The final steel beam was set on Hudson's Tower on April 10, 2024, fixing the building at 681 feet and forty-nine stories. It is the tallest construction project Detroit has seen in fifty years and the second-tallest building in the city, behind the Renaissance Center at 727 feet. Bedrock, Dan Gilbert's real estate firm, named the development Hudson's Detroit two days later.
The block at 1208 Woodward has carried the Hudson's name since 1891, when the J.L. Hudson department store first opened on the site. The store grew to a 25-story flagship and became, briefly, the tallest department store in the world.
It closed in 1983 and was demolished in 1998 in what was at the time the largest controlled implosion in history. The site sat as a hole in the ground for years. SHoP Architects, based in New York, designed the tower as a series of stepped, slender volumes faced with terracotta fins.
An earlier rendering called for a 900-foot building. Construction began in 2017 under the original design. Bedrock then revised the plans down.
Total project cost is roughly $1.4 billion. The Detroit City Council approved a $60 million tax abatement to support construction, after a stretch of public debate over the size of the package. The complex actually has two buildings.
The 681-foot tower contains 97 luxury condominiums and a five-star EDITION hotel, both scheduled to come online in 2027. The shorter building, twelve stories and 232 feet, holds offices and retail. Between them is a pedestrian plaza dedicated as Nick Gilbert Way in November 2025, named for Dan Gilbert's late son.
A 700-space underground garage connects the two buildings. Some 3,500 tradespeople worked on the project, contributing more than 2.7 million hours of labor. The tower used 10,500 tons of steel.
When the development is fully open, it will add about 1.5 million square feet of office, retail, residential, and event space to the Woodward Avenue block. Hudson's Tower is the first skyscraper taller than 500 feet built in Detroit in the 21st century. The last one, One Detroit Center, was completed in 1993.
1208 Woodward Ave., Detroit
