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Detroitman
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Post Number: 1003
Registered: 06-2004
Posted on Monday, October 02, 2006 - 9:23 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Execs put pen to paper for project
Letter campaign hopes to bring in big retailer

By Sheena Harrison

6:00 am, October 2, 2006
A number of high-profile community leaders are lending their support in an effort to help attract an anchor tenant for The Shoppes at Gateway Park in Detroit, a proposed 325,000-square-foot retail center near the Michigan State Fairground in Detroit.

Executives such as Penske Corp. and Downtown Detroit Partnership Chairman Roger Penske; Heaster Wheeler, executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Detroit; and Detroit Free Press Publisher David Hunke have written letters to help persuade a national retailer to look at the site, according to copies received by Crain’s.

“Knowing my involvement in Detroit and supporting new business in Detroit, there’s no reason I wouldn’t support this initiative,” Penske told Crain’s in an interview Friday.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm has spoken on the phone with a major retailer to convince the company to take a look at Gateway Park, Press Secretary Liz Boyd said.

“This … project would mean hundreds of jobs in Detroit,” Boyd said.

Matthew Cullen, general manager of the economic development and enterprise services group at General Motors Corp., also wrote a letter of support for Gateway Park. Cullen said it’s part of GM’s goal to encourage development in Detroit and clear up misconceptions about doing business in the city.

“From a GM perspective, we’ve made a significant commitment to the city and this region, and we believe that a strong and vibrant city of Detroit is critical,” Cullen said.

Chicago-based General Growth Properties Inc., the nation’s second-largest retail real estate investment trust, has agreed to develop, lease and manage the proposed project at the southeast corner of Eight Mile Road and Woodward Avenue.

Plans for the center include a 125,000-square-foot big-box store, four large retailers such as a bookstore or electronics store, up to four full-service restaurants and more than 40,000 square feet of space for small retailers.

Lyneir Richardson, vice president of urban land development for General Growth Properties, said it’s common for community leaders to express support for urban retail projects in their cities in hopes of allaying retailers’ concerns. He said that’s been important in Detroit, which has been portrayed negatively with the auto-industry downturn.

“Clearly there’s unmet demand for retail services, but you’re dealing with this overriding concern about the auto industry that you wouldn’t have in other cities,” Richardson said.

Richardson, who heads up General Growth’s other urban retail projects, said the company sees Detroit as a “poster child” for urban-development potential. Support from community leaders can help retailers see Gateway Park in the same light, particularly when it comes to its ability to attract a range of shoppers.

“The letter-writing and phone calls are letting retailers know that there is a broad support and willingness to shop at the site, not only from Detroit but from adjoining suburbs,” Richardson said.

Richardson expects General Growth will begin announcing tenants by the end of the year.

“We’re putting all of our resources behind making something good happen,” he said.

Gateway Park Investor Bernard Schrott agreed that support from various community leaders has been helpful in trying to get the project off the ground.

“I think that it shows the support of the community and the administration and the leadership of the city of Detroit,” Schrott said.

Business and community leaders can be crucial in the city’s efforts to attract business to the city, said George Jackson Jr., president and CEO of the Detroit Economic Growth Corp.

“Businesspeople who are making site location decisions want to feel that the community wants them,” said Jackson, who plans to write his own letter. “They expect the community development guy to go after them, but when they get the sense that the community has a strong desire for them to be there, that can only be positive.”

Similar letter-writing and phone campaigns have been used to attract other businesses to the city, including when the city offered at least two downtown sites earlier this year for the new headquarters of Quicken Loans/Rock Financial Inc.

“People are very willing to do this,” Jackson said of business and political leaders offering support. “You just have to be careful not to overuse it, so we use it selectively.”

The tactic is being used for the Gateway Park project because major national retailers are one of the city’s main targets for business attraction, Jackson said.

Letter-writing campaigns can be effective, but usually only if they’re coupled with economic incentives such as tax abatements, said Ken Nisch, chairman of Southfield-based retail architectural design firm JGA Inc.

“If those two efforts aren’t being coupled together, it won’t be a particularly effective initiative,” Nisch said.

Still, Nisch said the community support can help retailers recognize what he called “a great location from a retail standpoint.”

“I would think they’d be missing a big opportunity not to consider it if there’s going to be the type of redevelopment they’re talking about doing,” Nisch said.
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/a pps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2006 1002/SUB/60929023/-1/toc
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Genesyxx
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Post Number: 593
Registered: 02-2004
Posted on Monday, October 02, 2006 - 9:32 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

It would be great if this would gain some ground. I live right in the area, and to have a legitimate big box retailer on the Detroit side of things would be a huge boost, not only to the community, but to retail in the area (Livernois, I'm looking at you!)
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Tetsua
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Username: Tetsua

Post Number: 779
Registered: 01-2004
Posted on Monday, October 02, 2006 - 9:34 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I'm really pullin for this project, and I hope it moves forward with some unique legitimate retail. Glad to see Penske is on the steering commitee as well.
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Detroitbill
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Username: Detroitbill

Post Number: 35
Registered: 09-2006
Posted on Monday, October 02, 2006 - 10:19 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I hope this project gets off to a start but I really wish a major department store would open downtown (eg. Macys or Bloomingdale etc,,) it would such a major boost for the area and sure to attract others,

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