Covisint Picks Southfield For World HQ

Covisint expects to relocate to its new offices in early 2003.

There had been rumors the company was considering 500 Tower at the Renaissance Center building in Downtown Detroit.

"Both the city of Detroit and the city of Southfield have many strengths," says Kevin W. English, chairman, CEO and president, Covisint. "We chose Southfield for a number of reasons, particularly its geographically central location, which makes it ideal for our OEM and supplier customers."

Company spokesman Dan Jankowski tells GlobeSt.com the firm plans to lease four floors of the new building, about 80,000 sf to 100,000 sf.

"We'll have options to expand if necessary," he says.

Jankowski notes the Detroit site was no less desirable.

"There's no statement about Detroit here," he adds. "We tried to take in all different ideas, but Southfield seemed to be the best fit."

The company considered sites in Michigan and several other states. Last November, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. offered Covisint a 20-year incentive package valued up to $59 million to secure the company's choice of Southeastern Michigan for its world headquarters.

Both the cities of Detroit and Southfield pledged local tax incentives to attract the company to their communities.

The company is a global solutions provider partnering with the automotive industry. Its focus is to improve the effectiveness of mission-critical processes such as collaborative product development, procurement and supply chain management, by using online ordering.

Covisint was founded by DaimlerChrysler, Ford, General Motors, Nissan, Renault, Commerce One and Oracle. Since its inception, PSA Peugeot Citroën has also joined the initiative.

The company has headquarters in Amsterdam, Tokyo as well as Southfield.