Editor's Note: This is the story Detroit wants the world to hear. Jonathan Oosting of MLive.com was one of more than 50 journalists from around the nation who participated in Transformation Detroit, a three-day media briefing facilitated by the Detroit Regional News Hub meant to highlight innovative revitalization efforts in the city.

These days, it seems like everybody has a plan to revitalize Detroit. But unlike many would-be visionaries, Dan Gilbert has what it takes to get it done: Money. Boatloads of it.

The Quicken Loans founder and chairman is in the process of purchasing the 23-story Dime Building near Campus Martius, which would be his fourth major downtown real estate acquisition in the past 10 months, including the First National Building, Chase Tower and the Madison Theatre Building.

If the deal closes, as expected, Gilbert would control roughly 1.6 million square-feet of downtown office space, which Crain's reports would make him the second-largest private landlord in Detroit behind General Motors.

Each purchase is part of Gilbert's concerted effort to create an entrepreneurial hotbed downtown, flooding Detroit's urban core with young talent that will demand additional retail and residential options.

"To me, it's about more than investments or changing what is," Gilbert told a group of reporters on Wednesday. "It's making sure that what could and will be stays here in Detroit."

While his plan is limited in scope, it's large in scale, and he hopes his effort will spur similar development around the city.

QUICKEN TO COMPUWARE

Gilbert got the ball rolling last fall when he moved the Quicken Loans headquarters -- and 1,700 employees -- from Livonia to the Compuware Building. After renovation, he plans to move an additional 2,000 workers into the nearby Chase Tower.

Quicken Loans Headquarters 11 Gallery: Quicken Loans Headquarters

While Quicken does not own the Compuware Building, the company invested more than $30 million redesigning 350,000 square-feet of office space in an attempt to make it more "Google-esque-ish," as one spokeswoman put it.

Brokering mortgages might not be your idea of fun, but the Quicken workspace certainly is. There's bright colors, graffiti art, exposed concrete, awesome views, leather recliners, XBox Kinect, ping-pong, popcorn machines, hopscotch and more.

Despite the perks, the office maintains a focus on productivity. Video screens display statistics for the day's top employees, there are meeting rooms everywhere you look and almost every surface in the space -- from walls to windows -- are used as defacto white boards.

Gilbert acknowledged that many employees were not happy about the prospect of working downtown, but he claimed they've quickly realized the benefits of the city and space. "Our people love it down here," he said. "There is a feeling among the people you just cannot get working in the suburbs."

And that $30 million?

"You can't measure these things, but we just know," he said. "It's just an instinctual feeling. We know it was worth the investment."

WEBWARD AVENUE AND DETROIT 2.0

By controlling so much office space in the business district, Gilbert hopes to lure other technology companies and cut through any red tape that might stand in the way of their move. He's branded the effort Detroit 2.0 and is calling the area around Quicken headquarters "Webward Avenue."

Last year during the holidays, Gilbert took his family on a vacation to Mexico, where he happened to run into Groupon founders Brad Keywell and Eric Lefkofsky. Through conversation, Gilbert learned they both grew up blocks away from his boyhood home in Southfield and attended the University of Michigan before launching one of the world's fastest growing companies -- in Chicago.

"We can't miss the next one," he said, explaining his motivation to recruit, retain and assist entrepreneurs who could go on to found the next Groupon.

He's been doing that through Bizdom U for a couple of years. And in January, Gilbert and EPrize founder Josh Linkner launched Detroit Venture Partners, a venture capital firm focused on funding startups and existing companies interested in relocating to Detroit.

Gilbert said the firm already has received more than 350 proposals, and he expects Linkner to make four or five "very, very exciting" announcements in the near future, suggesting that at least two companies may be moving to Detroit from other parts of the country.

The Madison Building, meanwhile, is expected to become something of a business incubator, complete with common meeting spaces and an auditorium for large presentations. Skidmore Studios, a creative firm that had been renting space in Royal Oak, recently announced plans to move into the building, and Gilbert said several other companies have signed leases.

The First National Building, the largest of Gilbert's recent acquisitions, requires the most renovation work. But because of its size, it could attract higher-profile tenants -- those looking for a larger workspace than they might find in other buildings downtown. "We have a lot on the line that we're talking to right now," Gilbert said.

RETAIL AND RAIL

With more young people downtown, Gilbert's next goal is to bring "destination" retail to Campus Martius.

"To me, that's the next holy grail of this process -- the streetscapes and ground-level retail," he said. "If you're going to have a city where people really live, work and play, you have to have that retail component."

While the project is still in the planning phase, Gilbert said he's had talks with both Apple and Microsoft about the possibility of opening a store in the Chase Building, which could see new ground-level frontage extend 20 feet closer to the street. And across the park, he's working with an architectural firm on a "hip" redesign for retail space in the First National Building.

Gilbert also is part of M1 Rail, a group of private investors putting up cash for the first phase of the Woodward Avenue Light Rail project. The city has leveraged their investment to secure matching funds from the federal government with hopes of constructing a 9.3 mile light rail line running along Woodward from Hart Plaza to Eight Mile.

During public hearings earlier this year, advocates pushed strongly for the rail line to run along the center of Woodward. But Gilbert -- pointing to cities like Portland, Minneapolis and Denver -- believes trains will only have a major impact if they run up and down both sides of the street.

"There's almost nothing you can do better for an urban core than curbside light rail," he argued, suggesting that positioning stations in the center of Woodward would limit opportunities to interact with local businesses.

"I'm not going to mince words on this," he said. "We have to do smart things in Detroit. We can't just say we've come this far, let's get it done. We've got to do it the right way, because one decision like that can change the whole world."

RESIDENTIAL INCENTIVES

While Gilbert is doing his part to make sure more people work downtown, it's also important that more people live downtown. Retail shops won't survive if their customer base flees to the suburbs after punching the clock.

A formal announcement is not expected until next month, but Gilbert hinted that Quicken Loans and a few other "major companies" are working on a program that would incentivize workers to move downtown and reward those who already do.

The program will be similar to Live Midtown, an effort by the Detroit Medical Center, Henry Ford Health System and Wayne State University to encourage employees to live where they work.

HFHS President and COO Robert Riney said this week that Live Midtown has been a success, noting 72 of his employees have signed up since the program launched in January. "Midtown is positioned about as great as I've seen it in a long time," he said. "I'm a big believer in the tipping point, and I think we're about to hit it in Midtown."

Gilbert, who is looking to emulate the effort, acknowledged the current residential market might not be able to support the number of young professionals he hopes will move downtown. But citing renovations underway at the long-vacant Broderick Tower, he suggested supply eventually should catch up to demand.

"If this Broderick Tower takes of like people think it will, I think that's really going to prompt other developers to come here."

THE BOTTOM LINE

Gilbert certainly isn't the first businessman to gobble up property in downtown Detroit, and he's no saint or savior, as critics who continue to call him "Subprime Dan" will tell you. But unlike real-estate speculators that often prey on the city, his acquisitions are part of a larger plan that includes immediate action.

"It can get done a lot quicker than people think," Gilbert said, referring to his belief that the business district can be a center of retail activity.

Elsewhere downtown, Blue Cross recently moved 3,000 employees into the Renaissance Center and GalaxE.Solutions opened an office on Campus Martius with plans to hire up to 500 employees in coming years.

"I don't think they're making these decisions just because they love the City of Detroit," Mayor Dave Bing said Tuesday. "They're going to get return on that investment because real estate prices are at an all time low."

Dedicated residents, community organizers and business leaders are working on their own plans to revitalize other parts of Detroit. And Bing continues to develop the Detroit Works Project, his large-scale effort to re-imagine land use across the city's 139-square miles.

"We do our piece and our part downtown," Gilbert said, explaining his decision to focus on the business district. "I believe once your core is healthy, everything goes from there."