money Blue Care Network moving 500 workers to Detroit from Southfield
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan's HMO subsidiary, the Blue Care Network, is relocating its headquarters from Southfield to Detroit.
The relocation will entail moving more than 500 Blue Care Network employees to Blue Cross' Jefferson Building, 441 E. Jefferson, in downtown, Blue Cross CEO Daniel Loepp told the Free Press in a statement Friday.
The Blue Care Network will depart the Southfield office building at 20500 Civic Center Drive, where it has been headquartered.
Once the relocation is completed, more than 5,900 Blue Cross employees will be "assigned" to the health insurer's Detroit campus, which includes the Jefferson Building, the Blue Cross headquarters building at 600 E. Lafayette Blvd. and leased space in the Renaissance Center.
Some Blue Cross workers follow "hybrid" work arrangements and do not visit an office every day.
"As a downtown Detroit business resident since 1939, Blue Cross has a long heritage of commitment and investment within the city of Detroit. We are excited to write the next chapter of our company’s Detroit story," Loepp said in the statement.
"We have made strategic efforts as an enterprise to invest in Michigan’s urban centers and contribute to the growth of vibrant downtown districts. Our employee bases in the downtowns of Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Traverse City and Marquette are a distinctive part of our character as a company."
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A Blue Cross representative declined to address questions regarding reasons for the Blue Care Network move or to give further details about staffing arrangements.
Blue Cross has a lease through 2026 for space in Tower 500 and Tower 600 at the Renaissance Center.
A memo to Blue Cross staff, obtained by the Free Press, says the insurer intends to move all employees in Tower 600 to other downtown Detroit buildings.
Blue Cross generated big headlines in the early 2010s when it moved several thousand employees to Detroit from Southfield.
The Blues did say Friday that about 170 employees will relocate to the AmeriTrust headquarters building in Southfield. The insurer acquired that building earlier this year when it bought the AmeriTrust Group. The AmeriTrust building will ultimately be a home base for nearly 300 Blue Cross employees, the insurer said.
Contact JC Reindl: 313-378-5460 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @jcreindl.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Blue Care Network moving workers to Detroit from Southfield
