The Renaissance Center

You could practically live there and never come out...

The Renaissance Center

The Renaissance Center, located in the heart of downtown Detroit on the Detroit River, is a large building that houses the General Motors (GM) headquarters and a plethora of restaurants and shops, including coffee shops, restaurants, a CVS Pharmacy, clothing shops, chocolate shops, a dental service, and flower shops. 30 food and drink places are listed on the website. There are also two hotels and even a movie theater!

Canada, Detroit River, and USA, from 72nd floor

Free guided tours will take you to see many of the different floors, including the 72nd where a high-end restaurant named Coach Insignia is located. You can walk around the perimeter of the tower looking out the large windows where you can see far off into the distance, at least to Pontiac, MI. You can see Grand River, Michigan, and Woodward Avenues converging at the base of the tower and fanning out from it.  Belle Isle, Canada, and Greektown Casino are just a few of the sights to see you look down from this lofty height.

The Wintergarden lobby is an expansive lobby with a glass roof, allowing you to look up at the central tower.  Palm trees, that were once alive, line the lobby.

The GM entrance is home to the tallest glass sculpture in the world, appropriately named "Borealis."

Borealis

Your guide will leave you on the ground floor where you can look at GM models and even climb behind the wheels of many of them! 

I recommend a stop at the Ren Cen for both those who live in Detroit Metro and those who are visiting from far away, for there are so many interesting things to see! It's free, and the tour lasts about an hour.

The central tower is surrounded by circular walkways.

Complimentary tours are offered Mon-Fri at 12:00 and 2:00 pm.  They meet at the Pure Detroit shop in Tower 400, level 1 (this is not the ground floor).  If you enter the building at the Wintergarden entrance, you can ask about the tours at the information desk located straight back from the doors. They will direct you up the escalator to the shop. 

For more about touring the Renaissance Center check out the website: http://gmrencen.com/happening/tourrencen.axis

An interesting design...Here you can see the strata of many several different floors.

Come check out this unusual place for yourself!