History of Southfield becoming the commercial and business hub of Metro Detroit?

[Bham1982]

IIRC, Southfield has the second-largest amount of commercial office space in Michigan. Troy is third.

Detroit, of course, is first.

By commercial space, do you mean office space?

Southfield actually has considerably more office space than Detroit.

If you mean "commercial" as in office-industrial-flex space, then I'm sure it would be Detroit, because it's the biggest city. Some place like Warren might actually be #2, because of all the industrial and flex buildings. Southfield doesn't have a big industrial sector, though it does have flex.

[Detroitnerd]

By commercial space, do you mean office space?

Southfield actually has considerably more office space than Detroit.

If you mean "commercial" as in office-industrial-flex space, then I'm sure it would be Detroit, because it's the biggest city. Some place like Warren might actually be #2, because of all the industrial and flex buildings. Southfield doesn't have a big industrial sector, though it does have flex.

I researched the topic heavily, using press clippings and promotional materials spread out over 40 or 50 years. The figures were from many different sources, and this was about 2007, so I doubt much has changed since then. My research showed the total office space in Troy, and it was confirmed by several sources that Detroit was first, Southfield second, and Troy third. It really isn't such a surprise. Detroit had a huge headstart, has much more land area, and the figures likely include all classes of office space. In fact, given the way most of our start-ups are lean and mean, the appeal of older office space isn't as scant as most conventional analysts might think.

Give or take 3 million, Troy topped out at about 15 to 20 million square feet of office space when I added up the figures. Bear in mind, the old K-mart headquarters, after its expansions, was just 2 million in itself right there.

Now, bear in mind, we're talking office space. K-mart's old digs count whether it's leased or not, just as the Broderick counts whether it's leased or not.