Quicken Loans

[gthomas]

I dunno.... maybe because the company is owned by a very rich man who has weathered the mortgage meltdown so far, in better shape than most.... also owns several technology companies, a major sports franchise, and EXCLUSIVE rights to build the ONLY casinos [[one in each market) that are going to be allowed in Cleveland and Columbus Ohio.... any of that ring a bell??

I believe you understand..he is clearly not a bad business man. He knows exactly what hes doing and do it very well. All this investment hes making to Downtown will be for the best, not the worst. You guys on this site dont have a vision of real progress. I believe this is the reason why we are behind most major cities. We dont UNDERSTANDS what works here...Im clearly telling you all.....it may sound crazy but its the truth. WAKE UP DETROIT!

[gthomas]

Maybe I'm missing something, but I never heard that Gilbert still wanted to build a new office building after he's taken over the Chase Tower.

I believe Gilbert purchase several parcel of land Downtown for its future headquarters...hes focusing on what he can do now to bring all his employees downtown first. The Company is probably working on some sort of plans now for those sites he plan to build on. Hes keeping his word on building in 2013 for sure! It will happen..maybe a scale down version from original plans but still considering those future sites...email him..?

[Yooper]

Quicken Loans will be BK when interest rates are hiked back to nominal levels.
QE3 is dead, and the Fed will be forced to hike rates to stave off inflation.
If you think housing is bad now, just wait till the rate hike.
No rate hike and QE3 = $6 or $7 gas.
Bernanke has ruined our economy beyond repair with low interest rates and quantitative easing policies.
Got silver?

[davewindsor]

I know you dont understand now..clearly. That so-call 80% of existing office space need to NOT be office space. Theres no demand for that, FILL those existing office space with RESIDENTIAL. Obviously having these existing skyscraper for offfice is not working. YOU KNOW WHAT WILL WORK....? guess for me..

What you're saying is nothing new. You still haven't explained "how" they can convert office skyscrapers into residential. The guy who bought the almost empty 1001 Woodward wanted to convert it to residential a few years ago. It's still an office building. What happened? Same can be said for other office buildings like the Book, Stott, Broderick, etc. It's not financially viable.

You can't send Joe handyman in there to do all the work. You need zoning approvals. You need to apply for building permits. You are required by law to hire licensed tradespeople like electricians and plumbers to do the work. It costs more to convert the building than they would sell the individual units for in this depressed local real estate market. Compare the price of a loft conversion in Chicago or New York with one in Detroit. Huge difference in price. No one is going to pay Manhattan prices in Detroit. Unless the government subsidizes it with taxpayer dollars, it's not financially viable and the Governor doesn't want to subsidize these projects anymore. So, you still need to explain "HOW".

[davewindsor]

I believe Gilbert purchase several parcel of land Downtown for its future headquarters...hes focusing on what he can do now to bring all his employees downtown first. The Company is probably working on some sort of plans now for those sites he plan to build on. Hes keeping his word on building in 2013 for sure! It will happen..maybe a scale down version from original plans but still considering those future sites...email him..?

Or maybe he's just trying to create a lot of buzz to promote his company. Every couple days, I hear about Dan Gilbert this and Dan Gilbert that and that he is Detroit's savior. With all this free good publicity, I'm sure he's quadroupled his business profits I wouldn't hold my breath on him building anything. I think it's just an empty promise to promote his business. He gets free publicity and government subsidies and he's the hero everyone wants to do business with. Have the Governor renege on these tax incentives and subsidies and you'll see how fast he exits the city.

[EL Jimbo]

Or maybe he's just trying to create a lot of buzz to promote his company. Every couple days, I hear about Dan Gilbert this and Dan Gilbert that and that he is Detroit's savior. With all this free good publicity, I'm sure he's quadroupled his business profits I wouldn't hold my breath on him building anything. I think it's just an empty promise to promote his business. He gets free publicity and government subsidies and he's the hero everyone wants to do business with. Have the Governor renege on these tax incentives and subsidies and you'll see how fast he exits the city.

That's ok. He has NASA engineers figuring it all out. It doesn't matter how far fetched, it will work.

[artds]

As promised, here are the sketches for Quicken's downtown headquarters that Rossetti posted on their website then later removed at Quicken's request...

[Jason]

I guess that's it but that's not what I remember. I don't know what I was thinking of.

[gthomas]

Thats a pretty nice nice concept...wish I saw more plans. Wonder what Gilberts working on now?

[Gistok]

What you're saying is nothing new. You still haven't explained "how" they can convert office skyscrapers into residential. The guy who bought the almost empty 1001 Woodward wanted to convert it to residential a few years ago. It's still an office building. What happened? Same can be said for other office buildings like the Book, Stott, Broderick, etc. It's not financially viable.

You can't send Joe handyman in there to do all the work. You need zoning approvals. You need to apply for building permits. You are required by law to hire licensed tradespeople like electricians and plumbers to do the work. It costs more to convert the building than they would sell the individual units for in this depressed local real estate market. Compare the price of a loft conversion in Chicago or New York with one in Detroit. Huge difference in price. No one is going to pay Manhattan prices in Detroit. Unless the government subsidizes it with taxpayer dollars, it's not financially viable and the Governor doesn't want to subsidize these projects anymore. So, you still need to explain "HOW".

Maybe because 1001 has a simple problem.... you can't open the windows!!!

Who wants to live in a sealed environment??

Book Cadillac and Fort Shelby windows open nicely... but not 1001... hence folks were interested in the Book Cadillac and Fort Shelby.... just like they'll be interested in the Broderick Tower... and if they get turned into rentals.... the United Artists and David Whitney Building will be marketable... once the residential picture improves. The Kales is about fully leased.

But 1001 has spectacular views of the city center... but with very tall narrow floor to ceiling windows that CANNOT open.... and nobody wants that.... I believe that was mentioned in one of the dailies quite a while ago...

Sometimes it's not about economics... but about practicality.... although replacing all of 1001 Woodward's windows with opening ones would be very expensive... especially since they are so large.

I don't know the logistics of opening 12 ft. tall windows.... they'd need special frames... and lord knows what else....

And for what the Governor wants... in Crain's this week DEGC George Jackson said he is satisfied that there will likely be some type of financing to replace Brownfield and Historic Tax Credits.

[Packman41]

You still haven't explained "how" they can convert office skyscrapers into residential. The guy who bought the almost empty 1001 Woodward wanted to convert it to residential a few years ago. It's still an office building. What happened? Same can be said for other office buildings like the Book, Stott, Broderick, etc. It's not financially viable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1001_Woodward

Excerpts from the Wikipedia entry with edits in marks {….}

The building occupies the site of the MajesticBuilding, which was demolished in 1962 to make way for 1001 Woodward. The building was constructed to house headquarters for First Federal Savings and Loan of Detroit and was known as the FirstFederalBuilding.

By January 1998, the Savings and Loan.….sought to sell the structure and lease a portion back. In December of {1998}, it was purchased by a partnership of The Carpenters Pension Trust Fund-Detroit & Vicinity and the Operating Engineers Local 324 Pension Fund for $6.5 million.

In March 1999, the pension fund partnership announced a $15 million renovation of the building and a new name-Woodward Plaza. They also planned to convert the upper floors to luxury condominiums.

{After spending an additional $20 million on renovations} …the pension fund partnership sold the building {under land contract} to Sky Development in {April 2004 for $6.5 million – effectively walking away from $20 million of renovation costs spent over 5 years}.

Sky Development continued the pension funds' plan to convert part of the building into 144 residential units, however this plan collapsed at the end of 2007 and ownership reverted to the pension funds. The building {was} subsequently purchased by Greektown business owner Dimitrios Papas in January 2008 {for $5.4 million}.

Let’s summarize;
From March1999 to January 2007 [[eight years) two owners tried to convert this building into condos and failed. Some might say the $160,000 price for the 1 bedroom units was “affordable” – others may think of that as gouging. Nonetheless, residential failed.

In the last 3 years and 3 months Papas has landed one office tenant for about 25% of the building – GalaxE Solutions.

[Richard]

Maybe because 1001 has a simple problem.... you can't open the windows!!!

Who wants to live in a sealed environment??

Book Cadillac and Fort Shelby windows open nicely... but not 1001... hence folks were interested in the Book Cadillac and Fort Shelby.... just like they'll be interested in the Broderick Tower... and if they get turned into rentals.... the United Artists and David Whitney Building will be marketable... once the residential picture improves. The Kales is about fully leased.

But 1001 has spectacular views of the city center... but with very tall narrow floor to ceiling windows that CANNOT open.... and nobody wants that.... I believe that was mentioned in one of the dailies quite a while ago...

Sometimes it's not about economics... but about practicality.... although replacing all of 1001 Woodward's windows with opening ones would be very expensive... especially since they are so large.

I don't know the logistics of opening 12 ft. tall windows.... they'd need special frames... and lord knows what else....

And for what the Governor wants... in Crain's this week DEGC George Jackson said he is satisfied that there will likely be some type of financing to replace Brownfield and Historic Tax Credits.

I have an acquaintance that purchased a historic 30 story hotel we rebuilt the windows as they were originally but the insurance company required that they were pegged shut and made not to be able to open , the concern was the liability of children/adults falling out or jumpers.

If you have a viable company and wish to move downtown with X amount of employees some of the buildings downtown D are offering up to a year free rent to fill them up,still not many takers.

Demand creates office or residential space money costs money and it is tough to rebuild something then wait for the demand and unless you can get a build to suit situation it would even be hard pressed to receive funding for rehabilitation.

But the way things are now with the incentives up in the air momentum is dead if it takes a year to figure it out it will take another year to start regaining the momentum.

Momentum shows progress to outside funders who then become more inclined to fund,notice all progress is currently being funded locally which is asinine in a global economy as the dollar is high and in a good position for foreign investment to park money in slow moving projects,it would have been a perfect time for Detroit to take full advantage of a bad situation and make lemonade out of lemons.

[Gistok]

Richarrd, that's the first I've heard of that type of insurance requirement, but actually I am not at all surprised. I doubt that anyone would want to go thru what singer Eric Clapton went thru in NYC, when his 5 year old son fell out of an apartment/condo high rise screened window [[fuzzy on the specifics)....

[Richard]

A lot if it revolves around the spring breakers fad of climbing from room to room through the windows,
but even so there has been a rash of children falling out of apartment windows as it becomes warmer sad situation,I think it would be interesting to find out historically the stats of how many fell out of windows back in the day, even so we still put the sash ropes and pulleys in place to at least make it look authentic.

[Meddle]

Sealing a building usually has to do with HVAC and air handling. They say a 'closed' building is easier to heat and cool. A single sealed window is maintenance free for the most part since they have no moving parts like operable windows. They also lead to 'sick building syndrome'.

[Richard]

Sealing a building usually has to do with HVAC and air handling. They say a 'closed' building is easier to heat and cool. A single sealed window is maintenance free for the most part since they have no moving parts like operable windows. They also lead to 'sick building syndrome'.

Absolutely true,on the historic aspect we have already proven that a properly sealed historic functioning window is just as cost efficient as the new double glazed windows,the disclaimer on the box of a argon filled double glazed window states that the warranty is no longer in affect once the window is installed and any window that is gas filled has a life expectancy of less then ten years.

Nothing like being able to open the window to let the fresh air in.

[stasu1213]

If the 1001 Woodward building was in any other city such as New York, Chicago, LA, Atlanta, or even Cleveland, it would had been half to fully occupied by now. Only in Detroit where a good building such as 1001 Woodward goes to waste

[gthomas]

1001 is NOT pedestrian friendly, thats the problem. Why you think Quicken Loans transforming the ground floor retail in the Chase towers? Business like pedestrian friendly establishments. Thats why Compuware building is a success...

[gthomas]

Have you notice every company headquarters downtown are trying to open up to the outside, walkability and visiblility is KEY to a thriving city. They understand now..WHY is it so hard to turn 1001 ground level into some cool retail spot? Its a perfect location and great views of Campus Martius Park...but NOTHING? Its not accessible and I do believe its the windows...great point. A cool Apple store will fit perfect for that location and it will fit with all those tech hubs in close proximity..?

[casscorridor]

Have you notice every company headquarters downtown are trying to open up to the outside, walkability and visiblility is KEY to a thriving city. They understand now..WHY is it so hard to turn 1001 ground level into some cool retail spot? Its a perfect location and great views of Campus Martius Park...but NOTHING? Its not accessible and I do believe its the windows...great point. A cool Apple store will fit perfect for that location and it will fit with all those tech hubs in close proximity..?

Yeah, an Apple store would be nice, but I doubt they'd locate in Downtown Detroit. I don't think Apple is the sort of store that would open before other chains have already been established.

As far as corporate HQ's downtown, I'm not sure what you are talking about. I don't think most of them understand walkability or visibility or adding to the street life of the city. Maybe Compuware and Quicken do, but those are just two examples. And most the offices that already do add to vibrancy of the city were built nearly a century ago. There has been a long history since of corporate HQs [[and public institutions) closing off and fortifying their "campuses." GM, DTE, BCBS, WSU, DMC and City Hall are just a few examples.

However, WSU has begun to open up slightly, as well as build up their campus vertically rather than horizontally, as well as adding new retail and residential development to the surrounding neighborhood. GM renovated the RenCen entrance and lobby to make it more accessible. But DTE and BCBS especially have further fortified their campuses, closing off streets and turning surrounding lots into highly contained "green" area.

[gthomas]

No I agree casscorridor...You explain what "i guess" i tried to explain.