Detroit's Downtown Revival Gets a New Push

[KenFSU]

From today's Wall Street Journal.

Jacksonville sure could use a Dan Gilbert (minus the rants in Comic Sans, of course).

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323301104578255892908885644.html

By MATTHEW DOLAN

DETROITâ€"In a back office at the headquarters of mortgage company Quicken Loans Inc., workers are assembling a 9-by-5-foot scale model of Detroit's modest downtown that will be used to plot the district's future.

Down at street level, Chief Executive Dan Gilbert is already seeking to piece together that vision, buying up real estate along Woodward Avenue, the city's main commercial corridor, and cultivating a new crop of businesses in an attempt to create a self-sustaining mix of residential and commercial development.

In the past decade or so, other Detroit boosters have had some success in similar efforts to rehabilitate the city's downtown district, which lost hundreds of businesses to suburban outposts.

But it is Mr. Gilbert, who grew up outside the city and is worth an estimated $1.9 billion, who has put the biggest stamp on downtown lately, in both the size and scope of his investments.

Today, the district is showing signs of progress, with new tech businesses, trendy stores and rehabbed apartments occupying some of the dilapidated towers along Woodward. Huge challenges remain, however, as fear of crime continues to deter many people from living downtown or retailers from setting up there.

Earlier this month, one part of Mr. Gilbert's plans fell into place: a $25 million federal grant for a $140 million, public-private light-rail line along Woodward that he and other business leaders backed.

Mr. Gilbert's investments "have accelerated our community and economic development plans by years," said Dave Blaszkiewicz, president of the Downtown Detroit Partnership, a group of business and government leaders.

Still, Mr. Gilbert says, a city that lost 25% of its residents in the past decade, to about 710,000, needs even more robust efforts to draw people and business. "It can't be just us," the 51-year-old said.

Since the early 2000s, companies such as General Motors Co., GM -1.49%Compuware Corp. CPWR -1.71%and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan have moved thousands of workers downtown, spurred by special incentives offered by the city and the state, and by low rents.

Little Caesar's Pizza founder Mike Ilitch's Olympia Entertainment Group, meanwhile, has built or revived several entertainment venues and is now exploring building a $650 million entertainment district anchored by a new hockey arena.

In 2009, Mr. Gilbert, who also owns the National Basketball Association's Cleveland Cavaliers, joined the trend, pledging to move his firm's headquarters from the suburbs to downtown, eventually bringing in more than 7,000 employees. Since then, his real-estate arm has bought 15 buildings, filling them with 65 new businesses, including Fathead, his own poster company, and an outpost of micro-blogging firm Twitter Inc.

Revitalization efforts by Mr. Gilbert and others haven't been universally welcomed. Several neighborhood leaders have expressed concern that resources poured into the central business district would be better spent on services, such as police and fire, on the city's outer reaches.

Rehabilitation plans face large obstacles. The streets still fall eerily quiet after commuters leave, and there are few retailers compared with suburban communities. While downtown is relatively safe, crime data put off many workers from lingering after hours. The city's crime rate fell 2.6% in 2012 from 2011, but homicides rose 9% to 411.

Meanwhile, City Hall has had worries about running out of money for more than a year. On Monday, chief financial officer Jack Martin said, "we anticipate no cash crisis over the next few months." But the city's finances are under a state review that could lead to the appointment of an emergency financial manager.

Still, Mr. Gilbert says, he will seek to expand housing and shopping outlets this year to meet growing demand from his employees and other downtown residents, addressing a chicken-or-egg problem that has long bedeviled Detroit: not enough residents to support a retail infrastructure, and not enough retail to attract new residents.

Real-estate analysts say they are seeing a ripple effect from Mr. Gilbert's spree, as lower vacancy rates and rising rents draw other investors off the sidelines.

Lansing, Mich., developer Richard Karp beat more than two dozen competitors to rehabilitate three buildings around downtown's Capitol Park, a $90 million project set to begin this summer. "Gilbert's investment in downtown added to our level of comfort," Mr. Karp said.

[thelakelander]

Yes, Gilbert is one of the players behind the concept of them paying people to move into the area.  I believe DT Detroit will look radically different come 2015/16. With that said, he was way off base with his Lebron prediction.

[fsujax]

In Jacksonville this would be like a Micheal Ward and CSX. Don't see it happening though.