UBS plans to open wealth management office in Detroit in mid-2018

Office to include 6,000-square-foot space nonprofits and civic groups can use free of charge

Bedrock-owned buildings undergoing renovations

UBS plans to open an office in downtown Detroit in mid-2018, the company announced Monday.

UBS Group AG's U.S. and Canadian wealth management business, New Jersey-based UBS Wealth Management Americas, plans to lease 13,000 square feet on the connected sixth floors of neighboring buildings at 1515 Woodward Ave. and 1529 Woodward Ave.The two buildings built around 1900 are owned by Detroit-based Bedrock LLC and are undergoing renovations, said John Bush, 60, Michigan market head for UBS Wealth Management Americas.

"The real impetus for us to open a new office in Detroit is to support what's going on in the city," said Bush, a Detroit native who grew up in Garden City. "We really felt like we wanted to have a physical presence downtown to reinforce our vision for this particular area and to reinforce our commitment to the city."

UBS Wealth Management Americas also has metro Detroit offices in Birmingham, Troy, Farmington Hills, Plymouth and Dearborn.

Fourteen metro Detroit employees will move to the downtown office to start, but the office has the capacity to hold another six to eight new staff members, Bush said. It will act as an extension of the other wealth management offices.

Bush is based out of the Birmingham office, but travels to the others and will be spending time in the Detroit branch.

The Detroit location will have a less traditional, more "urban" feel than the others, he said. New York-based architecture firm Verderame Cale will design the space; Southfield-based Barton Malow Co. has signed on as general contractor.