1100 New quicken jobs moving into old HQ for free press/ news

**SpartanDawg** · July-24-15, 06:28 PM

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...oreUserAgent=1

holy moly..... 55 MILLION dollar rehab on that building and over a thousand new jobs. How has nobody started a thread on this yet?

**emu steve** · July-24-15, 06:42 PM

I was thinking of starting it [[but didn't).

I was shocked to read of the over one thousand new jobs.

Are they mostly new jobs [[e.g., Rocket Fiber) or are many existing Quicken Loan jobs [[and where would they be coming from?).

**SpartanDawg** · July-24-15, 06:53 PM

The article says 1100 NEW quicken jobs

if that's really the case that's absolutely incredible. Downtown is blowing up.

**emu steve** · July-24-15, 07:21 PM

I remember the 'Rocket Fiber' thread, but how many employees now? Where are they now?

How many of the 1,000+ will be Rocket Fiber employees?

**hybridy** · July-24-15, 07:22 PM

"expected to become home to up to 1,100 new Quicken Loans Inc. employees" ....aka being design to accommodate 1100 people. hope they're not all smokers

**Hypestyles** · July-24-15, 07:36 PM

I guess you can apply for jobs @ the Quicken website. hmm.

**Mind field** · July-24-15, 07:45 PM

I think the article is misleading, i'm willing to bet these "new" jobs are just existing jobs moving from other downtown properties. The workers will be "new" to the building. But i'd LOVE to be proven wrong. Otherwise, wouldn't the article state where these new employees would be coming from?

**hybridy** · July-24-15, 07:58 PM

Originally Posted by Mind field

I think the article is misleading, i'm willing to bet these "new" jobs are just existing jobs moving from other downtown properties. The workers will be "new" to the building. But i'd LOVE to be proven wrong. Otherwise, wouldn't the article state where these new employees would be coming from?

i agree...so who backfills the cheese grater and compuware?

**401don** · July-24-15, 09:16 PM

No way they're new employees. The refinancing business has slowed considerably lately. I'm guessing Meridien wants more space in the Compuware Building.

**emu steve** · July-24-15, 10:09 PM

Originally Posted by Mind field

I think the article is misleading, i'm willing to bet these "new" jobs are just existing jobs moving from other downtown properties. The workers will be "new" to the building. But i'd LOVE to be proven wrong. Otherwise, wouldn't the article state where these new employees would be coming from?

I had been really wondering the same too. I think the article is as clear as mud.

I don't know if "Rocket Fiber" is 50, 100, 250, 500, etc. employees... today? a year from today?

**Dbest** · July-25-15, 07:44 AM

Originally Posted by hybridy

i agree...so who backfills the cheese grater and compuware?

A few unoccupied offices in those buildings will be far less noticeable than the currently empty Freep Building. The People Mover ride will look a bit different with this building back online. Such awesome news man!

**emu steve** · July-25-15, 08:45 AM

Originally Posted by Dbest

A few unoccupied offices in those buildings will be far less noticeable than the currently empty Freep Building. The People Mover ride will look a bit different with this building back online. Such awesome news man!

I agree completely with you.

Far better to have, for example, 10 buildings 80% full, then eight 95% and two sitting empty.

Empty buildings are the scourge of a city like Detroit.

**mwilbert** · July-25-15, 09:15 AM

Parsing out the exact meaning of news stories is often unrewarding because they aren't written or checked that well these days, but in the cited article, there is this statement:

The memo says that the rehabilitation and 1,225 new jobs are expected to create $919,000 in income tax revenue for the city in the first year, $10.2 million over 10 years and $38.8 million over 30 years.

Moving 1000 jobs from one part of downtown to another would not "create" any income tax revenue for the city. So unless this part is wrong, which is of course entirely possible, these would have to be jobs that were not in Detroit before.

**Dbest** · July-25-15, 09:27 AM

Originally Posted by emu steve

I agree completely with you.

Empty buildings are the scourge of a city like Detroit.

It's a double edged sword. The empty buildings have peaked interest over the years. The rampant abandonment makes for a very intriguing storyline, as we've seen with NYTimes and WSJ stories about Detroit. The image of total destruction has been so engrained that tourists/future residents will delighted at how functional some areas are. This whole thing is on the national news radar.

The question is, Will local developers expedite the inevitable "all in" plunge on Detroit or will they slowly test the market?

One other thing in Detroit's advantage, the downtown has central areas unrealized, the half century of disinvestment has prevented mega walled projects like in Chicago. Detroit's turnaround might be happening at just the right time in terms of intelligent planning for the future.

Chicago's downtown for example, is what it is for the most part. Detroit has the opportunity to take some of the best planning techniques,coast to coast, over the last 50 years and implement them to drive future growth. Patenting the M1 rail after the first phase of Portland's network seems logical. Atlanta, TB, and Cincy are currently building people movers. Detroit is ahead of the curve comparatively.

Maybe this post belongs in the day-dreaming thread?

**Jason** · July-25-15, 10:40 AM

That's great, I was worried that the building would sit empty.

**Gistok** · July-25-15, 11:13 AM

Originally Posted by Dbest

One other thing in Detroit's advantage, the downtown has central areas unrealized, the half century of disinvestment has prevented mega walled projects like in Chicago. Detroit's turnaround might be happening at just the right time in terms of intelligent planning for the future.

Another thing that the stagnant era of the latter 20th century did was preserve a lot of Detroit's movie palaces. Chicago lost some its' best theatres in that era... ditto for NYC, Philly, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Baltimore and many other cities.

We still have the United Artists and National Theatres mothballed [[a bit too late perhaps).... in case of future needs. Detroit's casinos should probably not have been allowed to build their own performance venues... it oversaturated the supply for now.

**Dbest** · July-25-15, 12:15 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

We still have the United Artists and National Theatres mothballed [[a bit too late perhaps).... in case of future needs.

I mentioned in another thread what a nice gesture it could be for, say, Ford Motor Corp to bankroll a restoration project of the National Theater. As you know they did something like this in Chicago.

It will take deep pockets as described by your past posts on this board regarding its condition.

**emu steve** · July-25-15, 01:08 PM

Getting back to Rocket Fiber:

Does anyone know what the status of this is? How many jobs? How many in a headquarters building? Timelines?

Is this company going to employ mostly technical and customer service personnel located in some out-of-the-way, [[maybe) window-less building, say in Corktown???

**bust** · July-25-15, 02:03 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

Detroit's casinos should probably not have been allowed to build their own performance venues... it oversaturated the supply for now.

I agree that was a terrible mistake. And casinos make bad neighbors. They're designed to captivate their captive customers, and not to share.

**Gistok** · July-25-15, 02:59 PM

Originally Posted by Dbest

I mentioned in another thread what a nice gesture it could be for, say, Ford Motor Corp to bankroll a restoration project of the National Theater. As you know they did something like this in Chicago.

It will take deep pockets as described by your past posts on this board regarding its condition.

That's kind of a sore spot with me.... not only did Ford buy the naming rights to Chicago's 3000 seat Oriental Theatre, but also theatre's in New York, Toronto and Vancouver. Then GM's Cadillac did likewise with Chicago's Palace Theatre.... now known as the Cadillac Palace Theatre.

The days of poor acoustics Ford Auditorium are long gone... it would be nice to have something more than buy a pair of lobby naming rights at the Detroit Opera House for Ford and GM.

**Dbest** · July-25-15, 03:20 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

That's kind of a sore spot with me.... not only did Ford buy the naming rights to Chicago's 3000 seat Oriental Theatre, but also theatre's in New York, Toronto and Vancouver. Then GM's Cadillac did likewise with Chicago's Palace Theatre.... now known as the Cadillac Palace Theatre.

The days of poor acoustics Ford Auditorium are long gone... it would be nice to have something more than buy a pair of lobby naming rights at the Detroit Opera House for Ford and GM.

Thanks for the clarification on the text I put in bold letters.

As for the naming rights possibility route you mentioned, The National is in a great spot in terms of exposure. The whole situation is embarrassing.

Gistok, you aren't the one who made the hand crafted sign attached to the plywood out front of the National?

If you, or someone you know did make that sign it was quite informative. Thanks to whoever...

**bust** · July-25-15, 03:34 PM

Originally Posted by Dbest

One other thing in Detroit's advantage, the downtown has central areas unrealized, the half century of disinvestment has prevented mega walled projects like in Chicago. Detroit's turnaround might be happening at just the right time in terms of intelligent planning for the future.

I agree with that. But of course Detroit still has plenty of its own examples of mega walled projects. Hopefully the new Red Wings arena won't be another. I'm encouraged the renderings show it surrounded by residences, hotels, and small-scale commercial activity -- and parking structures. ...Even while I don't expect much of that will materialize, except for the parking structures, and will believe it when I see the rest. Meanwhile it would be a huge improvement if some of the dozens of parking structures throughout downtown were retrofitted with street level retail. There are so many dead zones, even in prime areas, such as from Jefferson to Congress, Woodward to Brush. Yes, let's learn from past mistakes!