Detroit’s Cobo Center to be Renamed

Banking giant Chemical Financial Corp. has purchased the naming rights to Detroit’s Cobo Center, the longtime home of the Detroit auto show.

If Chemical Bank's merger with TCF Financial Corp. is approved by regulators,  the 59-year-old convention facility is expected to be called TCF Center. Otherwise, Cobo is likely to become the Chemical Bank Center.

Chemical Bank will pay the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority $1.5 million annually for 22 years for the naming rights to the riverfront center. The deal is said to be a record for a convention center.

The Detroit auto show has been held at Cobo, which is the 17th largest convention center in the U.S., since 1965. Starting next year, the annual show will move from its traditional January timing to June.

The facility is named after controversial Detroit politician Albert Cobo, who served as the city’s mayor in the 1950s.