However, Paul Mans of Covisint said there has been some construction delays."Our building requires a lot of bandwidth, a lot of pipes out to theInternet for us to pass data through," Mans told GlobeSt.com. "It takes thetelephone company quite a while to get those things installed. The norm isabout six months on these types of projects."

He said the delay could also be attributed to the cold Detroit weather,which has been in the single digits at times in the last few weeks.Originally the automotive supply firm were to take four floors at OaklandTowne Square in Southfield. However, a tax abatement plan did not work out,Mans said.

"We were looking at a number of places, and those selling us space were alittle overzealous with the press. At one time we were said to be movinginto about three locations," he said. He also noted that the company wanted to move into Towne Square, but the tax incentivedid not materialize.

That's fine, Mans said, because the new location is more suited to the needsof an Internet firm. A technology, warehouse-type facility is better suitedto the wiring and other infrastructure needs for a high-speed bandwidthoperation, according to Mans."This space is a little more open, and very easy to wire," he said.

Their current building, the Maccabees Center in Southfield, is too old anoffice building for new hi-tech requirements, Mans said. Also, the companyhopes to save a lot of money on lease payments."Almost every time we were going to do wiring here, it would become anold-building problem," Mans said. "Also, our current location is in ahigh-rent part of Southfield, in the Town Center area. Moving from here toan industrial area will save some money."

Mans said he couldn't discus the details of the lease rates, or the new taxabatement the company has received for the new location.The company is a global solutions provider partnering with the automotiveindustry. Its focus is to improve the effectiveness of mission-criticalprocesses such as collaborative product development, procurement and supplychain management, by using online ordering.

Covisint was founded by DaimlerChrysler, Ford, General Motors, Nissan,Renault, Commerce One and Oracle. Since its inception, PSA Peugeot Citronhas also joined the initiative.The company offices in Amsterdam, Tokyo as well as Southfield.