Welcome to Detroit, Quicken Loans!

Goodie Bags for the Quicken Loans Employees moving into the Compuware Building near Campus Martius in Detroit on August 16 2010.

Photo Credit: Detroit Free Press

Quickens Loans, owned by Dan Gilbert who also owns the Cleveland Cavaliers, is moving its 1700 employees downtown throughout the remainder of August. The new offices will be located in the Compuware Building adjacent to Campus Martius. The deal and the decision to move the company was completed a few years ago before the current recession, but is going ahead as planned.

The additional employees from Quicken Loans working in the heart of downtown Detroit will be welcome as more and more companies join them in moving their employees and their company headquarters back to the City.

 

Posted via email from The DSpot Redeux Blog

Redeux News: Downtown Becoming 2nd Tech Hub in Detroit?

Enjoying Campus Martius Park in the Summer

OK, Dan Gilbert was slightly upset when "King James" bolted from his Cleveland Cavaliers, but he is still committed to Detroit with his main gig, Quicken Loans. In 2007, Gilbert announced his decision to move the Quicken Loans headquarters to the Compuware Building near Campus Martius, and the move will be completed next month, bringing over 1,700 employees downtown.

A high-tech firm, Galaxe.Solutions, is also setting up headquarters downtown across the street from Campus Martius at 1001 Woodward Avenue in the next few weeks. Galaxe.Solutions plans to hire up to 500 new people in the next few years and is committed to reverse the outsourcing of tech jobs overseas. Dan Gilbert is working to get more small and tech-focused businesses to also move downtown, and several new restaurants have submitted plans to open soon.

Dan Gilbert says that he wants to re-name the downtown portion of Woodward Avenue "Webward". Along with "TechTown" in the New Center Area, Detroit could soon have two vibrant high-technology centers within the city limits.

Does Detroit Need Emergency Surgery?

The City of Detroit, after a couple of years of relative political peace and a re-invigoration of excitement and business infusions, is sick again.

As of this writing, both the Mayor and some members of staff the City Council are under investigation; and in the Mayor's case, actual indictment. Meanwhile, the Detroit Public School District is barely hanging on and very close to another state takeover; the new budget filed just under the wire on June 30 contains cuts, cuts, and more cuts.

Why is this happening AGAIN? What can we do about this "illness" that periodically recurs?

Last Monday, while listening to the Detroit Today program on Detroit's NPR station, WDET, I heard yet another suburbanite deride Detroit and Detroiters and suggest that "we just forget about Detroit--get rid of it"...(paraphrased). This caller to the program actually believed that the remainder of the State of Michigan could "do without" Detroit all together.

It has been said that Detroit and Detroiters suffer from an "inferiority complex". It is true that for years and years, when you said you were from Detroit, two things usually happened: 1) you hung your head as you quietly answered that question; and 2) then you started rationalizing to your questioner WHY you lived in Detroit.

Based on the aforementioned caller's comments, and many more like his, a thought came to me: if someone has a tumor, does the doctor operate to remove the tumor, or just kill the whole person and get rid of the tumor that way?

I think I'll pick Door #1 and think of ways we Detroiters can heal ourselves from the sickness of corrupt and self-indulgent politicians and government leaders, as well as our own psychological malaise.

On this space, I will be initiating my own "Detroit 12-step Program" in a secular and totally pro-active series of Wednesday posts. Stay tuned...

I look forward to your comments!