[robk1982]

http://detnews.com/article/20090721/...ing-sites-to-2

Quicken narrows HQ building sites to 2
Louis Aguilar / The Detroit News

The sites where Quicken Loans Inc. may eventually build its downtown Detroit headquarters have been narrowed to a pair of Woodward Avenue locations: The spot where the old J.L. Hudson's department store once stood or what's commonly referred to as the Monroe block, a Quicken official said Monday.

That's somewhat different from the sites the city offered the online mortgage company two years ago to build a new headquarters. The Hudson's site was an option, but the 1.9-acre, city-owned parcel on the corner of Woodward and Monroe is new. Gone is the option of building on the former Statler Hotel site on Washington Boulevard across from Grand Circus Park, said Quicken spokeswoman Jennifer Kulczycki.

The original deal expired in light of the national mortgage meltdown. Quicken, based in Livonia, says it has weathered the crisis and in May posted a record $3.1 billion in mortgage-lending, fueled by a steady rise in consumer loan applications and refinancing sparked by falling interest rates. But Quicken maintains that getting private financing to build a new headquarters is still too tough and it has chosen instead to move temporarily into the Compuware Corp. headquarters in Campus Martius.

Details of the new city and state tax incentives are still being finalized. That deal will likely be a five-year lease for four floors in the Compuware building that will bring about 1,700 workers from Livonia to downtown. Today, the board of the Michigan Economic Growth Authority is expected to approve a package of incentives for the Quicken move.

Based on either of the two potential sites, the new Quicken headquarters would be located within a block of the Compuware building.

The Monroe block was last proposed as potential site for a $150 million project called the Cadillac Centre, an office, retail and upscale condo project. That project, which was unveiled last year, died quickly.

And the Free Press is reporting that construction could begin in mid-2013.

http://freep.com/article/20090721/NE...-HQ-in-Detroit)

Quicken Loans hopes to begin construction on a new downtown headquarters in mid-2013 and spend $192 million on it, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. said today in an analysis of the project