dailynews
Detroit district looks to give up costly office space
About five years after Detroit Public Schools sold its headquarters and committed $57 million to buying and leasing offices in the city's New Center area, the cash-strapped district has decided it can't afford all the space. And now taxpayers could face a big hit as a result. The district is hoping to rent out some of the space, but the rent for much of the 70,000-plus square feet of space is on the high end of what the market will bear. Real estate experts say the school system will either have to eat a portion of the rent to sublease the space or pay $9 million over the next seven years for offices that it cannot afford.