New Center
About New Center
View New Center Apartment Listings
The New Center is a commercial district located approximately three miles (4.8 km) north of the city’s downtown, and one mile (1.6 km) north of the Cultural Center, around the intersection of Woodward Avenue and Grand Boulevard (which is sometimes referred to as The Boulevard). Developed in the 1920s, it was designed to create a business hub that would offer convenient access to both downtown resources and outlying factories. Some historians believe that the New Center may be the original edge city – a sub-center remote from but related to an urban core. From 1923 to 1996, General Motors maintained its world headquarters in the New Center (in what is now Cadillac Place) before relocating downtown to the Renaissance Center. Cadillac Place is now occupied by State of Michigan government offices. The descriptor “New Center” derived its name from the New Center News, an automotive-focused free newspaper begun in 1933 that continues to operate under the name Detroit Auto Scene.
The Taste fest, a five-day street festival held around Independence Day, takes place on the streets of New Center. The Fisher Building, considered an Art Deco masterpiece, sits in the New Center.