The first $ 15 million will go to the relief of property taxes of about 20,000 families, said the CEO of Rocket Companies Inc. (NYSE: RKT), Jay Farner, on the “CBS This Morning” program.
Jennifer Gilbert said she attended listening sessions in the city’s neighborhoods to hear what residents said the neighborhoods need most.
“America loves a comeback story,” Gilbert said in the “CBS This Morning” interview.
Gilbert’s team began contacting the city last year to inquire about where the resources could best be deployed, a source familiar with the matter told Crain’s.
“The idea here was how we really, A, stabilized families in Detroit and then, B, we started creating wealth,” said Farner. “And the first thing you need to do is make sure people have a place to live.”
In January 2020, The Detroit News reported that city residents were overwhelmed by $ 600 million between 2010 and 2016. There were about 63,000 homeowners defaulting on their property taxes during that time and “more than 90 percent were overloaded – an average of at least $ 3,700, “reported the newspaper.
Gilbert has been out of the public eye since he suffered a stroke in May 2019. After the stroke, he made his first major public appearance at Crain’s Newsmakers of the Year in February 2020 and has since remained discreet. Gilbert said his focus is no longer on the day-to-day operations of his business, but on community and nonprofit work in Detroit.
Gilbert said in the interview on Thursday that he was feeling better and that his recovery was “like a marathon”. He lost mobility on the left side of his body as a result of the stroke.
“Fortunately, I am a real one,” he said.
Gilbert still uses a wheelchair, but goes to the office twice a week and spends three to four hours a day in physical therapy, according to the CBS report.
“It’s very scary for anyone … It’s definitely humiliating,” said Gilbert. “You always ask yourself every day, ‘Is this ever going to end?'”
In the past two years, Gilbert’s portfolio has undergone significant changes. He disposed of almost all of his stakes in casinos after selling the Greektown Casino Hotel shortly before suffering the stroke, although he still has a “small and passive interest” in Horseshoe Casino Baltimore, his spokesman said.
Gilbert did what is now estimated to be a fortune of more than $ 47 billion in the mortgage industry, starting the forerunner of what is now the Rocket Companies in 1985.
About a decade ago, he moved 1,500 of then Quicken Loans Inc. employees to the city center, sparking a wave of new jobs in the city.
He also began investing in commercial real estate, buying and renovating long-abandoned or neglected skyscrapers and filling them with employees from his vast portfolio of companies, as well as others.
He also started new construction efforts, first with a parking deck, then a micro-apartment building and now focusing on new construction, such as the skyscraper in the old building site of the JL Hudson department store.
This venture and three others received $ 618.1 million in so-called “transformational brownfield” financing through the Michigan Strategic Fund.
Gilbert’s investments are primarily targeted at areas in and around the city center, and many have expressed concern that neighborhoods outside the 7.2 square mile city center have been left out of the investment wave.
– Senior reporter Kirk Pinho of Crain’s Detroit Business contributed to this report.
This is breaking news and will be updated.