SOUTHFIELD:
AT RISK?
Business is booming in Southfield.
AN INDUSTRIAL CENTER
D
In recent years,
new office and
retail centers
have begun to
cluster around
the country in a
form usually
referred to as a
"new
downtown." In
20 years,
Southfield's
Civic Center
Drive may have
a face similar to
this model,
designed by
LDR
International.
26
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1991
avid Hermelin and Robert
Sosnick are so certain
Southfield will thrive that
they packed up their Troy
offices this fall and moved
to the Allied Center on
Civic Center Drive.
Mr. Sosnick and Mr.
Hermelin, real estate in-
vestors through their
REDICO firm and co-
owners of the Palace of
Auburn Hills and Pine
Knob. Music Theater, are
among many civic and
business leaders who
believe Southfield has
more to offer than some of
its suburban neighbors.
"Southfield is the most
progressive community
around," Mr. Sosnick said.
"Southfield has always had
a sense of where it should
be in the 1990s."
In the 1990s, Southfield
is a hub for business. A
central location between
Detroit and the outlying
suburbs, the city is home to
6,400 companies, among
them several Fortune 500
companies, foreign-owned
businesses, automobile
dealers, media organiza-
tions and financial institu-
tions.
Its convenient proximity
to major highways —
Interstate 696, Telegraph
Road, Eight Mile, and the
Southfield and Lodge
Freeways —has attracted
many major firms, in-
cluding Chrysler Corp.,
EDS, Eaton Corp., Provi-
dence Hospital, Howell In-
dustries, Thorn Apple
Valley, IBM, NCR and
Lear Siegler Seating Corp.
The Jewish News, WXYZ-
TV 7 , WJBK-TV2 and
WKBD-TV50 are head-
quartered in Southfield.
Southfield has 23 million
square feet of office space
— more offices than Detroit
and the entire metropolitan
area.
City officials project that
another 10 million square
feet of office space will be
completed by 2010. In
1990, Southfield leased 1.4
million square feet of
speculative office space, an
amount some local realtors
say far surpasses any other
city in the state.
Officials credit the open-
ing of 1-696 for helping to
lease office space. 1-696,
they said, helps decrease
traffic on some roads and
cuts down driving time
between the west and east
sides of the area.
Because of its business
climate, Southfield sees a
population climb from
75,728 to 275,000 from 9
a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.
In the evenings, it takes on
the quietness of a middle-
class bedroom community,
leaving community and
corporate leaders in a
quandary.- They wonder
how they will mix business
and pleasure to create a
new image for their city.
BOOM IN BUSINESS
AND POPULATION
"We are looking for peo-
ple places," • said city
council member Eli Robin-
son. "We want more than
sterile surroundings. We
need places where you can
stop, walk around, have
dinner and get coffee."
From the late 1960s until
today, Southfield's popula-
tion doubled and the busi-
ness community soared.
Now the 26.6-square-mile
city is nearly built out with
about 10 percent of its land
vacant.
Growth has slowed, and
offices are experiencing a
25-30 percent vacancy rate
throughout the city. Yet
Phil Meagher, president of
the Southfield Chamber of
Commerce, is not too con-
cerned. He said business is
steady and will remain
that way for years to come.
"Growth has slowed, and
it is not because of the
recession," Mr. Meagher
said. "Southfield is almost
all built, and its future
depends on what will
happen with the economy.
Growth will continue
gradually, but the city will
never again go through a
huge spurt of growth."
For a long time, commun-
ity and government leaders
have praised the city for its
thriving office industry. No
more. Focus today is on
creating a downtown am-
biance, something com-
munities like Birmingham,
Franklin and Plymouth en-
joy. Community planners
and leaders agree that
Southfield needs a central
place for people to con-
gregate.
For the past few years,
city planners have been
working on a blueprint to
convert its mid-town cor-
ridor bounded by 11 Mile
and Interstate 1-696 on the
north, Nine Mile on the
south, Lahser on the west
and Evergreen on the east