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Detroit's Financial Districts


MJLO

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Does the city still have a big banking presence? I know Comerica is downtown,

How big of a Presence does Chase, and National City have? What about other banks,

Bank of America? Banks are generally institutions that invest in Central Business Districts.

If there are not big presences, has the city made a push at all for this kind of investment?

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National City is located in the Top of Troy building, and Chase is located in the Bank One Building (which I guess should be renamed the Chase Building.;)) right on Campus Martius Park. As far as I know, Bank of America doesn't have a presence in the Detroit market.

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Michigan has to be the only place left in the country where BOA doesn't have a presence. They have towers from Charlotte to Phoenix and beyond. They even have a Tower in Mesa Az, which while is one of the nations largest suburbs cough, I mean cities, has no buildings aside from that one that are above 10 floors. A Detroit presence would be welcome. I bank at National City, they need to get their act together and move downtown.

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Detroit was never a big banking center. Being so close to Chicago didn't help. Chicago is both a regional and national banking center because of its size and location. Regional offices, or any type for any large company, usually set up in Chicago just like they set up in the regional banking centers of Charlotte.

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all the same, even tho banks have one headquarters, it's pretty much an industry standard to build large buildings in different markets. Bank of America Builds high rises in the middle of fields. They are everywhere, even national city has large complexes in their satelite cities. Detroit may not be known for it's banking, but with the size of the city and it's metro area, there's more than enough room for investments. The banking presence of the area is just sadly in the burbs.

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I think Detroit's financial district name didn't just refer to banks. There were a lot of stock brokerages around a few decades ago and the Federal Reserve Bank had a big branch on Fort Street near Griswald, I don't know if it's still there though

In the early part of the 20th century I think there were a lot of little independent savings and loans and banks scattered thoughout the financial district.

And on a suburbia note: Charter One just put their name up on top of the American Center in Southfield, but I don't know how much space they actually have in there.

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I think the rule is simply whichever tenant has the most money to pay for signage on the buildings gets the signage. Usually, that means the largest tenant of an office building.

I can't for the life of me figure out why Comerica doesn't have the best lit building in all of Detroit with signage spilling all over One Detroit Center. Banks are notorious for over-the-top signage (see Qwest Tower in Denver with a sign so bright it can be seen for miles around, lol).

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I thought you'd find these little blasts from the past interesting.

GriswoldStreet-TheWallStreetofDetro.jpg

Griswold Street. The Wall Street of Detroit.

Note on Page says: "On this street are located most of Detroit's financial institutions. The fact that the clearings last year were about three and a quarter billion dollars, shows the banking strength of Detroit."

Source: "Beautiful and Dynamic Detroit", a visitor's brochure published by the Detroit Convention & Tourists Bureau around 1919.

DetroitsStrongFinancialPosition.jpg

Detroit's Strong Financial Position

Note on Page says: "In the world of finance Detroit has advanced with rapid strides.

Banks and the Automobiles

The great success of the automobile and many other great industries was due to the confidence displayed by the Banks of Detroit in the early stages of their development. See page 15."

The captions under the photos from top left to right read: Dime Savings Bank, Peoples State Bank, First and Old Detroit National Bank.

The captions under the photos from bottom left to right read: National Bank of Commerce, One of the typical sixteen branches of the American State Bank, Merchants National Bank.

This is what Page 15 says:

"Financial Figures

Within the last few years Detroit has rapidly come to the fore in financial activity. This is largely due to the establishment of and development of Branch Banks, of which there are in operation one hundred and twenty-five. This has done away with the establishment of the small outlying banks which have been a source of weakness to practically all of the large cities of the country.

Detroit has 14 state banks, 5 national banks, 6 trust companies, and 1 federal reserve bank, with aggregate resources in the neighborhood of half a billion dollars.

The total capital, surplus and undivided profits of the banks aggregate $50,000,000.00, whereas the total deposits aggregate $421,659,531.44.

The clearings for Detroit banks last year were about three and a quarter billion dollars.

The great success in the early stages of the automobile industry was due to the confidence displayed by the banks of Detroit. After careful research and study of the industry, the banks of Detroit decided that the "Horseless" carriage was to become an essential, both for industry and pleasure of the people; hence the banks financed the first ventures where other cities refused to offer the needed support.

The situation has been practically the same with the development of other great industries of Detroit. The banks of Detroit have shown that they are not only interested in the business welfare of the city, but have taken a prominent place in the city's activities."

Source: "Beautiful and Dynamic Detroit", a visitor's brochure published by the Detroit Convention & Tourists Bureau around 1919.

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I can't for the life of me figure out why Comerica doesn't have the best lit building in all of Detroit with signage spilling all over One Detroit Center. Banks are notorious for over-the-top signage (see Qwest Tower in Denver with a sign so bright it can be seen for miles around, lol).

LOL! I remember being in Denver and wondering why Detroit couldn't get that. Doesn't Qwest have two towers in Denver?

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  • 1 month later...

I believe that the local banking systems in Detroit ( and the business community) needs to come together as they did in the past. They need to decide what industries to fund/invest in to make Detroit great again.

I do not believe gambling is your ticket to recovery. I do believe that Detroit can be primarily an International Transportation Hub for middle America. I do not believe that the city leverages its proxmity to Canada and its network of businesses. I also do not believe the city leverages its potential as an international air and sea cargo port for middle America.

Detroit has so much potential for recovery. but the citizens must make it happen and not wait for city/county/federal government to do everything. Detroit did not become the "Motor City" through government handouts!!! :shades:

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transportation hub? I think Chicago has that role for "middle-america" pretty much shored up. I think Detroit's road to recovery is one based on a diversification of the economy and escape the production based economy lagging in many rust belt cities that does not work in todays service based economy. Meaning primarily promoting financial and hi-tech industries in the city, bringing some young brains in

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I think SkyDave's emphasis was on *international* transportation hub, meaning trade between the US and Canada.

As for Detroit's economy, I made a new thread on DetroitYes on this article: http://paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html

Perhaps Detroit won't be the next Silicon Valley. But I think there is the potential for a much larger startup scene in Detroit and Ann Arbor, which are interdependent. But the startups in the area today are starving from lack of local venture capital, which places like Boston and the Bay Area have in abundance. Detroit area movers and shakers with money need to pool their resources into local venture capital funds.

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  • 2 weeks later...

No kidding, what Detroit needs, is for it's billionares to get off of their behinds, and invest in downtown and infrastructure. It'd help restore city services, and public safety, that in turn could make people want to move to the city again, and more businesses. I see it as a domino affect.

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I don't think that is the issue, as Michigan is one of the most philanthropic states in the nation from Grand Rapids to Detroit, the whole state is considered very generous. Millionaires and billionaires are investing in the city, and more times than not in social programs of which the effects are not always immediately seen. Plus, while philatrophy is nice, I don't think it should necessity.

Or, did I get you wrong, and you're simply talking about more private investors setting up shop in the city? Even then, many of them comes for the tax breaks which don't add directly to the tax base of the city for years.

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