Detroit’s convention center renamed... again

The Detroit convention center formerly named TCF Center, which was formerly known as Cobo Center, and also known as Cobo Hall, has once again been renamed.

The 2,400,000-square-foot convention center located at 1 Washington Blvd. is now called Huntington Place, following a merger of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated and TCF Financial Corporation.

"Our naming rights agreement, which was a priority for the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority, began with TCF Bank and continues with Huntington Bank in strengthening the Center’s financial future," DRCFA chair Lisa Canada said in a statement.

It's kind of a shame, because TCF Center got a mountain of earned media, though unfortunately for dubious reasons. It was in the national news when the North American International Auto Show was canceled and the facility was briefly converted into a field hospital for COVID-19 patients, though fortunately it never filled up. It made national headlines again in November 2020, when Trump supporters stormed it, alleging election fraud.

OK, maybe it's good riddance to TCF Center.

Mayor Mike Duggan floated renaming what was then known as Cobo Center in 2017, amid a national debate over racist monuments. Sure, former Mayor Albert Cobo was no Confederate general (why does this country have so many statues of the people who lost the Civil War?), but he is known for a legacy of racist housing policies, including demolishing the city's predominantly African American Black Bottom and Paradise Valley neighborhoods.

So good riddance to Cobo, too.

"We are proud that following the TCF-Huntington merger, the name of our new combined bank now graces the walls of this civic center that means so much to the people of Detroit and all of southeast Michigan," Huntington Bank chairman Gary Torgow said in a statement. "From high school graduations to the North American International Auto Show, from speeches by sitting presidents to the annual NAACP Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner, this venerable facility is part of the fabric of our community and Huntington is fortunate to now be a part of it."

The renaming follows a recent $279 million renovation to the facility, first opened in 1960.

According to a press release, it draws 1.5 million visitors annually.

More information is available at huntingtonplacedetroit.com.

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