Metro Times cover story on Dan Gilbert

[Detroitnerd]

Just going to leave this here. Discuss …



http://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/wh...nt?oid=2266383

[ghettopalmetto]

Looks like a two-fer. A version of this article is also the cover story of Cleveland Scene this week:

http://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/...nt?oid=4408612

[bailey]

Just going to leave this here. Discuss …



http://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/wh...nt?oid=2266383

First commenter nailed it....

A.L. Cadillac • 25 minutes ago
Two examples. After wallowing through this gargantuan exercise in egomania, we get TWO EXAMPLES of bad mortgages written in Detroit?!! Then Deutsche Bank is portrayed as the white knight riding to Quicken's rescue and buying up the bad loans from this bad man and having to sue after they went bad?! The very same Deutsche Bank who bought hundreds or thousands of these loans from other lenders, and with the help of king of foreclosures Dave Trott, newly elected US 11th District Congressman, foreclosed and kicked out the owners then abandoned the houses to scrappers and arson?!!!


Simply scandalous, isn't it? A Billionaire moves his company to Detroit and cuts a deal for tax incentives for doing that; then goes all in with his money, and starts buying buildings by the block; shockingly, he actually creates a team of experts that markets Detroit to bring more business into the city, creating interesting places and spaces; he then becomes Detroit's most visible cheerleader/ambassador who pitches Detroit all over the country; incredibly, he renovates the buildings he purchases and brings more companies into the city, unlike the long history of purchase/hold vacancy that cut the heart out of the city. This is a bad thing?!!


My last question is this: Who the f**k is this d**che 'Ryan Felton', and why the hell is he 'writing' lame pieces of hackery for MT when he should be back making pitas at Olga's Kitchen with the rest of the bong smoking hippie assholes?

[Lowell]

Thanks for an interesting and in-depth article. I thought Gilbert handled the questions skillfully, openly and informatively.

I understand the role of the media, and one such as MT in particular, to question and speak up to power and authority, but I was left will a feeling of needless ax-grinding in the choice of words [e.g. demigod].

I think I share the opinion of a large majority that would say 'so what?'. The guy does business within the rules, is continually listed in the top places to work by staff and outside evaluators. He or his company has never been indicted for anything.

Meanwhile Dan Gilbert has become such a driving force in the revitalization of downtown in a short four years that is almost incomprehensible, and certainly depressing, to think of what downtown would be like without his efforts.

Ironically this brief description in the article speaks more loudly that the rest of the article.

Gilbert ...has ushered in a remarkable turnaround for Detroit's quiet downtown. The roughly 60 buildings he owns bustle with activity, and an estimated 12,000 employees [[more than 2,500 of whom are Detroit residents) of his 110 companies now pay Detroit income taxes — including employees at Bedrock Real Estate Services, Fathead, and Greektown Casino.

He is clearly a man of vision and deserves all the plaudits and profits he gains from his risks and energy. Savior of Detroit? That is too much for one person but he is putting a big dent in that task.

[RickBeall]

Detroit eats its young. He cannot stand taller than the rest of us!

[mwilbert]

This looks like a classic case of doing some investigative reporting, for which I really think I need to give MT and the author credit, but coming up with basically nothing, and then writing the story with the same slant he would have taken if Quicken had been accepting babies as loan collateral and auctioning them upon default.

[Hardhat]

This looks like a classic case of doing some investigative reporting, for which I really think I need to give MT and the author credit, but coming up with basically nothing, and then writing the story with the same slant he would have taken if Quicken had been accepting babies as loan collateral and auctioning them upon default.

Exactly. ^^^
I thought the article was more interesting for the inner workings of the Quicken PR staff than for the financial stuff, which really didn't have much there there.

[Lowell]

Detroit eats its young. He cannot stand taller than the rest of us!

At 5'6" that isn't a problem for him. And yet he towers over us. 'Little Big Man' indeed.

[nain rouge]

Let's face it, the lending business today is so complicated that you can't understand it unless you do it for a living. Lenders can talk circles around critics because they know the critics don't have the know-how to break everything down themselves. The crookedness of what's going on in the financial industry is obvious, but hey, if Dan says that's the way it's always been done and throws out a few bits of lingo, that's that.

[Danny]

Dan Gilbert is a the 'Donald Trump' of Detroit. Just 3 years ago. He decided to move his Quicken Loans and Bedrock Holdings to Downtown Detroit starting with the Chase Tower Building. It the time Chase Tower Building was 25% occupied. Nobody even use the escalators to the private banking centers. I didn't ever know there were 10 extra lobby elevators other then the 3 front elevators to office complexes. Now the entire building is 100% occupied. When Gilbert more Downtown Detroit buildings. He fix them up and brought more millennial generated regional businesses. Today most of the his Downtown [[ or should I say Gilberttown) Detroit buildings are 95 to 98 percent occupied. I would thank him for not only saving historic Downtown Detroit buildings. He made them retro-cool and ready for businesses. Over 25,000 to 40,000 more jobs are coming to Detroit. Dan Gilbert gave to economic boost.

[nain rouge]

Criticism of Dan's business aside, you'd be hard-pressed to make an argument that he hasn't improved downtown. He's done a lot of good in that regard. Face it, the only way you could make Metro Times truly happy with the resurgence downtown is if it was 100% the work of hipster crafters, nonprofit tech startups, and vertical farmers. And even then, the MT would make snide remarks about how it's all trust fund kids and hipsters.

MT is only barely relevant.

[SpartanDawg]

Dan Gilbert is a the 'Donald Trump' of Detroit. Just 3 years ago. He decided to move his Quicken Loans and Bedrock Holdings to Downtown Detroit starting with the Chase Tower Building. It the time Chase Tower Building was 25% occupied. Nobody even use the escalators to the private banking centers. I didn't ever know there were 10 extra lobby elevators other then the 3 front elevators to office complexes. Now the entire building is 100% occupied. When Gilbert more Downtown Detroit buildings. He fix them up and brought more millennial generated regional businesses. Today most of the his Downtown [[ or should I say Gilberttown) Detroit buildings are 95 to 98 percent occupied. I would thank him for not only saving historic Downtown Detroit buildings. He made them retro-cool and ready for businesses. Over 25,000 to 40,000 more jobs are coming to Detroit. Dan Gilbert gave to economic boost.

bingo.

he really has put his money where his mouth is. and he's been investing in the city MILLIONS farrrr before anyone else has [[save maybe the illitches, and we all know gilbert is far more pro-active than they are).

[loveDetroit]

Dan Gilbert is a the 'Donald Trump' of Detroit. Just 3 years ago. He decided to move his Quicken Loans and Bedrock Holdings to Downtown Detroit starting with the Chase Tower Building. It the time Chase Tower Building was 25% occupied. Nobody even use the escalators to the private banking centers. I didn't ever know there were 10 extra lobby elevators other then the 3 front elevators to office complexes. Now the entire building is 100% occupied. When Gilbert more Downtown Detroit buildings. He fix them up and brought more millennial generated regional businesses. Today most of the his Downtown [[ or should I say Gilberttown) Detroit buildings are 95 to 98 percent occupied. I would thank him for not only saving historic Downtown Detroit buildings. He made them retro-cool and ready for businesses. Over 25,000 to 40,000 more jobs are coming to Detroit. Dan Gilbert gave to economic boost.

Dan Gilbert is truly a force. "Gilberttown" reference aside, even Danny sees the positive influence he has for our city.

[Hypestyles]

I wish that Quicken Loans/Bedrock would post some job listings that I'm interested in... I'm not interested in managing anybody's loan..

[ABetterDetroit]

Clearly nothing but a witch hunt. Mortgage lender=evil.

Mmm... Let's see Bank of America coughs up 17 Billion to clean up countrywides mess and quicken 6.5 million, could it be the man speaks some truth in his 75 minute interview?

No Detroit doesn't "love it's billionaires" see if you can get 10 minutes with Matty and do some real journalism.

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

Dan Gilbert is a the 'Donald Trump' of Detroit. Just 3 years ago. He decided to move his Quicken Loans and Bedrock Holdings to Downtown Detroit starting with the Chase Tower Building. It the time Chase Tower Building was 25% occupied. Nobody even use the escalators to the private banking centers. I didn't ever know there were 10 extra lobby elevators other then the 3 front elevators to office complexes. Now the entire building is 100% occupied. When Gilbert more Downtown Detroit buildings. He fix them up and brought more millennial generated regional businesses. Today most of the his Downtown [[ or should I say Gilberttown) Detroit buildings are 95 to 98 percent occupied. I would thank him for not only saving historic Downtown Detroit buildings. He made them retro-cool and ready for businesses. Over 25,000 to 40,000 more jobs are coming to Detroit. Dan Gilbert gave to economic boost.

I understand your point, but I'd consider being compared to Donald Trump to be an extreme insult.

[Hypestyles]

well at least Dan Gilbert never jumped on the birther bandwagon..
if.. when... the Cavaliers finally get a championship with Mr. James, it will be interesting to see his public comments..

[canuck]

Dan Gilbert is not perfect, but then who is???

He stepped forward at a time when a real estate pro was greatly needed. He happened to be wealthy enough and well connected to be able to effect changes in the supply of demand of office and retail space in the CBD. Frankly, who could have done the same regionally speaking?

His legacy will be heroic even if he doesn't pull off a total rehab. It's up to the other players to step up and do their own bit of magic. He can't do it alone but it is comforting to see someone of his stature in the business world increase the potential of a great city's downtown.

[brizee]

He profited off on an ugly dirty business, but I don't see too much wrong he's done with his property purchases.

Of course there's a baseline in this town, and tiers.

Gilbert level. - Buys properties and generally does something positive with them. If they're empty he occupies them, if occupied he [[seemingly) improves them....There is the question of whether he got acquired them through the same channels offered to everyone else. There's been bleating and moaning about how absentee landlords won't sell and "red tape" in the city, but he seems to get what he wants generally.

Moroun level- Scum. Buys neighborhoods and monuments just to further or protect his shipping/bridge business. Seems to actively go out of his way to show contempt for the city and it's citizens.

Illitch level - Somewhere in between. Yeah they'll develop property. After they let it rot for a few years. They'll be the only redevelopment on a block...because they bought up other properties and demolished/allowed to rot to drive down prices and squeeze out less wealthy competitors.

Quite frankly this city could do with a healthy dose of skepticism when it comes to all of it's "saviors". Better to be happily proven wrong than disappointed yet again.

[SyGolden48236]

MT is only barely relevant.

You hit the nail squarely on the head with that comment. Any newspaper, and I use the term extremely loosely when it comes to the MT, that derives such a great percentage of its advertising revenue from transvestite prostitutes, drug businesses, and personal ads from people seeking perverted sex play can hardly be taken seriously.

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

You hit the nail squarely on the head with that comment. Any newspaper, and I use the term extremely loosely when it comes to the MT, that derives such a great percentage of its advertising revenue from transvestite prostitutes, drug businesses, and personal ads from people seeking perverted sex play can hardly be taken seriously.

"perverted sex play"? At least you're not judgmental.

[Cliffy]

I read the entire article really wanting to understand where the author is coming from but nothing. His biggest hit piece was that they put out some bad loans. So what. Who didn't. The author had to tell us that he worked at Olga's kitchen and lived in Detroit. Who cares. Is he trying to add "Detroit" cred to the article.

[Honky Tonk]

"perverted sex play"? At least you're not judgmental.

Maybe he's literate?

[d'oh]

I understand your point, but I'd consider being compared to Donald Trump to be an extreme insult.

Agreed,
Danny, with all due respect, Trump is a stooge, and was never any kind of important player, anywhere..