The State of Michigan has invested $7 million into New Center's Cadillac Place. The improvements run the gamut, from boiler and elevator upgrades to flooring and facade repairs. The work was funded through maintenance allowances in the state's lease agreement.
Additionally, employees from three departments -- Department of Human Services, Department of Labor and Economic Growth and Gaming Control Board -- have been consolidated into Cadillac Place. These moves increased the total number of employees in the building from 1,650 to more than 1,800.
Department of Management and Budget director Lisa Webb Sharpe says the investment and consolidation are meant to live up to a governor-issued 2003 directive that instructed DMB to move personnel into urban areas whenever possible and to move from leased to owned space whenever possible. "We are trying to make urban areas more vibrant," she says.
Webb Sharpe also notes that the boiler upgrade will allow for significant utilities savings and that Gaming Control's relocation to Detroit from Lansing moves that department "closer to the casinos that they regulate."
Source: Lisa Webb Sharpe, State of Michigan DMB
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh
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