38 | JULY 20 • 2023
T
he ornate Fisher
Building has been called
Detroit’s biggest art
object.
The 28-story Art Deco mas-
terpiece exudes Detroit history
— from the Fisher brothers
who built it in 1928, to another
Fisher — the late
Max Fisher —
who owned it and
maintained his
office there. And
now to its new
owner, Michigan
State University’s
$4 billion endowment.
The Fisher, as the office
building and theater are known
by many, symbolizes the city’s
industrial past as well as current
efforts to revitalize the busi-
ness, residential and cultural
district that surrounds it. The
building towers over the former
General Motors headquarters
across West Grand Boulevard
(renamed Cadillac Place in
2002) and remains the New
Center neighborhood’s signa-
ture structure.
The adjacent Albert Kahn
Building, which opened in 1931
as the New Center Building,
was renamed in 1988 in honor
of renowned architect Albert
Kahn, whose firm designed
the Fisher Building; it was sold
to developers Adam Lutz and
Matthew Sosin in 2018 and
redeveloped as apartments.
On June 13, MSU and The
Platform, a Detroit-based
developer, announced that
the endowment and the
MSU Federal Credit Union
had bought an 89% stake in
the building and adjacent
properties; the price is esti-
mated at about $26 million.
The Platform retains an 11%
minority stake.
For MSU, ownership of the
Fisher is intended as more
than a passive investment,
but rather an anchor to the
university’s growing presence
in Detroit’s civic, medical and
educational communities. The
East Lansing-based universi-
ty has partnered with Henry
Ford Health System and the
Detroit Pistons to develop, over
the next decade, a $2.5 billion
complex located near the cur-
rent Henry Ford Hospital that
includes a new hospital, the
Detroit Pistons headquarters
and training center, medical
research center, residential and
recreational projects.
MSU said it “anticipates sup-
porting an array of educational,
administrative and communi-
ty-facing functions within the
Fisher Building, while the MSU
Research Foundation plans to
open a startup incubator inside
the Fisher Building later this
year.
”
Philip Zecher, MSU endow-
ment’s chief investment officer,
noted that a month and a half
earlier, the university’s endow-
ment joined The Platform, the
managing partner of the Fisher
Building, in a $38.2 million
project to repurpose the one-
time Studebaker plant at 411
Piquette into rental apartments.
That structure, aimed for work-
force housing — renters who
wouldn’t otherwise qualify for
government affordable pro-
grams — is slated to open in
2024.
“Piquette Flats allows us
to repurpose this important
historic building and provide
affordable housing options
for a diverse
range of city resi-
dents,
” said Peter
Cummings, CEO
of The Platform.
Cummings noted
that housing
project’s loca-
BUSINESS
The Platform, led by Max Fisher’s
son-in-law, maintains minority stake.
MSU Invests in
Fisher Building
Max Fisher
Peter
Cummings
DORON LEVIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Max Fisher
in front of
the building