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Quicken Loans Employees Settle Into New Offices

More than 700 Quicken Loans employees will be settling into their new offices Monday in downtown Detroit.

Owner Dan Gilbert said the workers will be in the Compuware Building with many of them arriving after 7 a.m.

"People in there 20's and 30's and even older, they want to be in an urban core, they want to be
part of the action, they want to collaborate on ideas and companies, so we're going to try to create that environment for them so they don't leave here and go to Chicago or New York or anywhere else," Gilbert said.

"The energy's been building for a couple years, and to actually be here and go through our space and see the people... they're excited," Gilbert said.

Motown music played to welcome the employees and Detroit Mayor Dave Bing pitched the young professionals in the crowd.

"We need them, we need their intellect, we need their brains, we need their ideas, we need their money," Bing said.

"And hopefully, we'll be able to supply and support them with their needs, including living downtown, because they work down here, now we have to get people to start living downtown," Bing said.

The move has also spurred the building of new restaurants inside and surrounding the Compuware building as a result. C & K Mediterranean Grill and Catering has its grand opening Monday on Monroe Street.

"We feel like there's a synergy coming to downtown Detroit, new investments and we wanted to be a part of that synergy and new investments, and that's what brought us down here," said Ouse Gulli, C & K Mediterranean Grill owner.

Also just one block down Monroe Street at the Papa Romano's/Mr. Pita restaurant, manager Jennifer Berch  is all smiles at the mention of hundreds of Quicken Loans employees and new potential customers.

Berch made certain that Quicken Loans was welcomed with hundreds of menus and discount coupons just for them.

Jennifer Berch, manager of Papa Romano's/Mr. Pita restaurants on Monroe Street has seen jumps in business each time a new company moves into the area and anticpates the same with the arrival of the Quicken Loans employees.

"We sent over 1,700 menus, 1,700 coupons, and 1,700 specific coupons just for them," Berch said.

Inside the offices of Quicken Loans is a creative, avant-garde environment with neon paint colored walls and graffiti art on the floor to name just a couple of the features.

Graphics, installations and photography will be spread throughout the offices, and many of the materials and art come from local artists.

Melissa Price, the facilities director, described the new offices as a "work lounge," and she said the cubicle walls are no higher than 42 inches.

"We're a very collaborative culture, our teams actually requested no glass stackers at the top," said facilities director Melissa Price.

"If you wanted to have the higher walls we went with the glass to still keep it very open and very collaborative... Our team members had a say in every space," Price said.

Some people were initially concerned about the drive, one employee said, but once inside the workspace it's worth the commute.

(Copyright 2010 by WWJ Newsradio 950.  All Rights Reserved.)

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