Quicken Loans Closes Deal On Detroit Building
DETROIT (AP) - Online retail mortgage lender Quicken Loans is keeping to its promise to help Detroit's revitalization by closing on the purchase of a 14-story, 505,000-square-foot office building downtown, company officials said Thursday.
The purchase price of the Chase Tower was not released, but Quicken founder and chairman Dan Gilbert said in a statement that about 4,000 of the company's employees will work downtown when the company moves into the building and the recently acquired Madison Theatre Building.
Quicken moved its corporate headquarters and 1,700 workers to the Compuware building near Campus Martius downtown last year. That building, the Chase Tower and Madison building are within walking distance of one another. The company also finalized the purchase of a 1,095-space parking garage two blocks from the Chase Tower.
``These are two additional major steps in realizing the vision of creating one of the most interesting, intriguing and electrifying urban based, downtown business districts in the entire country,'' Gilbert said. ``One where high-tech, web-based, entrepreneurial and service companies will flourish, attract and retain the younger generations who are increasingly responsible for creating and operating the most lively and impactful businesses in our entire economy.''
Gilbert, who also owns the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers, called the section of Woodward Avenue adjacent to Campus Martius ``Webward Avenue'' and wants other companies to join Quicken and software developer Compuware Corp. downtown.
``That's our thing,'' he told The Associated Press on Wednesday. ``Those dozers out there in the suburbs - I think it's time they wake up. They are going to lose opportunities in their own back yard.''
He hopes to fill available space in the Chase Tower with major retail tenants.
``We have to be a destination,'' Gilbert told the AP. ``We're about to be in flat-out recruiting mode for large tenants. They have knocked on our doors without us even asking.''
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. will continue occupying parts of the Chase Tower, while some current vacant space is being allocated for several midsize to large companies interested in relocating to the business district.
``Detroit is open for business,'' Mayor Dave Bing said in a statement. ``This is a significant investment and another step forward as we work to attract businesses and create jobs in Detroit.''
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
