Detroit's Newspapers Will Pay A Billionaire For Their Survival

Dan Gilbert owns all of the things in Detroit. And he's reached a point where if you live here, you probably can't go an entire week without throwing some money toward his massive empire. In due time, Detroit's two papers of record will be among Gilbert's debtors as they move into one of the several buildings he owns downtown.

Crain's Detroit Business reports that the Detroit Free Press will make more celebrity cleavage polls and that The Detroit News will make more celebrity wife galleries in the Federal Reserve building owned by Gilbert's Bedrock Real Estate Services. The two papers currently share a building on the western edge of downtown and they'll continue to be bedfellows when the new deal is done.

In short, Gilbert is now the landlord of the city's papers of record. Which is interesting, because one of the top stories on the News right now is how Gilbert is forcing gentrification of poor senior citizens and artists to make way for...more artists, apparently. But now that the News will be paying rent to Gilbert, does this mean the end of putting him in a negative light?

This won't be an issue for the Freep, since they're already in Gilbert's good favor thanks to a number of glowing profiles like this. Since Gilbert can do no wrong in the eyes of the Freep, expect more of the same in threefold.

The move is expected to be completed this summer, according to Crain's.