Bizdom U 2009: Andrew Hwang

Kwame Kilpatrick and Dan Gilbert’s visit last Friday provided Bizdom U entrepreneurs important insight on the city’s tactics on improving the Detroit economy.  The Mayor humbly acknowledged that politics only go so far when it comes to rebuilding a city.  He voiced the need for major business people such as Gilbert to help rebuild the city of Detroit.

Among the various questions and concerns from the Bizdom U entrepreneurs,  Mayor Kilpatrick effectively explained the reasoning behind the selling the rights to the Detroit-Windsor tunnel.  The mayor stated, “Handing over our half of the bridge was a great deal for the city.”Apparently, the tunnel proves to be of great value to the Canadian side because it brings in over $12 million in revenue for them opposed to a lousy $600,000 revenue for Detroit, simply because more Canadians utilize the bridge than Americans.  The rights for a 75-year ownership for the tunnel sold for $75 million; the money is intended to help pay for the city’s debt and school systems.

Interestingly, Dan Gilbert proposed a new development idea that he thinks will drastically improve the revitalization of Detroit.  This “master plan” consists of the relocation of large corporations and major developments of retail and housing to a small concentrated area in the city.  Gilbert believes that this will trigger some kind of domino effect of additional developments within the vicinity of that focused region, resulting in a newly developed city.  However, it doesn’t seem like Gilbert is willing to make all this effort on his own.

Last January at the Crains’ Newsmaker of the Year award luncheon, Keith Crain nudged Gilbert about moving his companies to the city as he presented the award.  Gilbert animatedly responded by quoting Jerry McGuire’s famous quote, “who’s coming with me?”  Although there was a sense of humor behind his response, the underlying statement was straight forward.  Who [business owners] really is willing to take a risk and commit to Detroit? And what will it take to make an effective change according to this “master plan?” Surely, it is going to take more than just the move one mid-size firm based in Livonia.