  Tkelly1986 Member Username: Tkelly1986 Post Number: 459 Registered: 01-2004 |
Thinking purely hypothetical here, but would Ford even build a presence downtown? Though they have been in Dearborn for years, some of their HQ buildings are aging and may need replacement over the next decade or so. Would they ever move their “HQ” downtown even if it is more show than a large number of jobs? What if they moved 1,500 of their top jobs into a new building with their logo on top and dub that their “World HQ”? If nothing else, why not make this move as a goodwill effort, by showing their support for the renaissance of Detroit. When explaining that GM is actually the only automaker with its HQ in Detroit, while Ford and Chrysler are out in the burbs, you sometimes get a wisecrack or questions why. | ||
Detmsp Member Username: Detmsp Post Number: 25 Registered: 08-2008 |
Ford's HQ might be old, but from what I hear it has been kept up extremely well, so it probably won't need replacing anytime soon | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 5246 Registered: 06-2004 |
All of Ford's R&D is out in Dearborn a stone's throw from the HQ and the Rouge is there, too. There's no way they'd move downtown. | ||
Digitalvision Member Username: Digitalvision Post Number: 1323 Registered: 11-2003 |
Nope. They're Dearborn's. Downtown is all about GM. There are a lot of practical reasons to not have you headquarters across from your competition in this business.. not to mention they've invested heavily in their campus and in fact have demanded that their suppliers take up empty spaces in their campus buildings. They're responsible with that decision for an ad agency or two LEAVING downtown... they had a satellite office for something in the Rencen for awhile, until GM bought it. | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 1918 Registered: 04-2006 |
Ford built the Ren Cen and had an entire tower. It also had a precursor to GM World, called world of Ford! I don't think any auto company is in the position of building new buildings. Remember, Visteon was involved with the new building on Campus Martius, but scaled back quite a bit by the time is was opened. They are not even using half the space at their new campus in Belleville. If Ford was looking for a new space, Belleville would be a no brainer because Visteon and Ford are still joined at the hip. | ||
Gnome Member Username: Gnome Post Number: 1924 Registered: 08-2007 |
Gistok has better details, but IIRC Ford did try to move into the Coleman young Building in 1999. Here was the deal. GM wanted out of their place on West Grand Blvd. Ford wanted out of the Ren Cen. The deal brokered by Archer was for GM to sell their HQ to the City. The City would move City Hall up to GM HQ. GM would buy the Ren Cen from Ford and Ford would move into the CAY building. The fly in this scheme was Council. The feeling was that "outside" interests were trying to take over the waterfront, and that "the City" was giving up one of its gems. Like I said, Gistock has a better memory about this page in our history, but in answer to your question: Ford was downtown, wanted to stay downtown, but The City didn't want to play along. | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 5248 Registered: 06-2004 |
but that was at most Ford Realty or Ford Credit downtown, nothing HQish - they haven't had a major administrative presence in the city since being in the Piquette plant They do have a major civic presence, though, with the stadium and family participation in various projects like Campus Martius/Detroit 300, Detroit Renaissance, and the Riverfront Conservancy, and there's always that big @ss top tier hospital you can point toward. | ||
Gnome Member Username: Gnome Post Number: 1926 Registered: 08-2007 |
Yes, and marketing for - at the time - their growing world brands of Volvo, Astin-Martin, Range Rover, Jaguar, Lincoln Mercury and Ford. Their ad agency,J. Walter Thompson, in anticipation moved from the Ren Cen into the Comerica Building next door to CAY. Ford Marketing ended up moving out to Regent Court in Dearborn. They've since moved. | ||
Greatlakes Member Username: Greatlakes Post Number: 258 Registered: 07-2007 |
This NY Times article from Sept 1996 detailing the planned move was posted on here before for reference. quote: My how times have changed: quote: (Message edited by GreatLakes on September 25, 2008) | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 5250 Registered: 06-2004 |
Earlier this year I had the opportunity to go through the Glass House and at that time they were preparing to consolidate officespace by moving in some departments that until then had been in rented space. They had really trimmed their staff and were at something like 60% capacity so they had ample room for others. | ||
Tkelly1986 Member Username: Tkelly1986 Post Number: 460 Registered: 01-2004 |
The 3,000 workers that were in the Ren Cen, did they all move out to Dearborn? Better yet, what happened to the workers taht would have moved to City Hall? (Message edited by tkelly1986 on September 26, 2008) | ||
Focusonthed Member Username: Focusonthed Post Number: 2068 Registered: 02-2006 |
quote: Yup. Ford pretty much forced the WPP agencies' hands when the Comerica Tower lease came up. I worked for JWT for a stint when they were in Comerica Tower. Right at the end of my time there, they were already scouting locations in Dearborn. Guess that 10 minute drive to/from the Glass House got to be too much. |
