County To Buy Guardian, Other Sites for $33M

DETROIT-Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano announced today that the county plans to buy the 40-story Guardian building, an adjacent four-story office building at 511 Woodward and a nine-story parking garage for $33.5 million. The county plans to vacate its current main headquarters at the Old Wayne County building, when the lease is up in October, because Ficano says the county is paying too much in rent to owners Old Wayne County Building LP.

The Wayne County Commission still must approve the purchase. Financing would be accomplished through bonding, said county officials in a statement. “These acquisitions will enable us to consolidate offices in a state-of-the-art office building. Our taxpayers will become owners of assets instead of paying millions of dollars in rent each year,” Ficano said in the statement. “The Guardian building has a positive cash flow.”

The county is paying $14.5 million for the Guardian Building, the 30,000-sf office building for $2 million and the parking garage for $17 million. The Guardian building was 50% vacant, with tenants such as SmithGroup, Wade Trim, LaSalle Bank and the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., and the move of county employees into the building will put it at 100% occupied.