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Flexible benefit plans win popularity
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PAGE 5 Gannett Outdoor fights Troy sign ordinance
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Jet America turns quick profit here
PAGE 15 WEEK OF SEPT. 16 - 22,1985 VOLUME 1
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NO. 33
Southfield deal dies Trammell Crow now looks at Novi BY MARY SOLOMON SMYKA CRAIN'S DETROIT BUSINESS
RICK LIEDER
Diolight Technology Inc. in Pontiac, headed by President Kevin Keating, will be the first tenant in Pontiac's 92-acre Highwood Industrial Park. The company makes long-lasting light bulbs. Story, Page 7.~
A $600 million Southfield development, announced last March by two huge development companies, has fallen through. Trammell Crow Co., the nation's largest commercial property developer, and real estate magnate Craig Hall's Hall Financial Group failed to work out arrangements for the office and hotel project near Hall's American Center building between 1-696 and 11 Mile Road. But Dallas-based Trammell Crow has been acquiring options on acreage in N ovi and reportedly has tentative plans to break ground on a multimillion dollar, mixed-use development there next spring. J a mes Wahl, Novi's director of community development and planning, confirmed that Trammell Crow's first Michigan project could include office space and possibly a hotel. He said the project is in the conceptual planning stage, but that he has not seen any site plans.
2 firms invade Chicago
LATE NEWS Ross Roy acquisition moves are continuing
BY KATHY JACKSON CRAlN'S DETROIT B US IN ESS
Ross Roy Inc . in Detroit is close to buyi ng a direct marketing agency, according to Cha irman Glen Fortinbe rry. The acquisition would follow Ross Roy's purchase last week of Griswold Inc ., a Cleveland ad agency that wi ll become a wholly-owned subsidiary. That merger placed Ross Roy among the 25 largest U .S. agencies, with projected 1985 billings of $328 million. Billings of$252 million in 1984 placed it 31st on Advertising Age's leading agency list. Ross Roy is looking for further acquisitions, Fortinberry said.
N. Y. firm is buying Rosman of Southfield Carl Rosman & Co., a Southfield-based real estate firm , is about to be purchased for an undisclosed amount by Cushman & Wakefield, a New York City-based, internationa l real estate firm with local offices in Southfield. "All documents are in escrow now, but should be clear by next week," said Ben Hartman, Southfield branch manager of Cushma n & Wakefield. Rosman has 16 brokers, and Cushma n Wakefield 13 locally.
Partnership will buy Southgate shopping center A partnership has been formed
to purchase the shopping center at See LATE NEWS, PAGE 2
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Two Southfield-bas e d compani es, DembsRoth Construction Co . and New York Carpet World Inc., have teamed up to ma ke a big splash in Chicago with the development of at least five new strip shopping centers. New York Carpet will anchor each center. Late last month, New York Carpet leased one store on Chicago's south side at Riverside Drive and Harlem Avenue to establish its name in the market. DembsRoth is currently constructing the five new locations, and may build more. " N ew York is going in there with the same burst of energy as Highland and Fretter," said Dennis Dembs, a partner in the construction company. "It's the biggest thing I've ever been involved in." Highland Superstores Inc., based in Taylor, and Fretter Appliance Co., based in Livonia , are invading Chicago in a big way. Fretter began in 1984 and plans to have 12
Chicago stores by year's end. Highland opened its first Chicago store this summer a nd pla ns to have 15 there by the end of next yea r. Dembs said the Chicago shopping centers will ra nge from 20,000 to 30,000 square feet. Construction will cost from $45 to $55 per squa re foot. New York Carpet will occupy about 12,000 square feet in each. The rest of the space will be devoted to home improvement stores. The centers are located in areas near the new Highland and Fretter stores and other national companies. "We're buying the finest pieces of land available," Dembs said. He said his company would spend in excess of $10 million to develop the malls. Ne w York Carpet owns more than 70 stores in several states and had net sales of approximately $165 million last year. DembsRoth built its first store 13 years ago at 17 Mile Road and Van Dyke in SterSee CHICAGO, PAGE 29 ~
Meanwhile, the Hall group said it has been talking with other large, national developers about a project on the Southfield site. Wahl said Trammell Crow has retained Chicago-based Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, a national firm of architects, engineers and planners, as land planners for the Novi project. A spokesperson in Skidmore's Chicago office said the Houston office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill worked on Trammell Crow projects. A spokesman in Houston declined to confirm the project. Skidmore, Owings designed Harbortown, the $250 million Detroit rivel'front residential and retail development project of American Natural Resources Co. and Michigan Consolidated Gas Co. "Trammell Crow has been working with us since June, when it first picked up some options on property," Wahl said. Trammell Crow and its affiliates have developed more than 3,000 projects containing 180 See DEAL, PAGE 30
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COB ranks top private companies $1,600 Stroh Brewery $1,100 Walbridge, Aldinger $589 Barton-Malow $543 Guardian Industries Chatham Supermarkets $375 The five private companies above are the largest in terms of 1984 revenues (listed in millions) in the southeast Michigan, according to rankings by Crain's Detroit Business. Complete ran kings are on Pages 21-23.
New restaurant joins reviving Mexican area BY AMY BODWIN CRAIN'S DETROIT BUS INESS
The Mexican community in southwest Detroit is getting a new restaurant that owner Rudy Morales hopes will serve as a catalyst for development in the reviving commercial area. Morales is opening his new restaurant on the corner of Bagley Avenue and 24th Street, in part as a response to the crowds at his popular Xochimilco restaurant at Bagley and 23rd, which he has owned
for five years. "What I want to see is a nice couple blocks of shops - have a Mexican Town area," Morales said. "I think a new restaurant will help everybody around here." The new restaurant, which Morales hopes to open in December, will join other developing businesses in the area. An ice cream store and cafe opened up last spring, a local baker is expanding his operations, and an architect is preparing to set up shop in the neighborhood. In addi-
tion, a Mexican Town association was formed to promote the area. Xochimilco, which can seat 250 people, posted sales last year of more than $1 million, and Morales hopes to do at least that in his new restaurant, which he plans to call Mexican Town. He is spending $100,000 of his own money to renovate the approximately 70-year-old red brick building into a 280-seat restaurant with an interior decor of oak floors, exposed brick archways, tin ceilings, stained glass windows and
wrought iron accents. Morales bought the former Nemunas Bar from Stanley Ractukaitis last November for $80,000. The bar closed about three months ago when Morales began remodeling. The two-story restaurant will feature Mexican cuisine similar to that served in Xochimilco, and will introduce some new dishes that need longer preparation times, Morales said. See MEXIC AN, PAGE 30
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