Guardian’s occupancy rate sores

Aggressive lease offers, renovations draw tenants

By R.J. King / The Detroit News

Max Ortiz/The Detroit News

The Guardian, at Griswold and Congress, is among several downtown skyscrapers that have drawn new office tenants over the last three years.

DETROIT — The historic Guardian Building, an orange brick skyscraper in downtown Detroit undergoing an $800,000 renovation, is slowly coming back to life.

Occupancy rates in the tower have more than tripled to 35 percent since the building was sold last fall.

The rise in occupancy is due to aggressive lease offers, refurbished office floors and added amenities like a retail mall.

The Guardian, at Griswold and Congress, is among several downtown skyscrapers that have drawn new office tenants over the last three years.

Several factors have contributed to the surge in downtown office leasing, including the $15-million Campus Martius Park at Woodward and Monroe, Compuware Corp.s new $350-million headquarters overlooking the park and more than $20 million in improvements now under way along Woodward, Washington and Broadway. The park will open in the fall.

Downtown office occupancy rates have hovered near 80 percent in recent years.

Max Ortiz / The Detroit News

Security  guard Linda Futch works in the main lobby of the Guardian Building, which is undergoing $800,000 in renovations that include a retail mall. In Rearview Mirror Guardian Building has long been the crown jewel in Detroit skyline

Companies that have recently agreed to lease space in the Guardian include Standard Federal Bank; Detroit Economic Growth Corp.; Detroit Repro Graphics; Detroit BankCard; Archive DS, an architectural firm; Hazen and Sawyer, an environmental services firm; and Keel and Williams, a law firm.

"There’s a lot of development going on in downtown Detroit and we wanted to be where the action is," said Cathy LaMont, president of LaMont Title Corp., which moved into the Guardian Building in the spring from another downtown skyscraper.

LaMont Title, which leased 7,700 square feet of space in the Guardian and has 16 employees, considered suburban locations for its new offices.

"We like being downtown with all the theaters and the three sports stadiums," LaMont said.

The occupancy level at the Guardian has grown to 35 percent from 9 percent last fall when the building was purchased by Detroit-based Sterling Group. The company bought it for an undisclosed sum from DTE Energy Co., said Danny Samson, vice president of the Sterling Group.

"We’re very excited about all the new tenants that are coming in," Samson said. "Companies are telling us they love the building and would have come sooner had space been available."

DTE Energy, the parent company of Detroit Edison, sold the building because it no longer needed the space. In 2001, Detroit Edison merged with Michigan Consolidated Gas Co., which moved from the Guardian to Detroit Edison’s offices at Michigan and Third.

Built in 1929 for the Guardian Detroit Union Group, the 40-story Guardian includes a mezzanine-level bank space that is being converted to a retail mall.

Scheduled to open next month, the mall will include such retail tenants as Pure Detroit, Andy’s Sundries, Becca Belle Gifts, Rowland Cafe and a Standard Federal Bank branch.

"We’re opening the new branch and taking 15,200 square feet of office space on the 26th floor," said Rob Darmanin, director of corporate relations for Standard Federal Bank in Troy. "We’re moving from the Ford Building."

SmithGroup, a large architectural and engineering firm, has been a longtime tenant in the Guardian.

Other downtown office buildings that are experiencing rising occupancy rates include the Book Tower, Buhl Building, Penobscot Building, First National Building and 1001 Woodward.

You can reach R.J. King at (313) 222-2504 or rjking@detnews.com.