Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher have been tweeting excitedly about a certain destination. Neil Patrick Harris recently mentioned working on a movie set in this city on late night television. It’s definitely not L.A., the "Entertainment Capital of the World." It’s a city that’s been keeping its chin up amid reports of high home foreclosures and a flailing automotive industry.
This is Detroit.
"The burgeoning movie industry in Detroit is bringing us a lot of attention and it’s boosting our economy," says Carla Conner-Penzabene, director of sales for the Detroit Metro CVB.
At press time, Hugh Jackman and Richard Gere were in town, at work on separate projects.
In 2008, Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm signed off on the Film Incentive Package, which gives movie production companies a tax incentive to film in the state. The result is that movie industry folks are discovering Detroit’s iconic hot spots, hip hotels, unique attractions and new offerings, and they are talking about it.
"When Demi Moore tweets about what a great place Comerica Park is, people take notice," Conner-Penzabene says.
"The D" is working hard to counter negative press that’s come about as a result of automobile industry woes and the city’s home foreclosure crisis, and it’s out to prove to planners that it is a great place to convene thanks to a slew of new hotels, a convention center revamp plan, a compact downtown area and iconic attractions.
"Detroit is starting to show signs of life again," says Nancy Major, general manager of Show Me Michigan, a locally based DMC. "Industries are evolving. For example, there’s a closed auto plant in nearby Pontiac that is being turned into sound stages for the film industry. It’s expected to bring 3,000 jobs to the region."
The Raleigh Michigan Studios broke ground in July at the site of the former General Motors Centerpoint business campus in Pontiac. The facility is expected to include a teaching studio with classrooms. The Michigan Film Office expects the studio to draw even more television production. The first production at the stages is expected to begin next February or March.
In addition to the boost from the film and television industries, Detroit is seeing a lot of action on the development front.
"I don’t think that planners realize all the development that’s taking place in Detroit," Major notes.
Just this past July, the new Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority unanimously approved a $280 million strategic master plan for a renovation of the 700,000-square-foot Cobo Center. Some of the changes include adding 25,000 to 50,000 square feet of flexible space, a reconfiguration of the facility’s south end and improvements to servicing, meeting and ballroom spaces. According to recent research commissioned by the authority, Cobo Center is already able to accommodate about 90 percent of the existing national convention and trade show industry. Event planners also weighed in heavily in the research that influenced Cobo’s strategic plan.
"The renovation of Cobo Center clearly must go hand in hand with an investment in our riverfront and our community’s amenities as a whole," Juliette Okotie-Eboh, the authority’s vice chair, said in DBusiness Magazine.
The riverfront is one of the most critical projects in downtown Detroit. The Detroit RiverFront Conservancy is currently three miles into its vision of a five-and-a-half-mile RiverWalk that will eventually connect the Ambassador Bridge to Gabriel Richard Park. There aren’t many rivers where attendees can see the sun set over two countries (the U.S. and Canada).
As more of the Detroit River becomes accessible, options for waterfront venues have increased as well. These feature Diamond Jack’s River Tours and the Detroit Princess Riverboat.
In addition to the Cobo Center, large groups can convene in downtown’s two adjacent stadiums: the 42,000-seat, open-air Comerica Park, home to MLB’s Detroit Tigers, and the 70,000-seat domed Ford Field, home to NFL’s Detroit Lions.
Because of downtown’s compact size, groups are well-served in several meetings-ready hotels. The Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center offers 1,300 rooms and 100,000 square feet of space in the GM Renaissance Center, which overlooks the Detroit River. The building also houses the GM Showroom, a 44,000-square-foot display of specialty and concept cars.
The Westin Book Cadillac, housed in a historic hotel from the 1920s, was recently restored with a $200 million revamp. It offers 453 rooms, 30,000 square feet of meeting space, three ballrooms and five dining options, including Roast, a 200-seat restaurant from celebrity chef (and the newest Iron Chef) Michael Symon.
Meanwhile, the Doubletree Guest Suites Fort Shelby was also recently renovated. It features 203 guest suites and a 21,000-square-foot conference center.
Downtown’s three casinos each offer modern meetings-ready hotels. MGM Grand Detroit includes 400 rooms and 30,000 square feet of meeting space. Motor City Casino Hotel features 400 rooms and 67,000 square feet of function space. The property also features a slew of dining options and offers shuttle runs for groups from several cities. Greektown Casino Hotel includes a 100,000-square-foot casino, 400 rooms and 25,000 square feet of meeting space.
"The rooms at the MGM Grand are the nicest rooms in the company’s portfolio, and they are right here in Detroit," Conner-Penzabene notes. "Planners are really surprised by the variety of choices we have, as well as the standard of luxury."
"The D" also includes plenty of off-site options that spotlight the city’s history, elegant architecture, arts and Motown heritage.
The Guardian Building, built in the late 1920s, is a National Historic Landmark. The grand ballroom on the 32nd floor overlooks the city and is available for groups of up to 300.
Meanwhile, the Detroit Institute of Arts, a Beaux-Arts building, features Diego Rivera’s famous Detroit Industry murals and the first Van Gogh painting to enter a U.S. museum collection.
Fox Theatre, a 1928 movie palace, can seat 800 guests for sit-down dinners, 1,500 for strolling buffet receptions and up to 4,800 under its gold-gilded ceiling for a private concert, awards ceremony or business meeting.
At the Motown Historical Museum, groups can tour or rent the facility where The Supremes, The Temptations, The Jackson Five, Martha Reeves and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles recorded.
Other unique off-site settings include The Detroit Science Center, featuring an IMAX theater, a planetarium and interactive exhibits; The Detroit Historical Museum, which recreates the streets of 1900s Detroit; and the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.
Up-and-coming event venues include the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Detroit branch, where groups can tour the facility and see money being counted and packaged, and the former State Theatre, now known as the Fillmore Detroit.
Suburban Detroit
The largest venue in suburban Detroit is the Rock Financial Showplace in Novi, with 215,000 square feet of space. Meetings-ready hotels include The Henry, which was formerly The Ritz-Carlton, Dearborn and is now part of the Autograph Collection by Marriott; the Hyatt Regency Dearborn; the Doubletree Hotel Detroit/Dearborn; the Embassy Suites in Southfield; the Radisson Hotel in Livonia; the Crowne Plaza and the Sheraton, both in Novi; St. John’s Inn and Golf Course in Plymouth; and the Westin Detroit Metropolitan Airport and Crowne Plaza at the Airport.
A new hotel brand, the Met hotels, recently debuted in the Detroit area. The Met Troy in Troy, Mich., came on-line earlier this year after a renovation and conversion from the Northfield Hilton.
Planners have a number of opulent options in the suburbs for group events.
The most popular attraction is The Henry Ford (also known as The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village) in Dearborn. It houses a large collection of Americana, machinery and other items of historic significance, such as Abraham Lincoln’s chair from Ford’s Theatre where he was shot, Thomas Edison’s workshop, Rosa Parks’ bus and John F. Kennedy’s presidential limousine (in which he was sitting when he was assassinated in 1961).
The Edsel and Eleanor Ford House in Grosse Pointe Shores offers 87 acres along Lake St. Clair for outdoor functions. As many as 10,000 guests can be accommodated. Tents are also available.
Meadow Brook Hall in Rochester, a Tudor Revival-style mansion, offers several indoor and outdoor spaces for a variety of group sizes.
Meanwhile, Cranbrook House and Gardens in Bloomfield Hills offer several settings for events amid 40 acres of gardens.
