Roberts Riverwalk Hotel

03 / The story of this place

What was here?

Donaldson & Meier designed the Parke-Davis Research Laboratory in 1902, and Albert Kahn added to it later; as one of America's first industrial research labs, it was once a National Historic Landmark. The Stroh family bought the Parke-Davis complex in 1979 and turned the lab into the River Place Inn as part of their River Place redevelopment. Omni ran it from 1998 as the Omni Detroit Hotel at River Place and closed it in 2010. St. Louis developer Michael V. Roberts put $5 million into a renovation and reopened it in May 2011 as the 108-room Roberts Riverwalk Hotel. It closed in the early 2020s, and Bedrock bought it in December 2022.

• 1902 Parke-Davis lab on the riverfront
• Omni 1998–2010, then Roberts Riverwalk
• Owned by Bedrock since 2022

Former names

River Place Inn (1980s–1990s) · Omni Detroit Hotel at River Place (1998–2010) · Roberts Riverwalk Hotel (2011–early 2020s) · Parke-Davis Research Laboratory (1902–1979) · River Place Inn (1980s–1998) · River Place Inn · Omni Hotel Detroit at River Place

Architect

Donaldson & Meier (1902 laboratory, later additions by Albert Kahn); Sims–Varner (hotel conversion)

What’s there now?

Owned by Bedrock since 2022 as 1000 River Place and in pre-development planning, with retail on the ground floor and hospitality above.