Borders executives have been having high level meetings about its restructuring plans with the major publishers in New York this week, and according to a Wall Street Journal report, the company is telling them “it has achieved major cost savings, including more than $30 million in rent reductions, and that it will move out of its Ann Arbor, Mich., headquarters for cheaper office space in the greater Detroit metro area.”

Along with the closing of about 226 stores by the end of this month, the plan is “the linchpin of Borders’ efforts to make it through bankruptcy proceedings,” say WSJ reporters Jeffrey Tacthenberg and Mike Spector.

While the news Borders was moving company headquarters was shocking to some — the company famously grew out of a single store founded in the college town, and at one time employed over 1,000 people there — Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje says, “I can’t say that I’m surprised. Obviously, the company’s been going through a lot of turmoil. It’s something I can’t say we’ve anticipated, but certainly taken into account.”

According to a report from the Detroit Free Press, Hieftje also noted, “I really feel for the people who work at Borders, at the headquarters and out at the stores.. Those are the folks we need to be thinking about. If this is a determination of the bankruptcy settlement, as part of a move to reduce costs, there won’t be much anybody can do.”

The really sad news is that, according to a New York Times report by Julie Bosman about the plan being presented by Borders to publishers , “publishers characterized the plan as unrealistic and said they were more convinced than ever that Borders would be forced to sell itself or liquidate.”

“We are not impressed,” one anonymous publisher tells Bosman. “None of it gave us any reason to think they can get themselves out of this. I don’t think it’s changed anybody’s mind.”