Dan Gilbert is single-handedly rebuilding downtown Detroit?!

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Okay, well maybe not single-handedly, but this guy is building an empire. In the last few months, Dan Gilbert has

• purchased 3 high rises, plus other properties in the CBD;
• moved more than 2k of his own company's employees downtown;
• is now signing leases with new companies to bring downtown;
• is trying to bring an Apple Store to Campus Martius;
• made an offer to Channel 95.5 to get back to the city;
• put up a $25 million donation for Detroit's light rail line;
• plugged Detroit constantly wherever he goes.

I have no connection to Dan Gilbert, I've never even met him, but what we seem to have in common is a love for this city. Like me, he's clearly been bitten by the "Detroit-bug." Gilbert is emerging as the biggest player on Detroit's business landscape. If Mike Ilitch doesn't start making some moves, Gilbert is going to eclipse him as the resident billionaire. And, while I'm sure Gilbert is going to make loads of money rebuilding the CBD, it seems to me like he genuinely cares and wants to make Detroit a better place rather than simply raping it for its scraps like so many who came before him.

Next brick in Gilbert's real estate empire: First National - Crain's - Dan Duggan