Schools CEO Kenneth Burnley says plans include the establishment of a welcome center in the New Center One building in downtown Detroit, and the district is purchasing a condominium ownership in the ninth through 14th floors of the Fisher Building nearby.
The initial move will be to temporary offices in the Fisher and Albert Kahn Buildings until existing leases expire on the floors being purchased in the Fisher building.
One advantage to the New Center site is that all departments will be interconnected by tunnels and skywalks, Burnley says. The district will also have six times more parking spaces than now.
The current district building is located on Woodward Avenue, near Warren Street, a busy area.
"Right now it's virtually impossible for the public to park anywhere near the building, or to find the public friendly departments," Francis says.
The welcome center would be located in an easy to reach part of the New Center, Burnley says, and will have departments such as student transcripts and human resources.
Wayne State's purchase of the district building, called the Maccabees building, is a step forward to help complete the university's ownership of the entire block between Woodward and Cass and between Warren and Putnam, as it continues expansion of its enrollment and programs.
The university will also purchase Marie Farrell-Donaldson House and the former Children's Museum at 67 E. Kirby from the schools system.
Francis says the move is needed to get rid of excess space.
"When the district purchased the 300,000-sf building in 1960, we had almost twice the number of students and staff that we do now. We're scaling down to match our current size," he tells GlobeSt.com.
In 1960, the district had 275,000 students. Now it has 162,000 students.
Francis says negotiations continue for the purchase of space at the Fisher Building and the sale of the Maccabees Building, and would not reveal expected sales prices or costs.
"We hope to have purchase agreements by the end of the month," Francis says.
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