Completion of $7M restoration brings old Wayne County building back to former glory

A $7 million project to restore the Old Wayne County Building in downtown Detroit has been completed, owners of the building announced Monday.

The restoration of the 116-year-old building began in March 2016, with much of the work focusing on lighting, window restoration, and the exterior masonry.

The building was home to Wayne County’s executive branch employees until 2009, when they moved to the Guardian Building on Griswold in 2009. Since then, the building has been vacant.

In July 2014, 600 Randolph SN LLC, an investment group based in New York, purchased the building and a large parking lot adjacent to the building from Wayne County for $13.4 million.

At the time of sale, the group said they planned to invest up to $15 million on improvements to the building and tenant build-outs. “Detroit is filled with so much history, and restoring this important and unique building to its previous grandeur has been an exciting and rewarding journey,” said Moshe Oppenheim, a representative for the ownership group, in a statement Monday.

“As Detroit continues its resurgence and becomes an attractive location for business, technology, and entrepreneurship, this illustrious building will undoubtedly play a prominent role in the continued development of Detroit.”

Lucas Maiman is a fall intern at Metro Times.

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