PHOTOS BY DAN IEL LIPPITT

Business
Crystal

Spreading north and west or returning to the
downtowns? Builders speculate on where
we will live in two decades.

ALAN ABRAMS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

VII

hat will be the next West
Bloomfield in 20 years?
Will the metro Detroit Jew-
ish community make another
'massive migration? Will we
head further west? Or will it be
north? How far will you have to
commute from home to work in 2017?
Three of southeastern Michigan's lead-
ing home builders give very different an-
swers.
Gilbert "Buzz" Silveiman, president
and chief executive officer of the Silver-
man Companies, thinks we have to put
jobs into the answer. "We've got to con-
sider where jobs will be moving to. I want
to look at access, road systems, utilities,
to answer that question. Because access
creates what we call growth corridors, or
preferred corridors.
"Some of the decision process in se-
lecting great locations is instinct. But
much comes from analyzing a significant
amount of raw data," said Mr. Silverman.
"This is definitely the information age,
and if you don't have the information to-
day, you will age. Your competitors will
have it, and use it. So we are very inter-
ested in computer-assisted demograph-
ic research. We do some of that internally.
And we hire out some of that externally
to consultants.
"That's all important, but it still helps
to be lucky," he added.
"Within our land development group,
we do focus group research to determine
the buying habits of the markets that we
see as the growth markets. We sit around
in a room behind one-way glass, and the
moderator asks questions of people who
are willing participants. We find out a lot
of things we probably already knew, but
we also reinforce those things. And
through that focus group information, we
target markets which we see as the
emerging West Bloomfields, and then
we're out looking to buy property.
"You begin with location, and under-
standing where the growth is going. And
you look at jobs, you look at access, you
look at schools, you look at shopping and

Scott Jacobson: Migration continues.

entertainment. You can come up with a first, second, third houses there.
"Now it didn't happen to us, really, un-
systematic approach over a period of
years towards market-driven, market- til they (the Jewish community) got to
West Bloomfield. When they lived on
directed operations.
"So where's the next West Bloomfield? Hastings Street, they moved to 12th
That's really the mission that you're on Street. From 12th Street, they moved
every day in this business, to find the to Dexter, then to northwest Detroit. Af-
next hot location. We actually prefer to ter the white flight started, then you had
take existing hot locations and bring Oak Park. And people didn't buy a sec-
ond home in Oak Park in most cases.
them up to market.
"It wasn't common to see people grow
"In other words, we're not land pio-
neers. We like to buy land
that is ready to go, in the in-
fill sites, while looking at
new areas that are just
about to emerge," Mr. Sil-
verman said.
"Much of what we do are
unusual, unique sites that
are in closer-in locations,"
he said.
Ask builder Bernard
Glieberman of Crosswinds
Communities, Inc., where
the next migration pattern
will be for the metropolitan
Detroit Jewish communi-
ty and you get a different
perspective.
"It's not going to happen
like that anymore," said the
Novi-based builder, whose
companies were ranked No.
1 for total building permits
in the metro Detroit eight-
county area in 1996. "We're
through expanding. We're
out about as far as we're go-
ing to go.
"What you're starting to
see now is people growing
up and staying within their
community," said Mr.
Glieberman. "It started-re-
ally, the first one I could
think of, was Dearborn.
And Livonia was probably
second, where you could see
a pattern of people saying,
`I want to stay within the
community.' So they bought Bull Silverman: Close to jobs.

up in Southfield, and move back into
Southfield when they became adults.
"But once we got into West Bloomfield,
Troy, Rochester, it was different," said
Mr. Glieberman. "Now, even Royal Oak,
it's happening in reverse there now. We're
starting to see people say, love it here.'
"So we're out in West Bloomfield. And
now you're starting to see people moving
into West Bloomfield who couldn't buy in
West Bloomfield. They've rented a house
or an apartment in West
Bloomfield. That's a major
change," he said.
"And now you're also start-
ing to see the young people
who grew up in the suburbs
say, 'I want an urban
lifestyle,' and they are mov-
ing to Royal Oak, they are
moving to the city of
Rochester. They're moving to
downtown Detroit.
"We're building a site in
Detroit right now, Elmwood
Park, where 40 percent of our
sales are to people coming
from outside of Detroit back
into the city," said Mr.
Glieberman.
"I think we're starting to
see the migration in reverse.
Sure, there's the pioneer that
goes out to Metamora.
There's the guy who goes out
to White Lake Township. But
that's not the norm.
"I see the cut-off around
Northville, Plymouth, south.
Even Ann Arbor, but that's a
different reason. I think with
young people now, the move-
ment is definitely to an ur
ban lifestyle," said Mr.
Glieberman.
"Young people are starting
to say now, 'I was robbed of
part of my childhood in that
I lived in the suburbs, and

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