Detroit Gets A Spring Window Scrubbing

A man hangs from the top of 1301 Broadway to wash windows on Thursday morning, March 5, 2015 in Downtown Detroit. Several hours later, a small crew of cleaners completed washing both the inside and out on all five floors of the building. Click to enlarge.

Detroit building gets a window scrubbing as spring approaches (Detroit, MI) - The air might still sting the face, but there's a small sign that spring is close by in downtown Detroit. The 1301 Broadway St. building down the street from Punch Bowl Social downtown had its windows cleaned Thursday morning while the sun beat through the wintery cold. The building is owned by Bedrock Real Estate Services, the real estate arm of of Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert.

According to Bedrock Chief Operating Officer Tamara Knapp, the window cleanings happen every spring and fall as a part of regular building maintenance. "Bedrock, like most property management companies, does window cleaning...as part of our regular building maintenance," Knapp said. "Sometimes it's the little things that make a big difference...having clean windows to let the sun shine in creates a bright, uplifting environment for our retail and office tenants in downtown Detroit.

"Bedrock is committed to the highest standards of excellence in property management and building maintenance." The Broadway building is set to be the future location of former pop-up restaurant Guns & Butter. The upper floors are used for office space. According to Robin Schwartz, Bedrock spokeswoman, the company has had a bit of fun with the cleaning in the past. The window washers dressed in sports uniforms in 2013 while they washed the windows. Through Bedrock and Rock Ventures, Gilbert owns 70 properties in downtown Detroit, amounting to over 10 million square of real estate. He's invested $1.6 billion in the city.