Quicken Loans To Move 4,000 Jobs Downtown

DETROIT-The latest savior for Downtown was announced Tuesday, as Quicken Loans Inc. chairman Dan Gilbert revealed that he is considering the purchase of land in Detroit to consolidate its many offices. Gilbert said during a press conference that the national Internet mortgage lender will bring about 4,000 employees to a new building, planned for either the former Hudson’s retail store space, or where the demolished Statler Hotel had sat on Grand Circus Park.

Through various incentives, including Renaissance Zone and Michigan Economic Growth Authority funds, the state and the city can provide the company with $200 million over the next 20 years, according to a company spokeswoman. The city has granted the company up to one year to select a site, followed by an 18- to 24-month time frame to arrange financing and develop site plans and renderings.

The spokeswoman tells GlobeSt.com that there are a number of offices, including a few in Livonia, that would be consolidated into the new Detroit location. The city has been pursuing Quicken to locate Downtown for more than two years. The company follows a few other major companies moving into the still-struggling city, including General Motors Corp. buying the 5.5-million-sf Renaissance Center and Peter Karmanos bringing Compuware into the jewel of the Necklace District.

“There’s a new energy in Downtown Detroit,” Gilbert says in a statement. “A thriving, central area where the threads can be tied can be tied between entrepreneurs who have creative ideas, and people with capital seeking to invest, is essential to our city’s future.”

The spokeswoman says the details of the new headquarters building for the company, which also includes the local Rock Financial mortgage company, are still unknown. The building may include some retail, she says, and will likely have space for other tenants. Also, Gilbert hopes to occupy both sites, she says. “Whichever parcel is selected, we’d still like to develop the other site, but it’s not clear what we’d have there,” the spokeswoman says.

Gilbert is also majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA basketball team. The company closed nearly $18 billion in home loan volume in 2006.