Quote Originally Posted by Mackinaw View Post
K'saurus, agreed that Bedrock's marketing is good and ambitions high. Bedrock is a city-building landlord, while Apop is garden-variety at best. Disagreed that FN is somehow head and shoulders above location-wise...Penobscot is like 100' from Campus Martius and perfectly located on Griswold St. Can't beat either location-- both are prestigious, but as you say, only one is managed well.

Not sure how you're deducing the vacancy numbers from their website. I don't see it.

It is very possible that notable portions of FN are off the market-- i.e. under legitimate renovation. While I'd love to know how much, I don't think it's fraudulent or anything to say that x percentage of your leasable space is occupied.

...as to Jos A Bank and the Ren Cen, while I hate to see emptiness in the Wintergarden, JABank is just not a great store. Frankly, a Mens Warehouse would be a step up for those of modest means, and Brooks Brothers would be a step up for the executives. JABank was hitting an unhappy, unstylish middle and I am not surprised if their overall business is declining. Either of those aforementioned other stores could be a hit downtown, and I'd seek them out if I were a landlord.
Reasonable point on the Penobscot. It's not right on the park, but it's close.

As for the vacancy numbers, Bedrock's website lists office availabilities of 2,414, 4,950, and 5,220 square feet [[total: 12,584). The FN is approximately 800,000 square feet, based on a quick Google search. So that's not a very high vacancy percentage.

Now, some of it could be under renovation, but, again judging by the rest of their website, which lists space that is obviously under renovation [[i.e. you can see the construction lights and unfinished walls and ceilings through the windows) as available, I don't think that's the case with the FN, or at least not a large portion of it. Here's an example - 1505 Woodward: http://www.bedrockmgt.com/properties...d=40&suite=100

That building is a construction site - it's completely gutted. And yet Suites 100-800 are all listed as "available." Gilbert may do things like turn on the lights in vacant or under-renovation space to make the city look brighter, but he isn't lying about the space he has available or not available.

Finally, on Jos. A Bank's, I really think the problem is that the Ren Cen is just an awful place to be a retailer. The Wintergarden is pretty, but the upper floors are dead ends, which is horrible retail design. Restaurants, fast food, and convenience stores like CVS work because of the many office workers and hotel guests, but people don't go to the Ren Cen to shop.

I do think Jos. A Bank could work downtown on an actual storefront on the street, although probably only somewhere that already gets a lot of a foot traffic. The First National Building's retail [[which does have quite a bit of vacancy) might be a good spot.