Ally Financial lease deal keeps headquarters in Detroit; plans to move other workers downtown

Ally Financial Inc. has signed a 12-year lease making a landmark downtown Detroit office building its headquarters.

The automotive financial services firm announced Tuesday that it also will move 600 additional workers from other locations to the One Detroit Center on Woodward Avenue.

The building will be renamed Ally Detroit Center. Ally will occupy 13 floors and 321,000 square feet in the 43-story building.

Ally had been looking to move its current headquarters and 700 employees from the Renaissance Center downtown to the suburbs. But Mayor Mike Duggan says he convinced the company to listen to a proposal to stay in Detroit.

The lease was brokered by Detroit-based Bedrock Real Estate Services. The deal comes about three months after Detroit exited the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.