Industry executives have struggled to find positives to mentionwhen talking about Detroit's woes, which include a hurtingautomotive industry that may see a merger between giants GeneralMotors and Chrysler, as well as a credit crunch that put a hold oneven the ambitious growth plans. "We've experienced a lot of pain,"says Fred Liesveld, EVP and managing director of the Detroit officeof Grubb & Ellis. "But what doesn't kill you makes youstronger, right? For the most part, Detroit businesses were alreadyleaner and wiser, having been hit early by this crisis. We'lleventually find our legs."

All three of the main counties in the Detroit area: Wayne,Oakland and Macomb, all have headquarters or main offices of theBig Three automakers, and thus have suffered due to low salesnumbers. However, Ann Arbor has never been dependent on theautomotive industry, and its popularity showed the only instance ofactivity in the third quarter. For example, an office market reportby Grubb & Ellis showed the city's Northeast section absorbedalmost 140,000 sf, by far the highest in the region. Con-WayFreight consolidated and relocated into about 136,000 sf in theEarhart Corporate Center in this submarket.

Ann Arbor also has the best showing with multifamily units, withonly about 3% vacant, where the local market is at around 6.5%vacant. "Active investors will likely target the safety locationssuch as Ann Arbor," said Steven Chaben, regional manager of theDetroit office of Marcus & Millichap, "where strong demand forstudent housing continues to support the lowest average vacancyrate in the metro." Student housing is rich in the area, accordingto a third quarter report by Chaben's company.