DETROIT-Chrysler Group LLC is leasing 33,000 square feet at the Dime Building here, in the automaker’s first office downtown since the automaker was formed in the 1920s. The 350,000-square-foot building will be renamed Chrysler House.

The 23-story building at 719 Griswold was built in 1912 by Dime Savings Bank and designed by famed Chicago architect Daniel Burnham. Rock Ventures LLC, run by businessman Dan Gilbert, purchased the building as part of its acquisition of 2.1 million square feet of offices and empty buildings downtown. Bedrock Real Estate Services, an affiliate of Rock, brokered the lease deal.

Chrysler will move about 70 employees into the building after the space is redone this summer for its Great Lakes Business Center. A Chrysler spokesman said in a statement that two floors will include an office and conference room for chairman and CEO Sergio Marchionne. “The future of Chrysler Group and the city of Detroit are inextricably tied,” he said in a separate statement. “In order to reflect this, we want to go beyond spiritual or symbolic evidence of our faith in the city’s future by establishing a physical presence people can see and be proud of.”