When you snap up office buildings in downtown Detroit like they're candy bars, and you buy a casino and you help repopulate the downtown work force, it's not all that difficult of a choice.
WXYZ-TV has picked Quicken Loan's Dan Gilbert as the 2012 Newsmaker of the Year.
The stations writes on its website:
Gilbert is the founder and chairman of Rock Ventures and Quicken Loans, and has been a catalyst for change in downtown Detroit. He purchased 15 buildings in the last two years, giving him nearly 2.6 million square feet of commercial space in the heart of the city. He plans to develop the space to bring new businesses, opportunities and jobs to downtown Detroit.
The Newsmaker of the Year also heads up the team spearheading the "Opportunity Detroit" campaign to build momentum downtown. Gilbert made news in 2010 when he moved the headquarters of Quicken Loans to the Campus Martius area in downtown Detroit. Since then, his companies have moved more than 7,500 employees to downtown locations.
