Avenue of Fashion is thriving — again
Small-business owners are ocking to the Detroit corridor
By Jay Davis
Dozens of business owners are choosing to set up shop in a historic section of Detroit known for strong, reputable Black-owned businesses over more trendy sections of the city. Detroit’s Avenue of Fashion
business district has seen a rebirth over the last decade-plus, with new businesses popping up along the stretch of Livernois Avenue that runs from Eight Mile Road to Seven Mile Road. Neighborhoods including Oak Grove, Sherwood Forest, Green Acres and the University District
surround the Avenue of Fashion. Stars such as singers Marvin Gaye and Aretha Franklin lived in the area in the past.
It’s an area many believe is vital to Detroit.
New-business owner Lynn
See LIVERNOIS on Page 16
“Seeing it evolve into what it is today is like watching Detroit’s spirit in action. These shops and restaurants are not just businesses. They’re our neighbors, our history and a big piece of our future. It’s this kind of local energy that’s really driving Detroit’s resurgence.”
Robotic litter box startup expands R&D facility, reach
Auburn Hills company has hired over 100 employees in the past year, completed headquarters expansion
By Anna Fifelski
e Auburn Hills-based startup Whisker, known for its innovative take on the litter box, is getting a whole lot bigger.
Whisker has hired more than 100 new employees since July of last year and completed an expansion and renovation of their headquarters and research and development facility. ey're also growing the reach of their main product, the Litter-Robot, by pushing further into local stores and expanding sales outside of North America for the rst time.
Whisker hit $20 million in sales in 2017, three years earlier than it anticipated. Revenue was $180 million in 2022 and it sold its millionth robot in January 2023, Crain’s reported in November 2023.
A Whisker Litter-Robot retails
for between $549 and $699 for the base model, with upgrades such as litter trap mats, ramps, cameras, an app that tracks a cat’s weight and litter box usage, and more fancy features. e Litter-Robot works by sensing when a cat enters the spaceage-looking litter compartment. When the cat leaves, the sensor tells the inner cylinder to spin, sifting out any waste into a sealed drawer for later disposal. e company also makes a robotic pet feeder that measures and serves dry food on a time schedule for cats and dogs.
Founded in 1999 by Brad Baxter, the company sells 75% of its products directly to the consumer.
Whisker rst purchased its headquarters facility at 1080 W.
STARTUP on Page 16
Push to prioritize public transit
This time could be different for metro Detroit, going beyond the QLine and the People Mover. PAGE 8
HOSPITALITY
Shinola Detroit, looking to grow its brand, is planning its rst hotel outside of the state. PAGE 3
REAL ESTATE
Don’t overlook this large site near the RenCen that’s caught Dan Gilbert’s eye before. PAGE 4
Sean Gray, vice president of small business services for the Detroit Economic Growth Corp.
Browgod’s beauty salon owner Andrea Boyd (left) works on a client’s eyebrows in her former space at the L. Swygert Plaza building on the Avenue of Fashion. She now owns a storefront across the street. NICK HAGEN/VISIT DETROIT
Former Michigan Treasurer Doug Roberts dies
By David Eggert
LANSING — Doug Roberts, a long-time leader in state government who served as Michigan treasurer during much of former Gov. John Engler’s tenure and later led a Michigan State University public policy and social research center, has died. He was 76.
Roberts died from pancreatic cancer on July 11, according to an obituary.
e highly respected economist was treasurer from the start of Engler’s rst term, 1991, until late in his second term, 1998. He held the role a second time in 2001 and 2002, before the Republican governor was term-limited.
“He was one of the most outstanding public servants, really, we’ve ever had in Michigan,” Engler told Crain’s. “A man with great integrity, intelligence. He inspired those who worked for him. He was a great student of history, so he had a lot of knowledge about state government and Michigan tax law. ...He was a dear friend and just a special, special person.”
Roberts, of East Lansing, had a major role in the creation and adoption of Proposal A, a voter-approved revamp of property taxes and school nances in 1994, and was an expert on school taxation and public employee pension
Former Michigan Treasurer Doug Roberts died this month from pancreatic cancer.
and health care nancing.
He had jobs during the administrations of former Govs. William Milliken and James Blanchard, too, including in the treasury, education, and management and budget departments. He also directed the nonpartisan Senate Fiscal Agency and was appointed to the Northern Michigan University Board of Trustees by Engler and to the State Tax Commission by former Gov. Rick Snyder.
He later helmed MSU’s Institute for Public Policy and Social Research for more than a decade.
Matt Grossman, his successor at the institute, said Roberts was a “tremendous” public servant who led the center with honor and integrity.
“His leadership helped our organization to ourish, and his contributions made IPPSR one of the
“He was one of the most outstanding public servants, really, we’ve ever had in Michigan.”
Former Gov. John Engler
leading public policy voices in the state,” he said in a statement. “I speak for the Michigan State University and IPPSR sta in extending our sympathies to Dr. Roberts’s family and friends during this time of loss.”
Engler said when he was putting together his cabinet after winning in 1990, Roberts was “at the top of my list” because he did not think there was anyone better prepared
to be treasurer, citing his knowledge of the tax code and grasp of public policy.
“It was under Doug’s leadership actually that we nally after a quarter-century got Michigan back to an AAA-rate state,” Engler said. “... He was very helpful and very persuasive in getting that done.”
Roberts was deeply involved with Proposal A and changes that saved the state employees’ pension system, said Engler, who met with Roberts after his diagnosis. He said Roberts courageously faced cancer and was very forthright about it.
He was “very grateful for the life he had, but I told him we were very grateful for his life because it made such a di erence to so many people.”
Roberts was trusted by people in both parties and had a reputation for giving them straight answers to their questions.
Former state Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr., a Democrat from East Lansing, called Roberts a “consummate” public servant and said he was “one of the nest people I ever met. He was the perfect example of someone who you could disagree with politically and still be friends. I will miss our random passing on walks in our neighborhood. He would always stop with a kind word, and often the perfect advice for dealing with a tough situation.”
Roberts, who grew up in Maryland, was the son of a Secret Service agent who was riding in the car behind President John F. Kennedy when he was assassinated. e obit describes the Roberts household as a “treasure trove” of American history, with photos of his father, Emory, protecting presidents and vice presidents.
Roberts graduated from the University of Maryland with an economics degree and earned master’s and doctorate degrees in economics from MSU. He was a fan of MSU sports, an avid golfer, a sushi lover and a Civil War bu . He is survived by his brother, Steve; sons, Doug Jr. (Rebecca) and John (Kerry); his stepsons; and his grandchildren. His rst wife, Joan, died in 2003. He remarried, and his second wife, Bobbie, died in 2017.
One son, Doug Roberts, manages state government a airs for Consumers Energy and once worked in the Michigan House. e other, former state budget director John Roberts, is interim president of Emergent Holdings, a division of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan e family, which planned a private service at a funeral home, is planning a memorial service in August. e family is accepting donations to the Northern Michigan University Foundation, 1401 Presque Isle Ave., Marquette, MI 49855.
New $16M VC fund at Michigan Central’s Newlab
640 Oxford Fund I invests in ‘unsexy’ industries
Detroit’s venture capital ecosystem is growing.
640 Oxford Fund I, located in Newlab at Michigan Central, is a new early-stage venture fund that “invests in industries typically described as ‘ine cient,’ ‘overlooked’ and ‘unsexy,’” cofounder and Managing Partner Brandon Schram told Crain’s.
e company nished raising its rst fund of $16 million in the rst quarter of 2024, and has been simultaneously investing in startups across the country as it fundraised.
e plan was to announce the fund earlier, Schram said, but it oversubscribed its initial goal of $15 million.
ham Farms-based Alrig USA from 2014 to 2022 to help develop its acquisitions, development and strategy to grow the company into a nationwide brand.
“In the beginning of 2022, we said, ‘You know what, we love doing this. We need to go all in. We think there’s an opportunity to be the first track into a lot of these founders’ businesses, because of our operational background, the strategic network that we built. And the best way to do this is to have a fund.’ So that was that,” Schram said.
Schram and fellow co-founder and Managing Partner Adam Gartenberg met at the University of Michigan while living in an ocampus house they named their fund after — at 640 Oxford Road in Ann Arbor. Gartenberg co-founded electronic vending company Vengo Labs and spent most of the last decade serving as head of product and operations for the Rider Innovation Team of Uber.
In 2009, Schram joined Commerce Township-headquartered Homedics Inc., a manufacturer of health and wellness products, to partner with the children of famed musician Bob Marley to design and build a consumer electronics and lifestyle brand with House of Marley. Schram also worked at Bing-
When Schram and Gartenberg founded 640 Oxford in 2022, they brought on additional partner Ross Rogers at the inception of the fund. Rogers and Gartenberg are based at the Newlab location in Brooklyn.
640 Oxford began deploying capital in 2023 and, as of July 2024, has invested about half of the fund in 20 startups, Schram said, with the goal of investing in a total of 35 startups before beginning a second venture fund. e fund has invested in one Michigan-based startup and one separate startup located in San Francisco founded by two founders from Northville.
According to the fund’s website, it typically writes checks between $250,000 and $400,000.
“ e goal for Fund I is to show that we are able to really build our brand, get access and invest in the best possible founders,” Schram said. “Once we do
OneStream stock spikes on rst day of trading
By Anna Fifelski
Tom Shea, founder and chief executive o cer of OneStream, rang the opening bell at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York City’s Times Square July 24 to open its rst day of trading as a public company.
On July 23, the company, trading under the newly minted ticker (NASDAQ: OS), priced its initial public o ering of 24,500,000 shares of its Class A common stock at a price of $20 per share.
OneStream began trading at 11:44 a.m. and quickly surpassed expectations of how much people were willing to pay to own a portion of one of Birmingham’s major software companies.
OneStream stock opened 29% above its $20 listing at $25.83 and traded over 3.5 million stocks in its rst half-hour before noon July 24.
By 12:46 p.m., shares had jumped 33% over list price at $26.55 each,
“If the market opens higher than the IPO price, that is a big sign of success.”
and by 4 p.m., the stock was trading over 36% more than its listing price, with each share selling for around $27.25.
Shea told Crain’s that the stock was trading “right in the zone” of his expectations, based on conversations and feedback from OneStream’s investors.
With July 24 trading, the company’s market value is holding above the $6 billion valuation it achieved in a 2021 funding round. e valuation the company was seeking in the IPO was below that mark, which Shea chalked up to a reset
of expectations from the go-go days.
“When you’re evaluating that you have to look at the unrealistic valuations from 2021. If you were fortunate enough to raise money then, you got a great valuation with minimal dilution,” Shea told Bloomberg. “But I don’t use that as a realistic mark.”
“If the market opens higher than the IPO price, that is a big sign of success,” said Erik Gordon, a business professor at the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business. “Step one is that the institutional investors are gung-ho to get their hands on shares. Step two is that the public as a whole, trading in the public market, is also gung-ho.”
According to data from Statista, a German analytics software performance company, rst-day IPO stock performance historically
Shinola hotels expanding beyond Detroit with licensing deals
By Kurt Nagl
Shinola Detroit is planning its rst hotel outside of its home market as the watch and leather goods manufacturer looks to gin up licensing deals to grow its brand.
A Shinola-branded hotel is proposed as part of a new $300 million development in downtown Indianapolis backed by the owner of the Indiana Pacers basketball team.
On the site of a former CSX storage facility, the new 170-room hotel would be erected by Boxcar Development LLC along with a new 4,000-seat Live Nation venue, with a bridge connecting the development to the Pacers’ Gainbridge
Fieldhouse, according to the proposal, which was submitted to the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission for review.
e hotel would be run by Sage Hospitality, the same operator of Shinola Hotel Detroit, which opened in 2019.
Terms of the name licensing agreement with Boxcar have not been nalized, but it will follow Shinola’s deal with Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock LLC, which developed Shinola Hotel Detroit.
Shinola will receive a small percentage of gross room revenue, but the licensing deal is not a signi cant revenue driver, said
Anna Fifelski
Gartenberg
Schram
OneStream CEO Tom Shea (center right) celebrates the rst day of trading with employees and Nasdaq executives at Nasdaq in New York City on July 24. | NASDAQ
Erik Gordon, a business professor at the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business
REAL ESTATE INSIDER
Don't overlook this large site near the Renaissance Center
Dan Gilbert has long coveted the roughly 20 acres of east Detroit riverfront
Earlier this month, it emerged that Dan Gilbert has a formal option to buy the main portion of the Renaissance Center from General Motors Co.
Obviously, that would be a major shakeup in the downtown commercial property market as the billionaire mortgage and real estate mogul continues his decade-plus shopping spree for Detroit buildings and land.
But don’t overlook the other key component of the option agreement: Approximately 20 acres of east Detroit riverfront land next to the RenCen that Gilbert has long coveted.
It's been a long road for the site, grand visions for which go back to the time the Renaissance Center was announced in 1971. e land, which is owned by GM primarily for surface parking, is one of the most underutilized properties downtown, a nagging reminder that the Detroit riverfront, in spite of the major glowup and accolades it has received the past 20 or so years, still has a long way to go as new development remains elusive, save for a new apartment or condo building here and there.
Gilbert, for his part, has for close to two decades seen that plot with an eye toward building on it, following in the footsteps of others before him who tried and failed.
Before he moved what was then his Quicken Loans Inc. mortgage company downtown from Livonia into what is now the One Campus Martius building, whetting his appetite for central business district
real estate, there had been talks about constructing a new Quicken headquarters on a portion of the property. at 300,000-square-foot, 10story building referred to as 665 Atwater would have also included a 1,000-space-plus parking deck on the land bounded by Atwater to the south, St. Antoine to the west, Franklin to the north and Schweizer Place to the east. en, when that zzled, Gilbert and GM long had conversations about jointly building a mixed-use development on the site with ofce, residential and retail space. Obviously, to no fruition.
Outside of and before its negotiations with Gilbert, in 2006, GM tapped Chicago-based real estate companies Mesirow Stein Real Estate Inc. and Morningside Equities Group to develop a 13-acre portion of the site into retail and residential space.
Ultimately, the GM, Mesirow Stein and Morningside plans fell through because "we couldn't make economic sense of what GM and the city of Detroit were requiring … just the whole package of expectations regarding what would be built, who would build it, how it would get done, whether GM was going to be a partner, what they were demanding as their share of the development," David Strosberg, president of Morningside, told me in 2015. "So it just stopped making sense."
It's not just during this century that visions for the site ultimately tanked.
Even going back to the early versions of the RenCen, there had been grand visions for the complex to ultimately house a mindboggling 18 towers, the Detroit
Free Press reported in November 1971: A hotel, four o ce towers and 13 apartment buildings in a project that, when it was announced, was expected to take eight to 10 years to complete and cost $400 million to $500 million to build. By 1973, that plan had evolved into include the hotel and four anking o ce towers, plus ten 19-story o ce towers and close to 1,000 apartments and condos spreading to the east of the current RenCen footprint, the Freep reported.
Much of that scaled-down vision itself failed never materialized.
Ultimately, what we have today is the main rst phase — a 73story hotel tower anked by four 39-story o ce towers — plus a second phase that includes two 21-story o ce buildings built in the early 1980s that are now under separate ownership from GM, and the land to the east remains undeveloped with a grand total of zero residential units on it.
It could remain that way for a long time, too, even if Gilbert gets his hands on it through the putand-call agreement.
e agreement is just that — an option, not a foregone conclusion that a deal would happen. Both sides have the ability to compel the other to sell or buy under certain circumstances, but the agreement could be torpedoed if that's what both parties want.
ere has been no formal determination on how GM and Bedrock will proceed with GM's owned portion of the RenCen, which the automaker is vacating next year to move its headquarters into Gilbert's $1.4 billion Hudson's Detroit development north of Cam-
pus Martius Park. It could be redeveloped into new uses, or part or all of it could come down, creating more vacant riverfront land. Both of which have unknown costs, but su ce it to say that any option will come with a very large price tag.
“We will continue to work with our partners to explore redevelopment opportunities for the Renaissance Center," Ko Bonner, CEO of Bedrock, said in an emailed statement on Tuesday afternoon.
"As Mayor Duggan previously stated, this work takes time and we are exploring various possibilities, including redevelopment options for commercial, residential or mixed-use that will further enhance Detroit’s award-winning riverfront."
Of course, the riverfront property to the east isn't the only one Gilbert has had in his sights since emerging as the city's most powerful developer and landlord the last 10-plus years. ere are several large sites around town that Gilbert has controlled for years that have had development plans on the books that have not yet started.
ose include the 20-plus acres of the Brush Park neighborhood site best known as the former Brewster-Douglass housing projects, a property that prior to the pandemic had been planned for 900-plus units of mixed-income housing and some retail space. Nothing has yet been built there.
In addition, the 14 or so acres of the former Wayne County Consolidated Jail property also sits undeveloped, having had two major proposals come and go: A Major League Soccer stadium with ofce, hotel and residential towers anking it; and the University of Michigan Center for Innovation, which moved to a site in the District Detroit area and is now under construction. Most recently, the site had been proposed for a World Economic Forum project that would be part of what three years ago was a plan for new innovation center on the property at Gratiot Avenue and I-375.
So whatever happens with 20 acres of key property south of Jefferson Avenue in terms of its ownership, it'll likely be many years before anything is built there.
Hopefully it's not another 50.
Sheetz has plans for former Ginopolis restaurant site
Jay Davis
A company looking to plant its ag in Michigan may breathe life into the former site of a oncefamous restaurant.
e Sheetz chain is planning a gas station and convenience store in Farmington Hills on the site where Ginopolis Restaurant sat. Sheetz o cials at a June 20 Farmington Hills Planning Commission meeting proposed building a 6,100square-foot convenience store and 12-pump gas station on the land at 12 Mile and Middlebelt roads. e Farmington Hills Sheetz would be open 24 hours a day and feature a drive-thru.
e Farmington Hills Planning Commission at the June 20 meeting unanimously approved a recommended for planned unit development status of the nearly 4-acre property at 27815 Middle-
belt Road. e plans now must be approved by the City Council.
Ginopolis Restaurant closed in 2019 after 37 years in business in the location. Ginopolis moved to Brighton in 2019 and rebranded a couple of times before closing for good in July 2023. e restaurant at its peak was one of the bestknown in metro Detroit, laying claim to hosting an array of celebrities including Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope and Muhammad Ali when they were in town.
City o cials on July 11 told Crain's its unknown if the demolition of the Ginopolis building is a part of the project.
Sheetz public relations manager Nick Ru ner in a statement to Crain’s said the company is excited about the approval.
“ rough this approach, Sheetz will be able to incorporate open space, preserve existing mature
trees and provide robust screening and landscaping around the site,” Ru ner said. “Sheetz will be submitting formal plans to Farmington Hills in the near future and looks forward to working with local ocials to provide residents a rst-ofits-kind, family-friendly restaurant and convenience store in the Farmington Hills community.”
e move continues Sheetz's quest to enter the Michigan market. e Altoona, Pennsylvaniabased company plans to open 50 to 60 locations in Southeast Michigan, Sheetz president and CEO Travis Sheetz told Crain’s in February.
Work on the company’s rst Michigan store, planned for a site at 33380 Wick Road in Romulus, started in March. Travis Sheetz told Crain’s he envisions a rollout similar to what has taken place in Columbus, Ohio, where the rst store
opened about three years ago and more than 30 others have followed.
Sheetz in more than 70 years in business has amassed more than 700 locations. e company has had troubles gaining support in some Michigan municipalities, though.
In Livonia, the zoning board early this year recommended City Council not approve a rezoning request, Hometown Life reported.
e Fraser planning commission axed a plan for a new site at 14 Mile and Utica roads, according to e Oakland Press, which also reported that Sheetz put the brakes on its proposed locations in Rochester Hills at Rochester Road and South Boulevard, and Waterford Township on Dixie Highway near Sashabaw Road.
Family owned Sheetz o ers gas, co ee and made-to-order
sandwiches and salads, ordered through touch-screen technology. Travis Sheetz told Crain's Sheetz is an $11 billion company. Forbes lists the company’s 2023 revenue at $14 billion, up from $11.7 billion reported in 2022.
e typical Sheetz location has 30-35 employees, with starting pay at $15 or $16 an hour.
Sheetz has 715 stores in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio and Maryland and around 25,000 employees. All locations are open 24/7, 365 days a year. Sheetz o ers a tuition reimbursement program for employees who work at least 16 hours a week. e company donates about 1 million pounds of food per year to local food banks. e company donated $25,000 to Oak Park-based food bank Forgotten Harvest. Forgotten Harvest serves Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties.
Kirk Pinho
For years, plans have been considered for developing the 20 or so acres of largely vacant land east of the Renaissance Center, but none have come to fruition. | COSTAR
Promoting senior health in the workplace
Key strategies for businesses to understand
result in a safer and more productive work environment.
Bladder incontinence
Bladder incontinence is a prevalent issue among seniors that impacts their daily lives and potentially impacts workplace productivity and morale.
With guidance from a health care provider, accommodations such as scheduled bathroom breaks can be made to promote comfort and con dence among senior employees. Your doctor might recommend adult incontinence products to promote comfort and con dence; additional accommodations can be made through your employer for discreet disposal of these products in public restrooms within your o ce. Don’t wait to start the conversation with your health care provider.
Fall prevention
As the workplace evolves, so does the need for businesses to prioritize the health and well-being of their employees, especially senior citizens.
Since the early 1990s, the workplace population of older Americans, ages 65+, has increased from 11 to 19 percent. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, older adults are projected to account for 21 percent of the labor force by 2032.
Understanding the key aspects of senior health – bladder incontinence, fall prevention, exercise and physical activity - and how to support senior citizens facing these challenges could
According to the National Council on Aging, over one in four senior citizens fall each year in America, with the cost of treating fall injuries projected to exceed $101 billion by 2030. Discussing your fears of falling and establishing a fall prevention strategy inside and outside of work with your doctor is highly recommended to enhance your safety and wellbeing. Additionally, employers can proactively create a safer environment by conducting regular safety assessments and addressing common workplace hazards such as stairwell handrails, adequate cubicle lighting, and providing mats to reduce the risk of slips and falls.
Exercise
and physical activity
Twenty-eight percent of Americans aged 50 and older are physically
inactive, with the rate even higher for older adults with chronic diseases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Physical activity is a preventative measure against cardiovascular
can provide recommendations on your current levels of activity and can o er the most guidance in tailoring activities to your needs.
Investing in senior health initiatives can result in signi cant cost savings
Investing in senior health initiatives can result in signi cant cost savings for businesses.
disease, stroke, diabetes and some types of cancer; it has also been shown to improve cognitive function and enhance emotional well-being among senior citizens. Before starting a new exercise regimen or changing your current one, always talk with your health care provider rst; your doctor
for businesses. According to the World Health Organization, depression and anxiety cost the global U.S. economy $1 trillion each year from reduced productivity. To negate this, promoting physical activity among all employees could result in fewer sick days and lower healthcare costs.
By prioritizing senior health in the workplace, employers can create a sense of inclusivity and support that bene ts all employees and their organizations. Aligning with broader societal trends towards age-inclusive policies and practices, businesses that embrace and accommodate the needs of their senior citizens are better positioned to attract talent in the current competitive job market. Plus, businesses should always encourage their employees to have proactive discussions about the above topics with their health care providers to ensure they’re healthy, safe and comfortable.
DR. PATRICIA FERGUSON
Medical Director, Senior Health Services at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
EDITORIAL
Bold action needed at RenCen site
The ve central towers of the RenCen sit at a crossroads — and the future of Detroit is at its intersection.
As the fate of the o ce complex that has de ned our skyline for nearly half a century is weighed, the fraught question that hangs over it all is: What do we want Detroit’s future to look like?
e news that partial demolition of the RenCen is under consideration is, in a way, encouraging. It’s a reminder that we need to seriously evaluate all options for this vital piece of our cityscape that has de ned not just our skyline but our relationship to the Detroit River and how people relate to each other and their surroundings.
GM’s departure from the RenCen is a sign of changing times — a re ection of evolving work cultures and cityscapes.
Most importantly, it’s an opportunity, one we must approach with careful deliberation and foresight.
e status quo isn’t going to be an option. GM is leaving the building. It’s vanishingly unlikely that a big new tenant will swoop in to take its place.
A spokesman for the mayor said it starkly and vividly: “We are not going to have a situation as we had with the Hudson Building or Michigan Central where critical sites sat empty for 40 years because this community’s leaders would not make realistic decisions.”
We’re familiar in Detroit with what happens when buildings are left empty. Paint yourself a mental picture of the Detroit
COMMENTARY
skyline with a RenCen as windowless as Michigan Central Station once was. at’s an apocalyptic vision that the city would never be able to shed.
So what’s the solution? at’s the billion-dollar question, a question we don’t have decades to answer.
First and foremost, there should be a clear timeline for decision-making. ere’s a fairly obvious deadline to set: With General Motors planning to move to the Hudson’s site in 2025, getting a com-
prehensive plan for the RenCen property before the rst GM employee moves into the Hudson’s building. is gives us a concrete reasonable timeframe to thoroughly explore options, think creatively and make informed, realistic decisions.
A deadline isn’t about rushing to demolition or any other predetermined outcome. It’s about ensuring we don’t fall into the trap of endless deliberation while opportunities pass us by.
And rather than con ning ourselves to thinking about the future of those buildings, we should be asking big questions. How can we better connect the riverfront to the rest of downtown? What kind of development would draw people to live, work and play in this area? How can we honor the RenCen’s place in our history while creating something that serves the needs of future generations? And crucially, how do we ensure that whatever plan we adopt is nancially viable and sustainable in the long term?
We have cautious con dence that GM, Bedrock and city o cials will nd a solution. eir commitment to the city, by all appearances, remains. But this is very much a decision that will alter the trajectory of the city.
is isn’t just about buildings. It’s about our identity as a city. It’s about our ability to adapt, to innovate, to move forward.
e RenCen was born out of a desire to revitalize Detroit in the wake of crisis. It perhaps didn’t live up to that lofty vision, and it isn’t always loved.
Our city’s history can be a source of strength — look no further than the energy surrounding the revitalization of Michigan Central, which is already turning into far more than an o ce building. But too often our history comes with a weight we nd hard to shed.
e RenCen needs similar thoughtful redevelopment. We don’t pretend it’s an easy task, but vision, boldness and realism need to converge, and they need to do so on a deadline.
Nuclear energy is Michigan’s path to clean, reliable electricity
You may have noticed that discussions about energy production often include robust talk about nuclear energy; from restarting shuttered plants to the need for nuclear energy to power increasingly important data centers. In fact, many news headlines have centered around nuclear energy production in our state, including recent articles in Crain’s, e Associated Press, the Detroit Free Press, MLive and others. Michigan’s energy pro le is undergoing dramatic changes as our state seeks affordable and clean energy sources amidst major questions about grid reliability. Nuclear energy has been safely utilized in Michigan for decades and is both clean and reliable. erefore, we believe Michigan must closely examine investment in nuclear energy as an important piece of our state’s energy future.
State Rep. Graham Filler, R-Duplain Township, represents the 93rd House District, which encompasses portions of Clinton, Gratiot, Ionia, Montcalm and Saginaw counties. State Rep. Joey Andrews, D-St. Joseph, represents the 38th House District, which covers parts of Allegan, Berrien and Van Buren counties.
A recently introduced bipartisan package of legislation o ers an attractive rst
step in advancing that goal. House Bills 4753 and 5606-5609 would:
◗ Provide research and development tax credits for Small Modular Reactors.
◗ De ne “Advanced Modular Reactor” in state statute.
◗ Create the Nuclear and Hydrogen Education Grant Program to award money to colleges and universities that create or expand educational programs related to nuclear or hydrogen energy generation.
◗ Establish scholarship funds for students who commit to working at energy generation facilities for at least three years after graduation.
Taken together, this package of bills is designed to encourage investment in safe, clean and reliable nuclear energy technology that is essential for our energy needs.
In creating a bipartisan coalition to conduct a nuclear energy feasibility study, as well as to support and advocate for this
legislation, we have already seen tangible results in the form of millions — if not billions — of dollars of investment in Michigan.
By incentivizing the use of Advanced Modular Reactors, Michigan could create thousands of additional megawatts of baseload generation, ensuring a more reli-
able power grid that would bene t people and businesses throughout the state. Supporting higher education institutions as well as students who study energy-related subjects would also help attract a highly skilled workforce to our state.
In a time when Michigan is moving toward new, and quite frankly, lofty renewable energy standards, it would behoove us to embrace advanced technologies to help meet our goals.
While already a “top 10” state for nuclear energy production, becoming a nationwide leader in the utilization of Small Modular Reactor technology — along with becoming the rst state to reactivate a shut-down nuclear plant with the restarting of Palisades — would give Michigan a unique opportunity to capture the benets of these innovations and attract leading talent in the eld.
While most energy regulations, especially related to nuclear, are set at the federal level, legislators should do everything we can to make our state more attractive for businesses, students, and entrepreneurs.
We urge our fellow lawmakers, industry stakeholders, and people throughout Michigan to support this critical legislation.
DTE Energy Co.’s Fermi 2 nuclear plant in Newport near Monroe DTE ENERGY
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Public transit: Can this time be different?
Southeast Michigan leaders hope to build momentum on progress made in recent years | By
Mass transit has long been a challenge for the state that put the world on wheels, but for the rst time in a long time there seems to be political will to change that.
A cohesive regional transit plan is closer to reality in Southeast Michigan after years of division among leaders in Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties and general complacency from lawmakers.
What’s changed is that leaders are now acknowledging the gravity of the situation. Michigan is losing its young people not just to the coasts, but faster-growing peer states in the Midwest. e availability of mass transit in these regions is often a major differentiation from Michigan, where owning a car is considered essential by many.
“I think this has been some-
Kurt Nagl
care about or invest in transit as a state.”
e region has come a long way in recent years, though. Residents in Oakland, Wayne and Macomb — now headed by executives who are generally pro-transit — voted in 2022 to fund bus service in each county.
County-level changes
In Oakland, where the old guard stymied e orts to improve transit, an opt-out clause was removed from ballots, putting it on par with Macomb’s millage, which forces communities to get on board and prevents a patchwork of service.
Wayne County is now the outlier, but its top o cial is aiming to rewrite state law to change that as soon as next year.
“As far as people who don’t have a car, your only option to get around, especially if you don’t have money for a Lyft or an Uber, is the bus. It comes in handy for the everyday person.”
Antoine Harris, lifelong Detroit resident
thing that has held us back as a region and that if we don’t address is an existential threat,” said Sen. Mallory McMorrow, a Democrat from Royal Oak, who is one of several lawmakers pushing for more transit funding. “We’ve done nothing, and I know that we have left many federal dollars on the table by not showing that we
Flush with federal pandemic relief cash, the Detroit Department of Transportation and the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation have made strides to expand and improve service. If the NFL Draft in April — one of the largest events in recent memory for the region — was a stress test for the transit system, it passed with ying colors, o cials said, delivering some 200,000 rides over the three-day event.
e People Mover, now free to ride, is scheduled this fall to replace railcars for the rst time since it launched in 1987. e
QLine, also fare-free, is coming under new management — and there are early talks of expansion.
At the same time, the region’s transit system faces the same old problems, including funding concerns and basic operational issues. Ridership is also nearly half what it was before the pandemic.
Inside the new $31 million John Hargroves Transit Center at the old state fairgrounds on Eight Mile Road, Antoine Harris’ bus is late. But that’s no worry for the 32-year-old lifelong Detroiter. He factors that into his commute from the west side to downtown, always giving himself at least two hours to get to work.
“It’s 10 out of 10 for importance,” Harris said, waiting for the Route 4 bus to take him down Woodward Avenue. “As far as people who don’t have a car, your only option to get around, especially if you don’t have money for a Lyft or an Uber, is the bus. It comes in handy for the everyday person.”
Harris said the bus service has improved some in recent years, but issues remain. Buses often run late, especially on less busy routes, and he wishes they’d run more frequently in the early morning when he gets o work.
Another gripe is that SMART buses serving the suburbs don’t run late enough. Plenty of times while working in Roseville, Harris found himself stranded after a shift, forced to walk home more than half a dozen miles.
“ e only thing I would say they really need to change is their nighttime routine,” he said.
See TRANSIT on Page 10
Antoine Harris says bus service in Detroit has improved in recent years, but more frequent buses and longer hours — earlier in the morning
REGIONAL
COMMENTARY
Why do I care about transit? Just ask young people.
Iam often asked why I care about regional transit. e answer is simple — ask young people. is very publication previously surveyed 400 millennials to uncover what improvements they hoped to see in the community. e answer was clear — a remarkable 73% cited regional transit as their No. 1 priority, far surpassing every other item on their wish list.
Dan Gilbert is the founder and chairman of Rocket Companies, the umbrella company for the Rock Family of Companies.
But we don’t even need to ask. Just look around. Every year, we invest billions in developing thousands of talented graduates at our in-state universities. Yet, these investments rarely pay o , as our tax dollars provide the funding to educate these kids only to see them ee to other urban cores to start their careers.
ey’re going to vibrant metro areas that o er amenities, experiences and opportunities that young people crave.
Consider the regions that have emerged as modern growth centers — Denver, Phoenix, Houston, Dallas, Austin, Nashville, Salt Lake City, Charlotte, Raleigh, Miami and Oklahoma City. Look at the nation’s traditional “big cities” like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago that continue to be magnets for talent. Every single one of them o er rail service or modern bus rapid transit — essentially rail on wheels.
Now, take a look at our closest peer cities in the Midwest: Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Indianapolis and Milwaukee. Every single one of them offers similar transit options, with several making major investments over the past decade to catch up to their bigger-city rivals.
In fact, the area in Michigan that grew the most in the last census and has a much younger median age than the state overall is Grand Rapids. is region embodies the common-sense formula of quality job opportunities, a vibrant urban center, the best transit in the state and a ordable cost of living.
isn’t necessary anymore, with fewer people commuting to the ofce. But evidence shows that areas with better transit see more people return to the o ce. And transit is about much more than reinvigorating the workplace. It’s about getting to entertainment, sporting events, dining, culture, shopping and nightlife. It’s about getting to your job at the factory or hospital, or to your class at community college or university. It’s about giving people the means to better their lives while also reducing the congestion on our streets — a vision that should unite us all.
We also hear that Michigan is a diverse state — and that regions like Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula need investments in strategies such as expanded air service to drive their growth. e current package in Lansing recognizes this, allowing di erent regions in Michigan the exibility they need to ourish. When it comes to growth, I like to think of our state as a product we’re selling. ere is one school of thought that we need to win on “cost” for our residents. Michigan has made great strides on this front, ranking 11th in the nation in tax climate. But any product must compete on “quality” as well — and we are losing that battle.
It is often said that the upcoming election is the most important one of our lifetimes. I person-
I personally believe that the most important decision is the one our children make when they vote with their feet. I want them to stay in Michigan.
e growth package before the state Legislature — which invests in each of these elements — is not some wild idea. Our problem is not that we don’t know what works. It’s that we need the leadership to make it happen.
Some argue that mass transit
ally believe that the most important decision is the one our children make when they vote with their feet. I want them to stay in Michigan — or to come back home. I know most parents do, too.
ere is not a secret formula for making this happen. We know exactly where young people are going and why. e only question is: Do we have the willpower and leadership to do anything about it?
Veronique White and Domonique Simmons say the QLine is an attractive method of transportation, but they would like to see it extend farther around the area.
REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION
How to improve transit right now
By Kurt Nagl
For the rst time, Detroit’s sprawling suburbs could be connected by bus routes stretching into communities historically o the transit grid — but that will ultimately depend on Wayne County.
Wayne County Executive Warren Evans is pushing for a legislative change that would eliminate the choice for individual cities or townships to opt out of transit millages in the county, where 17 of its 43 municipalities have elected not to pay into bus service from the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation, known as SMART.
No opt-out option
Banning the option at the state level is the county’s best chance of joining Oakland and Macomb to build out a fully connected transit system, Evans said. He is working toward a ballot proposal as soon as next year.
“If we’re going to be a region and we’re going to be progressive, we got to be able to move people from one place to another in a
TRANSIT
From Page 8
State’s renewed focus
McMorrow, who chairs the state Senate’s Economic and Community Development Committee, has championed changes to the state’s business attraction SOAR fund, including allocating $200 million annually toward mobility and transit. Proponents of the change argue that attracting and retaining talent by improving community services is a more viable economic development strategy than large corporate subsidies.
at theory will have to wait, though, as the proposed legislation will likely sit until the lameduck session after the November election.
More transit funding even being in the mix for consideration is reason to celebrate for Ben Stupka, executive director of the Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan, which oversees funding and coordination of transit systems in Oakland, Macomb, Wayne and Washtenaw counties.
“ ere’s a new transit caucus that just started in 2024,” Stupka said. “I mean, a transit caucus…in the state of Michigan. I think we absolutely have leadership far more aligned than I’ve ever seen on this.”
Optimism for what could come doesn’t mask the challenges of today, though. e state allocated $246 million to the local bus operating budget for scal year 2025, down 6% from the prior year when COVID relief funding padded the budget. at will make it
much more expeditious way than we do now,” Evans said.
e measure has been a “transformation” for Oakland County, said Dave Woodward, who chairs the county board of commissioners and authored the all-in transit proposal adopted by voters in 2022.
“Since we started, we provide transit service everywhere in the county for the rst time in county history,” Woodward said, adding that he is optimistic Wayne County will follow suit. “It would be to the bene t of everybody if we were all in on transit.”
Since the 10-year, .95 millage passed, SMART has added more than 70 new bus stops in Oakland County, launched the rst-ever xed route in Wixom and rolled out new bus routes in Rochester, Waterford and Novi, marking the rst xed-route expansions in the county in two decades.
Transit funding has long been hotly debated by regional leaders, especially in Oakland County, where former Executive L. Brooks Patterson rigorously opposed it. His death and the change of guard in 2019 marked a new pro-transit
attitude among leadership, validated by the approved millage.
“ at tells me the public has always been in support of it,” Woodward said. “We’ve had some public leaders that were trapped in the 1970s, and that’s no more.”
Beyond bus routes
Dwight Ferrell, general manager of SMART, who came into the industry 40 years ago as a bus driver, is all about looking toward the future. at means looking beyond buses.
Besides maintaining regular operations, SMART is focused on integrating multiple modes of mobility, such as Uber, Lyft and microtransit services to ll in the gaps in xed bus routes.
With ridership of about 5 million last year, nearly half what it was before the pandemic, and less state funding, o cials need to be creative in nding solutions, Ferrell said. e region’s prosperity depends on it.
“People are recognizing that mobility is the issue, and people want to get to where they want however they can get there,” he
Southeast Michigan transit ridership
Ten-year ridership for SMART buses, Ann Arbor’s The Ride, the QLine, the People Mover and Detroit buses. Ridership dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic. SMART
said. “It’s about connectivity and mobility. How can you make it easier for people to get to employment centers so these employment centers can grow?”
Hiring and retaining workers is a major focus for SMART itself as the industry looks to reverse negative perceptions about being a bus driver. SMART has 358 employees on payroll out of a budgeted 426, but the shortage has improved signi cantly due in part to new recruitment and training programs and an emphasis on safety, o cials said.
10-year ridership for SMART buses, Ann Arbor's The Ride, the Qline, the People Mover and Detroit buses.
ride thanks to a unique sponsor deal that wraps the train in advertising; trains are to be upgraded beginning later this year.
◗ QLine — Operations are expected to be transferred to the RTA later this summer, making it a fully public asset.
e opening of the QLine along Woodward Avenue in 2017 marked a pivotal moment for the city, long derided for its lacking mass transit. e 3.3-mile streetcar loop, launched with the help of corporate funding, has been credited with helping activate the Woodward business corridor from downtown through Midtown and into New Center.
SMART service
Wayne County Executive Warren Evans says he plans to pursue legislation that would remove the opt-out option from the 17 communities that currently are not served by the system. Detroit also opts out, but the Detroit Department of Transportation operates bus service across the city with connections to SMART service to other communities.
SMART bus drivers, who make a starting wage of $19 after training, are also looking to nalize union negotiations that could result in a 30% pay raise. e Detroit Department of Transportation announced earlier this year it would institute a pay hike and more bonuses as it combats the driver shortage.
“ e industry as a whole has had a very di cult time attracting and retaining bus operators in large part because there are so many other jobs out there that we compete against,” Ferrell said.
troit Transportation Corporation, has been working to shake the perception that the elevated rail system is all novelty and no utility.
“It’s kind of hidden in plain sight,” he said. “If you know, you know, which is really cool, but from a transit provider perspective, it should be painfully apparent how to get into the station and where it’s going to take you.”
e People Mover’s fate depends largely on what happens with the real estate it encircles. For instance, the closure of the Joe Louis Arena and the uncertain future of the Renaissance Center have threatened the rail with obsolescence.
more di cult for DDOT and SMART to keep their momentum.
“We’re really back to where we were,” Stupka said. “ e costs are going up and up, and the revenues are staying at.”
Ridership also has not recovered since the pandemic. ere were 22.8 million rides taken in 2023, up about 20% year over year but down 44% from 2019. Stupka said he expects that number to keep climbing, and he said the RTA is eyeing 2026 for a potential millage to seek more funding.
“Best thing we can do to have a chance is to continue to put new services on the street and take advantage of the Draft and other events,” he said.
Transit system improvements
Some of the big improvements this year for each major transit system in Southeast Michigan include:
◗ RTA — Rolled out a downtown
Detroit to Detroit Metro Airport express bus. Launched in March with a $2.5 million federal grant, the service is seeing close to 200 rides per day, far outpacing the initial hope for 100 daily rides in the rst six months.
◗ SMART — Launched new bus routes in Rochester, Waterford and Novi — the rst xed-route expansions in Oakland County in 20 years.
◗ DDOT — Increased service on Je erson Avenue; opened a new $31 million transit center on Eight Mile; and awarded a $30.8 million federal grant to purchase 21 new hybrid buses and its rst four hydrogen fuel cell coaches.
◗ Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority/ eRide — Secured $7 million in federal funding to aid the $23 million rebuild of Ypsilanti Transit Center; implemented an overlay express bus to speed up the trip between Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor.
◗ People Mover — Became free to
It’s also been criticized for its limitations, often viewed as a convenience for city visitors but of little use for Detroiters who need to get around beyond the main commercial corridor. ere has been chatter of extending it up Woodward and bringing it to Michigan Avenue and Je erson.
Veronique White, 33, would love to see that become a reality.
e QLine has been great for getting around to see some of the best Detroit has to o er, White said recently after exiting the railcar en route to the Detroit Institute of Arts with friend Domonique Simmons, 35.
“ e QLine is perfect for that,” she said. “It’s like a little sh. It doesn’t leave the pond. It’s very comfortable.”
Unlike the bus, it’s always on time, Simmons added.
“I would like it if it went farther out,” he said. “It’s almost like a little roller coaster, a sightseeing thing, like how the People Mover is for downtown.”
Robert Cramer, general manager of People Mover operator De-
e People Mover gave 655,284 rides last year, down 60% from 2019. Going fare-free does seem to be boosting ridership, as the railcars have tallied nearly 700,000 rides already this year.
“ e People Mover was originally designed to be a connector loop for more intense mass transit,” Cramer said. “I think that along the way, the People Mover can provide a lot of connectivity and value to improving transit across the region.”
User demands
e work-from-home era has hurt weekday ridership as downtown overall is less busy with ofce workers. What the People Mover has lost in that regard, though, it is making up with rsttime riders, said People Mover security guard Adam Rucker aboard an all-but-empty train car on a recent Monday morning.
“It’s become more of a tourist attraction now,” Rucker said. “Since this is free and the QLine is free, a lot more people are starting
“We are changing things so we can be more attractive as an employer.”
Rethinking the idea of mass transit is critical to reshaping the narrative that the Motor City and its suburbs have failed at it, said Ben Stupka, executive director of the Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan.
“People think we need light rail everywhere, but this is a very diverse, very large region,” Stupka said. “(It has) lots of different travel patterns, so we have to put a lot of di erent options out there, di erent styles for people to be able to use them.”
Evans said he is con dent that county voters would support an all-in millage even if it isn’t necessarily a slam dunk. at would pave the way for helping stabilize vulnerable communities and keep young people in the region, he said.
“My job here is not to ram transit down anyone’s throat,” Evans said. “My job here is to try to come up with a seamless process that doesn’t hurt any community and gives value to the mobility issue, which is becoming more and more important every year.”
to show up so they can see what’s going on in the city.”
New development also presents opportunity. A new hotel and apartments are being erected in place of the former hockey stadium, and a Dan Gilbert-backed plan to revitalize the RenCen promises more tra c to the site in the future. at could bring new purpose for the People Mover, which is scheduled to undergo one of the most signi cant renovations in its history. It is acquiring replacement railcars from the city of Toronto, which recently upgraded railcars identical to the People Mover right before a decision to retire the system.
Detroit is buying a dozen of the unique 40-foot railcars, plus specialized equipment and spare parts, for $6 million — a steal, considering their value to the city, Cramer said. at, combined with recently installed kiosks, new next-train arrival screens and an improved public address system, will buy the People Mover some time until longer-term decisions are made. e city nabbed an $800,000 state grant that will be used to study how the People Mover could be physically changed, for example new stations or an expanded track, which Mayor Mike Duggan has supported.
e e ort is re ective of a broader push to improve transit across the region, Cramer added.
“All of the providers have been trying di erent techniques to really improve the connectivity and access to the system,” he said.
Strong connection with transit is a goal worth achieving
Stand on just about any corner in downtown Detroit and chances are you’ll see People Mover trains glide by or hear their signature whirring above the streets. e Detroit People Mover is incredibly unique — an automated public transit system that winds through the cityscape with tight curves, elevated platforms and views great enough to stay on for an extra lap (or two) during the three-mile loop.
Robert Cramer is general manager of Detroit Transportation Corporation/ Detroit People Mover.
e same qualities above can also present challenges — communicating how to ride and where the system connects isn’t always intuitive, and a driverless system can sometimes mean not encountering team members outside Transit Police patrols. It’s a phenomenon I refer to as “hiding in plain sight,” and speaks to both our progress and our potential.
In the two years that I’ve served as general manager of the Detroit People Mover, the focus of our agency has been to build a stronger connection between a safe, reliable, useful asset and the residents, visitors and businesses it
supports. A high-quality experience for riders is our expectation, and our agency invests energy and resources strategically to maximize those bene ts and uplift our community.
New cameras and a public address system were modi ed to the technology upgrades in every station, adding 50inch, on-street and platform information screens with real-time train arrivals, replacing old displays with interactive touchscreen kiosks, and audio elements broadcasting high-quality, programmable messages.
e People Mover also introduced a refreshed logo and brand, bringing a modern, colorful and exciting look to our stations, way nding signage and materials. Perhaps most importantly, the agency is working harder than ever to be an active and positive force in the downtown neighborhood, to cultivate innovative projects, and to add value to corporate supporters like our rst-ever Zero Fare sponsor, Priority Waste.
e 2024 NFL Draft served as a milestone for our agency. Over a
short amount of time, the People Mover’s sta and partners provided unmatched mobility above the footprint and even illuminated the areas below with new, permanent column lighting. But our active role in the successful event’s security pro le, coordinated transit and shuttle connections, and transportation communications showed our value and progress beyond just running rail service.
Connecting with QLine, DDOT’s strong 24/7 network, SMART’s FAST routes, RTA’s D2A2 and DAX Express services, and even with the o -site parking shuttles, was an immediate reminder of how successful our network can be when coordinated and engaged. e Draft was just one stop in our progress forward along the track. Our outreach and engagement will continue to nd new and unique ways to make it easy and convenient to use the system for a great experience, making “hiding in plain sight” into “what a view from above.”
In the next 18 months, we will
make scheduled improvements to 20% of our track sections, add a data and performance metrics system, complete an agency strategic plan and replace our entire 12-car eet with modi ed rail vehicles from Toronto.
e Detroit People Mover has more potential in our current con guration and as an asset to a growing greater downtown Detroit residential neighborhood. With the assistance of a state planning grant, we’re embarking on a system planning e ort this fall to analyze a range of possible improvements to the Detroit People Mover that can support and grow the momentum of existing, designed and anticipated residential growth in the coming years.
National experts will join DTC, innovators in several city of Detroit departments, residents and major stakeholders in creating a system plan to build out a walkable, dense urban place with more housing options and convenient connections to other current and future transit services. It’s going to be quite a ride.
Transit caucus aims to solve challenges
There is a future where young professionals eagerly move to vibrant Michigan cities like Detroit, Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor. As the nation’s next generation of young adults look to settle down, they seek communities that are accessible and full of life.
To meet this vision, the need for a robust public transit system has never been more crucial. As co-chairs of the Michigan Public Transit Caucus, we are dedicated to championing improvements in our transit infrastructure to meet both current demands and future needs — we understand the problems and have a vision for solving them.
Establishing a long-term, comprehensive statewide transformational plan for transit is at the heart of our strategy. We need both the fundamentals of a strong, e cient, quality transit system and innovative new technologies to make transit work in each part of our great state.
Our state’s economic vitality, environmental sustainability and quality of life depend on residents being able to move around eciently and a ordably. Ultimate-
Democratic state Rep. Mike McFall (left) of Hazel Park represents the 8th District, which includes parts of Oakland and Wayne counties. Rep. Jason Morgan, a Democrat from Ann Arbor, represents the 23rd District, which includes parts of Oakland, Wayne and Washtenaw counties.
ly, state funding and policy changes are necessary to make transformational change a reality. First, we’re focused on supporting improvements that alleviate the daily struggles transit users face. To that end, a primary goal of the caucus is to enhance bus services. Residents across Michigan rely on buses as their primary mode of transportation, and delays or infrequent services can severely impact their daily lives, from getting to work on time to accessing essential services. Our local communities have made big
investments in these services already, modernizing eets with more user-friendly technology, but there needs to be additional and reliable state support.
Second, we envision a comprehensive transit network that seamlessly connects major cities and regions throughout Michigan, reducing congestion and promoting sustainable urban development.
is includes the expansion of services and the establishment of new transit lines that link key economic hubs, educational institutions and residential areas.
To transform communities into places that young families dream about, we need to build upon our current system with dedicated bus rapid transit, rail and intercity connections. ese investments are not possible through reliance on siloed property tax millages alone. e state must support people and communities by closing the nancial gap for e ective public transit. Can you imagine if we tried funding highways by convincing every single community along the routes to increase taxes on their homes and businesses?
ird, our dreams of growing vi-
brant and accessible communities that will grow and ourish are possible only with a comprehensive strategy connected to housing, jobs, education, entertainment and essential needs like groceries and child care. We need policy changes that support transit-oriented development, which encourages the creation of mixeduse communities around transit stations, thereby reducing reliance on personal vehicles and fostering vibrant, walkable neighborhoods. Improving public transit in Michigan is not just a transportation issue; it is a social, economic and environmental imperative. As lawmakers, we are dedicated to driving these improvements forward, building upon the groundwork laid by leaders before us. We call on our fellow policymakers, community leaders and residents to continue the ght with us in advocating for a transit system that supports our state’s growth and prosperity. Together, we can build a public transit system that is dependable, sustainable and inclusive, ensuring that Michigan remains a great place to live, work and thrive for generations to come.
The Detroit People Mover is re ected in the windows of a building on July 1.
REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION |
Small transit investments can produce more successes
It is no secret that Detroit’s regional public transit is mismatched with its ambitious vision of growth and innovation. Despite providing nearly 15 million trips to connect metro residents to work, school, health care and entertainment in 2022, the region still has the unfortunate distinction of having the worst-provisioned transit of any major metro area in the country.
and the stakes of failing to do so, the 2024 state transportation budget cut roughly 6% from local bus operating funds. When paired with projected increases in operating costs this year, the near-term outlook for large-scale new transit investments is underwhelming.
As a city and region experiencing signi cant economic investment and enjoying a long-overdue shift in national public opinion, Detroit and Southeast Michigan are recognizing that the lack of comprehensive regional transit places a ceiling on their future growth.
Fortunately, there is ample enthusiasm for strengthening the Detroit region’s public transportation network. Stalwart advocates such as Transportation Riders United have provided policy and development recommendations to state and local entities and organized community events that demonstrate how indispensable transit is for the everyday mobility of low- and middle-income residents.
Speaking to di erent interests, billionaire entrepreneur Dan Gilbert has also touted the bene ts of regional transit, believing it to be crucial for professional talent attraction and retention for Detroit businesses. Despite this excitement for more transit investment
Despite the budget cuts, there are numerous incremental, lower-cost investments that local transit providers can implement to have a substantial impact on daily, occasional and new transit riders’ experience.
Major corridors such as Gratiot and Woodward avenues in Detroit and Saginaw Street in Flint would greatly bene t from tra c signal priority for transit, allowing buses to move more rapidly along their routes. is investment would be an initial step toward the region’s plan to develop a bus rapid transit network, providing a demonstration of e cient bus travel that would surely attract new riders. Signal priority would be particularly impactful for Detroit’s ConnectTen and suburban FAST bus routes, which carry passengers along the region’s major arterial roads but get stuck in trafc, frequently making trips between downtown and the suburbs stretch to 50 minutes.
Long-standing regional cooperation problems continue to make travel between Detroit and its northern suburbs ine cient and frustrating. ere has been
recent progress on this issue, as the opening of the Jason Hargrove Transit Center near Eight Mile Road, the county boundary, should provide greater connectivity between suburban and urban routes.
However, Eight Mile continues to present impediments to ecient travel, as transit riders can only cross north or south along a small handful of major avenues, presenting an accessibility problem in such a sprawling metro region. Suburban Detroit’s transit provider strives to connect communities that formerly opted out of its bus network, and similar
Let’s turn momentum on regional transit into permanent progress
The next few months will be transformational for Southeast Michigan’s transit landscape — and for our state as a whole. In conversations with community partners and government leaders, we’ve turned a corner, where people no longer ask whether comprehensive regional transit is necessary but how we can get it.
mentum into permanent progress.
I recently met with organizers of a conference in downtown Detroit. In previous years they directed attendees to rental car services. is year, they’ll be recommending the new Detroit Air Xpress, with direct coach service between downtown Detroit and Metro Airport. Add to that major transit expansions and Detroit Department of Transportation and Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation service realignments, and we have real momentum. Now, we need to turn mo-
at begins in earnest with conversations between established transit leaders combined with the business and political communities. In the past, these discussions happened on a need-toknow basis — for example, when a major employer was interested in relocating jobs to the region and leaders wanted a plan for employee transportation options.
Statewide reports and national trends now show that transit is less e ective when it’s an afterthought.
By lacking comprehensive transit, Michigan has lost ground to peer states and regions, as recent college graduates and young families opt to locate elsewhere.
e NFL Draft proved what we can do when we work together, as transit providers added extra routes and shattered ridership re-
cords. e regional economic impact far exceeded estimates. While the Draft is a standout example, strong and reliable transit service catalyzes our economy and enables residents daily. In a survey of riders who take our D2A2 pilot route, a nonstop coach service between Detroit and Ann Arbor, a quarter say they wouldn’t make the trip without this transit option. To me, that says fewer jobs lled and events attended.
Coordination within our region is how we land the big prizes — federal investments and large employers — that are luring Michiganders to other states. e Michigan Legislature established the Regional Transit Authority in 2012 to ll this role: to plan, fund and coordinate regional transit. And we’ve made progress. e past 10 years have brought fare consolidation and FAST service by SMART. Headlines this year have included the recently developed DDOT Jason Hargrove Transit Center, kicko of the new Ypsilanti Transit Center project,
smaller investments such as extending some of its existing routes southward across the Eight Mile border would be a boon to longtime bus commuters and a significant step toward comprehensive transit.
We are in a moment when a larger, more diverse coalition of Southeast Michigan residents recognizes the potential bene ts of comprehensive transit than ever before. Whether intended to increase regional accessibility for everyday commuters, to court health care and tech workers with versatile lifestyle options, or to support the independence of ag-
ing, young and disabled residents, investments in public transportation strengthen our region’s case as a world-class destination. ough funding continues to be a persistent impediment to progress, more incremental investments can provide momentum and demonstrate how Detroit’s livability and growth are tied to improving transit. We all stand to directly bene t from it. As the executive director of Transportation Riders United, Megan Owens, says, “We all depend on people who depend on transit, even if you don’t personally ride transit.”
upgraded frequent service infrastructure on Je erson Avenue, and low- and no-emission buses in Detroit and Ann Arbor, supported by $55 million in federal funds.
Soon, one more star will slide into place, with the expected incorporation of the QLine into the RTA’s operating umbrella. Bringing the QLine into the public transit ecosystem has myriad benets. Instantly, the streetcar will be eligible for funding that it couldn’t access before. And this is without additional taxpayer burden.
But I’m most excited about the potential to create shared regional wins by building stronger con-
nections across all transit options.
Of course, funding is the largest hurdle. is year, a newly formed Transit Caucus in the state Legislature tenaciously rallied behind transformative transit funding, the likes of which our state has never seen. We’re moving in the right direction. But as the major metropolitan region with the lowest per-capita spending on transit, we need to make a big splash.
For so long, our region squabbled over the question: “Do we need comprehensive transit?” As we try to convince employers and our children to make their home in Michigan, it’s clear, the answer is YES. Now, let’s make it happen.
Ben Stupka is executive director of the Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan.
Eric Bettis is an associate professor of urban studies and planning at Wayne State University.
Riders wait for the QLine as it nears the station in Detroit on July 1. | NIC ANTAYA
As people packed into the NFL Draft space in downtown Detroit in April, public transit became a key way for them to navigate the city. | DUSTIN WALSH
1 GENERAL MOTORS CO.
Detroit48265 313-667-1500; gm.com
MACOMB COUNTY'S LARGEST EMPLOYERS
STELLANTIS (FORMERLY FCA US LLC) Auburn Hills48326 248-576-5741; stellantis.com
U.S. GOVERNMENT Detroit48226 313-226-4910; usa.gov
4 FORD MOTOR CO. Dearborn48126 313-322-3000; ford.com
Sterling Heights48312 586-797-1000; uticak12.org
ASCENSION MICHIGAN Warren48092 866-501-3627; ascension.org/michigan
7 MACOMB COUNTY Mt. Clemens48043 586-469-7001; macombgov.org
CarolSchmidt senior vice president, Ascension, and ministry market executive, Ascension Michigan
Warren48088 586-445-7999; macomb.edu
ResearchedbySonyaD.Hill:shill@crain.com|ThislistofMacombCountyemployersencompassescompaniesheadquarteredinWashtenaw,Oakland,Wayne,MacomborLivingstoncounties. CompanieswithheadquarterselsewherearelistedwiththeaddressandtopexecutiveoftheirmainDetroitareaof ce.GeneralMotorsCo.declinedtoprovidecurrentcounty-level guresthisyear.The U.S.PostalService,whichwasNo.19onlastyear'slistdidnotrespondbeforepublication.Thisisnotacompletelistingbutthemostcomprehensiveavailable.Unlessotherwisenoted,information wasprovidedbythecompanies.Numberoffull-timeemployeesmayincludefull-timeequivalents.NA=notavailable. e. Crain'sestimate. 1. AsofJanuary. 2. AsofDecember2023. 3. AsofDecember 2022. 4. FiguresareFTEcountsfromtheCenterforEducationalPerformanceandInformation. 5. IncludesnumberforMcLarenMacombhospital. 6. EstimatebasedonnumbersfromMWPVLInternational Inc. 7. Beaumont Health and Spectrum Health merged as an integrated health system with the temporary name BHSH Health on Feb. 1, 2022. Rebranded as Corewell Health in October 2022. Want the full Excel version of this list — and every list? Become a Data Member: CrainsDetroit.com/data
PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
ACCOUNTING
Michigan CFO
Mike Lynn, CPA, CFE joins Michigan CFO Associates as a Consulting CFO. Mike brings 35 of experience in multiple industries including contracting, manufacturing, wholesale, trucking, and service. Having owned several businesses himself, Mike understands the unique challenges faced by successful entrepreneurs and enjoys providing business leaders with timely, relevant information to make informed decisions. Welcome, Mike!
ENGINEERING / DESIGN
Ciorba Group, Inc.
Kapnick Insurance
INSURANCE
Kapnick Insurance
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS / INS.
BeneSys, Inc.
BeneSys, a leader in Tart-Hartley Trust Fund Administration, has promoted Joseph Krajacic Jr. to National Director of Retirement Plan Services. Joe has over 20 years of experience and has been with BeneSys since 2011, serving as East Coast Pension Director. In his new role, he will continue to oversee the pension and annuity work we perform for our clients, servicing hundreds of retirement plans representing nearly half a million members, bene ciaries, and dependents throughout the country.
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS / INS.
BeneSys, Inc.
BeneSys, a leader in Tart-Hartley Trust Fund Administration, has promoted Dayna Thorman to Senior Vice President, Operations. Dayna has 20 years of experience and has led project management, member services, enrollment and claims teams. Her innovative ideas and service improvements have built strong teams and even stronger client relationships. In her new role she’ll continue to be a vital asset to the team, driving operational excellence and providing the best member experience in the industry.
Ciorba Group, a civil engineering rm focused on transportation infrastructures, is pleased to welcome Deveron Q. Sanders, PE as our new Michigan Regional Manager. Deveron, a graduate of the University of Michigan, brings 20+ years of experience in engineering and construction management of infrastructure in Michigan. Deveron, who is Chair of the State of Michigan Board of Professional Engineers, will have a key role in working with our current clients and in growing our operation in Michigan.
Jason McLelland and Keith Tubergen have become Kapnick Insurance’s newest partners. Jason and Keith both joined Kapnick in 2021 and have signi cantly contributed to Kapnick’s growth and success in their respective industry specializations.
Jason has developed Kapnick’s construction industry solutions and surety expertise.
GOVERNMENT / NGO
Great Lakes Water Authority
GLWA has promoted William M. Wolfson to the newly established role of Deputy CEO from Chief Administrative and Compliance Of cer. Prior to joining GLWA at its stand-up, Wolfson served as the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department’s rst general counsel and played a pivotal role in the founding of GLWA during Detroit’s bankruptcy. He has more than 40 years’ experience providing public sector and private industry legal counsel and management consulting services.
HEALTHCARE
Ascension Genesys Hospital
Julie Lepzinski, RN, BSN, MBA, FHM, has been appointed president of Ascension Genesys Hospital in Grand Blanc. She served as Vice President of Operations since October of 2023. Julie is a transformative, accomplished healthcare executive with 20 years of leadership across multiple integrated healthcare organizations. She has proven results in business and clinical integration, strategic planning and management. As a servant leader, she is focused on inclusive, sustainable, patientcentered care.
Keith has expanded their transportation and towing practice while also leading Kapnick’s small commercial risk division, nurturing innovative risk solutions for small business leaders. Jim Kapnick, CEO, commented: “I’m thrilled to have them as partners. Their commitment to our success has been exceptional, and they will play a critical role in Kapnick maintaining our independence and driving the rm&’s future growth.”
HOSPITALITY
The Henry, Autograph Collection
Vice President of Operations for Greenwood Hospitality powered by Hotel Equities, Randy Taormina, announced recently, the promotion of John Lerchen to General Manager of The Henry, Autograph Collection Hotel in Dearborn, Michigan, effective July 22, 2024. Lerchen started at The Henry as the Director of Sales in May of 2021. As the DOS of the property, John was instrumental in realigning and leading the Sales and Catering Department to help produce two of the highest group and catering revenue.
not?
Kapnick Insurance welcomes Jon Livingston as a new Client Executive in Employee Bene ts. With extensive HR and payroll software sales experience where he assisted HR leaders of organizations with employees ranging from 100 to 1000, Jon is passionate about simplifying clients’ day-to-day tasks. Eager to leverage Kapnick’s tools and resources, Jon aims to solve client problems and elevate service standards.
NONPROFIT
Girl Scouts
Southeastern Michigan
Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan has welcomed Lora Cabarios as Chief Philanthropy Of cer. Previously, Lora worked at Leader Dogs for the Blind where she transformed Major Giving, Planned Giving, and Estates. She is a member of the Planned Giving Roundtable and the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Cabarios will focus on raising GSSEM’s philanthropy pro le and engaging the southeast Michigan corporate and civic communities around girls’ and women’s leadership development.
deploy this capital, we want to be doing this for the rest of our lives. To do that, you need to raise another fund, probably slightly higher, but we always want to be investing. We always want to be the earliest supporter of the company, and be with that founder from day one.”
Electric Plant founder Justin Mast was connected with Schram through Newlab, and 640 Oxford ultimately decided to invest in the plant bioware company. Mast said he could not disclose the amount the startup received from 640 Oxford, but said that having the close community that Newlab at Michigan Central likely played a role in the rm’s investment.
“There’s a lot of VCs in the world that are pretending to be helpful. 640 Oxford is probably like the most active set of humans I’ve seen in the ecosystem.”
Garrett Winther, head of startups and venture at Newlab
Golden Limousine International
“As a second time founder, it’s not hard to meet investors and I would say even for rst time founders, we now have enough momentum in the Detroit ecosystem where, if you’re building something interesting and exciting, you can get intros to investors,” Mast said. “I think what’s much harder to do is get to know investors before, in an authentic way, before you end up in business with them. And so for me personally, I really prefer and lean towards working with investors where I have established relationships … in the case of 640 and Brandon, I had not worked with them before, but being together in the space, I think, gave us both a way of kind of observing and getting to know each other, sort of sizing each other up in a, I’d say, a more natural way before it got to those conversations.”
Why not?
Celebrate your success with promotional products!
Celebrate your success with promotional products!
• Digital Reprint
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Contact: Laura Picariello
Sales Manager
Contact: Laura Picariello
732.723.0569
Sales Manager
lpicariello@crain.com
732.723.0569
lpicariello@crain.com
Alina Verdiyan is a seasoned nance professional and CFO at Golden Limousine International, with over 20 years in banking and nance. An EMBA graduate from the University of Michigan, she excels in nancial analysis, risk management, and startup consulting. An immigrant with a resilient spirit, Alina also engages in community work, enjoys golf and tennis, and loves spending time with her dogs.
It’s connections like this that make the Newlab community so valuable. Garrett Winther, head of startups and venture at Newlab, said part of the model is to integrate venture capital rms into the community so that they can work closely alongside the entrepreneurs.
“ ere’s a lot of VCs in the world that are pretending to be helpful. 640 Oxford is probably like the most active set of humans I’ve seen in the ecosystem, in terms of the level of generosity and thoughtfulness and hard work that Brandon puts into the ecosystem (that) is next level,” Winther said. “Even companies he’s not going to invest in, he will go out of his way to make introductions to other investors or to potential customers … he’s putting in a level of e ort that is very rare in the venture capital community.”
Tubergen
McLelland
Michigan unveils Growth Of ce to focus on growing population
By David Eggert
LANSING — e Michigan Economic Development Corp. on July 19 announced the creation of Michigan’s Growth O ce, which is tasked with working to implement population-growth strategies following a report that was issued last year by a soon-to-bedisbanded council that was created by the governor.
e o ce is led by Hilary Doe, who has been the state’s rst chief growth o cer for more than a year. She was executive director of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Growing Michigan Together Council. e o ce is operationalizing council recommendations and promoting the state as a place to live and work, the MEDC said. On July 18, Whitmer issued an
executive order to abolish the council, e ective Sept. 17. In December, the group of business and other leaders issued three strategies with nine overarching recommendations — including to make Michigan an “innovation hub,” develop regional public transit systems, add or rehabilitate housing stock and create a pre-K-14 system that includes two additional years of free education.
Hilary Doe
Many of the recommendations require legislative and gubernatorial action and could take years to implement. e o ce will use existing state employees, not add new hires. It will launch pilots and programs aimed at sparking growth and will lead related storytelling, research and policy ini-
tiatives, the MEDC said. Michigan’s population is projected to decline 1.3% by 2050 while the U.S. will grow 8% by then, a signi cant threat to the state’s prosperity and well-being, according to the council’s report. Michigan ranks second to last in population growth since 2000.
e Whitmer administration said the next state budget, which she signed this month, supports population-growth e orts. ey pointed to new funding for an Innovation Fund for startup companies and additional funding to o er tuition-free community college and build more a ordable housing as examples.
Ally CEO plays to bank’s auto strength
pass-through and SmartAuction businesses.
New Ally Financial Inc. leader Michael Rhodes plans to prioritize Ally’s strengths such as its auto business rather than “emerging opportunities” available to the bank, he said July 18 while leading his rst earnings call as CEO.
Rhodes was responding to a question by KBW analyst Sanjay Sakhrani, who said Ally was “a monoline in auto” and asked about the new CEO’s thoughts on diversifying the business.
Rhodes called it important to assess where a business can compete and how it would succeed.
“In terms of where we’re going to compete, I do nd that the auto business is a very attractive ecosystem for us,” said Rhodes, who assumed the CEO role April 29.
He said he viewed Ally’s auto business as an ecosystem because Ally not only loans to consumers, it nances dealerships, sells insurance and has programs and other revenue such as its
“We really have a compelling reason why we can win in the auto space,” Rhodes said. He said a company would want to “double down on where you have a real reason to win. And so, you look at that, and I’m just very pleased with where we are.”
As for banking, “what we’ve done with deposits is really quite remarkable,” Rhodes said. “Everyone wants to build a digital bank, and this team did it better than anyone.”
Ally has some “emerging opportunities,” but it will play to its strengths, Rhodes said.
“You can see that we’re being a little more slow in terms of what we’re trying to do in those emerging opportunities, because the best use of capital right now is really the things that we do very well and have defensible reasons to win,” he said. “And that’s where you’re going to see us allocating our expenses and our capital in the near term.”
Rhodes said “the investment Ally has made [during] the past decade has resulted in unique
ONESTREAM
shows returns. In 2020, when 471 companies in the United States went public, the average rst-day IPO gain was 36%.
“It’s an honor for me to be here sharing this moment with you. It marks a major milestone in our journey,” Shea said at Nasdaq July 24. “We’re here because of this team’s e ort, the trust that our customers have put into us, as well as the support of all of our partners globally. We founded OneStream 12 years ago with a simple core belief: With the right technology and insight, CFOs could take nance beyond backward-looking views and really become a strategic partner and asset to the business.”
Shea said the process of bringing his company from inception to being publicly traded demonstrates that “if you have a great vision and you keep executing on it, you can achieve it.”
e company has been considering pursuing an IPO for years and set internal goals to keep it on track for success. Shea cited the company’s partnership with New York-headquartered private equity company KKR & Co. Inc., which has been with the company since it reached $100 million in revenue in 2019.
When the company reached a revenue of $500 million, OneStream began focusing on scaling the business.
“From the outside looking in, (the process) looks like it went quickly. We just happened to be preparing behind the scenes for a number of years, so that when we felt we were ready to enter the public markets, we could do that,” Shea said.
Being publicly traded provides many bene ts to OneStream, which focuses on serving the ofce of the chief nancial o cer at
major public and private companies. Shea said being public assists the work OneStream does by creating familiarity and long-term partnerships with its customers, as well as increases awareness of the company globally.
e company will continue to invest in research and development surrounding arti cial intelligence to help CFOs deliver on core nancial processes. Shea said OneStream is looking to grow its footprint in di erent regions, including Europe and the Asia-Paci c region, where the company already has o ces.
OneStream kicked o the year’s biggest U.S. IPO week last week, raising about $490 million in its initial public o ering. Novi-based cold storage company Lineage began trading on Nasdaq July 25 in the largest initial public o ering of the year.
“I have a huge amount of pride being from Michigan. Myself and many of the other co-founders are Michigan born and raised,” Shea said. “So for us, what I always like to share with everyone is we really do have a deep engineering culture in Michigan. When you think of our roots with automotive and all the high-tech manufacturing that’s going on, we’re just proud to be out here, showing that we can make great software too.”
— Bloomberg News reporters Amy Or and Bailey Lipschultz contributed to this report.
scale, expertise in prime auto and mutually bene cial relationships with our dealer customers.”
Ally has 4,500 auto nance employees, including more than 600 underwriters, Rhodes said.
During the second quarter, the bank received 3.7 million auto credit applications, took on $9.8 billion worth of auto loans and leases and did business with 21,825 dealerships.
Rhodes also shared his more general impressions about Ally and its strategy in an exchange with another analyst. He said he had a “tremendous respect for what the team has built,” called Ally “well-positioned” for the future of the banking industry, and said he would focus on carrying out plans Ally had in place.
Ally has “a strong several years ahead of us” and a “very attractive earnings ramp. ... And so it’s very important to me that we execute,” Rhodes said.
“Don’t read this that we’re on autopilot,” Rhodes said. Ally will still “optimize our use of capital. And we will take a hard look at everything. Just don’t expect any signi cant near-term shifts.”
R E
Tom Shea, CEO of OneStream, appears at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York City July 24.
Luring young people to Michigan cities like Detroit has been one of the priorities in efforts to increase the state’s population. KYLE E/UNSPLASH
John Huetter, Automotive News
Entrance Drive in Auburn Hills in 2019 for $2 million and, in January 2023, embarked on a $3 million buildout of the space that was completed this year.
Included in the renovation is a new 8,000-square-foot research and development space, which Whisker President and CEO Jacob Zuppke, 35, said the company aims to ll with at least 40 more engineers by the same time next year.
e company already has openings for 20 new positions online.
e renovation was driven by the goal of exemplifying the company’s tech background, while also creating a space where people wanted to come to work, Zuppke said.
“We want to make it very, ‘I want to leave my house and work in the o ce again’ friendly,” Zuppke told Crain’s. “I think that was kind of our mission for the space, to make people remember why they want to come into the o ce, because so much of our team has been hybrid that we wanted to make sure it was very inviting for them to come back.”
Some aspects of the renovation include a new atrium, new working spaces, more pet-friendly areas and newly designed o ce spaces.
ough the company’s team includes over 600 employees, Zuppke said it is looking to have approximately 165 in-person employees by October.
“All the hires that we’ve made over the last six months or so have been intentional hybrid hires. ere are a couple exceptions to
that rule where we are willing to still hire remote; we want to make sure that we don’t lose out on the best talent, but we are hyperfocused on nding people that are willing to relocate,” Zuppke said.
“And part of our goal is that everybody is relocating here. We’re getting people with top tech talent, which is really exciting now.”
Part of this expansion is because the company is gearing up to release a line of new products next year, Zuppke said, and because the company is translating its website into new languages for consumers in Germany, France, Canada and, soon, Japan.
While the company has no global employees, it will service consumers directly with its updated websites. In the United Kingdom, Whisker has also recently partnered with Londonheadquartered John Lewis & Partners, a department store where its customers will be able to purchase a Litter-Robot online or in store.
Across the U.S., Whisker has also expanded its partnership with Best Buy, PetSmart and
Tennessee-headquartered Hollywood Feed, o ering products both in person and online. At the stores, the company has developed kiosks that show o the Litter-Robot.
Consumers can now purchase a Litter-Robot at 393 PetSmart locations, eight of which are in Michigan and 253 Best Buy locations across the U.S.
e eight-year compound annual growth rate for Whisker is 50%, Zuppke said.
“In 25 years, we’ve never raised venture capital. In 25 years, we’ve never had an infused investment aside from our founder’s father, who put the rst $35,000 in,” Zuppke said. “We added no capital to our balance sheet. We’ve all operated pro tably since 2005. And we’ve maintained to make our own investments in the future of the company and we don’t take any investment from any outside parties. at’s something we’ve been very proud of for a long time, to grow a hardware company as large as we have without taking capital and operating pro tably, because it’s rare to nd.”
LIVERNOIS
From Page 1
Warren lives in the Green Acres neighborhood. She opened You Baking Me Crazy bakery on June 11 at 19126 Livernois Ave. just north of Seven Mile Road. Warren has a long history with the Avenue of Fashion.
“Having lived in Detroit all my life, I’ve always known about this area,” she said. “My family and I would visit a lot of businesses, a lot of restaurants. ere are multiple businesses that we’d visit and support and that’s going to continue while we work to nd our place here as a business.”
Black business owners like Warren have long found their place on Livernois, particularly since the 1960s, as the Jewish population in the area dwindled and prominent African Americans began to settle into the surrounding neighborhoods, Visit Detroit noted.
Around 95% of the businesses on the stretch are independent and Black-owned. e Avenue of Fashion is home to local fashion designers, service providers, retailers and restaurateurs. ere are stores selling men’s shoes and clothing, as well as hair salons, a racket shop, an art gallery, the legendary Baker’s Keyboard Lounge and a bakery.
Redford resident Lola Lucania opened Lucania Lavish Couture boutique in August at 17388 Livernois Ave. just north of McNichols Road. Lucania, who in 2007 ran a boutique out of a storefront farther north on Livernois, told Crain’s that the history of the area and the demographic makeup brought her back.
“We serve everybody, don’t get me wrong,” Lucania said. “But there’s just something about seeing all these Black-owned businesses in one spot that makes me proud. Running a business isn’t easy for anybody. ere’s a lot that goes into it, but seeing people who look like me work as hard as they do and thrive the way they have gives me a little bit of added motivation.”
Plenty of business owners are motivated to open along the avenue, which underwent a streetscape overhaul in 2019-20. e Motor City Match program from the Detroit Economic Growth Corp. has seen 16 cash grant winners open businesses along Livernois since it began in 2015.
DEGC Vice President of Small Business Services Sean Gray called the Livernois business corridor a big part of Detroit’s legacy.
“Growing up a few blocks away on West Outer Drive, I’ve seen the ups and downs of the area,” Gray said in a statement. “Seeing it evolve into what it is today is like watching Detroit’s spirit in action. ese shops and restaurants are not just businesses. ey’re our neighbors, our history and a big piece of our future. It’s this kind of local energy that’s really driving Detroit’s resurgence.”
Changing landscape
e Avenue of Fashion got its name in the 1950s and 1960s, when it was a popular shopping
destination for high-end clothing, accessories and other boutique items.
e area in the 1960s became a shopping destination as Black Americans with disposable income ocked to the neighborhood. But businesses closed in the coming decades as residents moved out and recessions depressed the economy. But like downtown, Midtown and other areas of the city, the Avenue of Fashion has seen a turnaround over the last decade or so.
‘One of my favorite streets’
Entrepreneur Rufus Bartell has developed six storefronts on the Avenue of Fashion since 2005. at includes men’s fashion boutique Simply Casual at 19400 Livernois Ave. Bartell has helped recruit others to the area, too, including his nephew, Ron Bartell, who opened the popular Kuzzo’s Chicken & Wa es at 19345 Livernois Ave. in 2015. Rufus Bartell is also part of the group that brought restaurant Petty Cash restaurant and cocktail lounge to the area two years ago.
Bartell told Crain’s that the strip of Livernois was unrecognizable 18 years ago. He helped establish the Independent Business Association Detroit Community Development Corp., which began marketing the area as a shopping and dining district.
Along with the Avenue of Fashion, other sections of Livernois are included in the group:
◗ Liv 7, the cross-section between Livernois and Seven Mile ◗ Liv 6, the cross-section between Livernois and McNichols ◗ e University District, which is bordered by Seven Mile, West McNichols, Parkside and Livernois
“Livernois is one of my favorite streets in Detroit,” Bartell said. “I grew up farther south, o Tireman, but I love the neighborhoods in the city. e neighborhoods are what make a city strong and viable. Oftentimes, what people do is they’ll move into certain neighborhoods based on what amenities they have. I
An employee works on a Litter-Robot at Whisker’s Auburn Hills headquarters. | WHISKER
Detroit nished a large-scale streetscape project in 2020 that widened sidewalks and added bike lanes along Livernois Avenue between Seven and Eight Mile roads, also known as the Avenue of Fashion.
| MATT POLLOCK
just thought the amenities in the area, the people in the area, were woefully underserved in terms of amenities and decided to do something about it.”
e area, particularly the Avenue of Fashion, began a new comeback early in the last decade. Bartell said that growth came because of a change of perspective. At one point around 2010, the one-mile stretch of Livernois had 15-30 Black-owned retailers that couldn’t get the same tra c as nearby malls Northland, Eastland and Fair-
lane, he said.
“All those malls had at least 140 stores and they were thriving,”
Bartell said. “We found there was a trade de cit between how Black people engage other cultures in the city, so we were buying from other groups of people but there was no reciprocity. What we did was organize amongst ourselves and began to collectively market to let people know who was here and that we’ve got just as great a selection of stores and items as everybody else.”
A push was made to make
the businesses along the project’s path. Lack of parking and access caused some businesses to close and others to delay opening. e city boosted marketing e orts for the area and the DEGC providednancial assistance to help tide over the businesses.
With the project complete and visitors and shoppers returning, events like Light Up Livernois take full advantage of the improvements.
“ at streetscape project was a game changer,” Bartell said. “I was an advocate for a 24-foot sidewalk. Because of the project, we can do programming right on the sidewalk outside our stores. We could add cafe-style restaurants. We could put in a walking path on the bike path contained in the sidewalk rather than in the street.”
Lucania said the streetscape project helped add another aspect to what the area has to o er.
“I run a fashion boutique,” she said. “For me to be able to put the mannequins on the sidewalk and put some of my designs on them makes a big di erence.”
Tales of perseverance
Lily’s & Elise Tea House opened in June in a 4,000-square-foot space at 19037 Livernois Ave. just south of Seven Mile Road.
Owner Kimberly Elise is an east sider but couldn’t pass up a chance to open her business on the historic business corridor on the west side.
“ ere were other neighborhoods I looked in, but knowing what I know about Livernois, I had to be a part of it,” Elise said. “I think it should be a big deal for a business to open here.”
It is a big deal for Elise. e former educator signed a lease for the Livernois space in 2019. e COVID-19 pandemic stopped her from opening in 2020, but Elise still had to pay rent on the space on top of the $100,000 she initially invested into the business.
Now the bright space with pink decor and a large tree near the entryway is open and thriving. Elise, a certified tea sommelier, said she never thought about quitting.
“I poured my life savings into this. I was always going to see it through,” Elise said. “Being here was always the plan. When I think about the history, the tenacity and the determination the business owners on this block have, there’s no way I could have quit.”
Bartell has seen that determination in action. He said long-standing and new merchants have put the business stretch in a position to continue thriving for a long time.
“We’ve had so much growth in the area over the last handful of years. And it’s what businesses people want. We’ve got a health and wellness center, plenty of restaurants and boutiques and other services,” Bartell said. “Yes, I know the area has a lot of history, but it feels like more people should know about it. We’re all working to make sure that happens.”
the neighborhood more walkable and further revive the corridor.
e city began a large-scale streetscape project in 2019, which was completed in fall 2020. Two miles of road were rebuilt to add integrated stormwater management and protected bike lanes and make streetscape improvements, including wider sidewalks.
e $18 million project was led by New Orleans-based SMM to integrate greenspace and increase pedestrian and bicyclist access and safety.
e project was disruptive for
Lucania Lavish Couture boutique owner Lola Lucania opened her business in August on Livernois just north of McNichols Road. It’s the second business she has owned on the street. JAY DAVIS
Kimberly Elise opened Lily’s & Elise Tea House on Livernois in June. | JAY DAVIS
Kuzzo’s Chicken & Waf es was quickly popular when it opened along the Avenue of Fashion in 2015. | ROBERT DEEK/VISIT DETROIT
Entrepreneur Rufus Bartell stands outside his Simply Casual men’s boutique, one of a half-dozen businesses he has opened along Detroit’s Avenue of Fashion since 2005. | JAY DAVIS
THE CONVERSATION
Chanell Scott Contreras is the CEO of Michigan’s only green bank
Chanell Scott Contreras is the CEO of Michigan Saves, the country’s rst nonpro t green bank and the only green bank in Michigan. Green banks target the overarching goal of reducing climate change by nancing climate-friendly and renewable energy projects. Headquartered in Lansing, Michigan Saves was founded in 2010. Contreras joined in November 2023, becoming the rst Black woman to be CEO of a green bank.
What is a green bank?
Green banks provide access to nancing and access to capital that can be utilized for purposes that mitigate climate change and support a healthier environment, and often have a range of products and programs that work towards these goals of supporting the environment. Some green banks are structured as government agencies or quasigovernment agencies and others are nonpro ts, like Michigan Saves. ey might also focus on speci c areas of nancing based on goals that their state might have as well. At Michigan Saves, we know that we nd a lot of alignment with the governor’s MI Healthy Climate Plan and we think their plans and our mission work really well together.
How does Michigan Saves stand apart from traditional banks and other green banks in the country?
We were the rst nonpro t green bank in the country and we were one of the earliest leaders on our loan loss reserve model, which is a network-based nancing approach, where Michigan Saves partners with other community lenders, like credit unions, to design energy nancing products that work well for community members through the credit unions that serve various communities. We’ve utilized this loan loss reserve model over the last 15 years and it’s grown tremendously. Last year, in fact, we did over $120 million in loans through this network-based approach in
SHINOLA
Awenate Cobbina, who now heads up Shinola’s hospitality business after Steve Katzman stepped into the CEO role of Shinola parent Bedrock Manufacturing Co.
“For Shinola, there is the added benefit of marketing,” Cobbina told Crain’s. “You go into a market like Indianapolis, where there’s not a Shinola store currently, and you get brand recognition in that market as a first entrant.”
e growth play for Shinola is in brand awareness, which it aims to achieve through licensing deals with hotels — a new one every year, ideally. Watches are still the core business, but that segment generally has stagnated.
By | Anna Fifelski
partnership with credit unions and other community lenders and that model has become a template that has been used across the country. Beyond that, Michigan Saves is well known for our contractor network.
We’ve worked with over 1,100 contractors, and we authorize them and train them on the Michigan Saves products that we o er through our credit union partners and community lender partners. rough our network of contractors, we are able to serve homeowners and building owners across the state, so that network is very powerful. It also allows everyday people, everyday Michiganders, to make healthier choices for their home and for the climate at the time that these decisions matter most.
How do you plan to utilize the grant Michigan Saves is
Shinola has diversified its product offerings to include journals, jewelry, leather goods, turntables and accessories to expand its appeal. The company has been about break-even every year since the COVID-19 pandemic and hopes for growth through increased marketing. Shinola declined to provide revenue figures.
Shinola has been scoping out hotel branding opportunities throughout the country for the past couple of years. A little more than a year ago, it responded to an RFP from Boxcar after the developer’s original plan for the downtown Indy site failed to launch. Boxcar is owned by the Herb Simon family, which has a small investment in Shinola.
“When I and others visited Indy, we realized how central
receiving from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund?
We do expect that agreement (of around $95 million) to be nalized towards the end of July or early August. We have been designing new products in relation to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund award. We have a long history of o ering our head Home Energy Loan program as well as our Detroit Loan Fund. We’ll be expanding both of those programs through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund award, but we will also be deploying some new products, like our tax credit bridge nancing for tax-exempt organizations, like municipalities and nonpro ts. We will also be developing more commercial products to support energy e ciency and clean energy and commercial building applications.
You took over the helm as CEO in November 2023. What have you accomplished since then and what are your goals going forward?
is is an incredibly exciting time at Michigan Saves. Of course, we’re gearing up to roll out new programs and signi cantly increase the amount of nancing capital that we are deploying across Michigan. And so, to support these e orts in our organization, one of my rst goals was to understand what the landscape of energy nancing looks like today in Michigan. It became pretty clear to me early on that our core programs are really strong and
their site was,” Cobbina said. “It’s near hotels, adjacent to the arena. It’s near the football stadium and the convention center. We really felt like this type of hotel product did not exist in Indianapolis and that Indianapolis would be a good market for Shinola.”
The Shinola hotel in Indianapolis will feature a mix of deluxe rooms and suites within a 13-story tower that will also house an upscale restaurant, banquet and meeting space, fitness center and a Shinola retail store.
The developer in Indy is aiming to start construction in the fall and complete the project by the fourth quarter of 2027.
“We think that increasing brand awareness is the right way to grow,” Cobbina said.
Sage Hospitality operates more
can grow, but that, especially on the residential side, we also have a huge opportunity to meet the needs of the commercial market. ere’s a lot of e ort being put into our organization-wide work plan. It includes hiring for new roles, re ning existing roles, and setting really clear goals about the development of products and the deployment of nancing capital, especially over the next year. So this is a critical time and I think our team is o to a wonderful start, but we certainly have our work cut out for us. But I feel really con dent about leading this e ort, because I’ve helped to grow other nancing organizations in the past, and though they weren’t focused on energy nancing and they had a di erent target market, the skills and strategies are highly transferable. So I’m really excited to be here at this time and looking forward to collaborating with our team over the next year and growing our team next year.
When you’re not at the bank ghting climate change, what do you like to do in your spare time?
I have two young kids, so I mostly spend my time keeping them entertained and alive. But beyond my children, I also love my plants. I keep some of my favorites (in my o ce), but I think I have around 40 plants in my house. at’s a lot, but I love them. I’m kind of obsessed.
ey’re fun, and I do a pretty good job of keeping both the children and the plants alive.
than 60 hotels nationally, including the 129-room Shinola Hotel Detroit since November.
The operator was hit with a racial discrimination lawsuit earlier this month by a Black man who claimed his resume was ignored by the company until he applied under a name that sounded white. Sage Hospitality spokeswoman Anna Stancioff called the lawsuit “baseless” and said “discrimination of any kind will never be tolerated.” A Shinola spokesman said the lawsuit is not expected to have any impact on plans for the hotel in Indianapolis.
Early this year, Shinola opened a store in Grand Rapids, the sixth in Michigan and 22nd in the U.S., bucking the trend of many retailers going away from brick-and-mortar shops.
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Chanell Scott Contreras, CEO of Michigan Saves | MICHIGAN SAVES
