Ross, Ilitches seem to be eyeing a big bank o ce tenant in District Detroit

e Ilitch family and Stephen Ross may have tipped their hand a little bit on the o ce users for the District Detroit project.

In a document submitted to the Detroit City Council, the Ilitch family’s Olympia Development of Michigan and Ross’ Related Cos. have identi ed some very speci c job titles as being employed in the new o ce space: “Loan o cers, bank tellers, loan interviewers/clerks, customer service representatives, claims adjusters, insurance claims clerks, sales agents, software developers, computer systems analysts, mechanical engineers, management analysts and o ce clerks.”

Kirk PINHO

I’m interested in all of them, but in particular, the rst several seem to very clearly be identifying a bank tenant.

No one is saying publicly the bank user Olympia and Related are targeting, but there has been behind-thescenes chatter for months that Dallas-based Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) may be in the running.

A spokesperson for Related said the joint development team with Olympia does not comment on prospective tenants. Representatives for Comerica did not comment.

Comerica would make sense for a host of reasons.

First of all, clearly Comerica and the Ilitch family have a long-standing relationship and ties. Just look at the name of the stadium where the Detroit Tigers opened on ursday.

It would also make sense from a real estate perspective, given what Mike Ritchie, executive vice president and head of national and specialty businesses for Comerica, told me in a September interview.

At the time, Ritchie was announcing a new 340,000-square-foot o ce lease in Farmington Hills.

“ e whole point for us doing this, and we’ve been on this journey for awhile, but we really believe in having beautiful, modern, high-touch, high-collaboration space,” Ritchie said. “We have the opportunities to convert our facilities into that kind of setting so it’s attractive for people to come in, well lit, the best technology we can possibly o er, good amenities, and that’s what this will be.”

Comerica’s existing downtown Detroit building at 411 W. Lafayette Blvd. doesn’t strike me as being the most contemporary.

But a spi y new Ross-built o ce tower in front of the baseball stadium that bears the bank’s name? at seems to t the bill of “beautiful, modern, high-touch, high-collaboration space.” e Detroit building at 411 W. Lafayette Blvd., is about 398,000 square feet.

And on the developer side of the equation, Ross and Ilitch aren’t exactly known for hating their money. It wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense to come out of the ground with a new o ce tower if you don’t have a tenant — and a big one — in the bag. at was true prior to the pandemic, when few spec o ce buildings were built in the years leading up to it, and it’s even more true today, when remote work remains popular and doesn’t appear to be going away any time soon.

If Comerica is, in fact, heading to a new Ross/Ilitch o ce tower, I suspect the bank would put its current downtown Detroit operation up for sale, as it did with the suburban buildings in Auburn Hills and Livonia.

New brokerage rm

Sylvan Lake-based Cohn Commercial Properties, run by Harry Cohn, has joined SVN as a local a liate.

Now operating as SVN | Cohn Commercial Properties, the brokerage rm works in areas like retail, o ce, multifamily and industrial.

“With SVN we gained expanded visibility and marketing dexterity to deliver the best value possible no matter the geography or asset class,” Cohn, who founded his company in 2013, said in a press release. “We now not only reach a business owner across town but an investor across the globe.”

SVN is based in Boston and worked on $21.1 billion in sales and leases last year, according to the release.

Contact: kpinho@crain.com; (313) 446-0412; @kirkpinhoCDB