2,500 jobs for Detroit to be announced next week

[DetroitMan]

2,500 jobs for Detroit to be announced next week
Daniel Duggan
Posted 9/14/2009 10:37 AM EDT on crainsdetroit.com
Word has it that a New Hampshire-based extended warranty company, General Warranty Services, is moving to Detroit's Central Business District with the deal to be announced next week.
All summer, real estate brokers have been talking about this company, which has reportedly looked at just about every building in the city with large blocks of space.
The deal will be announced during the Michigan Economic Growth Authority meeting a week from tomorrow, and the company will move into the Chase Tower near Detroit's Campus Martius. Companies getting tax breaks from the state aren't allowed to talk about their deals until they are signed, so they never confirm these deals, nor does the MEGA or it's parent body, the MEDC. My source on the information is close enough to the deal to have knowledge of it, but can't talk on-the-record.

This will be a boon for Detroit, with an immediate move of 450 jobs and the potential for up to 2,500 jobs in the next couple years.
The deal will fill up two 37,000-square-foot floors at Chase Tower. The 598,000-square-foot building is currently 51.2-percent occupied, according to data from Bethesda, MD-based CoStar Group.
If the deal is finally signed, it will end one of the most speculated moves of the last few months.
All summer, brokers have rumored that this company was moving to nearly every building that has vacant space.
Early speculation had them at the Comerica Tower, but then rumors had them at Chase Tower. Then, they were rumored to be looking at the old MGM Grand casino building. Then, they were rumored to be, yet again, at Chase Tower. Last week, a rumor went around that had them at 1001 Woodward, which apparently is not the case, according to a person affiliated with 1001.
So, we never had them looking at 150 West Jefferson or the Renaissance Center, and that's about it for the usual suspects with office space in Detroit.
If this deal is signed, it will be the second-largest deal of the year in Detroit at 70,000 square feet. The new jobs will be call center jobs, not bankers or lawyers, but it's another good sign for the city's CBD coming on the heels of the Quicken infusion of employees at the Compuware Building [[which marked the largest deal of the year.)