DETROIT—Rock Ventures, the umbrella arm for the Quicken Loans set of companies, said Tuesday that it has purchased five more buildings in downtown Detroit.
In the past few years, the company not only moved its headquarters downtown, it also had purchased 10 properties in the city. Plans for the past purchases have included new offices, retail and multifamily.
The recent properties include the 54,000-sq.-ft. Kresge Building (1201 Woodward), the 30,000-sq.ft.- 1217 Woodward, the 6,000-sq.-ft. 1412 Woodward, the 20,000-sq.-ft. Cary Building Lofts (1301 Broadway) and the 9,300-sq.-ft. Small Plates building. The properties include office, retail and multifamily. The company did not divulge the price paid.
"It has been an exciting year of opportunity in Detroit," said Dan Gilbert, founder and chairman of Rock Ventures and Quicken Loans. "Our focus in 2013 will be on the three R's – residential, rail and retail – all of which are vital in creating the vibrant, thriving urban core that we all envision."
The newest acquisitions bring Rock Ventures' downtown Detroit real estate investments to 15 buildings totaling 2.6 million square feet of commercial space, and three parking structures for a combined 3,500 parking spaces.
In addition, Rock Ventures broke ground on a 33,000 sq.-ft. specialty retail development and 10-story parking garage last month, renovated 633,000-sq. ft. of commercial space, and located 45 companies to the city, including Twitter, Chrysler, Metro-West Appraisal, and numerous technology related start-ups. The company itself has moved 7,000 workers downtown.
The recent building purchases were brokered by Bedrock Real Estate Services, Rock Ventures' full-service real estate firm. "The need for retail and updated office and residential space in downtown Detroit is keeping Bedrock extremely busy," said Jim Ketai, managing partner at Bedrock, adding that the firm has grown by nearly 60 percent in the past year to keep up with the demand."