Build up your downtown and the young will come. That's the
line of thinking shared by a number of heavy hitters from the
Detroit business community as they emphasized
that a vibrant urban core is essential to attracting young talent during a talk at the Brownfields 2008 conference held here last week.
Excerpt:
The desire of young millennial knowledge workers to work and
play in an urban setting is making downtown Detroit
a more attractive place to locate a business, several corporate and civic
leaders told the National Brownfields Conference at Cobo Center
today.
In a panel moderated by former Mayor Dennis Archer, Dan
Gilbert, founder and chairman of Quicken Loans, told the audience that his
decision to move his company downtown from the suburbs is being driven by the
need to attract younger workers.
“It really comes down to the competition for brains,”
Gilbert said of finding smart 20-something workers for his online mortgage
company. “They can go anywhere they want. You talk with these young people,
they really want to be in an urban setting.”
Read the rest of the Detroit Free Press story here.