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

