The Paczki Principle
A clean and sweet floral rain
A fresh scent suitable for any occasion
The symbol of Detroit, a towering glass behemoth that sports the logo of the world's largest automaker, downtown's Renaissance Center encapsulates nearly everything we love about our city: myopic planning, goofy aesthetic design, questionable financial mismanagement, perplexed tourists, dismal lack of retail revenue, naïve but determined optimism, and glorious rebirth. Rising from a moribund waterfront space just a few short years after the devastation of the 1967 riots, the office-retail-
entertainment complex has endured the barbs of both urban-planning critics and lifelong Detroiters still unable to negotiate its byzantine interior.
The RenCen was the pet project of Detroit Renaissance, a group of business and civic leaders headed by the late, great, and tremendously headstrong Henry Ford II. The group managed to pull off a $337 million commitment from Michigan corporations for a new centerpiece in the city. It was, at the time, the largest privately financed project in the world. The RenCen's planning committee selected a noted architect, who had designed Atlanta's Peachtree Centre, for a quartet of 39-story office towers anchored by a 70-story hotel that would be the Michigan's tallest building. And it had a glamorous revolving restaurant on top! Who could resist?
This city landmark was almost named "The Hub," one of the most popular entrants from a 1972 name-the-building contest. Instead, Detroit history has Roger Lennert, a copywriter for Ex-Cell-O Corporation, to thank for coming up with the winning name.
The mighty Ford empire stepped in a number of times to rescue the RenCen, but in an ironic twist, General Motors bravely came forward in 1996 and claimed it as their new world headquarters for the bargain basement price of $73 million. Now, with an infusion of $500 million from the new owner, the Renaissance Center is itself going through a renaissance. The much maligned berms which housed the heating and cooling equipment at the front of the complex are now gone, and an open glass atrium in the rear now shows off a beautiful view of the Detroit River.
New restaurants, clubs and retailers are infusing new life into the complex. The restaurant atop no longer spins, but, it too, is under new management. The view remains, as always, breathtaking.
