Places / People Mover / Stop 8 of 13
Detroit People Mover stationRenaissance Center
The station at the foot of the Renaissance Center, demolished in 2002 and rebuilt in 2004; the busiest on the system in 2024.
- Code
- RC
- Current station
- November 22, 2004
- Boardings 2024
- 170,756 (1st)
- Boardings 2014
- 487,758 (2nd)
01 / Story
The station’s story
The original station opened in 1987, built into the massive concrete berm that walled the Renaissance Center off from the city. When General Motors opened the complex up to downtown in the early 2000s, the berms and the station were demolished in September 2002, cutting the loop for two years. The new station opened in 2004: its lobby is on the RenCen’s second level, linked to the platform by a skybridge, with a street entrance by lift on Jefferson Avenue.
The demolition destroyed George Woodman’s tile mural “Dreamers and Voyagers Come to Detroit”; the artist designed “Path Games” for the new station, 2,625 tiles in all. In the lobby stands “Siberian Ram”, a bronze by Marshall Fredericks, sculptor of the Spirit of Detroit, against green Pewabic tiles (1993).
It has always been among the busiest stations: second in 2014 with 487,758 boardings behind Greektown. It reopened after the pandemic on September 14, 2022 and took first place in 2024 with 170,756 boardings. According to the DTC, hotel and restaurant guests can reach it through the building during building hours; everyone else uses the street entrance on Jefferson Avenue.
- The busiest station of 2024
- Marshall Fredericks’s bronze “Siberian Ram”
- George Woodman’s “Path Games”
- Direct access to the Renaissance Center and the Riverwalk
02 / From the window
What you see from the car
From the platform, the Riverwalk and the river lie to the south, with Windsor beyond. From here the car turns north above Beaubien Street toward old Bricktown.
03 / Art in the Stations
Art at this station
George Woodman · 1987
Dreamers and Voyagers Come to Detroit
tile mural (destroyed 2002)
Hundreds of coloured hexagonal tiles designed to connect in endless combinations; destroyed with the original station in 2002.
George Woodman · 2004
Path Games
tile mural, 2,625 tiles
The artist’s new work for the rebuilt station: 2,625 square tiles echoing its lost predecessor.
Marshall M. Fredericks · 1993
Siberian Ram
bronze sculpture
A bronze ram by the sculptor of “The Spirit of Detroit”, set against green Pewabic tiles between two panels of Path Games.
04 / Timeline
Station timeline
The original station
Built into the concrete berm, with George Woodman’s hexagonal tile mural.
“Siberian Ram”
Marshall Fredericks’s bronze ram arrives.
Demolition
Along with the berms and the Woodman mural.
The new station
With the “Path Games” mural.
Reopens
In the third post-pandemic wave.
Number one
170,756 boardings, overtaking Greektown.
The station is part of the loop today; today’s departures are shown above, per timetable.
05 / Curiosities
Curiosities
In Real Steel (2011) the Jefferson Avenue entrance with its “Jetsons-style” People Mover played “Tarryton Towers”.
Poor soil at the Renaissance Center meant more than $1 million of underground reinforcement during the original construction.
A closer look
Sources & fact check · Checked: 2026-09-25
Every figure is compiled from the sources below, including the DTC’s official pages, board minutes and its 2025–2026 planning documents. Where sources differ, we give both. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, freely licensed and credited per author.
06 / Nearby
A short walk away
Places, restaurants and venues from our guide, with straight-line distance and an estimated walking time.
- 1 min walk · 18 mAndiamo Pizza PieAndiamo's former pizza counter in the Renaissance Center food court, which had fully emptied out by November 2025.
1 min walk · 18 mFUELLThe Detroit Marriott's restaurant inside the RenCen: breakfast through late-night cocktails, with big windows facing the Riverwalk.- 1 min walk · 85 mDuMouchellesDetroit's family-run auction house since 1927, in an Albert Kahn building on Jefferson: monthly sales of fine art, jewelry and estates.
- 1 min walk · 86 mRiverfront 4 TheatreA four-screen cinema inside the Renaissance Center from 1978 to 2015: first the Riverfront 4, then, after a 2008 renovation, the family-friendly Ren Cen 4 in Tower 200.
- 2 min walk · 124 mLuxury Meetings & EventsDetroit planning firm that sources hotels and venues and runs corporate meetings, incentive trips and upscale events.
2 min walk · 130 mDetroit Marriott at the Renaissance CenterDetroit's biggest hotel: about 1,300 rooms in the RenCen's 73-story center tower, on the Riverwalk with the People Mover in the complex. Expected to close temporarily after April 2027.
2 min walk · 130 mDetroit Plaza HotelThe Renaissance Center's hotel from 1977: the world's tallest hotel when it opened, with about 1,400 rooms; it runs today as the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center.
2 min walk · 134 mCourtyard by Marriott Detroit DowntownA 260-room Courtyard in the Millender Center on Jefferson Avenue: a skybridge takes you into the RenCen, and there's a People Mover station in the building.- 2 min walk · 141 mApplebee's & IHOP Detroit DowntownA combined Applebee's and IHOP in the Millender Center: pancakes in the morning, burgers and a beer at night, steps from the Riverwalk.
Around the station
- Renaissance Center and Wintergarden the station’s building
Detroit’s tallest complex, with its glass-roofed Wintergarden.
- Detroit Riverwalk 3 min
The riverfront promenade starting behind the RenCen.
- Hart Plaza 8 min
Festivals and riverfront monuments.
07 / Events
Events near this station
Upcoming events at nearby venues, from our event guide.
No events at nearby venues in our guide right now.
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