John Gallagher

Detroit Free Press

Businessman Dan Gilbert's aides unveiled an ambitious plan Monday to remake the long-vacant Detroit Free Press building at 321 W. Lafayette into a mixed-use development of retail, office space and residential units.

In an exclusive Free Press tour of the building Monday, Gilbert's team said reconstruction could begin in the second quarter and take two years, projecting a 2019 reopening date.

"We're super excited," Jim Ketai, CEO of Gilbert's Bedrock LLC real estate arm, said during the tour. "We'll put our retail on the first floor as we always do to activate the street. We think the building lays out perfectly to do a combo of office on the first couple of floors and residential above. We think it lays out great for a bunch of apartments. We think it's literally just the ideal building to do mixed-use."

The restoration project is significant on several fronts. It rescues another Albert Kahn-designed classic from slow deterioration. It will provide new office and residential space in the heart of a downtown that has seen its supply of both rapidly filling up. And the project adds another new anchor on the west side of downtown where redevelopment work has remained spotty until recently.

Related:

Dan Gilbert at auto show predicts 10 to 15 new Detroit buildings

Small Microsoft office could be next big Detroit tenant

The project also evokes nostalgic memories of past newspaper glory. The Free Press staff won eight Pulitzer prizes in the building and famed journalists like the late Neal Shine spent their careers there.

Bedrock bought the building in late 2016 from Chinese investors for an undisclosed price. Ketai did not estimate the cost of renovation beyond saying it would be "a lot," but a full restoration of the badly dilapidated building including tenant build-outs is likely to run about $250 per square foot. That would translate into a rough estimate of $75 million for the 300,000-square-foot building.

Built in 1925 and designed by famed architect Kahn, the 14-story building housed the Free Press newspaper until the staff relocated to a building occupied by the Detroit News at 615 W Lafayette in 1998. Three owners in succession did nothing to restore the former Free Press building, which during Monday's tour was revealed to be seriously deteriorated. Bedrock said that when it bought the building there was several feet of water in the basement where printing presses once operated.

Related:

Old Free Press building downtown gets yet another buyer

A clue that Dan Gilbert is the buyer of Free Press building

Ironically Gilbert's Bedrock now owns all three of the buildings that have housed the Free Press staff in recent decades — the 321 w. Lafayette building, the 615 W. Lafayette building, and the former Federal Reserve building at 160 W. Fort St. where the Free Press and Detroit News staffs now work.

Ketai did not reveal details about how it will pay for the project but Bedrock hopes to reactivate tax credits that a former owner had obtained for a restoration that never happened. Gilbert himself has said he hopes to persuade lawmakers in Lansing to approve a new package of tax incentives for major projects. Lawmakers did not approve the package in late 2016.

Contact John Gallagher: 313-222-5173 or gallagher@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @jgallagherfreep.