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State panel protests overruns
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Synthetic 'eyes' scan printed circuits PAGE 6
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Lofty ambitions for Eastern Market PAGE 26
WEEK OF MARCH 25 - 31, 1985 VOLUME 1
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NO.8
Stroh bank brews big realty deal BY CHARLES CHILD CRAIN'S DETROIT BUSINESS
A bank established by the Stroh brewing family is close to preparing a deal that could pump tens of millions of dollars into real estate projects in metropolitan Detroit. Stroh's River Place Financial Corp. hopes to announce the deal in April, two sources confirmed. General Motors Corp. is involved in the deal, but its role is unclear. NBD Bancorp Inc., the state's largest bank holding company, is an advisor to the project. NBD's National Bank of Detroit does a great deal of banking for GM. River Place plans to raise the money with a real estate investment trust. Commonly called REITs, the trusts put together money from large and small investors. According to a source who did not want to be named, River Place executives are in sensitive negotiations on two
main fronts: • They still need commitments from some real estate developers to proceed with their projects. • They are talking to investment bankers to see who would market shares in the REIT if the real estate commitments are made. A spokesman for River Place, John Bailey of Anthony M. Franco Inc., said any discussion of the plans would be "premature." A REIT would have to sell at least $25 million in shares to make a national sale profitable to an investment banker, said Joseph Mengden, executive vice president of First of Michigan Corp., a regional investment banking firm based in Detroit. Asked if he had heard about River Place's plans, MengSee DEAL, PAGE 31
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GLENTRIEST
Stroh bank financed Stroh riverfront project.
Comerica major loser in shuffle of city funds BY CHARLES CHILD CRAIN'S DETROIT BUSINESS
The city of Detroit plans to remove $210 million in pension money from the trust department of Comerica Bank-Detroit next week. The pension fund's trustees were disappointed with the bank's performance and wanted to spread the money out to more investment managers, said Fred Murphy, executive secretary of the city's $1.2 billion general retirement system. Comerica was the big loser in a fund shuflle in which one investment manager was dropped entirely and five new companies were hired to manage a total of $310 million. The board of trustees plans to transfer the money around April 1, Murphy said. About
GLENTRIEST
Donald Drew, Detroit Race Course preSident, at the track he hopes to transform into a winner.
New DRC owner bets bundle BY TOM FERGUSON Special to CRAIN'S DETROIT BUSINESS
BY JANE WHITE
The really big money being bet on the ponies in Detroit this year is from out of town. London, actually. It's the $13 million that Ladbroke Group PLC paid in January for the Detroit Race Course. When the season's first post parade is called Friday, race-goers will be watching one of the boldest business wagers of the decade in Michigan. That's because Ladbroke, a British conglomerate, will try to take the local, shriveled remnant of the
sport of kings and transform it - in timeinto one of the top 10 race tracks in the United States. In the six weeks that the switchboard has been answered "Ladbroke-DRC," the new ownership already has applied another $1 million and 6,500 gallons of paint to the sprawling plant at Schoolcraft and Middlebelt in Livonia. The track needed every drop, both latex and cash. And it will need the $3 million to $5 million more that LadSee TRACK, PAGE 30
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See SHUFFLE, PAGE 27
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Computerized state auto data may help woo Saturn, other plants CRAIN'S DETROIT BUSINESS
on placing track in Top 10
half of the system's assets - some $645 million - will be placed with investment firms that manage pools of stocks and bonds. Comerica holds $285 million of the fund, but the system's 10-member board of trustees voted to reduce its share to $75 million. The $210 million drop represents 2.8 percent of the $7.5 billion administered by Comerica's trust department. The bank's parent, Comerica Inc., is Michigan's second largest bank holding company. Murphy said the pension fund board of trustees was disappointed with the performance of Comerica's fixed-income, or bond, portfolio. The board's decision was based in part on the 10-year record of the bank's trust department, he said.
In an effort to keep future auto business in Michigan - and to attract Saturn Corp. - the state of Michigan has created the Auto In Michigan Project to help suppliers stay as advanced as the cars they're equipping. Jack Russell, director of the $100,000 project, said a research team will have "extensive discussions with key automotive leaders" starting next month about future auto factory sites, car characteristics and automation. Russell hinted that the effort was directed at luring General Motors Corp.'s Saturn project and other future automotive projects to Michigan. "You can say I have been directly in-
.. You can say I have been directly involved as part of the staff producing the Saturn proposal. ~ JACK RUSSELL, Director, Auto in Michigan volved as part of the staff producing the Saturn proposal," he said. At the same time, the project research See STATE, PAGE 31
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