Results for “gilbert leong”

So is the City paying to demolish the Bates Garage? For some reason I thought Gilbert already owned it and was paying for the demolition.

There was a rumor a little while back that Gilbert wants to fill that block with a giant parking garage for Quicken employees. I assume it would have retail on the first floor, at least along Monroe. Hopefully he finds a use for the National (or at least its facade) and the two buildings at the corner of Farmer and Bates (does Gilbert own those?)

Have to agree with you, when Gilbert said at the end of last month that" , they’re just thinking and thinking more about the building and not to worry , they just want to make sure they get it right " was a bit of a sign that they might be thinking about decreasing the height actually. I didn’t quite understand the whole Monroe block projct along with the Hudson site, that’s an enormous amount of development coming from Gilbert on top of everything else that he’s working with downtown. And considering he doesnt have any apparent commitments to occupy either project,,= very risky. My other huge hope is that nothing ever happens to Gilbert, which it eventually will, because, some venture capitalist will come in and basically destroy everything and sell off bits and pieces to anyone. They are never known for loyalty as Gilbert has consistently shown.

Apop rep references Gilbert and how he has brought 7000 employees downtown sucking up existing parking spaces. And yet Gilbert has somehow managed to do so without tearing down a single historic building. Gilbert has found creative solutions to park people which have included shuttles and a ridiculously shaped z lot that connects vacant lots together and offering employees cash in lieu of parking if they can take transit or walk from home if they live downtown. I suspect what is lacking is not parking but vision. And by the way, Gilbert vs Apop are competing for their visions of the jail site. I submit that Apop be disqualified for having no vision at all.

The national is owned by someone else that has been the owner for several years….it’s a shame that if you don’t have deep pockets you will loose your property to Mr. Gilbert …right or wrong!!! Thanks Detroit for muscling out the people that have been there long before anyone else….did you hear that there was a big red circle around the city for financing if you are not Dan Gilbert….

@Antilon: It’s hip to hate Gilbert. I swear there are people who would prefer the city to be a ruined ghost town unless their specific criteria (aka things that will never happen) are met. So many people want to hang on to ruined shells of buildings, are in denial that Downtown is bustling almost entirely because of Gilbert, and have other ridiculous specifics.

This is great. I love to see people investing in the city and making it beautiful.

Also, to the person that made the Dan Gilbert comment. It is obvious you did not grow up in Detroit. I am an original Detroiter and for 30 years I lived here and my family still lives here. Dan Gilbert is bringing the abandoned buildings back to life not tearing them down so get your facts straight.

@guest #10: "When you keep your business private (e.g. Gilbert) you don’t have the pressure of ‘answering’ to all these clowns who are concerned about ‘a company’s reputation’ etc."

Actually, Rock Financial went public in 1998. It was bought by Intuit Inc. for $532 million in 1999, and Gilbert (with others) bought it back for $64 million in 2002.

The general theme of the Gilbert properties is a little circus like, but it’s only furniture and decorating, one of the first things to go as tastes change over time. I do wonder why they scrapped the bronze female figure/fountain at the Yamasaki designed gas building on Woodward which Gilbert bought recently. I was hoping they’d have saved it. We’ll see if the old Michcon building gets the same treatment as the old NBD building.

Gilbert prob saw last night’s news. CVS security guard coming to the aid of a car jack victim was murdered in cold blood by three of Detroit’s finest delinquents. Seeing this and seeing things like your city can’t even install street lights without roaches stealing the copper wiring, Gilbert prob realizes the city is helpless will begin pulling away his investments.