Quicken Loans Founder to Buy Detroit Casino
When you think about the city of Detroit, the word ‘revitalization’ probably doesn’t quite come to mind, but for local billionaire Dan Gilbert it certainly does. Gilbert, who is the founder of Quicken Loans, the largest online lending company, is a champion of Detroit and has, in recent years, bought up broad swaths of the city’s downtown commercial district.
Forbes.com reported that Gilbert’s newest Motor City acquisition will be a majority stake in the Greektown Casino-Hotel, one of three downtown Detroit casino properties. The region at large contains four casinos, counting a Caesars property located just across the border in Windsor, Canada.
Gilbert, who ranks number 250 on Forbes’ list of wealthiest Americans, is at the helm of some forty loosely-connected companies involved in a diverse range of businesses, and so believes in Detroit that he has relocated his 7,000 employees there despite the persistently dismal Michigan economy.
50-year-old Gilbert is not a gambling industry tyro – he recently opened a Horseshoe Casino in Cleveland and is developing two additional Ohio casinos in partnership with Caesars Entertainment. Caesars will not be involved in the Greektown deal.
The CEO of Rock Ventures, the gaming company formed by Gilbert, Matt Cullen, said, “A primary focus of our investment strategy over the past few years has been on urban casino development in large Midwest cities, along with significant real estate investment and development in those cities. With a substantial focus on downtown Detroit, the Greektown opportunity could not be more in the epicenter of our business and civic interests.”
The Greektown Hotel-Casino opened to the public in 2007 and, according to Michigan Gaming Control Board figures, brings in $350 million annually. In 2010 it was purchased out of bankruptcy by an investment group, from which Rock Ventures plans to acquire the majority stake. The deal still requires approval by the state’s Gaming Control Board.
Gilbert’s net worth is said be to $1.9 billion, and he has been putting his fortune to use in an effort to bring Detroit back from the brink. He has purchased fifteen buildings with over 2.5 million square feet of space in the city’s downtown area, which is now used to house those who work for his various endeavors.
Gilbert, whose long list of assets also includes the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team and the Quicken Loans arena, clearly enjoys a hectic life filled with many disparate pursuits.
“Building anything great is messy,” Gilbert told Forbes. “There’s nothing better than people talking to each other, sharing best practices and opening up communications. This is a brain economy.”
Greektown Casino-Hotel currently ranks third, revenue-wise, among Detroit’s three casino properties. The largest is MGM Grand Casino, which took in $554 million in 2012 (through November). MotorCity Casino, developed by Little Caesar’s Pizza founders Michael and Marian Ilitch, comes in at number two, having brought in $420 in revenue during the same time period in 2012.
