LinkedIn Opens Office In Downtown Detroit

DETROIT, MI – LinkedIn’s new Detroit office is now open on downtown’s historic Woodward Avenue.

The 75,000 square-foot office in the Albert Kahn-designed Sanders and Grinnell buildings at 1523 Woodward represents a huge expansion within the market for LinkedIn, which began its operations out of Detroit’s WeWork space in 2017 with just 15 team members.

LinkedIn is the latest in a slew of tech-minded companies that have chosen to either move or expand their operations to Detroit, including Waymo, WeWork, Google, Snap, Twitter, Microsoft, Amazon, Grand Circus, Uber, Pinterest, Quicken Loans, StockX and countless others.

"LinkedIn knows as much as anyone about the importance of tying threads, so it only makes sense that they chose Detroit's urban core for their next major regional office," said Dan Gilbert, Bedrock founder and chairman. "LinkedIn's move downtown is another example demonstrating that Detroit's tech scene is rapidly growing, bringing with it established companies and start-ups alike, which in turn is attracting exceptional talent to the Motor City. And it’s that talent that is in turn attracting more of these types of exciting companies. In other words, it is the yin and yang of today’s global economy."

Momentum on Woodward

Just yesterday, it was announced Detroit would be Waymo’s first (and the world’s first) factory 100% dedicated to the mass production of autonomous cars just minutes from downtown.

In addition, earlier this week, global wealth management firm UBS opened a new office just blocks away from LinkedIn at 1201/1217 Woodward, and earlier this month Bedrock purchased the Fowler Building at 1225 Woodward, which will soon be renovated and home to destination retail.

Global retailer H&M announced earlier this year that they will open their first Detroit location this fall, by opening a large, 25,000-square-feet store with stylish apparel for the whole family located along the Woodward shopping district on the same block as LinkedIn’s new office.

Directly across the street is the world’s first Shinola Hotel, opened in January of this year, as well as the $1B Hudson’s Site development currently under construction.

Building History

The building was designed by celebrated Detroit architect Albert Kahn. Detroiters still refer to this location as “the Sanders Building” and “the Grinnell Building” because the original tenants of what used to be two addresses were home to the two iconic Detroit brands. Sanders, which still wholesales its popular hot fudge products and ice cream today, once operated a candy and soda fountain shop on the retail level while the Grinnell Bros. Music House once operated the world’s largest piano distributor.

About Bedrock

Detroit-based Bedrock is a full-service real estate firm specializing in acquiring, developing, leasing, financing, and managing commercial and residential buildings. Since its founding in 2011, Bedrock and its affiliates have invested and committed more than $5.6 billion to acquiring and developing more than 100 properties, including new construction of ground up developments in downtown Detroit and Cleveland totaling more than 18 million square feet.

Bedrock’s real estate portfolio consists of 210 office tenants and 125 retailers and restaurants in Detroit’s technology-centric downtown, the majority of which are new to the market including Microsoft, Quicken Loans, LinkedIn, StockX, Ally Bank’s national headquarters, Fifth Third Bank’s regional headquarters, WeWork, Madewell, Under Armour, Shake Shack and countless others.

Bedrock is currently developing four downtown Detroit transformational projects. In late 2017, Bedrock broke ground on the site of the historic JL Hudson’s Department store. In late 2018, the Monroe Blocks development broke ground. The renovation of the classic Book Tower is well underway and the One Campus Martius addition is expected to be completed by 2020. Together, these projects will bring close to 2 million square feet of office, retail, event and residential space to the market.

The world’s first Shinola Hotel, a partnership between Bedrock and the Detroit-based watch and leather goods manufacturer Shinola, opened on Woodward Avenue in 2019, establishing a hospitality experience original to Detroit. Home to local small businesses and a dining portfolio by award-winning chef Andrew Carmellini, Shinola Hotel was designed to be Detroit’s new living room.

Bedrock is currently undergoing construction of City Modern, a groundbreaking community development in Detroit’s Brush Park neighborhood. City Modern combines historic properties with modern design to offer a new era of downtown residential living.