General Motors in taking advantage of a weak US real estate market by buying the downtown Detroit building it currently leases for its headquarters.

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According to the Associated Press (AP), GM revealed the 1 May purchase of the Renaissance Centre in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. GM reportedly said it paid $626m cash for the headquarters and $200m cash for two office properties in nearby Pontiac.


AP said GM moved its headquarters from midtown Detroit in 1996 and spent $500m improving the complex, originally built by Ford’s real estate arm in the 1970s, the news agency added.


A GM spokeswoman told AP that, at the time, GM decided to finance the project with loans and lease the building from the lenders. The lease expired on 1 May and GM decided against renewing it.


“We opted to purchase it outright because of the condition of the real estate market,” Rashid-Merem told the Associated Press.

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