Quicken Loans Begins Moving Employees To Downtown Detroit
DETROIT (WWJ) - Monday marks the first wave in a series of moves that will bring 2,500 more professionals to Detroit by early 2012.
Some 1,500 Quicken Loans team members stepped foot into their new offices at the renovated Chase Tower Building, located in the city's central business district, bringing the company one step closer to its goal of relocating all of its Michigan-based team members to downtown Detroit.
Dan Gilbert, founder and chairman of Quicken Loans, welcomed the employees to their new digs.
"I mean, it is a special feeling being down here," Gilbert said.
"There's something special about, not only being downtown, but there's something special about downtown Detroit. It's not just a downtown like any American city, it's one, as you know, that's had challenges unlike any American city. Not only us and our family of companies, but others that are here in the city and people here in the community and government, they're affecting change, they are impacting the outcome," he continued.
The relocating employees will join a brain force of 1,700 colleagues who moved from the suburbs to Detroit just 14 months ago when Quicken Loans and several sister companies moved their headquarters to the Compuware building, situated at the foot of Campus Martius Park.
Gilbert told his employees that they are part of something very important.
"Detroit is going to be on the cover of TIME Magazine three, four, five, 10 years from now as the miracle city. It's all going to be because of what we do," Gilbert told the cheering crowd. "There is something special going on down here and it's not just us. I mean, you can feel it. There's something in the air, there's an energy here and it's catching on."
An additional 1,000 team members from several of Quicken Loans' sister companies will move to downtown Detroit and occupy space in the Madison Theatre Building and First National Building when renovations on those two buildings are completed in November 2011 and early 2012, respectively.
Gilbert acquired the 505,000 square foot, 14-story Chase Tower occupying a full city block on Woodward Avenue in April 2011, and immediately began renovating its interior to reflect the company's culture. Today, the building features bright neon-colored walls, open floor plans, and high-tech, collaborative meeting areas that encourage teamwork, communication and creativity.
Along with Quicken Loans, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. will continue to occupy parts of Chase Tower. The building will boast a world-class cafeteria, and the first floor will be redesigned and redeveloped to accommodate pedestrian-friendly retail space along Woodward Avenue.
