DETROIT -- Detroit has been trying all year to sweet-talk Livonia-based Quicken Loans Inc. to move its headquarters from the suburbs to the city.

The online financial services firm has finally decided to give into the temptation and announced they will move their corporate offices and 4,000 jobs to Detroit, a move the mortgage company hopes will help revive downtown by attracting housing, stores and other businesses.

The company, however, is not saying where, among a number of possible sites it has chosen to locate. They have 18 months to two years more to develop a construction plan.

Among the possible sites: near the old Hudson's department store and an area between Washington Boulevard and Bagley Street at Grand Circus Park, a city-owned site where the former Statler Hilton Hotel once stood.

Quicken currently is headquartered in suburban Livonia. Quicken's current lease in Livonia ends in 2009.

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick made the announcement on the Quicken move Tuesday at noon.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Quicken Loans owner Dan Gilbert were there as well. Granholm called the deal a "fantastic" one for Detroit. "Having it go to Detroit will have a phenomenal ripple effect," she said. "It's not just symbolic. It's a real boost to the city and certainly to the state."

Quicken's move to the city from suburban Livonia comes on the heels of other recent high-profile Detroit development over the past decade, including the opening of three casinos, baseball's Comerica Park, football's Ford Field, and the world headquarters of software company Compuware Corp.

"This isn't just about us saying, `Let's just go to Detroit because it's right thing to do.' We do think it is the right thing to do, but we also think it's the smart thing to do," said Gilbert.

Quicken Loans is paperless; every transaction is processed electronically in an office where a vast computer network handles 175,000 phone calls and 2.4 million internal e-mails each day.

Forbes magazine says Gilbert is worth about $1.2 billion. He turned a $5,000 investment in the mid-1980s into an online mortgage empire and bought the Cleveland Cavaliers for $375 million in early 2005. Quicken Loans includes Michigan mortgage company Rock Financial.