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Crain's
High tech lamps may be bright idea PAGE 4
..... Macomb arts center wows ad agencies PAGE 3
Business fashions loosen up for fall PAGE 22
WEEK OF AUG. 19 - 25, 1985 VOLUME 1
Acquisition won't affect Time Engineering staff
Second shop is planned to serve petite women After 15 years of retailing in Troy's Oakland Mall, Lillian Karamanian, president of Little Women, a shop that caters to the petite woman, is planning to open her second store in Detroit. Called Little Women-New Center One, the shop will occupy 1,700 square feet at the New Center One complex on West Grand Boulevard. It's scheduled to open the first week of September. The new store will have about six employees and will focus on the career woman. Karamanian said the Oakland Mall store does about $500,000 a year in sales.
BY VANESSA WATERS CRAIN'S DETROIT BUSINESS
DWIGHT CENDROWSKI
A gold mine may lie beneath the Uniroyal rubble.
The old Uniroyal plant complex on East Jefferson Avenue is slowly being reduced to scattered bricks. Underneath those bricks lie 40 acres of prime riverfront land that could be a gold mine for an innovative developer. When the land is cleared, probably by the end of the year, it will be what city officials say is the largest undeveloped city riverfront site in the Midwest. They expect developers to make an offer. Because of the fast pace of development along the riverfront, there has . been much speculation about what will spring up on the Uniroyal site. Speculation centers on housing, offices and some complementary retail uses, and some city officials talk about parks. "Uniroyal is an interesting piece of property," said John Lambrecht, corporate vice president of the real estate firm, Lambrecht Co .. "As Harbortown starts to take off and they continue with their construction, that too will fuel interest in the site."
Sanders is optimistic about finance package BY AMY BODWIN AND MATI GR YCZAN CRAIN'S DETROIT BUSINESS
The state of Michigan gave Fred Sanders Inc. in Highland Park a $750,000 vote of confidence that the corporation will prosper under new management, but company officials aren't celebrating yet. Filipp Kreissl, vice chairman of the 110year-old confectionery and bakery company,
said he was "grateful" for last week's loan commitment from the Michigan Economic Development Authority (MEDA). But he said more pieces in a $4.1 million package have to fall into place. Kreissl and Jack Sanders, company chairman of the board, were cautiously optimistic that they will tie up by year's end the package of new equity and debt that will be used largely to boost sales. See SANDE R S, PAGE 24 ~
Harbortown is a 48-acre waterfront property being developed into a residential and retail project. The development is a joint venture between American Natural Resources Development Corp. and Michigan Consolidated Gas Development Corp. Lambrecht said a smart developer will want to build something on the Uniroyal site that will complement riverfront projects such as Harbortown, just to the west. "When you look out that way and see what Harbortown is doing, I would guess that most developers could look at the (Uniroyal) project with some substantial portion as residential," said Lambrecht. Lambrecht said his company is not thinking about submitting any proposals, adding that the firm is involved with other projects. Lambrecht Co. , in the Penobscot Building, is marketing and leasing the office and retail space at Stroh River Place, an office, retail and housing development nearby on the river. See UNIROYAL, PAGE 25 ~
Fred Sanders Inc. sales c;; ... 35 .!!!
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30 25
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c
20
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15
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10 5 1981
1982
1983
1984
1985 (est.)
Source: Michigan Economic Development Authority. 1985 sales estimated by Sanders for MEDA. SANDRA SCHULTZ
Eyeglass retailers focus on Detroit market
Dearborn company gets contract from Chinese Livernois Engineering Co. of Dearborn has been awarded a $2.5 million to $3 million contract to supply radiator manufacturing equipment to the People's Republic of China. Under the agreement, Livernois will design, make and service machines used to make passenger car radiators and components for six Chinese radiator manufacturers. See LATE NE WS, PAGE 2
NO. 29
What's next for Uniroyal site?
LATE NEWS A subsidiary of a Wisconsin aerospace company has announced it will buy the parent company of Time Engineering of Troy, a 625-employee computer design firm. None of Time Engineering's employees will be laid off or moved as a result of the acquisition, according to John Cade, president of Cade Industries Inc. of Marinette, Wis. Cade Industries formed a subsidiary called EDAC Technologies Corp. in April to become a public company and to buy Gros-Ite Inc. of Farmington, Conn. , the parent company of Time Engineering, Cade said. In papers filed last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission, EDAC said it had acquired one-third of Gros-Ite for approximately $3 million in July, and intended to pay an additional $6.9 million for the rest. Gros-Ite's sales for 1984 were approximately $31 million. Time Engineering does computer-aided design and makes prototypes for the automotive industry.
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BY STEVE RAP HAEL CRAIN'S DETROIT B USINESS
Two new eyeglass retailers are setting their sights on the already-crowded Detroit market. NuVision Inc. , a Flint-based eyeglass company that raised more than $4 million in a public offering last January, plans to open at least one company-owned store in either Oakland County or Macomb County by month's end. "By year's end, we expect to have a handful of stores here," said Jonathan Raven, vice president and general counsel. The 30-year-old company was started by Dr.
o D.O.C. Optics Corp. says an agreement between the Federal Trade Commission and the Michigan Optometrics Association will ease recruiting of optometrists. Story, Page 17. ~ Eli Shapiro, chairman of the board, and has 104 stores, including 31 franchises, primarily in outstate Michigan, New Jersey a nd Indiana. Nu Vision did $23 million in sales last year and $12.8 million the first six months of 1985 compared to $11.8 million for the same peridd last year. Its stock is traded over-the-counter. "Over a period of time, we will have 10-20
locations" in the Detroit area, Raven said. "In the long term, franchises will account for 60 percent to 70 percent of our stores." Meanwhile, Precision Lenscrafter s, a chain of 28 large optical stores headquartered in Cincinnati , Ohio, plans to enter Detroit next year. These 7,000-square-foot stores will have laboratories to make lenses quickly while providing a wide price range of eyeglass frames and accessories. Waiting for the assault is Southfield-based D.O.C. Optics Corp., a 39-year-old eyeglass com.pa,ny facin.g hard times (Crain's Det!<>..i t _!!.!lsi.~ See EYEGLASS, PAGE 24 ~