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Teamster officials: contract OK likely
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PAGE 12 ..... Catholic Book Store adapts, survives
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Enterprise zones may help Detroit
PAGE 19 WEEK OF APRIL 15 - 21, 1985 VOLUME 1
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NO. 11
Banks add stock
Boards ask for takeover protection
BY CHARLES CHILD CRAIN'S DETROIT BUSINESS
To ward off possible takeovers, three of the top four bank holding companies in Michigan want to expand dramatically the pools of common stock they -may sell to the public. The boards of directors of No.2 Comerica Inc., No.3 Michigan National Corp., and No.4 Manufacturers National Corp. will ask their shareholders for permission at their annual meetings to expand the pools this and next week. They may use the extra stock to acquire other companies, protect themselves from
JOE WILLSENS
Robert Price and Pamela Cheatham at General Motors' new Industrial Cleaning Coordination Center in Troy.
Scrub U: a cleaning college BY BRADFORD WERNLE CRAIN'S DETROIT BUSINESS
You'd better not utter the word ''janitor'' after you cross the threshold at 800 Chicago Road in Troy. Pamela Cheatham and Robert Price are liable to give you a goodnatured tongue lashing or, worse yet, put you to work. When you refer to people who keep places clean, "industrial cleaner" is the operative term around this unique building, which will have its grand opening May 20. Administrator Cheatham and Project Manager Price are the prime movers be-
hind General Motors Corp.'s new Industrial Cleaning Coordination Center, a facility devoted entirely to solving the cleaning problems of America's second biggest company. After they clean up GM, Cheatham and Price may take a sponge to the rest of the corporate world. "Though we're not seeking outside business," says Price, "the potential is there." To show that it's not just messing around about cleaning, GM has constructed a new building in Troy that will serve as a sort of college for cleaners. In it, Price and See CLEANING, PAGE 29
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Troy firm advances super chip
takeover bids, or engineer stock splits, the companies say. While the extra stock would give management more flexibility, the new issues could dilute the earnings per share of stockholders. "Increasing the number of shares is an anticipatory measure so banks can be prepared to react to the continually changing banking environment," said Elaine Bernia, an analyst for Roney & Co., a Detroit-based stock brokerage house. Comerica and Michigan National are See BANKS, PAGE 29
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ALARIED EMPLOYEE MEDICAL BENEFITS
BY BRADFORD WERNLE CRAIN'S DETROIT BUSINESS
A small Troy-based company has taken a big step toward developing a system that would enable future supercomputers to fit into a box the size of a small portable television. Mosaic Systems Inc. has passed the first benchmark in its $10 million drive to deDo not require employee contributions. velop a system that squeezes the circuits from room-sized computers onto a wafer four inches in diameter. The innovation also promises to drastically reduce the cost of making powerful computers. The research and development company, which has been working on the process since its founding in 1982, successfully deHave vision plan. monstrated its technology to its board of directors last week. Detroit-area firms pay higher health beneMosaic's main customer was impressed. fits than the national average, a study shows. See CHIP, PAGE 30 ~ Story, Page 3~
Discounting rescues an Ann Arbor mall SPECIAL REPORT: Ann Arbor Office building boom: Short-term oversupply? PAGE 12
Downtown retail areas thrive despite malls PAGE 14
BY KATHY JACKSON CRAIN'S DETROIT BUSINESS
Like a knocked-down boxer struggling to get up, the Arborland Mall in Ann Arbor looked as though it could be saved only by the sound of the bell. That bell came in the form of discount stores. Not only has the mall made a comeback, it apparently has won a major retail fight in Ann Arbor. Arborland is now known as the Arborland Consumer Mall. A consumer mall specializes in discount stores.
The mall serves a different function from the Briarwood Shopping Center, a Taubman Co. mall with the traditional mix of big department stores and other retailers. But the manager of Briarwood says the discount mall improves the mix of stores and shopping areas in Ann Arbor, and even gives Briarwood a larger base of customers. From Arborland, gone are Montgomery Ward & Co. Inc. and Crowley, Milner & Co. as anchor stores, replaced by Burlington Coat Factory; Service Merchandise; Marshall's; Toys-R-Us and F & M Distributors. "Last Christmas was the best one that the
tenants have seen since the early '70s," said Arborland manager Joseph Thomas. Thomas said sales per square foot last Christmas were 20 percent better than in 1970; from 1970 until last year, sales had consistently been on the decline. The number of tenants has also risen - from a low of 13 in 1983 to 44. "At one point, we had less than 15 percent occupancy," said Thomas. "But now it's in excess of 90 percent." The comeback began in May 1983 when Melvin Simon & Associates of Dallas bought the See MALL, PAGE 29
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