Quicken Loans to buy Chase Tower downtown

**downtownguy** · April-07-11, 06:56 AM

Cheese, anyone?

DETROIT [[AP) – Quicken Loans is ready to close the deal on more space in downtown Detroit.
An announcement from the company’s founder Dan Gilbert is expected Thursday on their plans for the Chase Tower. Gilbert reportedly said that Quicken will have more than 500,000 square feet of office space in the Chase building, which he says will become home to about 2000 of their employees from the company’s Livonia location. He says the space will also be used for retail.
Last year Quicken made its first move near downtown’s Campus Martius Park taking its corporate headquarters and 1700 workers to the Compuware building.
[[Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

I don't see anything in the daily papers yet. Wasn't he supposed to be bringing more than 2000 people downtown?

**stinkytofu** · April-07-11, 07:44 AM

I could be wrong here, but I think they already have 1,700 downtown...and this would be to bring an additional 2,000 down from Livonia. I am curious about what their long term plans are since they'd now have space in the Compuware Building, Chase Building, and Madison Building.

**downtownguy** · April-07-11, 08:02 AM

The AP story refers to the 1,700 already here and it would make sense to consolidate everybody into one building, if possible. I have no idea how many people 500,000 square feet can accommodate. But the question is, are these 2,000 employees the AP refers to additional employees?

**tkelly1986** · April-07-11, 08:14 AM

What about the Chase employees? Are they staying? How many of them still exist? Ideally, they could take the place of Comerica in 1 Woodward [[formerly Comerica Tower) if forced to move out. Nevertheless, lets hope this is not a zero sum game and the Chase folks move to the suburbs.

**1953** · April-07-11, 08:17 AM

Maybe they will put a new facade on that building...I never much cared for it.

**Bham1982** · April-07-11, 08:19 AM

Excellent news. This building has large floorplates, and should work well.

Some of the other buildings previously rumored for Quicken have small floorplates, which is a no-no for this type of company. They need a modern building with big open floorplates.

Chase doesn't have much of a presence in the building, so it makes sense that they're selling. Anyone know where they're going?

**stinkytofu** · April-07-11, 08:21 AM

Originally Posted by tkelly1986

What about the Chase employees? Are they staying? How many of them still exist? Ideally, they could take the place of Comerica in 1 Woodward [[formerly Comerica Tower) if forced to move out. Nevertheless, lets hope this is not a zero sum game and the Chase folks move to the suburbs.

Don't know the exact number, but Chase occupies no more than 50% of the building. At least two floors are vacant.

**esp1986** · April-07-11, 08:24 AM

It says retail... where? there is no space for retail in the building... does this mean he will be renovating some of the building??

**Packman41** · April-07-11, 08:58 AM

Originally Posted by downtownguy

I have no idea how many people 500,000 square feet can accommodate.

Rough rule of thumb is 4 people for every 1000 SF of space. Therefore, 2000 people.

**scubashelley** · April-07-11, 09:00 AM

The building hasn't been owned by Chase for several years [[5+.) They did just bring a small number of employees from a site out in Belleville but aside from the branch on the mezzanine an few other departments I would say there are less than 100 Chase employees there, and the majority of them are in space that Quicken wouldn't want to occupy as office space. The real question is where are they going to put them for parking. Chase employees use Comerica's parking garage which [[at least as of a year ago) was also occupied by county employees from the Guardian building.

**esp1986** · April-07-11, 09:30 AM

Originally Posted by scubashelley

The building hasn't been owned by Chase for several years [[5+.) They did just bring a small number of employees from a site out in Belleville but aside from the branch on the mezzanine an few other departments I would say there are less than 100 Chase employees there, and the majority of them are in space that Quicken wouldn't want to occupy as office space. The real question is where are they going to put them for parking. Chase employees use Comerica's parking garage which [[at least as of a year ago) was also occupied by county employees from the Guardian building.

Read here http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...ontrol-detroit the answer to the parking question.

**tkelly1986** · April-07-11, 10:03 AM

If Chase only has about 100 peopl ein that building, where is Chase's "regional" HQ? Or better yet, where do the majority of Chase employees work in the region?

**Danny** · April-07-11, 10:06 AM

Good for them. Downtown Detroit could need some businesses and jobs to fill up the partially vacant buildings.

**Packman41** · April-07-11, 10:40 AM

Originally Posted by Danny

Good for them. Downtown Detroit could need some businesses and jobs to fill up the partially vacant buildings.

Yes, jobs from Livonia to Detroit. What $200,000,000 in incentives will buy you.

From Louis Aguliar of the Detroit News:
"Quicken's relocation from suburban Livonia is one of the most anticipated commercial real estate moves for downtown Detroit in the past few years. It's expected to provide a dramatic boost to the burgeoning residential and retail sectors in the city's core. The city and state put together more than $200 million in incentives over 20 years to lure Quicken...."

**iheartthed** · April-07-11, 11:14 AM

Originally Posted by tkelly1986

If Chase only has about 100 peopl ein that building, where is Chase's "regional" HQ? Or better yet, where do the majority of Chase employees work in the region?

That is Chase's regional HQ.

**scubashelley** · April-07-11, 11:19 AM

It isn't really their regional HQ, the majority of the employees there do a non-corporate job. There are offices in Oakland County, there's a vault/processing center out in Grand Rapids, there used to be a very large facility out in Belleville but it's down to bare bones and is mostly a sever farm now. Chase has the majority of it's regional offices in Chicago from the Bank One days.

**iheartthed** · April-07-11, 11:20 AM

Originally Posted by scubashelley

It isn't really their regional HQ, the majority of the employees there do a non-corporate job. There are offices in Oakland County, there's a vault/processing center out in Grand Rapids, there used to be a very large facility out in Belleville but it's down to bare bones and is mostly a sever farm now. Chase has the majority of it's regional offices in Chicago from the Bank One days.

Oh okay. I don't know exactly what is done there but the branches here in NYC list the Chase Tower address as the regional office for Michigan.

**Dan** · April-07-11, 12:03 PM

Does anyone have interior photos? I have walked by a million times, but never really looked into the lobby. This is one of those buildings that blends and disappears into my memory. I know know it exists, but never care enough to pay attention...

**swingline** · April-07-11, 12:51 PM

Originally Posted by Dan

Does anyone have interior photos? I have walked by a million times, but never really looked into the lobby. This is one of those buildings that blends and disappears into my memory. I know know it exists, but never care enough to pay attention...

At one time the multi-story lobby projected as a pretty cool mid-century modern example of a monumental banking hall. Lots of travertine and jet-age minimalism. This has been diluted over the years with the need for security enhancements, accomodation for technology, elimination of escalators, etc. It's still a handsome public space though. Not sure what kind of retail use would work. It would require some pretty expensive renovations. Where would the Chase branch go? It's a pretty big one and they no doubt need to have a CBD presence other than buried in the Renaissance Center. Perhaps the vacant banking space at 1001 Woodward.

**stinkytofu** · April-07-11, 12:54 PM

I stopped by there at lunch today to do some banking...

In regards to retail, from my untrained eye, it seems pretty easy for them to put that in on ground level. The lobby itself is wider than it needs be and the side fronting Woodward could easily be pushed out to create some space.

**esp1986** · April-07-11, 12:56 PM

Originally Posted by Packman41

Yes, jobs from Livonia to Detroit. What $200,000,000 in incentives will buy you.

From Louis Aguliar of the Detroit News:
"Quicken's relocation from suburban Livonia is one of the most anticipated commercial real estate moves for downtown Detroit in the past few years. It's expected to provide a dramatic boost to the burgeoning residential and retail sectors in the city's core. The city and state put together more than $200 million in incentives over 20 years to lure Quicken...."

The incentives were to BUILD a headquarters. They don't get much for renting. I believe less than $20M.

**stinkytofu** · April-07-11, 12:59 PM

I'm guessing Gilbert did this as well so he could get his logo on a building right in the heart of downtown - even if his people were spread out.

**Gistok** · April-07-11, 01:08 PM

Ah... the "Cheese Grater" gets a new owner. From what I read about a year ago Chase had occupied 8 of the 14 floors of the building. Don't remember the source though.

My only memories of the ground floor of the former NBD "Building" was the wonderful rare coin and currency museum they had there... which they later moved to the RenCen, and eventually sold off [[a sad loss for Detroit).

The building first floor lobby area will not make for a lot of retail space, and what space is there will likely not be very visible from the outside. This is also the case with the Guardian Building... but unlike the Guardian Building... there's little of interest in the Chase "Tower" to lure you inside.

I'm curious to know where the Chase employees will be moving to?

**stinkytofu** · April-07-11, 01:31 PM

I'd love to see them move right across the street to the Comerica Building considering Comerica has so many employees moving to the building on Lafayette.