Even DUMBER Than The Bailout? Is It Worth Spending $221M For Detroit's Cobo Center Facelift?

Even DUMBER Than The Bailout? Is It Worth Spending $221M For Detroit's Cobo Center Facelift?
If you have been making the auto show rounds like the Agents, you'd realize one thing. Over the past several years it has been very clear that there is a change going on. Not only are blockbuster reveals being channeled to emerging markets but the Detroit Auto Show is starting to lose its importance. It doesn't help that it was recently reported the city has lost approximately 25 percent of its population...in a decade.

Now it seems the Los Angeles and New York shows have more importance with better reveals and better venues. I remember my first time in Detroit's Cobo Center, it stunk like vomit. Ask 001, he'll back me up on this.

Additionally, it seems that the big unveils are being sent to emerging markets, like Shanghai. This year's Shanghai show is suppose to have the Audi Q3 AND BMW M5 concept. Recall the Porsche Panamera? It was unveiled there for a reason.

Listen, in all honesty I'd like to see Detroit dust itself off, come back and win one for the Gipper; however, at the end of the day the return on investment matters. Sinking $221M into a revitalized Cobo is a bold move.

More importantly, what do you think, Spies? Should Detroit take a leap of faith and bring back Cobo with a new tag line "Stinks less like vomit," OR just stick a fork in it because it's done?


After the worrying news on Detroit’s staggering 25 per cent population decrease in the last decade, we have some good news for the Motor City as the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority announced a US$221 million renovation of the Cobo Conference and Exhibition Center, which as you already know, hosts the annual North American International Auto Show. The Cobo Center was last updated more than twenty years ago in 1989. 

Under the three-year plan, the Cobo Center will undergo a dramatic facelift inside and out with the hopes of making it more competitive in the industry...



[Source: Carscoop]


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markanthony0419markanthony0419 - 3/24/2011 9:21:46 PM
+3 Boost
libs and unions the city will never ever recover. let it just fade away. no hardworking person or business will want to stay there its very simple if you work hard your punished for it, taxed thru the lungs so somebody that doesnt want to do crap can be assisted. i know i know tax the rich but when was the last time a poor person gave you a job. let me put it this way so even the harvard libs understand. lets say 1/2 the class gets an A and the other half gets an F. you are in the part that got the A. then the teacher says well lets distribute the A's around. so now everybody gets a C ( As dropped 2 letter grades and Fs upped 2 letter grades). what happens well why the hell should you study its only going to be taken away. eventually the As are all Fs and there is nothing to distribute. people leaving ny and california in droves. why cause you cant win there.


B7FANB7FAN - 3/25/2011 7:30:37 AM
0 Boost
you people can say whatever you want but i dont even live in detroit and i think thats looks HOT. I dont know what this has to do with any auto news but i think its a go it would bring the cobo center into the next century.


gkearns56gkearns56 - 3/25/2011 11:09:21 AM
-1 Boost
markanthony0419: I have to say on this one, it has NOTHING to do with being conservative or "LIB"-eral on this one. I lived near Detroit all my life before I moved several years ago out of state. Doing a face lift on Cobo Hall is probably worth the investment. It is the "auto capital" of the world and does host the "Detroit International Auto Show" in January every year. This could jump start the city and it's economic recovery there. However, I would make sure every penny is well spent and that multiple bids were sought out. I can't fault any city for trying to improve itself or bring back jobs. I just make sure the bean counters are watching how they spend it.




markanthony0419markanthony0419 - 3/24/2011 9:26:39 PM
+6 Boost
oh before i forget the government creates nothing. not jobs not money not anything. that job it created has to be paid for by whom? thats right the tax payer. the government doesnt produce it takes. think about it whos your biggest creditor not amex not your mortgage why that gets paid off. your biggest creditor is the government every year, year after year they come for you even when you die now. then they think the tax cuts create debt. let me tell you something thats my money your not ENTITLED to it. we didnt get a tax cut the rates stayed the same but you libs assume thats your money to redistribute how you see fit. doesnt work that way. want to save money destroy that building.


Escalade1Escalade1 - 3/25/2011 3:27:23 AM
-5 Boost
The only thing "dumb" is this article and the mindless anti Detroit/American attacks from this website.


u080570u080570 - 3/25/2011 7:28:28 AM
-1 Boost
They should move the date so it isn't in the middle of the brutal winter


JustaCarJustaCar - 3/25/2011 7:58:56 AM
-3 Boost
"Political Spies" is at it again!


HoorayforpeepeeHoorayforpeepee - 3/25/2011 9:43:48 AM
+2 Boost
Let's see, OMG my city is dying !!! What shaaaall we do ...

I've got an idea, let's find 220 million and build a convention center ...


markanthony0419markanthony0419 - 3/25/2011 1:10:19 PM
+5 Boost
lastly i hear about the detroit auto show. the ny auto show is bigger. so is the la auto show. where is michigan (detroit) going to be when gm moves because the tax rate is too high? where will the jobs be? why will you need the center? you cant get blood from a stone remember when taxes get too high the rich move and the middle class is left to pay. just think if the tax rates didnt stay the same you say the rich should pay more put in reality the poor had the biggest tax increase 10 to 15 %. thats not a 5 percent increase thats a 50 % increase but you will believe anything the msm tells you


LexSucksLexSucks - 3/25/2011 1:47:41 PM
+1 Boost
Who needs to make anything look better? Let it get run down like our roads.


imbrettscottimbrettscott - 3/25/2011 2:47:34 PM
-5 Boost
221 million is very cheap for all the work that is getting done. it will employ quite a few workers for some time. i think its a good idea, it will clearly be a big improvement and could make the money back in a few years. i don't see a downside. oh, and i have a feeling markanthony0419 is developmentally disabled, so go easy on him guys.


markanthony0419markanthony0419 - 3/25/2011 7:23:28 PM
+2 Boost
make the money back how? lets hear this one. whos going to a convention in detroit? who is going to hold anything there? the city is in shambles . people on the govt dole going to conventions? why should the taxpayer pay to revamp that dumb to create fake jobs? wasted almost a trillion in stimulus and got nothing. we would have been better off to have given that money out to citizens. all that grew was the govt sector which not only costs now but costs cause you have to pay their benefits for life. unemployment wasnt suppose to go above 8 % thats why we HAD to pass stimulus and when it ticked down a 10th of a percent ( people lost their unemployment) msm went crazy let me tell you the unemployment rate is close to 20 % when you add in underemployment and people who just gave up. Stop spending the money is the answer.


markanthony0419markanthony0419 - 3/25/2011 7:25:56 PM
+1 Boost
thats dump not dumb i got excited lol


CharkChark - 3/25/2011 8:58:28 PM
+2 Boost
I heard Haiti was having a benefit concert for Detroit. Maybe some of the funds could be applied to this project.
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