Troy-Based Molina Healthcare pondering a move downtown or possibly Southfield.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20131208/NEWS/312089950/molina-ponders-move-to-downtown-detroit

Molina Healthcare of Michigan may go from suburban living to city dwelling.

The state's third-largest Medicaid HMO, which has about 60,000 square feet in the two-building Liberty Center office complex at Big Beaver and Livernois roads in Troy, is exploring a relocation of its 300 employees to downtown Detroit, according to real estate sources.

Sources said one of Molina's top downtown prospects is the 415,000-square-foot Detroit Media Partnership building, home of The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press. The DMP announced in January that it would sell the building and move its 600 employees to another downtown location by next summer.

Southfield also is a possibility.

"We are considering our options. We have not decided where to locate," said Stephen Harris, CEO of Molina Healthcare of Michigan. "Our lease is up. We are trying to get to a decision as quickly as possible."

Molina's lease expires on Aug. 31, according to Washington, D.C.-based real estate information serviceCoStar Group Inc. The 139,000-square-foot building at 100 W. Big Beaver is 97 percent leased, according to CoStar.

A Molina move downtown would put it near one of its chief competitors, Detroit-based Meridian Health Plan of Michigan, which plans to move into a new, $111-million office building, construction on which is expected to begin by early 2015. Meridian would move in by early 2017.

The 320,000-square-foot Meridian building would be across from Compuware Corp. headquarters on the Monroe Block, bounded by Monroe, Bates and Farmer streets; Woodward Avenue; and Cadillac Square, less than a mile from the DMP building.

Molina is among the top Medicaid HMO plans in Michigan in terms of enrollment. The top three are Meridian, with about 295,000 members; United Healthcare Community Plan, with about 243,000; and Molina, with about 214,000, according to the 2012 Michigan Health Market Review.

Built in 1988, 100 W. Big Beaver is leasing for $21 a square foot, according to the website of Farmington Hills-based Thomas A. Duke Co., a part owner of the Liberty Center.

San Diego-based McKinney Advisory Group hired Bloomfield Hills-based Forum Group LLC to represent Molina locally.

Tom Lasky, the founding member of Forum Group, who is representing Molina, declined to comment.

Kirk Pinho: [[313) 446-0412, kpinho@crain.com. Twitter: @kirkpinhoCDB

Jay Greene contributed to this report.