An image of the old St. Mary's School in Detroit's Greektown as the future headquarters for JACK Entertainment(Photo: JACK Entertainment)

Dan Gilbert's casino enterprise plans to relocate its headquarters from one part of downtown Detroit to another and move into a vacant 148-year-old schoolhouse.

JACK Entertainment, previously known as Rock Gaming, announced Thursday that it will move from its offices from the One Woodward Avenue building to the old St. Mary's School at 1041 St. Antoine in Greektown. This five-story schoolhouse, built in 1868 across from Old St. Mary's Church, is connected to Gilbert's Greektown Casino-Hotel by a pedestrian skyway and is undergoing a $7 million renovation.

A rendering of what the renovated interior of the old school will look like once completed. (Photo: JACK Entertainment)

The move is scheduled for December and will involve 140 Jack Entertainment employees. The 29,000-square-foot schoolhouse has been empty for years.

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“Our move will bring us closer to our 2,000 team members at our Greektown Casino-Hotel and affirms our long-standing commitment to the Greektown district," said JACK Entertainment CEO Matt Cullen. "It also provides us with the additional space we need to accommodate our dramatic growth.”

Historic image of the old St. Mary's School in Greektown (Photo: JACK Entertainment)

The school is owned by The Archdiocese of Detroit and Greektown Casino has had a long-term lease on it since 2006. The building is one of the oldest Catholic school buildings in Michigan and also served as an orphanage and sisters' residence. The school closed in 1966 and the building went on to become St. Mary's Community Center. It is listed as a Michigan State Historic Site.

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JACK Entertainment says it will occupy the second through fifth floors of the school and leave the ground floor for future retail tenants. The company has casinos and horse tracks in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Maryland.

It purchased Greektown Casino in 2013 and recently completed $70 million in renovations at the casino.

Contact JC Reindl: 313-222-6631 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Follow him on Twitter @JCReindl.

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