to relocate.

“And I wanted to be part of this,” Fleisher said. “There’s a saying that Detroit is big enough so it matters in the country, in the world, but a place where you can actually make a real difference.”

Fleisher said his experience with the Rock Family of Companies allowed for continuity with Bedrock. At the time of his appointment late last summer, Bedrock called Fleisher “a trusted and accomplished leader” who began working with the Rock Family of Companies 15 years prior. He’s held senior roles with the company for more than a decade.

“I knew all the projects,” he said. “I knew the political and social dimensions in the city. I knew how our market worked and in some ways doesn’t work here in Detroit. And I understood the finances. I don’t think we missed a step in this transition.”

At the time of Fleisher’s appointment, Eric Larson, CEO of the Downtown Detroit Partnership, told The Detroit News that with Fleisher in charge, Bedrock would maintain the same intensity and partnership on upcoming developments, including the Life Sciences building planned for the Gratiot site.

“Jared represents not only consistency,” Larson said, “but a real genuine, deep commitment and understanding of our city as well as our community.”

Seeing developments progress

Among the projects that have had the greatest personal impact, Fleisher pointed to Hudson’s Detroit. The project was one of four sites for which the Michigan Strategic Fund board approved a Transformational Brownfield Plan in 2018, awarding up to $618 million in total for redevelopment. The others were the One Campus Martius expansion, The Book Building and Book Tower redevelopment project and Monroe Blocks, now known as The Development at Cadillac Square.

“I did a lot of work on the Hudson’s project right here,” he said. “We helped create the Transformational Brownfield legislation, which was part of what made this incredible project possible. And one of the things that I love about development is you can see the tangible progress.”

Hudson’s Detroit spans roughly 1.5 million square feet and includes office, retail, residential, a hotel, event space and public areas such as Nick Gilbert Way. Office tenants include GM, JPMorgan Chase, Accenture, Ven Johnson Law, ROCK and the Gilbert Family Foundation, while retail tenants include ALO and Tecovas.

Fleisher also cited the Book Tower redevelopment, which opened in 2023, as having a lasting impact. “When you’re inside that building, which the Architectural Digest says is one of the 11 most beautiful repurposed buildings in the world, you could be in Florence. You could be in Rome,” he said. “To see that transformation and to see bringing beauty to the city, it’s very, very special to be part of it.”

Other projects include the Life Sciences building and the Development at Cadillac Square. Fleisher said the Life Sciences site was once “a quarter-built jail” before being transformed into a joint venture with BAMF Health and Henry Ford Health. Cadillac Square, where Cosm is under construction, will focus on immersive sports and entertainment experiences, he said.

GM’s recent move-in at the Hudson’s building marked another milestone, Fleisher said.

“General Motors is one of the greatest industrial corporations in the history of the world,” he said. “How proud it makes us as Bedrock that their headquarters (is) in the state of Michigan; we should be very proud of that. In the city of Detroit; we should be very proud of that. And here in the Hudson’s building — very proud of that.”

GM relocated its corporate headquarters from the Renaissance Center to a smaller, more flexible space within Hudson’s Detroit. The new headquarters is about 200,000 square feet, with unassigned office spaces designed for collaboration and limited permanent offices for top executives. Fleisher said the move enhances the building’s role as a downtown hub and supports local businesses, as hundreds of employees now frequent nearby restaurants and retailers.

Regarding leadership changes, Fleisher credited Bonner with steering Bedrock through the pandemic.

“We got him out of retirement, and he did a phenomenal job for us at a really, really difficult time to run an urban real estate company,” Fleisher said. “In the heart of the pandemic, when you know the central business district was the central empty district … Kofi did an incredible job of leading us through a very difficult period and setting the table for the future.”

He said many members of Bonner’s leadership team were at a similar time in their careers. “So I’m very grateful to all of them. They set the table, but they also … said, ‘You know what, if Kofi is leaving, we’re going to allow a new generation of leadership to come in.’”