By Michael Martinez
Never in the UAW's 88-year history has it attempted a national strike at each of the Detroit 3 simultaneously.
But that unprecedented — and economically devastating — scenario remains in play as contract negotiations with the automakers enter a critical post-Labor Day stretch, with UAW President Shawn Fain declining to pick a traditional target company.
A $375 million pledge from the Gilbert family will bring a world-class rehab center operator and a research center for a debilitating and deadly genetic disease to Henry Ford Health in Detroit.
Dan and Jennifer Gilbert last week announced the Gilbert Family Foundation, Henry Ford Health and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab will bring a 72-bed state-ofthe-art physical medicine and rehabilitation facility and neuro bromatosis re-
search center to Detroit.
e rehab facility will become part of Henry Ford Health's campus expansion and will be managed by Shirley Ryan AbilityLab of Chicago, which consistently ranks as the top rehab hospital in the country.
e Nick Gilbert Neuro bromatosis Research Institute will be created in part-
nership with Henry Ford Health and Michigan State University Health Sciences.
e plans may aid Henry Ford Health in its quest to raise its pro le nationally and could help make Detroit a center for stroke rehab and research on NF, a genetic tumor-causing condition.
e construction and operation of the initiatives will cost an estimated $439 million over 10 years, according to a news
Vixen Yerock earned a degree in plant molecular biology from the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. She’d spent the last 15 years, though, as a manufacturing engineer specializing in process e ciencies.
But in early 2022, Yerock was given
an opportunity to return to working with plants after being hired by one of Michigan’s largest marijuana firms, Common Citizen. Accepting the job meant moving from Oklahoma to the Marshall area where Common Citizen operates its 200,000-square-foot cultivation facility.
Yerock secured a home loan from an
FDIC-approved bank and was set to close on a new home in March — that is before the bank discovered she was soon to receive paychecks from a major weed supplier. Gateway Bank, who underwrote the mortgage, noti ed Yerock two weeks before closing on the home that they would not service her loan due to who was signing her paycheck.
CONVERSATION
Meet Hillary Doe, the executive charged with growing Michigan’s population. PAGE 19
A mass walkout of nearly 150,000 workers would give Fain, who has a penchant for theatrics, the kind of headline-grabbing moment he often seeks. But it would rapidly deplete the UAW's $825 million strike fund, a fact not lost on members who have publicly questioned whether the union can sustain a simultaneous strike long enough to strong-arm the automakers into better deals.
How nonpro ts retain the best executives. Plus, the top-paid nonpro t CEOs.
PAGE 12
A new business incubator aims to build on the region’s legacy of innovations.
PAGE 8
Union has warned it could strike all three Detroit automakers at onceDan and Jennifer Gilbert on Wednesday announce plans to bring a new rehabilitation facility and Neuro bromatosis Research Institute to Detroit. | NIC ANTAYA UAW supporters gather in Detroit during the 2023 Labor Day Parade. MICHAEL MARTINEZ
e new $80 million clubhouse at Oakland Hills Country Club will mirror the historic structure that burned to the ground a year and a half ago — with some notable changes.
Architects have drawn up a plan for a new 110,236-square-foot building for the ultra-exclusive club in Bloom eld Township. at’s 18,345 square feet larger than the original, according to the master plan approved by the township planning commission, re department and police department earlier this month.
e project is expected to go in front of the township board of trustees for nal approval in the coming weeks.
Another alteration: e proposed clubhouse is 44 feet tall, while the original was believed to be 40 feet. While seemingly a miniscule change, such details matter to historians and the township, which requires a variance for structures exceeding 30 feet in height.
e high-pro le clubhouse rebuild at one of the most storied properties in the game of golf has garnered plenty of attention locally and internationally. e 100-year-old structure burned down Feb. 17, 2022, after contractors appeared to set it o accidentally with a propane blowtorch.
A combination of insurance money and a member assessment is funding the rebuild. e project scope, approved through a member vote in December, includes:
◗ $50.2 million for the clubhouse structure;
◗ $8.85 million for a new maintenance building;
◗ $5.9 million for site work;
◗ $5.26 million for architectural and engineering work;
◗ $4.85 million for furnishings and equipment;
◗ $3.68 million for general conditions, overhead and insurance;
◗ $1.3 million for rst tee renovations; and
◗ $1 million for the purchase of the Hainer House.
e master plan presented to the township further details the
work to be conducted on the 173acre property of the South Course — the more famous of the club's two 18-hole courses — which has hosted 17 professional golf championships over the years and will host the 2034 U.S. Open.
Club o cials plan to replace all of the chain-link fence to decorative fencing around the perimeter of the course, per requests from the board, according to the planning document. Additionally, 137 8-foot-tall arborvitae trees will be planted on the inside of the fence line along the property’s West Maple Road frontage. Another 100 or so trees will be planted along the sidewalk and around the parking lot.
e rst tee building will be ex-
panded to 16,853 square feet and renamed the Lifestyle Building.
e various maintenance structures will be consolidated into a new 40,000-square-foot greens and grounds building.
Tra c patterns will be altered to enhance tra c ow and safety.
e parking lot will be expanded to include 351 paved parking spaces with an additional 99 on the North Course side and a new valet lot will provide 72 spaces and six electric vehicle charging stations.
Despite the extra touches, the rebuild project, headed up by Lansing-based Clark Construction Co. and South eld-based Neumann/ Smith Architecture, seeks to be true to its roots.
According to the planning document, the proposed new clubhouse will consist of “white poly-ash lap siding, Indian bu limestone, split faced natural Michigan eldstone, white trim boards, white aluminum balusters and white wood railing, whiteberglass columns, dark asphalt shingles, copper standing seam metal roof, copper gutters and downspouts, green panel shutters and white trim windows with mullions, white doors, and bluestone patios.
“ e proposed plan is to rebuild the clubhouse similar to the original building, with minor modi cations to the building and enhancements to the overall site,” the document said.
Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts is moving forward with plans for a multi-story expansion next to its historic Detroit venue.
e organization has led plans with the Detroit Historic District Commission for a 100,000-square-foot, ve-story “performance center beacon” on the corner of Madison and Randolph streets on the current site of a parking lot, in the Madison-Harmonie historic district.
Music Hall purchased the parking lot at 300 Madison next to its building in March 2022 from Madison Randolph Associates LLC for $4.6 million.
As envisioned, the new, perma-
nent expansion will echo the existing Music Hall’s stone and brick facade, with granite wall panels and glazed brick on the street-level facade, according to the plans led with the Historic District Commission. It will also include a colorful screen on the second through fourth oors “to symbolize the rich and vibrant musical history of Detroit” and a pitched metal roof that will cantilever out over corner and rear rooftop terraces, new sidewalks and streets-
caping. e architect on the plans is New York City-based Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architecture. e project is set to go before the Historic District Commission next week.
Music Hall, which leased the lot before purchasing it last year, has erected a temporary stage and movable seating in the parking lot each summer since 2020 when it devised the idea to provide a space for live, open-air performances during the pandemic.
It has continued to use it for that purpose each year, from May-September, before reverting it to parking each fall after the close of its season.
See MUSIC on Page 18
Amazon. Apple.
Tesla. oseare the tech companies from which a metro Detroit-based manufactured home company seeks to borrow best practices as it seeks growth through multiple channels.
Executives at Troy-based Skyline Champion Corp. (NYSE: SKY) view their company as an integral part of discussions in the state, as well as around the country, around solving interconnected issues of housing supply and a ordability. To that end, the company in recent weeks has announced both acquisition and business diversi cation initiatives that could assist in providing greater consumer awareness of manufactured housing as an option and better alignment with home-buying habits in the modern age.
e goal, according to Skyline Champion CEO Mark Yost, is to bring more sales opportunities inhouse and make the overall home-buying process far easier.
“I think it’s the right approach for buying a home in many cases, because take a look at how many hours the average consumer spends online searching for a home on Zillow,” Yost told Crain’s. “So I don’t think this is necessarily revolutionizing the entire buying experience. I think it’s really what the consumer wants.”
Skyline Champion’s push for growth comes as the nation’s housing market nds itself in uncharted territory. Home prices last month again hit a record high for the third month in a row, even with elevated mortgage rates of around 7.25%, according to real estate data rm Black Knight Inc.
To Yost, the current environment of high prices and dwindling supply of quality housing product positions the company well. New
The popularity of manufactured houses has leaped from 2016 as they are seen as an alternative to traditional new homes.
site-built homes are up in price by around $110,000, he said, while manufactured homes — those built in a factory and placed at a site — are up by around $25,000$30,000.
e company’s $2.2 billion in revenue last year, up from $1.36 billion in 2019, landed it tied at No. 9 on Crain’s most recent Fast 50 list. e company has about 7,600 employees total, with about 150 working out of its Troy headquarters.
Skyline Champion is pursuing growth avenues through at least two separate initiatives. Late last month, the company announced it reached a de nitive agreement to acquire Regional Enterprises LLC, a Mississippi company that does business as Regional Homes and operates as a manufacturer and retailer of manufactured homes, mostly in the Southeastern part of the country.
See HOMES on Page 18
Nick Manes
In the shadow of a massive health care expansion north of downtown Detroit, a handful of developers and activists are moving forward with smaller-scale development in the “often forgotten” NW Goldberg neighborhood.
Bounded by West Grand Boulevard to the north, I-94 to the south, Grand River Avenue/I-96 to the west and the John C. Lodge Freeway to the east, the NW Goldberg neighborhood is just to the south of Henry Ford Health’s main campus.
e health system earlier this year announced a $2.5 billion expansion plan in the area that would in-
clude new residential, commercial and possible hotel space.
e NW Goldberg neighborhood at present hovers around 2,000 residents, down from a historic peak of about 10,000,according to Daniel Washington, a longtime resident of the area and executive director of community development organization NW Goldberg Cares.
Currently consisting of a largely vacant retail corridor just south of West Grand Boulevard and several residential blocks with a mix of vacant land as well as single and multi-family homes — some occupied and some not — momentum has been building in recent years.
Whether that momentum is the result of Henry Ford Health’s planned expansion and investment or occurring more organically depends on who you ask.
e health system — which property records show owns dozens of scattered properties around the neighborhood — has worked to the detriment of the area, according to Washington.
Henry Ford, Washington said, has purchased several houses and land in the area at low prices, making it di cult to have comparable sales data for a valid real estate market.
The expansion would mark the rst new theater of size built in Detroit in decades.
It's been sitting vacant for more than 15 years. Soon the city of Troy and a prominent local development group are going to have a fresh start with a massive and desirable site.
e pending demolition of the 1.1 million-square-foot former Kmart Corp. headquarters at West Big Beaver Road and Coolidge Highway presents the opportunity for a range of uses across 40 acres — something like 30 football elds worth of possibilities.
And although no formal plans have been submitted to the city for the property's future, it's not likely that the JV between the Forbes and Frankel families, who own it, are incurring the massive cost of demolition without having something kicking around in the back of their minds.
Retail? Likely, in some form. Multifamily? Also likely. O ce? I would be surprised unless there is a speci c user lined up. Hotel? Perhaps.
"Obviously things have changed dramatically in real estate (during the pandemic), but it's an ideal residential use," said Andrew Hayman, president of South eld-based landlord Hayman Co., which has o ce and multifamily properties in the region. "Single-family, higher-end apartments, condos, and they've got enough land up front (on Big Beaver) if they wanted to do a higher-end hotel."
And Cindy Ciura, a retail expert who runs CC Consulting and who has worked in Oakland County communities and others, said residential would likely be a key component of what is envisioned.
"I'm guessing they'll do a town
center-type, mixed-use development," Ciura, who used to work for Forbes Co., said. "Somerset is an A-plus mall, so they don't really t this, but malls are on the downswing and mixed-use developments in downtowns are on the upswing and a lot of your retailers that would normally go into the mall are looking at other options for that reason."
Forbes Frankel Troy Ventures LLC paid a reported $17.5 million for the property in December 2009 in a defensive real estate move.
e JV also owns the adjacent luxury shopping mall, Somerset Collection. Nathan Forbes, head of South eld-based Forbes Co., said in an interview four years ago that tearing down the Kmart property was a possibility, although some plans had called for repurposing it. In 2016, Forbes said during a conference that a master-planning process was underway, although nothing was publicly revealed about it afterward.
A message was left with a spokesperson for Forbes on Tuesday seeking comment. Documents led with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy and the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs list Detroit-based demolition company Adamo Group as a contractor on the project.
After Kmart vacated the o ce complex in the mid-2000s and moved to Illinois as a subsidiary of Sears Holding Corp. — continuing its well-documented implosion across state lines — the plan was to replace it with a $320 million redevelopment called the Pavilions of Troy. Reston, Va.-based Richardson Development Group Inc. was to be the developer. New York City-
based equity fund BlackRock paid $40 million for the Kmart property in December 2005, according to CoStar Group Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based real estate information service.
at project would have had 440,000 square feet of commercial and retail space, 132 residential units, a public ice rink, a 3,000-seat theater, restaurants and a grocery store. But under the weight of the economic recession, those plans collapsed.
Sidney Forbes, founder of Forbes Co., told Crain's in 2012 that the purchase of the Kmart property "was a defensive move" after Farmington Hills-based Grand/Sakwa Development began courting Somerset Collection tenants for a retail development.
"So when we had the opportunity to buy that land, we took it," Sidney Forbes said in 2012.
Grand/Sakwa's plans stalled at the Troy City Council and there has been little action on it since.
At its peak, the Kmart property accommodated 5,000 employees.
By the time Kmart was sold to Sears in 2004, it had fewer than 1,900, many of whom were transferred to Illinois.
Kmart's last store in Michigan closed in November 2021, ending its run nearly six decades after its rst store in Garden City opened in 1962.
Financial woes hampered the retailer the last two decades; It sought bankruptcy protection in 2002-03 and eventually merged with Sears, Roebuck & Co. in a deal announced in 2004. e combined companies led for bankrupcy in 2018.
“I’m guessing they’ll do a town center-type mixed-use development.”
Cindy Ciura, CC Consulting
By Dustin Walsh
e state of Michigan purged 80,564 Medicaid members from the program as it continues to roll back the federal expansion from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data released Tuesday by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
e state’s Medicaid population grew by approximately 700,000 during the pandemic thanks to the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act, signed by President Donald Trump on March 18, 2020, which required states to continue enrollment of Medicaid bene ciaries for as long as the government declared the COVID-19 pandemic a public health emergency. Tax dollars have been funding insurance for the increase of Medicaid members unchecked for three years.
However, the feds rolled back that stipulation as part of the 2023 budget bill signed by President Joe Biden late last year. In April, states were instructed to begin to re-establish their redetermination process, which assesses whether an individual receiving Medicaid bene ts continues to be eligible.
Michigan delayed its process until June and will take until May 2024, at least, to determine who remains on Medicaid.
e rst cohort of roughly 216,000 Medicaid enrollees faced redetermination in June, but the state was only able to determine eligibility for about 28% of that population through its own records. More than 100,000 enrollees were given an extension to complete the renewal process.
e state re-enrolled about 119,500 in the program. Of the remainder, only 15,120 Medicaid recipients were determined to ineligible for the program due to receiving insurance from an employer or earning too much income. Nearly 33%, or 65,444, were not re-enrolled because they either did not respond to renewal request forms sent to their residence or did not verify required info requested from the state.
In many instances, the state could not nd the enrollees, which has become a problem nationwide as states face redetermination. e U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services even allowed managed care plans — insurance companies that issue health coverage under Medicaid — to help with the identi cation of enrollees and help complete their paperwork.
ose that the state could not identify or did not return their renewal paperwork can have medical coverage reimbursed retroactively as long as they re-enroll in Medicaid by Oct. 30, said Meghan Groen, senior deputy director for the Behavioral and Physical Health and Aging Services Administration within MDHHS.
“I wish we knew more about those 65,000 people,” Groen said. “Our focus is on making sure the people who come to us have everything they need, and we’re doing everything we can to keep them covered. We’ve never done any-
thing quite this big and we just don’t have the visibility into the people who haven’t responded to us.”
e state of Michigan purged 80,564 Medicaid members from the program this month as it continues to unroll the federal expansion from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data released Tuesday by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
e state's Medicaid population grew by approximately 700,000 during the pandemic thanks to the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act, signed by President
Donald Trump on March 18, 2020, which required states to continue enrollment of Medicaid bene ciaries for as long as the government declared the COVID-19 pandemic a public health emergency. Tax dollars have been funding insurance for the increase of Medicaid members unchecked for three years. However, the feds rolled back that stipulation as part of the 2023 budget bill signed by President Joe Biden late last year. In April, states were instructed to begin to re-establish their redetermination process, which assesses whether an individual receiving Medicaid ben-
e ts continues to be eligible.
Michigan delayed its process until June and will take until May 2024, at least, to determine who remains on Medicaid.
e rst cohort of roughly 216,000 Medicaid enrollees faced redetermination in June, but the state was only able to determine eligibility for about 28% of that population through its own records. More than 100,000 enrollees were given an extension to complete the renewal process.
e state re-enrolled about 119,500 in the program. Of the remainder, only 15,120 Medicaid recipients were determined to ineli-
gible for the program due to receiving insurance from an employer or earning too much income. Nearly 33%, or 65,444, were not re-enrolled because they either did not respond to renewal request forms sent to their residence or did not verify required info requested from the state.
In many instances, the state could not nd the enrollees, which has become a problem nationwide as states face redetermination. e U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services even allowed managed care plans to help with the identi cation of enrollees and help complete their paperwork.
e fall legislative season is ramping up, and already businesses are facing a fresh new uncertainty.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer made a fall push on a paid family leave requirement one of her marquee priorities in a speech late last month.
Details about what might be in a nal legislation package aren't clear yet, but we can take some clue from bills that have already been introduced.
ose would create up to 15 weeks of paid family leave bene ts funded by payroll taxes on employers. In other words, creating another bureaucracy that employers would need to negotiate, similar to unemployment bene ts.
e state Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity would then pay a portion of covered employees' wages during
their leaves. Employers could opt out of paying into the program if they have a private plan that provides similar bene ts.
at sounds like a plan that would add regulatory hurdles and depress workers' take-home wages, because businesses always consider the total cost of an employee.
at plan isn't a done deal, and a nal scheme could look much di erent. It would be better if the idea were left behind, at least for now.
If you take a step back, Michigan voters recently added a mandatory paid sick leave law, the e ects of which have yet to play out. It's getting harder and harder for businesses to trust that the regulatory ground won't change beneath their feet week to week, which makes long-term planning for sta ng and bene ts di cult
Michigan’s shortage of skilled workers and how to get more people interested in pursuing some form of post-secondary education.
Citizens returning to society from prison and how to get them reconnected to the workforce.
Extended power outages and how to make the state’s electric grid more reliable.
ese are all challenging issues facing us right now to which we do not have easy answers.
ey are also topics we explored deeply this year in our monthly series called Crain’s Forum.
Readers know well that Crain’s provides authoritative and enterprising business coverage, data for business intelligence and live events that bring people together to hear from thought
Mickey Ciokajlo is executive editor of Crain’s Detroit Business and Crain’s Grand Rapids Business.
problem but to bring together the leading experts to lay out potential solutions. We want to hear from multiple voices who are approaching these challenges from a variety of angles to provide citizens with the most insightful perspectives on di cult issues from people who spend a lot of time studying them.
In addition to our own research and interviews, we also ask thought leaders to share their perspectives in their own words in the form of guest commentaries that we publish in conjunction with the stories our journalists produce. We approach this with the goal of o ering both an indepth and multi-layered report that advances the conversation and, we hope, moves us all toward a solution.
Last month, we took a hard look at an issue that has been a signi cant challenge in recent years and overcoming it will prove crucial to Michigan’s future growth: the shortage of skilled workers.
at best.
More and more companies have expanded their paid leave policies for a business imperative — the need to attract and retain workers in a job market that's still historically tight. ey o er basic leave and short- and long-term disability policies that support their workers when they need it. Many of these policies cover the absences under the already federally mandated Family and Medical Leave Act.
If a new program is necessary, it should help businesses o er paid leave programs that work for them, on a voluntary basis. Encouragement and not mandates are the key to making a program that works for both businesses and their employees. Easing the way for smaller employers to o er these kinds of bene ts will help them compete with bigger rms with deeper
pockets.
Tax credits for companies that o er paid family leave, or the creation of a scheme that would allow employees to choose a paid family leave program, similar to an insurance policy, are ways that a program could t the needs of businesses and the people who work for them — and help make Michigan more competitive.
In an economy where workers are at a premium, mandatory paid family leave will make sta ng even more di cult. In tougher times, it will absolutely lead to fewer jobs altogether.
But a one-size- ts-all mandate takes away the exibility that businesses need to compete, and that Michigan needs to compete for businesses. Let's take a pause and think hard before we go down that road.
leaders on important topics.
Crain’s Forum adds a layer of depth and complexity to our pro le.
Once a month, we explore an issue of critical importance to Southeast Michigan and, often, that issue is relevant to residents across the state.
Our goal is to not just document the
Michigan has fewer students pursuing post-secondary education compared to surrounding states and the national average. Not everyone needs a four-year degree, but in an increasingly high-tech economy, it’s vital that our young people understand that additional educational attainment leads to higher incomes, on average and over time.
e Crain’s Forum on skilled workers introduced us to a young man at Lansing
Community College who is seeking his associate degree in information technology while also participating in a program to become an FAA-certi ed drone pilot, a pairing he hopes will help him in a cybersecurity career.
We heard from leaders in higher education and from the business community presenting their ideas for how Michigan could attract more people to attain the additional education they need for higher-skilled jobs that pay more.
In-depth journalism of this nature takes time and talent, and we are fortunate to
have generous donors who provide us with the resources to make this level of coverage a reality. e donations also allow us to make each Forum free online for all readers as we present the content outside of the paywall we use for most of our journalism.
As we move forward with other important topics, including later this month with an examination of the battle for the future of electric vehicles, it’s my hope we will raise the level of discourse on these vital issues while helping to point the way to solutions for our region and our state.
Our goal is to not just document the problem but to bring together the leading experts to lay out potential solutions.Matthew Aragones is learning about drones at Lansing Community College to broaden his opportunities. He was featured in a recent Crain’s Forum report on educating the workforce of the future. | NIC ANTAYA
Michigan State University Federal Credit Union is aggressively moving into the Chicago market.
e East Lansing-based credit union late ursday announced a de nitive agreement to acquire Algonquin State Bank headquartered northwest of Chicago — the second acquisition in the area this week.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed and a message seeking details was not immediately returned, but a news release says MSUFCU “will purchase substantially all assets and assume substantially all liabilities of Algon-
United Way for Southeastern Michigan has increased its annual campaign goal to $45 million.
at’s up from $40 million set by United Way last year and in 202122. It met that goal last year, raising just over that amount, a spokesman for the organization said, and exceeded it in 2021-22, raising over $43 million.
In tandem with the nancial goal, United Way will work to secure commitments for 45,000 volunteer hours to support local families in need, 5,000 more than its goal last year.
Ralph Giles, chief design o cer at Stellantis, and Richard Chang, CEO and partner at NewFoundry, are co-chairing the 2023-24 campaign, which kicks o October 1 and runs through Sept. 30, 2024.
For the rst time this year, the Detroit-based United Way’s campaign will extend west beyond Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties as it merges with United Way of Washtenaw County. e two will o cially join on October 1 at the start of the new scal year.
e campaign comes with the nding in the most recent United Way Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) report that 39% of households in Southeastern Michigan struggle to consistently secure basic needs like food, housing and health care. e end of temporary assistance o ered during the pandemic has made attaining nancial stability even more challenging for the region’s working poor, United Way said.
Money raised through United Way’s annual fundraising campaign goes to nonpro ts around the region to help cover the costs of basic needs like food and housing, early childhood programs, technology and other programs and services, including the health and human service agency referrals from the 211 health and human services hotline that United Way operates.
quin State Bank.”
e deal would close in the rst quarter of next year, subject to regulatory requirements
On Tuesday, the lender announced it would purchase McHenry Savings Bank, also northwest of Chicago, in a cash deal priced at $36 million-$38 million, or $39-$41 per share.
“ is partnership with Algonquin State Bank and its customers will further expand our presence in McHenry County and surrounding Chicagoland areas,” April
Clobes, president and CEO of MSUFCU, said in a statement. “ e combined resources of MSUFCU
and Algonquin State Bank will produce excellent opportunities for both our members and their customers and the communities they live in, with an expanded array of resources and products and additional branch locations.”
e two acquisitions are expected to bring MSUFCU to around $9 billion in assets by the end of next year, up from about $7.45 billion earlier this year.
Clobes told Crain’s last month that the venture into the Chicago area is largely tied to the large number of MSU alumni in the region. MSUFCU plans next year to open ve new locations in Chicago.
Holland-area companies have created innovations that a ect the daily lives of millions of people, ranging from the cubicles and ergonomic chairs they use in their o ces to the cupholders, center consoles and auto-dimming rearview mirrors in the vehicles they drive on their commutes.
In a bid to keep that innovative spirit alive for generations to come, the community is going all in on the formation of a new business incubator.
When it opens in a little more than a year, the $15.3 million Next Center in downtown Holland will provide space for high-tech, highgrowth business startups and a new generation of entrepreneurs seeking to commercialize an innovation. e three-story incubator and innovation center also will offer space for second-stage companies and serve as the headquarters for Lakeshore Advantage, the economic development organization for Ottawa and Allegan counties.
e organization hopes to secure an anchor tenant that can play a role in the incubator’s success.
rough the Next Center, Lakeshore Advantage wants to elevate and support innovation and entrepreneurism, and to cultivate a startup culture that can build on the deep legacy of manufacturing and other industries that have provided the base to the Holland area’s economy for generations.
“We create things and we make things here, and this community isn’t afraid of evolving,” Lakeshore Advantage President Jennifer Owens said. “What we make has changed signi cantly over time, but our community is always evolving. So, when I look for the future for us, what I see is continuing a strong future of product manufacturing, automation and innovation.”
Lakeshore Advantage’s own formation 20 years ago is indicative of the fundamental approach that business and community leaders take toward issues with a focus on “growing and evolving the next generation of employers,” Owens said.
Economic development in the Holland area had been led by the former Holland Economic Development Corp., commonly known as HEDCOR, which started in the early 1960s and developed and managed large industrial parks on the north and south sides of town.
By the late 1990s, as HEDCOR approached its 40-year mark and the industrial parks were getting full and running out of land, local business leaders envisioned a new economic development organization
that took a broader approach to attracting and supporting businesses.
“We don’t wait for other people to help us. We x problems on our own,” Owens said, citing as an example the millage voters in Holland approved a year ago to provide a ordable, reliable high-speed internet service in the city. “We will continue to make sure that our economic portfolio is diverse and has robust industries so that as the economy changes, we can weather any storm that comes our way.”
In citing area business leaders’ “commitment to paying it forward and giving back,” Owens notes that several large local employers were quick to support the Next
Center’s development.
e forward-looking perspective that has driven and sustained the Holland area’s economy for generations comes from what she and others describe as a strong work ethic and an entrepreneurial culture.
“ ere’s no complacency,” said Tom Guarr, the co-founder and chief technology o cer at Jolt Energy Storage Solutions LLC, a company that’s developing batteries to store energy using organic compounds, rather than metals, as their base.
“Yes, we make things, but we’re always looking for a better way to do it. You see that in all the industries around here. ‘How do we get better?’” said Guarr, who previously worked for nearly 18 years as
vice president at Gentex Corp., based in neighboring Zeeland, that decades ago invented and remains the world’s largest maker of auto-dimming electrochromic mirrors.
at “entrepreneurial mindset” has local leaders “always looking for the ‘next’ and adapting to the future needs,” said Jodi Owczarski, president and CEO of the Michigan West Coast Chamber of Commerce and a lifelong Holland resident.
“It’s continuing to develop what’s needed today and for the future,” Owczarski said. “I think it’s quite unique the way that the leaders in this community come together intentionally to look at what are the issues that this community is facing now and what do we anticipate coming in the future, and how are we going to be prepared to address that. Instead of people thinking about that in silos, we’re doing it more holistically so we can be as prepared as we can be and continue to sustain this community.”
Holland’s robust manufacturing base accounts for about 30,000 of the more than 73,500 jobs in the local economy. e sector historically has consisted largely of o ce furniture makers that include homegrown global industry leaders such as Haworth Inc., Miller Knoll Inc. (formerly Herman Miller Inc.) and Trendway Corp. (now part of Fellowes Brands) and automotive suppliers such as Gentex, plus remnants of the former Prince Corp. and Donnelly Corp., both of which were acquired years ago. e manufacturing sector today includes automotive battery makers, such as the large LG Energy Solution Michigan lithium-ion battery plant on the south side of town that’s presently undergoing a $1.7 billion expansion. e larger manufacturers are joined by numerous
“We create things and we make things here, and this community isn’t afraid of evolving.”
Jennifer Owens, Lakeshore AdvantageA rendering of Lakeshore Advantage’s planned Next Center
e founders of Holland-based Jolt Energy Storage Technologies LLC have an ambitious goal to change the way the world uses advanced battery technology.
e company wants to achieve that grand vision in an emerging and growing industry by bringing to the market a new technology for storing energy using organic compounds, rather than metals such as nickel, cobalt, manganese, iron and copper that must be mined, processed and re ned at great cost.
on Holland’s north side.
Operating out of the Michigan State University Bioeconomy Institute housed in a former pharmaceutical research and development and pilot production facility near the north shore of Lake Macatawa, Jolt Energy Storage Technologies is among the tech-based startups that want to become staples in the Holland area’s economic future.
If their research and development continue on the current trajectory, Johnson and Guarr aim to bring their rst product to market within a year, and they say their company can do it for a fraction of the cost compared to what’s presently available to store energy.
the world. We believe we’re doing something that will be positive for the entire world” both ecologically and economically, Johnson said. “If we do this right, this will be something that changes the world to the green energy future that everybody’s been imagining. It will not happen without low-cost energy storage.”
Jolt Energy Storage Technologies aims to deploy the technology and energy storage system rst through a pilot application in a residential or small industrial setting. eir plan is to convert existing metal-based rechargeable batteries to using organic compounds that cost less and are more readily available.
enough for individual homes, but that’s a ways out.”
“A good way to make a dirtcheap battery is to make it out of dirt,” said Jolt Energy Chief Technology O cer omas Guarr as he and co-founder Jack Johnson led a tour of the company’s research lab
e organic compounds Jolt Energy has been developing for ve years for large-scale ow batteries are engineered to work with renewable energy sources such as solar and wind to deliver reliable power when needed and without interruption.
“Our focus is we want to change
e company then wants to bring aboard a strategic partner to deploy the technology on a much broader scale and in settings such as commercial developments and industrial parks, Johnson said.
“We’ll start with the large utilities and then we’ll move down to solar farms, business parks, neighborhood associations and things like that,” Guarr said. “Eventually, we may be able to get it cheap
From Page 8
small and mid-market companies and a service sector that has grown around the industrial base.
Perhaps the homegrown manufacturer that typi es the area’s pay-it-forward approach was the former Prince Corp., which was founded in 1965 by the late Edgar Prince, the father of former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and defense contractor Blackwater founder Erik Prince.
Prince Corp. grew to become Holland’s largest employer by the 1990s and innovated many of the interior automotive components that are staples in vehicles today, including vanity sun visors, cupholders and center consoles, as well as the HomeLink system and other electronic features.
e family sold the automotive operations to Johnson Controls Inc. for $1.35 billion in 1996. JCI later sold the Holland operations when it divested its automotive business, a deal that included the Meadowbrook plant that opened in 2010 and produces lithium-ion batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles as part of automotive supplier Clarios LLC.
Since the company wanted to recruit design and engineering talent to Holland to become a global automotive supplier, the Prince family became heavily involved in revitalizing downtown Holland.
In the late 1980s, Edgar Prince envisioned and supported a snowmelt system that used hot water from a former coal- red
A report from McKinsey & Co. estimates that the market for battery energy storage systems will more than double from today to the end of the decade to a projected $120 billion to $150 billion by 2030 between utility, commercial and industrial, and residential applications.
Jolt Energy Storage Technologies has proceeded with research and development with the backing of grants and investment capital, including $2 million from a strategic investor. e founders are presently preparing to raise $5 million in a Series A capital round, Johnson said.
e company, which has six patents and a seventh pending, can deploy its storage system into existing energy-generating infrastructure with modi cations that can nearly double the existing storage capability, Johnson said.
“ e engine gets bigger and stronger, and the gas tank gets bigger using the exact same car,” Johnson said as an example of the technology’s potential.
Johnson describes the organic compounds that Jolt has been developing as the “fuel” for energy storage, “while everybody else has the infrastructure.”
“We are going to be the ones making the really cool advanced fuel,” he said.
this point and our downtown just thrives,” Owczarski said. “When a downtown is healthy, it just sends a message to the community and to visitors alike that this is a healthy, vibrant, thriving community.”
power plant north of downtown. e hot water circulated through pipes installed beneath the streets and sidewalks to melt the snow and ice in the winter.
e family also invested deeply in improving the community’s attractiveness, having acquired and renovated numerous buildings.
Downtown Holland today remains a lure for attracting talent to the market, Owens said.
“If you look at talent and where people want to be, that is a requirement to have a thriving downtown and area where people can be part of it,” she said. “It’s much harder to attract and retain talent if you don’t have that downtown center.”
e downtown revitalization began as developers pursued development of a shopping mall just north of town in 1988. Owczarski recalls that at the time, the fear “was that downtown was going to turn into a ghost town.”
However, Holland became the nancial and cultural heart of the community after years of investment and development that continue today.
“Our downtown never has an empty storefront. Meanwhile, malls have gone almost extinct at
Part of Holland’s success today comes from a generation of business leaders who cut their teeth early in their careers working at Prince and learned a culture predicated on biblical principles, servant leadership and innovation, as well as service to clients, community and employees.
A generation of young executives who worked at Prince and JCI went on to own or lead many local businesses, carrying on the company’s legacy.
“It’s a community thing, not just a business thing, but it does certainly show up in the metrics with business and entrepreneurs and innovation,” said Rodger Price, a one-time executive at Prince and JCI who joined the company in 1989.
Today, Price runs Leading by Design, a leadership coaching and executive team development rm he formed in 2014 and sold in January to Disher Corp., a Zeeland-based consulting and product development company.
“We learned that this is not about just making money. is is about making a di erence,” he said. “You’re not doing it just to get a big boat. You’re doing it to try to make a di erence in our community and in the world.”
“A good way to make a dirtcheap battery is to make it out of dirt.”
Thomas Guarr, Jolt Energy Storage Technologies
While Holland has a storied history and strength in manufacturing, the local economy also is backed by a vibrant agriculture and related food processing sector, as well as the tourism industry tied to Lake Michigan and the region’s cultural history.
Ottawa County and neighboring Allegan County — the city of Holland spans both — have consistently ranked among Michigan’s top agriculture producing counties.
In the most recent U.S. Department of Agriculture Census of Agriculture from 2017, Allegan County ranked second in the state with $584.3 million in products sold, largely driven by livestock, poultry and related products at $407.7 million.
Ottawa County, one of the fastest-growing counties in the state with about 300,000 residents, ranked third at $506.6 million, including $146.4 million from horticulture, oriculture, nurseries, greenhouses and Christmas tree farms.
In tourism, Holland State Park on Lake Michigan has traditionally been one of Michigan’s busiest, drawing 1.5 million to 2 million visitors annually, while the annual Tulip Time Festival each May attracts thousands of visitors. An analysis that Hope College’s Frost Research Center conducted in 2018 found that the weeklong festival at the time generated $47.6 million in visitor spending.
e combination of manufacturing, agriculture and food, and tourism has helped to provide the local economy with diversity, said Jodi Owczarski, president and CEO of the Michigan West Coast Chamber of Commerce.
“We really have three major economic drivers,” Owczarski said.
“For most communities, they’re going to have one of those as being
their main economic driver, maybe two, but to have all three of those is really a unique mix. at allows us to be more balanced and to really ride out some of the economic challenges that the nation goes through. It helps us to not receive the same kind of hit as other communities may take.”
Jennifer Owens, president of Lakeshore Advantage, the economic development organization for Ottawa and Allegan counties, thinks the thousands of tourists who visit Holland could serve as a potential source of new talent at a time when communities struggle to cope with labor shortages.
She cited a recent study by New York City-based Development
Counsellors International that indicated when people relocate, about 14% began by rst visiting a place. Owens hopes the upcoming Next Center incubator also can help lure talent to Holland.
When it opens in a little more than a year, the $15.3 million Next Center in downtown Holland will provide space for high-tech, highgrowth business startups and a new generation of entrepreneurs seek-
ing to commercialize an innovation. e three-story incubator and innovation center also will o er space for second-stage companies and serve as the headquarters for Lakeshore Advantage.
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Jennifer Litomisky has led Ronald McDonald House Charities of Detroit for almost 24 years, more than half of the time the nonpro t has been providing a home away from home for the families of sick children coming to city hospitals.
She oversaw the charity’s 2015 move from DMC Children’s Hospital of Michigan where it had operated since its 1979 founding, the launch of a shuttle service from the hospital to its current home in the former Hutzel Hospital building a mile away and the Happy Wheels Cart, a tiny house on wheels that holds refreshments and toys. She’s also led e orts to raise $5 million in recent years and now is working to expand and extend RMHC’s transportation, housing and other supports to the families of children receiving medical treatment at more hospitals in the region.
In short, Litomisky is essential.
“We don’t want to lose her,” Board Chair Sheri Mark said.
Ronald McDonald House Charities is one of an increasing number of nonpro ts seeking compensation data from third-party sources to ensure its standing CEO’s compensation is keeping up with the going rate amid high demand for nonpro t leaders.
“You have to treat them right, or
else you are going to lose them,” said Mark, a part-time practicing attorney in private practice.
While nonpro ts have long commissioned salary benchmarking surveys as part of CEO searches, the number requesting them outside of searches has increased signi cantly over the past year as they seek to keep executives on board, both at the highest level and into the c-suite and top management roles, experts said.
Retention concerns are also spurring nonpro ts to o er leaders bene ts like executive coaching/mentoring and in some cases, multi-year performance bonuses, experts said.
Demand for nonpro t executives is rising as executive turnover, a constant for several years running in Southeast Michigan, is picking up even more, said Gary Dembs, president of the Non-Profit Personnel Network.
Out of loyalty and crisis, some nonpro t CEOs stayed with their organizations during the pandemic, delaying retirements. But the oodgates have reopened, he said.
While retention has always been important, “it’s really critical, now and that’s been a trend since COVID,” said DHR Global partner Maryanne Wanca- ibault.
“How do we keep people happy? How do we keep them from moving somewhere else, especially if they’re high performers?”
Paying them the going rate is one way.
e level of benchmarking studies requested by nonpro t boards
has increased substantially, Cyd Kinney, another partner at DHR, said.
It’s coming from not only nonpro ts in active CEO searches but also from organizations with CEOs already in place, as executive reviews begin, to get a sense of what pay looks like today for peer leaders, she said.
Organizations requesting salary benchmarking “are worried about retention, (and) they want to make sure that they have accurate data... before they go into the process to make their decisions.”
In general, the benchmarking of nonpro t executive compensation is resulting in average base pay raises of 6-8% for nonpro t executives currently, vs 3% annual increases traditionally, Wanca- ibault said.
Organizations may be making up for lost pay during COVID, “but I think they’re also looking at retention,” she said.
Compensation for new CEOs is often bringing even more signicant raises, depending on the organization, its situation and its budget, Kinney said.
at’s the case in searches retired Ford Motor Co. Fund president Jim Vella said he’s been involved in over the last year or so through nonpro t boards he sits on and work he does with clients through his nonpro t consultancy.
It’s something Vella said he’s also hearing from other nonpro t board members in the region.
ere is more benchmarking because the market is more competitive, said Charles Ingersoll, senior client partner and co-lead of the nonpro t practice for Korn
Ferry, in an emailed response.
“Sometimes nonpro ts want to pay less than they paid the previous candidate because that person was there for 25 years and had extensive experience. at doesn’t work because the market has changed, and, again, is more competitive.”
Standing CEOs, in turn, are benchmarking c-suite and top management salaries, said Blaire Miller, managing partner/owner of e Hunter Group.
e push to retain those employees amid competition for talent is driving benchmarking for the c-suite and other employees, along with market conditions, diversity, equity and inclusion considerations and succession planning considerations, she said.
“When the CEO decides to retire, they’ve got candidates that are ready to go and have been developed for that next leadership role, and their compensation re ects that development,” Miller said.
Brad Coulter, president and CEO of Matrix Human Services, said the organization in 2021 commissioned a comprehensive, third-party salary review for all director positions and above and plans to refresh the study in 2024.
“Previously we relied on publicly-available 990 data and what we were seeing on Indeed, etc., but that information was not really complete enough,” he said.
“Over the past two years, we are seeing more competition from the private sector, which we had not seen before. So we need to com-
pare ourselves against the private sector as well, although grant funding constraints can make it di cult to be competitive.”
Judson Center CEO, Lenora Hardy-Foster took it a step further, commissioning a compensation benchmarking study for all of the nonpro t’s employees, from the C-suite down.
It did the rst sta -wide compensation benchmarking in 2018 and repeated it again last year because of the increased competition for talent.
e goal for all of Judson’s employees is to ensure they are paid at the 50th percentile or higher, Hardy-Foster said. e study last year showed all of Judson’s employees were in that range, with C-suite in the 50th-75th percentile.
“If you want to be able to test the market…it’s something I highly recommend,” she said.
“When you know that your salaries are aligned with the market, your sta are more committed then.”
Golden handcu s, a retention device in the corporate world, is also making its way into compensation packages for nonpro t CEOs, Miller said.
It will be some time before the data is publicly available to show that trend, given the 10.5 months of extensions nonpro ts can get to le their 990s with the Internal Revenue Service.
But those deferred, multi-year bonuses tied to performance metrics are increasingly emerging for nonpro t executives in health
care, higher education and social services, Miller said.
“ e goal is to keep people in place,” she said. “Nonpro ts are going that way because they don’t want (the CEO) to turn over every couple years. at puts the golden handcu s on an executive to execute on the median-term strategic plan, which could be three to ve years.”
As yet another retention strategy, nonpro ts have begun including executive coaching and mentoring, leadership development and onboarding support for 90 days or more as part of the packages they o er incoming CEOs, experts said. e supports are aimed at helping both those moving into CEO roles for the rst time and longstanding nonpro t CEOs who need to strengthen some areas of their expertise.
Another bene t that’s emerging is support to help new leaders, who are the face of organizations, e ectively present, communicate and advocate, Miller said.
Regardless of whether they are a seasoned executive or a rst-time CEO, “every new leader will step into a pothole they weren’t expecting,” she said.
It’s great when a board member can be there to help when there’s a problem the executive is facing, but that’s not always an option because of their demanding business schedules, Miller said. Having an experienced, outside consultant to help work through issues with boards, with leadership teams can be very helpful to the leader and set them up for success and long tenure.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan is moving to the Michigan Central campus in Detroit.
e move comes as the nonpro t prepares to scale up its workforce development and entrepreneurship programs for students in Detroit Public Schools Community District schools with a new $10 million appropriation from the state.
e nonpro t has taken shortterm space in the former Book Depository or Newlab building, a hub for mobility startups, while it negotiates for long-term space on the Michigan Central campus.
Its c-suite and other senior management, who make up roughly a quarter of its core operational sta , will relocate to the new space from longtime leased space in Farmington Hills in September, President and CEO Shawn Wilson said. e remainder will follow over the next
year.
e move will give youth participating in BGCSM programs access to prototyping labs, 3D printers and other technologies along with the founders of startups operating there, he said.
“ is is a game changer because it will allow our kids to leapfrog and really get caught up. It’s putting them at the forefront of technology and mobility,” he said. “It’s (also) providing our kids with the social network, the social capital they need to succeed.”
Michigan Central said it is working closely with BGCSM to determine the best long-term plan for its presence on the campus.
BGCSM will act as a key partner for youth development activities at Michigan Central, helping coordinate programs and activities including technology and gaming workshops, fashion and design studios, robotics and automation boot camps, workforce development
and mentorship programs, arts and culture events and architecture and artistic exploration events, the organizations said in a release.
“In order for Detroit to truly succeed, we must be intentional about providing opportunities for the city’s youth,” said Nate Wallace, director of Civic Partnerships at Michigan Central, in a statement.
“ e Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan is a national leader in empowering young Detroiters and preparing them to become leaders themselves. is partnership will not only introduce our youth to the future of technology, it will help them be a part of it.”
Michigan Central said the collaboration with BGCSM is part of its larger community-focused programming to help build a diverse and well-prepared talent pipeline by removing barriers to opportunity for Michiganders and helping to solve the talent gap in technolgy.
Beyond the bene ts of locating near emerging technologies and startups, BGCSM’s move to Detroit will put its leadership within 15 minutes or so of its four brick and mortar clubs in Detroit, Highland Park and Eastpointe, Wilson said. It will also put them nearer the state’s largest school district as it expands an existing relationship with DPSCD and its programs to serve more students with a new, $10 million, scal 2024 appropriation made to DPSCD for that purpose. Chrystal Wilson, assistant superintendent of communications, said in a statement: "We are currently working with the Boys & Girls Club to nalize details at this time. We are extremely excited about the opportunities this will present to our families for extracurricular options. We are hoping to make a bigger announcement in
the future when we have the details nalized.”
BGCSM is reimagining its relationship with schools, including DPSCD, Shawn Wilson said.
In the past, the nonpro t provided programs like tutoring and basketball from elementary schools in the district.
e district and BGCSM, which is operating on a $14 million budget this year, are in the midst of communicating with the Michigan Department of Education on the speci cs of how the funds will be used, Shawn Wilson said. But as envisioned, the expansion will focus on workforce and entrepreneurial exposure and training both during the school day and after school, with the goal of bringing those programs to students in elementary, middle and high schools in the district and during the school day, bringing kids into its clubs for those two programs, he said.
Fox departed the organization in February 2022. 8. Slubowski succeeded Richard Gil llan on July 1, 2019. 9. Lassiter left the health system in July 2022 and was succeeded by Robert Riney. 10. Lawlor retired in February 2022 and was succeded by Pedro Sancha. 11. Smith retired in June 2021 and was succeeded by Michael Monson. 12. Monson replaced Lincoln Smith in June 2021. Smith’s 2021 total compensation was $590,941. 13. Bailo was succeded by Alan Amici on Sept. 1, 2022. 14. Fetyko was named CEO in May 2019. Former president and CEO John Thorhauer had been serving as president/chief strategy of cer and continued as chief strategyof cer until his retirement in 2019. Sherri Welch
Yerock worked quickly to nd a new lender, a credit union out of Kalamazoo, and was able to close on the house. But not without excessive cost.
“When we secured the mortgage (through Gateway), that was the best interest rates we’d seen in a long time,” Yerock said. “We were left to pivot and quickly found a new bank, but with a much higher interest rate. at’s going to cost me $150,000 more over the life of the loan.”
Yerock is one of thousands of marijuana employees in the state whoa re facing precarious personal banking relationships due to their employment. Weed is still an illegal Schedule I narcotic to the federal government and banks face major regulatory restrictions that make it challenging to provide even basic banking services to those in the state’s legal industry. Financial institutions face federal money laundering and fraud charges for banking with those conducting businesses in the industry, so they perform what is called “de-risking” their bankrolls by removing accounts that could be linked to illegal activity.
E orts to ease banking for those employed by legal cannabis operations have been slow to materialize.
Congress has spent more than three years kicking around the SAFE Banking Act, which would provide certain protections to banks that choose to providenancial services to the legal marijuana industry. e law passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 2021 but has advanced no further.
e law is most commonly discussed to end exclusive cash use by the industry, which is forced to move millions of dollars of cash around daily, creating unsafe and untenable situations for marijuana companies. But it’s the personal banking relationships held by employees that are most vulnerable.
“Most stories we’ve been hearing around SAFE Banking is on the corporate need,” said Jenn Zielinski, government a airs manager for Common Citizen. “ e narrative focuses on the cash and the crime. But, in reality, that’s not really an issue. We are no more crime-ridden than any other retail location.
e lack of banking is really a burden to the industry’s workforce.”
Living or laundering?
In 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice, responding to states that were legalizing medical marijuana — Michigan legalized medical marijuana in 2008 but didn’t prop up a recreational industry until 2019 — sent a memo noting that marijuana remained an illegal narcotic from the federal perspective. But the feds targeting cancer patients and caregivers, those who grew and supplied marijuana to those patients, was “likely not an e cient use of federal resources.”
As more and more states began the commercial sales of marijuana — Colorado and Washington state began selling recreational marijuana in 2014 —the Federal Finan-
cial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a memo clarifying how banks could operate with marijuana businesses.
e memo created a set of guidelines so banks could remain in compliance that involved arduous record keeping, including ling Suspicious Activity Reports for every marijuana-related transaction. However, the feds would remain diligent, according to the memo, in prosecuting money laundering and fraud claims if any bank failed to comply.
In Michigan, a handful of local credit unions and banks saw an opportunity in banking marijuana business, believing they were able to handle the labor-intensive compliance reporting for a small stable of marijuana clients.
Large national banks have avoided marijuana banking because the size of their operations likely makes rigorous compliance much more di cult.
For mortgages, they are split into two camps — Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, federally-backed home mortgage companies that guarantee mortgages issued through lenders. Freddie Mac primarily works with large banks and Fannie Mae with smaller institutions. Freddie Mac will not back a mortgage involving cannabis employees, but Fannie Mae will, said Kelli Peterson, a loan originator for PrimeLending in Portage. Owners of marijuana companies are completely barred from mortgages from both institutions, Peterson said. She helped Yerock quickly secure a mortgage when Gateway balked at the loan.
his paychecks were coming from the marijuana industry after he applied for a mortgage for an investment property and internal compliance auditors agged his accounts.
He has since moved his accounts to another bank in the state.
“Look, this cost me a lot of money, but it’s nothing on what it’s done to our employees,” Morrow said. “Ask anyone working in the industry and they’ve faced issues with banking. It’s all hypocritical. ey go after people working in this industry, but what about the people buying weed? ey are taking money out of their banks and buying weed. It’s discriminatory, because they go after the sellers, not the buyers."
Her wife, who does not work in cannabis, had to drive up to the dealer and apply for the loan.
Two other employees at Common Citizen were denied nancial assistance for hearing aids through Michigan Rehabilitation Services, a state program that assists employees with disabilities, said Amanda McCrary, chief human resources o cer for the company, said. MRS is regulated by the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.
In an emailed letter to McCrary, MRS wrote it is prohibited from “supporting services or employment goals associated with growing, selling, producing, handling, or distributing marijuana in any form.”
“People working in the industry can’t bene t from these programs,” McCrary said. “People who work for us are disproportionately impacted by the federal government’s stance on cannabis.”
A change is on the horizon, though.
e U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommended this week that the Drug Enforcement Agency move marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug. Rescheduling the drug would immediately clear up marijuana business issues, such as ending the 280E tax, which prohibits marijuana sellers from writing o business expenses.
Mason-based Dart Bank and Fraser-based Live Life Federal Credit Union were early adopters in the state. Flagstar Bank is also known to bank cannabis here.
Live Life Federal Credit Union, which built a growing business banking marijuana by 2019, was slapped with a cease-and-desist order in February 2021, the rst known federal crackdown on marijuana banking. e U.S. National Credit Union Administration issued the order alleging Live Life failed to comply with reporting procedures. Life Live was barred from opening new accounts until April 2021 and faced no other repercussions.
Dart Bank did not respond to inquiries about its marijuana services. Flagstar Bank declined to comment.
“ ere is a robust number of banks and credit unions across the state that are banking cannabis and cannabis businesses,” said Patricia Herndon, executive vice president of government a airs at the Michigan Bankers Association. “Whether an employee or a business, those accounts can still be considered a money launderer. ere can be repercussions there. But there are banks that have made the investment to have compliance in place and they are the best matches for these employees.”
Cutting the mortgage industry in half is costly for employees, Peterson said. For instance, cannabis employees can’t access Freddie Mac’s Home Possible program, which provides those with lower incomes a mortgage with a lowdown payment and lower fees.
“Because Freddie won’t allow a loan to a cannabis employee, 50 percent of the industry is cut o from them,” Peterson said. “Home Possible is o the table. ese people need homes too.”
To avoid any possibility of money laundering or wire fraud charges, the big banks began immediately purging accounts held by marijuana company owners and executives in the state.
In 2020, Bank of America terminated its banking relationship with David Morrow, CEO of the state’s largest marijuana company Lume. Morrow said he had millions of dollars in various BofA accounts, including money-managed accounts and loans.
“ ey treated me like a coke dealer,” Morrow said. “All of my accounts, my wealth management accounts, everything was booted. I got into this business to help out Bob (Barnes, majority owner of Lume). e last thing I was looking for was to have my entire personal banking relationship to get tossed out the window.”
Morrow said the bank he’d used for more than 20 years only noticed
Paul Bugajski, director of operations for Common Citizen, faced a similar fate. In May, Huntington Bank terminated his personal bank account, his credit card account and his farm account for the small farm the family runs in Northern Michigan.
“We received a letter that said we had 22 days to get this straightened out,” Bugajski said. “We were loyal and had money in that bank for years.”
Bugajski, a former aviation manager at Eaton Corp., said the bank never fully disclosed why his accounts were terminated but after hearing from his peers, he suspects it was because he works in marijuana.
In a statement to Crain’s, Huntington said it must terminate any accounts associated with marijuana due to federal law.
“As a federally chartered institution, Huntington must adhere to federal law, including when it conicts with any state or local statutes,” the Columbus, Ohio-based bank said in the statement. “At this time, marijuana remains federally scheduled as a controlled substance, and the manufacture and sale of marijuana remain illegal at the federal level. We continue to monitor federal lawmaking e orts on this subject.”
Yerock’s banking troubles didn’t stop at a mortgage. To clear her driveway of snow, she went to purchase a side-by-side utility vehicle and plow. e dealer, however, was unable to secure a loan for the vehicle due to her employment as a Six Sigma manager at Common Citizen.
Rescheduling to a Schedule III, while not legalizing marijuana at the federal level, would also likely make it much easier for banks to enter the marijuana space for both businesses and employees.
“I don’t see a need for the SAFE Banking Act if this in fact becomes the o cial position,” Jonathan Havens, a cannabis attorney at Philadelphia-based Saul Ewing who previously worked for the FDA, told Politico Wednesday. “I’m not saying that all banks will want to jump into this space, but the need for safe harbors I don’t think exists like it does today.”
It’s unclear whether the DEA will move to reschedule marijuana and when. It’s also unclear whether rescheduling would impact federal assistance programs like the MRS hearing aid program.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has called for Congress to pass the SAFE Banking Act on several occasions. Employees at Common Citizen also met with Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II in August to discuss their banking problems. In addition, Common Citizen is working with the Michigan Chamber of Commerce to create a lobbying coalition in Washington D.C.
Another attempt to get the SAFE Banking Act passed is also afoot. Herndon said the bill is likely to move to a Senate committee in September.
Until then cannabis businesses and employees will be forced to use local banks and credit unions for nancial services.
“We’ve all been taken advantage of,” said Morrow. “We’ve all had to pay ve times the fees or a higher interest rate. Everyone in this industry has a story. It’s gone on for years. We’re just regular people trying to do regular business in a legal industry.”
“THEY TREATED ME LIKE A COKE DEALER. ALL OF MY ACCOUNTS, MY WEALTH MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTS, EVERYTHING WAS BOOTED.”
—David Morrow, CEO of Lume
Doeren Mayhew
Doeren Mayhew is pleased to welcome Mike Czarnota, CPA, MST, to the rm as a Principal in its tax practice. With more than 25 years of experience, Mike has worked alongside large public and privately held companies to assist with their tax needs to minimize tax liabilities, optimize cash ow, and ensure compliance with federal and multi-state regulators.
98Forward
98Forward is pleased to announce the promotion of Antonice Strickland to vice president of public relations and business development. She will play a key leadership role driving team and business growth, client experience and company culture. Her efforts helped to increase revenue growth and repositioned the agency’s reputation after a 2022 rebrand. She has worked with local and national clients and media. Antonice joined the agency in April 2022 and was previously based in Washington D.C.
RSM US
RSM is pleased to announce that Amy Pawelko has been promoted to Assurance Senior Manager. She has a diverse background, including two years of experience in private accounting and eight years of experience in public accounting. Amy specializes in industrial products, manufacturing and distribution, and employee bene t plan work which aligns with RSM’s audit practices in Michigan. Her knowledge and experience allow her to service various privately held companies across the state of Michigan.
Quinn Evans Angela Wyrembelski, AIA, has been promoted to Senior Associate in Quinn Evans’ Detroit of ce. Wyrembelski is a preservation architecture expert who combines historic masonry and building envelope expertise with an understanding of building technology. Her projects including the rehabilitation of Michigan Central Station in Detroit, Michigan, and the renovation and expansion of the Ann Arbor Municipal Center.
StraightLine Group
Rob Rickey, CFP®, has joined StraightLine Group, an independent RIA and nancial planning rm, as Chief Growth Of cer. With his insight and expertise, Rickey will lead strategic efforts as the rm expands its focus on delivering general education, communication, and advice to individuals in employersponsored retirement plans. Rickey stands on over 25 years of experience in the industry, most recently as Managing Director and Head of Advisor Services at TIAA.
From Page 1
At $500 a week per member — potentially plus health care costs — the union has a few months' worth of strike pay on hand.
RSM US
RSM is pleased to announce that Mike Pruitt has been promoted to Transfer Pricing Senior Manager. He has eight years of experience in public accounting providing transfer pricing, international tax consulting, and global business model tax optimization services to both publicly and privately held businesses. Mike focuses primarily on global automotive, industrial products, and consumer products industries.
Quinn Evans
Daniel Clunis, AIA, LEED GA, Fitwel Amb., has been promoted to Associate in Quinn Evans’ Ann Arbor of ce. Clunis develops creative solutions to the design of cultural and community-driven projects. He has served as a designer for the renovation of the National Air and Space Museum and the new State Street Dining Pavilion for The Henry Ford in Dearborn. Clunis holds a Bachelor of Science in Architecture (2014) and a Master of Architecture (2018) from the University of Michigan.
Globe Midwest Adjusters International
Globe Midwest Adjusters International’s Chairman and President, Bobby Levin, SPPA, was recently recognized by DBusiness as one of Detroit’s most in uential leaders. Bobby’s exceptional ability to lead in the insurance claim industry with vision, empathy, and determination truly sets him apart and is an inspiration to his partners and employees.
Hope Network Hope Network, a leading statewide organization that provides healthcare and life services to 34,000 people in more than 240 Michigan communities annually, announces the addition of Lynn M. Ferris and Sandi (Gabrielse) Judson to its Board of Trustees. Ferris is a corporate leader, attorney and advisor with extensive experience in highlevel government and corporate business positions. An advisor and board member to diverse nonpro t organizations, she has also been an Administrative Law Judge for the State of Michigan. Judson, VP of Human Resources at Behler-Young Company, is a highly collaborative, strategic HR executive who has served in leadership positions with Allied Finishing, Inc. and Pine Rest Christian Services.
"Let me assure you, the VPs, myself, all the leadership at this level, the bargaining committees, we understand how to manage this," Fain said in response to a worker's question on the issue during a Facebook livestream in early August. "We have a plan. Come Sept. 14, if these companies don't deliver, they're going to see that plan unfold."
While a UAW spokesperson declined to discuss the union's strategy, Fain this week declared that "everything's on the table."
at includes a strategic bottleneck strike that halts production at key sites, forcing other plants to close.
"With just a few plants, you could have a pretty substantial impact to pro table vehicles without having that many employees walk," Je Schuster, executive vice president of GlobalData, told Automotive News.
Such a tactic would limit what the union would have to pay out on the picket line since workers at plants shuttered for parts shortages would not get strike pay. But it could be fraught with legal risk, and peo-
From Page 1
release. e Gilbert Family Foundation will contribute nearly $375 million in grant funding.
NONPROFIT
Hope Network Hope Network, a leading statewide organization that provides healthcare and life services to 34,000 people in more than 240 Michigan communities annually, announces the addition of Jennifer Jurgens and Gavin Mohr to its Board of Trustees. Jurgens, CEO/Founder, 1 Bold Step, is an accomplished sales and marketing executive specializing in nonpro t organizations and health advocacy. She is the recipient of the Susan G. Komen Excellence in Leadership Award and has twice received the Grand Rapids Business Journal’s Most In uential Women Award.
Mohr, EVP, Chief Financial Of cer, Independent Bank, is a highly skilled banking and nance leader, serving in executive roles with STAR Financial Bank, Yadkin Bank and Tower Bank & Trust.
e neuro bromatosis institute is named after the Gilberts' late son to house research advancing toward a cure for NF and increasing access to personalized care. Nick Gilbert died in May after a lifelong battle with the condition.
Dan Gilbert su ered a stroke in May 2019 and underwent treatment at the Shirley Ryan facility in Chicago.
"When I su ered my stroke back in 2019, I sought out the best care in the country and found it in Chicago with the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab," Gilbert said Wednesday. "I'm forever grateful to the doctors, nurses, therapists and sta who helped me improve every day. However, while there I met many other patients who could not get all the rehabilitative care they need because insurance limited the number of hours covered. is is too often the experience for Detroiters as well."
To that end, the Gilbert Family Foundation is establishing a $10 million fund speci cally for Detroit residents who make less than 400% of the federal poverty line to receive care at the new stroke center. It's unclear how many patients will ultimately bene t from that fund, but Peggy Kirk, president and CEO of
ple familiar with the matter say non-striking workers who get temporarily laid o would not be eligible for supplemental unemployment bene ts from the automakers, and eligibility for traditional unemployment pay could vary based on state laws.
Still, a bottleneck strike could be e ective.
e most famous example occurred at two General Motors plants in 1998, where a few thousand workers in Flint, ultimately took down about 30 other GM assembly plants and 100 North American parts plants for almost two months. e strike cost GM some $2 billion.
A similar bottleneck strike occurred in 1996, when a walkout at two plants in Ohio forced GM to shutter virtually all operations.
If the union were to stage a bottleneck strike at all three companies, targeting engine or transmission plants could be more advantageous than going after one or two high-margin pickup or SUV assembly plants because the parts facilities employ fewer workers and typically supply multiple products.
At Ford Motor Co., Livonia Transmission in Michigan would be a prime target.
at high-volume site makes gearboxes for vehicles including the F-Series, the company's most pro table nameplate. Lima Engine and Cleveland Engine in
Ohio, where workers build engines for high-margin pickups and SUVs, also would be key production chokepoints.
At Stellantis, a stoppage at its Kokomo Transmission Plant could paralyze much of the automaker's North American manufacturing.
e Indiana plant produces gearboxes for Jeep, Dodge and Ram models as well as machined components for nine-speed transmissions across the lineup.
A Jeep engine plant in Dundee, would be another impactful location.
At GM, Romulus Powertrain in Michigan would be a high-risk site, as it supplies V-6 engines and 10-speed transmissions for vehicles including the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra.
In Ohio, GM's Toledo Propulsion Systems, which builds transmissions for combustion vehicles and drive units for electric vehicles, also would be a target, as would the Marion Metal Center in Indiana, which produces sheet metal-stamped parts for multiple plants to support Chevrolet, GMC, Buick and Cadillac vehicles.
e UAW would have to tread carefully if it calls a strike in specific locations only.
Individual locals are allowed by law to strike only over issues speci c to those locals, not companywide matters. GM in 1998 led a lawsuit against the UAW claiming its bottleneck strike was illegal, ar-
guing that the two plants struck over issues that could be resolved only in national negotiations, which were to happen the following year.
Experts say the issue of what exactly an individual plant would be striking over could play a role in potential legal challenges.
Another major issue would be what compensation workers receive. In a typical layo , workers receive roughly 95 percent of their usual pay through a combination of state-level unemployment bene ts and payments from the companies.
Some experts say that workers laid o as a ripple e ect of a bottleneck strike wouldn't be eligible for supplemental payments from the company. at could leave a majority of union workers in a worse nancial position than those actually on strike, who would be getting $500 a week from the union.
Another tactic that almost certainly would draw lawsuits: striking at supplier plants.
Even that is not without recent precedent. Unifor workers in 2019 walked o the job at an Inteva Products plant and a Lear Corp. plant near Oshawa, Ontario, causing production to brie y stop at GM's Oshawa plant that was slated to close.
Ontario's labor relations board ruled Unifor's supplier strikes illegal and barred it from using the
tactic. e union's president at the time, Jerry Dias, struck a de ant tone, saying Unifor was "not a union that's afraid of injunctions."
In the U.S., the National Labor Relations Act bars unions from going after an employer through a strike at another company.
" at's a very bad idea," said L. Steven Platt, an attorney at Howard & Howard in Chicago specializing in labor law. "Going after non-Big 3 entities is not a wise thing to do, and it will draw litigation."
He said any legal missteps by the union could complicate its strike goals.
" e one thing you don't want to do if you're the union is make a mistake," Platt said. "If you're going to use a strike as a weapon, you don't want to have the risk that the labor board forces you back to the bargaining table."
e UAW may already be setting the groundwork for another tactic: an unfair labor practice strike.
e union last week led charges with the National Labor Relations Board accusing GM and Stellantis of "refusing to bargain in good faith over mandatory subjects of bargaining including but not limited to wages and bene ts."
In this case, the union could call a strike over those allegations instead of tying a work stoppage over wages and economic issues.
If the union calls an unfair labor practice strike, companies are
said. "And with the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab — and some of the critical clinical services that we'll be doing — this will not only take care of our immediate neighbors, but people will be coming from all over to seek this care. And that's another economic multiplier for the city."
Riney told Crain's the system always planned for a rehabilitation hospital to support its growing and respected neurological care departments. But getting the best rehab provider in the country was the result of luck and seizing opportu-
prohibited from hiring permanent replacement workers, as employers sometimes do to keep plants running and potentially intimidate those on strike.
" is is a preemptive strike, before a strike," said Art Wheaton, a labor relations expert at Cornell University. "If GM and Stellantis had hopes of hiring permanent replacements to starve out the UAW, [the union] can say, 'Sorry, you can't do that.' "
If the UAW decides to take on all three automakers at once, economists say a strike of any length could be nancially disastrous.
e UAW's 2019 strike against GM, which lasted 40 days, cost the company $2.9 billion and 300,000 vehicles of production.
Anderson Economic Group recently projected that a 10-day strike against the Detroit 3 would result in more than $5 billion in economic losses.
Baird Equity Research estimated that a simultaneous strike could last at least six weeks and put 800,000 vehicles of production at risk.
If a strike at all three companies lasted 100 days, GlobalData has projected that production of 1.5 million vehicles would be lost. " at's painful; there's no way around it," GlobalData's Schuster said. " e Detroit 3 could potentially weather it, but I don't know about the impact on the supply base. It could be ugly."
nity.
"When we had heard about Dan Gilbert's experience and that he was interested in the possibility of bringing Shirley Ryan to the Detroit area, we started a conversation that turned into a group e ort right away," Riney said. "Not only is there a community need, there was an opportunity to share infrastructure and support services by putting this all together on one campus to create even more brand equity and excitement for this new medical campus."
AbilityLab, said she expects it to be "a lot of patients."
e planned AbilityLab in Detroit — slated to open in 2029 — will occupy three oors of the planned Henry Ford Hospital tower and will total 125,000 square feet.
e Shirley Ryan AbilityLab has been ranked by U.S. News and World Report as the highest-ranking rehab hospital in the country.
"Our singular focus is helping patients regain ability through intensive rehabilitation that leverages the best tools and technology," Kirk said. " at really enhances their ability to function, to move, to communicate and participate in a meaningful life."
A facility such as the planned AbilityLab has been discussed as needed in Detroit for some years, as Crain's has previously reported.
"Normal insurance doesn't pay for the rehabilitation" of a stroke at the level that Dan Gilbert was able to pay for, Phil Weaver, CEO of Hope Network in Grand Rapids, told Crain's in early 2020.
Most insurers will cover only 30 one-hour therapy sessions — for an entire calendar year.
"For a person with a serious stroke, or even a mild stroke, to be frank, it doesn't move the needle far enough," Weaver said at the time of the covered one-hour sessions.
While AbilityLab has its agship
location in Chicago, the organization has partnerships around the world, Kirk said. However, the planned Detroit facility will make for a "new, smaller agship," Kirk said.
Bob Riney, president and CEO of Henry Ford Health, said the inclusion of the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, as well as the Nick Gilbert Neurobromatosis Research Institute, t in perfectly with the planned $2.5 billion planned expansion.
"I think that what you're going to see with this campus is what Detroit needs, which is a world-class destination for care for both people that live in the immediate ZIP code and people that live beyond," Riney
e company sold approximately 5,000 new homes and had estimated revenue of approximately $523 million last year, according to a news release.
For Skyline Champion, the deal allows the company to move into a new distribution channel.
e company currently operates primarily through dealers, with South eld-based Sun Communities being one of its larger partners, Yost said.
e acquisition of Regional Homes puts the company deeper into the “captive retail” brand, akin to how one of the world’s leading tech companies sells its products.
“We want to … have more of a consultative, concierge type of a process where people can buy a home,” Yost said. “When you walk into an Apple store, they're not there to sell you the product, they're there to educate you on the product and make sure you have the right product for your needs … I think that's what we want to do, is make sure people get into the right home because that's such an important life decision for them.”
To that end, the company says that once a home has been selected, it can be assembled and delivered to the consumer in a matter of weeks, like ordering and waiting for a package from Amazon, Yost said.
Earlier in August, Skyline Champion announced that it was endeavoring into the world ofnancing the products it manufactures, through a deal with ECN
From Page 3
e institution has “depressed the area so strategically that a normal investor would look and say, ‘there’s no money to be made here,’” Washington said.
“But what we’re doing — what I’m doing — (and) I’m going to continue to do is to show there is real viability here,” he continued. “And I really believe there’s viability from a single-family (residential) standpoint.”
Washington’s assertions make for a “di erence of opinion,” according to Tom Habitz, an urban planning specialist at the Detroit-based health care system.
While acknowledging Henry Ford’s large presence within the neighborhood and on the immediate periphery, the goal is not to be a neighborhood real estate developer and the hospital has been disposing of properties within NW Goldberg for years, Habitz said.
Henry Ford Health came to own land in the area over the years through myriad circumstances, he said.
Now it plans to continue engaging with a number of stakeholders in the area — ranging from small businesses such as Marble Bar to the Motown Museum to Washington’s group — to help at the neighborhood level.
Scheduled to close this month, the deal calls for Skyline to invest $138 million in a private placement in ECN Capital and the two rms will form a new nancing company that will be 51% owned by Skyline and 49% owned by Triad Financial Services Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of ECN Capital.
at the company is moving in such a direction — with growth via acquisition and new partnerships aimed at diversi cation — comes as little surprise to John Lindley, president and CEO of the Michigan Manufactured Housing Association, an Okemos-based trade group for the industry.
e myriad “moving parts” to buying a home, coupled with additional aspects for a manufactured home, such as the transportation of the product, makes for a challenging experience, according to Lindley.
“So making sure those are seamless for the customer is one of the ways that we can ensure people ultimately have a good experience in purchasing a manufactured home, and want to stay in a manufactured home,” Lind-
“I think we can work together to do more streetscape enhancements than what would have happened if not for the campus coming in,” Habitz said. “And it means that we're able to save and protect and rehab all the rehab-able buildings that are along that corridor. And we've got enough site control to kind of dictate that the neighborhood can come back to what it once was and redensify according to its historic layout.”
Henry Ford o cials provided Crain’s with a lengthy list of neighborhood-level initiatives in and around its main hospital campus, which includes commercial façade grants to six legacy businesses on West Grand Boulevard, selling vacant homes it owns to investors and residents and developing a vacant lot near its cancer center into a pocket park with chess and ping pong tables for free community use.
To Washington’s point about depressed real estate values, a Crain’s analysis of real estate listings shows that the handful of sales in the NW Goldberg neighborhood in recent months have been in the $30,000 range, largely homes that appear in need of substantial renovations. But that tide appears to be shifting.
For example, Washington and
ley said.
Sales of manufactured housing has ebbed and owed somewhat, but generally gained in popularity in recent years, according to industry data.
From 2016-21, deliveries grew by about 30% to 105,775 orders, according to the Manufactured Housing Institute Inc., an industry trade group.
Nationwide, the average sale price for a manufactured last year was $127,300, while in Michigan it was just less than $110,000, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Meanwhile, the median U.S. home price in the second quarter of this year was over $416,000, according to HUD.
For Skyline, orders of manufactured homes across all distribution channels fell by 36% yearover-year in the second quarter and 5% quarter-over-quarter, largely due to timing of community orders.
An investor note last month from investment banking rm Je eries notes that the company has an “extremely healthy” balance sheet and plenty of dry powder for M&A opportunities.
Put all that together and the company is in a stellar position, CEO Yost said.
“I think if you fast forward a few years, and you look at the situation the country is in — with the lack of a ordable housing and disappearing skilled trades … I view (manufactured housing) as the solution the country needs,” Yost said.
his nonpro t have renovated two neighborhood homes and each have pending sales at prices of $250,000 and $280,000, respectively, according to the listings. e latter is Washington's personal home, while the former is owned by the nonpro t.
Additionally, entrepreneur and developer Carlo Liburdi told Crain’s he’s acquired more than a dozen homes in the NW Goldberg neighborhood, a mix of single and multi-family properties.
Liburdi, the co-owner of e Kiesling cocktail bar in the nearby Milwaukee Junction neighborhood and an architect by trade, declined to give an overall development cost for his e orts in NW Goldberg. A Crain’s analysis of property records in the area, however, show at least four properties tied to Liburdi, largely bought in recent months for between $20,000 and $65,000 each.
One home on Hecla Street, a three-bedroom, 1.5 bathroom property, has been fully renovated and is listed for sale for $212,000.
Hecla, Avery and Commonwealth streets are Liburdi’s area of focus, and the investor told Crain’s that the recently announced Henry Ford Health expansion to the north served as a partial impetus for his business interests in the neighborhood. But he pointed to other factors as well.
“On a macro level, you’re a pitching wedge from Midtown, so
From Page 3
Last year, President and Artistic Director Vince Paul shared early plans with Crain’s Detroit Business. At the time, the expansion plan in development included a new, contemporary concert venue with capacity for 1,900 people, recording studios, o ces for agents and other music industry professionals and a music academy operated by the nonpro t.
Paul could not immediately be reached for comment on Tuesday morning.
Last year he said the expansion would mark the rst new theater of size built in Detroit in decades. e new concert venue would expand the demographic Music Hall serves, he said, building on its mission of bringing di erent communities in Detroit together by presenting every conceivable genre, from Bollywood, contemporary ballet, hip hop and Broadway to Johnny Mathis and family theater.
Music Hall expected to launch a fundraising campaign last fall to support the undisclosed cost, Paul
said at that time.
e historic venue opened its doors in 1928 for live performances after its founding by Matilda Dodge Wilson originally as the Wilson eatre. It hosted renowned musicians including Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday before shifting for a time to a movie theater, Paul told Crain's when he joined Music Hall in 2007. e Detroit Symphony Orchestra moved into the Art Deco venue in 1946, changing its name to Detroit Music Hall. Michigan Opera eatre (now Detroit Opera) also called the building home from 1971-1985, according to the Detroit Historical Society. e building dodged the wrecking ball in 1974, completing a comprehensive renovation in 1995 with support from Detroit Renaissance (which evolved into Business Leaders of Michigan), the Kresge Foundation and the Music Hall Board of Trustees.
Music Hall then returned to its performing arts roots in dance, theater and music, with a focus on jazz, and educational programs, operating as Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts.
it just makes sense that something will happen (in NW Goldberg),” Liburdi said, using a golf metaphor. “I’m trying to create a bit of critical mass on those streets that are sort of blighted, but there's an opportunity to create more starter and entry-level homes for people.”
e NW Goldberg neighborhood makes for a “challenged area,” Liburdi said, pointing to the large amount of vacant lots and blighted homes. As a developer, his challenge is to “control costs and deliver a product that I think is well done and appropriate for a starter home.”
e investor said he has two more homes on Hecla Street undergoing renovations that are expected to be complete next month, and will soon start work on two nearby duplexes.
e uptick in activity is not just limited to housing, however. In late 2020, the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan provided NW Goldberg Cares with a $48,000 grant to undertake a study for a retail corridor in the neighborhood along Ferry Park Street. e study determined that Ferry Park could be re-established as a retail corridor in the neighborhood and called for the creation of a new park — now Curtis Jones Park — with a playground and basketball court.
e retail study, coupled with the housing development activity, all play “in concert together,” said
Washington, the nonpro t’s executive director.
As more residents move in, the neighborhood can start to support amenities such as a co ee shop and community grocery store.
For NW Goldberg Cares, the goal is to see 25 renovated homes online within the next four years, and at market rate prices of between $250,000 and $320,000. Washington said the stated price goal acknowledges the reality that most existing homes in the area are in need of full renovations and would represent quality work that allow the developers to make an appropriate pro t.
“We really believe that if we can get homeowners — especially rst-time homeowners — that are serious and excited to be in the area, then now we can start to put some of these permanent things in place,” Washington said.
Realtor Ryan Cooley, owner of O’Connor Real Estate in Detroit, is one of the listing agents for multiple properties for sale in the neighborhood. e early momentum that’s building is unlikely to let up soon, he said.
“With all the investment that is occurring just blocks away the area is only going to improve,” Cooley said in a message to Crain’s. “I think you’ll see more and more rehab of residential properties in the near future. Especially as a lot of the commercial/retail opens.”
Hilary Doe, Michigan’s rst chief growth of cer, loves her home state so much she has a tattoo of it on her forearm. It is a reminder of her mission since being appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in June: grow an aging state that is on a path of slowing population growth and, in a generation, declining population. Whitmer formed a council to come up with recommendations. Doe, as the group’s executive director, is busy facilitating its work. The Detroit resident, 37, joined the Michigan Economic Development Corp. from NationBuilder, a software company for advocacy and engagement, where she worked for nearly 10 years. She had previously spent four years at the Roosevelt Institute, a liberal think tank.The following interview has been edited for brevity. By |
Where did you grow up in Michigan, when did you leave and why did you move back?
I grew up in La Salle, a tiny town in Monroe County. e closest hospital was actually in Toledo. So I always joke that even though I’m Michigan through and through — I’m sort of a walking Pure Michigan commercial — my passport says Ohio. I went to high school at Erie Mason, so shout out to the Eagles, and then ended up at University of Michigan for undergrad and grad school. I got a rst job at a consulting rm and worked in Chicago brie y, ended up in D.C. running this national network for the Roosevelt Institute, lived in New York City with a brief stint in LA as well. e whole time, honestly, I was guring out how to get home. When I was in grad school, I worked brie y for the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation with Olga Stella and really fell in love with Detroit in a way that was unshakeable. I already was in love with Michigan. I was talking about it all the time, got the tattoo on my arm — really always wanted a little bit of Michigan up my sleeve, which sounds cheesy but is authentic. I have always been really inspired both by our history but also by what I think our future should and can look like.
Why did you leave the private sector for a government job?
First, my sort of foundational career was in public policy. I’ve always been really compelled by the power of doing bottom-up policy work. I actually made the jump out of a think tank into grad school. I was in a Ph.D. program brie y and got recruited out of there to go to a tech company.
I didn’t imagine I’d be a tech executive for very long but ended up staying for 10 years. I really found it compelling to be able to o er a product that was really committed to providing a ordable tools of organizing for communities around the country and the world. But when I moved back to Michigan, I was already missing public policy. I wanted to be in Michigan for a reason. I wanted to be doing stu here locally and not just in the morning on Zooms with Europe and at night on Zoom with Australia. I actually started a little think tank called Scout that I was doing while I was also president of NationBuilder, working mostly in Michigan communities on revenue and public investment. Frankly, when the governor’s
team brought this opportunity, we talked about it for a while. I was happy in my job. But this is a real, sort of once-in-a-generation challenge that I was so impressed that the governor’s o ce wanted to take on.
Given the job’s novelty, is there a guidepost you are using or are you starting from scratch?
It’s a little bit of both. Population growth and economic growth go hand in hand. But a major distinction in the way that we’re approaching this is that’s really a people-centered approach. inking about why folks choose to live where they live, what people love about living in Michigan, what would help retain and attract more folks to our state. Starting at that people level and again acknowledging that in order to be e ective at that we have to take a holistic approach.
It might be placemaking solutions. It might be facilitating high-growth industries and the green transformation.
It might be investments in our infrastructure. Because I’m coming from a software background and a lot of time at a startup, it’s been interesting to apply, in the case that it works because it doesn’t always, some of those approaches to
this. When we think about the best practices on the vanguard of growth marketing, part of what you’re thinking about is how do you drive folks into the quote-unquote top of the funnel. How are we telling our story and creating atmospheric support and brand awareness for Michigan and who we really are, telling our own story instead of letting other folks tell it for us? And then you have think about once you get folks’ attention, are you moving them up the proverbial funnel?
You have said domestic migration is where the state can really move the needle. What can Michigan do in that realm? e rst step is to pay attention to who we’re seeing move around. When folks leave the state, it tends to be for job-reasons and for personal sometimes. About 40, 45% of the folks leaving for job-related reasons are 18 to 34. A lot of them have a bachelor’s degree. What is that archetype looking for?
ey’re obviously really critical to Michigan’s economic growth, critical to ensuring that we’re reversing the trend around an aging population. One of the critical things to consider here isn’t just reversing losses but growing in important ways to take advantage of Michigan’s real
David Eggerteconomic opportunity in this era, to be at the tip of the spear in the green transformation, both EVs but also renewables and have a workforce that’s ready to take on some of those challenges. We need to do some listening to those folks who are in those high-mobility groups, young folks, young workers, young families and also to folks across the state. ( e council has kicked o a listening tour. Workgroups will make recommendations to the council in early October.)
e intention also is frankly to put some polls in the eld asking similar questions even of maybe young folks who are in some of the places we are seeing out-migration to — in Atlanta, in Columbus or where have you. We’re not yet at the recommendation stage, but this one is just as critical.
Republicans say one bold way to stand out and grow population is to eliminate the state income tax. Should that be explored?
When I look at comparable states that are seeing positive growth, we need to look at states that have a similar pro le to Michigan’s. Sunbelt weather trends, for example, aren’t the way Michigan’s going to grow. We should acknowledge frankly also that those Sunbelt states, before air conditioning, that was sometimes a challenge — their climate. In the future, Michigan will be in a di erent position with its climate relatively. I’ll just say there are some states where we’re seeing growth that may be less comparable to Michigan. ere are others that are more comparable. When we look at those, for example Colorado or Minnesota, who are seeing positive growth, we should take a look at the landscape there. I do think we should pursue bold solutions. It just isn’t clear to me that those are the bold solutions. It seems just as likely that the bold solutions might be investments in placemaking, thinking a lot about our central cities, downtowns, thinking a lot about potentially transit or, for example, child care. Access to child care or housing or frankly student loan forgiveness or pathways to a ordable degrees that prepare folks for 21st century jobs seem just as likely to be the bold motivator that could encourage folks to call Michigan home and retain the folks here who we really want to keep.
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Volume 39, Number 34
Crain’s Detroit Business (ISSN 0882-1992) is published weekly, except no issues on 1/2/23, 7/3/23, 9/4/23,
