Pleasant Ridge

ePrize to stay put in Pleasant Ridge for now

By Jennie Miller
C & G Staff Writer

Quicken Loans’ move downtown starts rumors that others will follow

PLEASANT RIDGE — As his business partner Dan Gilbert moves his Quicken Loans headquarters to downtown Detroit, ePrize founder and CEO Josh Linkner says he has no immediate plans to follow suit with his Pleasant Ridge-based interactive promotions agency.

“We are very happy in our current space — we have room to grow, several years on our lease, and no intention of leaving,” Linkner said last week.

That’s not to say a move isn’t on the horizon, especially given the reported 638 percent growth the company experienced in three short years. Linkner said something’s going to have to give if the company keeps it up.

“(Moving downtown) is something we are considering, but we are considering a lot of things,” Linkner said, offering another option of staying put and constructing an addition to his building. “Ultimately we will outgrow our facility and we’ll need to figure out what to do next. Certainly we would consider Detroit as one of those options. But we’re not actively looking at space or anything.”

Pleasant Ridge City Manager Sherry Ball was relieved to hear that ePrize was staying put.

“I was concerned about the rumors,” Ball said. “I was surprised and hoping that it was not true.”

ePrize was formed in 1999, and in 2005 Linkner moved the company’s headquarters and its then-80 employees to Pleasant Ridge from Farmington Hills.

Now, with a total of 350 employees working out of Chicago, Dallas, London, Los Angeles and New York City, 300 individuals work out of the Pleasant Ridge office. And that number is expected to continue increasing.

“We are aggressively growing,” Linkner said, adding that while the Internet business is difficult to predict for the long-term, the future looks bright for ePrize. “We feel the best is yet to come. We estimate the head count as tripling in the next three to five years.”

Gilbert, the founder and CEO of Quicken Loans and owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, joined ePrize as a board member and investor in December 2005 along with $32 million in investments from Camelot Ventures.

Since the move to Pleasant Ridge, ePrize business leaders and city officials have maintained a close professional relationship, Ball said.

        

“We have a great relationship with them and they are an integral part of our community,” Ball said. “We are absolutely delighted that ePrize has chosen Pleasant Ridge for its home base.”

The delight goes both ways, as Linkner expressed pride in his building.

“We had an opportunity to take over this unbelievable facility that was built in 1929 as a brewery,” Linkner said of the address at 1 ePrize Drive, located just east of Woodward and south of the I-696/11 Mile service drive.

“It has amazing architecture: 20-foot ceilings and exposed brick … and there are some really neat aspects to the building like spiral staircases and a rooftop deck,” Linkner described. “I think we have the coolest office facility in metro Detroit. We saw the opportunity to create something really special that fosters creativity and innovation. It’s a ball of energy.”

And it keeps growing and growing.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Jennie Miller at jmiller@candgnews.com or at (586)279-1108.