Detroit (WWJ) -- Quicken Loans Inc. plans to relocate its corporate offices and 4,000 jobs from Livonia to downtown Detroit, a move the online mortgage company hopes will help revive downtown by attracting housing, stores and other businesses.
With about 100 people attending a news conference featuring Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Quicken Chairman Dan Gilbert and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, Kilpatrick welcomed Quicken Loans to the city. The mayor said Gilbert is leading the next movement in Detroit.
Quicken has one year to consider two possible headquarters sites and 18 months to two years more to develop a construction plan. The two sites are the Hudson block site and the Statler site.
WWJ's Florence Walton reports Gilbert said both sites could be developed.
"It's our intent to not only build one maybe for a headquarters, but is there a possibility of putting on the other one that we don't use a technology center, incubator center, a place where young companies, early stage companies can share resources and share each others minds most importantly," Gilbert said.
Gilbert said he will compensate his employees for city income taxes they'll have to pay and for parking.
Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm called the deal a "fantastic'' one for Detroit.
"Having it go to Detroit will have a phenomenal ripple effect,'' she said. "It's not just symbolic. It's a real boost to the city and certainly to the state.''
Quicken's move comes on the heels of other recent high-profile Detroit development over the past decade, including the opening of three casinos, baseball's Comerica Park, football's Ford Field, and the world headquarters of software company Compuware Corp.
"This isn't just about us saying, `Let's just go to Detroit because it's right thing to do.' We do think it is the right thing to do, but we also think it's the smart thing to do,'' said Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert.
Quicken Loans is paperless every transaction is processed electronically in an office where a vast computer network handles 175,000 phone calls and 2.4 million internal e-mails each day.
Forbes magazine says Gilbert is worth about $1.2 billion. He turned a $5,000 investment in the mid-1980s into an online mortgage empire and bought the Cleveland Cavaliers for $375 million in early 2005. Quicken Loans includes Michigan mortgage company Rock Financial.
Others in attendance praised Gilbert.
"We think this is terrific news. As you know, we've always been strong supporters of -- and investors in -- Detroit, and we're excited that Dan Gilbert is planning to move Quicken's Headquarters to downtown. This move will bring significant jobs and investment and we look forward to working with them going forward. We hope other businesses will view this as positive and look at Detroit for their own future investment," Christopher Ilitch, President & CEO, Ilitch Holdings, Inc. said in a statement.
Compuware Chairman Peter Karmanos told WWJ's Florence Walton everything has been positive since his move to Campus Martius in 2003.
Economic development officials in Detroit think the move by Quicken Loans to the city will spur other development.
"We think this will be really beneficial as it relates to spin off activity, both entertainment, residential, as well as retail and that's why we went after Quicken with such tenacity," George Jackson, president & CEO of the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation and chief Development Officer for Detroit said in a live interview on WWJ.
Retail analyst Fred Marx says because of the Quicken move retail development will soon follow. But, Marx said you should expect smaller stores like GAP-type of stores to be the first to move into the city.
