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Michigan loses defense dollars
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Grosse Pointers like discount retailer PAGE 16
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Business climate improves in Lansing PAGE 3
WEEK OF JUNE 24 - 30,1985 VOLUME 1 0 NO. 21
Ford-Cottage hospital merger needs board OK BY STEVE RAPHAEL CRAIN'S DETROIT BUSINESS
GLENN TRIEST
Mechanic Ron Chevalier tests emissions at Southgate Ford.
The holding company of Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit is expected to buy the holding company of Cottage Hospital in Grosse Pointe. Attorneys for Cottage Health Services Corp. are drafting documents "leading to a merger or consolidation" with Henry Ford Health Care Corp., according to Kathleen Maslanka, director of public relations for Cottage. Cottage would be a separate corporation owned by the Henry Ford holding company. Cottage would give Henry Ford a strong presence on the east side in the Detroit area's intense competition for patients. The merger proposal is slated to be considered by Cottage's 27-member board at a yet-to-be scheduled meeting in July, Maslanka said. The 23-member board of trustees of Henry Ford Health Care also must approve the consolidation. "We have been talking with Cottage for quite some time," said Debra Hussong, media relations manager for Henry Ford Hospital. "And we know there was an
exchange of trustees to facilitate these discussions on a possible affiliation. Other than that, we can't comment." Terms of the proposal were still under negotiation, officials said. Dr. John Williams, chief of the medical staff at Cottage Hospital, said Cottage would maintain an autonomous administration and medical board and a separate board of trustees. "We would be a separate corporation under Ford's holding company," Williams said. He said the medical staff will review the final proposal before it is put into effect. Williams said he viewed the impending merger "somewhat positively as a practicing physician," although he said some of his colleagues in the medical subspecialties are concerned that they may lose patients to some of Ford's physicians. "But we (the hospital) need financial support from a bigger institution to survive," Williams said. He added that east siders' positive perception of Ford would result in more patients coming to Cottage.
Emissions testing plan could be money-maker BY JEAN HALLIDAY Special to CRAIN'S DETROIT BUSINESS
Car dealerships, service stations and one local equipment manufacturer are expecting to cash in on new regulations requiring that some 2 million motorists in the tricounty area have their vehicles inspected for exhaust emissions. Businesses are scrambling to prepare themselves to serve motorists in July, when the testing for excessive amounts of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons can begin. To get their annual vehicle registration, residents of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties must
show next year that their vehicles comply with emission standards set by the state of Michigan. Motorists who have their vehicles tested next month can receive a certificate good for six months. While motorists may grumble about taking their cars in for the $10 inspection, ATI Systems Inc. in Madison Heights is elated about the program aimed at reducing air pollution in the Detroit metropolitan area. Joe McLeod, controller for the company that makes electronic equipment which performs the exSee TEST, PAGE 26
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See HOSPITALS, PAGE 25
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Feds charge firms in futures dealings BY BOB WILLIAMS WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
• DWIGHT CENDROWSKI
Xermac President Robert Brechter (background) and Leif Houman, research and development specialist, hope to make the company a high-tech leader in the electrical discharge machine field. Story, Page 6.~
WASHINGTON - The Commodities Futures Trading Commission has charged two Detroit companies with illegally selling off-exchange commodity futures contracts. The commission says u.s. District Court in Detroit has frozen the assets of National Monetary Corp. in Troy and Mid-American Monetary Exchange Inc. in Southfield until a commission investigation can be completed. Dennis Klejna, director of the commission's enforcement division, said the two companies were engaged exclusively in the sale of futures contracts for gold and silver. See FUTURES, PAGE 25
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Developers snap up potential loft sites downtown BY MARY SOLOMON SMYKA CRAIN'S DETROIT BUSINESS
Developers are investing millions of dollars in downtown Detroit buildings that have stood vacant for years in anticipation of the city allowing lofting, the conversion of commercial and industrial property into apartments. The latest in the string of recent property acquisitions for lofting is the sale of the the Parker-Webb Building on the north side of Times Square Street and Grand Boulevard in downtown Detroit, which will be converted to custom-designed, luxury lofts. Papers on the sale of the 100-year-old
building are slated to be signed this week. Historic Housing Investment Group, which is made up of Gilbert Silverman, chairman of Holtzman & Silverman Construction Co. of Southfield, and Kenneth Neal and Anthony Pieroni, president and vice president of Homac Inc. of Detroit, have formed a personal joint venture to purchase the property. Renovation of the three-floor brick building will run between $700,000 and $1 million and will be complete in about 18 months, said Silverman, whose company manages more than 4,000 residential units in metropolitan Detroit. Work is expected to start in about six months on the 23,100-
square-foot building. Rents have not yet been determined, said Silverman. He said the ground floor of the ParkerWebb Building is occupied by retailers, and has space for up to three more. The remainder of the building has been empty for two years. Each of the upper 7, 700-square-foot floors will have six lofts designed by Silverman's daughter, Wendy Silverman of Silverman Designs in Denver. The Parker-Webb Building is across the street from a parking garage and near the main People Mover station. "We're looking for other similar down-
town buildings to buy for housing." Other established real estate developers are looking for buildings to loft. Lee Stein, chairman of Farbman/Stein & Co. of Troy, said that he is considering the conversion of his recently acquired property at 1700 W. Fort into luxury lofts. Joseph and Debbie Grella, transplanted New Yorkers who recently purchased the David Whitney Building on Woodward Avenue and Grand Circus Park in Detroit, have also scouted sites. Much of the money is being invested in anticipation of the Detroit City Council See LOFI'S, PAGE 25
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