Crain's Detroit Business, March 14, 2022, issue

CONVERSATION: Nonprofit exec Samino Scott offers kids an example. PAGE 22

MICHIGAN BUSINESS Industrial projects, theater on tap in St. Clair County. PAGE 8

CRAINSDETROIT.COM I MARCH 14, 2022

Mansion sale a record Stellantis COO buys $4.9M Detroit home from ex-Cruise CEO

BY ARIELLE KASS

The Renaissance Center Wintergarden atrium space was largely empty at 10 a.m. Thursday. | PHOTOS BY NIC ANTAYA FOR CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

STILL ZOOMIN’

Here’s where metro Detroit’s biggest employers stand on returning to the office two years into pandemic | BY CHAD LIVENGOOD

The goalposts for office workers returning to their cubicles has been moved so many times over the past two years of a global pandemic that General Motors Co. is no longer setting a timeline.

“Under Work Appropriately, we will not have an official return-to-office date,” GM spokeswoman Maria Raynal said last week after Crain’s asked when the Detroit automaker’s salaried workers might start repopulating its barren Renaissance Center headquarters.

“Work Appropriately” is the remote work standard GM CEO Mary Barra established in April 2021 to give the automaker’s white-collar workforce the flexibility to perform their jobs wherever it’s most efficient.

For now, that doesn’t appear to be the allglass skyscrapers on Detroit’s riverfront.

A return to the normal 9-to-5, Monday-through-Friday office-based work setting that was a staple of corporate America before the virus was first detected in Michigan two years ago last week is perhaps the exception now for big employers.

Most of Southeast Michigan’s largest office-based employers remain in either workfrom-home or hybrid schedules where employees spend a day or two in the office each week and then Zoom in remotely for meetings the rest of the time.

A nearly empty parking lot near the Renaissance Center, which houses GM and Blue Cross.

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See OFFICE on Page 20

The new owners of the most expensive home ever sold in Detroit are Stellantis North America COO Mark Stewart and Antonio Gamez Galaz.

The Fisher mansion sold two weeks ago for $4.9 million, the top home sale in the city’s history. Stewart and Gamez Galaz bought the Palmer Woods home from Dan Ammann, the former General Motors Co. executive and Cruise CEO. Ammann was dismissed from the role in December over disagreements over the direction of the robotaxi startup.

In a statement, a Stellantis spokesperson said Stewart and Gamez Galaz said they were proud to be the home’s new owners.

“They have long been passionate about its architecture and are excited to become part of the city’s renaissance by making Detroit their home,” the statement said. “They look forward to preserving this piece of automotive history for years to come.”

See FISHER on Page 21

The Palmer Woods Fisher mansion last sold for $1.5 million in 2015. | SASHA MARCETA/SKYVIEW EXPERTS VIA MAX BROOCK

STICKER SHOCK

MALL SHOPPED

Rising costs for commodities, fuel spur urgent changes for businesses. PAGE 3

Oakland Mall expected to become 2nd mall sold this month.

PAGE 5

3/11/2022 3:07:54 PM

NEED TO KNOW

IMMERSIVE DETROIT

THE WEEK IN REVIEW, WITH AN EYE ON WHAT’S NEXT ` HENRY FORD HEALTH JOINS NEWLY FORMED ALLIANCE THE NEWS: Henry Ford Health System has joined a new alliance with five other hospitals across the U.S. to improve staffing needs. The alliance, called Evolve Health Alliance, will share human resources best practices on the well-being of employees, workforce data, implementation of diversity and inclusion programs, reciprocal agreements to help staffing and other functions. Its members include AdventHealth in Altamonte Springs, Fla., Atrium Health in Charlotte, N.C., Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City, Northwell Health in New Hyde Park, N.Y., OhioHealth in Columbus, Ohio, and HFHS.

that debt — and, thus, a measurement of its overall financial health.

It’s an important outside indicator of the status of the city’s recovery post-bankruptcy.

` GARDNER WHITE LOOKS TO HIRE 50 AS PART OF EXPANSION THE NEWS: Gardner White is looking to fill dozens of positions in advance of opening a larger location in Warren.

The Auburn Hills-based home furnishings company has openings for sales consultants, customer service representatives and stock associates. Gardner White is offering a $2,000 signing bonus for sales consultants, and a $500 signing bonus for office positions.

WHY IT MATTERS: The pandemic put pressure on health systems their staffs.

This partnership will allow the hospitals to share staff, expertise and ideas.

` MOODY’S GIVES DETROIT’S CREDIT RATING ANOTHER BOOST THE NEWS: Moody’s Investors Service has raised Detroit’s credit rating, giving the city its fifth such boost in seven years. Detroit is now at a Ba2 rating. Moody’s also gave it a “positive” outlook.

WHY IT MATTERS: The rating system is a measurement of the quality of the city’s debt, or how likely it is to repay

WHY IT MATTERS: It’s the latest hiring push for the 109-year-old family-owned company has taken over several former Art Van Furniture locations.

` RETAIL INCUBATOR HATCH TO BECOME PART OF TECHTOWN THE NEWS: Hatch Detroit, a retail and restaurant incubator initiative, will now be housed within TechTown De-

troit, a Midtown neighborhood-based small business support organization affiliated with Wayne State University.

The annual Hatch Detroit contest awards cash and in-kind services to help retail businesses open their own brick-and-mortar locations in Detroit, Highland Park or Hamtramck.

WHY IT MATTERS: The two Detroit organizations that can combine efforts to further catalyze small business development efforts in the area are joining forces.

` BALLMER FUNDING STRATEGY TO CONFRONT GUN VIOLENCE THE NEWS: The Ballmer Group donated $18 million to the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention, the Community Based Public Safety Collective, Cities United and the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform to jointly establish community-based solutions to gun violence. The Ballmer Group has a focus on Washington state, Los Angeles County and Southeast Michigan, which is where billionaire philanthropist Steve Ballmer was born and raised.

Harmonie Park to be home of van Gogh, Banksy exhibits ` Nearly six years after a vision for the Paradise Valley Cultural and Entertainment District in downtown Detroit was announced, one of the projects proposed as part of the $52.4 million plan is nearing completion.

Armed with Lighthouse Immersive — one of the companies doing the “immersive” Vincent van Gogh shows around the country — as its main tenant in a nearly 30,000-square-foot lease, the roughly $12 million redevelopment of the Harmonie Club building at 311 E. Grand River Ave. downtown is only about two months away from being completed. Construction began in February 2021, said Roger Basmajian, the project’s developer.

Detroit-based O’Connor Real Estate represented Basmajian in the lease, while Chicago-based Baum Realty Group represented Lighthouse Immersive.

While Lighthouse Immersive will take the ground level and upper floors, the basement is a 7,500-square-foot space — which includes a bar area and a commercial kitchen — currently up for lease. The top floor has 25-foot or higher ceilings across 8,900-square-foot floorplates.

Detroit-based MiG Construction is the general contractor and Detroit-based Hamilton Anderson Associates is the project architect.

WHY IT MATTERS: Even with COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, deaths caused by gun violence in America jumped 30 percent from 2019 to 2020, the year the pandemic struck, according to the independent research group Gun Violence Archive.

The Harmonie Club was built in 1895 and designed by Richard E. Raseman. | KIRK PINHO/ CRAIN'S DETROIT BUSINESS

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CANNABIS

ECONOMY

Public firms making headway in cannabis industry

PAIN AT THE PUMP AND BEYOND

BY ANNALISE FRANK

Consumers and businesses are feeling the impact of soaring oil prices far beyond the gas station.| CHAD LIVENGOOD/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Soaring oil, commodity costs spark new ways of doing business

BY KURT NAGL

While soaring oil prices have swiftly increased transportation costs, the overall volatility of commodities is leading to short- and longterm changes in strategy for businesses big and small.

Consumers and businesses will feel the impact far beyond the gas station.

“Fuel has always fluctuated. I have never seen it this dramatic,” said Leonard Olson, president of dedicated transportation at Warren-based trucking giant Universal Logistics Holdings Inc. The Russia-Ukraine war and sanctions have hiked up already high costs. The average price of regular gas in metro Detroit last week jumped 28 percent from last month to more than $4.27 per gallon as of Thursday afternoon, mirroring big price jumps nationwide, according to Dearborn-based AAA. Diesel is up 28 percent to $4.90 per gallon in metro Detroit. At the same time, commodities from nickel to aluminum have hit record highs.

“It’s going to be another challenging year for

surges that followed Russia’s invasion of “FUEL HAS ALWAYS price Ukraine on Feb. 24.

FLUCTUATED. I HAVE NEVER SEEN IT THIS Managing volatility But after the logistics mess of the past two DRAMATIC.” — Leonard Olson, president of dedicated transportation, Universal Logistics Holdings Inc.

anybody who imports and provides a service in the global supply chain, with different challenges than the year before,” said Charles Klein, Detroit station manager for freight shipper OEC Group.

Meanwhile, consumer inflation continues to rise, affecting the bottom lines of customers and businesses alike. It jumped 7.9 percent over the past year, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday — the sharpest spike since 1982 and likely only a harbinger of even higher prices to come.

The increase reflected the 12 months ending in February and didn’t include the oil and gas

years amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge last month to boot, the supply chain has learned a thing or two about volatility. One major takeaway: passing along costs with greater efficiency.

“Fuel pricing is really indexed,” said Olson, who oversees 2,000 truck drivers, including 800 in metro Detroit. “What that means is the fuel price will go up. Those costs are pushed back to customers. My assumption is that those shipper costs will also translate to an increase in costs to the consumer.”

The bulk of business in Olson’s division is automotive, which has flowed relatively uninterrupted despite oil price increases, because the nonpractical alternative would be shutting down production.

See COSTS on Page 19

As Michigan’s cannabis industry grows, it’s drawing in more giants of the business: publicly traded companies.

Historically, many public companies and those with complex ownership structures were skipping Michigan or choosing to invest indirectly through licensing agreements, lending relationships or real estate. Getting a marijuana business license here meant turning in piles of paper- Mains work for each owner and public companies, of course, have scores and scores of those. But now that’s changing.

More public companies are looking at Michigan, or going further and staking their claim by slapping their names on cannabis business licenses here. It’s an indicator Michigan’s market is maturing.

Toronto-based Red White & Bloom Brands Inc., for one, has had an under-the-radar foothold in Michigan through distribution and investing.

But after a recent acquisition, it’s a fully licensed operator here with full control all the way from grow to brick-and-mortar retail.

And now it’s set up for speedy expansion.

“This is the pinnacle of what we were trying to get to for a very long time, with respect to the Michigan strategy,” CEO Brad Rogers told Crain’s.

Rigorous regulations “Early on the big hurdle was, basically, the way the Michigan law was written, (public companies) pretty much couldn’t participate in the industry,” said Douglas Mains, a partner at Detroit-based Honigman LLP. See CANNABIS on Page 18

TRADE

More Michigan companies are suspending operations in Russia

BY KURT NAGL

From pizza makers to automotive manufacturers, metro Detroit companies operating in Russia are feeling increased public pressure to exit the country as the war in Ukraine rages on.

Before the conflict, the former Soviet Union was fertile ground for expansion by companies in the West, including metro Detroit.

Detroit-based Little Caesars Pizza on Wednesday said it has suspended all operations in Russia, which are franchise-owned. The company had just recently opened its first three stores in Russia.

“We join together with our franchisees and colleagues around the globe and the rest of the business community in hoping for a peaceful resolution to this conflict,” Little Caesars spokeswoman Jill Proctor said in an email to Crain’s late Wednesday afternoon.

Ann Arbor-based Domino’s Pizza Inc., which has dozens of locations in more than 40 cities in Russia, said Wednesday that it cannot legally suspend its operations in Russia but will direct all royalties from its stores there to humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.

“All of us at Domino’s are deeply saddened and horrified by the ongo-

ing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine,” CEO Ritch Allison said in a statement. “Domino’s has independently owned franchise stores in both Ukraine and Russia, with the business in Russia under contract with a publicly traded restaurant company based in Turkey, with stores in multiple markets.”

Additionally, the company said it would donate $1 million to employees of the Domino’s franchise locations in Ukraine and offer support, including fundraising campaigns around the world, to those seeking refuge from the conflict.

See RUSSIA on Page 19

Little Caesars Pizza recently opened three franchise-owned restaurants in Russia. | 1851 FRANCHISE

MARCH 14, 2022 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 3

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GRIT: STORIES OF GREATNESS FROM THE STREETS TO THE SUITES SPECIAL GUEST

Watch for the latest episode of Grit coming March 21 on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Peri Stone-Palmquist, Executive Director of the Student Advocacy Center

HOST

Margaret Trimer, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at Delta Dental

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Target’s new small-format store in Detroit is expected to take 32,000 square feet in the development generally referred to as South of Mack Avenue. | BKV GROUP

Checking in on the state of downtown Detroit’s retail scene I’ve written a lot about retail lately.

Whether it’s the choppy waters facing Fairlane Town Center in Dearborn and The Mall at ParKirk tridge Creek in PINHO Clinton Township, an upcoming sale of Oakland Mall in Troy, the overall state of the retail scene (we are getting much more of it, believe it or not), the latest on Amazon Fresh’s not-so-secret roll out locally, or the ebbs and flows of downtown Detroit shopping: Gucci coming, with my colleagues, Détroit is the New Black and Under Armour going, and the like.

Enter Ken Nisch, the chairman at Southfield-based JGA Inc., a retail design firm that does work all over the world.

He and I had a lengthy conversation about retail more broadly and steered at the end toward more local issues.

One of them: What is the state of downtown Detroit’s retail scene?

“It still has to figure out whether it wants to be 34th Street or Fifth Avenue (in New York City), or if it wants to be Market Street or Walnut Street (in Philadelphia),” Nisch said. “I think Philadelphia is a great metaphor for the challenges that Detroit has with retail, and in Detroit to a great extent, the developer community has kind of said, ‘Retail? Eh ... yeah, we’ll put some in there.’ But it clearly doesn’t believe in retail. If it does believe in retail, it’s really got to decide which way it wants to go. Target might tip it one way. But the idea that I have to go to Eight Mile and Woodward to go to (a retailer like) T.J. Maxx is kind of crazy.”

Some of Nisch’s argument: Downtown, there are no retail-centric developments in the works and projects on the drawing boards or otherwise in the works tend to include retail as an afterthought rather than a major or driving component.

“There’s so little square footage in any development plans for retail,” he said. “There’s not really a retail development that anybody’s talking about of any significance. ... It just kind of suggests that, as a retail destination, there’s just not a lot of enthusiasm by

Rivertown Market, a small-format version of a Meijer Inc. store, is at 1475 E. Jefferson Ave. between Rivard and Riopelle streets. | CITY OF DETROIT FLICKR

any of the players. I think that food and beverage and entertainment, there’s a lot of enthusiasm for that, but really not a lot of enthusiasm for what I would call retail.”

If he had his druthers, Woodward and and its neighboring streets would include retailers that offer “the cooler version of things that people want to buy, not the more expensive version of things people want to buy.”

In some ways, there is some of that already, said Kees Janeway, a retail expert who is managing partner with Detroit-based Iconic Real Estate.

Retailers like Madewell, Le Labo, Bonobos, Lululemon and Warby Parker, for instance, fit that bill, Janeway said. And other retailers like H&M, Nike and, until recently, Under Armour, made big splashes when they were announced. Those are the bigname brands, but there are also smaller, locally owned retailers — some who are newer to the market, others who have been around for years.

Let’s also keep in mind that the downtown core Mondaythrough-Friday workforce has been slashed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Downtown Detroit Partnership, there were 19,426 workers downtown on average in August 2021, compared with 66,240 in August 2019 prior to the pandemic. October 2019 was the high since the beginning of that year with 75,281; the low was April 2020, with an average of 8,639.

Fewer people on a daily basis generally means less shopping (not to mention fewer diners at restaurants), impacting retail activity. So retailers — and the brokers and landlords that attempt to lure them downtown — are operating at a handicap.

Also important to consider: “Food

and beverage sales were so strong that there was a good case for people to say, ‘Hey, it’s time to do business in Detroit,’” Janeway said. “I don’t think the same has really been resoundingly true for soft goods retail” like clothing, furniture and other types of goods.

Retail attraction hasn’t been a willy-nilly effort the last decade or so.

Nathan Forbes, whose Southfield-based Forbes Co. owns the luxury Somerset Collection shopping mall in Troy, was a key retail adviser to Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock LLC in the early days, making clear that retail was always meant to be a key player in the redevelopment of downtown. Gilbert himself nearly a decade ago described his vision for the area south of Grand Circus Park as “non random” and “highly designed.” And north of that area sits some of the Ilitch family’s Olympia Development of Michigan holdings along Woodward.

Janeway pointed to fresh activity along Woodward as well as the new Gucci outpost coming this summer as being signs of “some activity.”

“But I still suspect that the sales volumes are not so strong that the national brands are running to be in Detroit,” Janeway said. “They have to be cautious because they were all hit

by COVID in different ways. They have exceedingly high rent burdens, most of which probably wasn’t forgiven. If anything, it might have been delayed. And when you’re looking at new store openings, how appealing is Detroit vs. Austin or Miami, or any number of these cities that have seen exponential growth the last number of years?”

Contact: kpinho@crain.com; (313) 446-0412; @kirkpinhoCDB

3/11/2022 3:09:03 PM

REAL ESTATE

Oakland Mall may join Fairlane as second mall selling this month Troy-based investor-developer confirms contract, declines to discuss plans for shopping center

BY KIRK PINHO

A new owner is nearing a purchase of Oakland Mall, Crain’s has learned.

Mario Kiezi, a real estate investor and developer based in Troy, confirmed that he has the mall under contract for purchase for an undisclosed price. Letters have been sent to the mall’s tenants informing them of the pending ownership change.

Kiezi declined to discuss his plans for the mall until a deal has been finalized. The sale is expected to close this month, Kiezi said.

Mall representatives did not respond to a request for comment.

If it finalizes, it could be the second suburban mall to change hands in March. Fairlane Town Center in Dearborn is also expected to sell this month to unknown new ownership for an unknown price, Crain’s reported recently, after its existing owner fell behind on $161 million in commercial mortgage-backed securities debt secured by Fairlane and two other malls.

And it would be the most recent in the last several years, following the 2014 sales of Fairlane and The Mall at Partridge Creek in Clinton Township as part of a $1.4 billion deal; the 2019

Oakland Mall opened in 1968 at the corner of 14 Mile and John R roads in Troy. | KIRK PINHO/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

sale of Lakeside Mall in Sterling Heights for $26.5 million; the 2018 sale of Eastland Center in Harper Woods for $3.125 million and then three years later its sale for $10.5 million to NorthPoint Development LLC; the sale of Northland Center in Southfield to Contour Companies

LLC for $11.1 million in 2021; and the $3.7 million sale of Summit Place Mall in Waterford Township for $3.7 million in 2018.

Oakland Mall was built over the course of several years, opening in 1968.

The 1.5 million-square-foot mall

sold in 2007 to Chicago-based Urban Retail Properties LLC, Crain’s reported at the time. Staff in the Troy assessing office said that 2007 sale was for close to $114.5 million.

The Macy’s store is owned by Federated Retail Holdings Inc. in Cincinnati, while the J. C. Penney store is owned by CTL Propco 1 LLC out of Jersey City, N.J. Kiezi said he bought the 407,000-square-foot former Sears store, which closed in the fall 2018, last year for $15 million.

Most recently, Kiezi’s investments have been centered in Detroit, where he was part of an ownership group that had owned the Park Avenue House building at 2305 Park Ave. after buying it for $13.5 million. The group also included MHS Group founder Mike Abdulnoor and L.A. Insurance founder Anthony Yousif. They had planned to turn the building into a $50.3 million, 172-room Hilton-branded Tapestry hotel but sold it last year to an affiliate of Sturgeon Bay Partners LLC, based in Detroit.

He also is part of the group that’s listed its former Union Street Detroit restaurant property for sale for $7.5 million, saying he’s testing the market after receiving unsolicited offers on the property which he had been

envisioning as grocery store space.

In October, Baltimore-based private equity fund Continental Realty Corp. paid $34 million for the Oakland Center and Oakland Square retail properties totaling about 392,000 square feet across from Oakland Mall on the other side of John R. Tenants in the 87 percent leased shopping center include TJ Maxx, HomeGoods, Kohl’s, Bed Bath & Beyond, DSW, Michaels, and Planet Fitness, a press release at the time said.

According to data at the time from CoStar Group Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based real estate information service, the Troy retail market — which encompasses both the southern portion of the city and the northern portion — has retail assets valued at about $1.3 billion, with roughly 8.6 million square feet.

In the southern sector of the city, retail properties had a vacancy rate of 4.6 percent and lease rates of $30.33 per square foot per year, CoStar said, while in the northern portion of the city, vacancy rates were 4.8 percent and rents were $21.78 per square foot per year.

Contact: kpinho@crain.com; (313) 446-0412; @kirkpinhoCDB

MANUFACTURING

FINANCE

Electric Last Mile cushions fall of forcedout leaders as it slashes headcount

Software firm Genomenon hauls in $20M funding round

Luo, Taylor receive consulting agreements, protections

BY KURT NAGL

While Electric Last Mile Solutions Inc. gives the ax to nearly a quarter of its headcount after the EV startup’s stock crash last month, it is padding the fall of its former top executives behind the turmoil.

Chairman Jason Luo and CEO James Taylor were forced to resign their positions effective Feb. 1 after an internal investigation found they purchased shares of the company at a discount to market value just before it went public in June.

While stripped of their C-suite statuses, Luo and Taylor entered settlement agreements that come with protection from liability and lawsuits, the guarantee of some bonus money and retention of common stock, and in Taylor’s case a $300,000-per-year consulting job.

Their voluntary resignations were reported in a regulatory filing last month that restated the company’s financial performance and signaled alarm bells for investors. Terms of their settlement and consulting agreements were laid out in a regulatory filing last week that also revealed the company’s plans to lay off 50 employees.

Both executives signed consulting agreements until Feb. 1, 2024, though Luo’s does not include compensation. Both remain eligible to receive 2021 cash bonuses and health benefits through the length of their consultant deals.

Both settlements clawed back some of the executives’ ill-begotten

James Taylor (left) and Jason Luo were forced to resign from Electric Last Mile Solutions effective Feb. 1.

common stock, though Luo was required to give up more. The former CEO of Ford China and Key Safety Systems orchestrated the equity purchase in the fall of 2020 leading up to the company’s public launch, according to a regulatory filing that detailed the internal investigation.

As part of the settlement, Luo surrendered 6 million shares of common stock in the company and is required to deliver an additional amount of shares or cash equal to $10 million no later than June 1. Luo owns 59.5 million shares in the company, according to the filing.

Taylor’s settlement calls for him to surrender 1.8 million shares of common stock. He owns more than 3.5 million shares, per the filing.

The settlements bar Luo and Taylor from making any statements to the media or on social media about the company without prior written consent from the company.

The terms also prohibit the former executives from suing the company and vice versa.

“This agreement does not constitute an admission of liability or wrongdoing of any kind by the exec-

utive or the company,” it said.

Electric Last Mile did not return requests for comment.

The sporadic filing of Form 8-K’s over the past few weeks has offered a look into the internal fallout of the electric delivery van maker, once valued at $1.4 billion and considered a rising star in the EV space. The company’s public accountant Chicago-based BDO LLP resigned from the audit of its finances amid the investigation, and its financial performance over the past year still remains in question.

Electric Last Mile (NASDAQ: ELMS) stock was trading at $2.02 early Wednesday afternoon, down 80 percent from $10.19 when it went public June 25.

The company announced in September that it was launching production at its plant in Mishawaka, Ind., but production status is unclear, and electric vans have yet to go to market.

The company said last March that it secured more than 45,000 nonbinding pre-orders, and in September, announced 1,000 orders from Randy Marion Automotive Group.

Owner Randy Marion told Crain’s on Wednesday that the dealership group has 11,000 purchase orders from customers eager for the ELMS vehicle to come to market. He said he has heard that the company is expected to make an announcement in the coming weeks related to finished vehicles rolling off the line.

Contact: knagl@crain.com; (313) 446-0337; @kurt_nagl

Farmington Hills venture firm Beringea led raise

BY NICK MANES

Genomic testing software company Genomenon Inc. has closed on $20 million in a Series B raise led by Farmington Hills-based venture firm Beringea, with money from other in-state and out-of-state investors.

The capital raise by the 8-year-old Ann Arbor company, a University of Michigan spin-out, aims to expand Genomenon’s commercial operations. The company’s artificial intelligence-driven data search engine, called Mastermind, serves genetic testing labs, hospitals, pharmaceutical and biopharma companies.

“So once you sequence your DNA, it becomes data,” Genomenon CEO Mike Klein said during an interview with Crain’s. “And we’re actually bringing meaning to that data through our AI and driving through all of the scientific evidence that’s out there to help understand what your DNA actually means.”

A valuation at which the round was raised was not disclosed. Klein said the company will do between $5 million and $10 million in revenue this year.

The fundraising should get the company to a point of profitability, according to Klein.

“So we have been doubling the size of the company every year for the last four years now,” he said. “This will give us the gas to continue to double the company over the next four years.”

The company states that its search engine is used by more than 1,000 genomic testing labs and hospitals “to aid in the diagnosis of rare disease and cancer patients.”

The software helps doctors not have to “wing it,” and the “AI engine has the ability to go out and scour all the medical research, to bring together that information Klein to put it at a doctor’s fingertips,” Klein said.

Michael Gross, managing director with VC firm Beringea, said the investment into Genomenon fits within the fund’s specialty of putting capital toward quickly growing companies that have gotten past the initial startup phase.

“Genomenon is a perfect example,” Gross said. “It’s a company that is really hitting its stride.”

Co-leading the round with Beringea was Spring Mountain Capital out of New York City. Other investors within the syndicate included the University of Michigan, IrishAngels, Red Cedar Ventures, Michigan Rise, Invest Detroit Ventures and the Michigan Angel Fund.

“Genomenon is transforming the pharmaceutical and clinical diagnostics markets by combining deep clinical expertise with a novel analytics platform to change drug development and patient experiences for the better across a wide range of unmet medical needs,” Raymond L.M. Wong, managing director and head of growth equity at Spring Mountain Capital, said in a statement.

Contact: nmanes@crain.com; (313) 446-1626; @nickrmanes MARCH 14, 2022 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 5

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COMMENTARY

Auto no-fault reforms working for consumers, businesses

BY WENDY BLOCK

COMMENTARY

Crain’s to launch new real estate podcast, newsletters

W

e’re making a real investment in real estate news at Crain’s Detroit Business.

It started late last year when we added a full-time residential reporter to complement our commercial coverage, creating a powerhouse team that owns the real estate beat in Southeast Michigan.

Now, it’s grown to include two weekly newsletters and a podcast with movers and shakers in the industry — all of which launches next week.

Here’s what you can expect and how to sign up: ` Crain’s current Real Estate Report newsletter, delivered weekly on Tuesdays, will become the Commercial Real Estate Report with senior reporter Kirk Pinho. It will feature Kirk’s popular Real Estate Insider blog, a must-read for industry professionals, property owners and anybody who throughout Southeast Michigan every week for the inside scoop on who’s building what, where, and why. Look for Pinho the first edition of this commercial-focused newsletter Tuesday. ` On Thursday, we launch a new weekly Residential Real Estate Report newsletter with reporter Arielle Kass, who joined Crain’s in July and is already carving out a niche in the residential market. Look for Kass her enterprising pieces on local housing issues, industry trends, notable home sales and more in this newsletter.

Kelley

ROOT

Executive Editor

` You can listen to our coverage now, too.

Crain’s Detroit is launching a commercial real estate podcast called The Build Up, planned bi-weekly, that will feature conversations between Kirk and Arielle and industry experts on the biggest issues in real estate today. The podcast, produced and edited by Crain’s Assistant Managing Editor Laurén Abdel-Razzaq, starts Tuesday with guest Antoine Bryant, the city of Detroit’s new planning department director. Look for The Build Up on the Crain’s Conversations feed on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, iTunes and other podcasting platforms.

We’re excited about these new initiatives and hope you are, too. You can sign up for the free newsletters and subscribe to Crain’s Detroit Business at crainsdetroit.com. Tell us what you think — reach out to Laurén at lauren.razzaq@ crain.com, or to me at kelley.root@crain.com.

As always, thank you for reading.

MORE ON WJR ` Crain’s Executive Editor Kelley Root and Managing Editor Michael Lee talk about the week’s stories every Monday morning at 6:15 a.m. Mondays on WJR 760 AM’s Paul W. Smith Show.

Write us: Crain’s welcomes responses from readers. Letters should be as brief as possible and may be edited for length or clarity. Send letters to Crain’s Detroit Business, 1155 Gratiot Ave, Detroit, MI 48207, or email crainsdetroit@crain.com.

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DANIEL SAAD FOR CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

A

fter five decades of paying the highest auto insurance rates in the nation, Michiganders and businesses are finally seeing relief.

The bipartisan reform legislation negotiated by the Legislature and govWendy Block is vice president of ernor are saving drivers money. Now is not the Business time to turn back the Advocacy and clock on these cost-savMember Engagement for ing measures. the Michigan Prior to the reforms, Chamber of Michigan’s auto insurCommerce. ance system was broken and costly. Not only did it encourage massive overcharging by certain medical providers, it also contained a provision wholly unique to Michigan that required drivers to purchase unlimited, lifetime medical benefits with their auto insurance policy. All of this added up to exorbitant auto insurance premiums for drivers, as well as far too many uninsured drivers who chose to take their chances if they simply couldn’t afford the coverage.

The 2019 reforms are working. They are reining in overcharging and giving drivers a choice in the type of medical coverage they purchase as part of their auto insurance policy.

Starting last week, more than seven million Michigan insured drivers are slated to start receiving $400-per-vehicle refunds either directly deposited or with a check coming in the mail. Auto insurance companies have 60 days to disburse this money to Michigan drivers, including businesses that deploy commercial and fleet vehicles. This will help many Michiganders, along with many small businesses at a time when other costs are rising fast and the economy is getting back on its feet.

The $400-per-vehicle refund equates to $3 billion in savings going back to Michigan

consumers’ and business’ pockets and comes on top of the $1 billion in savings from previous fee reductions by the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association.

Because of these bipartisan reforms, more insurers have also entered the marketplace to offer auto insurance coverage in Michigan, providing more choice and options while helping drive costs down due to the increased competition.

Michigan is no longer the most expensive state in the nation to carry auto insurance and drivers are saving money, even for those choosing to stay with unlimited medical coverage, according to the latest data from the Michigan Department of Financial and Insurance Services.

At the same time, it’s important that individuals needing care and coverage get it.

That’s what DIFS is working hard to do. The department is playing a crucial role in the implementation of Michigan’s auto insurance reforms. They are addressing complaints through a hotline (833-ASK-DIFS) for individuals facing care retention issues or worried about impact to their care.

DIFS is also administering a process called utilization review, which uses third-party, independent experts to re- THE REFORMS solve disputes arising between ARE WORKING. Michigan drivers, THE COMING medical providers and their insurance $400-PERcompanies. This is VEHICLE noteworthy because previous to the bi- REFUNDS ARE partisan reforms, TANGIBLE there was often no other recourse for PROOF OF THAT. dispute resolution other than going to court and the vast time and expense that took.

The reforms are working. The coming $400-per-vehicle refunds are tangible proof of that. So are the premium savings drivers have started seeing and the growing number of insured drivers.

The Legislature must stay the course to ensure these savings remain in the pockets of Michigan drivers and businesses.

Sound off: Crain’s considers longer opinion pieces from guest writers on issues of interest to business readers. Email ideas to Managing Editor Michael Lee at malee@crain.com.

6 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 14, 2022

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PEOPLE

Peter Van Dyke departs Van Dyke Horn; co-founder named interim CEO

BY NICK MANES AND SHERRI WELCH

Detroit public relations executive Peter Van Dyke has resigned from the Van Dyke Horn firm, and his former partner Marilyn Horn is now the sole shareholder in the company.

Van Dyke had served as CEO of Detroit-based Van Dyke Horn Public Relations LLC for the past six years and was vice president and partner of its predecessor, Berg Muirhead & Associates, for a decade before that.

Former owner Georgella Muirhead returned to serve as the agency’s interim CEO earlier this month, the company said in a Monday news release.

Van Dyke said he and majority Muirhead owner Horn had “different visions about the future of the company,” but declined to elaborate.

“We enjoyed a six-year partnership at Van Dyke Horn, and I was certainly honored to carry on Bob (Berg)’s and Georgella Muirhead’s legacy through the company,” Van Dyke said.

“I thought it best that I resign and to allow the company to continue under the vision of the majority owner.”

Van Dyke said he no longer has an ownership stake in the PR firm. He declined to provide details on his exit from equity ownership in the company.

Horn now stands as the firm’s sole shareholder, Muirhead said.

Van Dyke Horn has 12 full-time employees and annual revenue of between $1.9 million and $2.3 million, she said.

“I have no contractual obligations that prevent me from pursuing the opportunities I’m looking into,” Van Dyke said. “I will be announcing my plans very soon.

“I truly wish the company the very best in (its) future endeavors.”

Muirhead co-founded Berg Muirhead with Bob Berg in 1998, and the company was rebranded as Van Dyke Horn in 2016, when Horn and Van Dyke acquired the agency.

“We are thrilled to have Georgella back at the helm of our agency,” Horn, who is president of Van Dyke Horn and previously served as vice president of finance for Berg Muirhead, said in the release.

“Her deep expertise in strategic planning, public and media relations, stakeholder engagement, and community relations, coupled with a long history of working and collaborating with the city and state’s top business, political and community leaders, are a benefit to the Van Dyke Horn team, and to our clients, with next-level integrity, creativity, and knowledge.”

Horn added: “I would also like to thank Peter for his partnership over the last six years, and wish him well in his future endeavors.”

In a call with Crain’s, Muirhead echoed that sentiment, noting that she hired Van Dyke during the firm’s previous iteration, and “really respects him, and we wish him all the best.”

Muirhead said she had continued to be “engaged” with the firm on a regular basis for the last several years, but had begun to slow down involvement in

day-to-day operations, working more on specific projects. However, the opportunity to lead the firm once more led Muirhead to think, “This could be fun again.”

Now back leading the firm — which according to its website, counts institutions such as the city of Detroit, Detroit Future City and the Hudson Webber Foundation as clients — Muirhead said she’s in the process of meeting with clients “to ensure they won’t see a change in services.”

Asked whether the firm intends to

change branding, Muirhead said there are no immediate plans to do so, noting that the firm maintained its previous name for more than one year after Horn and Van Dyke acquired it.

“We’re looking at what the future brings,” Muirhead said. “And we’ll make the appropriate decisions at the appropriate time.”

Contact: nmanes@crain.com; (313) 446-1626; @nickrmanes Contact: swelch@crain.com; (313) 446-1694; @SherriWelch

Peter Van Dyke (left) and Marilyn Horn in a file photo shot shortly after they rebranded the Berg Muirhead firm with their names. | JACOB LEWKOW FOR CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

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MARCH 14, 2022 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 7

CRAIN’S MICHIGAN BUSINESS: ST. CLAIR COUNTY

BIG PLAYERS WITH BIG PLANS Expansions on tap for plants — including only maker of beloved cooking ingredient

TOM HENDERSON/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Plan

The Cargill plant in St. Clair.

Carg

BY TOM HENDERSON Two large manufacturing opera-

IN THIS PACKAGE

tions in St. Clair County, one in the city of St. Clair and the other in Marysville, have embarked on large, capital-intensive expansion projects.

Food and agribusiness giant Cargill Inc. is spending $50 million to build an additional evaporation facility in St. Clair to expand production of its Diamond Crystal kosher salt by 25 percent. Construction on the five-story building, which sits on a footprint of 96 feet by 96 feet, began in October and is expected to be on line by the summer of 2023, according to plant manager Sebastien Cournoyer.

The plant employs 175. Cournoyer said the new plant will have a minimal impact on hiring. “It’s a lot of new equipment and new technology for an old plant,” said Cournoyer. “It shows the commitment Cargill has to being here.”

World’s only manufacturer of Diamond Crystal Alberger salt flakes, ethanol plant embark on expansions. THIS PAGE

8 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 14, 2022

SE Michigan’s largest performing arts venue outside Detroit is coming to Marine City.

PAGE 10

DNR grants to kick-start Marine City public marina district. PAGE 10 New business incubator planned for Port Huron. PAGE 12 A model for bringing vacant school buildings back to life.

PAGE 12

Quay Street project fills in a missing piece of downtown Port Huron redevelopment. PAGE 14

The Marysville Ethanol LLC plant, which began operations in 2007, broke ground in February 2021 on a new $20 million ethanol production facility, which includes about 6,000 square feet of piping, tanks and distillation towers over four stories to produce a higher quality of ethanol than it currently produces. The process will eliminate trace compounds that will allow that ethanol to be sold to cosmetic and pharmaceutical companies.

The addition is expected to be operational in June and will increase the current workforce of 41 by about five, according to plant manager Aric Metevia. His operation currently has five buildings and an 8,000-square-foot tank farm on 70 acres.

Metevia said the plant currently

“IT’S A LOT OF NEW EQUIPMENT AND NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR AN OLD PLANT. IT SHOWS THE COMMITMENT CARGILL HAS TO BEING HERE.” — Sebastien Cournoyer, plant manager, Cargill

spends about $117 million a year to buy 20 million bushels of corn from Michigan farmers, much of that from farmers in the nearby Thumb.

He said the new facility will mean a modest increase in the volume of corn the plant buys, but mostly it will allow the company to diversify production and expand into higher-margin markets.

He said one major byproduct of

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Cargill plant manager Sebastien Cournoyer.

producing ethanol from corn is a high-protein animal feed it sells, about 130,000 tons a year. He said the plant produces about 59 million gallons of fuel-grade ethanol a year and 11 million pounds of crude corn oil that is used by producers of biodiesel. It is expected to produce about 6 million gallons a year of the higher-grade ethanol.

Founded in 1865, Cargill, a food conglomerate based in Minnetonka, Minn., is the largest privately held corporation in the U.S., with 2021 revenue of $134.4 billion. The family-owned company employs 155,000 in 70 countries.

The St. Clair plant has been in operation for 130 years. In 1996, Cargill bought it and all the other North American assets of the Diamond Crystal Co., a division of a Dutch company, Akzo Nobel N.V.

The Marysville Ethanol plant. | ARIC METEVIA

Cargill continues to market kosher salt under the Diamond Crystal brand, which has a cult-like following by cooks and chefs around the world. In 2019, unfounded rumors fueled by Twitter that Diamond Crystal kosher salt was being discontinued caused a buying frenzy of its three-pound packages and followup stories on food websites telling folks they could relax, the rumors were false.

What makes Diamond Crystal kosher salt unique is the proprietary process Cargill uses to make it. Developed in the 1880s and known as the Alberger process, it results in pyramid shaped flakes that are larger than crystals of salt made in other processes, which the company claims provides the same amount of flavor using 30 percent less salt.

The St. Clair plant is the only plant in the world making Alberger flakes and ships it worldwide, said Cournoyer. He said the plant ships between 800 and 1,100 tons a day.

The salt comes from underground through a process known as solution mining. About 400 million years ago, a vast expanse of horizontal salt beds formed under much of what is now Michigan as ancient bodies of water receded.

Now far underground, the salt is extracted by water being pumped down to the salt, then later pumped back up as a salty solution and put through the proprietary evaporation process at the plant to make the Alberger flakes.

Contact: thenderson@crain.com (231) 499-2817; @TomHenderson2

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CRAIN’S MICHIGAN BUSINESS | ST. CLAIR COUNTY

After two successes, theater impresario plans biggest move yet Kathleen Vertin raising $3M to build new 350-seat theater in Marine City

BY TOM HENDERSON

Westhaven Builders LLC. Infuz was also the architect for the Inn on WaKathleen Vertin proved the nay- ter Street, a boutique hotel that sayers wrong in 2013 when they said opened in the spring of 2018 down a 98-seat theater offering live profes- the street in Marine City from both sional entertainment in Marine City the Snug and the Riverbank.

“Vince does a great job. He designs would fail. She proved them wrong the next year when they said a sec- within the budget and gives you a lot ond Marine City theater with 180 of amenities,” she said.

Vertin said Riverbank Theatre, a seats wouldn’t make it.

The Snug and The Riverbank, re- nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization she spectively, both thrived. In 2019, the heads, has raised about $2.5 million last year before COVID, the two the- of the estimated construction cost of aters combined sold a total of 20,000 $3 million, including $1 million from tickets, and over the years, the the- the Ann Arbor-based Franklin H. and aters have hosted more than 65 plays Nancy S. Moore Foundation and $500,000 from the Community Founand musicals.

Now she’s planning to prove the dation of St. Clair County.

The Community Foundation is naysayers, if there are any of them still around, wrong again with her also raising money for the theater third and biggest theater yet, this one from donors through its St. Clair Venue Fund. Individual donations of in St. Clair.

Ground broke in January on a $1,000 or greater will be recognized on a donor wall in the lobby of “THIS GIVES US ANOTHER VENUE. EACH the theater.

VENUE HAS ITS OWN DISTINCT Corporate doof PERSONALITY. THERE’S SUCH A VARIETY OF nations $10,000 or PLAYS AND MUSICALS AVAILABLE.” more will get the permanent — Kathleen Vertin placement of a 15,500-square-foot, 350-seat per- logo in the lobby.

Vertin said that the Snug and Rivforming arts venue in the city of St. Clair, on a plot of land bought for erbank theaters will remain in opera$150,000 at the southwest corner of tion after the new theater, which has the Riverview Plaza, across from the yet to be named, is finished.

“We’re not closing anything down. historic and recently remodeled St. We are expanding,” she said. “This Clair Inn. The theater, which Vertin says will gives us another venue. Each venue be the largest in southeastern Michi- has its own distinct personality. gan outside of metro Detroit, is ex- There’s such a variety of plays and musicals available.” pected to open for the 2023 season.

The Snug is particularly important The architectural firm is St. Clairbased Infuz Ltd., headed by Vincent despite its small size, she said. UpCataldo. The general contractor is coming plays at the Riverbank go Dan Brenner of St. Clair-based through rehearsals there. And new

2022 Marine City Theater Season This is the lineup for the 2022 season at the Snug and Riverbank theaters in Marine City. Tickets are $30, with show times of 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 3 p.m. on Sunday: The Snug: “Lady Lady Emerson's Bar and Grill,” March 4-April 3; “A Fox on the Fairway,” June 3-26; “On Golden Pond,” Aug. 12-Sept. 11.

The Riverbank: “The Bikinis,” April 22-May 22; “Bye Bye Birdie,” July 1-Aug. 7; “Sunset Boulevard,” Sept. 23-Oct. 23; “The Sound of Music,” Nov. 11-Dec. 22.

“The Addams Family” ran there from Jan. 28-Feb. 27.

Tom and Kathleen Vertin In front of construction site for their new theater in city of St. Clair | TOM HENDERSON/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Tickets can be bought online at riverbanktheatre.com or by calling (810) 278-1749.

DNR grants to kick-start Marine City public marina district

BY TOM HENDERSON

was established in 1976.

One is a riverfront park in Clay City and county officials are put- Township on the north channel of the St. Clair River. The $1.4 million ting the marina in Marine City.

Currently, there aren’t any slips for project was approved for $148,000 boats traveling the St. Clair River to from the Trust Fund.

The other was a grant of $272,000 dock at in the city. In fact, there aren’t any public slips available for 17 nau- for the acquisition of 160 feet of river tical miles along the river between St. frontage on the Belle River at 610 Clair and Algonac. If a storm quickly Main St. in Marine City, within short forms, boaters out on the river have walking distance of shops and restaurants on Water “IT’S A VERY EXCITING OPPORTUNITY FOR Street, which along the THE COMMUNITY, THE IDEA OF TRANSIENT runs St. Clair River.

The total cost of BOATERS ROLLING IN, GETTING OUT AND the project is SHOPPING IN OUR BUSINESS DISTRICT.” expected to be about $400,000, — Holly Tatman, city manager which includes demolition of a house on the site to nowhere safe to go.

In December, the Michigan De- make room for parking.

Several slips will remain in possespartment of Natural Resources announced that two projects in south- sion of the former property owner, ern St. Clair County had been Jim Cottrell. The city gets the other 13 approved for grants from the state’s slips, which will be available for day Natural Resources Trust Fund, which use at no charge to boating visitors.

Previously, the slips had been leased on a seasonal basis.

The city is also going to build a public kayak launch on land it owns directly across the river from the boat slips. “We’ll do that the minute the ice melts and we can get into the Belle River,” said Mayor Cheryl Vercammen.

She said the launch will be free and available to all visitors, no proof of residency required. Vercammen, an avid boater herself and owner of the nearby Little Bar restaurant, said she hopes to get someone to open a fueling station at the marina.

Vercammen said the local boating community will quickly spread the word that there is a new place to dock in Marine City, and that the expectation is that slips will turn over three times a day, with an average of two passengers per docked boat.

“I’m a boater. You go somewhere, you don’t sit in the boat all day,” she said. “We’ll get the early morning fishermen who will want to come in

and get breakfast. We’ll get folks coming in for lunch and people coming in for dinner.”

“It’s a very exciting opportunity for the community, the idea of transient boaters rolling in, getting out and shopping in our business district,” said city manager Holly Tatman.

According to St. Clair County commissioner Jeff Bohm, who helped negotiate the sale of the property, the plan is for the city and county to eventually add at least two more nearby properties along the river for what he calls a marina district, one of them east of the LaBuhn Bridge, which carries traffic on M-29 over the river. Slips on that side of the bridge will allow docking for sailboats and other vessels that can’t go under the bridge.

He said the city has been in negotiations with the owners of two sites.

“This is a long-term process. This is a really good first step,” he said.

See MARINA on Page 14

County commissioner Jeff Bohm and Marine City Mayor Cheryl Vercammen. | TOM HENDERSON/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

10 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 14, 2022

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plays can be workshopped there as playwrights test out their material and refine it. For example, a comedy called Popcorn Falls, written by James Hindman, a member of her nonprofit’s board, was workshopped there in 2017 before opening off-Broadway in New York in 2018.

Ironically, while COVID shut down live performances at the Snug and Riverbank, it had a direct influence on the opening of the new theater. Unable to have indoor performances for the 2021 summer season, Vertin rented a portable stage and held a series of performances outdoors on weekends in the city park across the street from the plaza, including plays, musicals, cabaret acts and comedians.

“We got creative,” she said.

The nonprofit also helps more than 200 area youth develop their talents each year through the Riverbank

Performing Arts Academy.

Kathleen’s husband, Tom, is on the board of directors of the nonprofit and active in getting the plays put on.

“He’s the former owner of an aerospace engineering firm, and he builds the best sets. He brings a great mind to the process,” she said.

“They have a great track record here,” said Randy Maiers, president and CEO of the Community Foundation. “Between the hotel they built in Marine City and their theaters, they changed the culture and the tourist draw of Marine City. Marine City now has one of the hottest downtowns in the county.

“Between the new theater and the St. Clair Inn, St. Clair is going to be quite the destination.”

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MARCH 14, 2022 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 11

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3/11/2022 8:09:39 AM

CRAIN’S MICHIGAN BUSINESS | ST. CLAIR COUNTY

New business incubator planned for Port Huron 13,000-square-foot space to take place of current 2,000-square-foot space

BY TOM HENDERSON

A much larger, much grander business incubator is headed to Port Huron — a 13,000-square-foot, two-story building along the St. Clair River just south of the Black River and the heart of downtown.

The building is a project of the Economic Development Alliance of St. Clair County. It has been designed by the highly regarded St. Clair-based architectural firm of In-

fuz Ltd. The incubator will replace the cramped, 2,000-square-foot, nondescript space on the ground floor of Sperry’s Moviehouse on Huron Avenue downtown. It is at full capacity, with 30 clients using it either in person or as virtual tenants accessing it remotely.

The new digs would offer more space for rentable desks and offices for startups, in addition to meeting space and other amenities.

Originally, construction of the building was budgeted at $4.225 million, according to Dan Casey, the EDA’s CEO. “But now, with the cost of building materials going higher, realistically it will be $5 million to $5.3 million," he said.

Casey said the project will be funded by a grant of $3.38 million from the EDA; a grant of $225,000 from the James C. Acheson Trust; and what he expects to be signifi-

cant funding from the city of Port Huron and St. Clair County.

Casey said he is awaiting approval to proceed with construction from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.

Because the building will be on the riverfront, the land needs to officially be declared not in a flood zone, which Casey said is a formality.

Once he gets state approval, Casey will put construction out to bid

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A model for bringing vacant school buildings back to life

BY TOM HENDERSON

Jeff Bohm was in the kindergarten class of 1973 at at St. Clair's Eddy Elementary. Now, 49 years later, Bohm, a St. Clair County commissioner, has spent the last year negotiating the sale of the vacant school building and getting it back on the city's tax rolls.

He also helped negotiate the sale of another nearby school, Gearing Elementary, to Eddy’s new owners, and hopes it will be a model for bringing five other vacant schools around St. Clair County — four elementaries and one middle school — back to life.

The key, he said, was getting the city of St. Clair to be extremely flexible on new zoning, which has allowed a wide range of tenants who are either already in the building or will be soon.

“The city gave us a long leash on zoning,” said Bohm.

Two brothers, Pat and Mike Vinckier, and Rob Drewek, are partners in Eddy Development LLC, the company that bought the buildings from the East China School District for a total

12 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 14, 2022

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CRAIN’S MICHIGAN BUSINESS | ST. CLAIR COUNTY

Dan Casey, CEO of the Economic Development Alliance, at the riverfront site of the new incubator. | TOM HENDERSON/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

A rendering of a new incubator planned for Port Huron. | INFUZ LTD.

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There are 170 members of the EDA, and Casey said they will have free access to the building. Casey said incubator members will pay a variety of monthly fees depending on their needs.

Those who need 24/7 access but can work in a shared work space without a dedicated desk will pay $125 a month. A permanent desk will cost $250 a month. An enclosed office will cost $350 a month for one desk, $450 a month for two and $550 for three.

Casey said strong startup activity in the county has driven the new incubator. He said that in 2021, St. Clair County saw the creation of 56 startups, including 13 high-tech companies.

Contact: thenderson@crain.com (231) 499-2817; @TomHenderson2

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and hopes to break ground before the end of the year on what will be called the EDA Business Center. He said he hopes to have it open by the end of next year.

“The building will serve as the replacement for our current incubator and EDA’s corporate headquarters, but my real ambition is to make it a one-stop shop and resource for businesses of all types and at any stage, even Fortune 500 companies,” Casey said.

“As such, we are incorporating a training room for company use and outdoor entertainment spaces that businesses can use to wine and dine clients. We’re going to have an outdoor Wi-Fi system so our tenants can work on the patio when the weather is nice. That’s a cool feature that is different from what you would normally see in an incubator, but we’re trying to take advantage of the

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Pat Vinckier (left) and Rob Drewek at Eddy Elementary School in St. Clair.| TOM HENDERSON/ CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

price of $150,000. They have thus far spent about $400,000 to bring Eddy back to life. They haven’t formally chosen a name, yet, but are leaning toward Eddy Community Center.

Eddy had been vacant for two years.

“Jeff came to us and said, ‘Hey, can you repurpose this building?’” said Drewek. “The city of St. Clair has been great. They gave us an adaptive lease, which gives us the opportunity to do a myriad of things. It was going to cost $700,000 to tear the school down, and now it’s on the tax rolls.”

Gearing, which has about 60,000 square feet of space, is still in use as a school. Eddy Development is leasing the building to the East China district for $1 a year, with the school expected

to close in one or two more school years as part of a district consolidation plan.

Eddy’s 52,000 square feet are about half leased. Tenants include the Viking Fitness Center, which is owned

by Bohm and whose wide variety of exercise equipment is available 24/7; the Keller Williams real estate company; the Friends of the St. Clair River watershed; the Craft Loft, a craft shop that occupies the former kindergarten room; the St. Clair Ecumenical Food Pantry, run by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul; and Big River BBQ, a catering company that also serves take-out from its kitchen.

RENT PAYMENT ASSISTANCE

FINANCIAL COACHING

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See SCHOOLS on Page 14 MARCH 14, 2022 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 13

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CRAIN’S MICHIGAN BUSINESS | ST. CLAIR COUNTY

MARINA

From Page 10

Rochester-based Six Rivers Land Conservancy formally owns the yetto-be-named marina. Chris Bunch, the conservancy’s executive director, said Bohm approached him at the beginning of 2021 to see if his organization could help with the project. Six Rivers signed an agreement with the city last March and wrote the grant application to the DNR that Marine City officials filed by the deadline of April 1.

Because of the timing of the Trust Fund grant, which won’t be distributed until this fall, the land acquisition was broken up into two parts. The marina will open for business in the 2023 season.

Bunch said the conservancy, which was founded in 1991 to do land acquisition and preservation easements in Oakland, Macomb, Lapeer, Genesee and St. Clair Counties — and has acquired 3,000 acres and preservation easements since then — used $129,900 of a line of credit it has with St. Clair Shores-based First State Bank to close on the sale of the first parcel, which included the house that will be demolished.

The second parcel is under contract for $200,000 and will close when the city gets its funding from the DNR. That parcel includes 160 feet of frontage on the Belle River, a steel breakwall and the 13 slips. The breakwall will allow for other ships to tie up.

Bohm said that Marine City will use the DNR funds to buy out Six Rivers and pay it for related costs.

He said Marine City and the Community Foundation of St. Clair County have each agreed to contribute $45,000 for costs not covered by the Trust Fund grant, including the cost of demolishing the house, and the county is expected to approve an additional $45,000.

Contact: thenderson@crain.com (231) 499-2817; @TomHenderson2

Quay Street project fills in a missing piece of downtown Port Huron redevelopment

SCHOOLS

BY TOM HENDERSON

From Page 12

The Craft Loft recently held a weekend craft fair at the school that drew 40 vendors and about 2,000 visitors.

Drewek said the YMCA is in the process of getting licensing for a 5,500-square-foot day care center, with a lease contingent on the licensing.

There is a large conference room on the second floor that Drewek calls “Jeff Bohm’s man cave,” where he frequently holds meetings on county business that he can have catered by Big River if need be.

The city’s parks and rec department also rents the school’s gym for daily pickleball matches Monday through Friday.

Drewek said the plan is to rent out 10 classrooms of about 800-900 square foot each to business owners and entrepreneurs for $700 to $800 a month.

They also have an agreement in place to sell about 50,000 square feet of space on eight acres of land they own adjacent to Gearing Elementary. The developer is Shahid Imran, who is doing engineering and planning and hopes to break ground this summer on a memory-care assisted living center that will be called Build Senior Living LLC. Contact: thenderson@crain.com (231) 499-2817; @TomHenderson2

Developer buys block on river front that had fallen into disrepair

restaurant that had gone out of business and was foreclosed by the bank.

A block of prime real estate on Quay Harrison says he paid $800,000 for the Street in downtown Port Huron, long building and put $600,000 into a total an eyesore surrounded by big multi- rehab before opening it in 2018 as a million dollar projects, is finally join- franchisee of Wings Etc., a Goshen, Ind.-based company whose outlets ing the development party.

Despite its status as the first block are typically found in suburban strip off Huron Avenue, the city’s main malls, not urban centers.

In 2015, he had put a Wings’ franstreet, and having 300 feet of treasured frontage on the Black River, the block chise into a building in downtown Sthas been in disrepair for years. urgis, and Harrison says it has been a The developer is Gene Harrison, good fit for both him and Wings. who owns Harrison Investment Prop“One of the challenges for me was erties LLC, a Sturgis-based company finding a franchise that was willing to that first bought and restored historic be in a downtown,” he said. The Sturproperties there. The Port Huron proj- gis outlet did such good business, ect is a return home for Harrison, a Wings was receptive to another downcity native who attended Port Huron town spot in Port Huron.

More than just a fried wings joint, Northern High School.

Wings’ offerings include Mexi“POSSUMS AND RACCOONS LIVED UNDER food, burgTHAT BUILDING AND THEY’D COME INTO MY can ers and sandwiches, seafood BUILDING. THOSE CRITTERS WERE MY hardMOTIVATION TO BUY ANOTHER PROPERTY.” and wood-smoked ribs. Harrison — Gene Harrison, developer did his franHarrison previously owned and ran chise one better. The building he an automotive supplier in Sturgis, VCI bought had housed a small brewery, Inc., which made metal racks for ship- and he remodeled that portion of the ping car parts. After he sold the busi- building and opened it as the Black & ness in 2015, he founded Harrison In- Blue Brewery.

Soon after Wings opened, Harrison vestment Properties.

In 2017, he bought his first property decided to buy the adjoining building on the Quay Street block, a former to his west. “We were doing good busi-

ness, but that property next door had fallen into disrepair. Water would leak in from next door. Possums and raccoons lived under that building and they’d come into my building. Those critters were my motivation to buy another property.”

The building was obsolete, and Harrison had to replace all of the water and electricity to get it up to code. It had been a club upstairs and a restaurant downstairs, vacant in part since 2013.

Harrison closed on the purchase of the building in November 2020 for $485,000. He said he has been negotiating some grant funding and expects to begin a $3.2 million rehab in April.

After buying the second building, Harrison decided to buy the rest of the small adjoining buildings on the block, three on Quay Street and two fronting Huron. He closed on those in February 2021 for a total of $500,000 and expects to spend a total of $500,000 on rehab.

“Those five buildings have been much kinder to me. I’m doing more of a lipstick job on those than a total restoration,” he said.

Harrison said he hopes to have all the renovation done by June 2023. He plans to have a total of 10 apartments on the second floor of those buildings.

A salon called Salon PiZazz! on Huron will move to a bigger space on Quay. He plans to have one large retail

business on the corner, four smaller commercial properties and one office space.

In the building next door to Wings, he has signed an agreement for the Bootleggers Axe Co. to open an ax-throwing business on the ground floor. He plans on running what he describes as a speakeasy in the basement, with both of them open for business in the late fall or early next year.

“It’s a very small, intimate space.

The idea is to replicate what you’d find during prohibition,” he said.

“You take a look at Gene Harrison’s history, and he’s done an amazing job of restoring historic buildings in Sturgis. We are very excited he bought the Quay Street block,” said James Freed, Port Huron’s city manager. “We’ve had $200 million in development downtown in the last 36 months, and $400 million the last four or five years, but that’s been the missing puzzle piece in our downtown development.

This is a capstone for development in that district.”

Part of the action Directly across the river from Wings is the CityFlats Hotel, an $18 million conversion of the historic Michigan National Bank Building into a boutique and event center, done by Grand Rapid-based developer Chuck Reid.

14 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 14, 2022

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CRAIN’S MICHIGAN BUSINESS | ST. CLAIR COUNTY

The riverside view of a block Gene Harrison bought in Port Huron. | GENE HARRISON

aller ffice

ngs, the an und t he asefor next

ace. find

on’s g job Sturt the eed, e’ve ment and ears, zzle ent. nt in

ings lion igan bouand id.

Gene Harrison, on the deck behind Wings Etc. | GENE HARRISON

Just up Huron Avenue the other direction is another project by Reid, the conversion of the long empty Sperry’s department store into a popular 12-screen boutique movie theater, with small-capacity theaters ranging from 27 seats to 42, all with plush, reclining seats and full meal service.

A block to the river side of Huron and half a block north of Wings is a mixed-use development called the Wrigley Center, a $14.4 million project well underway. When it is done, it will have 36 loft apartments on the top three floors and a 50,000-square-foot ground floor that will include a farmer’s market, an old-school arcade with Skee-ball and Pop-a-Shot basketball, rock climbing, restaurants, retail stores, a bakery and wood and pottery shops.

And starting this summer, the Huron Lady II, a 73-foot vessel with room for 100 passengers that offers guided daytime tours of the St. Clair River and Lake Huron, dinner cruises and private charters for special events, will be docking downtown.

In January, Harrison signed an agreement with Jenny Ciolek, the owner of the Huron Lady II, for the ship to dock on the breakwall behind his block of buildings.

In 2009, Ciolek, who is also cohost and producer of Michigan Out of Doors on Michigan’s PBS stations, had done a promotional video for the owners of the Pictured Rocks cruise ships. Two years later, the owners of the Huron Lady II were retiring and the Pictured Rocks folks asked her if Ciolek she would like to be a co-owner with them of that boat and run it.

In 2016, she took over sole ownership.

For years, the ship has been docked at Desmond Marine, on the south side of the Huron River. But as the marina’s business grew, the owners told Ciolek they were going to need her dock space and for her to look for another space.

She says she got some aerial views of downtown last year to scout a location and noticed the long docking space running behind the buildings on Quay Street.

“I didn’t know Gene and I reached out to him. It happened to be just after he had closed on the sale of the rest of the buildings on the block. It made so much sense to be there,” she said.

“Now, we’re going to be in the heart of the action. People can get off the boat, and there will be all these fun activities to do. I’m pretty excited.”

Freed said the docking of the Huron Lady will have a big impact downtown.

“The Huron Lady is an economic driver that brings in tourists from all around. And having those passengers now getting off and being able to walk to shops and restaurants will amplify the economic impact of that vessel,” he said. “When the Huron Lady was at the marina, customers got off the boat, got in their cars and drove home.”

“I love architecture and history and doing these old buildings,” said Harrison. “I got to see Port Huron in its heyday when I was a kid, and now I get to be part of its rebirth. Our first summers were awesome, but COVID hit us hard.

We’re anticipating an awesome year again this year.”

Contact: thenderson@crain.com (231) 499-2817; @TomHenderson2

PEOPLE

Gerry Anderson, executive chairman of DTE Energy, plans to retire June 30 after 29 years with the Detroit-based utility company.

Anderson to retire as DTE executive chairman He leaves after 29-year career at company

BY CHAD LIVENGOOD

second recent major departure from DTE’s boardroom.

Last month, DTE Vice Chairman Dave Meador announced he will retire in March after 25 years with the company. Meador also is DTE’s chief administrative officer.

In recent years, Anderson and Meador have taken on more corporate leadership roles within Michigan’s business community.

Meador has co-chaired Mayor Mike Duggan’s workforce development board.

Anderson’s term as chairman of the board of Business Leaders for Michigan ended in December. He was succeeded by Howard Ungerleider, president and CFO of Dow Inc. Meador and Anderson were instrumental in the creation of the

DTE Energy Executive Chairman Gerry Anderson plans to retire June 30 after a 29-year career at the Detroit-based energy company.

Jerry Norcia, president and CEO of DTE Energy, will assume the role as chairman of the board on May 5 when Anderson’s term as chair ends, the company said Thursday.

“Jerry Norcia and I have worked closely together for nearly 20 of those years,” Anderson said in a statement. “He is a strong leader, and I am proud that the company is in his hands.”

Norcia succeeded Anderson as CEO in July 2019 when Anderson shifted to the role of executive chairman.

Anderson has led DTE “CLIMATE CHANGE CONTINUES TO BE through a t r a n s f o r m a - AMONG THE MOST IMPORTANT PUBLIC tional period POLICY ISSUES OF OUR TIME, AND I INTEND in the energy business as the TO KEEP WORKING TO ADDRESS IT.” utility compa- — Gerry Anderson, executive chairman, DTE Energy ny retires coal power plants that cause pollution Detroit Regional Partnership, an and global climate change in favor 11-county economic developof generating electricity from burn- ment organization for Southeast ing cleaner natural gas or using re- Michigan that has notched some newable sources such as wind and wins in recent years. solar.

Anderson remains chairman of In 2019, DTE set a goal of hav- DRP’s board of directors. ing net zero carbon emissions by Early in the pandemic, Ander2050. son organized a group of execu“Climate change continues to tives representing the business, be among the most important university and health care sectors public policy issues of our time, who advised Gov. Gretchen Whitand I intend to keep working to mer on how to reopen the state’s address it,” Anderson said. economy following her shutdowns Anderson came to DTE in 1993 in March 2020 to mitigate spread from McKinsey & Co. as a vice of the deadly coronavirus. president of non-utility businessThe Michigan Economic Recoves and advanced through the ery Council, co-chaired by Andercompany’s leadership ranks, be- son, was influential in shaping coming an executive vice presi- Whitmer’s gradual business redent in 1997 and in charge of the opening plans in 2020. company’s power generation, Anderson also chairs the board power marketing, fuel supply and of the Edison Electric Institute, a marketing activities. industry trade group that repAnderson was named president resents investor-owned electric in 2004, CEO in October 2010 and companies. chairman in 2011. Anderson succeeded Anthony Earley as CEO. Contact: clivengood@crain.com; Anderson’s retirement is the (313) 446-1654; @ChadLivengood MARCH 14, 2022 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 15

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PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

Advertising Section

To place your listing, visit www.crainsdetroit.com/people-on-the-move or, for more information, contact Debora Stein at 917.226.5470 / dstein@crain.com

ARCHITECTURE

ENERGY

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Quinn Evans

Walker-Miller Energy Services

Stifel Nicolaus

Alyson Steele, FAIA, LEED AP, has been elected president and chief executive officer of Quinn Evans, a nationally recognized firm providing architecture, planning, interior design, landscape architecture, and historic preservation services.

Steele will oversee more than 200 professionals in six offices including Detroit and Ann Arbor.

The firm is currently designing the restoration and adaptive use of Michigan Central Station for Ford, along with projects throughout the nation.

Walker-Miller Energy Services, one of the largest Black and woman owned energy efficiency firms in the U.S., has promoted Bryant Camille Bryant to Chief Diversity Officer and hired Kimika Garrett as the new Chief People and Culture Officer.

As Walker-Miller’s first Chief Diversity Officer, Bryant leads strategy around operational initiatives from an equitable lens.

She enjoys spending time with her children, family and friends, life Garrett coaching, hiking, reading, and traveling to mountainous and oceanic regions.

An organizational improvement champion with HR transformation experience, Garrett assumes the leadership role for the organization’s HR functions. She is in high demand as a public speaker and often leads panels, seminars and retreats.

Howard Margolis, AIF*, CTFA has joined Stifel’s Southfield office as Senior Vice President/Investments and Portfolio Manager – Solutions Program. A financial advisor since 1987, he helps his clients pursue their financial goals by building customized, agile plans designed to help them grow, manage, and protect their wealth. He is a Michigan State University graduate and holds the Accredited Investment Fiduciary® and Certified Trust and Fiduciary Advisor designations. Visit: howard. margolis@stifel.com.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Business Leaders for Michigan Business Leaders for Michigan welcomes Ryan Tarrant as Chief Operating Officer.

Tarrant comes to Business Leaders after serving five years as president and CEO for the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce. He has extensive experience in problem solving for small and large businesses and building strong communities across Michigan.

Tarrant also served as chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Moolenaar, district director for U.S. Rep. Camp, and as political affairs manager for the Michigan Bankers Association.

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ENGINEERING / DESIGN

Burns & McDonnell Burns & McDonnell, a 100% employeeowned engineering, architecture and construction company, welcomed David DeLind DeLind and Scott Boyce to the distribution modernization team as section managers in the firm’s Detroit office focused on clients in southeast Michigan.

DeLind brings more than 13 years of engineering supervision and project management experience and will focus on expanding Boyce and directing the underground/cable team.

Boyce brings 11 years of experience concentrating on distribution design and construction and will focus on growing and managing the overhead line team.

As section managers, they will drive strong safety, business and personnel outcomes for their respective teams in the distribution modernization group.

INSURANCE / FINANCIAL

Podium Risk Management Podium Risk Management is pleased to announce Super Bowl champion and MSU football standout Benny Fowler has joined as a partner.

The Michigan-based practice helps active and retired athletes, entertainers, executives, and business owners create longterm financial security, stability and success. Fowler will provide vision, strategy and help grow Podium’s business in those markets. He played with the Denver Broncos and is the 4th pro athlete to join founder Manuel Amezcua.

CRN202503-1937273

NONPROFIT

DEALS&DETAILS

Junior Achievement of Southeastern Michigan

` EXPANSIONS

Beth O’Connor joins JA of Southeastern Michigan as the VP of Programs. As a member of the senior leadership team, she will work closely with the President to develop and implement the organization’s programming and volunteer engagement strategies. Prior to JA, Beth worked at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Detroit for 18 years, last serving as the VP of Program Operations. Beth is licensed in Restorative Practices with demonstrated leadership in program management, youth development and DEI.

Croke Fairchild Morgan & Beres welcomes Julie Rhoades as a partner to help lead the expansion of the firm’s taxation practice. Julie advises clients on the tax aspects of a range of complex business and financial transactions, including fund formation and mergers and acquisitions. She also provides advice on transaction structure and the tax aspects of purchase agreements, operating agreements, and related documents. Julie is based in Detroit and serves clients in Chicago and nationwide.

` Bankjoy, Detroit, a digital banking provider, added 16 credit unions to its digital service. Website: bankjoy. com ` Front Runner Films, Boise, Idaho, a video production agency, expanded operations to 13 North Washington St., Ypsilanti. The move aims to increase support for clients in the Midwest and on the East Coast. Website: frontrunnerfilmsllc.com

` MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS NONPROFIT

NPower José Reyes joins NPower, a national tech training nonprofit, as the new Executive Director for Michigan.

He has spent more than two decades in workforce development, working across education, government, nonprofits, and the private sector. In this role, José is responsible for leading the strategic direction, overseeing administrative management, and directing collaborative partnerships within the Detroit region. He is a Detroit native and graduate of the University of Michigan.

` The Select 1 Group, Troy, an automotive transport, logistics, marketing and events firm, acquited KT Auto Transport, Enumclaw, Wash., an auto hauling company that operates on the West Coast. Website: select1.com ` Stoops Freightliner — Quality Trailer, Dubuque, Iowa, a truck dealer, agreed to acquire TNT Trailer Sales, Wayne, a semi-trailer dealership. The acquisition is expected to be finalized this spring. Websites: stoops.com, tnttrailersales.com ` Pet Supplies Plus, Livonia, an independent pet retailer, acquired Wag N’ Wash, Colorado Springs, Colo., a natural pet food, self-wash and grooming franchise. Websites: petsuppliesplusfranchising.com, wagnwash.com ` Altair, Troy, (Nasdaq: ALTR), a software company, acquired Powersim, provider of simulation and design tools for power electronics, including power supplies, motor drives, control systems, and microgrids. Website: altair.com ` ATA National Title Group LLC, Farmington Hills, a title insurance agency, acquired the assets of Absolute Title Inc., Ann Arbor, a title company. Terms were not disclosed. The new company will be branded Absolute Title Agency.

Website: atatitle.com

CRAIN’S AWARDS

LEGAL

Croke Fairchild Morgan & Beres

` Michigan State University Federal Credit Union and Oakland University Credit Union have opened an expanded office at 3220 University Drive, Auburn Hills. Website: msufcu.org

SOFTWARE / SERVICES

BeneSys, Inc. BeneSys, Inc. is pleased to announce that Regan Dahle has joined us as Vice President & Associate General Counsel, Human Resources based in our Troy, MI headquarters. Regan brings 27 years of labor and employment law experience to the position, including serving as BeneSys’ outside employment counsel for over 20 years.

BeneSys is excited for Regan to assume her new role and continue to improve our human resources operations.

Think your business is a Cool Place to Work?

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Crain's is now taking applications for Cool Places to Work, a survey and awards program that identifies and celebrates Michigan's best employers — and provides participating organizations with valuable employee feedback.

The deadline to register is April 1.

For more information or to start the registration process, visit coolplacestoworkmi.com.

16 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 14, 2022

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OBITUARY

Longtime Crain’s Detroit Business, Detroit News reporter Bob Ankeny dies

BY SHERRI WELCH

Robert Ankeny, a longtime journalist for Crain’s Detroit Business and The Detroit News who covered Detroit figures from Jimmy Hoffa to Kwame Kilpatrick, died March 7 at 86.

Ankeny died of complications related to a fall in December.

A storied journalist, Ankeny was known as much for his decades-long coverage of Detroit as for the long tales he’d spin for friends and colleagues.

He spent 26 years with The Detroit News before joining Crain’s in 1995, where he covered the city of Detroit and Detroit’s legal scene among other topics in 13 years at the newspaper.

“One of the best hires we ever made was Bob Ankeny. We were lucky enough to recruit him at a time when the (Detroit daily) newspapers were on strike,” said Mary Kramer, former editor and publisher of Crain’s Detroit Business.

Ankeny brought institutional memory of Detroit and instant credibility to the still-fledgling Crain’s newsroom.

He had covered so many people, places and institutions and knew everybody, Kramer said.

“Plus, he was one of the nicest people you could ever meet. That’s one of the reasons he had such incredible sources; people genuinely liked him and trusted him,” she said.

Ankeny was named to the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame earlier this year for his tenacious investigative journalism that inspired deep respect, even in the subjects of his stories.

At the age of just 10, after family issues, Ankeny landed at the Lutheran Evangelical Home for Orphans and

Ankeny

Old People on Detroit’s west side. In the Crain’s newsroom many years later, he would discover fellow reporter Tom Henderson and he had been at the home during the same

time.

Ankeny left the orphanage at age 15, securing a job and his own apartment while attending Cooley High School. He placed in a Detroit News scholastic writing contest, gaining his first mention in the paper at age 16.

He spent a year studying engineering at the University of Michigan before joining the Army in 1959. He took his first journalism class while at Fort Bliss in Texas and returned to Michigan in 1964 to become a police beat reporter at the weekly Tri-City Progress in Warren.

Four years later, Ankeny was named Warren bureau chief at The Macomb Daily, and in 1969 he joined The Detroit News. He spent 26 years at the Detroit daily, reporting on the courts, legal community and top stories of the day.

Ankeny covered stories including the 1975 disappearance of Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa and the source of reputed Detroit mafia chief Anthony Giacalone’s money. He reported on the trials of former Gov. John Swainson and disgraced auto executive John DeLorean.

Ankeny was banned for a time from Dearborn City Hall after he reported on real estate deals that benefited Mayor Orville Hubbard’s son and

good friend. His ongoing coverage reportedly led Hubbard to say to a roomful of city department heads in 1972, “Take him to the top of City Hall, throw him off and see how high he can bounce,” according to the nomination letter.

After 26 years at The News, Ankeny, a charter member of the Newspaper Guild, left amid the workers’ strike in 1995, refusing to cross the picket line.

He then joined Crain’s Detroit Business, where he helped shape Crain’s business of law coverage, reported on Detroit and mayors including Dennis Archer and Kilpatrick, helped scrutinize the salaries paid to Detroit Regional Chamber leaders and mentored young reporters through action and stories.

“Having Bob on our team was a great gift,” said Cindy Goodaker, former executive editor of Crain’s Detroit Business.

Ankeny was a source of wisdom, stories and large piles of research stored neatly in two desks, she said.

Most importantly, he was a role model, said Goodaker, who is now vice president, signature programs and communications at Inforum.

“As others have said, Bob’s ability to ask hard questions while maintaining relationships was unparalleled. And it was because he was honest, courteous, and fair, in addition to being relentless,” she said.

Ankeny is survived by his daughters Rachel Ankeny and Leah Ankeny Gotz and four grandchildren.

A celebration of life in his memory is planned for a future date.

Contact: swelch@crain.com; (313) 446-1694; @SherriWelch

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CLASSIFIEDS To place your listing, contact Suzanne Janik at 313-446-0455 / sjanik@crain.com

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MARKET PLACE REQUEST FOR BIDS

Request-for-Proposal for the installation of a Veterans’ Memorial The Detroit-Wayne Joint Building Authority (Authority) manages the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center located at 2 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, Michigan. The Authority has a tradition of honoring our military and active-duty service members and veterans by raising the flags of each branch of the U.S. military on their anniversary dates and the Purple Heart Flag on Veterans’ Day, Memorial Day, the 4th of July, and on Purple Heart Day. The Authority is issuing an RFPs for the installation of a plaza at the flagpole on the E. Jefferson lawn of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center.

If you are interested in receiving an RFP, please send your request to commissioners@dwjba.com.

JOB FRONT POSITION AVAILABLE

RETIREMENT SYSTEM OF THE CITY OF DETROIT

PEOPLE

Ziebart CEO role passes from father to son

BY JAY DAVIS

The top job at Ziebart International Corp. will stay within the same family after the current president and CEO stepped down.

Thomas A. Wolfe, 53, took over as company president and CEO on March 3 as his father, Thomas E. Wolfe, 77, stepped down as leader of the Troy-based automotive aftermarket franchiser after 28 years at the helm.

The junior Wolfe has worked at Ziebart for 12 years following a 14year run with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

Wolfe said in a statement that he will continue to follow some of the rules he’s seen his father establish.

“Among the many lessons I learned from working alongside my father at Ziebart over the years is the importance of adaptation to meet customers’ changing needs,” Wolfe said. “He instilled in our entire leadership team the importance of being adaptable and fluid. As cars and customers are changing rapidly, he taught us we have to commit to constant innovation — we have to celebrate and execute on good ideas in real time to stay ahead in this industry. That’s the legacy that I will continue to carry forward.”

500 Woodward Ave, Suite 3000 Detroit, Michigan 48226 Job Title: Deputy Chief Investment Officer (Salary commensurate with experience)

Description: Reporting directly to the Chief Investment Officer (“CIO”), the Deputy Chief Investment Officer (“Deputy CIO”) is responsible for managing and evaluating the Fixed Income and Alternative Investment Programs in accordance with the Investment Policy Statement and applicable federal and state laws and regulations. The Deputy CIO is also responsible for the monitoring and due diligence of the Equity and Real Estate portfolios and providing the Investment Committee, Executive Director and Board expert investment advice and recommendations regarding all investment matters.

Refer to the website at www.rscd.org for the full job description.

If you are interested in this career opportunity, submit a cover letter and resume to jobs@rscd.org.

POSITION AVAILABLE

RETIREMENT SYSTEM OF THE CITY OF DETROIT Thomas A. Wolfe, left, is the new president and CEO of Troy-based Ziebart International Corporation. He takes over for his father, Thomas E. Wolfe, right, who steps down after 28 years in the position. | ZIEBART

Thomas E. Wolfe, who began working at Ziebart in 1977, is not leaving the company. He took on a new position as executive vice president and serves as chair of the company’s board of directors, the company said. Wolfe in 1994 helped establish an employee stock option program.

Ziebart, established in 1959, operates more than 400 locations, with 1,300 service centers, in 36 countries.

The company offers services including detailing, paint protection and correction, window tinting and spray-on bed liners. At the corporate level, Ziebart has a staff of 120, including 75 in metro Detroit.

The company last year saw a 40

percent increase in retail leads from 2020, the release notes. The growth is attributed to the automotive chip shortage, according to the release.

The company in 2021 had worldwide sales of $180 million and is projecting $190 million in sales in 2022.

The new CEO said priorities moving forward include increasing Ziebart dealer sales through new product development and marketing, increasing worldwide store counts, being fully engaged in the field to support current and prospective Ziebart franchisees, and building on key supplier relationships.

Contact: jason.davis@crain.com (313) 446-1612; @JayDavis_1981

500 Woodward Ave, Suite 3000 Detroit, Michigan 48226 Job Title: Deputy Chief Investment Officer (Salary commensurate with experience)

Description: Reporting directly to the Chief Investment Officer (“CIO”), the Deputy Chief Investment Officer (“Deputy CIO”) is responsible for managing and evaluating the Fixed Income and Alternative Investment Programs in accordance with the Investment Policy Statement and applicable federal and state laws and regulations. The Deputy CIO is also responsible for the monitoring and due diligence of the Equity and Real Estate portfolios and providing the Investment Committee, Executive Director and Board expert investment advice and recommendations regarding all investment matters.

Refer to the website at www.rscd.org for the full job description.

If you are interested in this career opportunity, submit a cover letter and resume to jobs@rscd.org.

POSITION AVAILABLE

Samsung SDI America, Inc. in Auburn Hills seeks Quality Control Manager to oversee & direct quality control issues of lithium ion battery packs & cell modules. B.S. in Electrical Engineering or rtd. + 2 yrs or exp. req’d. Email CV: sdiajobs@gmail.com

SUBMIT YOUR AD TODAY MAY 14, 24, 2022 2021 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 17 MARCH

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3/11/2022 2:01:00 PM

CANNABIS

From Page 3

Originally, for medical cannabis business licenses, each shareholder in a company was considered an applicant who needed vetting and a background check. That made it essentially impossible for a company with complex ownership to participate.

“When you’re talking about publicly traded companies that’s, one, a ton of people, and two, the people are constantly changing as they buy and sell shares,” Mains said.

The Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency has since updated its rules several times, simplifying parts of the background check process.

Starting in 2019, for a publicly held corporation, only corporate officers and stockholders with more than 10 percent interest count as “applicants” and require the extensive financial and criminal background investigation.

“So that was kind of the impetus for opening this up to public companies, which, obviously, I think, the regulators wanted because it’s just helpful to have those companies involved in the Michigan marketplace,” Mains said. “They’re large, they’re sophisticated, well-capitalized, generally have a record of regulatory compliance in other states. So I think those changes were something specifically designed to allow those types of companies into the Michigan industry.”

Under one roof Red White & Bloom’s acquisition of Southfield-based PharmaCo Inc. through its subsidiary RWB Michigan LLC closed Feb. 8. The price was $30.3 million in shares and $30 million in prior loans for a total of $60.3 million.

The public corporation had been a PharmaCo investor since 2018. It invested in the privately held company initially because of the difficulties for public companies looking to set up officially — with their own cannabis business license in their own name — in Michigan.

But now it has exercised an option to buy the company that was part of that previous deal between the two.

“So we really have everything we need under one roof there (in RWB Michigan LLC), to be able to put everything into motion and synergize,” Rogers said.

The corporation’s leadership felt that after it went public, it was the right time to take the “next step” of collecting assets in one of the three highest-potential cannabis states, Rogers said when the intent to acquire was originally announced in July 2020.

RWB started trading over the counter, or off-exchange, in 2020. It also trades on the Canadian Securities Exchange. Few cannabis-related corporations trade on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ because cannabis is illegal at the federal level.

With the PharmaCo deal, Red White & Bloom has grown to 185 Michigan employees and taken on 21 medical and adult-use cannabis business licenses. It’s absorbing 10 dispensaries, 30,000 square feet of indoor grow space in two facilities, a 10-acre outdoor grow operation that’s set to start up this year and 22 other properties for future grow or retail space. The company is looking to hire 50-80 people in Michigan this year.

Chicago-based Cresco Labs Inc. is among publicly traded cannabis companies to enter the Michigan marijuana landscape. It opened a 110,000-square-foot grow facility in Marshall last year. | CRESCO LABS INC.

Public cannabis companies with Michigan locations Most of the following companies trade on the Canadian Stock Exchange or in the U.S. off-exchange (OTC or OTCQX).

The list may not contain every publicly-traded company in Michigan.

Cresco Labs Inc. (CSE: CL) (OTCQX: CRLBF) (FSE: 6CQ): Chicago-based wholesaler that opened a cultivation facility in October in Marshall.

Red White & Bloom Brands Inc. (CSE: RWB) (OTC: RWBYF): Toronto-based multistate operator with 15,000-square-foot grow operation in Warren and which recently closed an acquisition for 10 dispensaries, two indoor grow centers and a 10-acre outdoor grow site.

Curaleaf Holdings Inc. (CSE: CURA) (OTCQX: CURLF): Wakefield, Mass.based operator in 23 states as well as distribution in Europe has four open dispensaries in Michigan.

Ascend Wellness Holdings Inc. (CSE: AAWH.U) (OTCQX: AAWH): New

The Michigan subsidiary, which is now fully licensed by the state to operate as a cannabis business, also has a 15,000-square-foot grow, processing and distribution facility it started leasing in January in Warren.

RWB distributes to nearly 400 Michigan retailers, Rogers estimates, including through its recently acquired Platinum Vape brand. It also has equipment to make edibles in Warren and plans to start selling cannabis-infused chocolates and gummies under the Platinum brand, too.

RWB also has licensing rights for High Times-branded cannabis products in Michigan. High Times started out as a cannabis magazine and expanded to selling.

Variety of ways to get involved The licensing process is still burdensome for companies with complex ownership, but there’s been substantial progress, said Travis Copenhaver, an Ann Arbor-based partner with Denver cannabis law firm Vicente Sederberg LLP. “Where we would before maybe be pulling in 50 people (to go through the application process and background checks), now we’re only maybe pulling in like two or three significant owners and the management team of that organization,” Copenhaver said.

York-based multistate operator has six cannabis retail properties in Michigan, according to its website.

Innovative Industrial Properties Inc. (NYSE: IIPR): San Diego-based Innovative is the first cannabis-centered real estate firm on the New York Stock Exchange and owns property with lease agreements to Michigan cannabis retail operators including Skymint Brands, Ascend Wellness, Cresco Labs and Holistic Industries.

TerrAscend Corp. (CSE: TER) (OTCQX: TRSSF): The Toronto-based cannabis giant is in process of acquiring one of the largest sellers in Michigan, Gage Growth Corp. (CSE: GAGE) (OTCQX: GAEGF).

Acreage Holdings Inc. (CSE: ACRG.U): New York-based multistate operator bought real estate from Detroit-based Blue Tire Holdings LLC for medical cannabis stores in 2018.

SOURCE: CRAIN'S DETROIT BUSINESS RESEARCH

Public companies would sometimes seek less direct ways to get involved that didn’t entail being a direct cannabis business license holder — and they still do. For example, investing in the build-out of a grow operation and then leasing to the license holder, which is generally a simpler business with less moving parts ownership-wise, he said. There’s also intellectual property brand agreements, management service agreements or a lender relationship, to name some options.

So these companies have to decide whether they want to operate quietly or start to make a bigger splash, like Red White & Bloom. Then not only is their money and influence threaded through Michigan’s $1.79 billion cannabis industry, but they’re increasingly physically present — part of the landscape.

Copenhaver said it’s difficult to know how many public companies have a stake in Michigan’s cannabis industry. He guesses a few dozen, but it could be more. He works with four or five, but did not name them.

“I think the changes (from the MRA) have certainly been effective in getting these types of organizations interested in Michigan projects,” he said. “But if we want to encourage more sophisticated types of organizations ... additional understanding and clarification on the types of burdens these organizations have to go

through in (the pre-qualification process for getting a state cannabis license) would certainly help.”

One major company to enter Michigan recently is Chicago-based cannabis wholesaler Cresco Labs Inc., whose subsidiary Cresco Labs Michigan LLC opened a 110,000-squarefoot cultivation facility in October in Marshall, just east of Battle Creek.

It started with 20 employees and is now up to 100 and aims to hire 30-40 more, said Melissa Wagamon, Cresco’s regional president for the Great Lakes. Cresco, founded in 2013, went public on the Canadian Securities Exchange in 2018. It also trades over the counter.

Mains of Honigman also referenced several recent acquisitions bringing more public activity to Michigan: Canadian TerrAscend Corp. acquiring one of Michigan’s biggest marijuana sellers, Gage Growth Corp.

— plus the RWB deal. And Curaleaf Holdings Inc. acquired GR Companies Inc., or Grassroots, in 2020 in an $875 million deal that brought Curaleaf into Michigan for the first time.

With increased interest, more of the smaller operators, especially retail, will get purchased — especially as competition for licenses in cities with limited license availability continues to heat up. Mains doesn’t see the same race in the works for other license types, like grow facilities, because it’s still quite easy to find a good place to set up a grow operation oneself.

‘Big fish or little fish’ Public companies are coming into a market that’s dense with small-scale operators. Michigan has more than 800 unique licensees, according to the state.

The industry began very “grassroots,” with individual caregivers growing marijuana after the state originally approved medical use in 2008 and over the years they emerged as sellers as rules changed, said Denise Pollicella, founder and managing partner of Howell-based Cannabis Attorneys of Michigan.

“So you’ve got tons and tons and tons of small, literally mom-and-pop cannabis companies all over Michigan,” Pollicella said. “I like it, I prefer it, I like keeping the business in Michigan ... But we do make a concerted effort to educate our clients on, listen, you need to be either a big fish or a little fish and you’re going to need to make that decision very quickly.

Pollicella

Copenhaver

“There’s no parking on the dance floor in this industry.”

Many of the small-scale players weren’t started by business-minded folk, Pollicella said. They may not be as focused on planning for the future and they likely don’t have access to the capital needed to scale up significantly.

Some are resistant to selling and want to be left alone, while others may be tired and looking for a payout and thinking, “How can I get acquired?”

M&A activity in Michigan cannabis has ramped up in the last year or two and Pollicella expects more consolidation soon.

There’s also, of course, always been a large conversation around corporatization of the cannabis industry.

There’s some criticism among cannabis entrepreneurs — and consumers — of the seemingly ever-looming monolith of big business, Pollicella said.

“I think there’s a lot of push-back in Michigan by small businesses (against larger corporations) ... and some of it’s just human nature, ‘We just started our business, let’s not monopolize this industry quite yet,’” Pollicella said.

“I don’t want to see all of the manufacturing consolidated in a few companies. I want to see this (industry) sort of mature first.”

There are also some Michigan operators that stand out for their sheer size. Mains said Michigan may just get its first home-grown cannabis IPO this year.

Though he won’t name them, Mains says there are two to three Michigan companies with the potential to go public.

“You’re starting to see some people, I think, position themselves for a going-public transaction, whether that’s just increasing the number of licenses they have or smaller acquisitions,” Mains said. “Or you’ve got some homegrown Michigan companies that I’m seeing are starting to expand into other states ... which I would also think is probably a step towards going public.”

Contact: afrank@crain.com; (313) 446-0416; @annalise_frank

18 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 14, 2022

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COSTS

RUSSIA

From Page 3

From Page 3

In some cases, customers are deciding to delay shipping for a day or two until a trailer is full so they get more freight for their buck.

“Obviously, fuel is a major cost of a logistics organization,” said Mark Anderson, president and CEO of Romulus-based United Road. “It is especially painful when you not only get higher costs, but you get a very sudden and drastic increase.”

Olson said the situation has forced Universal to have “some difficult discussions” with customers related to price adjustments, but most have rolled with it because they need to move material.

The volatility of commodities and the ongoing truck driver shortage has also changed the way Universal approaches business. For dedicated transportation, a three-year contract is typically the norm. Universal has cut that to two-year terms because the economics have been so difficult to predict. The cost of procuring chassis to support new business has skyrocketed, for example, and the company has had to increase driver salaries by as much as 15 percent to compete.

“Some of our contracts, when negotiations came up, we reduced (terms) so we’re better able to react to market environments like this,” Olson said.

Where Universal has seen the most disruption from oil price increases is with noncontractual, spot business. Olson said those customers, who are usually smaller and often retailers, are delaying shipments and consolidating loads as much as possible.

“When you’re going into more retail or anything else that’s out there, I think you are more susceptible to the increase in fuel,” he said. “The suppliers and shippers are really going to have to make decisions how badly they need the product.”

duction and manufacturing of goods back to a company’s original country — especially as the automotive industry shifts to electric vehicles.

Earlier this Abulaban week, the price of nickel — a main ingredient in EV batteries — soared to record highs and was suspended from trading in some markets because of the war in Ukraine. Russia supplies around 10 percent of the world’s nickel supply, highlighting the risks of foreign supply and prompting automakers such as Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. to promote the movement for domestic mining.

Those risks have led to shifts in big picture thinking at Southfield-based Superior Industries International Inc. Until the Russian attack on Ukraine began, the company had sourced 20 percent of its aluminum from a single supplier in Russia, president and CEO Majdi Abulaban said on a call with investors earlier this month. Its procurement team scrambled to make purchase arrangements in North America as the cost of the commodity spiked.

“Long supply chains don’t make sense,” Abulaban said. “They’re disruptive. You have geopolitics, you’ve got freight costs, you’ve got all kinds of things going on. So, you are going to see a big push for localizing in a region, where the carmakers make their vehicles.”

“We will continue to do what we can to meet the needs of those working for our brand during these difficult times as well as work to support the heroic efforts to help those in need throughout Ukraine,” Allison said.

The announcement came after other brands including McDonald’s, and Starbucks pulled the plug in Russia.

At the same time, some automotive companies with Detroit area roots have also stayed quiet about operations in Russia.

Magna International, a Canadian auto supplier with a major presence in metro Detroit, has six manufacturing plants and 2,500 employees in Russia.

The company idled its operations in Russia last week and announced Thursday it was making a “significant donation” to the UN Refugee Agency and “will match employee contributions for the well-being and safety of Ukrainian people.”

“Although we don’t have facilities in Ukraine, we have the privilege of working with thousands of Ukrainian colleagues in our Magna operations around the world as well as those from Russia who share the same values of human rights, diversity and inclusion,” the company said in a statement.

Southfield-based Lear Corp. said Wednesday that it paused operations in Russia.

“Lear Corp. has idled its Russian seating operations due to the ongoing conditions,” the company said in a statement to Crain’s. “Lear remains steadfast in its support of all of those impacted by this tragic conflict.”

The supplier had 1,300 employees at multiple seating plants in Russia, Crain’s reported in 2015.

The move comes after major automakers, including Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Stellantis NV have either suspended business there or indicated a move is forthcoming.

The U.S. has ratcheted up trade sanctions against Russia, including a ban on Russian oil imports, in hopes of starving its economy. The sanctions have also been painful for domestic motorists and some local businesses.

Companies and franchises conducting business in Russia do so with the risks associated with it and should have factored them into contracts, said David Steinberg, of counsel at Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss.

“From a legal point of view, Russian law will dictate the contract terms of the parties, but still, they negotiated them in advance, and I’m sure these companies were savvy enough to put something in their agreements knowing that it’s Russia and anything’s possible at some point in time and maybe they’d have to cease operations with them over there,” Steinberg said.

Steinberg said one element of a contract that could give franchise operators an easy exit from agreements with franchisees is force majeure, a common clause that has saved a lot of companies in the past couple years, including auto suppliers pinched by supply chain snarls.

Breaking contracts could pose a threat to future business in Russia, a potentially lucrative and relatively untapped market. At the same time, staying in the country now could stain a company’s brand, Steinberg said.

“They have to make decisions for themselves, whether it hurts their brand to close or whether it helps their brand to close,” he said. “It’s all about image.”

Contact: knagl@crain.com; (313) 446-0337; @kurt_nagl

Contact: knagl@crain.com; (313) 446-0337; @kurt_nagl

Rising costs eat up profits Those decisions are made by small business owners like Tara Grey, who operates Gus & Grey in Eastern Market. She has had to cut products as rising costs eat up the jam manufacturer’s profits.

“I’m definitely seeing an increase in my cost of goods for everything from jars to lids to labels to even fruit,” said Grey, whose side hustle started 10 years ago has turned into a full-time pursuit. The company now has products in 30 states, including metro Detroit grocers Vince & Joe’s Gourmet Market and Westborn Market.

Grey said FedEx recently hiked her shipping costs by 15 percent, around the same margin of increase she has absorbed for jars and lids and soon to be for bubble wrap and boxes.

She just increased the wholesale cost of her product from $5.25 to $5.50 per jar of jam, reflecting a 20 percent increase in the cost of jars from her supplier Detroit-based Porter Bottle Co., which is absorbing price increases from its supplier.

Once it leaves Grey’s hands, the retail markup is anywhere from 30 percent to 100 percent “It’s just turning into kind of this tricky game,” she said. “It is a specialty product, but we don’t want to just cater to a certain clientele. We want everybody of any income to be able to enjoy it.”

When the price of Michigan cherries doubled recently, Grey stopped

Tara Grey, who operates Gus & Grey in Eastern Market, has had to cut products as rising costs eat up her jam company’s profits. | GUS & GREY

Rising fuel prices, rising costs Prices for regular gasoline, diesel and shipping fuel have skyrocketed over the last several weeks, which impacts everything from commuting and trucking to shipping and manufacturing.

Regular gas $5.00

Diesel fuel $4.28

Shipping costs $4.91

$5.00

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NOTE: PRICES SHOWN ARE REGULAR GAS AND DIESEL PER GALLON AND THE AVERAGE COST TO SHIP A 40-FOOT CONTAINER BY OCEAN FREIGHTER. SOURCES: AAA AND DREWRY WORLD CONTAINER INDEX

making that flavor. A few months ago, she shipped in 6,000 specialty tins from China. What she thought would cost $600 turned out to be $3,000.

Grey tabled the idea of new specialty launches indefinitely as a result.

“Larger companies have been able to absorb more. It’s been very tough on family-owned businesses,” said OEC Group’s Klein, adding that he has seen a dropoff in the shipment volume of low-priced goods due to transportation costs.

Fuel for ships hit a historic high last week, exceeding $1,000 a ton, according to Ship & Bunker. The average cost to ship a 40-foot container across the ocean last week was about $9,200, up 83 percent from a year ago, according to the Drewry

World Container Index.

Grey is considering air freight, but the cost of trucking it away from the airport grows exponentially with fuel prices. The seemingly nonstop increases have Grey contemplating the future of her jam business.

“That’s something I think about every day,” she said. “I’m hoping that this year we’re actually going to turn a profit. I really hope that things level out.”

Rethinking supply chain In fact, the volatility has economic leaders and business executives contemplating the future of the supply chain. It’s brought new life to the idea of reshoring — returning pro-

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3/11/2022 2:37:18 PM

OFFICE

From Page 1

GM, which had 5,000 employees assigned to its RenCen headquarters before the pandemic, is reporting dividends in its workwhere-you’re-most-effective strategy. The company’s retirement-driven attrition rate across U.S.-based salaried jobs in 2021 was significantly lower than the national average, Raynal said.

“In terms of recruiting, our hiring managers are receiving strong positive feedback from recent hires about Work Appropriately,” Raynal said.

Other big metro Detroit employers are still in no rush to get workers back in cubicles, even after new cases of COVID-19 have plummeted in recent weeks following the omicron surge in January.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan hasn’t brought back its employees to fill out its headquarters spread out across multiple downtown buildings, including leased space in the RenCen’s Tower 500.

While the city’s largest employer, mortgage giant Rocket Companies, has its workforce back in Dan Gilbert-owned office buildings part of the time, the slow return of Blue Cross, GM, DTE Energy Co. and big law firms is weighing on the city’s income tax-dependent coffers.

Detroit projects a $53.2 million tax revenue loss this fiscal year as a result of downtown workers seeking refunds because of working from home for most of 2021.

The city is projecting a $35 million tax revenue loss from workfrom-home in the 2026 fiscal year — portending a permanent change to office work in the Motor City.

“I don’t feel like it’s my place to tell private companies what to do,” Mayor Mike Duggan said at a recent City Council meeting when Councilman Fred Durhal III asked he if he’s encouraging companies to reopen downtown offices. “The question is, ‘What is it going to be like long-term?’ Because a lot of folks have gotten used to working from home.”

In Oakland County, Stellantis, the automaker formerly known as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, began experimenting with a hybrid work model called “New Era of Agility” in February where employees spend 30 percent of their time in the office and 70 percent working remotely.

Stellantis has an estimated 12,000 salaried employees based at its North American headquarters in Auburn Hills.

“As this process is ongoing, we have no further details to share at this time,” the automaker said in a statement.

Ford Motor Co., which had planned to return salaried workers to its Dearborn office this month for part of the time, pushed those plans back until April 4.

“It will be a gradual ramp-up as people start to work out their schedules,” Ford spokeswoman Monique Brentley told Crain’s.

“Since the flexible hybrid model is a blend of remote (at-home) and on-site work, employees won’t have a set schedule for being onsite at the Ford campus.”

The return-to-office plans for Michigan’s largest office employers remain a mixture of ever-evolving strategies. At right, where things stand for big employers.

IN THE OFFICE OR NOT? ALLY FINANCIAL INC.

HOM

The Detroit-based auto finance lender expects the rest of its vaccinated workforce to return to its downtown Detroit office by the end of March.

Vaccinated employees in corporate positions began returning to the office on Jan. 18.

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AMERICAN AXLE & MANUFACTURING INC. White-collar employees of the Detroit-based auto supplier are working three days a week inside the company’s headquarters on Holbrook Avenue near I-75. The other two days are remote.

AUTO CLUB GROUP (AAA MICHIGAN) The auto insurer has implemented a “Flex Work” program allowing managers to determine the best approach for their teams based on duties and responsibilities whether to allow employees to work full time from home, full time from AAA’s Dearborn headquarters or in a hybrid format.

“Of the more than 1,000 employees assigned to our administrative office building in Dearborn, about 15 percent are working from the facility,” AAA spokeswoman Adrienne Woodland said in an email.

HUN

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CITY OF DETROIT Most of the city’s office-based personnel began returning to the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center on Feb. 28 in a hybrid format of three to four days a week in the office for four- to 10-hour work days, city Human Resources Director Denise Starr said.

All municipal workers should be back in the office part of the time by April 1, Starr said.

About 20 percent or 1,700 of the city’s 8,500-employee workforce has worked remotely during the pandemic.

Half of Comerica’s workers have worked on-site in retail jobs; office workers are working a hybrid schedule. | COMERICA INC.

H.W BUR

CLARK HILL PLLC The law firm began a hybrid work schedule on Feb. 28 for its 336 employees, including 193 assigned to its main office in Detroit.

Magna’s office staff are mostly back in the office, with some remote options. | MAGNA INTERNATIONAL

CONSUMERS ENERGY CO. The Jackson-based utility company has had a hybrid work policy in place since state regulations restricting office work were lifted in June 2021.

“Our employees are allowed to make the decision on their hybrid location that works best for their situation which may include remote work where feasible and in-person work periodically,” spokeswoman Katie Carey said.

ILIT LIT

DTE is opening its office to some workers this week, but most remain remote. | DTE ENERGY

The allow flexi dow sche spok Rocket Companies is requiring employees to be in the office a couple of days a week. | NICK MANES/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

COMERICA BANK While half of its 4,600 employees have worked on-site in retail jobs throughout the pandemic, the other half were allowed to work in a hybrid schedule starting in January.

DOMINO’S PIZZA LLC Starting March 15, the pizza chain is expecting 1,100 corporate employees to be working at its Ann Arbor headquarters every Tuesday and Thursday.

“Most team members will have the option of choosing their work location every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the foreseeable future,” said Tim McIntyre, executive vice president of communications for Domino’s.

Some employees may adopt TuesdayThursday schedules in the office, while others may resume being in the office five days a week, McIntyre said.

“Flexibility will be key, as we know

Wayne County’s headquarters in the 94-year-old Guardian Building skyscraper at 500 Griswold Street in downtown Detroit remains mostly vacant as county employees continue to work remotely. | COSTAR GROUP INC.

working parents may have challenges related to schools and child care,” McIntyre told Crain’s. “We also recognize that flexibility is a ‘new’ expectation in the workforce, which is why we’re starting with the Tuesday and Thursday expectation next week.”

DTE ENERGY CO. Starting March 14, the energy company will begin letting 1,000 employees assigned to its downtown Detroit headquarters have the option

of working at 1 Energy Plaza “a few days per week,” DTE spokesman Dan Miner said.

“We will learn from their experience to continuously improve our approach to hybrid work environments, and we plan to gradually expand the on-site work option to more employees throughout May and June,” Miner said in an email.

DTE expects its 5,000 employees who have been working remotely for the past two years to “continue to do so

University of Michigan has had a hybrid work schedule for administrative workers. | LARRY PEPLIN FOR CRAIN’S

most of the time,” Miner said.

“We are empowering each group of employees to choose the work location that enables them to provide the best service to our customers, communities and each other,” Miner said.

FLAGSTAR BANK The Troy-based bank is starting a voluntary return-to-office schedule on April 18 and plans to require employees to be in the office 50 percent of the week, starting June 1.

20 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 14, 2022

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CREDIT ACCEPTANCE CORP. The Southfield-based auto finance company’s employees can choose to work remotely or in the office.

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HOME POINT CAPITAL INC. The Ann Arbor-based mortgage company’s 500 employees are still working remotely 95 percent of the time.

“The strategy we’re working on involves bringing people back into an office a few days a month so they have the opportunity to collaborate and learn from each other,” said Kristin Supancich, chief people officer at Homepoint.

“We’ve been piloting the hybrid return to office for people that live within 30 miles of our offices and making sure there are ample COVID-19 safety measures in place. We’re having associates come in a few days a month and are coordinating it so they can be in the office with their peers. We’re seeing that in-person interaction, even a few days a month, makes a big impact on how closely associates feel connected to the company and the people they work with.”

HUNTINGTON BANK The Columbus-based bank, which is building a new 20-story “dual” headquarters building in downtown Detroit, has employees in its Troy corporate office splitting their time between home and the office.

The Troy office is the previous headquarters for TCF Financial Corp., which Huntington acquired last June.

The company is planning a phased-in move into the new Woodward Avenue office building that will take into account CDC guidelines as bank leaders decide whether jobs will be full time in the office, hybrid or permanently remote roles.

H.W. KAUFMAN GROUP INC./ BURNS & WILCOX LTD. The company’s Farmington Hills headquarters is open to all vaccinated employees.

“Company leadership looks forward to welcoming all 2,000+ employees back to the offices this spring; however, an official return-to-office schedule is not in place currently,” the company said in a statement.

ILITCH HOLDINGS INC. AND LITTLE CAESARS PIZZA The Ilitch family-owned pizza chain is allowing office-based employees the flexibility to work full time in its downtown Detroit office, a hybrid schedule or fully remote, a company spokesperson said.

ITC HOLDINGS CORP. The Novi-based electricity transmission company is planning to start a hybrid schedule on April 5.

MACOMB COUNTY Michigan’s third-most-populous county has moved toward a more permanent hybrid work schedule that seeks to be more flexible for officebased workers, while doing away with time cards and closely tracked paid time off, said Andrew McKinnon, a deputy county executive who oversees human resources for Macomb County.

Some departments are allowing employees to work entirely remotely.

“The old ways just don’t work for us anymore,” McKinnon told Crain’s. “We’re not going to be tracking every second of the day between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.”

Instead of sticking to a strict business-hours schedule, county employees have flexible time now so long as they can occasionally be available before 8 a.m. and after 4:30 p.m. when issues arise, McKinnon said.

“If we’re not getting the product out of you that we need, we’re going to come back and have a conversation

with that individual about what’s not getting done,” McKinnon said. “Not, ‘Hey you weren’t here until 4:30 p.m., you left six minutes early, put in a time slip.’”

MAGNA INTERNATIONAL OF AMERICA INC. The auto supplier’s office employees have been working in person for “the last few months in most of our Michigan office locations on more of a hybrid basis,” Magna spokeswoman Tracy Fuerst said in an email.

That includes Magna’s headquarters building in Troy, Fuerst said.

“This was aligned with our phased approach to returning to work based on overall infection rates in the state,” Fuerst said. “About a week or so ago, those protocols were lifted and we are back in the office with some remote options during the week where appropriate.”

MEIJER INC. The retailer has a hybrid work schedule that allows employees to work on its corporate campus in the Grand Rapids suburb of Walker on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays and then the option to work remotely Thursday and Friday.

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY The East Lansing school returned to mostly in-person classroom teaching in September.

Office-based employees in administrative roles are allowed to maintain a hybrid work schedule between home and campus.

MILLER CANFIELD

SMITHGROUP The Detroit-based architecture and engineering firm plans to have certain employees in leadership roles back in the office 60 percent of the time on March 28.

“For the rest of the staff, we do not intend to identify a specific amount of time for people to be in the office,” the company said in a statement. “Instead, we are expecting increased attendance in the office using an activity-based approach that places a priority on participation in activities and events that offer the biggest benefits from in-person engagement and enhance our culture. We continue to place a focus on listening and learning and adapting this plan as we go.”

STATE OF MICHIGAN State government employs more than 47,000 people. With the exception of the Michigan State Police, prison guards and state park rangers, most state employees have worked remotely for the past two years.

Starting May 1, state departments will begin transitioning to new work schedules that may be a hybrid model, depending on the type of work, said Lauren Leeds, spokeswoman for the State Budget Office.

State officials have said they will likely continue reducing the amount of space departments lease across the state.

They’re also looking for ways to fill out the underutilized Cadillac Place state office building in Detroit’s New Center.

STEELCASE INC.

The Detroit-based law firm plans to have support staff return to its downtown office three days a week on March 21.

The firm’s attorneys work “where they can be most productive and can best meet the needs of their clients,” Miller Canfield CEO Megan Morris said.

The Grand Rapids-based furniture maker has offered a form of hybrid work from home and in its corporate offices since 2012, although it wasn’t called that at the time.

The pandemic caused the company to adopt a more formal hybrid working policy.

OAKLAND COUNTY

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Michigan’s second-most-populous county has had an optional hybrid work model since the summer of 2020.

“As COVID-19 cases decrease, Oakland County will allow some offices to remain hybrid as recruitment and retention strategies, county spokesman Bill Mullan said.

UM’s Ann Arbor campus has had a hybrid work schedule for administrative employees since June 2021 when the state lifted restrictions on office work.

PLANTE MORAN PLLC The Southfield-based accounting firm has adopted a “Workplace for Your Day” hybrid model, allowing employees to consider their daily objectives and work where their teams deemed most optimal.

“We believe this approach allows for collaboration, in-person coaching and flexibility for remote work on a project-by-project and day-by day-basis,” the company said in a statement. “We want our workplace model to be flexible, recognizing that there’s a balance that we each need to achieve depending on both the needs of the firm and our own ultimate career goals.”

ROCKET COMPANIES The Detroit-based online mortgage giant and other businesses in Dan Gilbert’s family of companies began requiring employees last month to be in the office a couple of days a week.

Rocket Cos. has had some form of hybrid work schedule since last June.

The company has 17,000 employees across multiple downtown Detroit office buildings owned by Gilbert.

UWM HOLDINGS CORP. The Pontiac-based wholesale mortgage giant has required much of its workforce to work in person since the summer of 2020.

UWM — the nation’s largest wholesale mortgage lender — employs about 8,500 people in two buildings on its Pontiac campus.

WAYNE COUNTY Most of Wayne County’s 1,690 employees assigned to its Guardian Building headquarters in downtown Detroit continue to work from home.

“However, we are reviewing our current protocols and plan to make updates in the near future,” county spokeswoman Tiffani Jackson said in an email.

WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY The Detroit school has a flexible hybrid work schedule in place for office workers through May 31 that will be re-evaluated then, Wayne State spokesman Matt Lockwood said.

“But we are confident that (hybrid) will remain an option to promote recruitment, retention and job satisfaction for all employees,” Lockwood said.

Crain’s Staff Reporters Annalise Frank, Kirk Pinho, Nick Manes and Kurt Nagl contributed to this report.

The Fisher mansion recently sold for a record amount in Detroit. | SASHA MARCETA/ SKYVIEW EXPERTS VIA MAX BROOCK

FISHER

From Page 1

The mansion at 1771 Balmoral Drive north of West Seven Mile Road and west of Woodward Avenue, was built for Alma and Alfred Fisher, then one of the owners of the Fisher Body Co., which made car bodies.

Alex Chapman, an associate broker at Signature Sotheby’s who represented Stewart and Gamez Galaz said they appreciate Detroit history, love architecture and want to be more involved in the city’s revival through the purchase.

Chapman said they were impressed by the work Ammann had done to add air conditioning, upgrade electrical work and plumbing and yet keep the house in its natural state. The work Ammann put into the house “definitely shows,” he said.

“It’s just really nicely done,” Chapman said.

Kathy Broock, the Realtor with Max Broock who sold the Palmer Woods house, said there are no comparable sales for a 15-bedroom historic mansion that’s more than 20,000 square feet. The Realcomp listing says it is full of “opulent details” including inset stained glass windows, a marble dining room with gold detail and a crystal chandelier, as well as a ballroom with a stage. It also has “handcrafted adornments” including woodworking.

The last time the mansion sold, which Broock also oversaw, it was “a feeding frenzy.” But she said seeing the home, and selling it, was an emotional experience.

“The first time I walked in, in 2015, I got tears in my eyes,” Broock said. “It took me over personally.”

She described the house as an artifact, full of Pewabic tiles and intricate details. Construction of a home like that is a “lost art,” she said.

Broock is a fourth generation Realtor, and said it was particularly special for her to sell the house her grandparents had visited, at a company her great-grandfather founded in 1895. Max Broock moved out of the city in 1936, she said, and didn’t have an office in Detroit until just before the pandemic. The sale of the Fisher mansion reinforced her decision that it was time to return, she said.

“To go back in and create the most stratospheric sale ever, I can’t explain it,” she said. “It fills my heart for my family.”

Stewart has been with Stellantis since December 2018, back when it

Mark Stewart is COO of Stellantis NV. | LINKEDIN

was still FCA. Prior to that, he spent time with Amazon and ZF Group, where he worked in both Shanghai, China, and Livonia.

He has an engineering degree from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Stewart spoke at Crain’s Detroit Homecoming VI event in 2019 where he discussed the automaker’s breakneck deal to bring the first new vehicle assembly plant to Detroit since Chrysler’s Jefferson North Assembly Plant opened in 1992.

“It was about the best 60 days we ever invested in,” Stewart said.

The $1.6 billion industrial redevelopment project was tied to the creation of 3,850 new jobs in the city.

Wayne County land records show that Daniel and Pernilla Ammann paid an estimated $1.549 million for the 1926 mansion on July 31, 2015.

Records also show the Ammanns bought the 2.1 acres immediately west of the Fisher mansion in 2017 for $225,000, basically adding on to the estate. That property is at 1791 Wellesley Drive.

Stewart was hired in January 2019 to lead Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ North American operations. He was responsible for negotiations with the city of Detroit to convert the car company’s Mack Avenue engine plants on Detroit’s east side into a new assembly plant as well as retool the Jefferson North Assembly plant.

Stewart told Crain’s previously that the new $1.6 billion Jeep plant in Detroit was a priority.

“Our A, B and C plans were to make this work,” Stewart said. “A lot of locations were looked at, but Mayor (Mike) Duggan asked Sergio to give him time to make the pitch.

The last assembly plant (built in Detroit) was 30 years ago, which was ours. Really, our efforts were to make this work, not on the contingency plan.”

Contact: arielle.kass@crain.com; (313) 446-6774; @ArielleKassCDB

MARCH 14, 2022 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 21

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THE CONVERSATION

Samino Scott uses his experiences to keep youth on the right path Samino Scott II used a stint in juvenile detention as a youth as a springboard for bettering himself and getting an education. Now, Scott uses his position as executive director of the nonprofit Pontiac Collective Impact Partnership and his educational background to help youth meet their goals. | BY SHERRI WELCH ` You grew up in Pontiac, right?

Yes. I graduated from Pontiac Central High School and completed my undergraduate and master’s studies at Oakland University, just 10 minutes away from home. I always knew one of the things I wanted to do was earn a good education and utilize that to come home and uplift my community. I always knew I wanted to be an example for people who looked like me, whether that was as a successful business person or as someone who pursued their education. I didn’t always know how I wanted to do it, but I was conscious of the aspiration to do that. ` What spurred that desire?

As an adolescent, I realized I was part of the problem. I was a delinquent youth, ran away from home. I spent some time in the Oakland County Children’s Village, a youth detention facility. I was sentenced to a three-to six-month program for selling illegal drugs. I was 16 years old. What was the worst thing that happened to me at the time turned out to be the best. It forced me to really think long and hard about my future for the first time. I went through this long, arduous process of trying to get ready for college, but at that time, I didn’t know if I had what it took because I wasn’t focused on school. It made me realize I needed to change my life, I needed to do something differently.

I came from a family of production workers, and I was a first-generation college student and didn’t have anyone to walk me through the process. Much of it I had to do on my own. ` You majored in business but ended up working in schools?

Both my undergrad and master’s (degrees) are in business. I thought I wanted to work in corporate America.

I came across a job posting for an admissions counselor at Oakland University, right out of college. I took the job for the sales experience; as an admissions counselor, you are essentially selling the university. I would go into suburban schools and urban schools (in cities like Detroit, Pontiac,

Oak Park and Flint), and I would see a lot of kids who were just like I was in high school. They were lost. I realized before I could convince them to come to OU, I had to convince them they could succeed at the college level.

Many students didn’t see themselves as college students. The perception was that college was for smart kids.

So I began sharing my experience as a youth in order to get them to see that if I could do it, they could do it. ` So that shifted you to a different career track?

I was still focused on earning more money, so after five years as an admissions counselor, I accepted a pharmaceutical sales position, but I realized I walked away from something I was passionate about to pursue money.

After three years of doing that, I started working my way back to education.

What came next was pursuing my doctorate in educational studies and accepting an internship in the Pontiac School District as a graduation initiative counselor. I was identifying students who were not going to graduate and developing interventions to get them back on track to graduation. I did that for two years, and then I transitioned to a college and career readiness specialist, leading the dual-enrollment efforts of the district as well as a patient care technician program to train students as nursing assistants through Oakland University. I did that for another two years before moving on to United Way for Southeast Michigan.

I was a work-based learning director, someone who helps set up workbased learning experiences for high school students. I helped set up career academies at Detroit Public Schools Community District schools, to prepare students for college and careers. I was at United Way for three years and left to accept my current position with the Pontiac Collective Impact Partnership in November of 2020.

effort that involves various stakeholders actively engaged in improving the quality of life of Pontiac residents. I work closely with the mayor’s office, the superintendent, school board trustees, Oakland County officials, residents and grassroots leaders of nonprofit organizations, as well as our local higher ed partners, OU and OCC. ` What has been the biggest challenge in your career?

It was early on when I first started working at OU. I interacted with professionals but I was still living in the urban community and still associating regularly with my friends who were non-professionals and didn’t go to college. So not only was I the first generation in my family but was first-generation college in my peer groups as well. The challenge was where do I belong, where do I fit? As a college-educated, African American male, the perception among many of my peers was maybe you think you’re better than us because they didn’t go to college. It was a big challenge until I realized I can’t survive this way. I have to think about what’s in my best interest moving forward and the commitment I made to change my life. It was learning how to navigate the professional landscape. `Does this resonate

when you talk with kids?

Many people who knew me as a youth encourage me to tell my story for that reason. The thought is, in order to achieve success you have to see it in folks who are like you. Many folks see me today as a doctor (PhD). They don’t realize I started with a 12 on the ACT, a 2.0 GPA, that I was a high school runaway, that I spent time in the Oakland County Children’s Village. I was in the pipeline to prison. Oftentimes, my experience resonates with the kids. It allows them to realize that if he could do it, I could do it. `What advice would you give people of color moving into professional positions?

My biggest advice would be to strive to live life without putting internal limits on yourself. Anything is possible if you believe in it, commit to it and you take the steps that are necessary to accomplish your goals. Also, when you come from a working-class background, you deal with relationships or with navigating your career pathway differently. You may not recognize the need for personal relationships and nurturing them to the same extent as someone who came from a family where they benefited from that.

I’m naturally an introvert. I always thought if I worked up hard and put up results, I didn’t have to go out after work with folks and play the game. But if you don’t do that, you limit your network and your opportunities.

Samino Scott executive director Pontiac Collective Impact Partnership

` What’s your role at the partnership?

I am overseeing a collective impact

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RUMBLINGS

Mudgie’s Deli in Corktown takes another blow with fire THE EARLY MORNING FIRE that caused Mudgie’s Deli and Wine Shop to close on Thursday was intentionally set, Detroit fire officials said.

The fire is being investigated as arson, Detroit Deputy Fire Commissioner Dave Fornell said.

“The fire was set on the outside and got to the inside of the building,” Fornell said. “There wasn’t a lot of damage, though.”

Detroit fire investigators are conducting interviews and gathering information, Fornell said. The department is working to see if any video footage from a nearby camera is available as well, he said.

A fire at Mudgie’s Deli and Wine Shop in Detroit’s Corktown damaged the rear of the building. | KIRK PINHO/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

The department responded to the fire at 4:38 a.m. Thursday morning and were on the scene for about two hours.

The fire comes six months following the unexpected death of owner Greg Mudge at age 46. He established the business in 2008.

Mudgie’s shut down temporarily following Mudge’s death and again for a couple of weeks earlier this year for repairs inside the building.

Mudgie’s last month was named a semifinalist in the hospitality category of the James Beard Foundation awards.

Single copy purchases, publication information, or membership inquiries: (877) 824-9374 or customerservice@crainsdetroit.com Reprints: Laura Picariello (732) 723-0569 or lpicariello@crain.com Crain’s Detroit Business is published by Crain Communications Inc.

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