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Could it be so…Detroit – The Sam’s Club of cities?

In a fine example of turning lemons into lemonade, Detroit — once the poster city for high
labor, tax and operating costs — is getting noticed as a low-cost place to do business.

“Detroit is now competitive with many of the offshore locations,” says Timothy Bryan, chairman of Galaxe Solutions, a New Jersey software firm that plans to bring 500 jobs to the 1001 Woodward Building over five years. “Companies are looking to bring back jobs from overseas, and Detroit is in the best position of any city in the United States to compete for that investment.”

It’s about supply and demand. Vacancy rates in downtown buildings are at 70 percent. That creates a “make-me-an-offer” environment, driving down rents. Class A office space is listed in the $18 to $19 per square foot range, with many deals coming in much lower. That’s half the going rate in Chicago, and about the lowest in the country.

Detroit has the potential to become a high-tech hub — Strategic Staffing Solutions is adding hundreds of new IT jobs to the Penobscot Building — with smarter government policies.

If the city — the whole state, for that matter — were able to market itself as the low-cost locale for land, labor and tax and regulatory burden, it could parlay that into a jobs boom, and the start of a comeback. The marketplace is taking care of land and labor costs. Now we have to get the policy right. N. Finley