Another move downtown thanks to Dan Gilbert

[bailey]

Ok, so when the suburbs "poached" from Detroit the past 40 years it was progress.

Now when the ctiy does the same thing in return it's robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Really, some people around here are something else.

So two wrongs make a right? Turnabout is fairplay?

I'm all for Gilbert, Karmanos...etc moving back to downtown. But, no matter which direction they are heading when they cross 8 mile, the issue remains the same. nothing fills the hundreds of thousands of square feet left when these companies decamp.

[Dag]

So two wrongs make a right? Turnabout is fairplay?

I'm all for Gilbert, Karmanos...etc moving back to downtown. But, no matter which direction they are heading when they cross 8 mile, the issue remains the same. nothing fills the hundreds of thousands of square feet left when these companies decamp.

Bailey, while that has some degree of truth that is not the case here. We are seeing a company that will be adding an additional 200 employees to their payroll with the move. This likely means that they would have had to move locations and leave their existing location vacant.

So, we are not really seeing an equitable swamp in vacancies, rather a net decrease in vacancy percentage if you look at the region as a whole.

[bartock]

Bailey, while that has some degree of truth that is not the case here. We are seeing a company that will be adding an additional 200 employees to their payroll with the move. This likely means that they would have had to move locations and leave their existing location vacant.

So, we are not really seeing an equitable swamp in vacancies, rather a net decrease in vacancy percentage if you look at the region as a whole.

Good points.

[cramerro]

Bailey, while that has some degree of truth that is not the case here. We are seeing a company that will be adding an additional 200 employees to their payroll with the move. This likely means that they would have had to move locations and leave their existing location vacant.

So, we are not really seeing an equitable swamp in vacancies, rather a net decrease in vacancy percentage if you look at the region as a whole.

I think this is a key point in this issue. There is a third scenario [[other than downtown or stay where they are) that would likely have occured if they didn't move downtown, which is that they move to a new, greener, cleaner, and distant suburb where they once again get cheap, virgin land to build an amazing corporate campus. The benefits of thier move downtown are multi-fold, including the re-use of buildings that otherwise would have stayed vacant, and the multiplier is that it will increase the momentum for other firms from everywhere to want to occupy space downtown. That's the synergy that Gilbert is striving for, and certainly has walked to walk thus far.

[Detroitej72]

So two wrongs make a right? Turnabout is fairplay?.

Call it correcting a wrong that was started about 40 years ago.

[ferntruth]

Call it correcting a wrong that was started about 40 years ago.

Yes, because businesses have no right to decide where to locate. We'll tell them where to locate instead.

[Detroitej72]

Yes, because businesses have no right to decide where to locate. We'll tell them where to locate instead.

So tell me, who is forcing Dan Gilbert and the others to move downtown?

[Scottathew]

So tell me, who is forcing Dan Gilbert and the others to move downtown?

HAHAHA.

Intellectual check-mate!


Some people can't stand that folks like Gilbert, Karmanos, BCSM, DTE, Galaxie, and a list the keeps growing want to come to Downtown Detroit.

Folks were free to move to the suburbs.

But guess what, they're free to move back into the city too, and that's what they want to do. Detroit is coming back, baby!

[Detroitej72]

HAHAHA.

Intellectual check-mate!


Some people can't stand that folks like Gilbert, Karmanos, BCSM, DTE, Galaxie, and a list the keeps growing want to come to Downtown Detroit.!

It seems the poster is part of those anti-Detroit, suburbs are bliss, crime never happens outside of Detroit crowd, as evident by most of her post's.

Folks were free to move to the suburbs.

But guess what, they're free to move back into the city too, and that's what they want to do. Detroit is coming back, baby!

This is what scares folks who tend to lean to the right, people like the tea-bagger crowd.

[erikd]

So two wrongs make a right? Turnabout is fairplay?

I'm all for Gilbert, Karmanos...etc moving back to downtown. But, no matter which direction they are heading when they cross 8 mile, the issue remains the same. nothing fills the hundreds of thousands of square feet left when these companies decamp.

As Dag pointed out, this specific example isn't about poaching or turnabout, but a simple matter of an expanding company that needs to find more space, and simply choosing downtown over the other options. There is nothing nefarious about this situation, and the same goes for most of the other corporate relocations into downtown in recent years.

IIRC, the Compuware move to downtown was the result of Compuware growing to a point where it made more sense to consolidate their employees into a single building that they owned outright, instead of continuing to rent. The Quicken move was the result of the same situation, as is the recent BCBS downtown consolidation.

On the other hand, after GM bought the RenCen, Ford took the opportunity to relocate and consolidate their downtown employees to Dearborn, and then a few years later, Ford essentially forced J. Walter Thompson to move out of downtown for a Dearborn location near the Glass House. As a Detroiter, I didn't want to see JWT leave downtown for Dearborn, but it wasn't a matter of suburban poaching or anti-Detroit scheming, but rather a common sense business consolidation.

Metro Detroiters need to become less obsessed with city/suburb bickering and infighting, and more focused on working together to create a better region for all.

[English]

Metro Detroiters need to become less obsessed with city/suburb bickering and infighting, and more focused on working together to create a better region for all.

And there it is.

[Detroitdave]

So two wrongs make a right? Turnabout is fairplay?

I'm all for Gilbert, Karmanos...etc moving back to downtown. But, no matter which direction they are heading when they cross 8 mile, the issue remains the same. nothing fills the hundreds of thousands of square feet left when these companies decamp.

I get what you are saying and I agree the entire region of SE Michigan needs to grow ,however, Detroit has been dealing with MILLIONS of square feet ,left empty when 1,000's of companies left over last 50 years. And those companies that left, weren't "clean" corporate parks ,with easy to rebuild and resale Detroit got stuck with "dirty" factories I.e the packard plant,.. btw how does a company that went out of business 60+ years ago leave a factory a mess and no one in the city feels a need to clean it up ???? and this has happen time and time again in the City Limits of Detroit ?
This rarely happen in any other big city.

Most moved ,for "safety", or better schools,nice new house in new suburbs , and that worked well for the last 50+ years !

I'm sure the safe suburbs i.e Troy, Novi, F.H. Livonia , S.H. Allen Park , Dearborn, Wyandotte, ect will do just fine , they've sold the safe city, better schools, ... well the house's aren't so new anymore and "new" cities are started to show their age . People are realizing when they travel that "hey Detroit, was once a great city and could be again , why should I keep traveling and making all these other cities great"

We can find what is working here i.e sports teams , festivals , riverwalk, eastern market ,museums ect and make great. When other folks visit they tell me " Wow Detroit is not as bad as everyone is saying and it gets a bad rap" I'm cautiously optimistic, but I think the old girl still has some life left in her.
I'm not ready to pull the pull just yet.

some of Detroit's harshest critics are the same folks who left for suburbs , however the next generation is thinking for themselves "some" are whiling to give Detroit another look.

There is a LONGGGGGG way to go , but What's good for Detroit is good for Michigan , and once Everyone in S.E Michigan works together Detroit will once again be a great city !