A group called the Coalition for Michigan 's Future has floated a plan to expand Cobo Center to include laboratory and office space for new high-tech companies, including those developing alternative fuels. The plan, broached during the recent Mackinac Policy Conference, caught Howard Bell , executive director of TechTown, and James Croce, CEO of NextEnergy in TechTown, by surprise. The article discusses space available in Detroit for new high-tech research companies and notes that the TechOne Building in TechTown has 24 tenants occupying about 42,000 square feet of space in use. Bell said the second half of the building is slated for renovation within the next couple of years. TechTown owns a second building nearby, the old (WSU) Criminal Justice Building, which has about 121,000 square feet available for renovation as market conditions warrant.