June 8 (Bloomberg) -- Some people in Birmingham, Michigan, can’t wait for the Italians to take over Chrysler LLC.

Karen Daskas, owner of a women’s fashion shop called Tender, said she carries Chrissie Morris high-heeled sandals -- original price $1,595; now $795.50 -- that might appeal to Italian expatriates from Fiat SpA. A few doors away, jeweler Gary Astreins said that “new blood” should bring new jobs to an ailing economy. Next year, students at a local public high school may be able to study Italian.

“I’m preparing to work for the relocation of Fiat’s executives,” said Carolyn Bowen-Keating of Weir Manuel Realtors in Birmingham. “I’m organizing a presentation of our services at the Italian consulate in Detroit.”

Bowen-Keating, 57, is trying to win business from the expected arrival of executives from Turin-based Fiat, which would control Chrysler following federal court approval of a sale. Chrysler is based in another Detroit suburb, Auburn Hills.

Should the acquisition go as planned, 100 to 200 executives may relocate to Michigan within 18 months, according to Gerald C. Meyers, a professor at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business and a former chairman of American Motors Corp. A Fiat spokesman, Gualberto Ranieri, declined to comment on how many employees might move.

Chances are those managers will live in or near Birmingham, population 20,000, if the housing choices of other car industry executives are any guide.

‘Green and Beautiful’

During his almost two-year tenure as Chrysler’s chief executive officer, Robert Nardelli used to stay in Birmingham at the Townsend Hotel. Rick Wagoner, General Motors Corp.’s former CEO, lives in the city. His successor, Fritz Henderson, lives a mile away in Bloomfield Hills. Daimler AG CEO Dieter Zetsche lived in Bloomfield Township when he ran the U.S. operations of DaimlerChrysler.

Birmingham is in Oakland County, where much of Detroit’s middle class moved after the city’s riots of 1967, said Robin Boyle, professor of urban planning at Wayne State University in Detroit. Birmingham’s downtown is about 10 miles (16 kilometers) northwest of Detroit, and is within 20 miles of the headquarters of GM, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler.

“The place is very green and beautiful and conveniently located for those working in the auto sector,” said Stefano Aversa, the Florentine co-president of restructuring firm AlixPartners LLP. “The reputation of Detroit and its surroundings is much worse than it deserves.”

Aversa has lived in Turin and Bloomfield Hills; he said his favorite Italian restaurant in the Detroit area is Il Posto in Southfield.

Buying Gold

As the worst recession since the Great Depression pushed Chrysler and GM into bankruptcy, the state’s unemployment rate reached 12.9 percent in April -- the highest in the U.S. -- while national unemployment stood at 8.9 percent, according to data from the Labor Department. Since its peak employment in June 2000, Michigan has lost 520,000 jobs, 65 percent of them in manufacturing.

Oakland County has suffered, too. In 2000, it was the 20th- wealthiest county in the U.S., according to Commerce Department data. By 2007, the most recent year for which data is available, Oakland had dropped to 48th place.

Astreins, the jeweler, said that around March of that year he noticed a troubling change in his business. Customers began coming in to sell him their gold.

“In my 35 years in business I have only bought gold during the oil crisis in the ‘70s and during the first banking crisis in the early ‘90s,” Astreins, 57, said. Both times, the gold- buying business “faded when the economy rebounded,” he said.

Positive Impact

Michigan has experience with European car executives moving in. Renault SA of France bought American Motors in the late 1970s, for example, and Germany’s Volkswagen AG had its U.S. headquarters in Auburn Hills before relocating last year to Herndon, Virginia.

Most recently, German carmaker Daimler bought Chrysler in 1998 for $36 billion. The combined company lasted until August 2007, when Cerberus Capital Management LP bought 80 percent of Chrysler for $7.4 billion.

The Detroit area already has a global flavor, said Richard Florida, director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management of the University of Toronto. He said an Italian influx would only make the region more cosmopolitan.

“Despite the trauma of the Big Three’s crisis, Detroit remains the most international auto city in the world,” said Florida, 51, whose wife, Rana, is a Birmingham native. “It is a small-scale global auto economy.”

Learning Italian

While the DaimlerChrysler deal didn’t work out for shareholders, it helped the Detroit area in other ways, according to Boyle, the Wayne State professor.

“The venture had a positive social impact thanks to the many Germans that moved here,” said Boyle, 57, who has lived in Birmingham for the past 17 years and chairs the city’s Planning Board. “If Fiat will be able to do what Daimler couldn’t, the benefits for the U.S. auto industry and the local economy will be huge.”

Bloomfield Hills International Academy, a public high school established 13 years ago to meet the education needs of foreign arrivals, may offer Italian for its extracurricular program, said Jennifer VanDusen, director of the institution’s international center. The school currently teaches French, Spanish, German and Chinese.

Pink And Green Shoes

Fiat’s deal with Chrysler “brought positive attention to the brand and increased Americans’ awareness of the fact that Fiat is also Maserati and Ferrari,” said Nate Wonboy, 40, brand manager at Maserati’s dealership in nearby Troy, Michigan.

“Personally, I’m very excited at the idea that soon we might have a local Alfa Romeo dealership,” said Boyle.

Fiat also makes Alfa-Romeos. Only the most expensive model, the limited-edition Alfa 8C Competizione, listed at $289,515, is currently available in the U.S.

“I’d love to have Italians as my clients,” said Daskas, the fashion shop owner. She specializes in high-end brands such as Miu Miu and Valentino.

“We are the only boutique that sells these shoes in the U.S., together with the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas,” she said, pointing at the Chrissie Morris sandals, which are made in pink stingray and green python leathers with black suede trim.

Long Winters

Assuming Fiat managers do go for Daskas’s multicolored footwear, there’s still the question of how much they’ll like the rest of the Detroit area. Turin, host city of the 2006 Winter Olympics, is an hour’s drive from the Alps. It’s in Italy’s Piedmont region, famous for truffles and Barolo wines.

Aversa said that while Italians relocating to Michigan may find the winters harsh and the cultural life wanting, the place does have its advantages.

“The school system is first class and people are very friendly,” said Aversa, 48, the AlixPartners co-president, whose two teenage children attended the private Detroit Country Day School nearby. Wagoner sent his children there. Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer is an alumnus.

Another big plus is home prices. In Birmingham, $1 million buys a 5,000-square-foot house with a yard, according to Weir Manuel Realtors. In Turin’s city center, where a Fiat manager is likely to live, $1 million would get a 2,000-square-foot apartment, according to Pirelli Real Estate SpA, a real estate management company in Italy.

There’s no word yet on relocation plans of Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, who has said that he will take the same spot at Chrysler when the company emerges from bankruptcy. In a May 6 interview, he declined to say whether he would move to Detroit.

“I’m always traveling,” said Marchionne, who currently resides in Geneva. “It doesn’t really matter where I live.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Serena Saitto in Birmingham, Michigan, at ssaitto@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 8, 2009 00:01 EDT