Does anyone else feel the same way?

I'll bet you ten bucks right now its stays in wayne county, MI

 

This Quicken Loans situation is a little different. Before they even open their planned office here, they announce they might consider Cleveland as a possibility for a relocated HQ.

 

huh?

 

You have Dan Gilbert saying great things, and of course he is an owner of the Cavs. 

 

Peter Karmanos, owner of the Carolina Hurricanes. HQ in detroit

Bill Davidson, owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning. HQ in detroit

Ralph Wilson, owner of the bills, never moved his operations out of detroit, and still lives there.

 

And for spending one day in detroit over the last six years, you certainly are quick to point out how much better cleveland is, than detroit. Point is, don't make this a, cleveland is better than....... thread just for the sake of boosterism

I changed the thread name to reflect the change in news/discussion topics relating to this development.

I was excited to here this on the radio this morning. I read the PD article online and then looked in the forum here.

Thanks KJP, for posting the Detroit articles.

It's nice to get the other perspective.

Here is an article from the PD

 

Could Quicken come here?

Chairman considering move that would bring 3,500 jobs

Friday, March 24, 2006

Teresa Dixon Murray and Joe Guillen

Plain Dealer Reporters

Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert is dangling the prospect of Cleveland as a potential site for a new national headquarters for his 3,500-employee Quicken Loans.

 

In announcing the April 3 opening of a mortgage office with 300 to 350 new $85,000-a-year jobs in Tower City Center, Gilbert on Thursday also said he wants to build a new national headquarters to replace his spread-out operations in Livonia, Mich., a Detroit suburb. The office leases there end in 2009. While that might seem a long time off, if the company is going to build, it needs to get started in the next year or so.

 

More at cleveland.com http://www.cleveland.com

Or it sounds like an off-the-cuff question that elicited a polite response he knew could double as pressure.

 

Nevertheless, it would be pretty great to have them come here.  Can't hurt to see if it's worth giving a serious look.

I worry that it won't happen, and that then the media will paint this as a major defeat for the region, instead of accepting the victory of 350 jobs, and the possibility of more from a fast growing company.

I agree that we don't need to get our hopes up about this one.  We should celebrate the addition of new jobs over the next few years and keep plugging away at growing industry from within our own borders.  If we can pull existing businesses from other cities and regions because we are such an attractive place to do business, great!  But I wouldn't want to do it at the expense of subsidies and incentives that could jeopardize our attempts to grow capacity from within.

 

Also, thanks, KJP, for that perspective from Detroit!

^Agreed, because it probably won't happen and the media probably will paint it that way. 

 

My recommendation to the mayor, city, and eco development orgs. ("Cleveland") would be to focus on getting Quicken to double or triple the size of the new center over the next few years, i.e. reach higher than 350 jobs to maybe 1000 jobs.  If they're hiring 200 a month, why can't they hire more than 15 to 20 of those here.  (The 200 is actually unsustainable anyway with the mortgage slowdown over the next few years). Or convince them to outsource their processing facilities or some other backoffice functions here like Chase did.  Bite off a smaller chunk and the likelihood of success is much more possible. 

 

That being said, if Cleveland's sense is that Quicken is being serious, then sure, go for the whole thing.

 

"It would be huge," said Ken Silliman, the mayor's chief of staff. But he said the city was happy for now with the new loan center and its 300 jobs.

 

"We are taking one bit of good news at a time."

 

 

I'm a little concerned with the tepid response. I know it's just one comment and could be easily disregarded, but it seems that a lot of these deals are won or lost by the degree of early engagement. I'm hoping, behind the scenes at city hall, some real petitioning gets made. After all, if their lease is up in 2009 in Detroit, that really isn't all that far away.

 

If we can pull existing businesses from other cities and regions because we are such an attractive place to do business, great!  But I wouldn't want to do it at the expense of subsidies and incentives that could jeopardize our attempts to grow capacity from within.

 

I agree. But I think if their is active and positive engagement with Gilbert from the onset--being accommodating  but not giving away the farm--subsidies and incentives might not have to be offered to the extend it would damage local business interests. Since I feel our real estate prices can compete with Detroit or any other mid-sized city (at least in the ball park), it may well come down to how fully and early on we embrace Quicken. A little bit of sugar on purely a human relation level can make so much difference. That's why I want someone at the mayor's office, even if it's too early for courting on an official level, to maybe send a fruit basket or some pierogies.  :-D

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060508/SUB/60506001/1033

 

Quicken offered 2 Detroit sites for HQ

 

By Robert Ankeny

 

6:00 am, May 8, 2006

 

 

Quicken Loans/Rock Financial Inc. has been offered at least two downtown sites for a new headquarters office building, Detroit’s development czar George Jackson said last week.

 

One site is above the Premier Garage on the site of the former J.L. Hudson’s store. The Premier is an underground parking structure with footings set for construction of a high-rise building.

 

The other is on Grand Circus Park, between Washington Boulevard and Bagley Street, site of the former Statler Hilton Hotel, which was razed last year.

 

 

I was hoping they were serious about considering Cleveland. Guess not.

 

Crains lists the company with $470 million in revenue for 2004.

 

That seems low. I thought they were bigger than that.

No surprise here.  I guess I'd be happy to hear that Detroit got the offices, rather than some exurban office park...

Article Removed

not that i enjoy the canibalization of the midwest, but you'd think that cleveland would at least pull together a package....

Article Removed

Dan, don't tease us. 600 total would be fantastic.

Ah, I guess that's why there were balloons and people everywhere today while heading into my gym (Rezults, right next door to them). Too bad for me I missed the Cavs dancers.

 

It would not shock me if they expanded -- those employees the hella motivated, type A+++ personality type. I get this just from hearing them talk in the elevators and watching the extremely high energy (and yes, perhaps slightly cheesy) meetings in the glass walled conference that faces our treadmills. Clearly these folks are doing a hell of a job, and it seems only natural to build on a good thing.

 

 

wait, what building are these folks in?

The MK Ferguson Plaza. Its the old post office building on Prospect next to the black state office building.

Yep.. Accessible from Tower City by walking down that hallway that shoots off between Godiva and Charlotte Russe.

way cool.  MK Ferguson is a great building.

I don't think any of us were holding our breath, but its pretty clear he wont be moving the HQ to cleveland.

 

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070606/COL06/706060418

 

Detroit Free Press

 

Cavaliers' owner sticks with Michigan

June 6, 2007

 

BY TOM WALSH

 

FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

 

There's good news about the Cleveland Cavaliers bouncing the Detroit Pistons out of the National Basketball Association playoffs.

 

It's great for marketing, visibility and talent recruitment at Quicken Loans and Rock Financial, the Livonia-based mortgage firms founded by metro Detroit native Dan Gilbert, who spent part of his Quicken/Rock fortune to buy the Cavs franchise in March 2005.

 

And despite Cleveland going totally gaga over the Cavs this year, Gilbert has no intention of moving the Quicken/Rock headquarters and its 5,000 employees to Cleveland, he told the Free Press in an interview Tuesday.

 

^

I just think its great that their local office may have up to 600 people instead of the 300 that was originally forecasted. Has Quicken settled on a site in Detroit yet?

^

I just think its great that their local office may have up to 600 people instead of the 300 that was originally forecasted. Has Quicken settled on a site in Detroit yet?

 

Wollybear...did you read the post?  :?  The below was in the upper portion of the article.

 

Gilbert is indeed looking for a new headquarters site to accommodate his growing mortgage business, but look for it to remain in southeast Michigan. He said Tuesday that he expects to choose a location -- sites in Detroit and various suburbs have been studied -- within the next 60 days.