My wife's employer supports the US Federal government. As such, she has previously supported the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Shortly she will be moving over to support the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). To that end, I had to drive her to Detroit today so she can be fingerprinted and her security photo taken (even though she has done this twice before with CMS and the IRS). The IRS's Detroit office was located near the old Tiger Staduim and Motor CIty Casino. The Detroit FDA office is just NE of the old GM Ren Cen building.

Once we got to downtown Detroit, there was a ton of construction work. I quickly realized why. This coming weekend (May 29-31) is the annual Detroit Grand Prix. The construction work is for putting up the race course and spectator / pedestrian crossings and walkways.

Now notice - GM no longer uses the Ren Cen as their World HQ. They moved out in January to the old J L Hudson building on Woodward since it was recently renovated and it is now state of the art. GM has announced that the two smaller towers (of 4), closest to the Detroit River (left hand side in these photos), will be demolished and taken down. The small square sign at the top now shows only the Marriot logo since they still operate the large hotel in the center. The Chevrolet sign is strictly for the race and it is not permanent.

This part of Jefferson Avenue is clearly going to be part of the race course or the on/off pit ramp. Regardless, it is part of the race course.

Now passing the Ren Cen on my left, these blue/black Chevrolet overpasses are both permanent and temporary pedestrian walkways over the race course to the either side of Jefferson.

"The Fist" sculpture represents former Detroiter and boxing legend Joe Louis' arm. Joe Louis himself is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

This photo has nothing to do with the Detroit Grand Prix but it is still quite true. Found this on my way back to the FDA building to pick up my wife. Prost!

Edited May 26May 26 by Frosty

Can't believe their going to take down those towers. That justa sucks! Thanks for the trip down memory lane bro.

Here is the plan

Here is some context on GM's new HQ site - the old J L Hudson site.

Wow man, that still makes me sad. The new Hudson building is really cool looking, and I get why they need to move but I hate seeing those towers go down. How in the hell is GM going to say give us money to destroy part of your history or we will pay it all and destroy it all. Pretty shitty in my opinion.

Thank you for sharing those videos Frost, I do personally appreciate it bro.

You can leave Detroit, but Detroit never leaves you.