Tell City Council to Claw Back the Tax Incentives for Dan Gilbert's Hudson's Tower!
Detroit City Council
![](https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/petitions/photos/000/536/228/original/290211389_1647100169023577_5233411884215679891_n.jpg)
Since 2017, Dan Gilbert's development corporation Bedrock has taken around $260 million in tax incentives from Detroit to build a new tower on the former Hudson's site, based on the promise of creating 2,000 new jobs, in turn generating $71M in new city tax revenue. Recently, General Motors announced that they were moving their headquarters to this new building, bringing all 850 of their employees from the RenCen. Several news articles have been highly critical of this move, and it has been pointed out that minus 850 spaces the promised job creation and tax revenue increases cannot be met with the remaining space in the Hudson’s tower, since these are not new jobs, but merely relocated ones.
Both Mayor Duggan and the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation were on record in 2022 saying the $71M figure for new revenue was based on the assumption that all the jobs would be new. Council President Mary Sheffield was also on the record after the vote saying the $71M in revenue was a big factor persuading her to vote yes. The Hudson's project has been repeatedly scaled back in scope and scaled up in cost, and the Skillman Branch Library next-door remains closed to the public due to the Hudson’s construction site.
Most importantly, General Motors paid Detroit property taxes while at the RenCen, and its employees paid income taxes to the City, but under Michigan's current Transformational Brownfield laws (which were lobbied for by Dan Gilbert in 2015), all tenants of the new Hudson’s tower will instead pay those taxes to the developer—Bedrock—for 35 years! In 2018 Bedrock scored another massive $618M incentive package from the Michigan Strategic Fund, and the state brownfield laws were updated again in 2023 so that now developers can also capture sales and use taxes related to their properties.
As if that weren't bad enough, it seems General Motors will occupy the Hudson’s tower tax-free for 10 years, a benefit that stems from the federal opportunity zone designation (meant for poor areas) that Dan Gilbert got in 2018 after donating to Donald Trump's presidential campaign. The taxpayers of Detroit and Michigan are fed up with being unwitting financiers of billionaires' luxury projects, and the Hudson's tower is perhaps the most heavily subsidized project in Michigan history. It's starting to look like it was never about creating jobs, but rather creating a tax haven for Dan Gilbert and General Motors!
Rather than the promised net gain in tax revenue, this project represents a massive tax revenue loss to the City, and a clear violation of the agreement Bedrock made to get the incentives. Even if the 2,000 jobs were created, how are they going to generate the $71M in new tax revenue for the City if Bedrock is capturing all the property, income, sales, and use taxes of all activities on its premises for 35 years as outlined in the Transformational Brownfield Plan?
City Council has the power to get our money back! Sign our petition demanding that Council take immediate action!
To:
Detroit City Council
From:
[Your Name]
Petition to retract provisions of “Hudson’s Detroit” tax incentives
Whereas, Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock has received a total of approximately $260M in tax incentives from Detroit since 2017 to build a new tower on the former Hudson’s site, and
Whereas, those tax incentives were predicated upon a promise of creating 1,976 new jobs, to in turn generate $71M in new city tax revenue, and
Whereas, moving 850 existing General Motors employees in from the RenCen does not qualify as new job creation, and
Whereas, minus 850 spaces the agreed upon job creation and tax revenue increase totals cannot be met with the remaining space in the Hudson’s tower, and
Whereas, both the Mayor and the DEGC were on record in 2022 saying the $71M figure for new revenue was based on the assumption that all jobs would be new, and
Whereas, Council’s own resolution on the issuance of the commercial rehabilitation exemption certificate for this project stated that such issuance was predicated upon having “the reasonable likelihood of increasing and/or retaining employment,” and
Whereas, since the tax incentive requests were made, the Hudson's project has been scaled back in scope and scaled up in cost, and
Whereas, the Skillman Branch Library remains closed to the public due to the Hudson’s construction site, and
Whereas, General Motors will occupy the Hudson’s building tax-free for 10 years, a vicarious benefit that stems from the federal opportunity zone designation meant for poor areas that Dan Gilbert got in 2018 after donating to Trump, and
Whereas, the basis for both of Bedrock's tax incentive requests to the City were already highly contentious when made in 2017 and 2022, and
Whereas, General Motors and its employees paid property and income taxes to the City of Detroit while at the RenCen, but under the current Transformational Brownfield laws lobbied for at the Legislature by Dan Gilbert in 2015, all tenants of the new Hudson’s tower will instead pay those taxes to the developer (Bedrock) for 35 years, and
Whereas, In 2018 Bedrock negotiated another massive $618M incentive package from the Michigan Strategic Fund, and
Whereas, the state brownfield laws were updated again in 2023 so that developers can also capture sales and use taxes related to their properties, and
Whereas, even with 2,000 new jobs it is impossible to generate $71M in new tax revenue if Bedrock is capturing all the property, income, sales, and use taxes of all activities on its premises as per the Transformational Brownfield Plan, and
Whereas, rather than a net tax revenue gain, all of the foregoing represents a massive tax revenue loss to the City, and a clear violation of the agreement that the incentives were based upon, and
Whereas, this same issue has already seen at least three highly critical articles written about it in the news since April, and
Whereas, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. recently clawing back tax incentives from the scaled back Marshall EV battery plant project sets a precedent for similar situations, therefore
We, the members of Detroiters For Tax Justice do resolve that City Council use its authority to revoke the commercial rehabilitation exemption certificate for this project, an option falling within their power under the Commercial Rehabilitation Act (PA 210 of 2005, Section 207.852) when the developer "has not proceeded in good faith." We further resolve that in accordance with the Detroit Civil Rights, Inclusion & Opportunity Department requirements under the Community Benefits Ordinance for monitoring such agreements, that City Council must by resolution revoke the Tax Abatement Exemption certificate or initiate a claw back against this non-compliant developer.