The Detroit Free Press picked up on Dan Gilbert's Cleveland musings on Friday, without adding much information. But the FP piece also pointed to its own interview the day before with Peter Karmanos, the CEO of Compuware, which is headquartered in downtown Detroit:
Karmanos has been trying to talk Gilbert, the founder of Quicken Loans and Rock Financial (and owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers) into moving his headquarters and 3,500 workers from Livonia and other suburbs to downtown Detroit.Sound familiar?
"I've talked his ear off. We only have a few more shots. Dan Gilbert, myself, a few other people whose parents had businesses here, were actually born and raised in Detroit. ...
"So Dan has an affinity for the city that stretches beyond his business instincts. He's one of the last of the Mohicans because that situation doesn't exist much anymore. I would like very much to see them move that company down here.
"Because I think if they did that, as vibrant a place as they are, it would really, really resonate."
Livonia is twenty miles west of downtown Detroit -- just a little farther than from Mayfield to Public Square. Quicken Loan's 1,300 non-Livonia workers are all in other northwest Detroit suburbs -- Troy, Farmington Hills and Auburn Hills. So it's as natural for Detroit to speculate about getting Gilbert's headquarters to move downtown there as it was for boosters here to hope, once upon a time, for a Progressive building on Cleveland's skyline.
But Cleveland?
I think Roldo is right -- Gilbert's speculation about moving his whole operation to Cleveland was just a way of yanking some chains in Michigan.
The Jackson administration has been commendably cool about the whole thing. But if I were the mayor, I'd consider making this an opportunity for a friendly public discussion with Detroit's Kwame Kilpatrick about how nearby urban regions might cooperate, rather than compete, to attract and keep firms and jobs in our very similar neighborhoods.
Update 3/30: Steve Goldberg suggests a list of principles they could start with.