A Private Boom Amid Detroit’s Public Blight

[barnetmill]

I like to see entrepreneurs not thinking outside of the box, looking into all of its angles. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/05/us/a-private-boom-amid-detroits-public-blight.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Apparently while the public sector is failing some entrepreneurs are have great successes there.

For example a lady opened a clothing shop that proved so successful that she opened another. A man that worked in advertising in New York, is negotiating to build a boutique hotel and community space. Blue Cross Blue Shield has moved (http://www.bcbsm.com/content/microsites/blue-cross-blue-shield-of-michigan-news/en/index/news-releases/2011/january-2011/blue-cross-blue-shield-of-michigan-announces-dates-for-move-of-3) thousands of workers into downtown Detroit in recent years. The big thing that I see is that wages and benefits will be a lot less than what the auto industry provided, but it is certainly better than nothing there. If there are oportunities in Detroit, then these must exist in just about anyplace in the USA.

[AlwaysVigilant]

I pirates life to be had for sure. I, however, won't risk the safety of my family to make a buck. If I was single? Actually I would be in South America, but I would consider Detroit in CONUS.

[Saladin]

Detroit is beyond hope and has been for decades!

The whole place should be kept in situ as a "Animal Preserve ,Sanctuary" as a symbol of the Lib-Demo goals that caused this.

I grew up there (50s-60s) and the "slide to oblivion" had started then.

You won't believe how grateful I am that I relocated West in the '70s!

[tmbk2]

After college I worked in Detroit in the Auto industry.. My father retired from GM. Very screwed up place. Balkinized populous, low trust - entitlement society. A real world class case study in disfunctional leadership. Detroitistan is what most of the country could very well look like in a few more years. Yes some will always thrive... but for many who think they have it pretty good now, they have no idea what kinda train wreck is headed their way. I subscribe to the "Distance from Danger" philosophy and suggest to those who can to get as far from that place as possible. I hope it turns around for Detroit but I am afraid the cultural rot has gone too deep. Too many rats. At least the Piston's Star Alumni, Dennis Rodman has become a influential example of Detroit's finest!

[MrScott]

And yet, big dollar investors like Mike Ilitch (Little Ceasars, Detroit Tigers, Detroit Red Wings) and Dan Gilbert (Quicken Loans, Cleveland Cavaliers) and even Roger Penske (Indy Car and NASCAR and a hundred other businesses) are buying up huge swaths of Detroit real estate. Why would smart investors and businessmen like that be sinking money into a s#!thole if there wasn't some payoff coming?

Don't let your notions (or experiences) of Detroit 10, 15 or 30 years ago blind you to the possibilities. Is it still a s#!thole? Yep. Are there self-absorbed idiots running the place? Yep, sorta (the new emergency manager should help in that regard). If you can keep the "Urban Norwegians" from regaining control, some good things might just start to happen there.

I can't stand what Detroit was and to a large extent still is, but if some things fall the right way, maybe that can change. I hope so.

[Saladin]

And yet, big dollar investors like Mike Ilitch (Little Ceasars, Detroit Tigers, Detroit Red Wings) and Dan Gilbert (Quicken Loans, Cleveland Cavaliers) and even Roger Penske (Indy Car and NASCAR and a hundred other businesses) are buying up huge swaths of Detroit real estate. Why would smart investors and businessmen like that be sinking money into a s#!thole if there wasn't some payoff coming?

Don't let your notions (or experiences) of Detroit 10, 15 or 30 years ago blind you to the possibilities. Is it still a s#!thole? Yep. Are there self-absorbed idiots running the place? Yep, sorta (the new emergency manager should help in that regard). If you can keep the "Urban Norwegians" from regaining control, some good things might just start to happen there.

I can't stand what Detroit was and to a large extent still is, but if some things fall the right way, maybe that can change. I hope so.

The "Urban Norwegians" have been in control for thirty plus years now. They don't have to regain anything!
As to the chance of change with investment (tax structure based) great idea.
You can buy square miles of Detroit for little if anything. Still more than it's worth.

How bout a 200 square mile square range - training complex ?
Other than that, with the poor training weather, the Norwegians can keep it!!

I have other things to hope for that I consider more worthy of thought and time.

I'd travel for that "Range Time" and would invest in the support side, like the "Ammo" business.
It was a great place to grow up back then, but now?

FWIW

[Gabriel Suarez]

Detroit? Why go there when there are so many other places. Sorry but I would not open ANY business in a place infested by unions.

[Dorkface]

So when does Omni Consumer Products take over Detroit?

[Netpackrat]

Detroit? Why go there when there are so many other places. Sorry but I would not open ANY business in a place infested by unions.

Be interesting to see if Michigan's new right to work law is able to bring Detroit back at all, or if the rot has penetrated too deeply.

[Gabriel Suarez]

The entitlement mindset becomes a part of the culture. A culture so inclined will never be successful.

[apamburn]

Detroit? Why go there when there are so many other places. Sorry but I would not open ANY business in a place infested by unions.

This.

If a business is successful in any of the socialist states, it's in spite of the government.

Frankly, I am a transplant from the mid-east to the West.

I'm in a free state and those I left behind just don't understand what I mean, though I find that when they spend time here the soon figure it out.

Couldn't pay me enough to live in one of those states.

[LawDog]

Why would smart investors and businessmen like that be sinking money into a s#!thole if there wasn't some payoff coming?
Keep in mind that those guys don't have to actually live there. They are just buying property. They are buying low. Will Detroit bounce back? These investors are betting that their investments will increase. But an increase doesn't mean that Detroit will actually become livable. It could simply rise from the seventh level of hell to the fifth. That would still be a decent investment.

[choirboy]

Keep in mind that those guys don't have to actually live there. They are just buying property. They are buying low. Will Detroit bounce back? These investors are betting that their investments will increase. But an increase doesn't mean that Detroit will actually become livable. It could simply rise from the seventh level of hell to the fifth. That would still be a decent investment.

Just what I was thinking. I will be doing some REIT research this weekend.

Choirboy

[BillyOblivion]

I grew up there (50s-60s) and the "slide to oblivion" had started then.

How could it? I hadn't even been born yet!

[choirboy]

Sometimes buying when a market seemed crushed paid me well, but boy was I wrong about National City Bank being too big to fail. All of that said, I only do publicly traded securities and will only throw lottery ticket money at the "pink sheetish" stuff.

Choirboy

[TrojanSkyCop1]

I pirates life to be had for sure. I, however, won't risk the safety of my family to make a buck. If I was single? Actually I would be in South America, but I would consider Detroit in CONUS.

I'd choose South America over "Deeeee-troit" in a heartbeat. You know, expat tax advantage.