Building on the Bones of J.L. Hudson’s in Detroit | Columbus Ohio Dump Trucks

“This is the top occupiable floor, Level 45,” says Chad Beldyga, project executive with Barton Malow. “Everything from 46 up is all mechanical—everything that makes this building tick.”

At 685 ft, Hudson’s Detroit is the second-tallest building in the city after the Renaissance Center, and it is tallest ground-up tower in decades. Developed by Bedrock at a reported cost of $1.5 billion, the mixed-use complex will include a 227-key Marriott International Edition hotel—one of the chain’s 5-star brands—96 condominiums for sale, a 12-story office and event block and a four-level underground garage with approximately 700 spaces.

While the skyline impact is immediate, the engineering discipline that made it possible is less visible—and far more deliberate.

The final caisson was set in July 2020, clearing the way for vertical construction to begin.
Photo courtesy of Barton Malow

Building Inside the ‘Tub’

When the original J.L. Hudson department store was demolished in 1998, the block was not erased, it was hollowed. Hudson’s was to Detroit as Marshall Field’s was to Chicago or Bloomingdale’s to New York. A four-story underground garage was later constructed within the footprint of the former basement, inside perimeter concrete walls that once supported what had been the largest department store in the U.S.

Those walls—known on site as “the tub”—became the starting point for Hudson’s Detroit.

When Bedrock, the construction and property management arm of billionaire entrepreneur and Cleveland Cavaliers’ owner Dan Gilbert, who is the founder of Rocket Mortgage, advanced the current development, crews demolished the garage but retained the tub.

“We essentially did the same thing,” Beldyga says. “We did a rehabilitation on the inside. We did hydro-blasting all the way around, a layer of shotcrete.… But from a waterproofing standpoint ... we didn’t do anything [with the existing tub walls.]”

Instead, the team relieved hydrostatic pressure by drilling weep holes at the base of the excavation.

“We actually drilled some weeps at the bottom of the hole, invited the water into the hole to relieve any hydrostatic pressures,” he says. “Then we captured it in a gutter and pumped it back up.”

Drilling began roughly 40 ft below street level, placing crews beneath a static head that Beldyga describes as “actually 30 ft above our head.”

Below grade, tower and block are structurally unified—one foundation system. Above grade, they separate into two distinct buildings sharing a common substructure.

The final steel beam was lifted to the top of the tower in April 2024.
Photo courtesy of Barton Malow

Caissons and the Layers of Detroit

Barton Malow executives said the foundation required 177 caissons ranging in diameter from 3 ft to 9 ft. On the block side, shafts extended roughly 90 ft below the drilling surface, bearing on hardpan. On the tower side, caissons were drilled to bedrock—about 100 ft below the working surface and approximately 140 ft below street level.

Production rarely followed a straight line. “Out of the 177 caissons that we drilled, I think it’s fair to say we probably only had 25 that didn’t have some sort of obstruction,” Beldyga says.

Those obstructions included remnants of prior foundations, elevator pits and multiple historic mat slabs—one 3 ft thick.

Detroit’s blue clay stabilized the holes. “From a drilling perspective, it’s great,” he says. “You don’t have to worry about your holes collapsing in on you.”

Hudson’s Detroit, which stands 48 floors, begins to rise from the ground.
Photo courtesy of Barton Malow

What it could not prevent was the accumulation of layers from a century of construction beneath a single downtown block.

If the caissons anchor the tower, the shear core steadies it. Rising from a 5-ft-thick mat slab, the reinforced concrete core climbs continuously to the top mechanical levels. At its base, the mix reaches 13,000 psi—an unusually high strength for Michigan construction.

“What’s unique about this core is down at the bottom … there’s actually four large concrete buttresses that support the bottom,” Beldyga says. Each buttress extends roughly 33 ft from the core’s corners, widening its stance. “If I’m to stand up straight like this, and you give me a push, I’m pretty unstable. “What those buttresses do is really spread the legs at the bottom of the core.”

Nine-ft-diameter caissons beneath the buttresses are designed to handle both compression and potential uplift under wind loads.

The high-strength mix required more than a year of testing for creep, shrinkage and compressive strength before placement. As the tower steps back and forces diminish, concrete strength tapers to 12,000 psi and eventually 10,000 psi.

A self-climbing formwork system kept the core roughly four floors ahead of active deck construction.

“We had to hit 2,000 psi before we could engage the hydraulic cylinders and rise the core up,” Beldyga says.

The core advanced methodically. The trades followed.

A light-filled atrium will create a park-like gathering space.
Image courtesy of Bedrock

Steel and Vertical Choreography

The lower 10 floors of the tower are framed in structural steel with concrete-filled tube (CFT) columns—hybrid members that required a different placement strategy.

“We actually pumped it from the bottom,” Beldyga says. “There was concern if we were to place from overhead … we were going to trap air in there.”

Internal shear studs and plates made top-down placement risky. Pumping from below allowed crews to confirm fill through access points. Project leaders say it was believed to be the first such application in Michigan.

Above Level 11, most residential floors use post-tensioned slabs for structural efficiency. But at the tower’s highest occupiable levels, the design shifts.

For the two two-story penthouses, the design gives those buyers the flexibility "to be able to customize their unit layout,” says James Kramek, project executive with Barton Malow.

Because post-tensioned slabs contain embedded steel tendons that limit field coring, the penthouse levels instead use conventional reinforced concrete. The change allows future owners greater freedom to modify layouts without compromising the structure.

In total, the project consumed just under 100,000 cu yd of concrete and more than 10,000 tons of structural steel.

Moving that material through a tight downtown site required tight choreography. Four construction hoists, tower cranes serving both buildings and a table-lifting system reduced the need for additional crane picks. Crane removals were timed around major civic events, including Detroit’s famed Thanksgiving parades and the 2024 NFL Draft, a Detroit first, held at the end of April that year.

By late construction, facade installation was nearing completion, interior fit-out dominated upper floors and the block’s event space—the mid-rise building adjacent to the tower—was already hosting thousands of guests.

Inside the block building, the structural steel produces spans up to 70 ft across a major event hall.

Two supertrusses—approximately 90 ft long, 16 ft tall and weighing about 110,000 lb—were assembled on site and lifted using dual load cells.

“We were getting close to the capacity of the crane,” Beldyga says. “So we implemented another load cell on the hook … just to validate.”

Above the atrium, roughly 230 glass panels form a sculptural skylight. Fabricated overseas and assembled in six segments, five were lifted by the block’s tower crane. The sixth was set by the high-rise crane before that apparatus was removed.

“It’s not to oversimplify it,” Beldyga says, “but there’s a compression ring that goes all the way around.”

Loads resolve into perimeter columns. Final glazing was installed piece by piece, some by hand.

The finished form resembles the headlight of a late-1950s Corvette—an unintentional nod to Detroit’s industrial heritage.

Amenity spaces for office tenants will include a lounge, kitchenette, multi-sport simulator, fitness center and pickleball court.
Image courtesy of Bedrock

Precision and Patience

If the structure required precision, the process required patience.

“We probably did 70-plus estimates of different iterations of this project before we landed on what the thing is now,” Kramek says. “Chad [Beldyga] has probably built three different versions of this tower on paper.”

Construction often advanced while design continued to evolve.

“It was more important about the end product than when it was delivered,” Kramek says. “We were kind of throttling down construction at times … not at a breakneck speed.”

Maintaining alignment across trades and teams under that level of change required transparency.

“This isn’t like every other job you’ve done before,” Kramek says. “We might take a little longer to bake the cake, but it’s the end product that matters.”

Flexibility became structural in its own way.

“The ability of everyone involved to remain flexible and not get discouraged about the ever-present change—that’s the testament,” Kramek adds.

Winters created another layer of complexity.

To place concrete near the upper levels, crews deployed millions of BTUs of temporary heat. As warm air rose through shafts and stairwells, it created a pronounced stack effect.

“The bottom of the tower turned into a vacuum,” Beldyga says. “You open a door, and cold air is just rushing in.”

Future high-rise projects, he says, may isolate cores differently to mitigate that condition.

The completed development is heated primarily by a 10-in. district steam line supplied by Detroit Thermal.

“Everything else is heated off Detroit Thermal’s power plant,” Beldyga says. “I’d have to believe it’s better than having your own independent system.”

Hudson’s Detroit is targeting LEED Silver certification.

Hudson’s Detroit rises in the heart of downtown, transforming a once‑vacant block into a landmark mixed‑use development that honors the site’s legacy while reshaping the city’s skyline.
Image courtesy of Bedrock

Looking Ahead

For years, the block where Hudson’s had stood was defined by absence—a vacant reminder of what had once been there.

Today, it is defined by elevation.

From Level 45, the ballparks, river and Woodward corridor align beneath reflective glass. The skyline feels newly weighted.

Four stories underground, the old tub walls remain—quiet, load-bearing, steady—supporting a building that carries Detroit’s name upward again.

“This truly is a statement for the city for a long time to come,” Kramek says.

The skyline carries that statement in steel and concrete. Detroit did not erase the block’s history; it built directly on top of it.