  Sg9018 Member Username: Sg9018 Post Number: 273 Registered: 10-2006 |
Gmac HQ might be going to Charlotte? Over the last couple of mouths there been rumors of GMAC moving the HQ's. This is article is from mid Jan, http://www.bizjournals.com/cha rlotte/stories/2009/01/19/stor y1.html What do you guys think about the possablity of GMAC moving the Hq's? Maybe GMAC is just adding jobs in Charlotte and rumors are just some times rumors.There is also a rumor of Morgan Stanley moving thier Hq's down there, the GMAC rumor might not be true. (Message edited by sg9018 on February 18, 2009) | ||
Brg Member Username: Brg Post Number: 9 Registered: 02-2009 |
51% of GMAC is controlled by the company named after a three-headed dog. They have no reason to stay in Detroit. Charlotte is considered a banking capital so it benefit Cerberus to relocate GMAC there. | ||
Gambling_man Member Username: Gambling_man Post Number: 547 Registered: 11-2003 |
Cerberus doesn't own anywhere close to 51% anymore...... | ||
Crawford Member Username: Crawford Post Number: 489 Registered: 10-2006 |
Why would Morgan Stanley move to Charlotte? Morgan Stanley is an investment bank. There's no investment banking in Charlotte. Even Bank of America has all its investment banking in NYC. And why would GMAC move? The article does not indicate the main HQ would move, but only that the Charlotte corporate office would move from one location to another. | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 5280 Registered: 06-2004 |
the only reason Charlotte has anything left is because Wells Fargo bailed out Wachovia | ||
Tkelly1986 Member Username: Tkelly1986 Post Number: 441 Registered: 01-2004 |
Where is the GMAC HQ right now? Is it downtown in the Ren Cen? | ||
Digitalvision Member Username: Digitalvision Post Number: 1365 Registered: 11-2003 |
There's talk amongst real estate people that GM, first GMAC to Charlotte, then the whole thing, would leave the RenCen. Main HQ for the Tech Center. I have heard some real estate folks talk about that they're in negotiations to move the focus to Warren, stop paying onerously high business taxes, and instantly give all the employees a raise by getting out from under the income tax. Wouldn't happen tomorrow, but in the next 4-5 years. I don't know if it was true, and I dismissed it initially, but that article clearly states they're considering moving GMAC to Charlotte from Detroit corroborates this. "Former Bank of America Corp. Chairman Hugh McColl Jr. and others have taken an active role in pushing for the company to focus on center city as it considers a move of its headquarters here from Detroit." | ||
Brg Member Username: Brg Post Number: 10 Registered: 02-2009 |
In regards to the post about GM moving to Warren in the next 4-5 years, well in 4-5 years there may not be a "GM" to move to Warren. What's left of them may end up someone in Beijing, Seoul or New Delhi | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 3790 Registered: 04-2006 |
quote: I don't know how much GM pays in business taxes, but I have to think that it's very negotiable since they are the largest private employer in both Detroit and Michigan. I don't see them moving to Warren just to give their employees a measly 3% pay raise. If you were making $60K/year, that would be a whopping $35 per paycheck... And don't you get to write off some of what you pay for city tax on your state of Michigan income tax? | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 5283 Registered: 06-2004 |
GMAC says they aren't moving: http://www.crainsdetroit.com/a rticle/20090218/FREE/902189966 | ||
Digitalvision Member Username: Digitalvision Post Number: 1367 Registered: 11-2003 |
I am very glad about that link, Lilpup. Thank you for posting. You never know if there's a backstory, but apparently the noise was loud enough to cause a reaction. | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 4139 Registered: 10-2003 |
Tkelly1986, Yes, GMAC occupies most of Tower 200 of the RenCen. Thanks for the link, Lilpup. I'd been hearing about this for a few weeks, now. BTW, Charlotte is struggling mightly, at the moment. They'll make it through this, but the break-neck, too-busy-to-care growth is over for Charlotte. It's going to grow at a much more realistic pace, now. | ||
Bob Member Username: Bob Post Number: 1245 Registered: 11-2003 |
Last person out of Michigan turn out the lights. Isn't this how the Comerica move got started, a few rumblings of a move then their gone. | ||
Heedus Member Username: Heedus Post Number: 6 Registered: 06-2008 |
This story from the Detroit News seems to indicate that a move of at least the legal headquarters is imminent: http://www.detroitnews.com/app s/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200902 20/BIZ/902200380. | ||
Bigb23 Member Username: Bigb23 Post Number: 3909 Registered: 11-2007 |
It was stated on local news this morning, that it might be because the CEO lives in Charlotte. What kind of reason is that, to disrupt so many families, and a struggling city. If that's right, CEO's are out of hand now. | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 3799 Registered: 04-2006 |
Are you out of a job yet? The companies you love don't always love you back. lol | ||
Registeredguest Member Username: Registeredguest Post Number: 139 Registered: 10-2003 |
Maybe Detroit and Michigan should adopt some good, old time pro-growth policies and give these companies a reason to maintain their headquarters here. I mean, seriously, what corporation wants to maintain a corporate headquarters and pay taxes when over 60% of the states budget goes towards a bottomless pit of "social programs." Seriously. (Message edited by registeredguest on February 20, 2009) | ||
Novine Member Username: Novine Post Number: 1112 Registered: 07-2007 |
"I mean, seriously, what corporation wants to maintain a corporate headquarters and pay taxes when over 60% of the states budget goes towards a bottomless pit of "social programs."" Please define "social programs". Are you seriously going to claim that corporations don't want the state to spend money on public education? | ||
Digitalvision Member Username: Digitalvision Post Number: 1374 Registered: 11-2003 |
Bigb23 - it's ALWAYS been that way with CEOs. On a local scale, I can't tell you how many conversations I've had with CEOS who live near Troy (or wherever) and then moved their business. I know a guy just the other month moved from Warren to Wixom after he moved out there, despite now some of his people are commuting 20 or 30 minutes more. That's just how it is. I semi-agree with RG, but taxes and social programs are NOT a deterrent of business. If so, Manhattan would be a ghost town, Silicon Valley wouldn't be what it is and Boston wouldn't be the business center for startups and VC money IT is. All those areas have high taxes. When businesses (on a national scale) really get pissed off is when the money isn't used appropriately. You pay high taxes in New York compared to the rest of the country - but your police show up, from experience and notes on other threads, on time. It's a grand bargain, and Detroit needs to live up to one side or the other and right now it does neither. If the services suck, give people back their tax money. If you're going to take the money, it's a moral responsibility to make the services work and not chock it full of "help a friend out" programs. | ||
Sharmaal Member Username: Sharmaal Post Number: 857 Registered: 09-2004 |
Fact of the matter is that there are many people in the Carolinas that are out of work. Many came from the banking industry. There is a treasure trove of talent there... | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 3800 Registered: 04-2006 |
quote: Talent-shmalent. I know for sure that there are more people in Michigan who are out of work. GMAC would not have a hard time filling vacancies in Detroit. | ||
Registeredguest Member Username: Registeredguest Post Number: 140 Registered: 10-2003 |
Social programs are generally defined medicare, medicaid, un-employment, FIA, prisons, etc. Some of it is obtained directly from the Federal government, but most comes from the taxpayer, and is grossly mismanaged (see state audit that found $230 million in undocumented and fraudulent payments for child care assistance for the poor). Regardless, my 60% stat was a little high, it's actually more like 40%. Still, there is need for wholesale reform; not just across the board cuts. Education is a separate budget (34% of state revenues), and lottery proceeds are earmarked to fund. The easiest thing Michigan can do to diversify its economy and create jobs is lower taxes and slash government spending. In the day and age of expanded Federal government, corporations will be looking for a shelter where they can do business freely and efficiently. Why not make Michigan that shelter, re-prioritize the state's role in every day life, re-prioritize the services the state provides, unload the dead weight sucking off the public trough and re-build state government to a new, 21st century model. Sorry to say, but the Richard Florida-esque shit that many preach on this site and elsewhere of "tolerant, walkable communities with little parks and shops where you can get funky eyeglasses that the best and brightest so desire" is not going to cut it in Michigan or Detroit. It's band-aid approach that takes our attention away from our real problems and competitive disadvantages. | ||
Danindc Member Username: Danindc Post Number: 4414 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote: You gonna put tool-and-die makers and assembly workers behind a desk with a financial ledger? | ||
Danindc Member Username: Danindc Post Number: 4415 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote: Oh yeah--look at all the jobs flocking to low-tax, non-government spending states like Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina. Woo! | ||
Wabashdetroit Member Username: Wabashdetroit Post Number: 7 Registered: 04-2007 |
The CEO-driven move is what took Comerica to Texas after 100 years in Detroit. New economic development concept: free mansions in Michigan for CEO's. Toss in free tuition to Cranbrook for their kids, a personal chef, and a cottage up North. It would be cheaper than losing these jobs to other states. | ||
Registeredguest Member Username: Registeredguest Post Number: 142 Registered: 10-2003 |
Or you can put the laid off NBD/Bank One, Michigan National Bank/La Salle, First Federal Bank/Charter One, Manufacturers Bank/Comerica, etc., etc., workers behind those desks. Believe it or not, metro-Detroit had good bankers, good banks and good talent. A lot are still here. | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 3801 Registered: 04-2006 |
quote: Detroit's economy isn't all manufacturing. That is a myth. All three major automakers have had their own financial services divisions for the better part of a century. Additionally, there were several large banks in Detroit (National Bank of Detroit, Comerica, Manufacturers Bank) that were swallowed up by New York banks, or relocated to other cities, in the past two decades. Even after consolidating or moving, these banks maintained significant operations in the Detroit area. Then there is also the University of Michigan Business School, one of the top rated business schools in the world, located just down the road. There is a talent pool in the Detroit area for these companies to draw from. | ||
Brg Member Username: Brg Post Number: 12 Registered: 02-2009 |
Let's face it. No one wants to come and live in the Detroit area. For years there has been attempts to make the suburbs to be so good and Detroit to be so bad and it worked. Because a CEO loves living in Charlotte, a billion-dollar entity is willing to leave a city that it has been associated with for 90 years to cater the needs of its boss. To the rest of the country, Detroit and its suburbs are not desirable to move too. Look at it like this, tonight is Conan O'Brien last night as host of Late Night which is based in NYC. He is going to be the new host of The Tonight Show based in Burbank, CA. You think NBC thought about moving the Tonight Show to NYC because O'Brien and his family lives in the NY area, no. He is moving to California because the Tonight Show is an institution in Burbank and because they are paying him the big bucks to make the move, plus he is not complaining. It's the west coast. I love Detroit, but if I would love to back on the west coast. | ||
Spiritofdetroit Member Username: Spiritofdetroit Post Number: 1233 Registered: 11-2006 |
Here's what there spokeswoman sent me - stating it was just the press sensationalizing rumor: "During the first decades of our 90 year history, GMAC was headquartered in New York City. "For the past quarter-century, GMAC has headquartered it business in Detroit and has no plans to change that status. "Of course, we have large and significant business operations and staffs in a variety of US and non-US cities, including the addition of an expanding company center in Charlotte, North Carolina, where many of our senior executives are located. "Otherwise, it is not productive to speculate on possible future changes. | ||
Peachlaser Member Username: Peachlaser Post Number: 277 Registered: 08-2006 |
Charlotte is a major banking center and headquarters for Bank of America and Wachovia. They have been devouring other banks for almost two decades now. Atlanta used to be a banking center until Charlotte drew the banks away or were purchased by them. | ||
Wpitonya Member Username: Wpitonya Post Number: 85 Registered: 08-2005 |
Forget LA. You still need a car, which in my book makes it an unsuccessful urban area. NYC is hundreds of times better and fits Conan better IMO. If Detroit had a job for me and was a little less car dependent, I would be there asap living downtown. | ||
Novine Member Username: Novine Post Number: 1115 Registered: 07-2007 |
"Social programs are generally defined medicare, medicaid, un-employment, FIA, prisons, etc. Some of it is obtained directly from the Federal government, but most comes from the taxpayer, and is grossly mismanaged (see state audit that found $230 million in undocumented and fraudulent payments for child care assistance for the poor). " You haven't even looked at the state budget have you? I have and I know that you don't know what you're talking about. Repeating talking points from the Mackinac Center isn't informed discussion. When you stop pulling numbers out of thin air, then we can talk. Otherwise, you're just making it up. | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 5299 Registered: 06-2004 |
Just FYI...The Tonight Show started in NYC and didn't move to Burbank until it had been on the air for 18 years. | ||
Brg Member Username: Brg Post Number: 14 Registered: 02-2009 |
If Detroit had a job for me and was a little less car dependent, I would be there asap living downtown. The biggest mistake Detroit made. Not having mass transit. For one of the largest cities in the country not to have mass transit is a joke. I would like to be able to take a light-rail to Metro and not be forced to pay 70 bucks or more to park. You go to Chicago, Minneapolis or even San Francisco and you can take the train to and from. Detroit has paid for years for not having mass transit. | ||
Brg Member Username: Brg Post Number: 15 Registered: 02-2009 |
Lilpup, I know that. Motown started in Detroit but if I was hired to run Motown, do you think the owners are going to move it back to Detroit just for me? I used the Tonight Show as an reference of the company not moving to cater to the employee of the month. GMAC is talking about moving because the CEO loves living in Charlotte. | ||
Novine Member Username: Novine Post Number: 1116 Registered: 07-2007 |
"Social programs are generally defined medicare, medicaid, un-employment, FIA, prisons, etc. Some of it is obtained directly from the Federal government, but most comes from the taxpayer, and is grossly mismanaged (see state audit that found $230 million in undocumented and fraudulent payments for child care assistance for the poor). " You haven't even looked at the state budget have you? I have and I know that you don't know what you're talking about. Repeating talking points from the Mackinac Center isn't informed discussion. When you stop pulling numbers out of thin air, then we can talk. Otherwise, you're just making it up. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 3552 Registered: 07-2004 |
I do get a certain amount of pleasure at the possibility of our auto companies leaving. In spite of the pain, job losses, foreclosures, etc., somehow I am gratified to see gearheads suddenly crying, "Why won't our car companies stay located in our great car-addicted city? Waaaaahhh!!" | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 5301 Registered: 06-2004 |
Brg you never know - are you worth it and is the company that week? I don't think GMAC is that weak or that the exec in question is worth it (nor is Charlotte). BOA is going down and Wachovia would have, too, if not for its rescue by Wells Fargo. Historically Michigan banks have been more conservative and have ridden out these downturns more successfully than their greedy cohorts. Why? They learned from their experience with the ups and downs of the auto companies. Give these banks to others (e.g. Comerica) and that experience and discipline won't be there so neither will be the long range performance. | ||
Registeredguest Member Username: Registeredguest Post Number: 143 Registered: 10-2003 |
Detroitnerd - yeah, that'd be real cool - I cannot wait for the region's tax base to further erode, and for the region to be rendered 100% irrelevant. Novine - well, both budgets I am looking at dedicate around 40% of funds (whether it be from the general fund or all funds) to social programs (community health and human services). You want amounts - here you go: $3.8 billion from the general fund; $17.5 from all funds. An additional 26% of the general fund/6% from all funds goes towards prisons, courts and state protection. So, here we go: more than 60% of all discretionary spending in the general fund to entitlements and prisons. More than 46% of all funds towards those areas. These from the 2009 budget, not the speaking points of the Mackinac Center (which I agree can be over the top in its desire to cut, cut, cut). Regardless, so long as we live in a state which prioritizes taking care of people living in need and locking up criminals over education, universities, sensible tax policy and smart growth, we will continue to be shunned by entities wanting to make any considerable investment. Yeah, it's harsh, but it's the cold, hard reality. | ||
Islandman Member Username: Islandman Post Number: 1979 Registered: 08-2004 |
A lot of people are getting laid off here in Charlotte, but it is in now way as bad as Detroit. A lot of people have been moving out of my building lately, and from the ones I have spoken with, most worked at banks. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 3556 Registered: 07-2004 |
Registeredguest: You can suck it.  | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 4156 Registered: 10-2003 |
North Carolina needs GMAC badly. Their unemployment rate is nearly 9%, now. I kid, I kid. Seriously, though, Charlotte is experiencing quite a pinch, right now, particularly for such a city booming like crazy up until a few months, ago. It must be particularly shocking to them. So, here we go all over, again. The governor is, once again, going to have to prostrate herself before another lord of finance and bring them gifts of frankincense and myrrh for no other reason that the CEO wants to live where the 'action' is. Great. | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 5310 Registered: 06-2004 |
No, the problem is the CEO is from there in the first place, just like with Comerica. It's as if they're sending out corporate infiltrator CEOs to snatch away businesses. ( ) | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 4160 Registered: 10-2003 |
I guess we need a "Michigan CEO Watch" going, so that every time a Michigan-based company switches CEOs were know where they are from or reside. lol | ||
Peachlaser Member Username: Peachlaser Post Number: 278 Registered: 08-2006 |
Several weeks ago, I was lamenting the fact that one of my favorite racing teams, Creation Sport out of England, chose North Carolina as their new U.S. homebase rather than Atlanta. I was told, "They want to be close to the action!" What?! As it turns out, Penske also has a big shop nearby as well as other teams, particularly the NASCAR crowd. http://www.creationsport.net/ That tobacco and moonshine money has lingering effects! |
