By Sherri Welch
e Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit will temporarily close its building for a $10 million renovation project next year, but it won’t be going dark.
Chris Webber’s planned $175 million marijuana development in Detroit remains un nished in Southwest Detroit nearly two years since it was announced.
e NBA Hall-of-Famer and University of Michigan Fab 5 star had planned an industry training complex, a 180,000-squarefoot cultivation site, consumption lounge and dispensary at
2599 22nd St. south of Michigan Avenue. Webber’s Players Only broke ground on the site in September 2021 and originally planned on nishing the rst
phase of the buildout in March 2022.
But market conditions that sank marijuana prices by more than 56% between breaking ground and now have kept Webber from advancing on the project. He says the company still has plans but is scaling them back.
“ e cannabis industry has
| By Dustin Walshreally shifted in Michigan,” Webber told Crain’s. “Since the landscape has changed, we’ve had to adjust because we would not be smart to go with that plan.”
Webber said prices remain too low in the state to follow through on planned investment.
See WEBBER on Page 10
Bill Gates-backed startup LuxWall Inc. is looking to leverage Michigan’s glass manufacturing prowess to scale a company that makes windows unlike any in the market.
e Ypsilanti-based company, founded by a former executive of
Ann Arbor-based glass giant Guardian Industries, is planning to invest $166 million into a pair of factories that would create 453 jobs in Michigan.
A key part of the plan, at least at this stage, includes Detroit and Dan Gilbert-owned real estate company Bedrock. LuxWall is in talks with the developer —
also a potential customer — to lease a build-to-suit plant on a 10-acre plot near the demolished Southwestern High School and a new Magna JV seating plant also in a Bedrock building. e expansion is expected to include a factory in Litch eld, near Hillsdale, as well. e project would be ground-
breaking in more ways than one. It would be the “world’s rst high volume vacuum insulated glass production” plant, according to the company. e industrial development would also be a rst for Bedrock, known for its mixed-use towers.
See LUXWALL on Page 16
Its co-directors are talking with other arts organizations, nonpro ts and businesses around town about collaborations to host MOCAD’s temporary exhibitions during the estimated six to nine months the museum will be under renovation.
At the same time, the museum’s new co-leaders are working to refresh and complete a $14 million campaign launched before the pandemic and to expand programming.
Among the projects on tap is a new outdoor plaza and stage that will enable MOCAD to host music, lm screenings and other community events in season; a new front entrance to the parking lot side of the building; and the installation of a large window facing Woodward Avenue to give the community a view of the art.
See MOCAD on Page 17
Among the projects on tap at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit is a new outdoor plaza and stage that will enable MOCAD to host music, lm screenings and other community events in season. | PLY PLUS INC.
For the past ve-plus months, Birmingham resident Jenya Semenkova has made it her mission to introduce a Ukrainian delicacy to as many Michigan residents as possible.
Semenkova on Valentine’s Day launched her rst business: Ptashka, Ukrainian for “little bird,” a baking business featuring the Ukrainian crepes called nalysnyky (pronounced nah-less-knee-key) made by Semenkova and her mother, Galyna Semenkova. e six-packs of crepes are o ered in six di erent avors: apples and vanilla sauce, cabbage and white beans, cherries and vanilla sauce, farmer cheese (a dry cottage cheese) and raisins, mushrooms and cheese, and ricotta and spinach.
Jenya Semenkova, 37, is work-
Correction
◗ Beau Taylor's title was incorrect in the Notable Leaders in Energy special section published on July 24. He is executive director of the Public Lighting Authority.
ing to broaden the palate of local residents.
“You have tacos, sushi, ai food, Brazilian breadsticks and more. Food from across the globe is represented in America, except for Ukraine,” she said. “And we have a lot to o er in terms of avors and dishes.
“ ese types of crepes are a very traditional Ukrainian dish. We always eat them. It’s a great festive dish. We’d have them on all the holidays. Even when we moved we’d start to make them for family and friends.”
Retailers and customers are taking notice.
Semenkova has built up a clientèle of 32 grocers to which she distributes her crepes. at includes all four small-format Meijer stores in Michigan, Vince & Joe’s markets, Hollywood Market, Fresh yme and Holiday Market.
Market Square, with stores in Birmingham and West Bloom eld, was Semenkova’s rst client.
A friend introduced Semenkova to Market Square owner Johnny Karmo Jr. “I brought in samples, explained the concept, and he loved everything and asked me to bring a case of each avor to Mar-
ket Square in West Bloom eld the next day,” she said.
Karmo told Crain’s that Semenkova did an outstanding job selling him on the product.
“Everything was homemade. e packaging was attractive,” he said. “And it’s local. It’s important to me to have local products on the shelves and our customers enjoy supporting local businesses.
“What (Semenkova) has done with her business is an incredible accomplishment. She’s passionate and family oriented and she’s doing a great job of sharing some of her family traditions with our customers.”
Natalie Rubino, director of Meijer’s Woodward Corner Market in Royal Oak, said the nalysnyky are a hot item at the store.
“Every week there’s a delivery, which is great because it proves there’s movement,” Rubino said. “ ey’ve been a part of the store for a couple of months and the items are ying o the shelves. Customers like that it’s a woman-owned business, it’s a Ukrainian business and it’s local to us. When (Jenya and Galyna) do in-store demos, customers get samples and they love it.”
Being a business owner has been a welcome change for Semenkova.
In 2006, she moved from Ukraine to New York and earned degrees in business administration and health systems management.
ere she worked with Northwell Health, New York’s largest health care provider, as a practice administrative manager and senior operations manager. Semenkova and her family relocated from New York
to Birmingham in November after her husband took a job in metro Detroit.
Upon moving to Michigan, Semenkova decided to focus solely on launching her business. She said she didn’t want to start over with a new corporate position, as she had designs on becoming an entrepreneur for some time.
See UKRAINE on Page 4
Girl Scouts for Southeastern Michigan is developing plans for a $35 million-$40 million campus in Detroit that will o er free and feebased programs to all youth, scouts and non-scouts, girls and boys alike.
It has identi ed a location and is exploring a possible lease or donation of the property, which could accommodate several new buildings, camping and other outdoor programs like a zip line and rope course, CEO Monica Woodson said. “ e current thinking is to have a few di erent buildings that connect in some way” to create a cam-
pus with dedicated space to o er to all youth programs in GSSEM’s four core program areas: science, technology, engineering and math; entrepreneurship; outdoors and life skills.
“ e location is a driver in many ways of the plan. My hope is to have that locked in the next 60 days,” Woodson said.
e LEAD (learn, experience adventure and discover) Institute, as GSSEM is calling the campus plan, is aimed at helping bridge educational and recreational gaps for youth in the region, the organization said.
While the nation’s top mortgage lenders eagerly await a return to steady pro tability, it’s unlikely the numbers will go to black in the upcoming earnings period.
Metro Detroit businesses in-
cluding Rocket Companies Inc. and United Wholesale Mortgage went public at the top of the mortgage market, amid the COVID-19 pandemic when interest rates were at historic lows, setting o a home purchase and renance boom that may never be matched again.
But as interest rates rose at a rapid clip over the last year and more, pro tability has remained elusive, and the two companies
have taken very di erent strategies to navigate the turbulence. While analysts see potential for better times next year, the second-quarter earnings reports for home mortgage lenders set to roll out in the coming days are all but assured to show companies still struggling with the higher interest rate environment and minimal houses available for sale.
e city of Saginaw has the highest infant mortality rate — more than twice the state average — and obesity rate in Michigan. Its median household income is second-lowest of any city in the state, behind only Flint.
But new investments may be afoot that are aimed at using the city’s concentration of health care assets to improve those metrics and give it an economic shot in the arm.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is poised to sign a $62.8 billion budget bill that includes a $30.3 million allocation to the city of Saginaw toward a $100 million plan to develop its riverfront into a medical hub only rivaled in the state by metro Detroit and Grand Rapids.
e funds would go toward infrastructure improvements, which include moving overhead power lines into the Saginaw River, so the region can develop the dilapidated properties surrounding Ascension St. Mary’s Hospital, Covenant Healthcare’s 643-bed acute care hospital, on both sides of the river downtown.
“Poverty is real here — urban and rural,” said Veronica Horn, chair of the region’s economic development agency Saginaw Future and president of the Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce. “We’ve long known we need to improve health care access and services. When the autos started to decline here, we felt the pain 10 years before Detroit. We have been ghting for years to not just get economic development here, but for services in our community and to our rural and urban populations.”
Rocket and UWM stock prices have recovered over the last year, with some investors more recently betting mortgage rates will ease as the Federal Reserve is expected to slow down its rate hikes.
DTE Energy Co. has inked one of the larger industrial leases of the year so far.
e Detroit-based company is taking about 528,300 square feet in the Pinnacle Logistics Park in Redford Township in a deal brokered by Farmington Hills-based Friedman Real Estate, which represented itself as landlord of the property, along with co-owner South eld-based General Development Co. e South eld o ce of Dallas-based CBRE Inc. represented DTE, which is going to use the property for equipment storage, according to a press release from Friedman.
“DTE Energy recently leased warehouse space at Pinnacle Logistics Park to store solar equipment for several new solar projects the company plans to build as part of its commitment to transition Michigan to cleaner sources of energy,” DTE Spokeswoman Cindy Hecht said in an email. “Other details of this lease are subject to a con dentiality agreement with the building’s owner.”
DTE’s lease is the largest of the second quarter, according to a
From Page 2
e gamble seems to have paid o .
With her skeleton operation, Semenkova has already accumulated more than $35,000 in sales. She believes she’ll hit $60,000 by the end of the year and is hopeful to surpass $100,000 in her rst full year in business. She’s turned a small pro t to this point, after upfront investments in equipment, design materials and supplies.
Whatever Ptashka makes, 10% of proceeds each quarter will go to United Help Ukraine — a nonprofit that o ers relief to Ukrainian citizens as a result of the war with Russia that began early last year.
Semenkova works to produce as much product as she can to help herself, her family and her home country.
Semenkova, her 57-year-old mother and one employee prep 1,200-1,400 crepes over 12 hours every Friday in a commercial kitchen in Oak Park. e team decides on a avor for each production day and makes the batter and llings rst. Galyna assembles the crepes and Jenya rolls them.
Semenkova also has a driver
market report from the local o ce of New York City-based brokerage house Newmark, and clocks in at one of the biggest to date in 2023 as the industrial market continues to hum along.
CoStar Group Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based real estate information service, shows only one other industrial lease in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Livingston counties as being larger this year: Kroger Co. renewing a deal for 711,500 square feet in Chester eld Township for a distribution center. ere are others that have started trickling out, particularly on the automotive side.
Detroit-based General Motors Co. is taking all 793,500 square feet of a new building going up on the former American Motors Corp. headquarters site in Detroit, my colleague Kurt Nagl reported last week, and the automaker is also building a new 1.1 million-squarefoot new supply plant on the former Palace of Auburn Hills site. On the smaller side of things — though still large and signi cant — are a new Target Corp. distribution facility on the former Michigan state fairgrounds site in Detroit at Eight Mile and Woodward.
ose are just a few.
e second-quarter industrial market was at just 3.1% vacancy, according to the Newmark report,
which says that there was close to 2.5 million square feet of space leased.
at’s ... a lot, to be sure. But Newmark says that’s down substantially from the four-year quarterly average of 4.1 million square feet.
What’s the deal? Space isn’t being built fast enough to keep up with the demand, slowing leasing activity; about 600,000 square feet was delivered in Q2, bringing year-to-date up to about 1.67 million square feet.
at’s likely to improve, however, as about 8.7 million square feet of build-to-suit and speculative projects are in the pipeline, which would ease some of that pressure.
About 760,000 square feet started construction last quarter.
e majority of new construc-
tion is Class A warehouse space, which has seen some 26 million new square feet added to the market since 2010. And yet even with all that space added, vacancies are still only at 1%, fueling 19 spec developments under construction totaling some 6.1 million square feet, according to Newmark. Warehouse space, both spec and build to suit, accounts for 21 of the 29 industrial buildings under construction, and 7 million of the 8.7 million square feet under construction.
“Strong demand, low vacancy rates and rising lease rates are outweighing increased costs of construction,” the report says.
who handles deliveries to stores in Lansing and Grand Rapids, while she handles much of the local deliveries herself.
e entrepreneur leases the kitchen space for $1,450 a month. Semenkova debated getting her own space, but didn’t want to jump through all the hoops right out of the gate.
She admits running a business has been taxing. Semenkova wears all the hats: marketer, accountant, dealmaker, inventory clerk and more. She meets with each store owner to present her products before a deal is made. She also showcases the crepes at various farmers markets, including in Birmingham and Royal Oak.
“Being an entrepreneur isn’t for the weak,” Semenkova said. “It’s a lot of little things. It’s time consuming when you don’t have a big team of people. Everything falls on me right now.”
Semenkova eventually wants to scale her business. She’s just not sure how.
“I think I’ll build a new facility from scratch or redesign an existing facility to tap into bigger stores, produce higher volume,” she said
of her plans.
e Ptashka owner likes the idea of continuing to produce and deliver the crepes herself. Right now she’s not keen on the idea of opening a cafe to showcase her crepes.
“ at’s a constant debate between me and my mother. My mom wants a cafe. I’m focusing more on having the products in stores,” Semenkova said. “I think
Following is what it takes to make 1,200-1,400 of Ptashka’s nalysnyky, or Ukrainian crepes, each week: Flour: 37 pounds
Sugar: 2 pounds
Canola oil: 1.5 pounds
Eggs: 180
Milk: 8 gallons
Salt: 15 teaspoons
wants to start selling to stores in surrounding states. In ve years, she hopes the crepes will be in stores across the country. She plans to expand her team, then begin producing crepes ve days a week.
It’s challenging, but Semenkova wouldn’t divert from the path she’s chosen.
down the road we’ll be able to get to some common ground. I just feel like taking on a cafe right now would be hard. I don’t want to give up the stores, though. It allows for a greater reach and brand recognition.”
Her goal is for Ptashka products to be available in the frozen food section at every locally owned grocery store in Michigan by the end of the year. Semenkova next year
“It’s a lot of work, but it’s very exciting,” she said. “I’m a operations girl. When you run your own business, there’s always something new that comes up, whether it’s organization or needing to be in multiple places at once. I love those types of challenges and issues because it forces you to think outside the box to nd a solution.
“Plus, I feel like it’s our obligation to show the U.S. what Ukraine (food) is about.”
“DTE Energy recently leased warehouse space at Pinnacle Logistics Park to store solar equipment for several new solar projects the company plans to build...”
Cindy Hecht, DTE spokeswomanMushroom and cheese- lled nalysnyky are one of six varieties offered by Ptashka. | SOPHIA HYATT MEDIA
The Michigan ORBIE Awards honors chief information of cers who have demonstrated excellence in leadership. With support from Crain’s Detroit Business, MichiganCIO will honor the CIOs who are driving innovation and transforming Michigan’s leading organizations. The nalists are below:
SUPER GLOBAL | Over $12 billion annual revenue & multi-national operations
DANI BROWN SVP & CIO Whirlpool Corporation
EARL NEWSOME CIO Cummins Inc.
SAURABH RAISINGHANI EVP & CTO Ford Credit
BORIS SHULKIN EVP, CDO & CIO Magna International
GLOBAL | Over $2 billion annual revenue & multi-national operations
KATRINA AGUSTI CIO Carhartt
JASON KENNEDY CIO Piston Group
LARGE ENTERPRISE | Over $1.7 billion annual revenue
RAMAN MEHTA CIO Johnson Electric
ENTERPRISE | Over $1 billion annual revenue
MIKE ROGERS CIO & CDO Nexteer Automotive
LARGE CORPORATE | Over $500 million annual revenue
CORPORATE | Up to $500 million annual revenue
SCOTT BENDLE CIO Rigaku Americas Holdings, Inc
RJ BUSSONE CIO FordDirect
PATHIK MODY CTO Trion Solutions, Inc.
ESHWAR PASTAPUR CIO Hastings Mutual Insurance Company
NON PROFIT/PUBLIC SECTOR | Government, education, and nonpro t organizations
JASPER RECTO VP IT Loc Performance
An “insurance bill of rights” being pushed by Lansing Democrats ought to be called the “Higher Costs for All Act.”
e basic idea sounds nice for consumers: e bills would prescribe that insurers have to act in good faith and give customers the bene t of the doubt.
We suspect the bills are political payback from Democrats to the trial lawyers lobby that has been one of the party’s staunchest and most in uential backers.
Supporters say the measures, Senate Bill 329 and House Bill 4681, would empower people and business owners who have little recourse if insurance companies do not act in good faith. e industry says the bills are sweeping in nature and would lead to higher rates for consumers and businesses due to frivolous lawsuits and fraudulent claims.
e main thing that seems certain is that this law would provide an even-larger gravy train for trial lawyers.
Another certainty: If these bills pass, costs for most kinds of insurance will rise, including for auto insurance. is structure will encourage more lawsuits that will extract settlements from insurers, from which attorneys will take their large cut that the rest of us will pay for.
Under the proposed law, plainti s could collect punitive damages and damages for
“emotional distress.”
States that have these kinds of protections have become high-cost states where insurers don’t like to do business. Florida has passed a host of tort reforms in recent months to rein in rampant lawsuits that have combined with big weather-related costs to push insurers into leaving the state.
e Michigan bills will also crimp choices that can save policyholders money on their premiums, requiring that homeowners policies cover claimants’ additional living expenses under a re policy and pay business interruption and extra expenses under a commercial or business policy while claims are being investigated.
And it’s not like policyholders don’t already have recourse against a bad-actor insurance company.
e state Department of Insurance and Financial Services can investigate and ne insurance companies, and it’s certainly possible to sue insurers under existing law. Only the attorneys stand to gain from incentivizing more lawsuits than we already have.
After all, it’s the customers who pay those attorneys’ fees — and emotional distress payments — in the end. A hostile enough environment for insurers will cause them to pull out of Michigan, which will make premiums worse.
e fact is that these bills are a solution in search of a problem that will raise costs for everybody. ey should be set aside and forgotten.
Distrust in America’s institutions is high due to deep political divisions, but polling shows the majority of people trust one institution over all others: small business. A Gallup poll released this month — gloomily titled “Historically Low Faith in U.S. Institutions Continues” — shows that 65 percent of Americans trust small business above all others. Of 16 institutions, small business ranked the highest, and by no small margin: only two others even ranked above 40 percent.
At the same time, Michigan cracked the top 10 in CNBC’s annual “Top States for Business” list. While the categories, weighting and methodology of that ranking are debatable, Michigan is better as a result of more than a decade of work to remake our business climate, getting government out of the way and allowing innovators to thrive. But there’s no guarantee of this status, and if many of the current legislative proposals are any predictor, we could quickly lose this ranking
Ave,
and tip back into the anti-business abyss of pre-2011.
While the state has enjoyed some success in luring investment from big businesses to Michigan, small businesses are increasingly concerned about bills that would be extremely damaging to entrepreneurs. All of this is happening as businesses large and small continue to face several major challenges, including our inadequate labor market and successive years of fast-rising costs. Our economy doesn’t thrive unless small businesses thrive, so there is a serious cause for concern. A prosperous economy needs small businesses to succeed. ere are some bills in the works that have the potential to irreparably harm the small businesses that Americans place their faith in.
Independent contractors are small businesses, and many small businesses use independent contractors to grow. Independent contractors would be severely restricted in the type of work they could do
purposes.
under proposed limitations. If enacted, these restrictions would be the strictest in the nation. Small businesses could not use independent contractors or operate as independent contractors unless the work being performed is outside the “usual course” of the payer’s business. Small businesses rarely grow in full-time employee increments. Fractional services from independent contractors are an essential part of the small business growth process.
For small companies who lack scale to access to corporate resources and large workforces, a second bill in the works would be extremely punitive, requiring a concept called predictive scheduling.
is legislation would require many retail, hospitality, and food service establishments to provide a schedule 14 days in advance, including on-call shifts. It carries huge costs for deviations from that schedule without 14 days notice. e structure of this bill limits “at-will” employment options with respect to scheduling issues. With an ailing labor market and a mas-
sive tourism industry based around a seasonal calendar, Michigan employers already have a hard time accommodating uctuating labor needs. is would deepen that wound. SBAM’s long-held position is clear: Any legislation that interferes with the at-will relationship between employees and employers should be opposed.
ese two proposals are just the tip of the iceberg. ere are literally dozens of proposals that would add onerous regulations and higher costs, placing the biggest burden on small businesses. If we want to be a state where mom and pop shops remain in our neighborhoods and on our main streets, we have to reject the push to
impose new requirements that could decimate them. Americans have put their trust in small businesses — now let’s hope the Michigan government does, too.
Our economy doesn’t thrive unless small businesses thrive, so there is a serious cause for concern.
We suspect the bills are political payback from Democrats to the trial lawyers lobby.
By Sherri Welch
e Battle Creek-based W.K. Kellogg Foundation has named 22 leaders from Michigan to its Community Leadership Network to help prepare them to create transformational change for children, families and communities.
ose leaders are among 80 selected from the foundation’s geographical focus areas of Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans.
Now in its third year, the 18-month fellowship program offers hands-on development, personalized coaching, peer networking and practical experience.
It emphasizes racial equity and racial healing, community engagement and collective leadership, the things Kellogg calls “its DNA.”
rough a variety of activities, fellows deepen their understanding of the embedded racism in systems and hone their skills for navigating di erences and bringing people together around solutions.
ey learn about themselves and each other, grow their leadership skills and build a strong, connected network to advance equity at local, tribal, state and national levels.
is year’s class includes educators, youth mentors and health practitioners, social entrepreneurs, tribal leaders, elected o cials and among others, leaders from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
“Fellows go on to serve their communities in phenomenal ways,” said Paul Martinez, Kellogg’s chief leadership and human capital strategist, in a release.
Alumni of the program are facilitating diversity, equity and inclusion work within their institutions; connecting students who are undocumented with legal representation and writing books on economic opportunities for people post-incarceration.
Others have successfully been elected as state legislators and tribal council members to create equitable policies that bene t entire communities, he said.
After completing the program, alumni stay connected through the Global Fellows Network, which has more than 1,100 leaders across 44 countries in the U.S. and beyond.
e new cohort will kick o with a virtual session in September and an in-person gathering in October.
Michigan leaders participating in the program this year include:
◗ Adam Schumaker, director of education, Gilmore Piano Festival, Kalamazoo.
◗ Dondrea Brown, founder and executive director, 1428 Financial Wellness and Young Money Finance, Grand Rapids.
◗ Karen Garcia, facilitator of breastfeeding cafe, Milk Like Mine, and founder, in-home, breastfeeding medicine service, Battle Creek.
◗ Ricardo Benavidez, associate director, Ktisis Capital, Grand Rapids.
◗ Widad Luqman, co-founder, Coding Out Of Poverty, Saline.
◗ Kelsey Wabanimkee, doula policy community coordinator, Miigwech Inc., Peshawbestown.
vices Tobacco Section, Detroit.
◗ Nikki Elder, special projects coordinator, Grand Valley State University Battle Creek Regional Outreach Center, Battle Creek.
◗ Scott Rumpsa, CEO, Community Action House, Holland.
◗ Yilin Wendland-Liu, director, adult tutoring program, Literacy Center of West Michigan, Grand Rapids.
of Grand Rapids; youth experience expert, e Diatribe Inc., Grand Rapids.
◗ Stacy Stout, director of family-centered philanthropy at the Steelcase Foundation, Grand Rapids.
Grand Rapids.
◗ Jose Orozco, executive director, Voce, Battle Creek.
◗ Devon Wilson, founder and CEO, Sunlight Gardens, Battle Creek.
◗ Bennetta omas, public health consultant, Michigan Public Health Institute and Michigan Department of Health and Human Ser-
◗ Ashnee Dunning, CEO and lead project director, Power Initiative; executive director, Flint Freedom Schools Collaborative; education and outreach manager, Legal Services of Eastern Michigan, Flint.
◗ Ericka ompson, poet laureate
◗ Lorena Aguayo-Márquez, program manager for the Strengthening Community Colleges Healthcare Grant, Grand Rapids Community College, Grand Rapids.
◗ David Kemp III, relationship banker, Old National Bank, Battle Creek.
◗ Mary Kay Murphy, managing director, Leading Educators,
◗ Nkechi Mbanu, Detroit CARE (Cummins Advocating for Racial Equity) city leader, Cummins Inc., Detroit.
◗ Michelle Salaza, co-president, Ignite BC, Battle Creek.
◗ Lisa Leverette, executive director, Community Connections Grant Program, Detroit.
◗ Kamilah Henderson, director, Pedals Michigan; clinical therapist in private practice, Detroit.
e marijuana industry got what it asked for — and operators are unhappy.
After years of little to no enforcement under former Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency Executive Director Andrew Brisbo, operators demanded a change. ey wanted regulators to root out the illicit market marijuana entering the legal space and cratering prices and to also punish those involved in the schemes.
Brisbo was reassigned and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer installed Brian Hanna in the role last September. Hanna, a former CRA enforcement agent and Michigan State Police crime analyst, hit the ground running, ramping up enforcement actions that less than a year later has ensnared many regulated marijuana company with nes.
e industry is now crying foul and is urging the agency to slow down nes and apply them more evenly under sustained pricing pressure.
“Hanna came in to respond to the screaming and yelling from the industry that needed help with operators breaking the rules or not playing by the rules,” said Ben Sobczak, partner at Detroit-based law rm Dickinson Wright PLLC and former chief legal o cer
for marijuana company Emerald Growth Partners, known by its Pleasantrees brand name.
“He’s been conducting himself accordingly. Everyone is getting hammered and I don’t see the CRA making a distinction between bad operators and well-intentioned operators that made a mistake because this business is complicated.”
Hanna was hired after the state announced Brisbo would depart the role to become the head of the Bureau of Construction Codes within the Department of Licensing and Regulatory A airs.
e industry’s largest players had been quietly critical of Brisbo for not taking a more hard-nosed stance on the illicit marijuana market and caregivers who are feeding into the medical marijuana system.
Adult-use prices had collapsed from $512.05 per ounce of ower in December 2020 to $109.88 per ounce in September
last year when Hanna took over. Prices have settled in recent months to around $90 an ounce.
Lansing-based Anderson Economic Group published an analysis in October 2021 that two-thirds of all cannabis in Michigan originated from illicit sources.
e industry responded by publishing opinion pieces to call for a stricter regulatory approach.
“ e number one threat to Michigan’s regulated cannabis industry remains a massive illicit market that is destabilizing and undermining the licensed regulated market,” Shelly Edgerton, a former CRA employee that led the now defunct Michigan Cannabis Manufacturers Association, said in an opinion column published in Crain’s in December last year. “ at’s why so many in the cannabis industry at every level have called for the need to ramp up enforcement.”
By that same month, Hanna had received
a larger budget at the CRA and promised to increase oversight with the hiring of six new investigators, two inspectors along with legal analysts and scientists.
“ ese additional sta will help the CRA increase the number of unannounced inspections that are currently conducted and planned for in the near future,” Hanna said in an opinion column published in Crain’s.
And Hanna has followed through.
Between January and June of this year, the CRA has issued 129 disciplinary actions, or nearly 22 per month. at’s up from an average of less than six disciplinary actions last year.
“The number one threat to Michigan’s regulated cannabis industry remains a massive illicit market that is destabilizing and undermining the licensed regulated market.”
“To provide leadership for the promotion and advocacy of high quality, a ordable, accessible, equitable health care for the citizens of Mi igan.”
at vision statement from the Mi igan Association of Health Plans (MAHP) was evident throughout the nonpro t’s recent Summer Conference, whi focused on health equity, at the Grand Traverse Resort. Now in its 38th year, the conference invites health care-focused organizations from across the U.S. to gather for networking, idea-sharing and discussions about the biggest opportunities and allenges ahead in health care.
e legislative panel during the conference provided a glimpse into Mi igan’s latest health care allenges from the perspectives of Sen. Kevin Hertel; Sen. Sylvia Santana; Rep. Curt VanderWall; Rep. Graham Filler; Rep. Angela Witwer; and Rep. Julie Rogers, moderated by David Waymire, co-founder of public relations rm Martin Waymire.
e session began with an overview of the impact of COVID-19 on health care, where longstanding issues became all the more evident.
“ e infrastructure for our health care system is where we need to focus our priorities, and we also need to make sure that the process for health care is seamless for those operations,” Sen. Santana said. “Most importantly, we must nd ways to x our mental health system to ensure people have access to care.”
Medicaid redetermination had been on hold since January 2020 due to the pandemic.
However, starting in June, Medicaid bene ciaries were required to reapply for bene ts, whi will impact individuals who are not aware of the renewal requirement or who no longer meet the income criteria for Medicaid.
is is an area where we need to use some innovation, te nology and navigators, Rogers emphasized.
“Under President Biden’s In ation Reduction Act,” she said, “people who no longer qualify for Medicaid can nd an a ordable product, but I think they need a human navigator helping with the process.”
During a separate conversation led by MAHP Executive Director Domini Pallone, Director of the Mi igan Department of Health and Human Services Elizabeth Hertel said her team is advocating for the federal government to allow extra time for Mi igan residents to complete the Medicaid redetermination process. “We all have the same objective: to keep people covered,” she said.
Rising pharmacy costs are a major driver of health care and insurance costs. A recent report from the Assistant Secretary of Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) O ce of Health Policy found U.S. prices increased at about $150 per drug on average in January 2022, with several drugs increasing prices by over 500 percent.
“We know that health care a ordability is still the single largest public policy issue that our industry faces,” Pallone said during his opening remarks. “Ta ling prescription drug costs by increasing competition and lowering the acquisition costs, not just focusing on co-pays, will lower overall health care costs.”
Another priority for MAHP is tied to transparency on regulating costs. A drug transparency bill (HB 4409) was introduced this past year, requiring drug manufacturers to notify the state when they increase a prescription drug cost above 15 percent annually. Similar legislation can be found in 19 states.
Another recently introduced bill, HB 4890, introduced by VanderWall, would help lower insulin costs, allowing for an FDA-approved insulin operation in Mi igan.
“We could deliver insulin to people for under $60 a month,” he said. “ is gives Mi igan an opportunity to be a leader.”
e issue of behavioral health received resounding attention from policymakers during the conference. For Anita Fox, director of the Mi igan Department of Insurance and Financial Services, the pandemic highlighted the la of a ne line between physical health and mental health.
“We know that 40 percent of Mi iganders who have a mental health issue don’t seek care, and that’s a problem,” she said.
One way to address this issue, Rogers said, is through the Certi ed Community Behavioral Health Clinic model, whi integrates physical and mental health care into one communitybased center.
“ is is a data-driven, evidence-based model — my town in Kalamazoo was one of the pilot projects,” she said. “Now we’re working within our budget to bring more communities online. It’s working in our state and in other states.”
VanderWall and Santana e oed the importance of data, and the need for assistance to help gather behavioral health data while also striking the balance of being scally responsible.
“As legislators, we need to look at how can we bring in outside entities to help support the gathering of that information and support a larger dialogue around behavioral health issues,” Santana said.
With many health care policy e orts underway, the MAHP acts as a partner for legislators, providing important resources and education, and using its members as a resource, Pallone said. He pointed to a prime example of MAHP’s policy work: the passing of “the Healthier Mi igan Plan” into law, whi started as a collection of policy ideas from a number of its members. e legislation eliminates the possibility of the Healthy Mi igan Medicaid Plan, whi covers about one million individuals, from being repealed if its operating costs outweigh its savings, and removes additional restrictions that limit accessibility of services.
“Policymakers trust that we’re honest brokers who are intent on nding compromise and solutions to some of the most di cult health care policy issues facing our state,” Pallone said.
To read more content from the MAHP Summer Conference, visit crainsdetroit. com/mahp-summer-conference
Michigan’s marijuana industry is among the most competitive industry in the state. With basement-low wholesale prices, the industry is becoming increasingly more vertically integrated. e most pro table way to do business in weed is for growers to be sellers, realizing margins on both sides of the business.
Some consolidation has occurred and more is likely. e large players remain large, such as Lume. But others are growing their presence in retail, like Common Citizen, which acquired Liv Cannabis last year and is amassing a larger retail operation.
Below are the largest cannabis retailers in Michigan, according to Crain’s research. is list is not exhaustive and only a snippet of the entire retail sector of the industry, which has hundreds of dispensaries.
Lume Cannabis Co.
Headquarters: Troy
Retail stores: 34
Retail locations: Adrian, Ann Arbor, Berkley, Big Rapids, Cadillac, Cedar Springs, Coldwater, Escanaba, Evart, Gaylord, Grand Rapids, Honor, Houghton, Iron Mountain, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Kalkaska, Lowell, Mackinaw City, Manistique, Monroe, Mount Pleasant (2), Negaunee, Owosso, Oxford, Petersburg, Petoskey (2), Portage, Saginaw, Sault Ste Marie, South eld and Walled Lake.
Popular strains: Jenny Kush, Blackout Marshmallow OG, GMO Crasher. Jars Cannabis Co.
Headquarters: Troy
Retail stores: 17
Retail locations: Battle Creek, Center Line, Detroit (2), Fennville, Flint, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Monroe, Mount Clemens, Mount Pleasant, Muskegon, Owosso, Oxford, River Rouge, Saginaw and Ypsilanti.
Popular strains: AK-47, Tangie, Moroccan Kush
From Page 1
“Where do the prices settle? e bottom of the ocean?” Webber said. “I am from Detroit and I love the city, the environment and the people. But this would not be the best time for the community or us in Detroit to have a pro table outcome.”
Webber mentioned that companies that invested big in the state su ered from the price crunch, and he worried the $175 million investment would sink Players Only.
It’s a reality that has been playing out for cannabis companies across the state. Many are under the control of a receiver after running afoul of lenders and tax payments. e largest example is Dimondale-based Skymint, which entered receivership in March after being
Skymint Cannabis Co.
Headquarters: Dimondale
Retail stores: 21; four branded as 3Fifteen.
Retail locations: Ann Arbor (2), Battle Creek (2), Camden, Coldwater, East Lansing, Flint, Gaylord, Grand Rapids (2), Hazel Park, Kalamazoo, Lansing (2), Morenci, Muskegon, Nunica, Portage, Saginaw and Traverse City.
Popular strains: Lemon 18, Beng Beng OG, Cheetah Piss, Animal Mint Cake
Note: Skymint is currently under the control of a receiver and is expected to be auctioned to the highest bidder in the next month.
Gage Cannabis Co.
Headquarters: Ferndale
Retail stores: 19; ve branded as Cookies, ve branded as Pinnacle and one as Lemonnade.
Retail locations: Addison, Adrian, Ann Arbor, Battle Creek, Buchanan, Burton, Camden, Center Line, Detroit, Edmore, Ferndale, Grand Rapids, Jackson, Kalamazoo (2), Lansing, Morenci, Oxford and Traverse City.
Popular strains: Gelato Driver, Zweet Inzanity #1, Banana Bread Cloud Cannabis Co.
Headquarters: Troy
Retail stores: 11
Retail locations: Ann Arbor, Cedar Springs, Detroit, Gaylord, Grand
sued by an investor for more than $127 million. Skymint has since downsized and will be auctioned o as early as next month.
But Webber said his company has no plans to abandon the Detroit site and will still develop it, likely with a smaller footprint.
“We’re not going to abandon that space and we think the new plan will invigorate the community,” the former NBA star said. “But there will be adjustments. e numbers aren’t the same.”
Webber would not comment further on the new plans, citing the previous announcement that did not materialize.
“We have a lot of plans we’re excited about, but we’re not ready to share,” he said. “Given the excitement of the last announcement, we’re being a little more cautious.”
e original plan involved a training center that would o er training and placement as well as
e industry claims the growing number of nes are applied aggressively across the board and make no distinction between those using illicit market product and paperwork errors on Annual Financial Statements, even when companies have reported their error. An Annual Financial Statement violation carries a standard $10,000 ne per day, per violation.
juana products that were not tested. In June last year, the processor distributed edible gummies labeled as not containing any psychoactive THC, but CBD. An employee gave 20 milligrams of the edibles to their 4-year-old child, which did in fact contain THC, resulting in the hospitalization of the child, according to a notice by the CRA.
Sky Labs surrendered its medical marijuana license, but retained its more valuable adult-use recreational license and was slapped with a $100,000 ne.
Rapids (2), Kalamazoo, Muskegon, New Baltimore, Traverse City and Utica.
Popular strains: Do not manufacture their own strains.
Exclusive Brands
Headquarters: Ann Arbor
Retail stores: 10
Retail locations: Ann Arbor, Coldwater, Gaylord, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lapeer, Lowell, Monroe, Muskegon (medical only) and Oxford.
Popular strains: Wonka Bars #13, Gelato Pebbles, Gorilla Zkittlez
Common Citizen
Headquarters: Marshall
Retail stores: 9; six branded as Liv Cannabis, one as Pure Cannabis Dispo, one as Xplore Cannabis and one as Cannavista Wellness.
Retail locations: Buchanan, Detroit, Ferndale, Grand Rapids, Lake Orion, Lansing, Lapeer (2), Westland (opening soon).
Popular strains: Puffo Gelato, LA Pop Rockz, Electric Peanut Butter Cookies
House of Dank
Headquarters: Madison Heights
Retail stores: 9
Retail locations: Center Line, Detroit (2), Grand Rapids, Lapeer, Monroe, Saginaw, Traverse City, Ypsilanti.
Popular strains: Runtz, Lemon Bubba Temple, Peach Crescendo #1
programs for getting criminal records expunged and GED certication. In 2021, Webber partnered with California cannabis brand Cookies to launch Cookies University in Northern California.
Players Only also had a distribution deal with Gage Cannabis, now owned by Canadian public cannabis company TerrAscend Corp. Gage operates Cookies-branded stores in Michigan.
For Webber and Players Only to complete the Detroit project, the company will need to secure a Detroit license to open a dispensary on the property. e city of Detroit said it will start accepting applications for the second round of its limited marijuana businesses on Aug. 1.
e city is authorizing only 60 licenses for marijuana retailers, half of which are relegated to “legacy Detroiters” who have lived in the city for 15 of the last 30 years.
“One thing that seems consistent is there isn’t much rhyme or reason for how these nes are calculated,” said Megan Callahan-Krol, marijuana attorney at Grand Rapids-based law rm Miller Johnson. “We always advise clients to self-report, because the CRA is going to nd out one way or another. But it feels like there’s no favor to cooperation. e industry overwhelmingly does want to comply with the rules, but for businesses to self-report and correct the problem only to get penalized just as hard as those that don’t, it discourages (self-reporting). When one error that happened six months ago and is self-reported is getting the same ne as a violation that’s happened 10 times and wasn’t self-reported, that’s really frustrating for the industry.”
Callahan-Krol said many disciplinary actions are made a year or two after the error was self-reported and corrected.
Regarding the nancial statement violations, Hanna said the industry required a strong hand because they were constantly late in ling their paperwork, which helps the state properly regulate the industry.
“We’ve been very consistent in our AFS nes,” Hanna said. “And guess what? People are on time with their AFS turn-ins now.”
Both Sobczak and Callahan-Krol pointed to the disciplinary action levied against Mt. Morris-based processor Sky Labs LLC late last month.
CRA investigators discovered unmarked marijuana, which could have come from illicit market sources, as well as packaged mari-
It’s unclear if Webber maintains a residence in the city.
e city o ers unlimited licensure for grow operations.
Webber, however, believes a dispensary license will not be dicult to secure.
“ ere are a lot of options for a license, like having a licensed partner,” Webber said. “We don’t have a license because we can’t acquire a license. is isn’t a problem, and we’re excited for this labor of love.”
Webber has been involved in getting in the equity space of the brimming marijuana industry as well.
Webber, who owns a cannabis and CBD health company called Webber Wellness, launched a $100 million cannabis private equity fund in 2021 for businesses owned by people of color with Jason Wild,
“ ese folks violated several different types of rules and it still somehow got worse (referencing the child’s hospitalization) and all they got was a $100,000 ne,” Sobczak said. “I am seeing people who self-reported with a single set of facts for a regulatory violation with no secondary or residual harm who are getting ned $50,000 and above. How can you rectify those things?”
Hanna said the nes are determined on a case-by-case basis over circumstances that are not made available to the public.
“We hear some of the concerns over the nes, but there are factors that happen individually,” Hanna said. “Sometimes we get ghosted. Sometimes we call and never even get a response back. ese are concerning things when we’re trying to investigate a violation, no matter what kind.”
e CRA this month also issued a recall of more than 15,000 vape cartridges produced by Sky Labs and sold to more than 59 dispensaries. e vapes allegedly contain banned pesticides and fungicides.
e industry is pushing for a ne schedule, which de nes what the nes will be for each violation, from the CRA to have a better gauge on what to expect with nes.
“We need to be able to advise clients on what to expect and it takes some of the feeling of subjectivity out of this,” Sobczak said
Hanna said the CRA has received these requests and is open to determining a ne schedule, eventually.
e CRA is in the process of taking feedback on 95 proposed rule changes.
New rules likely wouldn’t happen until late 2024.
a health care investor and president of New York-based JW Asset Management LLC. e Webber Wild Impact Fund is investing with the goal of addressing equity barriers: White people have gotten the vast majority of cannabis dollars in the relatively new industry across the country.
Webber was also placed in charge of New York’s social equity fund and after severe delays closed on raising $150 million late last month.
It’s unclear whether the new plan for the property in Southwest Detroit will feature new equity partnerships.
“Given the excitement of the last announcement, we’re being a little more cautious.”
Chris Webber
Two top Duggan administration o cials say the Ilitch family can start tearing down a dilapidated Cass Corridor building, in spite of a Detroit City Council resolution asking for a temporary halt to the demolition.
David Bell, director of Detroit’s Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department, said in a statement last week a law department opinion concluded that the council’s request for a halt on demolition until after its recess ends in September “has no legal force or e ect and does not take precedent over the interests of public safety.”
“It has been the position of our inspectors for some time that this building is a public safety hazard that needs to be addressed,” Bell’s statement says of the property at 3143 Cass Ave. “We are now of the opinion it needs to addressed immediately. Contrary to some published reports, I never supported a 30-day delay in demolition. e owners have a valid permit to demolish the building and in the interest of public safety are free to act on that permit.”
Gabriela Santiago-Romero, the council member whose district encompasses the building, originally asked for an interim historic designation on July 21 after hearing about the demo earlier that week. e resolution called for the Historic District Advisory Board “to prepare a report on the proposed historic district and outlining its historic and architectural value.”
“We determined that if we can’t do interim (historic) designation, we are going to work with Olympia and allow for the one-month delay,” Santiago-Romero said Wednesday morning.
A letter from Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallett to Bell says that the building’s roof and interior have “mostly collapsed to the rst
oor and basement,” and beams preventing “exterior brick walls from collapsing are caving.” ere are also “severe cracks and shifting in the exterior walls,” particularly on the building’s north side near the foundation.
“Without proper designation as an historic district, the city must (proceed) with addressing blight in the interest of the public health and safety,” Mallett’s letter says.
Santiago-Romero said she was blindsided by the pushback from BSEED and the law department, particularly after a conversation she said she had with Bell earlier last week.
“My interpretation was that they would not stand in the way,” Santiago-Romero told Crain’s. “I would have expected some kind of warning or pushback in that conversation.”
In a statement late Wednesday afternoon, Santiago-Romero called the law department opinion “unexpected.”
“In my meeting with Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department, Planning and Development Department, Historic District Commission, Historic Designation Advisory Board, Detroit City Planning Commission, and Olympia Development of Michigan..., we ended with a mutual understanding that there would be a pause on demolition to allow for HDAB to assess the property if we received City Council support,” the statement said.
“In terms of next steps, I will be submitting a memo to HDAB and the Legislative Policy Division of City Council requesting an opinion of the resolution City Council passed (Tuesday) and to see if we can move forward in good faith,” Santiago-Romero’s statement continued.
For its part, on Wednesday morning the Ilitch family’s Olympia Development of Michigan real estate company, which has owned the property since 2015 following
a portfolio purchase from the late Joel Landy, said it wants to “remain in good standing with the city of Detroit on this issue and await the city’s direction regarding 3143.”
“We are committed to our redevelopment e orts throughout e District Detroit,” the company’s statement said.
Council steps in
ere is precedent for the council to step in when members object to a private developer tearing down a building. Prior to the pandemic, some on council considered placing all of Eastern Market in a local historic district, which would have added another layer of approvals and oversight to modications and demolitions in the area.
at came after concerns were raised that Sanford Nelson intended to tear down a vacant 15,000-square-foot Russell Street property that once housed Mike Coney Island. Ultimately, the council stopped considering that proposal, however, and the building was torn down. e site remains vacant, with fencing around it, awaiting future use, perhaps as a four-story building.
And in 2019, the council considered placing the former Detroit Saturday Night newspaper building at 550 W. Fort St. downtown into a historic district, but ultimately shot that e ort down, clearing the way for it to be razed for a dozen parking spots for the adjacent Fort Shelby.
While those e orts fell short, the council has successfully thwarted demolition of other buildings, including some owned by the Ilitches.
In 2018, fear that the Ilitches would demolish a pair of apartment buildings — the Hotel Ansonia at 2447 Cass Ave. and the Atlanta Apartments at 2467 Cass Ave. — prompted the council to
approve creation of the Cass-Henry Historic District, which includes those two buildings and ve others. Because that meant that demolition of any of the seven buildings would fall under the purview of the Historic District Commission, that added a di cult bureaucratic check to overcome for anyone looking to tear them down.
Ultimately, instead of demolition, the Ilitches in late 2020 teamed up with Lansing-based Cinnaire Solutions for a plan that today calls for 170 housing units to be developed in the seven buildings, with rental rates in some cases as low as 30 percent of the Area Median Income. ere would also be a 9,000-square-foot community hub, under the most recent District Detroit vision.
And in 2016, the council got involved when the owners of the CPA Building in Corktown across the street from Michigan Central Station was issued a demolition permit to tear it down. e historic preservation community pushed back and the council gave it interim historic designation.
e building still stands, although its future remains murky with an owner with no track record of development in Detroit.
we now call con ict resolution and mutual aid, and provided enrichment programs for youth and seniors alike.”
e building is also immediately north of where the Ilitch-owned site of the former Gold Dollar bar — where the Detroit rock band e White Stripes played some of their early shows — was destroyed in a July 2019 re and subsequently demolished.
e Ilitches have faced criticism for the handling of their vast real estate portfolio, ranging from lack of progress in e District Detroit area after a July 2014 announcement of the plans to anchor several new mixed-use neighborhoods with what became Little Caesars Arena to the demolition of buildings — some historic — they long owned but never xed up. Among those that have been torn down, to name a few: e old Madison-Lenox Hotel downtown across from the Detroit Athletic Club; the Adams eatre/Fine
Olympia Development of Michigan
Santiago-Romero’s request for an interim historic designation says that the building was constructed in 1883 as a residence and was eventually purchased in 1963 by the Chinese Merchants Association, or On Leong, “which served as a localized government of sorts with their own elected members by and from the Chinese community, used the space as their hall, where they helped one another nd jobs, practiced what
Arts Building on Grand Circus Park; the Chin Tiki restaurant in the Cass Corridor; and the historic Louis Kamper-designed Park Avenue Hotel.
In recent months, Olympia and New York City-based Related Cos., run by mega-developer and Detroit native Stephen Ross, have pitched some $1.53 billion in new construction and renovated historic buildings in a revamped development e ort anchored by the proposed University of Michigan Center for Innovation. Hundreds of millions in tax incentives have been awarded on the projects, although they are not awarded if construction doesn’t happen.
“We are committed to our redevelopment efforts throughout The District Detroit.”
e Michigan Strategic Fund Board on July 25 awarded $12.6 million to a project that will convert a shuttered, historic elementary school in Pontiac into a community services hub o ering a health center and grocery store, among other services, to residents.
e funding to Micah 6 Community, a 501(c)3 community development corporation working on the west side of Pontiac, includes a Michigan Community Revitalization Program performance-based loan of up to $7.6 million and a $5 million revitalization and placemaking grant.
It’s the nal piece needed to move forward with the $28.2 million adaptive reuse project which will convert the historic Elmer R. Webster Elementary School into the Webster Community Center.
Environmental and remediation studies and abatement have been completed on the 1921 building, which played a central role in desegregation in the city in 1971 and has been closed since 2007, Executive Director Coleman Yoakum said.
Work inside the school is set to begin in October and wrap up by the rst quarter of 2025.
When complete, the center will include a small grocery store and a food co-op, a walk-in health center operated by Honor Health, Head Start classrooms, arts programs for the developmentally disabled, theater performances, satellite courses o ered by Rochester University to help residents earn an associate’s degree and an indoor bus terminal operated by SMART in collaboration with the Michigan Department of Transportation.
Many of those services are currently scattered across the city and county, Yoakum said.
“To bring those into the center of the neighborhood makes life easier
(and) all of these services more accessible,” he said.
e project will eliminate “a lot of the barriers and surprise struggles a lot of my neighbors live with every day that make getting to these services, to these organizations di cult.”
Pontiac used to have six community centers; now it has none, Yoakum said. Yet the need for one has come up a lot in the city’s strategic, land use and
parks and recreation plans.
“We keep hearing this over and over again, but nobody is working on building new community centers. So we’ll do that,” Yoakum said.
Located at 640 W. Huron on M-59 near Telegraph, the center is located on bus routes at major intersections, Yoakum said.
It was designed by Chicago architectural rm Perkins, Fellows and Hamilton. Dwight Perkins designed schools across the country and wrote textbooks about it, Coleman said. He was often checked in his bid to design elaborate locations, but Webster is the closest example of his fully realized dream. e school includes 26 classrooms, a kitchen, stage and among other opulent features, red marble stall walls and panels in school bathrooms, six skylights and a large gym in the heart of the building.
Micah agreed to buy the 53,714-square-foot school building and the 4.8 acres it sits on in 2017
Nonpro t community development corporation Micah 6 Community is in the early planning phase of building a tiny home community in Pontiac.
e organization acquired the site for the homes, the former Emerson Elementary School in north east Pontiac, at no cost as part of its purchase of Webster Elementary School from Pontiac Investment Corp.
Micah 6 plans to demolish the former school building at 859 Emerson Avenue near Baltimore Avenue by the end of the year.
Once completed, Micah 6 plans to build 58 tiny homes on the property. It’s still nalizing plans,
but Executive Director Coleman Yoakum estimated the cost of the project at around $14 million.
“We will build them and sell them to folks we know in the neighborhood” who are paying $950 each month to rent, he said.
Yoakum said Micah 6 has spent a lot of time talking with the Rev. Faith Fowler, senior pastor of Cass Community United Methodist Church and executive director of Cass Community Social Services.
Cass has built 25 tiny homes in Detroit since 2016 and has begun work on seven more, Fowler said.
Cass pays for the construction with philanthropic dollars from individuals, foundations, corporations and religious organizations.
Residents of those homes pay rent
that covers the costs of water, trash collection, lawn services, snow removal, insurance and other costs over a designated period of years.
e rst group of residents will own their homes — with value estimates of $70,000-$100,000 on Zillow.com — in September 2024, she said.
Micah 6 will probably go the more traditional nancing route and price the homes at a rate that is comparable to what people are paying in rent already and subsidize to make them a ordable, Yoakum said.
“We’re in conversations with a couple of banks right now about what sort of creative mortgages opportunities they can o er,” whether it’s creative terms that are
model akin to that nonprofit Life Remodeled developed in a former school building in Detroit, the Webster Community Center has leased all of the available space in the building to about a dozen tenants informed by the needs of the community.
The Pontiac Community Foundation has leased two classrooms to operate a neighborhood business incubator.
Multiple other tenants have committed to taking space in the building including Rochester University, Oakland Livingston Human Service Agency with Head Start, SMART, Honor Health, Art Experience, Accent Pontiac, Yaktown Yoga, Sprout Food Store, and Plain and Fancy Food, a bakery and coffee shop.
Outside, plans call for an athletic field, playground, three greenhouses, a large community garden and an outdoor pavilion in the courtyard area for community events.
on a land contract from Pontiac Investment Corp. for $200,000 but had paid just $58,000 when the company forgave the rest of the loan and threw in another school building, Emerson Elementary, at no additional charge, Yoakum said. It has the remaining commitments needed to make the Webster Community Center a reality. ey include a mix of new market and historic tax credits, $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding from the county, $425,000 from the state’s Environmental Great Lakes and Energy and millions in grants from foundations and funders including Ballmer Group, the Carls Foundation, the Pontiac Funders Collaborative, the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation, Total Health Care Foundation and the William Davidson Foundation.
Through a community hub
Micah 6 will also operate a food co-op to provide cheaper food to eligible participants in the federal Women, Infants and Children food assistance program, Yoakum said. And the building, added to the National Register of Historic Places in June 2022, will feature a number of permanent displays about the role it played in busing and permanent desegregation.
CBI Design Professionals is architect on the project and Spence Brothers Construction is general contractor.
“We had the idea to turn (the school) into a hub,” Yoakum said, but he and his team were encouraged by others to talk with Detroit-based Life Remodeled about its Durfee Innovation Society project.
“In terms of proof of concept, this can work. We are incredibly indebted to Life Remodeled (for showing) this can work and that it can be sustainable for the long term,” he said.
more accessible to “ rst investment” homebuyers who are just coming out of college, just got their rst job and have no options other than to pay $950 a month in rent or to “last investment” buys
who are living on Social Security or a pension, he said.
e goal is to give people a foot into the housing market and an opportunity to build wealth, Yoakum said.
LANSING — Insurance companies could be targeted by lawsuits challenging their failure to pay claims under Michigan bills that the industry is trying to block and that plainti s’ lawyers are lobbying to be advanced by the new Democratic majority.
e legislation would create a “bill of rights” for policyholders. Insurers would be required to exercise “good faith and fair dealing” in the investigation, adjustment, evaluation and payment of claims, and to “give all reasonable bene t of the doubt” to claimants.
ose that violate the proposed law could be sued for unpaid bene ts, nancial losses, emotional distress, interest penalties, punitive damages, legal costs and attorney fees.
Supporters say the measures, Senate Bill 329 and House Bill 4681, would empower people and business owners who have little redress if insurance companies do not act in good faith. e industry says the bills are sweeping in nature and would lead to higher rates for consumers and businesses due to frivolous lawsuits and fraudulent claims.
e Democratic-sponsored legislation, which was introduced in May, could be considered by legislative committees after the summer break.
“Michigan has never had any type of statute or code requirement or case law that allows policyholders to hold insurers responsible when they fail to act fairly,” said Stuart Sklar, a managing shareholder at Fabian, Sklar, King and Liss PC, a Farmington Hills rm that specializes in re injury, explosion and property damage law. He also is the immediate past president of the Michigan Association for Justice, a trial lawyers’ group that is advocating for the bills.
e state’s Consumer Protection Act does not apply to insurers, Sklar said. e Uniform Trade Practices Act lets the state insurance director investigate and penalize insurance companies.
People can le suit now, he said,
but “all they get it what they should have gotten in the rst place. … Basically what this bill is is a consumer protection bill. It’s designed to protect consumers of insurance. We see insurance companies every day, in my practice every day, engaging in tactics where they delay claims, they deny claims, they defend claims that should be paid. ere’s nothing that really anyone can do about it.”
e Insurance Association of Michigan, which represents the majority of auto, home and business insurers operating in the state, is lining up against the measures, as are other insurance and business organizations.
“It’s a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. In 99% of document-
ed cases, claims are paid quickly and they’re paid on time,” Executive Director Erin McDonough said. “In that 1%, we fully expect that those people that aren’t paying claims appropriately should get penalized and to the full extent of the law. We’re not standing behind bad actors.”
e law requires insurers to make timely payments, she said, and they face penalty interest (12%) if they do not. e state Department of Insurance and Financial Services also is authorized to seek nes of up to $50,000, she said.
Opponents say states with similar “bad-faith” laws have seen spikes in fraudulent claims and baseless lawsuits. ey point to Florida, where 71% of insurance
payouts went to attorneys’ fees and public adjusters over a 10year period. When Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a tort-reform bill in March, including modi cations to the bad-faith framework, he called Florida a “judicial hellhole.”
e bills are sponsored by Democratic Sen. Je Irwin of Ann Arbor and Democratic Rep. Kelly Breen of Novi, who sit on the Senate and House committees that handle insurance-related legislation.
Michigan, Irwin said, is out of step with most states that meaningfully enable policyholders to hold insurers accountable.
“If they can come into court and prove, up against insurance companies, who have tremendous resources and some of the best lawyers ... that (they) knew that they ought to cover a claim and didn’t anyway out of bad faith, then they certainly should not just have their claim paid but there should be also be some damages.”
He said while the industry opposes measures that would hurt its bottom line, he intends to listen to the concerns and “hopefully some
sort of reasonable compromise where we do restore citizens’ access to justice, where we do end up with a more sensible setup.”
Sklar said 47 other states have some or all of what the bills propose. McDonough countered that the legislation is “Florida plus the kitchen sink.” She contended that Michigan law does have some provisions akin to bad-faith standards in other states, while the legislation is “one-sided” and would incentivize fraud.
e bills appear to cover most or all insurance except health insurance policies — including auto, homeowners, life and general liability. Insurers would have to give at least equal consideration to the interests of policyholders and claimants as they do to their own interests in all aspects of investigating, adjusting, evaluating and paying claims. Claimants would be given all reasonable bene t of the doubt in the investigation and evaluation of claims. Ambiguities would be construed in favor of the insured.
Insurers would be required to pay claimants’ additional living expenses under a re policy and pay business interruption and extra expenses under a commercial or business policy while the claim is being investigated.
e Home Builders Association of Michigan is among the business groups opposing the measures. Its leaders worry about the impact on homeowners.
“As we look at legislation that comes through, and this being one of them, if it’s going to impact and increase costs on housing, we can’t support it,” said Dawn Crandall, executive vice president for government relations.
Backers of the legislation say good insurers would not be a ected if the law is changed. Sklar likened the industry’s warnings about rate hikes to “the little boy crying wolf.”
“ is is all within their control, totally within their control. ey act in good faith, these cases aren’t going to be litigated,” he said. “Everybody who has insurance in this state should be for this.”
As once-hot metro areas in the South and West have cooled, sending home sale prices downward nationwide, metro Detroit and other Great Lakes region municipalities continue to buck the trend.
e metro Detroit region has now seen three consecutive months of rising home prices and were up 2.1% year over year for the month of May. Nationwide, prices have fallen 0.5% over the same time period, according to data released Tuesday for the monthly S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index, which tracks home prices around the country.
Home prices in Southeast Mich-
igan also grew 2.3% from April to May, tied with Chicago for the largest month-over-month increases and trailing Cleveland, which saw its prices grow by 2.7%.
Nationwide, prices grew 1.2% from April to May.
Chicago saw the sharpest yearover-year price growth, according to the report, with home sale prices growing 4.8%. Cleveland followed the Windy City, with prices growing 3.9%, followed by Atlanta, which was tied with Detroit.
“ e rally in U.S. home prices continued in May 2023,” S&P Managing Director Craig Lazzara said in a statement. “Home prices in the U.S. began to fall after June 2022, and May’s data bolster the case that the nal month of the de-
cline was January 2023. Granted, the last four months’ price gains could be truncated by increases in mortgage rates or by general economic weakness. But the breadth and strength of May’s report are consistent with an optimistic view of future months.”
e push toward the nationwide decline in home prices over the last year has been led by metros such as San Francisco, Seattle and Las Vegas, according to the Case-Shiller data.
Data released earlier this month from Troy-based brokerage Re/ Max of Southeastern Michigan showed that home prices in metro Detroit in June hit their highest price point in a year, with a median price of $312,190.
Wayne State University announced last week it will establish a brain health program after receiving one of the largest individual donations in its history.
e $20 million gift from Detroit-born philanthropist Seema Boesky will go to establish the Ben L. Silberstein Institute for Brain Health, named for her late father, a Detroit real estate attorney and hotel magnate.
e institute will be located inside the Integrative Biosciences Center on campus and focus on advancing the understanding of the brain’s structure, chemistry and function as it relates to illness and health. at includes researching addiction, chronic pain, depression and bipolar disorder, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, brain injury and trauma, Parkinson’s disease, and schizophrenia, among other disorders.
Dr. David Rosenberg, chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences and the School of Medicine will serve as the institute’s director.
“ is gift catapults us into the cutting-edge center to take on these illnesses. We will be able to learn what is going on at the cellular level to cause these diseases,” he said over the phone. “In psychiatry we have no objective markers of psychiatric illnesses... Imagine treating cancer with the history
J.P. Morgan Private Bank
Nagi Reddy Nallavelli has joined J.P. Morgan Private Bank in Birmingham as a Vice President and Banker.
Nagi works closely with business owners, C-suite executives, specialty doctors, partners of law and CPA rms, tech founders, and real estate developers who seek trusted advice to help grow and preserve their wealth. He is skilled at providing the best resources and tools to help his clients reach their nancial goals. Nagi joins the rm from Voya Financial Advisors/Cetera Advisor Networks.
CNS Healthcare
Michele Reid, MD has been named Vice President and Chief Operating Of cer for CNS Healthcare. She formerly served as the Chief Medical Of cer for CNS Healthcare, a non-pro t, Certi ed Community Behavioral Health Clinic with eight clinics and two clubhouses in Southeastern Michigan. Dr. Reid is also a Clinical Assistant Professor, Wayne State University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences.
Dr. Reid serves as the Trustee-AtLarge of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and is a member of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services National Advisory Council.
To place your listing, visit crainsdetroit.com/people-on-the-move or, for more information, contact Debora Stein at 917.226.5470 / dstein@crain.com
Skilken Gold
Skilken Gold, a national commercial real estate development rm, is pleased to announce Ashley Nathan as its new Michigan-based project manager. In this role, Ashley will support the company’s development projects in Michigan, with a primary focus on the rm’s partnership with Sheetz Convenience Stores. Ashley brings with her previous experience in development with restaurant, retail, and healthcare clients. www.skilkengold.com
To place your listing, contact Debora Stein at dstein@crain.com
not having any tests, physical exams, brain, heart, lung scans. And that is what psychiatrists are doing every day. Nothing replaces good doctors and nurses, but we need some markers.”
Rosenberg said the focus of the new institute will be on gathering new information and clarifying processes and those biomarkers that cause illnesses.
Rochester Center for Behavioral Medicine
Joel L. Young, MD, Founder and Medical Director of the Rochester Center for Behavioral Medicine is pleased to promote Jaime Saal, MA, to Chief Executive Of cer. For two decades as Executive Director, Saal has played an integral part in nurturing RCBM into a thriving practice with more than 100 employees. “Jaime has upheld RCBM’s values, and cultivated a work environment that promotes excellence and balance,” said Mindy Layne Young, JD, LMSW, supervising therapist and general counsel.
Judson Center
Judson Center, a 99-year-old human services agency, has named George Winn as Chief Strategy Of cer. As a key member of the organization’s executive team, he will oversee all Child and Family Services including foster care, adoption, family preservation, prevention services and mentoring. George will also assist with strategic planning. He has more than 30 years of experience in the child welfare eld and is involved in various diversity, advocacy and child and family initiatives in Michigan.
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Most importantly, Rosenberg said, it will allow the institute to leverage Wayne State’s research strengths — including top programs in addiction and pain biology, post-traumatic stress disorder and trauma neurobiology, child and adolescent psychiatry and movement disorders — with researchers looking at chemistry, biology, bioengineering and statistics to broaden the scope of the research. And with that, it will allow a multidisciplinary group of researchers to seek grants and funding and bring in students from around the world.
“Right now we are in the land of opportunity, pioneers looking to discover things, but this kind of gift working across all disciplines across campus really has the potential to accelerate understanding,” Rosenberg said. “Knowledge heals.”
e institute also plans to focus on health equity, a core pillar for the university located in Detroit.
“Far too many individuals are struggling with chronic pain, addiction and other illnesses that have no proven cause, prevention or cure,” Wayne State President M. Roy Wilson said in the statement. “It is imperative that we gain better insights into the environmental, biological and behavioral factors behind these illnesses and their progression in order to develop successful treatment strategies. Institute research activity will be at the center of this work, guided by a particular focus on ushering in more targeted, personalized and precision care for a patient’s best outcome.”
e next step for the institute is approval from the university’s board of governors at its next board meeting in September.
Boesky has a history of commitment to Wayne State University and the city of Detroit. She has funded the Gertrude Levin Endowed Chair in Addiction and Pain Biology for the Wayne State University School of Medicine with Mark Greenwald, a professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, who serves as the inaugural chair.
Details of the plan are scant as the city looks to partner to develop the properties and expand the area, designated the “Medical Diamond,” which extends from Court Street to the south, Ascension St. Mary’s to the east, I-675 to the north and Covenant Medical Center to the west. But the allocated funds are earmarked to incentivize Central Michigan University College of Medicine, which already operates in the area, to expand along the city’s riverfront.
O cials believe the public funds will help move the logjam and spur not only CMU, but others to move forward on the plan more than two decades in the making. It’s hoped new investment will transform the area and attract more medical education, services and investment that holds the potential to give Saginaw a much-needed economic boost.
Saginaw Future began acquiring property in 1999 and began clearing titles and demolishing buildings to combat the blight and crime that had taken over the riverfront, said JoAnn Crary, president of Saginaw Future.
Horn said the Saginaw Chamber’s o ces were in the district at that time and just out the window frequent drug deals and prostitution occurred.
By 2001, Michigan Cardiovascular Institute broke ground on the riverfront across South Washington Avenue from Ascension St. Mary’s.
e institute rounded out a growing list of health care companies calling the Diamond home that include: Mobile Medical Response, Ascension St. Mary’s and Covenant’s single-county ambulance service; Michigan Premier Laundry, which has invested $10 million into operations over the past decade; FlightCare, the air medical transport for both hospitals; the Aleda E. Lutz VA Medical Center; and others.
In 2009, Central Michigan University created its medical school, speci cally partnering with Covenant and Ascension St. Mary’s to create residency programs, mostly based in Saginaw.
Mary Free Bed, the inpatient rehabilitation health system based in Grand Rapids, opened a $40.7 million hospital on Covenant’s campus in 2021 to serve both Covenant and Ascension St. Mary’s patients.
CMU is the crux of the expansion of the Medical Diamond. e school has already invested more than $25 million for a building to house its med students and residents as well as an additional $10 million for an innovation center, said Dr. George Kikano, vice president for health a airs for CMU and dean of its medical school.
e school, where 60% of students are from Michigan, has 140 medical students in Saginaw.
CMU Medical Education Partners
has 155 residents and 75 teaching faculty there.
CMU is also in the process of integrating part of its medical education with the Saginaw County Health Department, which will likely include a new building, Kikano said. It’s unclear whether that investment will be within the Medical Diamond.
Tim Morales, Saginaw’s city manager, said when the med school opened in 2021, new investments came into the area, and he hopes another investment could be another catalyst.
“ ere will be developments that surround that,” Morales said. “Two buildings were redeveloped for residential housing due to the medical school opening. So we’ve seen it happen for redevelopment before and we think this would be a next step to spur some additional redevelopment.”
But Kikano was elusive on the speci cs of any plans for further development, as the CMU board of trustees has yet to approve funds for the university to move forward with due diligence.
“Obviously, at some point, we want to strengthen our program,” Kikano said. “It’s fair to say we are engaged in conversations about CMU’s presence in Saginaw and what our greater presence would look like, but it’s up to the board of trustees to decide if we need another building. As far as we know, we don’t have the budget to do that. We’re willing to make additional investments, but that’s not up to us as of now. e board tells me to jump, I’ll jump.”
Kikano said CMU would need $200 million to $300 million to really grow its medical education in the region.
State Sen. Kristen McDonald
Rivet, a Bay City Democrat whose district includes Saginaw, told Crain’s the long-term plan is to move rst- and second-year medical students to the city from Mt. Pleasant.
“Along with that is a pretty comprehensive development that will eventually include things like mixed-use development and housing,” McDonald Rivet said. “At its core it’s moving these medical students. but in its full vision is this catalytic spark for the city of Saginaw that will increase medical care, it will draw development and we believe will have a pretty big economic boost for the city. It’s a very cool project.”
While Saginaw Future puts the total redevelopment at $100 million, it could well go north of that, said McDonald Rivet. Saginaw County and the city also have each designated $5 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds toward the Medical Diamond’s infrastructure that includes building a behavioral health clinic alongside the county heath department.
“ e reason why I put as much political muscle behind it as I possibly could is to create that spark because Saginaw has a lot of really negative well-being factors,” she said. “But we also have this emergence of young professionals moving into the city. ere’s a groundswell of energy.
ere are developers and CDFIs that are wanting to come into the city. Where we’re able to create this sort of stake in the ground around an investment that we know will bring young professionals into the city, which is Develop-
ment 101, this is the thing that we think is going to be really the catalyst that the city needs to jump forward economically.”
Saginaw, she said, is a good example of a place that has had “very, very little (state) investment for a very long time. … Saginaw is overdue for investment from the state.”
But, as of now, most of this redevelopment is still theoretical and still in the planning stages.
Saginaw needed to get its ducks in a row, or its properties ready for
development. e city and the Saginaw County Land Bank now own more than 50 properties inside the Medical Diamond for redevelopment.
“We are now ready to go,” Crary said. “CMU has to make the decision whether to move forward or not. e county and city have committed ARPA funds. But we have to get a shovel in the ground. e key was the state funding. Now we’re having multiple meetings a week and this project is picking up speed.”
“With mortgage rates higher and expected to remain so through ’23, we balance headwinds present in the back half of ’23 with potential tailwinds from rate reductions in ’24,” reads an investor note from investment banking rm Je eries written earlier this month.
Detroit-based Rocket Companies (NYSE: RKT) will report earnings after markets close Aug. 3. e parent company of Rocket Mortgage and various other consumer nance companies for the rst quarter reported a loss of $411 million, compared to a profit of more than $1 billion in the same period last year.
e company’s rst-quarter report o ered little by way of guidance for the second quarter beyond forecasted “adjusted” revenue of between $850 million to $1 billion.
Pontiac-based UWM (NYSE: UWMC), meanwhile, is scheduled to report its second-quarter earnings Aug. 9. e period made for an “an all-time record” quarter for purchase mortgages, Chairman and CEO Mat Ishbia said recently on CNBC.
“It’s still happening and business is still moving,” Ishbia said. “People are buying homes.”
UWM, now the nation’s largest mortgage lender, last quarter reported total mortgage originations of about $22.3 billion and a quarterly loss of $138.6 million.
e company forecast second-quarter production to be in the $23 billion-$30 billion range, with margins of 75-100 basis points.
Heading into this year’s second-quarter earnings season, mortgage industry analysts are taking a far more favorable view of companies like UWM, with the majority of business coming from purchase mortgages as opposed
From Page 3
GSSEM secured a $1 million state earmark, its rst ever, to help fund planning, research and data collection for the project over the next 12-18 months. It’s developing plans for a campaign to cover the capital costs and possibly raise a permanent endowment to subsidize program costs for those who need it and support ongoing operations of the institute, Woodson said.
GSSEM in the past has provided girls who aren’t technically scouts access to programs like its outdoor camping in Northern Macomb County but on a limited basis. e new institute will codify o erings for all youth in the region and for Girl Scouts and schools from around the state.
LUXWALL
From Page 1
“The best way to think about our product is we’re a thermos bottle for buildings,” LuxWall Chairman and CEO Scott Thomsen said last week to Michigan Strategic Fund board members, who approved a $6 million grant for the expansion.
While more energy-efficient, the vacuum-insulated glass has been too expensive to be a viable alternative to traditional glass. LuxWall aims to change that by bringing down costs through scaled-up production and making the value proposition clear to customers, Thomsen said.
“The project really represents a great opportunity to diversify our city of Detroit manufacturing base into the sustainable materials base,” White said during the MSF board meeting. “We have such strong interest in clean energy and sustainable materials. Landing this project will really help to further that ecosystem both in the city and region.”
LuxWall netted $33 million in Series A funding earlier this year from venture capital firms including Breakthrough Energy, founded by Bill Gates. The fundraising round put the company’s valuation at $101 million.
to re nance, which all but dried up due to higher interest rates.
Even then, the majority of homeowners have interest rates below 4%, creating little incentive for people to list their homes for sale, meaning limited inventory is likely to be around for the foreseeable future.
“If you don’t have to move, why would you?” Jay McCanless, a senior vice president for equity research with Wedbush Securities, told Crain’s. “ at locked-in effect is going to keep weighing on the purchase origination side of the business for an extended period.”
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate for the 11th time in 17 months, a streak of hikes intended to curb in ation. e move lifted the Fed’s benchmark short-term rate from roughly 5.1% to 5.3% — its highest level since 2001. at move means any growth for mortgage lenders is likely still a couple of quarters down the road, according to the note from Je eries.
“However, stubbornly high mortgage rates and continually tightening housing supply will likely keep a lid on originations growth for the back half of ’23,”
“Girl Scout troops will always be at the core of what we do, but again, we recognize we have an opportunity to broaden our programming and operate an even more impactful experience for young people who visit the LEAD institute,” Woodson said.
“It’s an extension of scouting for all young people.... this really does represent the next 50-100 years of where we see GSSEM going.”
First of its kind
e expansion comes as the organization continues to work to recoup scout members it lost during the pandemic. Before COVID, GSSEM had about 25,000 scouts, Woodson said. Today, it
the note reads. “Given cooling ination data, we believe the bulk of the Fed’s tightening cycle is complete and may be on track for rate cuts into ’24, which would likely drive a rebound in renance activity for some and could drive increased housing inventory.”
Still, there do appear to be some bright spots out there for lenders. Namely, people are continuing to make their mortgage payments.
A report last week by housing data rm Black Knight Inc. found that the number of serious delinquencies — de ned as loans more than 90 days past due — dropped to 471,000 in June, the lowest level since August 2006 and an improvement of about 27% from a year earlier.
However, the Black Knight report did nd that early-stage delinquencies (30 days late) increased by 19,000, or 2.2%, while borrowers who have missed two payments ticked up by 1.7%. Foreclosure starts also ticked up slightly, according to the report.
Given that there’s little indication mortgage rates will decline signi cantly in the near future, analysts say such data points are likely to create some headwinds.
“It seems like this economy can handle a 6%-to-7% mortgage rate,” said McCanless, the Wedbush analyst. “ e demand is out there.”
has 16,000, with numbers creeping up since 2021. Currently, it serves girls in Oakland, Macomb, Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair and Sanilac counties and parts of Wayne, Monroe and Livingston.
All membership dues collected go to Girl Scouts of the USA, Woodson said. Cookie sales and donations from individuals, foundations and corporations support the local a liate’s $10 million annual budget.
e new institute is likely to gain interest and possibly even support from philanthropic partners, but it isn’t a strategy to supplement income, Woodson said.
“At the core of it is to make sure we’re creating the best experience we can for young people in Southeast Michigan.”
Regular windows are rated from R1 to R5, the latter being the most energy-efficient. LuxWall’s products range from R13 to R17, offering significant cost savings and carbon reduction opportunities, according to the CEO.
“With our product, you don’t have to replace the frame, you can just replace the glass,” Thomsen said. “When you replace the entire window, the embedded carbon is roughly 55 kilograms per square foot, and we’re about 5 kilograms. Not only do we save carbon, but the embedded carbon cradle-to-grave is basically an order of magnitude less.”
Thomsen founded the company in 2016 after 15 years at Guardian, where he ascended to be president of its global glass group. Guardian, bought by Koch Industries in 2016, was rooted in automotive windshields before branching out into buildings. The company, which employs 15,000 people around the globe, operates an R&D center in Monroe County in addition to its Auburn Hills base.
LuxWall’s plan in Detroit calls for a new 280,000-square-foot factory churning out 600,000 units per year.
It would create 342 jobs paying an average wage of $1,653 per week plus benefits.
David White, senior director of business development for the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., said the project provides a growth opportunity for the city.
GSSEM’s three sister councils in Dallas, Dayton/Columbus and Hawaii have or are building STEM centers, but none are o ering programs in all four of the Girl Scouts’ pillars, as the rst-of-its-kind institute here will, Woodson said.
GSSEM is still building out programs for the new institute, but they could include: STEM camp and/or club, art exploration, game design/programming, a mini bank sponsored by a banking partner, a commercial kitchen where young people can learn about nutrition and the culinary industry, painting and dance, environmental conservation, snowshoeing and urban camping and more.
Quinn Evans Architects and ZGF Architecture are designing the project.
e Detroit-based a liate looked for an existing building with land around it in the tri-coun-
Thomsen said the company expects to be cash flow positive by the second half of 2025 and that it has $27 million cash on hand and access to $13 million in loans. About $140 million of the $166 million expansion project has been committed, he added.
The company’s three revenue streams are residential, with potential customers including Anderson Corp., Kolbe Windows and Doors, and Michigan Window and Door; commercial, with property owners such as Bedrock and Hines; and new construction, supplying through a general contractor.
The popularity of clean tech and general push for carbon reduction present a compelling business opportunity for LuxWall, said Phil Santer, senior vice president and chief of staff for Ann Arbor Spark, which helped land the company in its Ypsilanti plant.
Many companies and cities have aggressive goals to cut their carbon footprints. Ann Arbor, for example, is working toward “communitywide carbon neutrality” by 2030.
Innovations like LuxWall’s windows could help make it a reality, Santer said.
“I think there’s just so much opportunity related to energy efficiency, and we can leverage that expertise from glass making on the automotive side and go into more efficient buildings,” he said. “It’s certainly something we need to be supportive of as we look to leverage our know-how in a broader way.”
ty area, Woodson said, but could not nd what it needs. It’s now focused on acquiring land in Detroit, which is home to about a third of its members and a central location for its troops, which extend south to the Toledo border and north of Port Huron.
GSSEM recognizes that reaching more children in that area will take out-of-the-box thinking, and that’s what they hope the center will be.
Some youth have time constraints due to involvement in sports and other activities or transportation barriers, Woodson said. But those who are interested in participating in a cooking class or a branding workshop will be able to do that at the new institute. “Everyone is not going to sign up to be a scout; that’s just a reality,” Woodson said. “We want it to be self-driven.”
“It’s still happening and business is still moving. People are buying homes.”Mat Ishbia, chairman and CEO, United Wholesale Mortgage
“By having a more cohesive canvas ... we’re going to really have the opportunity to engage with visitors in a di erent way than MOCAD has ever been able to,” said Jova Lynne, who joined MOCAD as its rst-ever art director in April.
Plans also include renovation of sta o ces and HVAC improvements that will enable the museum to attract the loan of temporary exhibits. Ann Arbor-based Ply Plus Inc. is the project architect.
Having a safe and climate-controlled environment “is going to really expand who we’re able to work with and encourage us to work with larger institutions to maybe borrow more works,” Lynne said.
e work is expected to begin by fall 2024, pending the availability of labor, building supplies and other factors, museum leaders said.
To nance the capital projects planned for the museum, MOCAD’s leaders are putting a new push on a $14 million campaign launched several years back.
e e ort, which paused during the pandemic, has secured $6.62 million in commitments, said COO and co-director Marie Madison-Patton, or just under half of its goal. e A. Alfred Taubman and Reyes Family Foundation made gifts totaling $5 million, honoring the museum’s late co-founder Julia Reyes Taubman, who was the wife of Robert Taubman, chairman and CEO of Taubman Realty Group.
“We have strong support from founding members and community members,” said Madison-Patton, who joined MOCAD as director of business operations and was named deputy director in 2021. She was then asked to lead the museum on an interim basis in the spring of 2022 when MOCAD rescinded an executive director o er to a United Kingdom arts executive.
e museum shifted to a shared leadership model last year.
MOCAD has a new development department and new development director, she said. And several local leaders are stepping up to help the museum reignite the campaign, according to the museum. ey include: Sue Mosey, executive director, Midtown Detroit Inc.; Linda Dresner, a fashion leader and former retailer; Robert Taubman and his son, Alexander Taubman, a MOCAD board member and managing director of Oaktree Capital Management.
e museum has about $3.4 million to raise to cover projected capital costs. e other $4 million included in the campaign will help fund long-term operating sustainability, Madison-Patton said.
If appropriate and within the budget, MOCAD would evaluate the use of a construction loan, if needed, MOCAD Co-Chair Lynn Gandhi said in an emailed statement.
While it is nancially stable
e deadline is fast approaching to apply for Crain’s 2023 Best-Managed Nonprofits recognition program.
e program honors the best in leadership and nancial stewardship in Southeast Michigan’s nonpro t community. is year’s contest asks nonpro ts to share how they seek feedback from the people they serve and how they use that information to improve programs and services. is might include shifting to help clients overcome barriers, lling gaps in services and adjusting how and when services are o ered.
Applicants undergo a nancial review by the nonpro t practice group at Plante Moran PLLC, and winners are selected after initial scoring and in-person interviews by a panel of nonpro t experts.
e deadline for applications is Aug. 7. Finalists must appear for in-person interviews with judges the morning of Tuesday, Oct. 3. Applicants will be considered with similar-sized organizations.
coming out of the pandemic, MOCAD has yet to recoup the number of visitors coming each year, Madison-Patton, 44, said. Last year, it saw about 30,000 people, down from 50,000-60,000 before the pandemic.
It’s operating on a budget of just under $2 million this year.
e current season marks the rst it has shown predominantly woman artists, Lynne said.
“ ere’s a huge disparity in the art world between women and men and museum exhibitions. So this season was the rst time we really gave the main building to women.”
Among other artists, MOCAD is featuring artist Sydney James, the creator of some of Detroit’s most iconic murals, in its main Woodward gallery. And the works of Liz Cohen, former artist-in-residence and head of the photography department at Cranbrook Academy of Art, are on display in the muse-
um’s central gallery as part of a show that looks at the history of co ee labor.
In the separate, Mike Kelley Mobile Homestead is a show on people who have been incarcerated. MOCAD worked with e Broad museum at Michigan State University, which hosted the rst showing, to shift the male-heavy show to better highlight women.
“We have an incredibly strong exhibitions program. ... We are often the rst landing place for established artists to have exhibitions,” Lynne said.
A New York City native, Lynne, 35, served as senior curator at MOCAD before heading back to the East Coast last year to serve as director of Temple Contemporary at Temple University in Philadelphia before returning to MOCAD in the spring.
Beyond the art, Madison-Patton and Lynne said they are focusing intently on community engagement, education and accessibility.
MOCAD launched the “Community Cares” series, a nontraditional type of program for a museum that looks at what’s happening in the community and tries to support that, Lynne said. Recent programs included hypo- and hyperthermia training to teach people how to support somebody who’s either overheating or too cold, and a stop-the-bleed program.
In education, the museum’s anchor education program that works with youth on leadership and professional development training through the arts has a 100% college acceptance rate for participants, Lynne said.
She is now leading e orts to expand the eld trips that have been o ered to college students and folks in elder care homes to K-12 students, and the artist workshops MOCAD does with high schoolers on things like making mini-murals to K-8 and older adults.
Accessibility is a constant consideration, Lynne said, both in looking at things like where benches are placed in galleries as well as the height of paintings on walls and the incorporation of QR
Crain’s will publish pro les of the selected honorees on Dec. 4, and they will receive a “best-managed” logo from Crain’s for use in promotional materials.
Enter by visiting crainsdetroit.com/bmnp.
Nominees, which can be any size, must be 501(c)3 organizations based in Macomb, Oakland, Wayne, Livingston or Washtenaw counties.
Applications must include an entry form, a copy of the organization’s code of ethics, a copy of its most recent audited financial statement and a copy of its most recent IRS 990 form.
First-place winners within the past 10 years are not eligible; neither are hospitals, HMOs, medical clinics, business and professional organizations, schools, churches or foundations.
codes that people who can’t read or see can scan to hear more about a piece. It’s something she and Marie have spearheaded coming out of the pandemic.
“When we talk about (accessibility), we include diversity, equity and inclusion in that,” looking at exhibitions, programming and knowledge sharing that really encourages access to knowledge, which is directly tied to the museum’s mission, Lynne said.
Last year’s winners, On My Own of Michigan and Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency, represented the wide spectrum of best practices for recruiting and retaining talent. ey had vastly di erent annual budgets — $615,000 for On My Own and $350 million for Wayne Metro — but were still able to be innovative in rethinking operational strategies to expand bene ts, opportunities and other perks to keep employees engaged and satis ed.
“We have an incredibly strong exhibitions program.”
Jova Lynne, art director, MOCAD
DETROIT ACTION: Growing up on the city’s east side, Branden Snyder, executive director of nonpro t advocacy group and community organizer Detroit Action, didn’t have much exposure to people outside his circle until he got to the University of Michigan. Then, he faced a culture shock as some classmates skied in Aspen, while other friends couldn’t afford to pay tuition to return to school. A misdemeanor assault arrest — for which he served probation and later had expunged — further opened his eyes to race- and class-based inequalities. Here, Snyder talks about getting young people involved in politics, what led him back to Detroit and what Yelp review he would give Mayor Mike Duggan — as well as what Duggan could do to earn an extra star.
You were involved in campaigns for Hillary Clinton when she ran for president and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist. What stuck with you about trying to get younger people, in particular, engaged in politics?
Young people, or people who are young at heart, don’t want to talk about candidates. Candidates are just vehicles and a means to an end. What they want to talk about is policy issues. ey want to know: “How will this person improve my life?” “How will this person improve my community?” “What will they actually do, what values (do) they hold?” And when we don’t talk to them about that, when we talk about campaigns as coronations, when we talk about candidates as saviors, we get caught up in the parade and the ceremonial process of elections versus the actual brass tacks of what will get done and how will policies mprove their lives.
I wanted to ask about your time in Baton Rouge and Indianapolis. What did you bring back from those experiences to Detroit?
In Baton Rouge, the organization I worked for organized people at churches on issues. And it wasn’t about progressive issues, it wasn’t about capital-D Democratic issues. It was about issues, and these were things that came up from that base. ere will be things from the minuscule “how do we x a road, a bridge that connects one neighborhood to another,” to big issues about property taxes and making sure that the buses were funded. And all of these things really lived in the values of the churches and the mosques and synagogues around caring for the stranger, being able to be good neighbors, making sure that we’re doing unto others, making sure that there’s equity, all of these things that were the teachings across these di erent faiths. … We have to lead and organize around our values. So again, less around the candidates, more around what are the values that we want to bring into the world?
You mentioned you wanted to be back in Detroit. Can you tell me why?
On one hand, I just hated it, as a 25-year-old being in those
two cities. ey were slow as all get-out. … You know, there was so much promise that was being talked about, even in this moment of bankruptcy, young Black Detroiters coming back to the city, changing it. And I thought that, for me, I wanted to be a part of that. And I also wanted to make sure that the opportunities weren’t just solely for folks who were movers and shakers and the elites. How do we make sure that folks like my neighbors and my best friends who work at the Chrysler plant are able to engage and have a community that can be brought up? at was the allure. I wanted to be a part of that change that was happening in Detroit and also be able to put a progressive stamp on it and make sure that Black progressive voices were being heard.
You said you see your work as a way to give the mayor a Yelp review. So what’s the review?
I think it’s still very much a three-star review. I binged “One Star Reviews” on Vice yesterday. So I’m very much in the mind of, it’s a threestar review, it’s not perfect.
ere are some things that have worked, there’s some things that haven’t worked, there’s a lot more that can be done.
ere’s a whole lot more that needs to be done, and there needs to be a lot more voice given to regular people, working people, instead of our corporate overlords (who) get a lot more say in the body politic of the day.
Is there something that could raise that rating from three stars to four?
I think one is around safety. I think that there’s a lot of talk around what we do about safety in the city of Detroit. And I think unfortunately, the mayor pivots, because of his background, to, “We need more police and we need to be more tough on crime.” But we’ve done polling.
When we talk to people, they talk about safety being wanting good jobs, I need good schools, I need mental health care, I need access to grocery stores, I need to make sure that I have access to housing and good housing. And so when
By | Arielle Kasswe talk about safety, it’s making sure that we’re engaged in the whole of a human. I think that’s the place that I want to be able to push our City Council — and I know our members want to push
Detroit called ( e) Dirt Label. So in the ’90s in hip-hop, there were tons and tons and tons of bootleg Bart Simpson shirts. ere’s an Instagram page dedicated to tracking and keeping up with all
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