Crain's Detroit Business, July 15, 2024

Detroit’s hot ticket: A tech meetup

A Saturday networking event for Black entrepreneurs has gained national attention | By

Black Tech Saturdays was born as a conversation between two startup founders in March 2023, before the opening of Newlab at Michigan Central. By the next month, it had grown into a gathering of ve people

A

Dan Gilbert formally has an option to buy the majority of the Renaissance Center.

A 10-page public notice of what’s called a “put and call agreement” describes Gilbert’s Resurgence Realty LLC’s option to buy the main five-building complex plus other property from Riverfront Holdings

crouched around steaming cups at a co ee shop in downtown Detroit.

“I remember walking to the co ee shop going, ‘Why is it this hard for people to get together to just start the thing?’ And now I

RenCen

Inc., an affiliate of General Motors Co.

This marks the first public confirmation that a sale is under serious consideration, nearly three months after Gilbert’s Bedrock LLC real estate company and GM announced on April 15 that the Detroit-based automaker would move its longtime RenCen headquarters to Gilbert’s $1.4

27 l COPYRIGHT 2024 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. l ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

look at where we are with this narrative around the country,” said Johnnie Turnage, who co-founded Black Tech Saturdays with his wife, Alexa Turnage.

A year and a half later, it has

billion Hudson’s Detroit development north of Campus Martius Park.

Anna Fifelski

evolved into a networking event at Newlab that boasts more than 10,000 total attendees to date.

e Turnages, and Black Tech Saturdays, have gained national attention for their e orts to close the racial wealth gap through

tech-focused initiatives. In February, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves visited Newlab at Michigan Central to meet with Johnnie and Alexa.

See MEETUP on Page 21

Mich. companies test waters in IPO market

After years of a cold IPO market, 2024 may nally be the year companies follow through on their promises to go public. is summer, two Michigan companies pulled the trigger within a day of each other after months of consideration.

Lineage, a Novi-based cold storage giant, initially announced its intention to pursue an IPO in September 2023. It

Michigan company’s new CFO could foreshadow impending IPO, shifting strategy. Page 20

led for an initial public o ering on June 27, valuing the company at $30 billion.

OneStream, a software company based in Birmingham, rst hired advisers to help it prepare to go public in 2021, Reuters previously reported. On June 28, it

See IPO on Page 20

These top professionals lead the way in multifamily, retail, industrial and of ce deals. Page 9

Kirk Pinho

The Renaissance Center downtown was built in the 1970s and 1980s. COSTAR GROUP

Anna Fifelski

Black Tech Saturdays attendees take photos before a panel discussion June 29 at Newlab at Michigan Central. | QUINN BANKS

Pontiac apartment redevelopment gets $2.7M state loan

By Nick Manes

A family development rm run by two General Motors Co. executives was awarded a $2.67 million loan from the state as part of its effort to redevelop a century-old Moorish-style apartment building in Pontiac.

e board of the Michigan Strategic Fund on July 9 awarded the economic development incentive to Detroit-based Coleman Allen LLC, which aims to undertake a $13.9 million renovation of the Casa Del Ray building at 111 Oneida St., west of downtown Pontiac. Plans call for 50 apartments at below-market-rate rents in the building currently owned by the Oakland County Land Bank.

“Public interest has risen in recent years in new or newly improved residential options in Pontiac,” reads an MSF brie ng memo on the planned project for the complex. “ is demand will be addressed in the 50 units o ered through this project, creating more density and pedestrian activity in the corridor.”

e project’s developers are Gregory and Ronita Coleman, both GM executives who, in their spare time, have undertaken redevelopment projects in Birmingham, Clawson, South eld and Lathrup Village, according to the

MSF memo. e developers also own and manage nine rental properties around metro Detroit, according to the memo.

Designed by noted architect Robert O’Derrick, the Casa Del Rey building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

Rents for the Casa Del Rey project will be targeted for those earning 60% to 120% of the area median income. In Oakland County, that would be — for one person — an income of between $39,790 and $79,560, according to gures from the Michigan State Housing De-

velopment Authority.

Rents are projected at $1,000 for studio units, $1,300 for one-bedroom units, $1,550 for two-bedroom units, and $2,000 for one three-bedroom unit, with an average of $1.78 per square foot, according to the MSF memo.

Construction on the project is expected to commence in mid-September; tenant wait list applications will be accepted in mid-2025 and the rst tenants are expected to take up residency in early 2026, Ronita Coleman told Crain’s in an email. A handful of local tax incentive approvals are

expected to be complete in the coming weeks, Coleman added.

In addition to the MSF loan, the developers are also receiving a $3 million loan from the Oakland County Housing Trust Fund, as well as an “environmental grant” of $33,050. e city of Pontiac is also expected to provide a Neighborhood Enterprise Zone abatement valued at about $2.8 million, and tax increment nancing from MSHDA would capture about $4.3 million over 30 years, according to the MSF memo.

e Casa Del Rey developers are contributing about $724,000, or

5%, in equity to the project, a “deviation” from typical underwriting standards, according to the MSF memo. But Ronita Coleman’s involvement in the Cinnaire Women Empowered to Build, or “WE Build,” program makes for an “acceptable deviation,” the memo says.

e projected return on the project is 8.6% over 20 years, per the MSF.

Developers of a ordable housing in Michigan typically need multiple layers of nancing, often called capital stacks, to make projects viable. e MSF loan is needed due to “market conditions” in Pontiac, according to the brie ng memo.

Such conditions “continue to make development challenging, including market rate rents that continue to lag construction in ation costs,” reads the memo.

“In addition, the city and development team’s interest in providing a ordability limits the revenue that can be generated,” the MSF memo adds. “ is combination of the inclusion of attainable housing merged with the high cost of construction associated with redevelopment of a long vacant, blighted building in Pontiac, limits the amount of traditional debt the project can secure and is driving the need for MCRP support.”

The Casa del Rey complex in Pontiac | NICK MANES

IT founder turns passion for whiskey into distillery

By Jay Davis

A tech entrepreneur is turning a passion project into a largescale business.

Varchas Shankar, founder of Bloom eld Hills-based IT solutions company V2Soft, which has 16 o ces in six countries, is opening Shankar Distillers in Troy this month. It is the rst U.S. distillery to be owned and opened by an Indian immigrant, he said.

Shankar has set his sights on opening a distillery for more than a decade. He found a 14,500-square-foot multi-story space at 1030 Chicago Road in Troy near Oakland Mall that he

says is perfect for his business.

He said he looked at spots in Detroit, Pontiac and Farmington Hills among others before settling on the Oakland County suburb.

“I’ve been visiting distilleries around the country. Most of them are very far away (from metropolitan areas),” Shankar said. “ ere are a couple in downtown Detroit. I didn’t see any larger distilleries in Southeast Michigan. I wanted a place for people to come in from the suburbs with easy accessibility. We want to attract companies doing corporate events.

See DISTILLERY on Page 18

‘True Gretch’: Takeaways from Whitmer’s book

LANSING — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer wrote a book to “put a little light out there in a damn dark time,” a period in which she has led Michigan through a pandemic and a plot to kidnap and potentially kill her for restrictions she imposed to control COVID-19.

“True Gretch: What I’ve Learned About Life, Leadership, and Everything in Between” was released July 9, 5 1/2 years into her governorship. She has insisted it is not a “self-aggrandizing memoir to get ready to run for president” in 2028, but the 159page book will surely not dampen speculation about her political future.

at is especially true as some Democrats call for President Joe

Biden to withdraw from the 2024 race due to questions about his age and mental acuity following a disastrous debate performance. (Whitmer, a co-chair of Biden’s campaign, has been steadfast in saying she has no plans to run for president.)

A re mini-boom could be on horizon

e days of the COVID-19 pandemic-era super-low mortgage rates are rmly in the rearview mirror, and the number of borrowers who could be eligible for re nancing is piling up, according to a new report.

e number of U.S. homeowners with mortgage rates above 5% has ticked up considerably over the last two years, according to the monthly Mortgage Monitor report by Intercontinental Exchange. By the end of May, 24% of homeowners with mortgages had an interest rate of 5% or higher, according to ICE Vice President of Research and Analysis Andy Walden.

“As recently as two years ago

“The strain of rye must be right. ... We did a lot of (research and development). We worked with some professors at MSU to identify some characteristics we want.”

Varchas Shankar, owner, Shankar Distillers

an astonishing nine of every 10 mortgage holders were below that threshold,” the report said. In total, some 4 million loans originated since 2022 have an interest rate of 6.5% or higher, per the ICE report, and about 1.9 million at 7% or higher. As of January, about 89% of borrowers had an interest rate of 6% or lower, according to real estate brokerage Red n.  e roughly 690,000 borrowers just below 7% interest rates are likely buyers who paid upfront to bring down their rate to a more comfortable gure, known as buying down. Such borrowers will likely spur a slew of re nancing activity once rates tick down.

Nick Manes

David Eggert

Shankar Distillers founder Varchas Shankar (left) and master distiller Kylash Sivakumar. | KARL BAKER

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, as she appears on the cover of her new book, “True Gretch.”

See WHITMER on Page 17

UWM CEO Mat Ishbia, seen here on stage at a company event in May, is preparing staff and brokers for an interest rate cut in the coming months. | QUINN BANKS

See REFI on Page 19

The Target store deal in Detroit is of cially dead

The proposed Target Corp. store around Detroit’s Midtown and Brush Park neighborhoods is o cially dead.

But the developer says the broader project is not.

other locations are under consideration.

But it seems like Jonathan Holtzman’s Farmington Hillsbased City Club Apartments LLC, which has proposed to develop the site with 350 apartments and the Target store, still intends to move forward with its new buildings.

ere had been a minor dispute over whether Target was indeed backing out back in January, but a notice of a lease termination dated April 30 was led in late May in Wayne County, marking the nal nail in the co n of the proposed small-format store that was to occupy about 32,000 square feet at Woodward and Mack avenues.

A Target spokesperson on July 8 pointed to an earlier January statement from the Minneapolisbased retail giant, which said that “due to ongoing delays and complications with the project, we are no longer pursuing a store in this location.” It's not known whether

"We will announce at a future date a national retailer to replace Target, no further comments,” a company executive said in an emailed statement. It’s not known who City Club Apartments is courting to replace the coveted retailer that has been absent from the city for more than two decades.

A Target location at 8500 E. Eight Mile Road opened in October 1987 and closed nearly two decades ago in August 2003, marking the retailer's o cial exit from the city.

City Club Apartments proposed a 350-unit project on about 2.4 acres of the broader 7-acre South

of Mack Avenue development site, with a 15-story apartment tower with about 270 apartments, a six-story building with about 80 units, and the retail space, totaling about 40,000 square feet, when adding in a bank branch and restaurant/cafe space to the now-scrapped Target store. e Detroit store isn't be the only one Target is abandoning. e retailer said in the fall that it was shuttering nine locations across the country, including seven of its small-format stores in Portland, Seattle and the Bay Area, Retail Brew reported in October. Target cited what it called "theft and organized retail crime (that) are threatening the safety of our team and guests, and contributing to unsustainable business performance."

Target also scrapped a small Philadelphia location that was nearing completion in late October, according to e Philadelphia Inquirer and other local media reports.

Auto supplier closing plant near Ann Arbor

By Sarah Kominek, Plastics News

ABC Group Sales & Engineering Inc. will permanently close its Saline ABC Technologies facility, eliminating all 156 positions at the location.

e Saline plant will close on or around Dec. 31, the company said in a June 24 WARN notice to the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity and Workforce Development.

" e product line will be transferred to another ABC Technologies manufacturing facility locat-

ed in Wyoming, Mich.," the notice said. "All employees will be offered an opportunity to transfer with the business."

None of the a ected employees have bumping rights or union representation, it said. Representatives for Torontobased ABC did not immediately respond to request for comment by Plastics News

In April, ABC Technologies also announced it would close Windsor, Ontario-based subsidiary Emrick Plastics, with about 100 workers, after it negotiated a

closing agreement with Unifor Local 195. The agreement included the option for some employees to transfer to jobs at Precision Plastics in Amherstburg, Ontario, and severance packages for employees who did not transfer, The Windsor Star first reported.

ABC Technologies, which manufactures parts for the automotive industry, had an estimated $760 million of injection molding sales in 2023 with 12 plants in North America and an estimated 4,600 employees.

Kirk Pinho

proposed 32,000-square-foot Target Corp. store will no longer be developed around the

IPO drought may be ending. Here’s why that matters.

Michigan companies are aiming to end an IPO drought.

Two high-growth companies led to list their shares on the Nasdaq within a day of each other late last month.

The pair, Novi-based cold-storage behemoth Lineage Inc. and Birminghambased financial software company OneStream Software LLC, would be the first major local companies to join the stock market since Rocket in 2020 and UWM in 2021.

Lineage will likely be one of the year’s very biggest IPOs, seeking a valuation of around $30 billion. (For comparison, Rocket is currently valued by the market at about $28 billion.)

Also publicly telegraphing an intention to go public is the insurance broker Acrisure LLC, based in Grand Rapids. at company has been built similarly to Lineage, by making acquisitions globally in a fragmented industry, and it will likely command a valuation in the tens of billions of dollars as well.

And other companies may follow as the market for IPOs thaws as a whole. Does it matter?

Neither Lineage nor OneStream has a huge employee count in Michigan. Much of the wealth the IPOs would generate will go to major investors elsewhere. And

COMMENTARY

corporate headquarters are not what they used to be in an era when remote work is still widespread.

Even so, we would argue that having those HQs and the attention generated

by IPOs absolutely matters.  e companies’ local executives and other employees will see wealth creation from the o erings, money that circulates and reverberates in the local economy,

fuels philanthropic contributions, and, often, winds up invested as capital for the next generation of startups.

Dan and Jennifer Gilbert likely wouldn’t have made their $500 million pledge to Detroit had Rocket companies not gone public in 2020.

e cachet that IPOs bring also should not be underestimated. It’s a reminder to Wall Street that we’re not just about making cars anymore. And IPOs o er inspiration as well. You can create a tech startup in Birmingham, rather than shipping out to Silicon Valley.

Detroit and the state as a whole have far fewer publicly traded companies than they did decades ago.

Crain’s 1994 Book of Lists charted 105 public companies headquartered in Southeast Michigan alone. Now, that gure is down by more than half at 47.

Some of that decline is systemic as companies and industries have consolidated, especially in manufacturing. But we fear it’s also a result of not creating new companies capable of the kind of growth that Wall Street is looking for.

As we aim to cultivate and strengthen a robust and diverse entrepreneurial ecosystem, tangible examples of success are necessary. We’re about to have a few more.

Any population strategy must include an immigration strategy

It’s time to talk about the economics of immigration and its importance to Michigan’s future.

Over the past year, Michigan has rightfully focused on population strategies as an essential ingredient of the state’s economic growth. e malaise of population loss can be felt in our state’s urban cores, across smaller towns and in our rural communities. Labor shortages plaguing Michigan’s businesses, from retail, entertainment and tourism to manufacturing, agricultural and health care are a direct result of our aging demographics.

has proven to be our strongest asset — our immigrant workforce.

Over the last decade — a decade that included more restrictionist immigration policies from President Donald Trump, as well as a pandemic that virtually shut down U.S. immigration — Michigan’s foreign-born population grew by 87,000 residents, accounting for 57.7 percent of all of the state’s population growth. If one looks back 20 years, all of Michigan’s net population growth can be attributed to immigration.

and provide critical labor skills to our economy. Immigrants account for 28 percent of the state’s software developers, 24 percent of mechanical engineers and 19 percent of science, technology and mathematics workers.

The solutions

Rather than fearing immigration as a political wedge issue, business leaders and policymakers need to focus on the intentional integration of immigration into existing workforce and talent attraction initiatives.

MGTI has provided support to community colleges and Michigan Works! agencies across the state to assist skilled immigrant workers in solving talent gaps. ink of helping an Afghani structural engineer shift from driving an Uber to working for an engineering rm tackling solutions for our state’s decaying roads and bridges.

Over 200 professional job seekers have registered for these programs within the rst 120 days of the initiative’s launch.

New research conducted by the American Immigration Council and the Michigan Global Talent Coalition, a group of 20 regional chambers of commerce, economic development groups and statewide business leaders, was released in May. is research shines a light for those willing to seriously address our population challenges and talent gaps.

e state deserves praise for raising the population issue. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appointed the rst chief growth o cer of any state and convened the Growing Michigan Together Council to identify strategies. Going forward, it’s imperative for state policy leaders to invest in what

A Michigan population strategy without a speci c immigration strategy is akin to developing a state economic strategy that would ignore automobiles, manufacturing and agriculture. Immigration has been the single biggest driver of population growth in Michigan and must be a core element of any growth strategy.

The data

e new data shows that Michigan’s foreign-born are highly educated (nearly 24 percent possess graduate degrees and 44 percent possess four-year degrees or more); highly entrepreneurial (46,200 immigrant entrepreneurs generate $1.4 billion in business revenue in Michigan);

e governor’s Sixty by 30 workforce development program to upskill Michigan’s workforce such that 60 percent of our workers have a college degree or professional credential by 2030 provides a tangible example. e Michigan Global Talent Initiative represents the rst investment of any state in immigrant inclusion into a state workforce development program of this kind. Appropriations in FY 2023 and 2024, supported on a bipartisan basis, have enabled Global Detroit’s international student retention program (the rst of its kind in the nation) and its immigrant startup program to expand statewide into West Michigan, mid-Michigan and beyond.

MGTI programs are projected to add tens of thousands of skilled immigrant workers to Michigan workforce and to provide as much as 25 percent of the la-

Business leaders and policymakers need to focus on the intentional integration of immigration into existing workforce and talent attraction initiatives.

bor needed to meet the Sixty by 30 goal. Continued funding for the next three years of this program should be a priority for Michigan’s policymakers. e new data documents the imperative of these investments if we are serious about addressing our population challenges and talent gaps.

Former state Rep. Steve Tobocman is executive director of Global Detroit, a nonpro t focused on strategies to drive economic growth through immigrant inclusion.

Lineage Inc. is a Novi-based global temperature-controlled warehouse REIT with facilities around the world serving more than 13,000 of the largest food retailers, manufacturers, processors and food service distributors in the industry. | LINEAGE LOGISTICS

Detroit Lions get $400M from NFL revenue sharing

e NFL revenue-sharing pie gets bigger every season and the Detroit Lions are eating very well.

e Lions and the rest of the NFL’s 32 teams got more than $400 million each from the league o ce for the 2023 season, according to a July 8 Sportico report. at gure comes out to about $13 billion and is an increase of 6% to 8% from the 2022 season.

e number factors in national media rights, and NFL leaguewide sponsorship deals. e money also comes from shared revenue, royalties from NFL a liates and subsidiaries like NFL Properties, NFL International and NFL Enterprises.

e league’s media rights contracts with ESPN, Fox, CBS, NBC, Amazon and YouTube represent the majority of the shared revenue. e 2023 season was the

Royal Oak restaurant closes after 8 months

By Jay Davis

A downtown Royal Oak restaurant and bar has closed less than a year after its debut in the former Jolly Pumpkin space in a building that has seen many restaurants come and go.

Bandit Tavern & Hideaway closed for good on July 7. e restaurant opened Nov. 3 at 419 S. Main St. in the two-story B & C building.

e concept came from Grand Rapids-based Mission Restaurant Group, which ran the Jolly Pumpkin out of the 4,000-square-foot space before closing last fall to make way for Bandit Tavern & Hideaway.

Mission Restaurant Group

President David Ritchie in a statement to Crain’s on July 9 said

start of the latest round of TV deals that are worth at least $125 billion over 11 years.

e national payout is up 115% over the past decade and should rise at a similar rate over the next decade to more than $800 million per team with the media deals secured, Sportico reported.

Like the NFL itself, the Lions' value is likely to continue to rise.

Detroit is valued at about $3.6 billion, according to an August 2023 Forbes report, up 18% from 2022. at puts the Lions at 31st in the league, ahead of only the Cincinnati Bengals, which are valued at $3.5 billion. e Dallas Cowboys are valued at $9 billion.

Detroit for 2023 had revenues of $495 million, according to Forbes. e team itself does not share nancial information and o cials on July 8 declined to disclose nancial information with Crain’s.

e revenue-sharing announcement continues an o season for the Lions centered around money. e team sold out season tickets for the 2024 season despite a big price increase. Detroit signed quarterback Jared Go to the biggest deal in franchise history. e Lions also spent big to retain AllPro wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and All-Pro o ensive lineman Penei Sewell. e team, and city, hosted a record-breaking NFL Draft.  Detroit on the strength of its run to the 2023 NFC Championship game is now viewed as one of the top franchises in the NFL. e Lions are among the betting favorites to win next season’s Super Bowl.

lifelong friends,” Ritchie said in the statement. “Unfortunately, current market conditions have forced us to focus our attention and resources in other areas. We are working with sta to place as many people as possible at other locations within our group. We sincerely appreciate the support we received over the years and will miss operating in Royal Oak.”

“Current market conditions have forced us to focus our attention and resources in other areas.”

David Ritchie, president of Mission Restaurant Group

market conditions played a role in the closure.

“We are proud to have served the Royal Oak community for two decades, employed thousands of people, introduced 11 unique restaurant concepts, and made

e 250-seat Bandit o ered Midwest comfort food with a southern in uence. Bandit's menu also featured items from concepts that previously operated in the B & C building, including Bastone Brewery, Vinotecca Wine Bar, Café Habana, Monk Belgian Beer Alley, Gogi Seoul Kitchen, Cinq, Commune Lounge and Craft. Bandit's interior also included pieces from those previous restaurants, including signs and brewing equipment.

In a basement space, the Hideaway hosted seasonal pop-ups

like Griswold's Hideaway, a holiday bar inspired by the lm "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation." Hideaway, with space for 300 people, o ered VIP rooms with bottle service and a large private party space.

e closing of Bandit Tavern & Hideaway comes after Mission Restaurant Group in April announced a rebrand of Midtown Detroit-based Vigilante Kitchen + Bar to Epiphany – Nain Rouge Kitchen. e new restaurant at 644 Selden St. is a partnership from Mission, Detroit’s Soil2Service nonpro t and its Detroit Institute of Gastronomy culinary program. Vigilante Kitchen opened on June 30. Mission also ran Smith & Co. out of the 7,000-square-foot Selden Street space.

Along with Jolly Pumpkin, Mission Restaurant Group runs a number of cafes and restaurants, including Avalon Cafe & Bakery, Blue Tractor BBQ and Brewery, e Cellar wine bar, North Peak Brewing Co., and Blue Tractor BBQ & Brewery.

e 2024 season begins when Detroit hosts the LA Rams at 8:20 p.m. Sept. 8.

Big3 league to add new team in Detroit

By Jay Davis

A relatively new professional 3-on-3 basketball league founded by a rap icon is adding a team that will call Detroit home.

e Big3 league on July 8 said the still-unnamed team will begin playing in the 2025 season, according to a news release.

e Detroit team will be the league’s fourth city-based franchise, following recently announced teams in Houston, Los Angeles and Miami.

e ownership group is led by Eastern Michigan University athletics booster GameAbove Sports. e group also includes GameAbove chair and EMU alum Keith Stone, former EMU star and NBA Hall-of-Famer George Gervin, along with Super Bowl champion and EMU alumnus T.J. Lang.

Anthony Tomey, whose family owns and operates nearly 50 Jimmy John’s franchises and the Born in Detroit apparel brand, is also an investor. Former EMU men’s basketball star Earl Boykins will also have a role with the team.

Gervin, a Detroit native and graduate of Pershing High School, is in his fth season as head coach of the Big 3’s Ghost Ballers.

Gervin in a statement said the move is a good one for the market.

“ e entire team at GameAbove and I are thrilled to bring a Big3 franchise to the Motor City,” Gervin said. “My experience as part of the Big3 these past few seasons has shown me that the league is at the forefront

of 3-on-3 basketball’s increasing growth and global traction. Detroit’s rich sports history makes it a fantastic market for the BIG3; get ready for next summer.”

Details on the investment by the ownership group was not released. Members of the ownership party did not immediately respond to Crain’s request for comment. It’s also unknown where the team’s games will be played. e league played games at Little Caesars Arena in 2023.

Big3 CEO and co-founder and rap legend Ice Cube in a statement said he looks forward to working with GameAbove Sports to bring the vision of Big3 Detroit to life in 2025.

GameAbove Sports is a sportsfocused business development and strategic investment rm. GameAbove Sports is backed by Florida-based CapStone Holdings Inc., which provides support to invest capital into various franchises and leagues.

Capstone Holdings co-founder Skylar Stone in a statement said he’s excited for the new venture. e Big3 was founded in 2017 by Ice Cube and entertainment executive Je Kwatinetz, who is also COO of Ice Cube’s Cube Vision production company. e league uses a 3-on-3, half-court format. Players must be 22 years old to enter the league.

e league featured eight teams its rst two seasons and expanded to 12 in 2019. e teams travel to various U.S. cities to play games during its 10-week regular season.

Jay Davis

The Detroit Lions and the rest of the NFL’s 32 teams received more than $400 million each from the league of ce for the 2023 season, an increase of 6% to 8% from the 2022 season, according to a recent Sportico report. DETROIT LIONS

Bandit Tavern & Hideaway in Royal Oak, a restaurant and pop-up spot that opened in November 2023, has closed. | BANDIT TAVERN & HIDEAWAY

State slashes Ford incentives after EV projects shrink

By Kurt Nagl

Michigan is slashing an incentives package to Ford Motor Co. by more than half after the automaker dramatically reduced the scope of its electric vehicle projects to match demand.

Ford will receive tax incentives worth a maximum of $409.1 million instead of $1.03 billion for its EV battery plant in Marshall, according to a revised incentives package approved July 9 by the Michigan Strategic Fund.

e reductions are in step with Ford’s scaling back of the project from $3.5 billion and 2,500 jobs to the new range of $2.5 billion-$3 billion and 1,700-2,100 jobs, according to a breakdown provided by the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

e largest change to the dollar amount was a rescission of a 15year Renaissance Zone tax break worth $772.8 million. At the same time, the new deal includes a PA 198 tax abatement of $224.7 million, which is $172 million more than the initial package.

e MEDC worked with the automaker to come to terms on the new agreement, and Ford is satised that the bene ts are proportionate to the new job creation and investment plans, company spokeswoman Jessica Enoch said.

Additionally, the state is rescinding a $100.8 million grant, committed in 2022, due to job creation failing to pan out at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, where output of F-150 Lightnings is a fraction of previously anticipated volumes. Like other automakers, Ford has grappled with less-than-expected consumer demand for plug-in products. Even so, Ford did meet its job creation and investment commit-

ments announced in 2022 — $2 billion and 3,260 jobs — just not at the Rouge. A little over 1,500 workers were expected to be on the F-150 Lightning lines at the factory, which now sta s only 700. At the same time, Michigan Assembly Plant brought in 700 workers from Rouge and hired another 900 to meet increased demand for the Bronco and Ranger.

In Marshall, the plant reduction is consistent with what Ford an-

nounced last November. Construction of the 1.8 millionsquare-foot plant is 20% complete, and production of lithium iron phosphate batteries is still expected to start in 2026.

“ e restructured incentive package will appropriately and necessarily address the project’s rightsizing, balancing the company’s investment and growth in Michigan,” the MEDC said in a memo.

In addition to the Renaissance

Zone rescission, the state cut the $210 Critical Industry Program grant to a minimum of $141 million. e $185.3 million in Strategic Site Readiness Program grants to the Marshall Area Economic Development Alliance was unchanged.

Ford has not yet received any cash disbursements of incentives for its plant in Marshall, according to a company spokesperson. Its initial incentive o ers were never nalized

e new project footprint spans 500 acres, which o cials say leaves room for future development of the site.

Jobs at the Ford battery plant are expected to pay a starting wage of $25 per hour, up from the previously anticipated wage of $20 per hour.

Lisa Drake, Ford’s VP of EV programs and energy supply chain, said the company continues to “make great progress establishing America’s rst automaker-backed LFP battery plant right here in Michigan.

“BlueOval Battery Park Michigan will play an important role in our plan to help make electric vehicles more accessible and a ordable by producing low-cost LFP batteries in the U.S. and not relying on imports,” Drake said in a statement.

Construction of Ford’s new EV battery plant in Marshall is about 20% complete. | FORD

NOTABLE COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE LEADERS

Crain’s Notable

Commercial Real Estate Leaders are strategic, collaborative and savvy. These professionals are top executives and entrepreneurs who work with clients to buy, sell, lease and rent multifamily properties and industrial, retail and of ce space. They manage multimilliondollar transactions and the development, redevelopment, construction or property management of millions of square feet of space.

METHODOLOGY: These Notable Commercial Real Estate Leaders were nominated by their peers, colleagues, friends and family and selected by a team of Crain’s Detroit Business editors based on their career accomplishments, track records of success and impact. Pro les are solely based on information in the nomination forms. Notables is managed by Leslie D. Green, assistant managing editor — special projects, and written by Ryan Kelly and Katie Merx. For questions about Notables, please email detroitrecognitions@crain. com.

Dennis Bernard President, Bernard Financial Group

Scope of work: Dennis Bernard’s multigenerational company is responsible for $27.5 billion in commercial real estate loans, which include many iconic buildings and developments in Southeast Michigan. His company originates more than $1 billion in loans annually and services $4 billion in loans.

Biggest professional win: Under Bernard’s direction, the nancial group recently nanced a single-asset, single-borrower loan of $420 million for downtown Detroit real estate. It was the rst SASB loan in Southeast Michigan in 20 years.

Other contributions: Bernard is chair of the Jewish Federation of North America’s special task force on antisemitism and security. He previously served as president of the United Jewish Foundation of Detroit.

Daniel Canvasser

Executive managing director, Newmark

Scope of work: Daniel Canvasser specializes in leasing and sales in metro Detroit, managing transactions such as lease renewals, land site selections and negotiations for build-to-suit requirements. He represents tenants and landlords for about 5.8 million square feet of space and since 2020 has completed more than 600 transactions for around $483 million.

Biggest professional win: Canvasser developed a plan to use Newmark services to re-capitalize a portfolio that was managed by Peter Burton of Burton Katzman, which resulted in the sale of 24 properties, totaling 2.2 million square feet and valued at $240 million. It allowed Burton Katzman principals to recapture equity from the assets while allowing the company to maintain operations and its employees.

Ron Boji CEO, Boji Group

Scope of work: Ron Boji guides the development, construction and property management of more than 3 million square feet of space and a portfolio of more than 60 Michigan properties.

Biggest professional wins: He has created public-private partnerships leading to the development and management of around 1 million square feet of building space. One partnership includes the Royal Oak City Center, in which Henry Ford Health is the major tenant. The company also redeveloped the Farnum, the former state Senate building, and renamed it The Louie in honor of Ron Boji’s father.

Other contributions: Boji Cares recently donated $5 million to Henry Ford Health and Michigan State University and the Boji family contributed $2.5 million to St. George Parish in Oxford.

Realtor, Century 21

Scope of work: Ali Charara has sold more than $650 million in commercial real estate and completed more than 300 deals. His team leads commercial real estate sales volume nationwide for Century 21.

Biggest professional win: Charara recently closed on a $100 million commercial real estate deal in metro Detroit. The deal, which resulted in a 25% increase in annual sales volume, helped Century 21 gain several high-pro le clients and create new jobs in the region.

Other contributions: Charara serves on the Assessors Board of Review in Dearborn Heights. He is also active with the American Arab Chamber of Commerce and participates in various initiatives with local schools.

Gary Brownell

Partner, Holcomb Development LLC

Scope of work: Gary Brownell amassed a large portfolio of Southeast Michigan properties while working in real estate nancing, insurance and development. He’s been a partner on over $35 million in investments over the past ve years.

Biggest professional win: Brownell was an investor and the primary fundraiser for the redevelopment of The Belcrest apartments, a $19 million, 140-unit historic building in Detroit’s Midtown. His team completed phase one — a $6 million renovation that created 28 units of affordable housing. Phase two includes adding 32 units of affordable housing.

Other contributions: Brownell supports Drive One, which helps at-risk youth in metro Detroit develop trade skills. He’s also active with organizations battling homelessness.

Vice chairman and co-head, affordable housing, Newmark

Scope of work: Andy Daitch, a past Crain’s 40 Under 40 honoree, consistently ranks as one of the nation’s top multifamily affordable housing advisers. Previously, he was executive managing director of Affordable Housing Advisors of Marcus & Millichap, where he led his team to over $30 billion in affordable housing transactions nationwide.

Biggest professional win: Under his direction, AHA founded AHA Cares, which assists charitable organizations locally and nationally. Earlier this year, Daitch moved the metro Detroit-based AHA team to New York-based Newmark, a commercial real estate rm.

Other contributions: Daitch belongs to the Institute for Responsible Housing Preservation and the National Housing and Rehabilitation Association.

Andrea Burg

Senior project manager, Cushman & Wake eld

Scope of work: Andrea Burg uses her project delivery building experience to ensure that projects are done on time and to clients’ satisfaction.

Biggest professional win: Burg was team leader for a tenant improvement project that required moving all the employees of a Southeast Michigan luxury automotive nancial services company from multiple locations to one facility before leases expired. Her team successfully worked with brokerage teams and the developer to complete the building’s core and shell and various improvements on time.

Other contributions: Burg is a member and past president of Commercial Real Estate Women Detroit and a team lead for the Detroit Chapter of Cushman & Wake eld’s Women’s Integrated Network.

Lynn Drake

Owner, Compass Commercial

Scope of work: Lynn Drake, one of the rst women to work in industrial real estate in North America, is also a tenant representative. Her certi ed women-owned business helps business owners lease or purchase buildings ranging from 2,000 to 100,000 square feet.

Biggest professional win: Drake published the book “Do You Speak Purchase?” in 2022. In 2024, she managed over 1,700 real estate transactions, 60% of which were for women and minorities.

Other contributions: Drake coaches and mentors business owners through MentorWe, a Great Lakes Women’s Business Council program, which helps women business leaders bolster their leadership and communications skills. Additionally, she teaches new business owners how to lease commercial buildings.

Ali Charara

Andrew Daitch

Michael Ferlito

CEO, Ferlito Group and Ferlito Construction

Scope of work: Michael Ferlito oversees a portfolio of real estate development and construction ventures in Michigan and Florida. He’s also co-founder of Bamboo Detroit, a co-working of ce in Downtown Detroit, and a partner in Maximus Self Storage.

Biggest professional win: Ferlito led the expansion of Bamboo Detroit into new markets and, with his Ferlito Group team, spearheaded the development of several of Detroit’s historic buildings. He also developed and built two multifamily properties in Detroit that added needed housing options to the city.

Other contributions: Ferlito donates his time and experience to organizations such as St. John’s Guild, the Urban Land Institute, the Detroit Economic Club, the Detroit Athletic Club and the Entrepreneurs Organization.

Jared Friedman

Executive managing director, Friedman Real Estate

Scope of work: Under Jared Friedman’s leadership, Friedman Real Estate has increased its staff to more than 500 commercial real estate professionals in the last decade.

Biggest professional win: Friedman executed the contract to manage Wayne County’s new 1.2 million-square-foot Criminal Justice Center, negotiated a long-term lease with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan for the 500 River East Tower and developed a full-service capital markets team called SF Capital. He also executed a 280,000square-foot project in Auburn Hills for Magna International’s new seating manufacturing facility.

Other contributions: Friedman is involved in the Detroit Young Professionals organization.

Andrew Gutman

President, Farbman Group

Scope of work: Andrew Gutman worked his way up at myriad commercial real estate rms to lead Farbman Group, Farbman companies, 30 million rentable square feet of commercial real estate and over 200 employees.

Biggest professional win: Under Gutman’s leadership in the past year, Farbman Group facilitated Oakland County in acquiring properties in Pontiac in an effort to create 500 jobs, recast the city’s skyline and attract development. Farbman now leads planning and execution of the county project.

Other contributions: He serves on the board of directors of Midtown Detroit Inc., the Detroit Chinese Business Association, Chaldean Community Foundation and Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce. He donated the proceeds from two children’s books he wrote to charitable organizations.

Brian Henry

Senior executive counsel, eTitle Agency

Scope of work: Licensed in 18 states, Brian Henry is responsible for strategic direction and supervises commercial and residential real estate closings from $500,000 to $80 million. He resolves title issues for properties in foreclosure and advises clients on short sales, loan modi cations and other loss-mitigation options.

Biggest professional win: Henry and the eTitle team provided title insurance for construction of the Benjamin O. Davis Veterans Village Apartments, a 50-unit building for homeless veterans in Detroit. He also worked with the Detroit Land Bank to restore more than 40,000 vacant or blighted properties in the city.

Other contributions: He is chair of the zoning board of appeals for Bloom eld Township and the Michigan Land Standards Committee.

John Hindo

President, Boji Group

Scope of work: John Hindo has an expertise in public-private partnerships and several decades of experience as a private practice attorney with a concentration on real estate and commercial transactions. He now represents clients in real estate development, leasing, drafting and negotiating buy-sell agreements, corporate formation and nancing.

Biggest professional win: Hindo helped guide a $180 million public-private partnership with the city of Royal Oak that included the construction of a new city hall, police station, parking deck, central park and a six-story, 145,000 square-foot of ce building to be occupied by 400 medical professionals from Henry Ford Health.

Other contributions: He recently donated $10,000 to the Royal Oak Public Library to enhance its infrastructure.

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S

Congratulations Valerie Vig , for your enduring commitment to our clients, subcontractors, employees and for your commitment to excellence in the construction industry.

Valerie proudly upholds the company’s core values, established in 1965, by J.S. Vig’s founder and Valerie’s father, Joseph S. Vig, Sr:

Thank you for your leadership! The team at J.S. Vig Construction

Kevin Jappaya

President, KJ Commercial

Scope of work: Kevin Jappaya handles commercial real estate transactions throughout Michigan, with a focus on metro Detroit. He leads a team of ve and has facilitated the sale and lease of $500 million in real estate.

Biggest professional win: In 2023, Jappaya and his family increased their hotel portfolio by over 600 rooms when they acquired four branded hotels in Michigan and started construction on a new hotel development in St. Ignace. One of the hotels is the Detroit South eld Marriott.

Other contributions: Jappaya is executive vice chairman of the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce and the Chaldean Community Foundation. He is a board member at the Mike Ilitch School of Business at Wayne State University.

Garrett Keais

Executive managing director, Cushman & Wake eld

Scope of work: As team lead of Cushman & Wake eld’s Michigan of ces, Garrett Keais works with owners and corporate occupiers to execute commercial property transactions around the globe.

Biggest professional win: Keais led a team that developed and executed a real estate portfolio strategy that enabled a Fortune 500 company to reduce expenditures and optimize its geographic footprint. As a result, the client consolidated its four-building campus into its headquarters building. The remaining portfolio was sold for redevelopment. The strategy saved the client millions.

Other contributions: Keais is a mentor to young brokers in the rm and supports the Michigan Lupus Foundation and Lupus Foundation of America. He is a member of the Society of Industrial and Of ce Realtors.

David Krysak

Director of practice development, Progressive Companies

Scope of work: David Krysak leads the development and strategy of Progressive Companies’ expansion into new markets, and his team is responsible for annual sales of about $60 million in the United States. In June, Krysak opened the company’s third national of ce, in Detroit.

Biggest professional win: As a board member of Developing K.I.D.S. in Detroit, he helped build its rst locations using his expertise as an architect. Krysak has worked on Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, several mixed-use, high-rise buildings in Asia and Veterans Administration hospitals across the U.S.

Other contributions: Krysak is a member and a lieutenant in the Civil Air Patrol.

Rocky Lala

Co-founder and principal, Method Development

Scope of work: Rocky Lala runs the day-to-day operations of development, asset management and portfolio management for 300,000 square feet of projects. He manages a team of ve employees, contractors, vendors and the company’s relationships with its partners.

Biggest professional win:

During the pandemic, Lala was under pressure to open the Detroit Design District Lofts project after several barriers arose, including the death of a project collaborator. He delivered the project on time. It opened with 18 residential units and seven businesses. Lala also worked on the restoration and redevelopment of The Merchants Building and Erskine House. Other contributions: He founded the Milwaukee Junction North End Business Association.

NOTE WORTHY 19.8%

The record high for national of ce vacancy rates reached in the rst quarter of this year, up from 19.6% in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to a report from Moody’s Analytics.

Bill Lichwalla

President and CEO, Plante Moran Realpoint

Scope of work: Bill Lichwalla began serving as president and CEO of Plante Moran’s public sector and corporate real estate division in 2005. Lichwalla has been directly involved in projects involving the revitalization of Detroit to better connect neighborhoods, create jobs and boost apprenticeships in the skilled trades.

Biggest professional win: In 2023, he led the launch of Plante Moran Realpoint, which combined the rm’s real estate investment group with its corporate real estate arm. Lichwalla has been involved in several signi cant Detroit real estate developments, including the Olympia Development of Michigan’s District Detroit and Little Caesars Arena, and the Future of Health development by Henry Ford Health in partnership with Michigan State University and the Detroit Pistons.

Owner, Talbot Development

Scope of work: Ryan Talbot began his real estate career six years ago and has been running Talbot Development for the past two years. He has developed about 1,000 units across 10 projects and plans another 500 units in Michigan. His project budgets range from $10 million to $75 million.

Biggest professional win: Talbot began construction of The Current, a multifamily, co-working and retail space, the company’s rst deal in Michigan. The Current represents his career start in Detroit and is serving as a launch point for other larger projects in the area.

Other contributions: Talbot is a member of the Economic Club of Grand Rapids.

Dannis Mitchell

Senior director of community engagement, Barton Malow Holdings

Scope of work: Dannis Mitchell secures new business and oversees a national team of supplier diversity, workforce inclusion and community outreach professionals.

Biggest professional win: Over the past ve years, Mitchell has worked on some of Barton Malow’s largest Michigan projects, including the Hudson’s site development, Henry Ford Health’s Destination Grand, the Kalamazoo Event Center and Grand Action 2.0.

Other contributions: In June, as part of the executive leadership team for the American Heart Association Heart Walk, Mitchell helped raise over $325,000 to support cardiac and stroke research. She also serves on the boards of the Detroit Employment Solutions Corp., the East Jefferson Development Corp. and the Randolph Career Tech Center.

Managing member and co-founder, Greatwater Opportunity Capital

Scope of work: Matthew Temkin moved to Detroit in 2014 to create affordable housing in the city. At Greatwater, he is responsible for acquisitions and leading the push into the business of homebuilding. Temkin has acquired more than 2,000 apartment units and numerous vacant land parcels in Detroit. He also advocated for Opportunity Zone legislation.

Biggest professional win: In the past ve years, Temkin negotiated for and acquired a multifamily complex, then successfully listed Greatwater’s rst homes for sale.

Other contributions: Temkin supports the East Village Association and is a member and supporter of the Commercial Board of Realtors, International Council of Shopping Centers and Food Allergy Research & Education.

Marvin Petrous

Principal and real estate specialist, retail division, Signature Associates

Scope of work: Marvin Petrous specializes in tenant and landlord representation and focuses on nding properties, national and local retailers, developers and investors for projects throughout Michigan.

Biggest professional win: He was promoted to principal in 2023 after making the most retail sales in the company, which resulted in its highest year-over-year percentage increases. “I have dealt with many real estate brokers and specialists in my 50 years of practice,” said James Hiller, an attorney and Signature Associates client. “Marvin is unique, (as) is his diligence and forthright nature.”

Other contributions: Petrous is a member of the Commercial Board of Realtors, International Council of Shopping Centers and Food Allergy Research & Education.

Director of retail operations, Redico

Scope of work: Sean Valentino leads retail operations and leasing initiatives for Redico and is responsible for general operations as well as partner, broker and tenant relationships. He manages over 5 million square feet of leasable space with at least 95% occupancy.

Biggest professional win: Valentino’s team redeveloped the dilapidated Bloom eld Park Development on Telegraph Road in Bloom eld Hills and transformed it into the mixeduse Village at Bloom eld. The space, which is anchored by a Henry Ford medical center, has national retailers like Menards and Aldi, along with Hampton Inn & Suites.

Other contributions: Valentino represents Redico as a member of International Council of Shopping Centers Continuing Education Michigan programming.

Emmie Sheffer

Partner and director of asset management, Sheffer Capital

Scope of work: Emmie Sheffer oversees asset management operations, coordination of contractor bids, property management, selecting and ordering of materials, generating the company’s weekly newsletter and creating offering memorandums used to raise millions of dollars in investment capital.

Biggest professional win: Sheffer Capital purchased the Hollyvillage property in Holly for $975,000. After Sheffer oversaw renovations and leasing, the property sold for $1.6 million. She also managed renovations and leasing for Pinehurst Apartments and Harvard Lofts, and both sold for a signi cant pro t. Harvard Lofts, built in 1955, was the second-highest price-per-unit sale in Royal Oak in 2023.

Other contributions: A former Michigan Amateur champion golfer, Sheffer has mentored and supported girls on the Brighton High School golf team.

President, J.S. Vig Construction

Scope of work: Valerie Vig is responsible for all construction and nancial planning operations for J.S. Vig. In addition to a wide-ranging project at Detroit Catholic Central High School, Vig has completed several projects for the University of Michigan.

Biggest professional win: Vig’s extensive work for Detroit Catholic Central High School includes 57,000 square feet of learning space, engineering, science, innovation and conceptualization labs, robotics programming and building zones, a FIRST Robotics competition eld, a greenhouse, a lecture hall, a fabrication and machinery room, an ObservaDome with a telescope and a ight simulator.

Other contributions: Vig recently won the Waters Woman in Construction Award from the Washtenaw Contractors Association, which honored her as a trailblazer in the construction sector.

NOTE WORTHY

20.5%

The amount Detroit of ce vacancy rates rose to in rst-quarter 2024, the highest in 10 years, while industrial vacancy rates rose to 3.4%, according to a Cushman & Wake eld report.

Scope of work: Brett Yuhasz’s responsibilities include master planning, design and engineering, and pre-construction planning to project completion for single-family and multifamily properties.

Biggest professional win: In less than three years, Yuhasz has overseen the construction of over 1,000 residential and hospitality units. His work has contributed to Hunter Pasteur’s development of projects such as the Godfrey Hotel, Perennial Corktown and Apex. He was previously a project manager and director at Bedrock Detroit, where he completed more than 50 development projects of over 1.6 million square feet. They included structural rehabilitations, historical restorations and hospitality projects like the Shinola Hotel.

Other contributions: Yuhasz is a member of the Urban Land Institute of Michigan.

Ryan Talbot

Matthew Temkin

Sean Valentino

Valerie Vig

Brett Yuhasz Partner and vice president of construction, Hunter Pasteur

MICHIGAN MANUFACTURERS CRAIN’S LIST

Company City, zip Phone; website

FORD MOTOR CO.

1

2

Dearborn48126 313-322-3000;ford.com

GENERAL MOTORS CO. Detroit48265 313-667-1500;gm.com

3

4

STELLANTIS (FORMERLY FCA US LLC) Auburn Hills48326 248-576-5741;stellantis.com

INTERNATIONAL OF AMERICAINC. Troy48098 248-631-1100;magna.com

5 STRYKER CORP. Portage49002 269-385-2600;stryker.com

6 APTIV PLC Troy48098 248-813-2000;aptiv.com

7 WHIRLPOOL CORP. Benton Harbor49022 269-923-5000;whirlpoolcorp.com

8 ADIENT Plymouth48170 734-254-5000;adient.com

Auburn Hills48326 248-754-9200;borgwarner.com

JamesFarleyJr.

MaryBarra chairman and CEO

Flat Rock, Wayne, Woodhaven, Romeo, Sterling Heights, Livonia, Ypsilanti

Bay City, Brownstown Township, Detroit/ Hamtramck, Flint (3), Grand Rapids, Lansing (2), Milford, Lake Orion, Pontiac, Romulus, Saginaw, Swartz Creek, Warren, Ypsilanti, Wixom

Sterling Heights, Trenton, Warren, DundeeAutomobile

DANAINC. Novi48377 419-887-3000;dana.com JamesKamsickas chairman and CEO; TimothyKraus,CFO

Ada49355 616-787-1000;amwayglobal.com MilindPant,CEO; SteveVan Andel and DougDeVos,co-chairs

INDUSTRIESINC. Grand Rapids49525 616-364-6161;ufpi.com

Northville48168 734-453-5551;aisinworld.com

LapeerManufactures products for the home improvement and new-home construction markets

health and wellbeing company

586-825-4000;gdls.com

e. Crain'sestimate. 1. NorthAmericanrevenue.The2023revenueisbasedonDec.31,2023,eurotodollarsrateof1.1038. 2. NorthAmericanrevenue.The2022revenueisbasedonDec.31,2022,euro todollarsrateof1.0726. 3. AsofJuly2023. 4. The2023revenue guresrepresentNAFTAsalesofContinentalAG,basedonaDec.31,2023,eurotodollarsrateof1.1038. 5. The2022revenue gures represent NAFTA sales of Continental AG, based on a Dec. 31, 2022, euro to dollars rate of 1.0726 . 6. Automotive News.

OEM PARTS SUPPLIERS CRAIN’S LIST

Company City, zip Phone; website

1 LEARCORP. South eld48033 248-447-1500; lear.com RaymondScottJr. president, CEO and director

2

MAGNA INTERNATIONAL OF AMERICAINC. Troy48098 248-631-1100; magna.com

3 ADIENT Plymouth48170 734-254-5000; adient.com

4 BORGWARNER INC. Auburn Hills48326 248-754-9200; borgwarner.com

5 ZF NORTH AMERICA Northville48168 734-855-2600; zf.com

6

DENSO INTERNATIONAL AMERICAINC. South eld48033 248-350-7500; denso.com/us-ca/en

7 DANAINC. Novi48377 419-887-3000; dana.com

8 ROBERT BOSCHLLC Farmington Hills48331 248-876-1000; boschusa.com

9 CONTINENTAL AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS U.S.INC.

Auburn Hills48326 248-393-5300; continental-corporation.com/en-us

SwamyKotagiri CEO

JeromeDorlack president and CEO

FredericLissalde president, CEO and director

RamiroGutierrez president of ZF North America

SeijiMaeda CEO, North America

JamesKamsickas chairman and CEO; TimothyKraus,CFO

MikeMansuetti president of Bosch in North America

and electrical

$20,722.0 $18,911.0 9.6%Product capabilities which include body, chassis, exterior, seating, powertrain, active driver assistance, electronics, mirrors and lighting, mechatronics and roof systems. Also has electronic and software capabilities across many of these areas

$15,395.0

$14,198.0 1 $14,516.0 -2.2%Integrated drive modules, battery packs, charging stations, power electronics, 14 inverters, electric motors

$13,100.0 $12,500.0 4.8%Electronics and advanced driver-assistance systems, car chassis technology, electri ed powertrain, active safety, passive safety and commercial vehicle systems

$11,700.0 $11,300.0

3.5%Powertrain and electri cation systems, electronics systems, thermal systems and information and safety systems

$10,555.0 1 $10,156.0 3.9%Axles, drive shafts, thermal, sealing, e-axles, e-transmissions, motors, inverters, e-thermal, and fuel cell cooling for traditional and alternativeenergy vehicles

$9,613.0 1 $8,830.0 1

ArunaAnand CEO $7,761.0

technology and powertrain peripherals for internal-combustion engines, solutions for powertrain electri cation, vehicle safety systems, driver-assistance and automated functions, technology for infotainment, vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, repairshop concepts and technology and services for the automotive aftermarket

AISIN WORLD CORP. OF AMERICA Northville48168 734-453-5551; aisinworld.com

APTIV PLC Troy48098 248-813-2000; aptiv.com

AMERICAN AXLE AND MANUFACTURING HOLDINGS INC. Detroit48211 313-758-2000; aam.com

HYUNDAI MOBIS (FORMERLY MOBIS NORTH AMERICA) Farmington Hills48335 248-426-5577; mobis.co.kr

YAZAKI NORTH AMERICAINC. Canton Township48187 734-983-1000; yazaki-na.com

Auburn Hills48326 248-340-8200; nexteer.com

18 VISTEON CORP. Van Buren48111 734-627-7384; visteon.com

Auburn Hills48326 248-296-8000; ti uidsystems.com

RobinMilavec president

SachinLawande president and CEO

$3,954.0

ResearchedbySonyaD.Hill:shill@crain.com|ThislistofautomotivesuppliersisanapproximatecompilationforcompaniesbasedinDetroitanddivisionsofU.S.-basedcompaniesinDetroit, gureisfor worldwideOEMsales.Fordivisionsofforeign-ownedcompanies, gureisforNorthAmericanOEMsales.Itisnotacompletelistingbutthemostcomprehensiveavailable.Crain'sestimatesarebased onindustryanalysesandbenchmarks,newsreportsandawiderangeofothersources.Unlessotherwisenoted,informationwasprovidedbythecompanies.NA=notavailable. 1. AutomotiveNews. 2. Automotive News estimate.

New Michigan law takes some powers away from HOAs

By David Eggert

LANSING — Michigan homeowners could install solar panels, clotheslines and make other energy-saving improvements regardless of bans set by homeowners associations under a law that will take e ect in 2025.

Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed House Bill 5028 on July 8. It was sponsored by Rep. Ranjeev Puri, D-Canton, and was narrowly passed by the Democratic-led Legislature along party lines.

“Simply put, Michigan homeowners shouldn’t face arti cial barriers to lowering their energy consumption, saving more of their hard-earned money and helping to keep Michigan’s environment healthy,” Puri said in a statement.

Senate Republicans did not support giving the legislation immediate e ect, which means the law will be e ective in roughly eight months instead of three, assuming

lawmakers adjourn in December. e Homeowners’ Energy Policy Act is designed to address what supporters, including environmentalists, local governments and

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

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

ACCOUNTING

Plante Moran

ENGINEERING / DESIGN

Spalding DeDecker

advanced-energy companies, say are overly restrictive homeowners association agreements. Some 1.4 million people live in a subdivision with a homeowners association.

Starting in March, association provisions will be invalid and unenforceable if they prohibit or require approval of the replacement, maintainance, installation or operation of energy-saving improvements or modi cations. ose will be de ned as clotheslines, heat pumps, insulation, rain barrels, re ective roo ng, energy-e cient appliances, solar water heaters, EV supply equipment, energy-ecient windows and energy-ecient insulation materials.

Associations generally will be unable to bar solar systems and will be required to adopt a policy

statement on solar energy that aligns with the law. ey will be able to deny applications in certain circumstances, such as a rooftop system extending over the roof by more than 6 inches, not conforming to the roof’s slope or having a frame, support bracket or visible wiring that is not silver, bronze or black. ey will be authorized to block a system in a fenced yard or patio if it is taller than the fence line.

e Community Association Institute’s Michigan chapter, which represents 8,500 community associations statewide, opposed the bill. A representative testi ed that it would infringe on the HOA model of self-governance and freedom of contract. One Republican gave a oor speech saying it is too broadly written.

Foster Swift Collins & Smith, PC

Kellie Becker assumed leadership of Plante Moran’s manufacturing and distribution (M&D) practice on July 1, 2024, where she’ll lead a team serving more than 3,000 clients in several sectors, including automotive and mobility, food and beverage, plastics, metals, transportation, and logistics. Becker assumed this role from Brian Wiedenhoeft, who joined the rm’s management team. Previously, Becker was the group tax leader for international specialty practices and M&D.

EDUCATION

Lawrence Technological University

Patrick Nelson, a nationally recognized scholar and educator, has been named the dean of the Lawrence Technological University College of Arts and Sciences in South eld. Nelson has served as chair of LTU’s Department of Mathematics and Computer Science within the College of Arts and Sciences since 2016, and had been the college’s acting dean since January 2023. Prior to that, Nelson was CoAS associate dean for research. He joined the LTU faculty in 2010 as a professor of mathematics.

Spalding DeDecker has hired Kate Bond, PLA as a Senior Project Manager in their Detroit of ce. Ms. Bond brings more than 26 years of expertise and is recognized for her extensive land development, entitlement, and site planning expertise. She has a proven track record of managing projects ranging from 2 to 200 acres. Kate holds a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from Ball State University, a Master of Landscape Architecture, and a Master of Urban Planning from the University of Michigan.

HEALTHCARE

MSU Health Care

Ceirra Hoch, previously the Director of Projects, assumed the position of Senior Director of Business Development at MSU Health Care. Under Hoch’s leadership, MSU Health Care has witnessed remarkable expansion and diversi cation of services, positioning the organization as a leading provider of comprehensive health care solutions in Michigan. In her new role, Hoch will continue to spearhead initiatives to foster innovation, drive growth, and expand our reach within the community.

Foster Swift welcomes attorney Matthew C. Murray to the rm’s South eld of ce, joining the litigation practice group where he represents and advocates for clients in the areas of: Premises liability, No-Fault, Administrative Law, Appellate Law. Having interned with the State of Michigan Governor’s Of ce of Urban and Metropolitan Initiatives, this experience pivoted his career towards the legal eld, feeling his skills would be best suited to support those affected by system injustices.

NONPROFITS

Hudson-Webber Foundation

State rescinds tax break for Escanaba paper mill

By David Eggert

LANSING — Michigan’s economic development board on July 9 moved to rescind a $29 million tax break that was to help subsidize the $1 billion-plus transformation of an Upper Peninsula paper mill, after Billerud U.S. Production Holding LLC canceled the project that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and lawmakers authorized to receive a $200 million grant.

the classi cation in January 2023, the same month the Democratic-led Legislature and Whitmer enacted a supplemental budget bill that included a $200 million cash subsidy for Billerud. Some Republicans also voted for the legislation.

State o cials feared the company could make the investment in Wisconsin without the economic development package. Whitmer and others praised the project at the time. Billerud was given more time to make the investment last September, but it ultimately changed course.

The Hudson-Webber Foundation is pleased to announce that Michael Shaw has been named Vice President of Programs. Shaw will work closely with President & CEO Donald Rencher to craft a comprehensive strategy to determine grant recipients. Shaw previously served as the Foundation’s program director. Prior to joining the Hudson-Webber Foundation, Shaw was the program of cer for human services at the Kresge Foundation. For more information about the HudsonWebber Foundation visit hudson-webber.org.

e company, a subsidiary of a Billerud AB in Sweden, announced in May that it will not convert the Escanaba plant from paper to cartonboard production and will continue to serve the North American market with cartonboard made at its European mills.

“During the process, conditions have changed and the cost of equipment and services necessary to transform the operations have greatly increased. Instead, we will pursue a higher returning and more moderate investment strategy for our North American mills going forward,” Billerud President and CEO Ivar Vatne said in a statement.

In December 2022, the Michigan Strategic Fund Board recommended a 15-year Renaissance Zone designation worth $29.4 million, with the expectation that the business would retain a minimum of 1,240 jobs and invest approximately $1 billion. e State Administrative Board approved

e MSF Board on July 9 recommended that the State Administrative Board rescind the Renaissance Zone, and it voted to terminate a development agreement that governs the designation’s terms and conditions. e State Administrative Board is expected to follow suit as soon as this week.

Billerud was to not get any of the $200 million grant until certifying that it would spend $1.06 billion on the Escanaba mill conversion and employ no fewer than the number of employees there as of October 2022 for the next 10 years. A Michigan Economic Development Corp. said none of the $200 million was paid out to the company.

e $200 million will go back to the general fund, with legislators and the governor to decide how to use it.

LEGAL

Rep. Ranjeev Puri, D-Canton, sponsored a new law that will let homeowners who live in homeowners associations install solar panels. DALE G. YOUNG

Billerud’s Escanaba paper mill. | BILLERUD

She wrote the quick read in collaboration with Lisa Dickey, who has collaborated on books with rst lady Jill Biden, the late actor Patrick Swayze, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and prominent lawyer Roberta Kaplan. Instead of being structured as a traditional autobiography or a deep policy discussion, the book is built around “life lesson”-style advice. It has 10 chapters, each o ering a di erent recommendation Whitmer has to used to “stay positive and to stay focused,” she said at the Mackinac Policy Conference in late May. “ ere’s a lot of self-deprecating humor. So at least maybe you’ll get a laugh at my expense.”

Her motto, according to the book? Get shit done. Her favorite TV character? Ted Lasso. Her recommendations for others? Own your screwups, forgive others theirs. Be kind. Do not burn bridges. Be a happy warrior. Always have a pen and paper to take notes.

In the book, she recounts her handling of a polar vortex emergency, the pandemic, ooding in Midland, the George Floyd protests and the Oxford school shooting. She recalls how her parents divorced when she was young. She touches on some policy wins, like abortion rights, but mostly sticks to outlining the principles and instincts that have guided her.

Whitmer, 52, began a book tour July 8 with stops in Meridian Township near Lansing, Ann Arbor and Oak Park. She also plans to visit Seattle; Santa Monica, California; Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts; Washington, D.C.; as well as Chelsea; East Lansing; Traverse City; and Detroit in her home state.

Here are some takeaways: Bullies

Whitmer devotes a chapter to “bullies,” including boys who poked fun at what she calls her

made it my own. at’s the secret to dealing with bullies: You take their weapon and make it your shield,” she writes.

Rape

Whitmer recounts one of her proudest moments in politics, when she signed a bill in December to repeal a law that prohibited insurance coverage of an elective abortion unless an optional rider was purchased, even in a case of rape. As the Senate minority leader a decade earlier, she had tried to block majority Republicans’ passage of the law by breaking from her prepared oor remarks and, in an impromptu move, publicly disclosing that she had been raped in college.

She had only revealed the rape to a handful of partners at that point, including her rst husband and her current husband. She says she called her father to tell him so he would not have to hear it from news coverage and also told her then 11- and 10-year-old daughters.

“For a long time, I wanted to ignore the terrible event that happened to me in college. But now I recognize that it also helped to make me who I am, a woman who’s willing to ght and not inclined to give up. I’ll always be grateful that I could use that bad experience for good.”

‘Damn roads’

Whitmer says the origin of her 2018 gubernatorial campaign slogan — x the damn roads — maybe stems from her mishearing the woman who inspired it.

During a stop at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit, she approached and made small talk with a young patient named Cory who had had spinal surgery. She asked his mother, Bridget Bonds, what she could do as as governor to make her life better.

Bonds said, “I just need you to x the damn roads.” When Whitmer asked why that was the rst thing on her mind, Bonds said she lived in Flint and had hit a pothole on the drive to Detroit, busting a rim and sidelining her for a whole day.

“I took (President Trump’s) insult, ipped it, and made it my own. That’s the secret to dealing with buillies: You take their weapon and make it your shield.”

Gretchen Whitmer

“kind of busty” gure when she was in fth grade to President Donald Trump, who referred to her as “the woman in Michigan” after she criticized the federal government’s response to COVID. She said she and her team embraced the “that woman from Michigan” insult, turning it from a liability into an advantage. When Trump referred to her as “‘Half’ Whitmer,” “half-Whit” ended up on the cover of the family cookbook. She and her sister call their kids half-Whits since they are half-Whitmers.

“I took his insult, ipped it, and

her angry mother grounded her for a month.

A “not particularly disciplined student,” Whitmer began trying to get her act together as a junior and got the most improved student award before getting accepted to Michigan State University. She said it was not until law school, when she was surrounded by ambitious and smart peers, that she realized she wanted to make a mark, too.

She ran for a Lansing-area House seat in 2000, two years after graduating with a law degree and after she had done political internships in college. She was working at law rm Dickinson Wright, a “plum job” for a new lawyer, but says she had grown discontented — sitting in a law library writing briefs “with little interaction with the outside world.” When a politically connected friend encouraged her to run for an open seat, her parents encouraged her to do it. ey got involved in her campaign.

She discovered that meeting and talking with people, “even for hours on end, gave me energy.”

She credits the late Frank Kelley, the former longtime state attorney general — who was good friends with her mom, an assistant attorney general, and her dad — with recording a campaign ad for her. She won the primary by 281 votes.

Gravity Gretch

People have given Whitmer a lot of nicknames — good and bad.

Stretchin’ Gretchen. Fetchin’ Gretchen. Big Gretch (courtesy of Detroit rapper Gmac Cash, who liked her handling of the coronavirus outbreak). Half-Whit.

there. She called and said he had to leave, which he did very quickly.

Whitmer says her daughters, Sherry and Sydney, got scared and have never gone back to the house.

“Nearly three years down the road, there’s no doubt that the apparent kidnapping and murder plot changed me. I’ve always loved meeting people and mingling in big groups. But now, when I walk into a party or event, I nd myself scanning the room. I look for anything that seems o and take note of where the doors are. It’s not that I live in fear, but there’s a heightened awareness now that I didn’t have before. Not just as a governor, but as a person. As a mom, and as a wife.”

Mallory, a dentist, had to close his practice due to threats. “He lost his job, and his patients lost their trusted dentist.”

When the rst trial went to jurors, Whitmer was at Opening Day in Comerica Park. In a small o ce in the stadium, she and her chief of sta JoAnne Huls listened on speakerphone as her legal counsel Mark Totten read the verdicts. e jury acquitted two men and hung on two others.

Whitmer was “gutted” and felt “depressed nearly to the brink of despair.” She asked to meet with one of the handful of men who had pleaded guilty. She says the time is not right given various appeals, but she looks forward to one day asking questions and hearing answers “to take some small step toward understanding.”

Later, Whitmer says the response to COVID “wasn’t perfect, but I believe that the steps we took saved lives.”

Biggest ub

Whitmer started using the phrase in speeches and ultimately ran on it. Bonds, she wrote, spoke at her inauguration and is a “committed Christian lady” who “swears that she didn’t say the word ‘damn’ when we spoke that day at the hospital. She may be right, and it’s admittedly kind of funny if my story about listening involves mishearing someone.”

Partyer

Whitmer was a partyer in high school, once drinking so much at a football game as a sophomore that she passed out in the parking lot, she says. She threw up on the principal, who found her between two parked cars. He suspended her from Forest Hills Central High for three days, and

Gravity Gretchen comes from her dad, former Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan CEO Richard Whitmer, because she was a klutzy child. As Whitmer recounts it in her book, once, at a summer church camp in West Virginia, she lost her two front teeth when a girl pushed her into cement during a game of tag. In her first year as governor, she attended some high school friends’ tailgate in Ann Arbor and slipped and fell on ice in front of everyone as she exited her official SUV — her security detail unable to catch her.

“So, I never try to take anything personally, and never take myself too seriously. I mean, with a nickname like Gravity Gretchen, how could I?”

Plot

Whitmer goes into detail about extremists’ 2020 plot to kidnap her over her pandemic restrictions. Nine men were convicted, and ve were cleared.

She says she learned of the scheme early that summer from the head of her security detail, who told her the FBI had an informant embedded in the group and she and her family were safe. at August, she says, she learned the plotters were doing reconnaissance on the cottage she and her husband, Marc Mallory, owned in Elk Rapids. He happened to be

limit on the number of people at a restaurant table when she gathered with friends at an East Lansing bar. While noting the mistake, she reminds readers that Newsom — a potential 2028 presidential rival — apologized after visiting a Napa Valley restaurant during the pandemic.

“We are all human. And we do all fall short sometimes.”

Mom

Whitmer’s mother, Sherry, died more than 20 years ago, at age 59 from brain cancer. Whitmer says that time brought some of the hardest moments of her life. She had the primary role of caring for her mom while also taking care of her rst daughter and serving as a rst-term legislator.

“I’m grateful to her for so many things — for raising my brother and sister and me to become the adults we are today. For leading by example, as a strong woman who took no crap and changed for no one. And for helping me to see, through both words and example, what really matters in life. I miss her every single day.”

What’s next

Whitmer closes by saying there is no place she would rather be, right now, than the governor’s ofce ghting for things like justice, the right to live in dignity and peace, and “our freedom to control what happens to our own bodies.” She has 2 1/2 years left and cannot run for governor again because of term limits.

Whitmer touches on what she calls one of her biggest ubs, an “own goal” as she describes it.

In May 2021, she apologized for ignoring her administration’s

She makes no mention of running for another o ce but notes her love for former President eodore Roosevelt’s “man in the arena” speech. His words were written over 100 years ago but remain true, she writes, except for two things.  “ e ‘man’ may be a woman. And she may just be wearing fuchsia.”

Charles is the highest ranked Fee-Only Advisor on Forbes’ list of America’s Top Wealth Advisors**

Minimum Investment Requirement: $1,000,000 in Michigan $2,000,000 outside of Michigan.

Assets under custody of LPL Financial and Charles Schwab.

*As reported in Barron’s March 11, 2023. Rankings based on assets under management, revenue generated for the advisors’ rms, quality of practices, and other factors.

**As reported in Forbes April 4, 2023. e rankings, developed by Shook Research, are based on in-person and telephone due diligence meetings and a ranking algorithm for advisors who have a minimum of seven years of experience. Other factors include client retention, industry experience, compliance records, rm nominations, assets under management, revenue generated for their rms, and other factors. See zhang nancial.com/disclosure for full ranking criteria.

DISTILLERY

From Page 3

“ e challenge was nding a facility with manufacturing capabilities. We didn’t want heavy-duty manufacturing because not many people would want to drink bourbon there. We’ve got the Big Beaver corridor, Oakland Mall, I-75. It’s a really good spot.”

e distillery location includes a tasting room and private event space. It has seating for 120 and a sta of about 20. It will also o er weekend tours of the production facility and experiential whiskey tasting.

Shankar, whose passion is crafting whiskey and bourbon, will also make vodka and gin on-site. Tequila will be own in from Jalisco, Mexico, by way of an undisclosed plant in which Shankar has purchased a stake. Empty bourbon barrels will be shipped to Mexico to help age the tequila.

A menu of cocktails will be offered and bottles of the Shankar spirits will be available for purchase, too. Each bottle is designed with a double-headed eagle label and an American eagle top that symbolizes Shankar’s Indian heritage combined with his success in America.

e ingredients for the Varchas libations come from local farms.

e corn comes from Atwater Farms in Ubly in Michigan’s umb area. Barley is produced by Great Lakes Malting Co. in Traverse City. Rye comes from Canada, but Shankar is working with Michigan farmers to grow a special strain of rye that will start the distillation process next year.

“ e strain of rye must be right. Most of our bourbons have a higher level of rye than what you normally get in Kentucky or Tennessee,” Shankar said. “We did a lot of (research and development). We worked with some professors at MSU to identify some characteristics we want.”

e July 12 grand opening of the distillery followed the establishment of Varchas Straight Bourbon Whiskey in 2020, though Varchas began contract distilling in 2017. e line includes a couple of whiskeys named gold medal winners at the 2024 San Fran-

cisco World Spirits Competition in April: Varchas Straight Bourbon Whiskey and Varchas Reserve 102 Straight Bourbon Whiskey. Shankar so far has invested more than $6 million into the business. He said he may devote another $2 million to marketing and sales. He’s invested about $500,000 into the Mexican tequila facility, with that gure hitting $1.5 million-$2 million before he’s done.

Shankar projects the Troy distillery to bring in $2 million-$3 million in revenue in its rst full year, then see annual revenues of $15 million-$18 million in the next ve years and about $50 million in 10 years.

“I’ve been living in Michigan for 30 years. I want to create jobs, help the local economy,” Shankar said. “ is market has helped my software company for years. e people of Michigan have made a big di erence in building up both of these companies.”

e entrepreneur launches his new venture as spirits consumption reaches new heights.

Spirits revenue in the U.S. grew 0.2% in 2023 to $37.7 billion, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. Despite the modest growth, the spirits industry outpaced beer and wine sales by 0.4% and 26.1%, respectively, the council reported.

Shankar has tapped Kylash Sivakumar as master distiller. Sivakumar holds a degree in chemical engineering from Michigan State University and previously served as head distiller and chemical engineer of Red Cedar Spirits in East Lansing.

All of the equipment for the distillery is custom designed and custom built. e equipment fea-

tures open API programming that allows ownership to study data.

“It’s a lot of work to get the right avor,” Shankar said. “It can be a lot more accurate, more readable. We’re also writing our own software to help put out a better product.” Sivakumar in an email to Crain’s said he’ll use his MSU education to help produce top-notch spirits.

“Our VP of Operations Scott Blaine, Director of Marketing Ray Drzala and I were all trained at Michigan State University in various disciplines including computer science, biology and chemical engineering,” Sivakumar said. “Michigan corn, barley and rye grains, Great Lakes water and all this Spartan know-how combine to create the superior bourbons and whiskeys from Varchas Premium Spirits. When you add in all the state-of-the-art technology found in our distillery, it is not a surprise that we keep winning the big industry awards.”

Shankar believes the distillery will become a hot destination for bourbon a cionados.

“I’m very excited. at’s the beauty of it. I have a passion for this. I’m all in on it,” Shankar said. “I enjoy when the customers come in and try what we have. You see their face and they say how great it is. ey’re going to walk into what’s basically a speakeasy in the heart of Troy. We’ve got some phenomenal employees who are working hard. It’s been a long journey. I’m here to leave a legacy behind. I’m all about that. My software company has done well. Now I want to see how the distillery company will do.” Shankar Distillers is open Wednesday-Sunday. Tours will be o ered Friday-Sunday.

Tech entrepreneur Varchas Shankar is putting more than $8 million into Shankar Distillers. | PHOTOS BY KARL BAKER

The distilling equipment is all custom made.

“ e concentration of active loans just below 7% has more to do with borrower psychology than concrete savings,” Walden said in a statement.

“ ere’s clearly something appealing in today’s market for a homeowner to see a 6-handle in front of their mortgage rate. From a rate/term re nance lending perspective, this group is worth watching as they represent a potential tipping point for a return to more meaningful, albeit historically modest, re volumes.”

Beyond a potential uptick in renance activity, the monthly ICE report also hones in on the notion that mortgage loans are performing quite well. e delinquency rate — loans 90 or more days past due — is at its lowest level in nearly 20 years, while foreclosure starts are at the lowest level since January of 2022.

Mortgage lenders including Rocket Companies Inc. (NYSE: RKT) and United Wholesale Mortgage Corp. (NYSE: UWMC), both based in metro Detroit, have been eagerly awaiting a meaningful drop in interest rates for a year and more, as Crain’s has previously reported.

GILBERT

From Page 1

e RenCen consists of seven buildings: e main GM-owned complex, which has four 39-story o ce towers anking a 73-story hotel skyscraper that is the state’s tallest building at 727 feet; and a pair of 21-story o ce high-rises that were developed in the 1980s and are not owned by GM.

In addition to the four towers surrounding the Marriott tower, the put and call agreement also involves the purchase of nearly 20 acres of surface parking Gilbert has long eyed for development immediately east of the RenCen, plus land that includes the Detroit Riverwalk fronting the complex, according to the public notice.

It is signed by both Bedrock CEO Ko Bonner and Debra Homic Hoge, GM’s global real estate director.

An email was sent last week to spokespeople for Bedrock seeking an interview or comment. A spokesperson for GM declined comment.

Just because the option has been crafted doesn’t mean that a sale will happen.

In general, under a put and call agreement, there are two components: the “put” option, where the seller — in this case, GM, through Riverfront Holdings — can make the buyer — Bedrock, through its Resurgence Realty — purchase the properties spelled out in the document; and the call option, where Bedrock can make GM sell the properties.

If Bedrock’s option lapses, GM can require Bedrock to buy it, or the agreement can lapse entirely with no sale taking place. ere is sometimes a hard-money deposit by the prospective buyer that goes to the seller if a deal doesn’t take place, but whether there is one in this instance is not known. e notice says the agreement is valid until the property is

As mortgage rates have steadily increased from the pandemic-era lows in the 3% range over the last three years, the re nance market

sold, or the agreement is terminated.

Barry Swatsenbarg, an executive vice president in the Royal Oak o ce of the Colliers International Inc. brokerage house, said option agreements like the Bedrock/GM one can take a lot of different forms. For example, a tenant could negotiate an option to buy a building it occupies if it expands to a certain size.

“When you get to larger deals, I think actual put-call options probably get more common and, quite frankly, the Midwest doesn’t see $100 million-plus deals often. You see it in more major markets,” Swatsenbarg said.

“You have two big entities in that deal, with Bedrock trying to buy and GM trying to sell. ey both want to protect their rights with an option contract of this size,” Swatsenbarg said.  is is at least the second time Gilbert and GM have been involved in conversations about the billionaire mortgage and real estate mogul purchasing the iconic but struggling o ce, hotel and retail complex built in the 1970s and 1980s on the Detroit River.   ere had also been discussions in 2018, but a deal was never forged. Sources at the time told Crain’s that those talks did not advance far because the complex required substantial upgrades, including major overhaul of the HVAC system.

In April, when the GM/Hudson’s Detroit deal was announced, CEO Mary Barra, in response to reporters’ questions about potentially selling the RenCen, said the automaker is “working to decide what the right outcome is for the building.”

“We are embarking on taking the next year to work together with the mayor, Wayne County and Bedrock to imagine what it can be,” Barra said in April.

Construction of the complex was announced in 1971, as the city was still reeling from the July 1967

has all but dried up.

In 2023, re nance originations made up about 19% of the overall U.S. mortgage market, according to the latest Mortgage Finance Forecast report from the Mortgage Bankers Association trade group. at gure is forecast to grow to 23% of the market this year and 28% in 2025 and 2026, according to the MBA.   e timing for rates to begin to fall is unknown. As of last month, the average mortgage rate stood at about 6.8%, the lowest level in three months.

uprising that resulted in 43 dead, thousands of arrests and hundreds of buildings destroyed.

Built on a gigantic swath of Detroit riverfront land, it is essentially cut o from the rest of downtown by a 10-lane boulevard and surrounded by little else comparable on that side of Je erson Avenue.

GM says it has pumped $1 billion into improving the RenCen and the Detroit RiverWalk over the years since it took ownership in the mid-1990s with its $73 million

acquisition. Although the improvements, including the wildly popular RiverWalk, have changed that to an extent, the location still has taken its toll.

e automaker’s pending departure in 2025 will serve as another blow to the towers, which have experienced occupancy challenges for years — a problem exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic that sent millions of ofce workers home and has caused upheaval in the o ce market with

While the U.S. Federal Reserve has been reluctant to cut its benchmark interest rate as in ation has remained above the 2% target, UWM CEO Mat Ishbia said he expects a rate cut in the coming months, which would likely lead to mortgage rates coming down.  “So what are you doing to get prepared?” Ishbia said in a May video posted to his company’s YouTube page, largely speaking to independent mortgage brokers. “Follow up with your past clients and start getting ready because when rates drop, that opportunity is there. When the Fed cuts rates, it’s a massive, massive marketing piece out to the whole country.” For its part, Rocket has long been known for its re nancing volume during periods of lower interest rates, and certainly a return of some re nance business would be welcomed. However, growing the company’s share of purchase volume, or loans for purchasing a home as opposed to renancing, “is a strategic focus area for the company more than it’s ever been in the past,” Rocket Companies CEO Varun Krishna said during a May earnings call.

ripple e ects still being felt today.

In April, Bedrock and GM said they would embark on a roughly year-long process to determine the RenCen’s fate. It could be repurposed with other uses, or some of the buildings — or all of them — could be demolished.

Others at the table for those discussions include representatives from the city and county, which had been approached about potentially relocating its employees into a portion of the complex.

Some 4 million home loans originated since 2022 have an interest rate of 6.5% or higher. | DALE G. YOUNG

Acrisure’s new CFO could foreshadow impending IPO

By Rachel Watson

Global insurance brokerage and ntech company Acrisure LLC has recruited a new chief nancial ofcer as the growing rm explores going public.

Grand Rapids-based Acrisure said in a statement July 8 it hired Aaron Miller as its new CFO, e ective Sept. 1. Miller will report to Acrisure Chair and CEO Greg Williams. He replaces current CFO Jason DeYonker, who will transition to the role of Acrisure’s chief acquisitions o cer and adviser to Williams, according to a statement. DeYonker joined Acrisure in September 2021 as chief acquisitions o cer and president of real estate services, later adding CFO duties in August 2023.

Miller previously was head ofnancial services in the private equities department at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, where he led deal origination and portfolio management within the nancial services sector.

e Abu Dhabi Investment Authority became one of Acrisure’s largest shareholders in May 2022 when one of its subsidiaries led a $725 million equity raise for Acrisure that increased its valuation to $23 billion.

Acrisure described Miller as “a trusted advisor to Fortune 500 CEOs and boards,” citing his 20-plus years of experience in corporate development, strategy and M&A.

Prior to his work at Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Miller was global head of strategy and corporate development for MassMutual.

Miller’s appointment comes as Acrisure continues exploring an initial public o ering that Williams said in May will come “sooner as opposed to later.”

“I’m pleased to welcome Aaron to this important role at a pivotal time for the company,“ Williams said in a statement. “Aaron understands our mission, purpose and strategy and importantly, knows key leaders around the organization.”

Acrisure declined to grant an interview for this report.

Alexander Calderone, president of the Birmingham-based Calderone Hudson Group, which provides business valuation and turnaround consulting services, said the

move could signal a number of possibilities, including a lack of investor con dence in the current CFO or a shift in Acrisure’s growth strategy.

“Oftentimes, if an equity sponsor is pushing for a CFO replacement, and they provide the candidate, it typically means that they feel more comfortable with the new candidate,” Calderone said.

“It could be that the former candidate just wasn’t getting the job done to their standards, or it could mean that the company is going to undertake a strategy that the new candidate is better suited to lead,” such as a shift from growth by M&A to growth by IPO, he added.

Calderone said it’s not uncommon for companies to hire new CFOs when contemplating a public o ering. at’s because “the skill set for a chief nancial o cer

that builds a business from the ground up is a bit di erent than the skill set necessary to take a company public,” he said.

“When a company goes public, it has to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission and nancial reporting becomes much more onerous,” he said. “Disclosures change very signicantly, and there is a unique skill set that organizations need in order to go public.”

Calderone said if the latter is the case, it makes sense for Acrisure to build investor and public condence in a new hire “well in advance of the IPO.”

Erik Gordon, an assistant professor at University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business specializing in corporate governance, said in an email to Crain’s

Grand Rapids Business that he also believes Acrisure’s choice of new CFO likely points to the company’s plans for an IPO.

“Miller’s background is in dealmaking, so he most likely has been dropped into Acrisure to take it public or nd a buyer,” Gordon said. “He’s not a garden variety CFO.”

Founded in 2005 by Williams and Ricky Norris, Acrisure has been growing rapidly in recent years, more than doubling revenues since 2021 with a valuation that neared $27 billion in late 2023.

Williams has said Acrisure, which reported 2023 revenue of $4.5 billion, is expected to reach $5 billion in revenue by the end of 2024. e company employs about 17,000 people in more than 21 countries.

Miller earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and public policy studies from Duke University and a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School.

Acrisure said Miller will play a critical role in helping the company “deploy and allocate capital effectively to accelerate growth” and prepare Acrisure to meet clients’ needs in the future.

“Acrisure is a one-of-a-kind company that positively impacts the lives of millions of people from both a business and community perspective,” Miller said in a statement. “When I look at Acrisure and its people, I see a team that is motivated by its future, continued expansion and innovation. I’m eager to bring this attitude and longterm thinking to the CFO position and thank Greg and team for the opportunity.”

led its S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the rst step in a months-long process for an IPO.

David Sowerby, a CFA and managing director of Portfolio Manager Image in Bloom eld Hills, said that while back-to-back lings may only be an e ect of the improving market, it could signify more positive impacts for Michigan itself.

“Now we are starting to see a little bit of what we call ‘green shoots,’ with companies deciding to go public, but in the last 20 years ... there have been more companies going out the back door than in the front door with IPOs versus consolidation,” Sowerby said. “Hopefully, this is a sign of Michigan has got more good things going for it; that the tax climate’s more competitive.”

Erik Gordon, a business professor at the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business, said 2024 is likely to see a backlog of companies who have been interested in ling for an initial public o ering for years.

“After about two years of the market being cold to IPOs, the market has warmed up and IPOs can be done and they can be done at

prices companies nd acceptable,”

Gordon said. “If you’ve been waiting to go public, you want to go public now, because if you don’t — if you delay — you might see the window close and you might not be able to get to the public market for another two or three years, which might be too late for you.”

According to a report from LPL Financial, a nancial services rm headquartered in California, 171 companies went public in 2023 compared to 218 in 2022, though 2022 saw higher levels of capital: $24.2 billion in 2022 versus $26.2 billion in capital in 2023.

Both years pale in comparison to the IPO market in 2021, which saw approximately 1,000 companies go to market and around $339 billion in capital was raised. Of those, 121 companies were technology com-

panies — the most since 2000.

While OneStream’s S-1 didn’t contain a valuation of the company, Gordon said it is likely to le several amendments, as the company is also relying on its second quarter numbers to tell its growth story.

“OneStream has a pro le of a company that de nitely can go public, even though they still are making losses. If a company is in an early growth stage, it’s OK if it’s still making losses,” Gordon said. “Some public companies go public, they’re growing their revenues. ey’ve got a growth story, but their losses are growing. eir losses are getting bigger and bigger in order to support the growth. And what they say is, ‘Don’t worry, sometime in the near future, that’ll turn around, and we’ll keep growing revenues, and our losses will

go down.’ OneStream is doing better than that. OneStream is growing its revenues, but its losses are getting smaller.”

When those Q2 numbers are released, it’s important that the company has both decreasing losses and maintains its growth.

OneStream declined to comment on the ling.

e buzz around arti cial intelligence may also be a proponent for companies going public this year. Both Reddit and Astera Labs, which led for initial public o erings in March, infused their IPO stories with AI references, the LPL study stated.

In its S-1 ling, OneStream also describes closely how arti cial intelligence lends itself to the company’s model and services, describing its platform as being “powered by sophisticated applied AI and machine learning technologies.”

It also addresses how several organizations across the industry have “encountered signi cant obstacles” implementing AI in its ofces of the chief nancial o cer, due to concerns surrounding data accuracy, auditability and security.

“I think every company is going to tout its AI use,” Gordon said. “In the dot com boom, everything was an internet company. Everything was dot com. Ten years ago, everything was a cloud company. So

now, if you’re not directly AI, if you’re not OpenAI, or some company that actually is AI, your claim is that you use AI to do what it is that you really do a lot better.”

Other Michigan companies are setting their sights on going public this year.

Lineage, a Novi-based cold storage giant, led for an initial public o ering on June 27, valuing the company at $30 billion. e company initially announced its intention to pursue an IPO in September 2023.

Grand Rapids-based global insurance brokerage and nancial services rm Acrisure LLC will be a publicly traded company “potentially sooner as opposed to later,” co-founder, Chairman and CEO Greg Williams said at the Mackinac Policy Conference.

“It’s nice to see Michigan companies participating in the summer IPO market,” Gordon said. “It’s a step up for the Michigan companies, which is good for Michigan to have bigger, stronger companies. It’s also just encouraging psychologically, that you can build, you can build a company that goes public in Michigan. You don’t have to be somewhere else to build a public company. You can build a public company that’s taken public by the best known name brand investment banks, and you can do it in Birmingham, Michigan.”

The headquarters of Acrisure in downtown Grand Rapids | ROCKFORD CONSTRUCTION

Aaron Miller

“ e work that Johnnie and the entire team here is doing to help create opportunities, pathways for entrepreneurs who haven’t had that in the past is fantastic because it’s exactly the sort of thing that we need to replicate around the country,” Graves said during his visit.

Because of the success of Black Tech Saturdays, the couple is developing a blueprint that makes it easier for cities across the country to develop their own tech communities.

“I think the thing that’s the most exciting is that it’s a really good representation of Detroit. Tech, Detroit, this innovation, we weren’t at the top of (people’s) minds. And now, whether we’re in the city or not, they’re talking about us from the East Coast to the West Coast. We’ve got people trying to get us to 30 di erent cities,” Johnnie Turnage said.

A year of growth

Johnnie and Alexa Turnage are Detroit natives. ey were rst motivated to do more for the Black community by the slaying of George Floyd in 2020. ey co-founded a startup, EvenScore, in 2021, which is a peer-to-peer political campaigning and small-dollar donation platform, to empower more people to get involved in politics.

In 2022, Johnnie met Dug Song, co-founder of Duo Security, which Johnnie described as “the spark” that encouraged the couple to “create the community they felt was missing in Detroit.”

At the rst public Black Tech Saturdays event on April 29, 2023, there were 10 attendees.

More than a year later at an event this June, nearly 500 Detroit area entrepreneurs, social media in uencers and their family members gathered in Newlab at Michigan Central, pulling up chairs around cafe tables, waiting in lines for headshots and nding someone new to connect with.

What began as a weekly meeting quickly grew so large that the group now holds bimonthly events with programming that ranges from panels to small group classes to pitch competitions.

e boom in the organization’s attention comes entirely from social media and word of mouth, Johnnie Turnage said. e group will occasionally hold video competitions, awarding $1,000 to the in uencer or organization that posts the best video from a Black Tech Saturdays event.

About 40% of attendees are rsttime participants, Alexa Turnage said. e record for the largest turnout was set in March 2024, with 1,200 attendees.

“Entrepreneurship already has enough barriers,” Johnnie Turnage said. “We don’t want the cost barrier to prevent people from being able to come to workshops and trainings, because then learning that skill, we believe there’s more of a positive impact to the community. So we never want to charge for that piece.”

Black Tech Saturdays receives funding from the Michigan Central

Center for Mobility and Society, a nonpro t founded by Ford Motor Co. to help program the technology and cultural spaces at the redeveloped train station and neighboring book depository building in Corktown. e nonpro t uses Michigan Strategic Fund dollars to provide catering at the events. Black Tech Saturdays is also backed by the Song Foundation, the Gilbert Family Foundation, the Rocket Community Fund and the Kapor Center in Oakland County.

As the event has grown, Johnnie and Alexa Turnage have expanded the team to include two community ambassadors, a chief of sta and a data administrator. It is also hiring someone to lead Black Tech Satur-

days’ entrepreneurship programs.

How the ‘genius comes out’

Paris Plain credits Black Tech Saturdays to not only getting his startup to Newlab, but aiding in the creation of it. He attended the second public Black Tech Saturday event in May 2023 and by August, he was moving his startup, Ultrium, into Newlab.

“I didn’t really know what it was at the time. I was just like, ‘Oh, this is a cool group of people’ and then it really started taking o ,” Plain said. “I’m just really appreciative of the space Black Tech Saturdays provides for creatives; it’s been super helpful. My company has de -

preneurs and learning more about how entertainment can overlap with technology.

“If I don’t talk to anybody today, I’m already having a great experience,” Rasheed said during the event on June 29. “To see this many like-minded people that look like me in the same place at the same time, it’s amazing already, but I hope to you know, make a few connections and talk to people who have come forward to make something.”

A nationwide impact

e model for Black Tech Saturdays has become so successful that Johnnie and Alexa Turnage are looking to implement the events across the country. In December, Baltimore, which received a federal Tech Hub designation, hosted its rst Black Tech Saturdays event.

nitely thrived and been successful from the foundation. I honestly don’t know if we would have been as successful if it weren’t for Black Tech Saturdays.”

While Black Tech Saturdays is targeted toward “tech-curious” individuals, Johnnie said, it’s important that the group uses its resources to create a community where people can feel supported and empowered to pursue their interests.

“You might not be thinking about starting a tech company, but after you spend a bunch of time around tech founders, you might go, ‘You know what, I have a really good solve for this problem,’ and that’s how we envision it. People get exposed to potential solutions as well as problems, and then your genius comes out,”

Johnnie Turnage said.

At the June 29 event, Black Tech Saturdays hosted a panel discussion on entertainment and technology, moderated by Ebony JJ Curry, editor at the Michigan Chronicle, featuring Randi Rossario, in uencer and founder of Rose Garden Production Company, and Gerard Victor, co-founder of Shot Selection Media.

Rossario has been coordinating with Johnnie and Alexa Turnage for months to be part of a Black Tech Saturdays event, she told Crain’s. As an in uencer and entrepreneur, she spoke on her experience founding her production company and how technology and entertainment can intersect.

“I really hope that we inspire (people) to get started,” Rossario said. “A lot of the time, people have great ideas and they just don’t get started because they have anxiety, or they’re waiting for something to be perfect, or they’re waiting for their just their big moment or for someone to come and save them and that’s just not going to happen. So I hope my biggest takeaway with these people is: Get started. Do something. Move your feet.”

Cameron Jones brought his close friends Talon Rasheed and Kasaras Gaylor to attend their rst Black Tech Saturdays session on June 29. Jones and Rasheed, who perform as a DJ duo, were interested in connecting with other entre-

“Baltimore was such a beautiful surprise for us, to see them welcome and embrace us coming from Detroit,” Alexa Turnage said. “It just shows that the founders there want community as well as the founders here in Detroit, and it kind of feels like a sister city, where we see the resemblances from the Detroit community and the Baltimore community. So being able to go there once a month and to build community in Baltimore as well as doing it here in Detroit has really been pretty incredible and a blessing to just know that change is happening, an impact is happening, not just in Detroit, but somewhere else as well.” rough the rest of 2024, the Turnages plan to visit Miami, Houston and Los Angeles for potential Black Tech Saturdays locations. In 2025, their sights are set on the East Lansing and Lansing communities because of the strategy development grant Michigan State University Research Foundation received from the federal government in October.

“What we’re really focused on this year, with the cities that we’re in and kind of popping up again, is making a really streamlined process so we can provide the tools for more teams to be trained and to, like, expedite how we bring them online,” Johnnie Turnage said. at includes considering a city’s demographic data before it implements a Black Tech Saturdays program. Pittsburgh, for example, reached out to Johnnie and Alexa about implementing a BTS program. According to 2022 Census data, 23.2% of Pittsburgh’s population is Black.

“ e cool part about Black Tech Saturdays, to me is, I think of it as a tool,” Johnnie Turnage said. “We can change the solid program, and we can change pieces around it, but we can really meet the city or that community where they’re at … Black Tech Saturdays in Detroit isn’t exclusively Black. Like the goal is for the space to be open, to be unapologetically Black, lled with Black joy and community and culture, but it’s never to turn anyone away. As we expand into other cities, we’re making sure we think about how we make sure that that narrative is clear, that this is a space where everybody can be successful and grow together.”

Attendees of a June 29 Black Tech Saturdays event at Newlab at Michigan Central. | PHOTOS BY QUINN BANKS

Alexa Turnage and Johnnie Turnage, founders of Black Tech Saturdays

Shot Selection co-founder Gerard Victor, Rose Garden Production Company founder Randi Rossario and Michigan Chronicle Editor Ebony JJ Curry speak on a panel during the June 29 Black Tech Saturdays event at Newlab at Michigan Central.

Norm Hubbard on how research facility will expand MSU’s mission

Norm Hubbard is a builder. Not in the hammer and nail sense, but in turning the best-laid plans of institutions into something more meaningful, something real. Hubbard founded the Seattle Cancer Care Center —  bringing the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle Children’s and the University of Washington School of Medicine together to create a world-class cancer treatment and research institution. He joined Michigan State University in 2019 and is now the senior vice president for health sciences. In May, Hubbard was given oversight in of the university’s landmark 30-year partnership with Henry Ford Health in Detroit — which just broke ground on the joint $335 million Henry Ford Health + Michigan State University Health Sciences Research Center last month.

You’ve spent most of your career on the West Coast. How did you end up at MSU? I’ve worked in health care most of my career. For the 20 years before I came here, I had this amazing opportunity to build a cancer center between three organizations — UW, Children’s and the Hudson’s Cancer Center — which won the Nobel Prize for pioneering bone marrow transplants. My job was to organize and build this cancer center for these three organizations. I help complex organizations work together to do something they individually could not do. We went from being unranked up to the fth ranked cancer hospital in the country. I think it’s fallen since then, but that was the highest. Dr. (Norman) Beauchamp (former executive vice president of health sciences at MSU and leader of the partnership before departing in April) wanted that here. And, he can be a very convincing fellow. Norm has helped MSU truly ful ll its land grant mission and that was really compelling. en I talked to Henry Ford about their ambition to develop into a true academic center. And MSU wanted to dock its smaller, but feisty health care organization to a larger scale system. I had what I thought was a once in a lifetime opportunity in Seattle, but now I get to come here and do it again.

What role will the partnership play in the community and the state writ large?  MSU is a historical anomaly in that it has two medical schools (osteopathic and human medicine) and a nursing school. We educate the majority of doctors and nurses in the state. But because we don’t have a captive hospital to call home, we’ve had to develop an array of educational partnerships across the state. Henry Ford now provides somewhat of a home base, not just for those three colleges, but also allows us to bring all of MSU into health care and inform how we advance research and how we provide care. Supply chain, business, communications, the agriculture school, even the veterinary medicine college. It’s awe inspiring what we can do here at this new research building.

By | Dustin Walsh

ere will be two oors of Henry Ford investigators and two more oors of MSU faculty to research diseases. at’s for Detroit proper and the state. We can bring all those things together and really move the needle. And let’s not forget our college of education, which has a community bene ts agreement in Detroit. It’s about really working to advance K-12 and adult opportunities in and around our project. We think Henry Ford and MSU will start doing impactful work almost immediately and not just in Detroit, but in Michigan and beyond.

What is happening right now as the center plans to be completed in 2027?

We already have a growing number of nurses and doctors at Henry Ford and we’ll be growing our presence with students. In the next 18 to 24 months, you’ll see more educational capability online in Detroit. We’ll get that K-12 program working and really

start focusing on the social work and social determinants of health research and programming. We’re really bringing the full weight and capacity of MSU to bear in the city. In the next 12 months, we’ll see more clinical engagement between our two organizations as well.

Is the research center the pinnacle of the partnership?  is is all a more gradual, mission-driven arrival than a big bang. You will continually see MSU more and more in Detroit. e site for the research building will hold two more buildings of that size (335,000 square feet). We’ll start planning the second one as we open up this one. We think we’ll need a second research building and 10 years out, we think the site will have one million square feet of laboratory space. at’s di erent for Detroit. Detroit is one of the largest U.S. cities without a true academic medical center. We’re raising up that idea and creating

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one. at’s a long-term goal, for Detroit to have a Johns Hopkins or UCLA.

Does that mean the research center will create this vortex or epicenter of health care in the city?

I don’t know, but honestly, I hope not. I think we’ll have the critical mass, clinical and academic capacity to create a central hive. But, at the same time, MSU has a land grant mission (to improve local communities) and Henry Ford is already in the community practicing street medicine. We’re on the ground in Flint. I can’t overstate the importance of our ag extension program and how we look to that for this project. We want to be a service to the community’s health and welfare. We want to build the next generation academic health care center and I don’t think there’s an existing model to go by. I think we’re plowing new ground and I’m excited about that.

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Norm Hubbard, senior vice president for health sciences at Michigan State University, speaks at the June groundbreaking of the new Henry Ford Health + Michigan State University Health Sciences Research Center. | QUINN BANKS

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Public universities are driving major developments in Detroit. They’re securing hundreds of millions of dollars to add innovation, housing, improved health care and other developments to the region. We talk to the heads the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University about why and how they are driving economic development and improving quality of life in the region.

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