Quicken Loans Announces New Office in Windsor

Quicken Loans, the largest home mortgage lender in the US, has announced plans to open an office in Windsor, creating up to 100 new software, technology, engineering, and programming jobs. Housed in the historic Fish Market and Loop building, the new office will play a strategic role in the company’s recruitment of tech talent from Windsor, Toronto, and Waterloo.  

“We learned a lot more about Ontario’s deep technology talent pool over the past couple of years as we explored pitching the international border of Windsor/Detroit to various companies,” said Jay Farner, CEO of Quicken Loans.

“As Quicken Loans continues to grow and set the standard for innovation, we remain focused on recruiting additional technology talent to our brainforce. With our headquarters located in downtown Detroit, we have a tremendous opportunity to tap into the rich technology pipeline both stateside and in Canada,” he said.

While Quicken Loans does not currently offer mortgages in Canada, the company has not been shy about its interest in the Canadian home mortgage market. The Windsor office, in fact, will actually be its second Canadian location, albeit indirectly. Rocket Homes, a subsidiary of the same holding company as Quicken Loans (Rock Holdings Inc.), purchased Toronto-based OpenHouse Realty in 2016.

Quicken Loans will initially occupy 9,000 square feet in the 106-year-old Fish Market and Loop Building, but it does have an option to lease the entire building after six months. The company is said to be targeting a March 2019 move-in date, following the building’s renovation and conversion into office space.

“We are excited that Quicken Loans and its Family of Companies have made the decision to open an office in downtown Windsor. The relationship we developed recently with them as we jointly pursued various technology companies to our international border cities helped us share the strong value proposition of Windsor,” said Mayor Drew Dilkens, referring to the city’s bid for Amazon HQ2.   

“After we were notified that we didn’t make the shortlist of 20, we said, ‘We’re not going to shed a tear over this. We’re going to continue to work because we believe the value proposition is so strong and something good will come from the work that was done.’ Today, something good is happening as a result of the Amazon work that was done.”