Crain's Detroit Business, Sept. 19, 2022, issue

Page 1

Dave Meador, who helped administer earlier e orts for the group as DTE’s vice chairman and chief administrative o cer before his retirement early this year, is taking a more formal role with the group as its paid, part-time executive director.

e regional CEO group that has been working in a coordinated — albeit informal — fashion since 2016 is emerging post-pandemic with new leadership and new initiatives, including a push to improve workforce development across the region.

for the

BY KIRK PINHO

AN EVOLUTION

CRAINSDETROIT.COM I SEPTEMBER 19, 2022 NEWSPAPER VOL. 38, NO. 36 l COPYRIGHT 2022 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. l ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) is consolidating 2,000 employees into a large new o ce in Farmington Hills. deal — believed to be the largest new metro Detroit during COVID-19 pan-

from move, however, also marks large footprint downsizing Dallas-based bank, which was in

Detroit until 2007. Its space in Livonia and Auburn Hills totals nearly 1 million square feet across four buildings: 39200 Six Mile Road (382,000 square feet); 3501 Hamlin Road (31,000 square feet); 3551 Hamlin Road (198,000 square feet); and 3701 Hamlin Road (371,000 square feet). Comerica to combine o ces

Anderson, retired executive chairman of DTE Energy Co., as chair of the 22-member group which opted not to incorporate to keep it lean and nimble, leaders said.

headquartered

Auto shows may be dead, but Detroit’s still has a role. PAGE 6 THE CONVERSATION : Citizens Bank’s Yasmeen Jasey on building teams. PAGE 22 See COMERICA on Page 17 Comerica Inc. is expected to take over these two Farmington Hills o ce buildings. | COSTAR GROUP ‘No-name’ Detroit CEO group adds structure Plans workforceregionalpush

BY SHERRI WELCH

See CEOS on Page 20

In next investments.onCrain’s:week’sFullreportexpatsand BUSINESSDETROITANTAYA/CRAIN’SNIC FINDING A FIX CARECHILDFOR?

e

Costs

Bank inks largest new o ce lease of the pandemic era — and plans to sell 3 buildings

Jack Entertainment Chairman Matt Cullen has succeeded Gerry

a

FORUM I CHILD CARE

HOMECOMINGDETROIT

hamper families. Staf ng hurts facilities. Here’s how government policies could help I PAGE 10

the

demic era — will shift those workers

o ce lease signed

o ces in Livonia and Auburn Hills into a new 340,000-square-foot o ce on Corporate Drive near 12 Mile and Halsted roads. e

WEEK IN REVIEW, WITH AN EYE ON WHAT’S NEXT

$104M federal grant to speed up I-375 transformation

in ation in August for a second straight month, though many other items rose in price, indicating that in ation remains a heavy burden for American households. Consumer prices surged 8.3 percent in August compared with a year earlier, the government said. ough still pain fully high, that was down from an 8.5 percent jump in July and a four-de cade high of 9.1 percent in June.

has agreed to acquire Intercable Au tomotive Solutions for around $600 million. e bolt on of the Bruneck, Italy-based manufacturer of busbar and battery cell technology would bolster Aptiv’s high voltage power portfolio and strengthen its standing in Europe.

e allotment is part of $1.5 billion from the Infrastructure for Re building competitive grant program, funding for which increased by more than 50 percent in the U.S. infrastructure law President Joe Biden signed last year.

` VISTA MARIA CEO TO STEP DOWN

e state plans to convert the 1-mile depressed freeway, which connects I-75 directly to Je erson Avenue, to a wide street. e high way was built by demolishing Black neighborhoods 60 years ago.

WHY IT MATTERS: e appointment came hours after the rail industry and unions representing more than 100,000 workers reached a tentative labor agreement, dodging a poten tially catastrophic work stoppage.

THE NEWS: CSX Corp. named Joseph Hinrichs as its next chief executive o cer, handing the reins of the rail road giant to a car guy. Hinrichs, a former top executive with Ford Mo tor Co., will take over as CEO for James Foote on Sept. 26 as part of a planned succession process, CSX said.

THE NEWS: Vista Maria President and CEO Angela Aufdemberge, who has led the Dearborn Heights nonpro t serving abused and neglected girls for the past 11 years, is stepping down.

THE

WHY IT MATTERS: e timing is good: Vista Maria is very stable nancially and strong programmatically. During her tenure, the nonpro t has grown from a $19 million budget to a $33 million organization with the acqui sition of Insight Youth and Family Connections and the Michigan Abo litionist Project and the formation of Vista A ordable Housing.

WHY IT MATTERS: In ation remains far higher than many Americans have ever experienced and is keeping pressure on the Federal Reserve, the agency tasked with keeping prices stable.

THE NEWS: Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. is starting to close down and liquidate 56 stores as part of a wide-ranging turnaround plan, which the troubled retailer is betting will rekindle some of its lost appeal with shoppers. Five Michigan locations are among the closures: Chester eld, Farmington Hills, Northville, Walker and White Lake. e company currently has 26 stores across the state.

THE NEWS: Troy-based autonomous vehicle software supplier Aptiv plc

WHY IT MATTERS: e deal, expected to close before the end of the year, is for an 85 percent equity stake in the company.

` CSX HIRES JOE HINRICHS AS NEXT CEO

A rendering shows a six-lane boulevard that would replace the I-375 connector freeway downtown. MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

WHY IT MATTERS: Along with job cuts for 20 percent of its workforce, the changes are aimed at slashing costs at a business that has burned through cash and lost customers as it turned away from national brands.

`

THE NEWS: Sharply lower prices for gas and cheaper used cars slowed U.S.

APTIV ACQUIRES INTERCABLE AUTOMOTIVE SOLUTIONS

e project’s estimated cost, including for engineering, is $300 million. Construction should be done in 2028.\

`

A $104 million federal grant will expedite the conversion of the sunken Interstate 375 in Detroit to a six-lane boulevard at street lev el, o cials announced ursday, enabling construction to begin in 2025 — at least two years earlier than planned.

` BED BATH & BEYOND CLOSING 5 MICHIGAN STORES

NEED TO KNOW

ROAD FUNDING

` U.S. INFLATION FALLS TO STILL-HIGH 8.3 PERCENT

e Michigan Department of Transportation plans to remove I-375, corresponding service drives and the Gratiot Avenue connec tor. A six-lane boulevard would be built at the current city street lev el from I-75 to Je erson Avenue and become a four-lane boulevard from Je erson to Atwater Street.

PREMIUM LOCATION CENTRALLY LOCATED IN TROY, MICHIGAN 248.644.7600 | KOJAIAN.COM

2 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | S EP TE M BER 19, 2022

are fewer homes on the mar ket, but they’re sitting there a little longer, RE/MAX data shows. Days on the market in August was more than three weeks in every metro Detroit county, and more than ve weeks in Detroit.Median prices are 18.6 percent higher in Detroit than they were the year before — $83,000 as compared to $70,000 — but up just 2.8 percent in Wayne County as a whole and 3.2 percent in Oakland County. In Ma comb County, prices are down slight ly: 0.6 percent lower.

ArtPrize 2022 kicked o last ursday and runs for nearly three weeks, through Oct. 2, with 742 artists showing work at 150 ven ues, primarily in downtown Grand Rapids. e artists are vying for $450,000 in prizes fueled by public input and Foundedgrants.in2009 by Rick DeVos, grandson of Amway founder Rich ard DeVos, ArtPrize is an open inter national competition, citywide cele bration of art and major tourist draw for Grand Rapids. Artists display work in all types of venues — muse ums, galleries, parks, restaurants,

Metro Detroit homebuyers are no longer guaranteeing that they’ll pay more than a house is appraised for, and they’re seeing price drops when properties fail to quickly sell, signs of a housing market that is normalizing.

Lyndsey Sass, an associate broker with RE/MAX Leading Edge in Dear born Heights, said the lack of apprais al guarantees and increase in price cuts show the hot housing market is continuing to cool — though she said there’s still room for it to become even more balanced between buyers and sellers. Sellers, for some time, have held the upper hand in what has often been a wild housing market.

e MSU documents provide de tails on what led to Gupta’s forced resignation on Aug. 12, which set in motion pushback from a divided board of trustees that has left uni versity President Samuel Stanley Jr.’s job in jeopardy with nearly two years left on his contract.

“I don’t think it follows the tradi tional economics model that we’re used to,” Sass said. “I haven’t seen it before.”ere

e current market, she said, is “really curious” as prices continue to rise — though less than in previous months — and sales fall. In August, RE/MAX of Southeastern Michigan showed, home sales were down 15 percent over the previous year, while prices were 4.4 percent higher. e median sales price in the region in August was $292,488.

EAST LANSING — A leader in Michigan State University’s busi ness school got drunk at a party for MBA students and may have inap propriately touched at least one while dancing in a sexually sugges tive manner, but his boss — thenDean Sanjay Gupta — did not report the incident as required, investiga tive records obtained by Crain’s show.

Art competition ‘kind of’ back to normal in Grand Rapids

Home list prices falling in marketcooling

ARIELLE KASS

Failure to report incident led to Michigan State University business school dean’s demotion

e university on June 29 revoked the leave, which was to have taken e ect July 1, pending the outcome of a review. e designation had au thorized the leader/professor to re tire 10 months early without pay but still qualify for MSU health bene ts and other privileges when he o cially reaches retirement next year.

about Gupta’s leadership and his mandatory reporting failure, em phasizing its importance particular ly after the Larry Nassar scandal.

A work crew installs the “EIRO Vantage” ArtPrize installation on Calder Plaza in downtown Grand Rapids. BRYAN ESLER FOR ARTPRIZE

Buyers seeing more balance with sellers

bars, empty storefronts and shops. e event has undergone signif icant changes throughout its histo ry. Notably, organizers in 2018 de cided ArtPrize would switch to a biennial model, with the usual public vote competition held every other year. In the o year, a new event would feature a small group of commissioned artists displaying large-scale work at various places in Grand Rapids. e rst and only commissioned event, called Proj ect 1, was held in 2019 with ve artists and 11 installations.

It says MSU would not have ap proved the request if Gupta had re ported the incident at the “Gatsby Gala,” which occurred at e Studio at 414 venue in Lansing.

Nassar, a former university sports physician, is in prison for sexually abusing gymnasts and other ath letes. e U.S. Department of Edu cation in 2019 found the school vio lated Title IX and failed to take appropriate action in the cases of Nassar and former College of Os teopathic Medicine Dean William Strampel, who was accused of sexu ally harassing female students.

MarkGuptaMennin’s

At the same time, sales have fallen more than 10 percent in each juris diction, including in Detroit.

“Embedded” consists of three oversized stone beds situated outdoors on the Frey Foundation Plaza at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids Township. | FREDERIK MEIJER GARDENS & SCULPTURE PARK See GUPTA on Page 19 See ARTPRIZE on Page ? See PRICES on Page 18

Gupta told university administra tors that an early retirement leave request for his subordinate, made 18 days after the April 22 end-ofyear event, was a result of his taking

EDUCATION REAL ESTATETOURISM

GRAND RAPIDS — A global public art competition is back in Grand Rapids for its 12th season — with some changes in store.

SEPTEMBER 19, 2022 | C R AIN’S D ETROI T B USIN E SS 3

Documents: Incident with drunken professor led to brouhaha STATE OF THE ARTPRIZE

To justify the demotion, the uni versity has pointed to concerns

DAVID EGGERT

In Livingston County, however, prices are up nearly 10 percent.

RACHEL WATSON

en, the pandemic hit. Not only did the nonpro t cancel the public competition that was set to resume in 2020: It laid o its entire sta in June of that year.

internal document.

a new job with another univer sity, which Gup ta said he knew about before the alleged miscon duct.Gupta’s expla nation, however, di ered from what was on the Eli Broad College of Business’ May 10 request — that the o cial need ed to “tend to some family health situations and lecture/consult with out the pressures of a tenured facul ty position at MSU,” according an

“A hotel on the doorstep of the sec ond busiest arena in the nation will position Detroit to attract more of the

“ e hotel, food and beverage and other amenities proposed will create a wide variety of good jobs and attract people from the region, state and be yond to e District Detroit,” Keith Bradford, president of Olympia and the District Detroit, said in the release.

Earlier this year at the Mackinac Policy Conference, Ross said it would be an Equinox hotel designed to host visiting professional sports teams. e development agreement says the developer expects to apply for public incentives for the project,

which it says are necessary for it to be economically viable. Olympia and Related will be managing members of the developing entity and contrib ute equity to the project, the develop ment agreement says.

A copy of the project budget says the construction would cost $137.3 million, with architecture and engi neering costs totaling $13.4 million; project management, developer fees, legal fees and other fees costing $11.6 million; permit and utility fees cost ing $2.47 million; leasing and mar keting fees costing $5.18 million; nancing costing $6.7 million; and contingency costs of $13.8 million.

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

REAL ESTATE INSIDER

e two companies have joined forces in the last year to work on proj ects in the Ilitch family’s District De troit area, primarily the Detroit Cen ter for Innovation graduate school campus for the University of Michi gan, which received a $100 million budget earmark from the legislature during the state budget process.

REAL ESTATE Ilitch, Ross submit plan for $190.5M hotel near Little Caesars Arena

Acho said there is an auction of the farm equipment, and Moore hopes to split the property into smaller par cels for single-family home develop ment.e site includes 11 buildings, in cluding the main barn, a market, a pair of residences, a retail shop, a cold storage building, a feed barn and a garage, among other struc tures, the listing says.

world’s most watched entertainment events and invite visitors to extend their stay and experience more of this great city and growing neighbor hood,” Andrew Cantor, president of Related’s Michigan arm, said in a press release. “Related remains ex tremely optimistic about the future of e District Detroit and are working closely with our partners at Olympia Development and with the city to de liver the kind of inclusive economic opportunities this community de serves.”

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

e Big Red Or chard in Wash ington Township is soon to be a thing of the past.

Big Red Orchards | COSTAR GROUP INC.

e Ilitch family and billionaire developer Stephen Ross have sub mitted a development plan for a new $190.5 million hotel immediately south of Little Caesars Arena.

KIRK PINHO

A rendering of a proposed 14-story, 290-room hotel south of Little Caesars Arena. | SCREENSHOT

Crain’s reporter Kurt Nagl contrib uted to this report.

She said she tried to sell about 46 acres but found her interested buyers were seeking smaller lots for homes.

Big Red Orchards in Washington Township up for sale

“HE BOUGHT THE FARM TO GROW HIS OWN FRUITS, VEGETABLES AND HERBS AND HAVE CONTROL OF THE WHOLE SUPPLY CHAIN” FOR THE EPICUREAN RESTAURANTS.

Moore bought Big Red Orchard from Je Mulholland in September 2018. e sale is recorded as from Big Red Land LLC to Apple Orchard Note Holdings LLC for $2.45 million, ac

He bought Epicurean Group from Stanley Dickson Jr. in January 2019. It imploded just months later.

4 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | S EP TE M BER 19, 2022

Moore had a plan to turn Epicure

an into the state’s largest farm-to-ta ble restaurant group.

—Wendy Acho, leasing and sales associate, Farbman Group

The Big Red Orchards site includes 11 buildings, including the main barn, a market, a pair of residences, a retail shop, a cold storage building, a feed barn and a garage, among other structures, the listing says. COSTAR GROUP INC.

Epicurean included the Nomad Grill in the Best Western Premier De troit South eld Hotel, the No.VI Chop at the Four Points Sheraton in Novi, Soul Cafe under Friendship Circle’s umbrella in West Bloom eld Town ship, catering businesses and a cafe in the Michigan Design Center in Troy.In April 2021, the former Middle ton Farms Cider Mill on Dequindre Road between M-59/Hall Road and Auburn Road in Shelby Township listed for $1.85 million.

Long on the drawing board, the hotel would be 14 stories tall and have 290 rooms and 30,000 square feet of hotel amenity and ground-lev el retail space, according to a propos al signed o on by the Downtown Development Authority board on Wednesday. It would be 180 feet tall.

“He bought the farm to grow his own fruits, vegetables and herbs and have control of the whole supply chain” for the Epicurean restaurants, Acho said. “ e whole restaurant thing kind of blew up in his face and he has been running the farm as a farm with his wife and kids.”

It’s expected to close in November for good, Acho said.

e DDA board on Wednesday also signed o on giving Olympia an other year, until Sept. 12, 2023, to re ceive approval for development pro posals for 84 Sproat St., 2720 Park Ave. and several properties on ird and Fourth streets.

This comes four years after Moore bought the popular Macomb County fall destination for apples, cider and doughnuts as a way to supply the defunct Epicurean Group family of restaurants, which he also bought.

troit project as it was originally pro posed in July 2014 lagged behind ex pectations, particularly with regards to housing, although some apart ments have come online in the for mer Hotel Eddystone in the last year and construction began earlier this year on the United Artists Building into about 150 apartments.

Earlier this year, Related and Olympia unveiled a series of revived visions for new and redeveloped buildings; for years, the District De

Construction would start no later than the third quarter of 2024 and take approximately three years to complete, according to a DDA board brie ng memo.

In December 2019, Olympia re ceived a three-year extension to sub mit a development proposal for the hotel property, located on Woodward Avenue south of the arena in ex change for about $500,000 in land to be used as park space. e original deadline had been June 28, 2019, but Olympia had failed to submit a de velopment plan by that deadline and was in violation.

“Fifty percent of the people I have talked to are single-family home peo ple,” Acho said.

A to-be-established joint venture between the Ilitch family’s De troit-based Olympia Development of Michigan and Ross’ New York Citybased Related Cos. would groundlease the land from an Olym pia-owned entity.

Kirk PINHO

Owner Ryan Moore is auction ing o the farm equipment and selling the prop erty o 32 Mile Road in Novem ber, said Wendy Acho, a leasing and sales associate for South eld-based Farbman Group working on the sale.

cording to Washington Township publicMoorerecords.declined comment.

*“Minority Entrepreneurs.” Minority Entrepreneurs — U.S. Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship Bank of America, N.A. Member FDIC. Equal Credit Opportunity Lender © 2022 Bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved.

®

Believingcountry.is the first step

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We know that it takes more than a great idea to start and keep a business running. My teammates and I in Detroit want to make sure every big believer has the opportunity to achieve and reach their goals.

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For journalists, it’s access. A colleague at Automotive News complained to me on the opening day of the show (Wednesday) about the lack of quality executives to interview.

cross our great state, students who struggle to read are showing up to school each and every day — the child who sud denly excuses himself when called upon to read aloud, and another whose antics divert from the shame she won’t let anyone see. As students like these advance from grade to grade without pro ciency, they falter. ey will face future barriers to employ ment; eventually, many will hit a brick wall. Our social services budget will swell. Social workers will struggle to catch them as they fall.

A

1) Get loud for literacy. Support and advo cate for reading initiatives so that we can put this crisis in the rearview mirror.

“We used to be able to ll our notebooks with six months of stories,” he grumbled as we peered from one end of the Huntington to the other, an impossible act in previous years as the shows massive oor-to-ceiling dis plays blanketed the building.

Yet I wouldn’t dare call the show a failure. Sure, the displays are less impressive — Sub aru’s main attraction is a pen to play with puppies — but it’s the business of selling cars that the show propagates. at’s still happen ing. e upper bowels of the convention cen ter are still home to important business meetings, and ideas are still being shared.

In our quest to become a top state for business, the only way to compete for talent is to atten the curve on the epidemic of illit eracy with a proven solution. Only then can we achieve our desired educational out comes and produce a workforce second to none.Sowhat can business leaders do to ensure a proven solution can be replicated through out our state, across urban, suburban, and rural communities?

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

Pamela Good is the Beyondandco-founderCEOofBasics.

BUSINESSDETROITSAAD/CRAIN’SDANIEL

cover 44 vehicle reveals. is year, the expec tations are less with organizers expecting only 1,000 to 2,000 journalists to cover just eight to 10 reveals, my colleague Kurt Nagl reported.Butwhat’s in an auto show?

dents improve in six weeks. In high schools, where tutoring takes on urgency for students who have less time to catch up, students ad vance two grade levels on average. e stu dent who shied away from reading raises his hand; the class clown reads Shakespeare. Moreover, their competence leads to con dence. Once literate, students can access the curriculum across all subject matters, pur sue our state’s many paths to postsecondary education, and enter the workforce equipped to pursue their dreams. With literacy, they will maneuver with agility the changes of an ever-evolving economy.

At the show in 2019, there were 4,568 jour nalists from 60 countries in attendance to

COMMENTARY

What de nes a successful Detroit auto show?

There is a solution. In key grades such as third, sixth, and ninth, we must administer an individualized diagnostic assessment to measure the components of literacy. Gaps must then be remedied with target ed, individualized instruction for those who need it most. Beyond Basics develops a customized reading plan for each stu dent that provides “highest-dosage,” inten sive, one-on-one intervention during the school day, delivered daily by trained tu tors in hourlong sessions.

3) Promote the topic of literacy in your or ganization. Deeply internalize that a student who cannot read will not be able to ll out your or anyone else’s job application.

2) Champion organizations whose met rics and results are clear to see and under stand. Invest your philanthropic and corpo rate giving dollars in those service providers.

Now 1,326 days since the last auto show in Detroit — or 290 days longer than John F. Kennedy served as the 35th president — the new reimagined show is back and it’s ... dif ferent.Gone are the sparkly dress-clad models and hourly new vehi cle unveilings. Gone are the early morning pints of Weihen stephan Hefe Weiss bier in the ZF Fried richshafen booth and the Bavarian woman making fresh pretzels at the Audi display and the kitschy free bies o ered by the Detroit 3.

Dustin WALSH

and a

We have to get loud to solve Michigan’s literacy crisis

e plight of these students is real in every corner of our state: 69 percent of Michigan eighth-graders are reading below their grade level (NAEP, 2019). In 20 years as a provider of literacy services primarily in vulnerable communities, I have seen rsthand the suf fering that stems from low literacy: Genera tional poverty, exploitation, low expecta tions, and self-loathing.

Please include your complete name, city from which you are writing phone number for fact-checking purposes.

possible and may be

Instead, Huntington Place, nee Cobo Cen ter, feels more like the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi. But no campers or pon toon boats, just cars. Cars that don’t even ll all the empty space of the more than 700,000-square-feet convention center. Sure, there’s a towering rubber ducky in the front lawn and a smorgasbord of ying vehicles and new technologies.

T

GONE ARE THE SPARKLY DRESSCLAD MODELS AND HOURLY NEW UNVEILINGS.VEHICLECOMMENTARY

at is a Michigan that we, our children, and their children, will all want to live in — and be proud of.

As a society, we have a moral obligation to address the crisis of illiteracy with the zeal required for the sake of the next generation, and our state’s economic future. A Michigan that empowers its people through literacy becomes a beacon of light for the nation.

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

PAMELA GOOD

6 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | S EP TE M BER 19, 2022

“Is there a good vibe and a ton of connect ing and activity today? Yes,” said Glenn Ste vens, executive director of industry advocacy group MichAuto. “It’s a rebuild of sorts. Lots of people are guring out how to navigate the business changes and trends driving the in dustry and their companies. It’s the same for the show.”

he auto show is dead. We all know this year’s Detroit North American International Auto Show is di erent. at was the plan all along, before the global COVID-19 pandemic upended public events. e Detroit Automobile Deal ers Association announced in 2018 the show would transition from the glitz and glamor of a traditional show to a more “festival” ap proach, an attempt to take some steam out of the booming Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that had been rubbing on its bumper for years.

Tracking student progress since 2008, the data is unequivocal: 90 percent of our stu

Domestic automakers have taken up more space at the Detroit show, but global brands have largely pulled back.| DUSTIN WALSH / CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

See AUTO SHOW on Page 21

in testimony by the Michigan Cata strophic Claims Association and e city of Detroit, and exposed and in vestigated by media outlets like the Detroit Free Press. e nonpartisan Citizens Research Council also pro duced a report on the subject. Ex amples of this abuse include: medi cal providers charged $3,200 for an MRI when billed to auto insurance, yet the same MRI by the same doc tor at the same facility cost only $500 when billed to Medicare. Read the testimonies for more examples of this overcharging and it’s no wonder Michigan had the most expensive auto insurance in the nation.

ERIN MCDONOUGH limit for their services. is created an industry in Michigan that exists nowhere else in the country. When you have an unlimited bene t and an unlimited amount that can be charged, you are left with an unaf fordable and unsustainable system, which is far outside the scope of the normal medical system. But don’t take the Insurance Alliance of Mich igan’s word for it. e preponder ance of data that exists on this issue — data that led to the Legislature taking action to try and control this system — is extensive.

Tom Judd of the Michigan Brain Injury Provider Council (Crain’s, Sept. 12) falsely claims lawmak ers are standing by idly while the sky falls because of the 2019 bi-partisan auto no-fault reforms.

e issue is not about injured

at couldn’t be further from the truth.

On auto insurance reform, legislators did listen

Despite e orts by some to turn back the clock on reforms, the facts and data compel us to recognize lawmakers listened. eir bipartisan reforms created savings, cracked down on fraud, curtailed overcharg ing and gave Michigan consumers a choice. We urge lawmakers in both parties to stay the course and let these reforms keep working.

A pieceopinionrecentby

SEPTEMBER 19, 2022 | C R AIN’S D ETROI T B USIN E SS 7 2022 A CELEBRATION OF THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS November 10, 2022 | 6-9PM ONE CAMPUS MARTIUS 16TH FLOOR DETROIT, MI REGISTER TODAY CRAINSDETROIT.COM/40S MEET ANDMOVERS,2022’SSHAKERSRISK-TAKERS

Contrary to what Judd asserts, mounds of evidence illustrating this out-of-control system was provided

McDonoughErin is the Michigan.AllianceInsurancedirectorexecutiveoftheof

OTHER VOICES

BUSINESSDETROITCRAIN’S

Michigan’s broken, outdated auto no-fault system was a welcome mat for fraud, encouraging overcharging and overutilization of medical ser vices by hospitals and other medical providers. Making matters worse, Michigan was also the only state in the nation to require that drivers purchase unlimited, lifetime medi cal bene ts with their auto insur ance policy — the main culprit in Michigan’s exorbitant auto insur anceLawmakerspremiums.listened and the 2019 reforms brought much needed relief to Michiganders. Recently, more than 7 million insured Michigan drivers, including businesses across the state with vehicle eets, received the largest refund in state history. e $400 per-vehicle refunds from the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association would not have been possible without these bipartisan reforms, which have saved Michigan drivers an estimated $5 billion so far. Once the most expensive state in the country for auto insurance, reforms have helped to lower Michigan rates, as evidenced by a recent Insure.com ranking of auto insurance by state, and data from the Department of In surance and Financial Services on the mandated personal injury pro tectionBecausereductions.lawmakers listened, more Michigan residents are buying auto insurance than ever before, with over 202,000 new drivers pur chasing car insurance since reforms took e ect. More than 50 new insur ance companies have entered the Michigan insurance market, which further drives down costs by creat ing competition — another win for consumers.Recognizing changes were being made to a broken system that had not been updated for nearly 40 years, lawmakers listened by build ing a $25 million appropriation in 2021-2022 for the long-term care in dustry. is would act as a stopgap for businesses that were struggling to transition, yet today only one or ganization has fully completed the application. DIFS created a rapid re sponse program to make sure no one who needed care was without. e system has seen 126 formal at tendant care complaints led with DIFS since July 1, 2021, with 119 of thoseeresolved.Legislature tackled the issue of auto no-fault reform not for med ical providers and not for insurance companies. Lawmakers listened to their constituents who were strug gling to a ord auto insurance. e escalating cost of insurance was a direct result of a system that allowed medical providers to charge without

claimants’ access to care, but of pro viders demanding a particular level of compensation from insurers. Both before and after the 2019 re forms, insurers have remained liable to pay for reasonable and medically necessary care for those injured in auto accidents in Michigan.

SALAD SUCCESS SPROUTS UP

8 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | SEPTEMBER 19, 2022

SOURCE: PLANTED DETROIT

`

Salad sales

“It’s a way to show the kids about urban farming, yeah. But we’re also showing them that there are pretty viable career options in this eld.” Planted Detroit’s crops aren’t produced in a eld like the majority of greens and herbs. e company, founded in 2018, uses hydroponics and LED lights to cultivate its products inside a 20,000-square-foot vertical farm at 1000 Mt. Elliott St.

Trays are filled in a seeding room by a seeding machine and by hand. In the systems/grow space, rows of fluorescent-lighted racks grow Planted Detroit’s various greens through a Pipp storage system — mobile storage racks used in indoor, vertical farming settings. . From there, a parabolic aluminized reflector system allows staff to add trays of just germinated greens that move them

CRAIN’S

Community Specialist and Educational Coordinator for Planted, Dwight Roston, explains the di erent equipment in one of its processing stations.

| PODCAST

GREEN GAINS

This is not your typical farm. For one, it’s inside a 20,000-square-foot industrial brick building. And the inside of the facility resembles something you might see in a science fiction movie. Everyone is required to wear personal protective equipment while inside the indoor farm, which is made up of a variety of rooms in which greens and herbs are grown, harvested, processed and packed.

“We do a lot of things with schools, and the kids when you tell them about farming look at you like you’re crazy,” said Roston, a 28-year-old who grew up in the Islandview neighborhood on Detroit’s east side that Planted Detroit calls home. “When you get them in here, though, and show them all the various jobs, processes and everything else — their interest is instantly piqued.

` Planted Detroit each month donates about 450 pounds of greens.

QUINN BANKS/ CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

` About 70 percent of Planted Detroit’s sales are ready-to-eat salads. Of that, 80 percent come from retail, hospital, farmers markets and other partners. The remaining 20 percent of Planted Detroit’s sales come from direct-to-consumer orders.

For Planted Detroit, cleanliness, community at the root of its mission

`

“It seems like a lot, but when you think about how clean everything we make is, it’s worth it,” Roston said.

through and out of the growing racks based on their growing process. Lastly, greens are harvested in a processing room and assembled into ready-to-eat products andPlantedsalads.Detroit produces about 136 pounds of microgreens each week, totaling nearly 7,100 pounds a year.

Philanthropic e orts

Sun shoots being grown in one of the vertical farming systems at Planted Detroit. QUINN BANKS/ CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Planted Detroit produces close to 136 pounds of greens a week.

Four years into production, Planted Detroit is scaling up. The company, which has grown from seven employees to 60, has plans to expand its reach with more facilities and bring more jobs to the area. The company also plans to continue a trend of an increase in urban farming businesses.

READ ALL OF CRAIN’S SBS PROFILES AT CRAINSDETROIT.COM/SMALLBUSINESSSPOTLIGHT

Jay DAVIS Planted Detroit sta ers Meg Burritt and Dwight Roston discuss the company’s mission and its growth. Listen at crainsdetroit.com

Planted Detroit during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic shifted its business model to o er ready-to-eat salads. Following are some statistics on how the 4-year-old company does business.

|

See PLANTED on Page 9

SPOTLIGHTBUSINESSSMALL

For Dwight Roston, working at Planted Detroit in a variety of capacities has a orded him the opportunity to show some Detroit youths the complexities — and bene ts — of urban farming.

` The remaining 30 percent of total sales are Planted Detroit’s microgreens, mixes and products such as the company’s recently launched merchandise line.

CALL US FOR A QUOTE TODAY: 248-855-8600 • www.zoom2day.com WHEN NEXT DAY WON’T DO, ZOOM 2DAY DELIVERS FOR YOU! FAST SAME DAY DELIVERY! SERVICING METRO DETROIT AND BEYOND A Fee-Only Wealth Management Group Michigan’s #1 Financial Advisor by both Barron’s* and Forbes** Charles C. Zhang CFP , MBA, MSFS, ChFC, CLU Founder and President 101 West Big Beaver Road, 14th Floor Troy, MI 48084 (248) 687-1258 Minimum Investment Requirement: $1,000,000 in Michigan $2,000,000 outside of Michigan. Assets under custody of LPL Financial, TD Ameritrade, and Charles Schwab *As reported in Barron’s March 12, 2022. Rankings based on assets under management,revenue generated for the advisors’ rms, quality of practices, and other factors.**As reported in Forbes April 7, 2022 and August 16, 2021. e rankings, developed byShook Research, are based on in-person and telephone due diligence meetings and a rankingalgorithm for advisors who have a minimum of seven years of experience. Other factorsinclude client retention, industry experience, compliance records, rm nominations, assetsunder management, revenue generated for their rms, and other factors.See zhang nancial.com/disclosure for full ranking criteria. www.zhang nancial.com Charles is the highest ranked Fee-Only Advisor on Forbes’ list of America’s Top Wealth Advisors** FOCUS | SMALL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT

Ludwinski and Burritt began discussing establishing a community fridge, similar to those started by Detroit Community Fridge co-founders Emily Eicher and Alyssa Rogers. With money from its neighborhood fund, and with some assistance from nearby businesses, Ludwinski purchased a refrigerator and freezer, erected a wooden pantry around it, and placed it between Sister Pie and Planted Detroit. Donations come from neighboring businesses, and Ludwinski’s customers often donate canned goods.

ere are several layers to Planted Detroit’s operation. It works to produce high-quality greens for consumers and, currently, 13 retailers. One of Planet Detroit’s goals, according to Meg Burritt, leader of business development, is to ensure consumers never see that brown-green muck in its packages. e company has planted its roots rmly in the city, working in a handful of ways to help its residents and make certain they have access to healthy food options, like donating items deemed past the company’s forsale date. Planted Detroit’s products have a three-week shelf life, triple that of most microgreens. Nothing Planted Detroit produces stays on a shelf longer than six days, though, giving consumers an additional two weeks to use the product. e company donates about 450 pounds of greens a month, or close to 5,400 pounds a year.

While Roston sees the Community Fridge and other donations as a good thing, the Detroit resident also understands there are things besides food that community members need.

“We never closed. We didn’t lay anybody o ,” Burritt said of the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. “We just took some time to see where we could grow and thrive as a company, and we were able to do that. Our salads are a big hit.”

From Page 8

“On the other hand, we have less costs because we’re able to produce 365 days a year.”

“Everyone who comes here starts as a farm tech,” Roston said. “Once you’re here, you nd what space you can thrive in and you’re able to move into di erent positions. I’ve worked in just about every area of the farm, but I like doing things with the community and doing the tours, so here I am.

“People come here and they learn how to grow plants, manage systems

e company is also planning to release its own line of salad dressings, and edible owers are also in the plans, Roston said. Currently, 14 types of owers are edible. It is unknown which types Planted Detroit will produce.

Planted Detroit is a part of a major shift, as 15 percent of the world’s food is now grown in urban areas, according to a report from the U.S Environmental Protection Agency.

“It’s a bit of a mixed bag. We have increased costs because we’re only able to source seeds from veri ed suppliers that we know have a clean seed stock,” the 41-year-old Burritt said. “And we do have a lot more steps because we’re growing indoors in a very small space. So we’re not just sowing seeds into the soil. We’re germinating them and then moving them into the ideal system to grow them to maturity.

“ at should push future revenues to heights we didn’t really imagine,” Burritt said. “We feel like there’s a big blue ocean in front of us.”

Along with donating greens, Planted Detroit works with other businesses in the Islandview and East Village neighborhoods to contribute to a Community Fridge at 1812 Field St. near Kercheval. e fridge, a part of the Detroit Community Aid project, o ers residents a variety of free items from which to choose.SisterPie owner Lisa Ludwinski is one of the merchants who adds items to the fridge. She became familiar with Planted Detroit in 2018, buying herbs for her handmade pies and salads.

Two delivery robots meet each other at a crosswalk in Detroit while delivering Planted Detroit salads. KIRK PINHO/ CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

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

With the shift comes plans for growth. A 9,000 square-foot second farm, to be located below the Planted Detroit o ces, should be up and running by the end of the year, according to Burritt. A third, 65,000 square-foot farm is planned for a still-to-be nalized space in the Eastern Market. at farm should be operational by 2025. e new facilities would add 20-40 jobs.

“We need the space,” Burritt said. “ e more we grow in our original facility, space just gets tighter and tighter.”Strong nancial growth is helping facilitate the expansion.

Roots rmly planted

Planted Detroit in 2021 had revenue of about $200,000, according to Burritt, and expects to pull in about $500,000 this year. Opening the new facilities, Burritt said, should add to the company’s bottom line.

“Yeah, everybody does need good, healthy food,” Roston said, “but people need to know there are jobs and viable career options out there. I know a lot of people usually have their eyes set on careers that aren’t farming, but this is a viable eld and we’re working to make this a place people want to be.”

and ecosystems. ey’re learning about biology and technology. ere’s a lot of Plantedopportunity.”Detroitdelivers fresh, readyto-eat salads, microgreens, herbs and greens mixes to retailers across metro Detroit. Retail partners include small-format Meijer stores in Royal Oak and Detroit, along with regular Meijer locations in Ann Arbor, Canton Township and Royal Oak. Products are also available at Plum Market locations, Bodega Market in Detroit and Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital. Items are also available for delivery through third-party services such as GrubHub and DoorDash. Planted Detroit also utilizes a robot to make deliveries.

“ at’s something that’s not grown in the Midwest and there’s quite the demand for it,” Roston said. “I’d never tried one until very recently. I thought it’d be really bland but it was pretty good.”Planted Detroit initially sold its microgreens directly to restaurants, but shifted in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic hit. Now, the salads that it began producing and selling in summer 2020 account for 70 percent of Planted Detroit’s sales, according to Burritt, with 20 percent of that coming from direct-to-consumer sales. e salads are named after sections of Detroit such as Belle Isle, Morningside and Southwest. e other 30 percent of the company’s sales are non-salads, including microgreens, mixes and other products.epandemic, in a way, proved to be a good thing for Planted Detroit’s business model.

Seeing greens

PLANTED

Planted Detroit is not the brainchild of a group of botanists or biologists and its processes weren’t put into place by a horticulturist. It’s a venture that has brought together people who love food, study plants, know technology and understand groceries.

ose increased revenues could help Planted Detroit add to its philanthropic e orts, too.

|

She’s right that Michigan has improved early child care funding. Since 2020, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed several executive orders and legislation to use largely federal dollars to remedy a system that has long been broken here and in most places across the nation.

“Michigan is not alone in having a huge issue in front of them,” said Cynthia Osborne, professor of early childhood education and policy and executive director of the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center at Vanderbilt University. “ e child care market in every state is in a precarious situation. Providers can’t pay workers more and workers can’t a ord to live. Everyone is trying to gure out mechanisms to improve the system because parents can’t a ord to pay more either. From a public policy perspective, this is a perfect example of a market failure.”

Subtracting to a poor sum

Funding

nother phone call, another Kalamazoo County preschool closing a classroom.

“It’s bad,” Buhl-Lepisto said. “Sta ng continues to be an issue despite all of the things that the state has done. It seems early child care has been a priority for government lately, but this is still a massive problem.”

Costs hamper families. Staf ng hurts facilities. Here’s how government policies could help |

But experts say it’s not enough. For Michigan to be

competitive in improving population, attracting businesses and increasing its overall health, it needs to follow the lead of a handful of other states moving the needle on child care spending and permanently codifying those temporary changes.

For Kristyn Buhl-Lepisto, executive director of KC Ready 4s, a nonpro t that provides funding to children just outside state subsidy child care metrics, improves o erings and mentors 58 private child care operations and preschools in the county, this is a common call. Day care centers and preschools across the state are battling to retain workers at a time when wages are rising everywhere — except in early education.

In April 2020, during the early days of the pandemic, the child care services industry shed 35.5 percent of its workforce — a far deeper cut than the rest of the private sector, which dropped about 16 percent of its workforce that month, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

PAGE 12

PAGE 13 FINDING A FIX FOR CHILD CARE See CHILD CARE on Page 14 Household survival budget The average basic costs for two households in Michigan in 2019: One with an adult and an infant; the other with two adults, an infant and a preschooler: One adult, one child Ella

funds

SOURCE: UNITED FOR ALICE, UNITED WAY TransportationHousingChildcareHealthcareFoodTaxesMiscellaneousTechnology Monthly total Annual total Two adults, two children $588$616 $379 $55$403$606$298$336 $779 $1,122 $569 $794$929 $75 $486$589 $39,372$3,281 $64,116$5,343

INSIDE: When it comes to weathering changes, system should remember ‘Three Little Pigs’ lessons. plays at Gilden Woods Early Care and Preschool in Troy. remains a problem for child care facilities and for Michigan families despite an infusion of during the pandemic. ANTAYA FOR CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

BY DUSTIN WALSH

A

NIC

Some of those changes include a temporary reimbursement rate increase, moving the eligibility guidelines to include more children, moving reimbursement to child care providers based on enrollment instead of attendance and a one-time bonus to child care workers for retention.

CHILD CARE

10 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | SEPTEMBER 19, 2022

INSIDE: Connect4Care Kids keeps expanding to put families, child care facilities together.

Changes were needed. And the State of Michigan, lawmakers and the

On the small business side, we’ve witnessed the power of strength in numbers. The Childcare Providers Association of Michigan uses the collective voice of its membership to increase industry in uence and works directly with the Governor’s Of ce, legislature and regulatory departments (like the newly-formed Child Care Bureau within the Department of

Michigan is well-positioned to be a leader in child care solutions through bipartisan efforts to put a true focus on child care as a key component to economic success. This commitment to work together has been transformational for Michigan and our business community.

the employee and the state of Michi gan. But we realize that if we improve our child care system, it will take more than just moms, businesses and the govern ment. It will take an entire ecosystem to be in one ac cord to get on the trajecto ry of actual change and progress.

The State of Michigan’s Tri-Share Program is an example of an innovative program that provides a three-way share of child care expenses (for qualifying employers and employees) to be split between the state, the employee and the employer. This alleviates some of the burden of expense and allows parents to enter the workforce more freely.

and incentivize existing child care providers and train new entrants to the eld. Investing in child care provider businesses is a clear sign of the importance they play in our future.

Workforce attraction and retention is at the very core of every conversation around child care. The industry can’t sustain itself or grow to meet family demands if there’s not enough workers in the system. We must ensure that child care is a viable career pathway for those people interested in working with young children, and a sustainable business model for owners to be pro table.

Brian Calley, President & CEO of Small Business Association of Michigan

of this plan seem very promising, but its substance is very short-lived. is budget plan was sustainable only for the year 2021. If we are serious about salvaging the state’s child care system, which is in full-blown crisis, then we need a plan that is more consistent and has lon gevity; a program that has money earmarked year-to-year for child care. Michigan’s Child Development

The pandemic put a spotlight on the business of child care and how it ts into our overall

COMMENTARY

I

Eboni Taylor is the Justice.MotheringdirectorexecutiveMichiganfor

Licensing and Regulatory Affairs) to strengthen the industry and attract new child care providers.

Dataeconomy.showed, even pre-pandemic, that child care issues were a barrier to workforce participation. Whether it was the sheer cost of child care making it nancially dif cult for individuals to continue working, or the lack of available child care facilities that met parents’ needs, child care presented an issue for so many working parents.

Additionally, American Rescue Plan funds have been well-utilized to retain

We have gained momentum in this ght through the MI Tri-Share Pro gram, a program for which Mother ing Justice has had the privilege of being the vanguard. is program splits an employee’s child care costs in three ways between the employer,

e ectively subsidizing our economy. Let us confront the racism, sexism and classism that sits at the backdrop of this issue.

When pandemic-related shutdowns resulted in more children home with parents, it severely disrupted the demand for child care and some facilities were forced to shut their doors. Child care business owners were put in the middle of a constant push and pull.

As long as child care remains un derfunded, inequitable and inacces

and Care Program, which pays a per centage of child care expenses, is the only consistent funding that the state has for child care. But its quali ca tions are based on a certain house hold income and size.

sible, we will see more of an econom ic downturn because women are not being allowed to participate fully in

In the next 15 months, I hope ev erything looks di erent.

Why supporting the child care industry bolsters the economy

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signs child care priorities in June 2022. | STATE OF MICHIGAN

Families su er as real change in child care lags

THE STATE HAS ALWAYS BEEN DISINTERESTED IN CHILD CARE.

t was late June 2021 when I wrote, on this platform, about the challenges that Michigan’s troubled child care system presents to fami lies, businesses and commu nities. In addition, I pro posed steps for the state to follow to assist families and children post-pandemic. Cu rious about how that would look, 15 months later, I’ve found that very little has changed.Lastyear (a year into the pandemic), Michigan’s work ing families — mainly work ing families of color — were strained by child care disruptions, forcing mothers into a dilemma: work to put food on the table or sacri ce their jobs to give their children the super vision and instruction they need. In record numbers, they chose the latter. However, this disruption didn’t start during the pandemic. Although COVID may have exacerbated the is sue, the state has always been disin terested in child care, which explains

the short supply of child care centers and lack of funding for child care.

business community took notice.

SPONSORED CONTENT CHILD CARE

To make up for this, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer unveiled a $1.4 billion budget plan that would help improve the state’s child care industry in three areas: accessibility, affordability and quality, which would, in short, allow mothers to return to work and increase in centives to boost wages to attract future appli cants to account for staff

COVID, at best, has taught us that the future of America depends on the future of child care.

SEPTEMBER 19, 2022 | C R AIN’S D ETROI T B USIN E SS | 11

shortages.eoptics

According to Michigan.gov, $1.93 billion had been allocated to 83 Michigan counties under the Ameri can Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Among the 83, Wayne County is sitting on the highest amounts of unobligated and unspent money. Since long-term in vestments are critical to bolstering our child care system, using the funds that Wayne County has re tained would be a great start in mov ing us in the right direction. Further more, we would need the governor and legislators to ensure that those funds continue to go toward child care year after year.

C

It is not a lone e ort though. Many stakeholders have come together around the unifying opinion that early childhood care and learning is an essential public good. United Way leveraged federal and private funding to develop the program in partnership with the city of Detroit. We designed Connect4Care Kids with parent input and have ongoing feedback loops. To o er this service in Wayne County alone, nearly 140 Early Head Start, Head Start and GSRP providers that operate more than 300 locations participate. Corporate funding has provided sustained operational support to keep Connect4Care Kids going and growing.

United Way launched Connect4Care Kids in July 2020, helping Detroit families understand their eligibility for programs to help with child care costs and connecting them with those providers — speci cally Early Head Start, Head Start and the Great Start Readiness Program. Within a year, Connect4Care Kids expanded to serve all of Wayne County. It generated nearly 300 lead applications in its rst year. at number more than tripled the next year. e goal is to exceed that this year. rough increased funding and partnership, a tool like Connect4Care Kids could bene t families across the state. It may seem simple enough to organize this. In the age of Amazon and Airbnb, it may shock you that it does not already exist. But, we as a society have, for far too long, not recognized the importance of and invested in early childhood learning and care. It is a fractured system at best, leaving parents and caregivers to understand the dysfunction of the system in order to try to navigate it. Connect4Care Kids simpli es the process for parents and caregivers.

JoyceFdn.org CHILD CARE

COMMENTARY

More counties are starting to explore coordinated eligibility and en-

e pandemic highlighted that child care is essential for many working families. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has taken great strides to add thousands of seats to the Great Start Readiness Program, the state’s preschool program for 4-year-olds. She also

12 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | SEPTEMBER 19, 2022

IMAGESGETTY

Early Head Start and Head Start are federally funded early childhood learning programs for children up to age 5 and are enrolling today.What this means is more families are eligible fornancial support than ever before. But, the lack of awareness and a comprehensive system to understand all the options, nd the program that best ts a family’s needs and enroll are still barriers. Necessary information exists across many di erent websites. Complicated eligibility requirements and lengthy, confusing application processes also hamper access. As a father of two boys, ages 2 and 4, and someone who specializes in this eld, I see the struggle rst-hand.

Pipeline connecting families to care facilities expanding

rollment with state funding. We are thrilled to see this much-needed discussion supported and hope to work with the state and interested parties to share what we have learned from parents and caregivers, and program providers, in designing and operating Connect4Care Kids during the last two Muchyears.ofthe current increased state funding for child care programs is time-limited. Unless future funding supports child care as the public good that it is, the system will remain fractured. Building on collaborative models like Connect4Care Kids, we can leave this period of crisis with a slightly better system that is more responsive to connecting families with young children to the care they deserve.

hild care is the number one expense for a family of four with two young children — about $1,122 per month, according to the United Way ALICE survival budget. Enrollment into a program that helps with child care costs can represent savings of $10,000 or more a year to families.Within ation driving up other household costs, balancing returning to work or nding and paying for child care is a challenging nancial decision. Initiatives like United Way’s Connect4Care are critical to ensuring that families know what programs exist and are available to them, taking out the guesswork.

Je rey Miles is the Michigan.SoutheasternUnitednavigationsocialmobilityeconomicdirectorseniorforandatWayfor

worked to increase the income cap on the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services child care subsidy, which reduces the cost of care with participating private-pay providers.

Working to advance racial equity and economic mobility for the next generation in the Great Lakes region.

Even more surprising, it wasn’t lowincome women dodging the doctor.

Cross-sector workforce strategies: Hope Starts Here Detroit and ink Babies Michigan. A Corporation for a Skilled Workforce is supporting Hope Starts Here through the design and

Aligned to the above e orts is ink Babies Michigan’s re nement of pol icy recommendations and strategies to: Fill child care, early intervention and home visiting workforce short ages by pursuing compensation and retention and install implicit bias training for early childhood profes sionals.

The Kaiser Family Foundation’s (KFF) Women’s Health Survey of a nationally representative sample of 4,805 men and women conducted in late 2020 showed that 38 percent of women reported that they skipped preventive health services during the pandemic, compared to 26 percent of men. According to another study about oral health care during the pandemic, 6 percent more women than men

`

As we continue to press forward to a system that is sustainable, holistic and responsive to the needs of fami lies and those who are providing care, we must take note of e orts to guarantee a livable wage and bene ts for providers, to innovate, to cre ate a coordinated and sound infra structure, and to install a cost model that provides a mechanism for deci sion-making that ensures high-qual ity, equitable opportunities for young children and families:

The KFF study revealed that women with incomes greater than or equal to 200 percent above the federal poverty line were more likely to skip preventive health appointments than women with lower incomes. Juggling job and home pressures likely left little time to squeeze in health care visits such as mammograms and dental cleanings. And compounding the problem, health care providers had limited availability because of social distancing and staf ng

It is surprising that women also took a hit on their health.

Employers have a chance to be part of the solution and make women’s health—especially preventive health— a top priority.

Michelle Kohler, DDS, MPH, Director, Quality Improvement and Population Health Management. Delta Dental of Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana

SPONSORED CONTENT

Womentools.

M

e above e orts are solid steps. Continued investment in these and similar e orts will ensure that Michi gan concretizes a thriving early childhood system for Michigan’s children and families.

represent about half of the nation’s workforce. Employers will pay a hefty price if they let them continue to ignore their health.

Detroit.HopedirectorimplementationisforStartsHere

COVID-related family challenges fell disproportionately to women. And when it became neces sary for someone to cut hours or quit a job to manage the home front, women did so at four times the rate of men.

the employer, the employee and the state of Michigan with coordination provided regionally by a MI Tri-Share facilitator hub.

THE FIRST EIGHT YEARS OF A CHILD’S LIFE HAVE A MASSIVE IMPACT.

Delayingshortages.preventive care increases the likelihood of complications and often results in physically and nancially painful Delayingprocedures.dentalvisits, for example, increases the chance that a simple cavity that could have been xed with a small lling now requires a large lling, a root canal, or even an extraction. Oral cancer screenings at routine dental visits are key to early detection. If not diagnosed and treated in its early stages, oral cancer can spread, leading

fancy through age 8, which include the important tran sition from home to school, shape children’s future health, happiness, growth, development and learning achievement at school, in the family and community, and in life. While early childhood educators and caregivers are building crit ical foundations in chil dren, they are also provid ing the means by which families can work, go to school and contribute to ourSinceeconomy.theassault of COVID in 2020, the nation has experienced historic investments in early child care and education. Advocates, parents and providers of these essential services applaud Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and her team and our state Legislature for ensuring Michigan families have in creased access to a ordable, quality child care and education options. While laudable, these are only rst steps. Michigan’s $1.5 billion invest ment to expand child care access and opportunities is a temporary infu sion into a system that always has been underfunded and undervalued and, therefore, fragmented and in

Women typically go to the doctor and the dentist to stay healthy more readily than men. But that all changed during the pandemic.

` Comprehensive scal analysis fa cilitated by prenatal to 5 scal strate gies: Sponsored by Hope Starts Here and ink Babies Michigan and Michigan’s Prenatal Development Grant, these simultaneous e orts will produce a cost modeling tool to facilitate planning for and nancing an equitable, integrated and high-quality early childhood system.

The long-term consequences of this pandemic-driven behavior for women will become more evident as an increasing number of businesses bring employees back to the worksite this fall and Employeesbeyond.already

missed routine dental visits.

Good business prioritizes women’s health

Denise Smith

say they’re burned out. Now unaddressed health issues could cause them to miss more work, le more costly insurance claims, pay more out-of-pocket costs and feel more ill-effects of stress.

regional and community partners to pilot or scale up common-sense business and nancing solutions for child care.

CHILD CARE

It is not surprising that women paid a heftier price than men on the job during the height of the Childcarepandemic.andother

development of an Early Childhood Education Career Pathway map and an accompanying wage scale. is project will result in: job pro les for 12 occupations; “o -ramps” into up to 10 aligned occupations; identi ca tion of gaps in training/education opportunities and recommenda tions for type of education/training models to pursue; best practices and recommendations for implementing braiding and blending of funds at the state level and recommended livable wage scale and strategies for shifting industry wages.

`

Moral of ‘ ree Little Pigs’ applies to child care system

to chronic pain, loss of function, facial and oral dis gurement, and death.

Providing employee bene ts that include health care, dental and vision bene ts is essential to ensuring a healthy workforce. Urging employees to use their time off to rest and refresh, insisting that they do not come to work when they are sick, and genuinely caring about one another are strategies that not only retain employees and keep them performing at peak levels, but they also are powerful recruitment

SEPTEMBER 19, 2022 | C R AIN’S D ETROI T B USIN E SS | 13

` Caring for MI Future — Michigan Departments of Education and Li censing and Regulatory A airs launched a $100 million strategy to open 500 new child care providers a year for the next two years and ex pand access to quality, a ordable child care for families in all commu nities.

COMMENTARY

` Early uesvationtionInvestmentChildhoodCorporaChildCareInnoFundcontintocollaboratewith

stable.Core to long-standing challenges in this eld are scarcities in inspiring quality environments (facilities) and talent (sta ) due to insu cient wag es, bene ts and specialized training e.g., caring for children with special needs or those who have experi enced trauma. COVID exacerbated these shortages with the closure of facilities and ight of sta to higher paying employment options, which given the average low wage of $11 per hour of early child care and educa tion sta included home improve ment stores and fast-food chains.

` MI Tri Share — splits the cost of an employee’s child care equally among

ost adults and chil dren know the sto ry of the “ ree Lit tle Pigs,” so I won’t delay the point with a recant of this fable. Instead, let’s go right to the moral: It is more pru dent to invest (time and ex pense) in building a strong foundation that withstands the regular onslaughts and challenges we’ll encounter in our daily lives. As we ex plore the importance of ear ly child care and education to the very fabric of our economy and social well-being, the principle of this fable becomes vividly apparent.erst eight years of a child’s life have a massive impact on develop ment. During this period, changes occur as the child grows and devel ops in relation to being physically healthy, mentally alert, emotionally sound, socially competent and ready to Babieslearn. and young children grow, learn and develop rapidly and best when they receive love and a ection, attention, encouragement and men tal stimulation, as well as nutritious meals and good health care. e ages and stages of development from in

Of providers who received grants:

New Mexico, a state often associated with poor child care outcomes, is making perhaps the biggest changes to its child care funding mechanism.

“I don’t know how we do this successfully without a larger government role of supplementing salaries,” Buhl-Lepisto said. “We’re working harder than we’ve ever worked because of high turnover rates. e system isn’t working, and it’s up to our government leaders to gure this out because it’s not going to solve itself and care is only going to get worse.”

e result is more than 54,000 children, or about 10 percent of all kids younger than 5, are on a waiting list for a spot in a day care center. In June, more than 5,000 children under 5 in Oakland County and more than 2,300 in Macomb County were on a day care waitlist, according to Bridge.

$15, 080: Annual wages for someone earning federal minimum wage $23,160: Estimated annual salary for child care worker $25,750: Poverty line for family of four

Compounded by labor shortages, most child care facilities are operating well below their capacity, according to recent reporting by Bridge Michigan. e 7,898 day care centers operating in Michigan have a capacity for 372,269 students, according to state data, but Bridge reports roughly 100,000 of those slots are o ine due to sta ng issues.

ral resources production and is projected to balloon to $4 billion by 2025 thanks to record oil and gas re ning coming out of the pandemic.

In Michigan, 135,794 child care spots were saved with funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

$30,000

In 2021, Louisiana’s legislature passed a set of bills to allocate 25 percent of its sports betting revenues, up to $20 million annually, and 50 percent of revenues from the sale of New Orleans Pelicans NBA team license plates to the Louisiana Early Childhood Education Fund.

In April, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced the state would waive all child care subsidy copays for parents and expand eligibility to make day care free for one year for nearly all children in the state. e state expanded eligibility for assistance to families earning up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level, or $111,000 a year for a family of four, making child care e ectively free for an estimated 36,000 children annually by 2026. e median household income in New Mexico is $51,243.“It’sfree, no more co-pays, no more waiting,” Lujan Grisham said at a day care center in Albuquerque when making the announcement “ is is the road to a universal child careEarlysystem.”child care spending in New Mexico is projected to increase from $213 million in 2023 to $533.5 million by 2026.einvestments are being paid for by existing taxes. In 2020, the state allotted $300 million in taxes collected from oil and gas production in the state to create the Early Childhood Education and Care Fund. at fund will continue to pull taxes from natu-

Contact: dwalsh@crain.com; (313) 446-6042; @dustinpwalsh

By July this year, private sector employment recovered all of those jobs lost during the pandemic, except the child care industry, which remains more than 8 percent, or roughly 88,000 workers, below its pre-pandemic levels.

CHILD CARE

From Page 10 SOURCES: CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF CHILD CARE EMPLOYMENT-EARLY CHILDHOOD WORKFORCE INDEX/2019 FEDERAL POVERTY GUIDELINE, THE CENTURY FOUNDATION AND THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE EDUCATION OF YOUNG CHILDREN, FIRST FIVE YEARS FUND

14 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | SEPTEMBER 19, 2022 $23 FMTWTF FOR SCOREBOARD XXXXXYYYYYXXXXXYYYYY MF GFX CREDIT 8 pt bold text - black 8pt bold text - white MF note-source - black FONT STYLESGRAPHIC ELEMENTS 200,000150,000100,00050,0000 14,38335,649119,025153,931 20172018 202120192020 400,000300,000200,000100,0000 330,411 2017-20182018-2019 2021-20222019-20202020-2021 371,382 361,314 355,156 340,658HighScope’s landmark Perry Preschool Project (1962 – 1967) established the lasting human and financial value of early childhood education. The Perry Project led to the establishment of one of the first early childhood education curricula in the United States intentionally designed to increase school success for preschool children living in poverty. Children who receive high-quality early education compared to those who do not: Are more socially and emotionally mature and self-regulated Are better prepared for the K-12 school experience Have higher rates of high school graduation and college attendance EEVATING EA R LY EDUCATONA MICHIGAN-BASED INTERNATIONAL NONPROFIT YIELDSEARLYHIGH-QUALITYEDUCATIONSIGNIFICANTTheresearchproves it. WHAT, HOW, AND WHY OF HIGHSCOPE: SCAN TO REGISTER LEARN MORE

“New Mexico is certainly leading the pack,” Osborne said. “ ey have the advantage of sitting on a bunch of natural resources that have value and can be used to improve child care.” e Michigan Natural Resource Trust Fund o ers a similar road map in Michigan. e restricted fund created in 1976 taxes mineral extraction in the state and reallocates those funds for public land acquisition and outdoor recreation investments. e fund has granted more than $1 billion to local governments toward thoseatends.fund, however, is protected by the Michigan Constitution for those speci c goals. But the state contains more than 40,000 square miles of fresh water and companies extract trillions of gallons annually. Even a small tax on water extraction could, theoretically, boost child care funding to new heights.

Fortifying the federal purse

Instead, individual states are codifying temporary funding measures in an e ort to x the broken system.

Annual price of infant care in Michigan 92% said helpedfundingthemstayopen 46% used funds to pay debts taken on during the pandemic, including 63% in family-based care 75% used funds for compensation but still struggled to pay competitive wages Center-based child care averages $12,979, which is . . . 13% of married parents’ median income 49% of a single parent’s median income Home-based child care averages $8,777, which is . . . 9% of married parents’ median income 33% of a single parent’s median income

e results are likely to be promising.Prior to the pandemic, Virginia did a lottery selection of early child care providers to receive $1,500 in retention payments over eight months. A University of Virginia study found that turnover in those settings was reduced by 11 percent. Only 13 percent of the teachers who received the funding left their jobs, compared to a 25 percent turnover rate for teachers who did not receive the funding.

Yuni practices his skills at Gilden Woods Early Care and Preschool in Troy. Michigan has increased its spending to expand child care access, but the situation remains di cult for families and child care workers. NIC ANTAYA FOR CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Wages remain a massive problem. Nationally, full-time teachers in child care earn an average of $14 per hour, or just above $29,000 annually. In Michigan, the average wage is slightly less.“Ifyou want the best quality child care, you’ve got to have high-quality providers,” said Elizabeth Davis, an economist with a focus on child care and early education at the University of Minnesota. “We have to pay sta more and have better training and education, but how do (child care centers) keep their workers from leaving for a public school or even fast food where wages are now higher? e system needs more money.”

Temporary impact of ARPA funding

of federal dollars earlier this year, approximately $1.4 billion, from the American Rescue Plan Act in onetime grants to providers to pay down debts and provide bonuses to employees.eadministration has also introduced Tri-Share, a program that splits child care tuition among the employer, the state and parents, as well as directed $100 million to open as many as 1,000 new child care centers and recruit sta .

Low compensation for early educators

It’s a two-pronged issue. Like many states in the U.S., Michigan child care facilities closed in droves during the pandemic amid mandated closures, parents bypassing outside care during isolation and quarantine-decimated pro ts. Between the start of 2020 and Sept. 2, the state lost 753 day care centers, home-based centers and group home centers, a nearly 9 percent decrease, according to state data.

CHILD CARE

Whitmer unleashed a large purse

$0

Early educators are among the most underpaid workers in the U.S. Nationally, child care workers make less than 98% of all occupations. The average hourly wage for child care workers is $11.13.

Providers were hoping the Biden Administration’s Build Back Better plan would codify increased spending as well. e proposal would have dramatically expanded child care subsidies, covering as many as 93 percent of working families in the U.S., but that legislation is largely dead due to Republican opposition over its massive overall price tag.

e city of Oak Park usually buys all the properties that are available to be pulled from the auction, Mar rone said. A city program sells the land to developers for the cost of back taxes owed and requires them to invest $35,000 to rehab old homes or to build new ones on vacant land. Marrone estimated the city had re habilitated 60 homes and built sev en new ones over the last seven years, adding more owner-occu pants to the city and increasing property values.

Marrone said she doesn’t “feel very good” about the possibility that more such homes will simply go to auction, likely increasing the num ber of rental homes in the city where Census data shows 56 percent of houses are “Landlordsowner-occupied.aregreat,butthere’s a certain tipping point in the commu nity where you can have too many rentals,” she said.

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

do.”People who had planned to buy their homes for back taxes but no longer could had reactions that “ranged from sadness to anger,” Phillips said. He had hoped that more people would have been able to participate, but the program’s numbers are down this year. In 2018 and 2019, Phillips said, about 500 households participated each year. Just 234 homes are enrolled in the program this year, though Sabree said previously more than 1,400 homes occupied by people other than the owner were foreclosed on this year in ParticipationDetroit.is lower as home values rise, and more years of back taxes need to be paid, Phillips said.

A new state law that allows for for mer property owners to collect sur plus proceeds after a property in fore closure is sold was praised as a victory by those who are able to recoup some of the money from sales that would have otherwise gone to county gov ernment co ers. But it is already hav ing a chilling e ect on some govern ment programs that would redevelop the properties or provide people an opportunity to own their own homes.

The

“I think the new law will make it even more di cult for counties to make up all their losses,” she said. “ ere’s not going to be that cushion to cover properties that don’t sell.”

New foreclosure claims law is pricing out housing programs

ARIELLE KASS

ere were 4,264 foreclosures in the county this year, including 3,695 in Detroit.InOakland County, there were in tent to claim forms led on 27 prop erties, with an auction that included 374 parcels, most of them vacant land. ere were four led in Washt enaw County, where there were just 14 properties in the auction. And there were just three valid lings in Macomb County and two in Living stonKlobucher,County. in Hazel Park, said he rejected properties that had claims because the city “didn’t want to incur any undue complications” from pull ing those properties.

e new state claims law came about after two Oakland County property owners sued to get thou

“It’s surprising to see landlords... walk away with money on the table,” heDewarsaid. said it was “highly likely” that the renter-occupied foreclosed homes in the auction would be pur chased, and not by the renter. She said Make It Home would be able to continue if the number of intent to claim forms grew in the coming years, but would become a much smaller program if property costs continued to rise.

More than 300 metro Detroit prop erty owners led forms this year indi cating their intent to recoup the prof its of the auction sales on their foreclosed properties. at has scut tled some redevelopment plans.

He said the city determined it would be a “much cleaner process” to avoid them.

“We aren’t going to know the full implications until we’ve been through a couple of cycles,” she said. “Maybe the law will need tweaks.”

If a parcel has an expected claim on it, Oakland County Treasurer Robert Wittenberg said, the government is re quired to pay twice the state equalized value on the property — essentially, its fair market value — to take it from the auction. Without the intent to claim forms, the government can take the property for the cost of back taxes. e city of Detroit used that author ity to remove foreclosed homes that were renter-occupied through a UCHC program, Make It Home, that has successfully allowed renters to buy those properties for the cost of the back taxes owed. A recent study from University of Michigan’s Poverty Solu tions showed that 85 percent of Make It Home participants from 2017, the program’s rst year, were still home owners four years later. In a control group of renters who bought their foreclosed homes at auction or ac quired them through other means, just 27 percent were still owners four years“Forlater.those 22 homes not able to make it in Make It Home, this is a dif ference,” Alsup said of the e ects of theHeretrenchment.addedthat the decisions by some local governments to pass on properties due to claims is also an economic development blow to those areas.

In Washtenaw, Treasurer Cather ine McClary said two properties with intent to claim forms sold for about $100,000 more than was owed, one property sold for back taxes and one didn’t sell at all. While

Austin said it would be up to a tenant to determine whether they wanted to move forward with the Make It Home program if a landlord led an intent to claim form, and is dependent on available resources.

e buyer, at the city’s behest, was the same developer who will be x ing up the other two homes. But Marrone said she’s not sure how sustainable such e orts will be in the“Ifuture.think it very well could end the program,” she said. “Instead of just purchasing them all, we’re going to have to make some hard decisions.”

Phillips said the 22 homes that were rejected from the Make It Home pro gram would have cost an additional $751,000.“eywere no longer a ordable,” he said. “ ere isn’t much we can

“More people who lived in those houses will lose their housing,” she said.

e homes usually cost between $15,000 and $50,000 for the city, she said. But this year, all three houses foreclosed upon in Oak Park had had intent to claim forms led. e city was still able to a ord two that had assessed values of about $32,500 apiece, but a third in the same neighborhood had had its property taxes uncapped more recently, and Marrone determined the $62,800 as sessed value would mean too high a purchase price. It went to auction and sold for about $110,000.

REAL ESTATE

Hazel Park usually takes residen tial properties that it can rehab or va cant land that can have housing built on it, Klobucher said. Of the two properties where intent to claim forms were led, one had $14,000 in back taxes and another had $123,500.

“What is it doing to the deci sion-making process, to public rep resentatives in government being able to exercise some control over what’s happening to properties in their cities?” Alsup asked. “ at’s the really important question.”

Rule allowing former owners to collect surplus proceeds complicates redevelopment plans

For example, in Hazel Park, City Manager Edward Klobucher said he had rejected taking two properties that the city would have otherwise planned to develop because claim forms had been led on them. In Oak Park, Economic Development and Planning Director Kimberly Marrone said the city passed on one property that had a claim form led because its value was so high. And Ted Phillips, the executive director of the United Community Housing Coalition, said he would have had 22 more homes in a program that seeks to make renters homeowners if not for the claims that added more cost to those purchases.

McClary said she thinks returning money to property owners was the right thing to do, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t e ects for others.

“If it had a claim, we didn’t take them,” he said. “We just wanted to avoid the whole claims process.”

SEPTEMBER 19, 2022 | C R AIN’S D ETROI T B USIN E SS | 15

Wayne County saw the most forms led in the metro area; Treasurer Eric Sabree said there were 295 valid forms led by the July 1 deadline.

In the case of Rafaeli LLC, the property sold for $24,500 after it was foreclosed for nonpayment of $8.41 in back taxes plus $277.40 in interest, penalties and fees. Andre Ohanes sian owed $6,000 in taxes, interest, penalties and fees; that property sold for $82,000. e case has been ap pealed to the Michigan Court of Ap peals after the Oakland County Cir cuit Court dismissed it after it was remanded.eclaims that were led this year, made after a property is foreclosed, are e ectively a notice that someone who has an interest in the property intends to le a motion with the Cir cuit Court to claim any proceeds from the property auction.

Make It Home

Sabree, the Wayne County trea surer, said the city of Detroit was “shying away” from properties that had claims, but Dan Austin, a spokesperson in Detroit’s Housing and Revitalization Department, said in an email that a number of city programs did not adjust the lists of properties they planned to remove from the auction based on intent to claim form lings. Antonisha Smith, a spokesperson for the Detroit Land

UCHC runs Make It Home, with Detroit’s help to pull properties.

sands of dollars the government col lected at auction in excess of the back taxes they owed on the properties.

Alsup said he expects some com munities will see “worse outcomes” for properties because of the change. While governments with plans for economic development can execute for the betterment of their area by taking properties, he said the auc tion is for speculation. It’s more like ly, he said, that people who buy properties that become cost prohib itive for local governments will con tinue to let them deteriorate.

Bank Authority, said the land bank did not pull any properties with claims this year.

‘Hard decisions’

Both Alsup and Margaret Dewar, a professor emerita of urban and re gional planning in the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Ar chitecture and Urban Planning, who conducted the Make It Home study, said they were surprised the number of expected claims was not higher. Alsup said with home values rising, he expected bidding at the auction to be high — and more people to try to take advantage of potential pro ts.

‘We didn’t take them’

the proceeds from the sales would normally go to the county, she said the need to distribute funds to for mer property owners could mean the department has a de cit. Earlier this summer, she said, the depart ment was $5,000 in the hole. Even before the new rule, she said, gov ernments often weren’t able to re coup all their costs at auction.

In previous years, he said, the aver age purchase price was $3,800. Now, it’s about $9,000.

“It’s really unfortunate,” said Alex Alsup, vice president of research and development at Regrid. “ e fact that claims have been led, for the govern ment, the exclusive right of rst refus al quickly becomes prohibitively ex pensive.”Localgovernments have long been able to pull properties they wanted to own for redevelopment or other pur poses from the foreclosure auction.

e program, she said, is surpris ingly e ective. Her study makes the point that enabling extremely low-income people to become homeowners is viable, though they need guidance and other help to do so. Without the assistance of UCHC, Dewar said, only one renter whose home was foreclosed was able to buy it back at auction and become a homeowner.Whileshe said it’s hard to know what patterns will persist after just one year, one outcome is clear: If the number of intent to claim forms in creases in the future, the $3 million Make It Home now has to work with won’t go as far.

city of Oak Park typically uses its right of rst refusal to take all homes that are foreclosed on in the city out of the foreclosure auction. The future of that program is in doubt as a new law that means property owners have the ability to pro t from a sale raises prices for local governments.| ARIELLE KASS/ CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

New CMS rule gives struggling rural hospitals a way forward

“I think this (transitioning to a rural emergency hospital) is better for the community,” Morin said. “Look, if I have a choice between Sturgis or Parkview LaGrange (in Indiana) ... well. Lots of communities have lost hospitals and they’ve adjusted.”

“WE’RE

Sturgis Hospital has seen its o er ings dwindle in recent years after a big boost from the community in the early 2000s when it issued a $11 million bond to improve the then city-owned hospital. In 2005, the hospital broke ground on an addition that included a new surgery center and maternity ward.But the Great Recession hit the small city in St. Joseph County hard and by 2009 the City Commission began dis cussions to privatize the hospital and remove it from the city’s obligations. e privatization e ort made it on the November 2009 election ballot and voters overwhelmingly approved the transfer of assets to a new nonpro t called Sturgis Hospital Inc. e new private hospital, however, would re main on the hook for the city-issued bond and lease. In 2014, that bond was re nanced. Today, it still owes the city about $7 million on that bond, Morin said.But the harsh realities of operating a small community hospital didn’t im prove. In 2018, the hospital’s execu tives decided to start closing depart ments in a cost-cutting measure. A key challenge for “rural hospitals” is low patient volumes. Low volumes limit revenues and make it more di cult to

don’t, a robust telemedicine o ering can bridge that gap. is will allow health care leaders to not feel they are abandoning their mission while re maining open.”

—Bobby

“We’re walking down a path that’s not paved,” said Bobby Morin, COO and CFO of Sturgis Hospital. “For the past three years, we’ve been robbing Peter to pay Paul to keep the hospital open. Now we’ve got a chance to im prove the kind of care we can o er, and I think that’s good overall for the com munity.”

exploring all of our options.”

e system cut 60 full-time jobs and planned to become an “outpa tient-based health system,” MLive re ported in November 2018. It closed the maternity ward in January 2019.

“I’ve been here for seven years and during that entire time, 80 percent of our revenue is outpatient anyway,” Morin said. “ ose beds are costing us money. If I could guarantee we could transfer patients out (to other more ca pable hospitals), we could go down to fourUnderbeds.”CMS’ rural emergency hospi tal rules, Sturgis Hospital will have to sign a broader patient transfer agree ment with a Level 1 or Level 2 trauma center. Patients will need to be shuttled across the Indiana border to Elkhart General or to ree Rivers Health or Promedica Coldwater or even about an hour away to Bronson Methodist in Kalamazoo.“Ourreimbursement is not going to improve. So, really, we’re looking to tie together in some fashion with another hospital,” Morin said. “ ere is no need for two (full-service) hos pitals that are 25 minutes apart any more, so is there a way to share ser vices or other opportunities? We’re

Contact: dwalsh@crain.com; (313) 446-6042; @dustinpwalsh

A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine found improved outcomes for mothers and babies where a rural hospital closed because those mothers were forced to travel to a higher-quality obstetrics unit where

Sturgis Hospital STURGIS HOSPITAL

e roughly 11,000 residents of Stur gis, like many in rural towns in Michi gan, are used to decline. Auto plants have shuttered over the past few de cades and earlier this year the town’s largest employer, Abbott Nutrition, made national headlines for a contam ination issue and a subsequent ood this summer that caused widespread formula shortages across North Amer ica.During the same time, its lone hos pital nearly led bankruptcy.

Morin, COO and CFO, Sturgis Hospital

Brian Peters, president and CEO of the Michigan Health and Hospital As sociation, said the new CMS rule is likely a good option for several hospi tals in the state, especially as technolo gy improves the means to care for pa tients.“is is about keeping the doors open,” Peters said. “Telemedicine is a potential game changer for these struggling hospitals. Prenatal visits are critically important, but if you’re in a community where you used to have a full-service OBGYN clinic and now you

“It’s incumbent on all of our leaders to not only look at technology, but new delivery models,” Peters said. “ e eco system is changing and we need ways to change with it.”

Sturgis Hospital among rural health centers exploring eliminating inpatient beds, going to standalone emergency unit Sturgis Hospital is licensed for 84 inpatient beds, but only has the capacity to sta 49 beds. However, only eight beds are currently sta ed. | STURGIS HOSPITAL

In the meantime, Morin and Sturgis Hospital’s leaders will continue to move toward becoming a rural emer gency hospital, nding a speci c time frame to ramp down its o erings and eliminate those eight inpatient beds after Jan. 1, when the CMS rule goes into e ect.

WALKING DOWN A PATH THAT’S NOT PAVED.”

their birth was scheduled for induc tion.A scheduled induction at 39 weeks reduced the need for emergency C-sections that would have occurred at their local hospital.

Early on in the pandemic, members of the medical and imaging sta at Sturgis Hospital thank the community for their support. | STURGIS HOSPITAL / FACEBOOK

vices the hospital can o er, whether removing inpatient beds would nega tively impact the community and whether this model is sustainable, not just for Sturgis but for other rural com munity hospitals across the state.

16 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | S EP TE M BER 19, 2022

e oundering Sturgis Hospital led notice in June that it would per manently close and terminate its 194 employees by July 23 if it couldn't se cure funding. State lawmakers rescued the hospital in its 11th hour with an $11 million package from the budget.

A community loss?

Inpatient in rmity

ose funds won’t go far, but the hospital and its management have a plan — execute on a rule change in July from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that allows for struggling hospitals to transition from a full-service community hospital to a rural emergency hospital with nothing but a standalone emergency unit and an observation wing. e move is an attempt by the agency to keep hospi tals operating to at least treat the most pressing and severe health issues. Since 2005, more than 180 rural hospi tals have shuttered in the U.S. and more than 800 rural hospitals are iden ti ed with a risk of closing in the near future.Under the model, rural hospitals would eliminate their inpatient beds in exchange for a 5 percent Medicare re imbursement boost for covered outpa tient services and an average facility fee payment of $3.2 million a year, accord ing to estimates from the Healthcare Financial Management Association — a lifeline for a hospital nearing insol vency.But questions remain on what ser

DUSTIN WALSH

e hospital will still triage heart at tacks and strokes and the usual emer gency fare, but whether its lab and oth er services remain is a question mark. It currently o ers imaging and labs, surgery, endoscopy, physical therapy, sleep testing, infusions and cardiac re habilitation.“Westilldon’t know exactly what we can o er under the rules,” Morin said. “Can we still have a complete menu of ancillary services? We’d like to keep the lab.”Studies have long shown the nega tive impacts a hospital closure has on the local com munity. One published in 2018 in the Jour nal of the Amer ican AssociationMedicalfound that when an ob stetrics unit closes, more mothers in the community gave birth outside of a hospital setting and more babies were bornButpremature.there’snew evidence that sug gests that when a rural hospital closes, or drastically reduces services as will be the case for Sturgis Hospital, care can actually improve for patients in the community if the next closest hospital o ers higher quality services.

Today, the hospital is licensed for 84 inpatient beds, but only has the capac ity to sta 49 beds. However, only eight beds are currently sta ed, said Morin. All of its physicians were contracted to Ascension Medical Group.

cover the high cost of providing care.

“Health care is continually chang ing,” then-CEO Robert LaBarge said in a press release at the time. “ e old ways don’t work for a small hospital any longer, so we have to embrace new ways of doing things. It’s time to re structure our operations in a way that is consistent with what we believe the fu ture of health care will be for rural communities.”LaBargeblamed Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements not keep ing pace with rising costs.

Peters said the association, which rst brought the CMS plan to Sturgis Hospital’s leadership, is in discussions with other hospitals about the transi tion but did not name them.

HEALTH CARE

for Human Resources on the east Detroit riverfront at 200 Walker St.

In 2010, the bank was second in the state with 13.26 percent market share, still trailing Chase. In 2000, Comerica was the leading bank in Michigan with more than 15 per cent of the market share.

e bank’s presence in the state has been in a gradual decline for several years, however, according to data from the Federal Deposit In surance Corp.

Crain’s reporter Nick Manes con tributed to this report.

e buildings are owned by Bloom eld Hills-based Kojaian Management Corp., which devel oped them in the early 2000s and is leasing them to Comerica. Ritchie declined to disclose the project budget and terms of the lease, but said it is for more than ve years.

SOURCE: CRAIN’S REPORTING. PHOTOS: COSTAR GROUP

ment that he ultimately pivoted on, lost control of more than 30 parcels and buildings for nearly $784,000 in unpaid taxes and Detroit Water and Sewerage Department fees dating back several years.

e event ursday morning was held in the former UAW-GM Center

A portion of the Packard Plant in Detroit is expected to be razed starting this week.

“We are going to rebuild it and cre ate jobs on that site, as well,” Duggan said, addressing attendees of the ninth annual conference that brings Detroit expats back to the city with the goal of getting them to invest.

“ e whole point for us doing this, and we’ve been on this journey for awhile, but we really believe in having beautiful, modern, high touch, high collaboration space,” Ritchie said. “We have the opportu nities to convert our facilities into that kind of setting so it’s attractive for people to come in, well lit, the best technology we can possibly of fer, good amenities, and that’s what this will be.”

As of June 30 of last year, Comer ica was third in Michigan banks with 12.5 percent market share around the state, trailing JPMorgan Chase and Huntington Bank.

e Farmington Hills building at 36455 Corporate Dr. had been the home of Mercedes-Benz Financial Services USA LLC, but the compa ny left for a new 200,000-squarefoot building developed by the Il itch family’s Olympia Development of Michigan on 35.5 acres at the southwest corner of 12 Mile and Drake roads.

e building at 36555 Corporate

Fernando Palazuelo, who bought the Packard in 2014 for just $405,000 with a grand vision for redevelop

to 711,000 square feet

COMERICA From Page 1 50,000 square feet 36,000 square feet 19,000 square feet 102,000 square feet 35,000 square feet

SEPTEMBER 19, 2022 | C R AIN’S D ETROI T B USIN E SS | 17

Mike Ritchie, executive vice pres ident and head of national and spe cialty businesses for Comerica, said in an interview that the space shed ding wasn’t a driving factor behind the deal. He declined to say wheth er the move will result in a savings on real estate costs.

e build-out of the two build ings at 36455 Corporate Drive and 36555 Corporate Drive — which will have a ground-level connector built between them with a tness center, collaboration and gathering space and food options — is ex pected to begin in the rst quarter next year and take about a year to complete, Ritchie said.

e Farmington Hills location will house a broad range of employ ees from retail, credit and wealth management operations to pay ments, enterprise risk, nance and legal, Ritchie said.

He also declined to name the project architect and general con tractor. CBRE Inc. and Kojaian Management bro kered the deal.

“ is facility is the primary oper ational support facility that we have that handles the entire company,” Ritchie said.

Earlier this summer, Car leton-based demolition contractor Homrich Inc. was tapped with a $1.685 million contract to tear down the building at 6199 Concord St., which Wayne County foreclosed upon for unpaid taxes this summer.

Tenants include Dell, PKC Group and Toyota Tsusho America Inc., according to CoStar Group Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based real estate information service.

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

Palazuelo, who has teetered on foreclosure in recent years, man aged to keep a grip on key chunks of the historic plant, in particular the administration building, which was the target of a $23 million redevel opment plan from which the city ultimately scrapped its public fund ing after nonperformance following a 2017 groundbreaking ceremony.

New o

175,200

Big o ce moves

said as part of the move, that loca tion could end up with more peo ple.

“We intend to be there for a very long time,” Ritchie said.

Agree Realty Corp. is moving from Bloom eld Hills into the former Art Van Furniture store on OakAvenueWoodwardinRoyal(pictured.)

25,000

HED movingis from a Beaumont Health building in South eld OakdowntownintoRoyal(pictured).

Plante Moran consolidated its South employeeseld from two buildings into one o ce in the South eld Town Center (pictured).

Deloitte moved from the Woodward.spaceintoCenterRenaissance(pictured)aWeWorkin1001

Comerica is moving from 982,000 square feet . . .

Mayor Mike Duggan, speaking ursday morning during Detroit Homecoming, said the hulking plant on the city’s east side at East Grand Boulevard near I-94 is “ nally going to be removed as an eyesore.”

All but the 3701 Hamlin building will be put up for sale.

Drive is 62.2 percent leased with about 58,000 square feet vacant.

e average Comerica o ce worker is working hybrid, coming into the o ce perhaps two or three days a Currently,week. the bank has 4,500 employees in Michigan, meaning that just shy of half of them will op erate out of Farmington Hills; it has about 8,000 total.

192,600

A Kojaian Man agement executive declined voniaRitchiecomment.saidtheLibuilding,which it owns, will be completely vacated as the vast majority of the employees there move to Farmington Hills, while some move to Auburn Hills and Detroit; he said the bank will main tain about 1,000 employees in Au burn Hills in the 3701 Hamlin building. Comerica also has a large 398,000-square-foot building downtown at 411 W. Lafayette Blvd. which has about 800 people. Ritchie

“WE INTEND TO BE THERE FOR A VERY LONG TIME.”

e city has argued that the prop erty is dangerous. It shares a wall with e Display Group Ltd., which owns the 285,000-square-foot former No. 22 building that used to be part of the plant and operates its Display Group Creative Collective out of it.

—Mike Ritchie, Comerica Inc.

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

While Comerica Inc.’s relocation into Farmington Hills marks the largest new o ce lease of the pandemic, several other prominent metro Detroit companies have made big o ce moves in the last 2 1/2 years. Aim is to ‘create jobs on that site,’ eliminate globally known eyesore REALKIRKESTATEPINHO

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan speaks during a Thursday morning address at Detroit Homecoming.

Duggan: Packard Plant demolition to begin next week

| KIRK PINHO/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Previous o ce footprint ce footprint square feet square feetsquare feet

He didn’t think it went over very well among visitors who were used to coming every year and being able to see hundreds of artists.

Although ArtPrize ends Oct. 2, Mennin’s entry will remain at Meijer Gardens through November.

“It’s fun to have the artists back. It’s fun to see people come to the build ing — men, women, children of all ages and backgrounds, seeing them enjoy art,” Tadlock said.

e board didn’t rebuild its team until spring 2021, with the hiring of now-Executive Director Craig Searer. He and the board rehired some of the sta to a smaller current team. Art Prize had just six months to pull o last year’s event, rather than the usu al 12 months.

Grunwald is director of sculpture and a 22-year employee of Meijer Gardens who’s been in volved with ArtPrize since its in ception. She said it’s always inter esting to see what will happen at each new and unpredictable itera tion of the event, but “anytime you can engage with the general public and get people excited around art, we’re all for it.”

ARTPRIZE From Page 3

e 2022 awards system is much di erent from when the competition was founded in 2009. e winner that year received $250,000, second place got $100,000, third place $50,000, and seven runners-up got $7,000 each — with all winners determined by public vote. At the time, the grand prize was touted as the world’s larg est art prize, and it drew buzz from the New York Times and other global mediaSeareroutlets.believes the new "favorites" system will spread out the prize money more equitably by directing visitors to multiple venues and art ists.

Eddie Tadlock — assistant general manager of ASM Global Grand Rap ids, which manages Van Andel Arena and DeVos Place — is glad ArtPrize discontinued the biennial “Project 1.”

Jeanette Schneider, the president of RE/MAX of Southeastern Michi gan, said in ation, low inventory and rising interest rates were helping make the market less “frantic.”

18 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | S EP TE M BER 19, 2022

into the Welcome Center. A few of his non-interactive pieces will be inside the portico, the interior spaces on the lower level and in the lobby, but they are not part of the competition.

Contact: rachel.watson@crain.com (989) 533-9685; @rachelwatson86

Artist Troy Ramos installs his 3D ArtPrize exhibit “Abandoned” on the Gillett Bridge on the Grand River in downtown Grand Rapids. | BRYAN ESLER FOR ARTPRIZE

said. He said smaller crowds are more manageable, which is partly why ASM Global scaled back the number of entries over time. He said ASM intentionally curates art from all over the world, because Grand Rap ids already has a largely Michigan-fo cused art event, Festival of the Arts. He would like to see ArtPrize regain the international avor he believes it onceTadlockhad. has a good feeling Art Prize is back on the upswing. He’s al ready been contacted by residents of other countries, including a couple from Denmark who came to Grand Rapids speci cally for ArtPrize and wanted a sneak-peek tour ahead of the event. As of Tuesday, DeVos Place had at least 50 visitors who viewed entries that were installed early.

Ramljak, who has only been Meijer Gardens’ chief curator for six months, said this will be her rst ArtPrize, and she nds the idea of an ever-evolving competition to be “unsettling.”

“If you don’t have a compelling reason, this is a market where people are likely to say, ‘I’m pretty happy where I am,’” Schneider said. “ ey’ll stay where they are for the time be ing.”For those who do need to move, Sass said she’s happy to see that buy ers are no longer overpaying for houses that needed work — a change in the market from times of despera tion.“No one side has power over the other, which is nice,” she said. “Peo ple were bending over backwards, meeting the needs of sellers.”

e competition has changed nearly every year of its existence. Art Prize even considered minting non fungible tokens, or NFTs, this year, but canceled the idea after negative public

Suzanne Ramljak, chief curator at Meijer Gardens, said when she was searching for an ArtPrize artist, she looked for someone whose work was “dynamic and participatory,” as Art Prize is all about engaging the popu lace and o ering “fun for all.”

nection to the material world, Raml jakLaureneadded.

“ArtPrizefeedback.isan ever-evolving ex periment, trying new, crazy, unique things,” Searer said.

Place in 2016 hosted a peak number of ArtPrize entries — 152 — and drew 150,000 visitors, Tadlock

“What we’ve found more and more over the years is they do actually pay admission and come and see more than just ArtPrize, so that’s always a great trend for us,” she said.

Sass said she saw one out-of-state seller drop the price of a home in East English Village six times, going from $200,000 to $145,000 before a buyer got it for $5,000 under asking price. In MorningSide, one buyer successfully got a house for $25,000 under asking.

“Sellers were still expecting there

More information on ArtPrize will be available throughout the competi tion at facebook.com/ArtPrize.

PRICES

“Embedded” promises to play with visitors’ perception of hard and soft, heavy and light, Meijer Gardens said in a news release. It also will invite them to re ect on humanity’s con

With the competition “kind of” back to normal, Tadlock expects it will resume its role as a major driver of sales for downtown businesses.

In 2021, organizers scrapped the biennial model, reduced the total prize pool from $500,000 to $250,000, and swapped the public voting ele ment with a scavenger hunt-style game that asked visitors to award in dividual prizes of $250 to $1,500 di rectly to artists. Last year, about 957 artists participated in the event, down from a peak of around 1,500 in 2011. About 200 received prizes. is year, the 742 registered artists will compete for $450,000, with $250,000 of that awarded by ArtPrize and a jury of art experts, and $200,000 from equity and future project grants.

“You get ready to play by the rules, and the rules change, so the game is di erent every year, right?” she said, laughing.Allquestions on the nature of Art Prize aside, Grunwald is looking for ward to the multiplier e ect it always has on foot tra c and revenue.

e 10th annual competition in 2018 drew 709,000 visitors and gen erated an estimated economic im pact of $33 million, ArtPrize reported in 2019. During Project 1, the visitor count fell to 130,400, and ArtPrize did not even study its economic impact. e organization canceled the 2020 competition and held ArtPrize last year, but again didn’t tally its eco nomicSearerimpact.saidfor 2022, ArtPrize will ask Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. and the venues outside downtown to count visitors, and it will hire Grand Valley State University to do an eco nomic impact study, as it did in the past.Van Andel Arena and DeVos Place again are ArtPrize venues. Van Andel will welcome three artists, whose pieces will be displayed outside the venue. DeVos will host 48 artists in doors who hail from all over Asia, Australia, Europe, Africa and North America.DeVos

ArtPrize will determine who wins some of this year’s prize money via a new public engagement tool: a digi tal “favorites” system. Attendees can register at artprize.org/createvisito raccount and use the interactive map at artprize.org/map to nd venues andPrizesexhibits.will be given for things like rst favorite of the day, top ve favor ites of the week in each district, larg est increase in favorites in one day and most favorited in each category.

Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculp ture Park has participated in ArtPrize each year of the competition and is the largest venue outside downtown. is year, Meijer Gardens will present a selection of works by sculp tor Mark Mennin, with his interactive piece “Embedded” as his o cial Art Prize entry. e work consists of three oversized stone beds outdoors on the Frey Foundation Plaza leading

“ e market is trying to return to a balance,” she said. “Homes are still selling relatively quickly. Buyers just aren’t willing to go $20,000 to $50,000 over asking, they’re just not.”

those that don’t need to buy aren’t likely to, because they’d likely have to pay more to borrow money.

“Embedded” was created speci cally for ArtPrize and, as all entries must be, is free to view. People will be invited to sit, lounge and lie on the beds.“Mark’s work — in that he works in granite, he works in stone — it’s strong, it’s well-researched, connect ed to history, but most importantly, in the case of ArtPrize, it’s designed for interaction and connection,” Ramljak said. “He’s been making bed forms for 20 years or so, and he’s made other structures that you can inhabit — or what he describes as ‘embody’ — that you can have a di rect physical connection with.”

to be a line down the street,” Schnei derButsaid.the days of a high number of multiple o ers and bidding wars are over.Sass said she’s still seeing multiple o ers on some properties, but price reductions are increasingly com mon,etoo.interest rates, in particular, are causing people to take a step back. But Schneider said while they’re leading some people out of the mar ket, as the cost of borrowing rises, they’re also pulling some people o the sidelines because they want to buy before rates get any higher. Demand, she said, is remaining consistent as some potential buyers who su ered from “sticker shock” when rates rst jumped earlier this year are shopping again. But she said

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

From Page 3 There are fewer homes on the market, but they’re sitting there a little longer, RE/MAX data shows. GETTY IMAGES

Both o cials said they told Gupta the behavior would be reported, the memoGupta,states.who apparently felt he did not need to report the matter in part because it was already being report ed, issued a statement to reporters last month saying he took the inci dent “extremely seriously” and is con dent the proper steps to initiate an investigation “had been taken and that mandatory reporting obligations had been met.”

GUPTA

DEALS & DETAILS

called to ask about what had hap pened at the gala, said he told the dean that students reported the col league was behaving inappropriately after other faculty left. He would ap proach several students, begin danc ing with them and then, when asked to stop, would leave — a pattern that continued throughout the night, the o cial told an investigator.

` Any Lab Test Now, Alpharetta, Ga., a medical lab testing franchise, opened at 37112 Six Mile Road in Li vonia. Medical lab tests, include drug tests, hormone tests, allergy tests, weight loss testing, DNA testing, an cestry testing, and COVID-19 tests. Phone: (734) 884-4900. Website: any labtestnow.com/livonia-48152

According to an internal memo, Gupta said that the subordinate per sonally informed him of his inappro priate behavior sometime in the week after the incident. e name of the o cial, who resigned June 30, has not been made public because an investigation is ongoing.

` Lineage Logistics LLC, Novi, a tem perature-controlled industrial REIT and logistics company, acquired Ver saCold Logistics Services, Vancouver, Canada, a supply chain company fo cused on the handling of temperature sensitive products. Websites: lineagel ogistics.com, versacold.com.

`

` 123NET, South eld, an internet ser vice provider, has a partnership with Contour Companies LLC, Bloom eld Hills, a builder, to bring 10 Gbps home ber internet to its Northland City Center development in South eld. Websites: 123.net, contourllc.co

Gupta did not respond to messag es seeking comment on the records reviewed by Crain’s. A university spokesperson declined to comment.

ed States, opened a new location at 43690 Ford Road in Canton Town ship, its fth location in Michigan. Website: BJs.com/Canton

RHP Properties, Farmington Hills, a private owner and operator of manu factured home communities, acquired three manufactured home communi ties in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin includ ing Gaslight Terrace, Green Meadows and Lakeshore Terrace, with 455 home sites. Website: rhp.com.

“Dr. Gupta failed in his mandatory reporting responsibility. Additionally, he failed to act in a timely and reason able manner to protect students and uphold our values,” Provost Teresa Woodru told the Faculty Senate during a special meeting on Tuesday night. “ e culture that we seek is one in which the well-being and safety of everyone is managed in an immedi ate, cooperative and trauma-in formed way.”

After MSU administrators received a June 16 noti cation about the o cial’s potential misconduct, a June 20 meeting was set up with Gupta that included o cials from several o ces.

“Dr. Gupta did not reach out to (MSU), or pursue any type of action to address this with his direct report; in stead he left it to others to ‘take care of it,’” according to ndings.

` BJ’s Wholesale Club, Marlborough, Mass., operator of membership warehouse clubs in the eastern Unit

ose leaders, though, told the in vestigator they had informed Gupta that the incident involved inappro priate dancing, was sexual in nature and the accused may have inappro priately touched a student or stu dents, the memo says.

The MSU Business School has been roiled by Sanjay Gupta’s forced resignation as dean. MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

EXPANSIONS

When asked about it, Gupta said he did not think an outside-work-forpay form was needed because the individual would not be paid until July when he was to go on unpaid leave at

ply chain visibility. Websites: wholechain.com.

WhenMSU.informed that permission was required, Gupta sent over a form with the signatures of the person and another business school o cial dat ed June 15 and June 17. Document properties show the form was actual ly created on June 22, the report says. It said it is unclear whether Gupta knew the form was backdated.

He reiterated that Gupta served as dean at the will of the provost, who “was well within her rights to make this leadership transition. I fully sup port this decision and the process utilized to come this action.”

Gupta also said faculty and stu dents contacted him during the week after the party to share information about the incident, which included intoxication, inappropriate dancing and touching, the report states. But two days later, Gupta told an investi gator that he did not know the behav ior was sexual.

Gupta shared that the subordinate admitted to him that he had been in toxicated and acted inappropriately, a report says.

When asked about his subordi

SEPTEMBER 19, 2022 | C R AIN’S D ETROI T B USIN E SS | 19 To place your listing, contact Suzanne Janik at 313-446-0455 CLASSIFIEDS Advertising Section JOB FRONT Mayor’s Workforce Development Board Cynthia J. Pasky, Co-Chairperson David E. Meador, Co-Chairperson Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation Board Calvin Sharp, Chairperson Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation Terri Weems, President An equal opportunity employer/program. Supported by the State of Michigan, Labor and Economic Development, Workforce Development (LEO/WD). Auxiliary aids and services available upon request to individuals with disabilities. 1-800-285-WORK. TTY: 711. Employment Etiquette Supportive Services The Mayor’s Workforce Development Board (MWDB) is directly responsible and accountable to the State of Michigan, Labor and Economic Opportunity-Workforce Development (LEO-WD) for the planning and oversight of talent development programs in the City of Detroit. Designated by the MWDB, Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation (DESC) serves as the fiscal and administrative entity that provides workforce services to job seekers and employers. DESC’s primary funding streams include Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) that funds Michigan’s PATH (Partnership. Accountability. Training. Hope.) employment program, Food Assistance Employment and Training (FAE&T), Wagner-Peyser Employment Services (ES), and other public and private funding. The Corporation enters into contracts with qualified entities to provide workforce development programs and services to job seekers and employers. American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and Center for Disease Control Foundation (CDC) funding may support contracts resulting from competitive bid process. DESC is seeking proposals from qualified individuals, organizations and/or firms Bid package for this RFP is available for download at this DESC https://www.descmiworks.com/opportunities/rfps-and-rfqs/.website: Requests for Proposals are being accepted for: GDYT Summer Youth Coordinator Response Due: September 19, 2022 Issued: August 25, 2022 Food Assistance Education and Training Plus (SNAP 50/50) Response Due: September 20, 2022 Issued: August 22, 2022 Response Due: September 26, 2022 Issued August 29, 2022 GDYT Instructor-Led and Pre-Apprentice Training Services Response Due: September 26, 2022 Issued: August 15, 2022 Career Navigation Web Application Development Services Response Due: September 26, 2022 Issued: August 15, 2022

nate’s request, known as “leave to re tirement,” Gupta stated that he knew before the incident that the o cial had taken a new job with another university. When Gupta was told that the forms indicated the individual was requesting it due to family health issues, “he had no comment,” ac cording to the document.

One of the o cials, whom Gupta

` CONTRACTS

Stanley has come under re by the board of trustees for supporting Gup ta’s demotion. e board hired out side counsel to review the decision at the behest of supporters of Gupta, who remains a professor making about $428,000 a year.

Two other business school leaders, one of whom had heard from several students, also noti ed Gupta of the incident during the week following it, the memo says.

` Athletico Physical erapy, Oak Brook, Ill., an orthopedic rehabilita tion chain, has opened new locations at 16605 15 Mile Road, Clinton Town ship, and at 5951 Highland Road, Suite J, White Lake. Websites: athletico.com/ClintonTownship, athletico. com/WhiteLake

`

MSU subsequently became aware that the accused was working in June at another university in violation of dual appointment and outside-workfor-pay policies. e dual appoint ment rule prohibits full-time paid faculty from holding a paid appoint ment at another institution unless they get an exception.

` Miller Johnson, Grand Rapids, a law rm, launched a new subsidiary, Michigan Growth Advisors, an eco nomic tax-incentive consultancy for corporate expansion and commer cial real estate development. Web sites: millerjohnson.com, michigangrowthadvisors.com

All MSU employees are obligated to promptly report incidents of sexual harassment, sexual violence, sexual misconduct, stalking and relationship violence that they observe or learn about in their professional capacity.

` Baker Industries, a Lincoln Electric company, Macomb, a manufacturer serving the aerospace, automotive, space and defense industries, has an agreement with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway, Calif., a military contractor, on a re search and development project ex ploring wire-arc additive manufac turing for producing tooling used in the manufacturing of composite lamination for GA-ASI’s unmanned aerial systems. Websites: bakerin dustriesinc.com, ga-asi.com.

Contact: david.eggert@crain.com; (313) 446-1654; @DavidEggert00

` MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Wholechain, Bloom eld Hills, a blockchain-based supply chain traceability company, has selected the Algorand Foundation, Singapore, a blockchain organization, as its new blockchain provider to improve sup

Trustee Dan Kelley, vice chair of the board, said last week that he hoped its independent review of Gupta’s removal would be completed shortly.Stanley, who also spoke to the Fac ulty Senate, said “culture change is di cult.” He said he was not com pletely surprised that Gupta’s remov al was controversial among some campus members, but he was “very surprised” by the board’s move to re viewTitleit. IX outcomes and processes in any individual case should not be “subject to board of trustees appeals,” Stanley said.

`

From Page 3

POSITION AVAILABLE

“ is statement does not align with what he said at the 6/20/22 meeting or what was said by the others inter viewed,” the document states.

` American Rheinmetall Vehicles, Sterling Heights, developer of tactical wheeled and tracked combat vehi cles and systems, is collaborating with GM Defense LLC, Concord, N.C., a military product subsidiary of General Motors, to compete in the U.S. Army’s Common Tactical Truck program. Websites: rheinmetall. com/arv, gmdefensellc.com.

MSU’s O ce of Institutional Equi ty, which investigates sexual miscon duct complaints, quickly learned of the incident on April 23, a day after the party. e o ce spoke with sev eral individuals to gather additional information before initiating a for mal investigation on July 28, which continues.OnJune 22, Gupta told an investi gator that he did not have reason to believe that the “misbehaving” or “inappropriate behavior” was sexual in nature, so he had no obligation to report. e subordinate, he said, apologized to him for drinking too much and said “something hap pened that should not have.” Gupta did not ask for additional informa tion. He said the two other o cials who also approached him after the event were “taking care of it,” accord ing to the memo.

neering, said in a news release. e federal funding follows a $1.5 million upgrade earlier this year of a building that will be used to monitor testing.euniversity was also awarded a federal grant last month for research ing ceramic batteries. e research

Mcity received the funding from the National Science Foundation, which it said will “supercharge” the facility’s capabilities well beyond its 32-acre testing grounds on campus, said Henry Liu, director of Mcity and professor of civil and environmental engineering at UM.

MOBILITY

will be done in concert with the state-funded $130 million electric ve hicle training center at UM, which was unveiled in July, but the funding is separate.

“ is investment will increase ac cess to the state-of-the-art test facili ty, providing more equity to re searchers across the country who are on the forefront of this societal shift, navigating the transition to a new world of safer, greener, more equita ble and accessible mobility for all,” Alec Gallimore, UM’s dean of engi

support the Grow Detroit’s Young Talent summer jobs program for youth and worked with the Detroit Regional Chamber and others to cre ate the Detroit Regional Partnership to lead economic development. e group also supported no-fault auto insurance reform and expungement reform.ough quieter, the group wasn’t dormant during the pandemic, lead ersMemberssaid. came together to join others in supporting the Connected Futures e ort that provided 52,000 tablets to Detroit students during the pandemic and Detroit Public Schools Community District in its develop ment of a plan to invest $600 million in American Rescue Plan funding in capital improvements across its schools, Meador said.

But the bipartisan move to put the Oakland County Transit initiative be fore voters in the county in Novem ber presents an opportunity.

“It is a step (toward) enhancing the

20 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | S EP TE M BER 19, 2022

Rip FoundationKresgeRapson,

Dave RalphEgner,C.Wilson Jr. Foundation

Cindy StrategicPasky,Sta ng Solutions

From Page 1

UM’s Mcity awarded $5 million grant for virtual reality test track

e question now is whether there is something that can be done at the regional level to better coordinate what’s already there, better collabo rate and ll gaps, he said.

David AmericanDauch,Axle

Grant aims to ‘supercharge’ facility’s capabilities beyond testing grounds

Mark MotorsGeneralReuss,Co.

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

La June Montgomery Tabron, W. K. Kellogg Foundation

The Detroit Regional CEO Group, an informal but well-coordinated group of executives from 18 Southeast Michigan companies, is working to increase the prosperity of Southeast Michigan by putting its support behind e orts including economic development, workforce development, education, regional transit and public spaces and greenways.

Matt Cullen, (chairman)EntertainmentJack

Dan ShieldBlueLoepp,CrossBlue

When it comes to transit, the CEO group has learned you have to wait for the right time to move the issue.

Bob HealthHenryRiney,FordSystem

e track is open to the public and used by companies such as Ford Mo tor Co., Toyota Corp. and Denso Corp. e NSF grant calls for the track to be reserved for the agency 48 days per year, Liu said.

The University of Michigan’s autonomous vehicle testing track has been awarded a $5 million federal grant to build out virtual reality software that will enable users to conduct tests from anywhere. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Its goal is to build on the success of Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s Work force Development Board, which was chaired by two of the CEO group’s members: Meador and Cindy Pasky, founder, president and CEO of Strategic Sta ng Solutions.

Mcity consists of a controlled environment of various driving situations, including a bridge

“When we had the opportunity with the ARP funding and other out comes like that, we were able to be ready to put that forward as an im portant opportunity for our commu nity.”

Jerry Norcia, DTE Energy Co.

Seated with workforce, communi ty, education and business leaders, the board brought all of that together, and it works much better today, he said. “It’s kind of a supply and de mandWorkforcemachine.”development goes hand-in-hand with economic devel opment, he said.

“We’ve been asked to get involved and support that, and that coincides with the renewal of Smart in Ma comb County and Wayne County,” Meador said.

Ray LearScott,Corp.

Liu said that is particularly import ant for smaller institutions with less resources and opportunity to test on site.“

is will basically lower the barri er for the researchers to use the test track,” he Openedsaid.in2015,

Jim Nicholson, PVS Chemicals

ed: economic development, work force development, education, re gional transit and public spaces and greenways, Meador said.

data into the picture.”

e four-year grant will culminate in Mcity 2.0, which will provide users a “digital twin” of the track, allowing them to see real-time data and con trol tests remotely. For example, a user at the University of Florida can manipulate the infrastructure, like making a light turn green, without being on site.

Among its early e orts, it helped raise $45 million to support career technical schools in Detroit that now have over 600 students, helped raise the $10 million needed each year to

meeting on Mackinac Island. Ander son convened a group of CEOs to dis cuss the void that had persisted since Detroit Renaissance shifted to a state wide focus as Business Leaders for Michigan in 2009. e group agreed there was a need to come together to work toward regional prosperity. Its initial list of focus areas includ

CEOS

Origins of the group

at will also necessitate looking at barriers to employment like access to child care and transportation.

Chris Ilitch, Ilitch Holdings

e Detroit Regional CEO Group, as Cullen said the group refers to itself, got its start in 2016 during a private

Gerry Anderson, DTE Energy Co. (retired)

Mary MotorsGeneralBarra,Co.

Bud PenskeDenker,Corp.

Roger PenskePenske,Corp.

e group also threw its support last fall behind economic develop ment legislation that provided $1.5 billion in funds for both large site de velopment and incentives, joining others on the e ort, he said.

ough not dormant, the CEO group was quieter during the pan demic. But it’s planning to begin an other push, this one taking aim at the improving the region’s workforce de velopment systems.

“ e other times that we worked on it, we did not have the political leadership and alignment we need ed,” Meador said.

regional workforce system just by making the Oakland County system stronger.”

Jay RocketFarner,Cos.

e University of Michigan’s au tonomous vehicle testing track has been awarded a $5 million federal grant to build out virtual reality soft ware that will enable users to con duct tests from anywhere.

“ is entire investment is focusing on the digital infrastructure,” Liu said. “We have a physical structure already. We will bring the real-time

“When we started in Detroit, there were 400 agencies in (the city) doing something on workforce and not necessarily working together or coor dinated with the business communi ty,” Meador said.

Gary SpectrumBeaumontTinaHuntingtonTorgow,BankFreeseDecker,HealthHealth

Dave Meador, DTE Energy (executive(retired)director)

MascoManoogian,RichardCorp.

And it advocated for public sup port of green spaces in Detroit, help ing to leverage $100 million from the state in support of the Joe Louis Gre enway and additional support from the city and philanthropy, Cullen said. It’s also supporting a uni ed greenway approach to development on the riverfront and the 30-milelong trail, with strong collaboration between the city, the nonpro t Joe Louis Greenway Partnership it formed and the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy.“Wereallywere trying to lift up the importance for public space and... (that) an investment in public space can have a tremendous impact on our community, both from an eco nomic development standpoint, from a life standpoint, environmen tal, health, everything else,” said Cul len, the longtime chair of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy.

KURT NAGL

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

Current Detroit Regional CEO Group members

deck, overpass, guardrails, barriers, crash attenuators, ramps, round abouts, tra c circles and urban streets. It is connected with ber, eth ernet and 5G for data collection.

Workforce systems are regional in nature, Meador said. “People in workforce systems don’t have city boundaries and county boundaries.”

e QR code would be featured on each placard allowing patrons to view an online city portal that details why a particular restaurant received its rating.eproject is expected to cost about $200,000 a year, with funds coming out of the city’s general fund, according to Benson. e $200,000 would cover salaries and bene ts for 2.5 employees, along with adminis trative and operating expenses, ac cording to Barb Roethler, director of marketing for the city Health Depart ment. e department currently in cludes 10 inspectors and two super visors as part of the city’s food sanitation budget who conduct the majority of the inspections. e de partment is working to hire ve addi tional inspectors, according to Envi ronmental Health O cer Scott Withington. ere are also ve in spectors and one supervisor in the city’s community-industrial hygiene budget who also conduct some food inspections.InDetroit, 1,706 restaurants are in spected annually, Benson said Tues day. Withington on Tuesday said he’s con dent the department can han dle the workload. e health depart ment on Tuesday also committed to work to post inspection reports on line 24 hours after they’re completed. Restaurants, bars and other food service businesses are to be inspect ed twice a year for higher-risk estab lishments, and once a year for low er-risk establishments. e risk level is based on complexity of food prepa ration.eordinance would follow a pro gram implemented in 2010 in New York City, where restaurants are re quired to post letter grades that cor respond with scores received from sanitary inspections. Benson’s pro posal would replace a current ordi nance and display the most-recent results.

mately matters for the Detroit show is public attendance. It has averaged about 800,000 visitors annually for de cades. If the public cares, gets inside the show and eventually makes a big car purchase ... isn’t that triumph? Isn’t that really the point of it all?

Detroit activist Malik Shabazz on Tuesday voiced his support for the ordinance. Shabazz last Friday ac companied Benson to a rally outside Lafayette Coney Island following its closure over a rodent problem.

A green sign indicates the business complies with Detroit health stan dards.

Other members of Council and resi dents see a scannable QR code as a compromise.“isisso unfortunate,” Council Member Coleman Young II said. “I want clean food. I believe in clean food, but I don’t want to hurt small businesses, either. I think this is something you should try to negoti ate.”Benson on Tuesday continued to say the proposed ordinance and use of the color-coded system is about transparency, education and the safety of Detroit residents. He in voked the city’s 47 percent illiteracy rate as a reason why the color-coded system is necessary. No date was set Tuesday for the proposal to return to Council for a vote.

JAY DAVIS

So, sure, journalists can make fun of the tacky rubber dinosaurs near the Ford F-150 Raptor or the silly dis play of the Flintmobile (from the Flintstones cartoon) but we’re no

ey don’t want education, and they certainly don’t want accountability. at’s why I don’t support a QR code-only system.”

Contact: dwalsh@crain.com; (313) 446-6042; @dustinpwalsh

Under a proposal, introduced in 2019 by Council Member Scott Benson, the recently-closed Lafayette Coney Island and Detroit’s more than 1,700 restaurants would have placards featuring a color-coded system placed in their front window to indicate compliance with food safety codes. | LAUREN ABDEL-RAZZAQ/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

From Page

A similar grading system was dis cussed, Benson said. e color-coded system serves as a compromise, he said.MDBBA

AUTO SHOW 6

A display of the Flintstones’ Flintmobile and the Ectomobile from the famous comedy Ghostbusters. DUSTIN WALSH / CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Benson has continually said the or dinance is not about hurting restau rants or causing establishments to close.“We’ve been working on this for quite some time,” Benson said. “ is ordinance isn’t about Councilman Benson. It’s about the people of De troit. At this table, we ght for the peo ple who are low-income, people with disabilities. We ght for the most vul nerable people in the city. ose same people eat at restaurants.”

`

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

e placement of color-coded placards in the front window of De troit restaurants is holding up a vote on a proposed food safety ordinance. e ordinance, which would im plement a color-coded system that would show customers if restaurants are in compliance with city health codes, now goes back to the city pub lic health and safety standing com mittee for revi sion. e Detroit City thetabledCouncilcomesmeeting.day’s9-0,provedunanimouslyCouncilapthemove,atlastTuesregularisafterlastweekavoteonmeasure.

Bill earned his bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University and served proudly in the U.S. Army. He quickly became a mogul in the telecommunications industry. His accomplishments included a very successful business turn-around with Allnet Communications from 1989 1995, and starting his own company, Bullseye Telecom, in 1999. Bullseye was the largest privately owned telecom company in Southeastern Michigan and achieved many accolades during its tenure, such as placement on the INC 500 list of America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies in 2005; #7 on Crain’s Detroit Business list of Veteran-Owned Michigan Businesses in 2015; America’s Most Honored Businesses by American Registry from 2016-2017; Channel Vision’s Visionary Spotlight Award Winner in 2018; and Detroit’s Best & Brightest Companies to Work For List in 2020. He was most proud, however, of his accomplishments involving people; his colleagues and staff would all tell you that he expected the best but nurtured people and created an atmosphere of achievement and comradery. Bullseye repeatedly turned a profit when other telecoms could not, and, during Covid, Bullseye paid all its employees on time and did not lay off one person. He recently completed a significant chapter of his life with the sale of Bullseye; the culmination of a lifetime of achievement in the Telecom industry. Bill had many other “grandchildren” and people in which he invested. During Covid, he always made sure the food pantries were financially supported. He was that friend, to all, with the quirky sense of humor. He loved all people, and though he was classy, he did not have a pretentious bone in his body. He was a member at Oakhurst and enjoyed traveling, golfing, exercising and hiking. Please leave a memory or condolence on the online guestbook at www.wintfuneralhome.com

`

President and CEO Charity Dean at Tuesday’s meeting said Ben son has moved the goalpost multiple times as it relates to the ordinance. Dean’s group earlier this summer made its strong opposition of the pro posed ordinance known.

Council Member Scott Benson, who rst introduced the proposed ordinance in 2019, wants the col or-coded placards implemented.

RESTAURANTS

Council moves proposed food safety ordinance o its menu

Under Benson’s plan, the placards would be placed in business win dows by Detroit Health Department inspectors. e signs would show color-coded grades for food safety, where:

William H. “Bill” Oberlin of Clarkston formerly of New Jersey; passed away suddenly on September 3, 2022 at McLaren Hospital; age 77; husband of Lori; father of Amy (late Adam) Almas & Sara (Joe) Thomas; Grandpa/Papa of Zachary Almas, Justin Almas, Jason Almas, Annabelle Thomas, Sadie Thomas, Sophia Pierce, Gage Wylie, Reagan Eden & Elle Eden; stepfather of Matthew (Tara) Edens & David Edens; brother of the late Gail Lynch; uncle of Tim & Chris Lynch; son in law of Mary Ann (late Jack) Bain; friend/former husband of Jackie; preceded in death by his parents Kermit & Diana.

e only metric of success that ulti

“You’re getting places using rotten meat, places with y infestation. As it relates to Lafayette, if rats have over taken a building, you have rats in the food,” Shabazz said. “I know the ordi nance isn’t perfect. Neither was So cial Security when it was rst set up. But in time it was added on to. We de nitely need more inspectors, with or without the ordinance. Inspec

tions in my view should take place a minimum of once a month.”

` White designates a follow-up in spection is required.

SEPTEMBER 19, 2022 | C R AIN’S D ETROI T B USIN E SS | 21

William H. “Bill” Oberlin 1945 - 2022

longer the relevant market for auto makers. ey have social media and o -site events to wow the public. And that’s OK. ere is absolutely noting wrong with the Detroit North Ameri can International Auto Show being lot less global and a lot more region al. Car shoppers will still delight. Long live the auto show.

`

Council member Fred Durhal III pushed back on Benson’s illiteracy claims. Durhal III said he trusts in Detroiters to gure out the QR codes, which he calls more of an education al component than the color codes.

“I know there are some concerns with the color scheme, but even that is a compromise,” he said. “ e color code is the crux of the ordinance. at’s what educates people.”

And while journalists grumble and groan about fewer reporting oppor tunities, the show’s ultimate audi ence is the public. Ticket holders will still enter Huntington Place starting on Sept. 17 and be able to get up close and personal with cars. ey will be able to open the trunk on the new F-150 Lightning electric truck and toggle the shifter paddles on the 670-horsepower mid-engine Cor vette Z06. Hell, they can even test drive several new vehicles from Jeep, Ram and Ford at the indoor tracks in theAndcenter.hosting the show during warmer months of the year, instead of frigid January, is expected to have greater spillover impact for the city itself.“ is is going to be special,” Mayor Mike Duggan told reporters during a media event at the show earlier this week. “All the downtown restaurants I have talked to are very excited. We’re going to see the economic ben e t spin o a lot di erently than when you drove (here) in the cold, parked here in the structure, came in and drove back home.”

Yellow signals that some issues need to be remedied.

“ ey can read a stop sign, but can’t ll out a prescription,” Benson said. “ e QR code can prove to be di cult to use. In all reality, some people don’t want transparency.

“We as an organization went to the department of public safety and asked for time to research. We found the New York system didn’t have an im pact on food-borne illness,” Dean said.“We came back and Benson said it’s about education and transparency, but the health department website on inspections hasn’t been updated since 2020. e body asked for a delay in the vote to discuss using QR codes instead of the color codes. en Lafay ette Coney shut down and Benson used that as another chance to push the ordinance. is has become a movingBensontarget.”originally called for the sys tem to be implemented in 2019 fol lowing a three-year hepatitis outbreak in some metro Detroit restaurants.

Benson

“You can look at a color, but that color doesn’t tell you what the infrac tion is,” Durhal III said Tuesday. “ e QR code takes customers to a report to see the infractions in detail. If we’re going to invest in this (pro gram), let’s start from the ground up.”

Red means the business would be ordered to close for health code vio lations.Criminal penalties would be possi ble if restaurants are found to have fabricated or put up a false sign.

` How does that philosophy and focus on culture play out in a fairly old-school industry like banking?

I have been very, very fortunate. I’m looking for people who are uid, exible. And keep in mind: You’ve probably met a lot of bankers and we kind of in the past have kind of stuck to our guns and did things the same old way because that’s what got us success in the past. I don’t believe that is what gets us success in the future. So the individuals that I was looking for were people who had that passion for wanting to contribute. They’re empathetic. Empathy is a piece of the puzzle that I think all organizations are starting to really focus in on as being a very important soft skill. You have to be able to put yourself in the position of your colleagues, as well as your clients to make sure that you can actually provide the very best and not necessarily put yourself rst. So empathy was big in all the interviews. But in talking to them about what I’m looking for and the contribution that I’m looking for, I had enormous success in attracting honestly what I feel has been the best talent. The team that I have hired — at the risk of gushing — has exceeded my expectations on a daily basis.

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to provide the best service, from a technology perspective, we know we can’t provide it all ourselves. But the biggest part for me was how they viewed the team. It’s not what worked in the past is what’s going to work in the future. It’s bringing on people who are able to think for themselves, who can contribute, who can kind of bridge the gap between the way things have always been and the way things could be.

That means community, that means being innovative. That means contributing, being exible and being uid, and doing and using everything that we have to be able to provide (for) the client. And that’s a tough ask sometimes. So I’ve been focused on that. I hired four new bankers, and again, they’ve exceeded my expectations.

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It’s interesting because I feel like it comes in waves. At one time it was people were retaining a lot of liquidity and they were worried. So they didn’t want to just rush to an increase or a new loan. And they were more focused on what other parts of their working capital they could improve, which is where we kind of stepped up and made sure that we brought in the right experts who

Hanna rejoins the CRA from the Michigan State Police where he most recently served as an analyst

overseeing the legal marijuana industry is getting a new acting top regulator following the departure of founding executive director Andrew Brisbo this month.

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In just the six months since you took the job, we’ve seen a generally cooler economy. What e ect, if any, is that having on the bank’s strategy? There’s some uncertainty today and there’s some uncertainty coming in the future. But this is not anything new. The pendulum swings all the time. And what I’ve noticed is that there has not been any kind of internal scale back. There’s still a passion for innovation, and we have a really good history of disciplined execution. So I think we’re in really great shape. And

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There’s one thing that I’ve always said about banking: The bank that actually masters service beyond just the transaction ... is the bank that wins. So when I got here, what I really wanted to seek was this intense collaboration and the exibility to maybe change things up a little. I went out and met with the executive team here and it was like they were talking before I even got to say what I value, and it matched up almost perfectly.

You’re absolutely right. I think banking has become very legacy. In general, the industry has done what it needed to do to be successful and it’s always worked, and so why change it? For me, it was about living my best self.

REPORTERS

Mrs.

1155

I’ve gotten a tremendous amount of support in hiring. That was kind of phase one of my approach, after I got my arms around the people and the culture ... I was really just kind of focused on bringing in talent. And not necessarily going out there and trying to ll up ll a bunch of positions. I really wanted to be methodical and bring in a team that was going to really live the Citizens culture.

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some money. In my entire career, that has always been the last thing I look for. What we’re looking for are solutions outside of that so that we can be a trusted adviser and a partner. We want to be able to nd ways that they’re working outside of the

`

That’s the traditional bank, but that’s not the banker I was looking for. What I was looking for was the banker that doesn’t just o er up solutions to loan

naMichigan’ssystem. legal marijuana market has been plagued by oversupply and limited retail locations in the last six months, causing prices to collapse.

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loan, where we can help with improving their working capital, and that just might be a di erent way of managing their nances on a day-to-day basis. We can provide that collaboration and that expertise. Obviously, there’s a pro tability aspect regardless of what industry that you’re talking about. But what we’re looking at is (more than) one transaction or a particular line item. What we’re looking at is the overall relationship. And when we look at the overall relationship, it may not even be the overall relationsh ip today. But where does that go? And how do we t in the next three to ve years as they build out their strategy and where can we add value? And so it doesn’t have

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As of Aug. 31, the legal industry had more nearly 1.5 million marijuana plants growing, compared to just 404,000 a year earlier. The average price of an ounce of marijuana flower in Michigan is down nearly 70 percent in the last 12 months to just $116.84 in August, according to CRA data.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Thursday that law enforcement analyst Brian Hanna will serve in the top spot at the Cannabis Regulatory Agency on an acting basis effective Sept. 19.

release it still planned to conduct a nationwide search for a permanent head of the CRA.

` So in this competitive labor market, what are you and what is the bank doing to meet that objective?

Since taking over as the Michigan market executive for Citizens Bank in March, Yasmeen Jasey has focused on hiring. The veteran middle market banker, who joined Providence, R.I.-based Citizens after nearly 15 years at Fifth Third Bank, says her focus on bee ng up the ranks in Southeast Michigan goes beyond the traditional skills usually associated with banking executives. The rst six months at the bank have been “a whirlwhind” that exceeded all expectations, said Jasey, adding that the metro Detroit region is an expansion market for the bank.

The Westwood Heights school district in Flint was dealing with 60-year-old facilities. That meant older equipment — including their HVAC systems. Not only did that make school less comfortable, the equipment was also less efficient, which means valuable budget dollars were being lost in the ducts.

That can really heat things up.

$82,199 in energy savings each year?

Learn more at ConsumersEnergy.com/startsaving

For help finding a way to reduce operational costs, they turned to the experts at Consumers Energy. Working together, they made a plan that included a cash rebate of over $197,000 through Consumers Energy’s business energy efficiency program. That rebate helped offset the cost of the school’s new energy efficient lighting and HVAC system, which improved the learning environment for students and staff — and saved over $82,000 in annual energy costs.

Is your business ready for some hot energy cost savings?

An inefficient HVAC system isn’t cool.

SOLUTIONS AND STRATEGIES FOR • Rising costs • Policy Issues • Labor force challenges THURSDAY, OCT. 20 8:30AM – 1:30PM THE HENRY PRESENTING SPONSOR BREAKOUT SESSION SPONSOR REGISTER TODAY CRAINSDETROIT.COM/HCLS22 2022 SOLUTIONS AND STRATEGIES FOR • Rising costs • Policy Issues • Labor force challenges THURSDAY, OCT. 20 8:30AM – 1:30PM THE HENRY PRESENTING SPONSOR BREAKOUT SESSION SPONSOR REGISTER TODAY CRAINSDETROIT.COM/HCLS22 2022 KEYNOTE SPEAKER DR. JONEIGH KHALDUN VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF HEALTH EQUITY OFFICER CVS HEALTH

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