The Kresge Foundation has laid out fresh details for its return to Northwest Detroit, outlining campus upgrades at Marygrove that go well beyond the headquarters building itself — including a new playground, a basketball court, a campus quad and pedestrian pathways meant to knit the 53-acre site back into daily neighborhood life.
According to WXYZ 7 News Detroit, the foundation and the Marygrove Conservancy have developed these improvements together, with the goal of making the grounds more accessible and inviting. Marygrove Conservancy CEO Tom Lewand told the station the campus is not currently very pedestrian friendly, and that the new pathways, gardens and play areas are designed to encourage greater community use of the site and offer engagement opportunities for all ages.
Those grounds-level upgrades accompany construction of Kresge's new 70,000-square-foot, four-story headquarters, which is scheduled to break ground in spring 2027 with completion expected in 2029, according to Capdex. The building's architectural team pairs internationally known names with Detroit-based talent: New York firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro, which previously designed Manhattan's High Line and The Shed, is working alongside Oakland-based landscape architects Hood Design Studio, Detroit architect of record Hannah-Neumann/Smith, and owner's representative Plante Moran Realpoint, per the Kresge Foundation.
A Community Hub, Not Just An Office
Per WXYZ, the headquarters itself is intended to function as a community hub, with meeting space and a third space where people can hang out and get coffee. Wendy Jackson, managing director of Detroit programs for the Kresge Foundation, told the station that Detroit is the foundation's hometown and that Kresge will increase its investment as it moves back into the city, after nearly a decade of work there already.
The foundation, founded in Detroit in 1924, has operated since 1984 out of a three-acre suburban campus in Troy built around a restored 1852 fieldstone farmhouse and twin vintage Aermotor windmills from the former Brooks Dairy Farm, according to Kresge. The new facility will also carry environmental and emergency features, including solar power generation, complete building electrification and stormwater management systems, with the building designed to serve as a community resilience hub during climate events, the foundation says.
Five-Year, $180 Million Neighborhood Commitment
Kresge's five-year, $180 million commitment to nearby neighborhoods, announced in September 2025, brings its total targeted investment in the Livernois-McNichols corridor to nearly $400 million across the Fitzgerald, Bagley, University District and Martin Park neighborhoods, according to the foundation. Over its 100-year history, Kresge has awarded more than $1 billion in grants within Detroit, including funding roles in the city's post-bankruptcy Grand Bargain and the Detroit Future City strategic plan.
Some of that money is already reaching block-level organizations. WXYZ reports that the Live6 Alliance has re-granted more than $50,000 to 15 different groups near the McNichols and Livernois corridor, supporting community organizations through grants and general operating support. Live6 Alliance Executive Director Caitlin Murphy told the station that the supported organizations host meetings and events for their communities, while Darnetta Morris-Banks, president of the Ella Fitzgerald Park Conservancy, said her group will use its funding to sustain free neighborhood programming and events.
Guarding Against Displacement
Kresge and the Live6 Alliance are also supporting neighborhood home repair programs, according to the station's report. That effort builds on the Resident Investment Opportunity Fund, which the two organizations launched in June 2026 in the College Core neighborhood to help long-term homeowners with property tax relief, heirs' property legal claims, side-lot acquisitions and home repair costs, per the Kresge Foundation. In spring 2026, Kresge also funded the Live6 Alliance to award one-time operating grants to 10 legacy neighborhood associations across the corridor, aimed at strengthening grassroots organizing capacity as investment dollars flow into the area.
The Marygrove campus itself carries its own history of reinvention. It was home to Marygrove College, a 92-year-old Catholic institution that closed at the end of 2019 after enrollment fell sharply, according to ClickOnDetroit. Since then, the site has been rebuilt as a cradle-to-career educational hub serving more than 900 children and young adults through an Early Education Center, The School at Marygrove, and the University of Michigan's Marsal Family School of Education, according to the University of Michigan Marsal Family School of Education. Kresge's headquarters project is now layering onto that existing campus community rather than replacing it, with the playground, basketball court and quad meant to serve students already on site alongside the neighbors arriving for coffee and meetings once the new building opens.
