[skyfan]

Hopes of turning downtown Detroit into a major technology hub took a couple of big steps forward Monday as digital giant Amazon and Lear Corp. announced major moves and investments in the downtown core, including the first sale of a building owned and renovated by Dan Gilbert's real estate arm.

In back-to-back announcements this morning, Amazon, the giant online retailer, said it would establish a technology hub on several floors of the 150 W. Jefferson office tower. Amazon did not give a specific figure, but it said "multiple floors" would be added to its operations, indicating roughly several hundred new workers.

And then Lear Corp. said it would establish a new innovation and product design center at 119 W. State in downtown's Capitol Park district. Lear will position about 150 workers in the center, said Matt Simoncini, president and CEO of Lear.
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More than symbolic moves, the Amazon and Lear projects will boost the already growing number of tech-savvy workers downtown, where Quicken Loans employs more than 10,000 workers in its family of firms and other tech companies like GalaxE Solutions and Detroit Labs have been growing their workforces.

http://www.freep.com/story/money/bus...roit/72975132/