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New DIA chief: I’d bring the ‘temple’ down to street level, PAGE 3
MARCH 7-13, 2016
3 years later, ambitious concept still work in progress
Put to the test Water crisis keeps labs busier – and not just in Flint By Chad Halcom chalcom@crain.com
The Flint water crisis has lead contamination on the minds of officials far outside Genesee County — and business is brisk for the laboratories and water quality experts who can either confirm or allay those worries. School districts in rural areas that rely on wells are required to test drinking water for lead from those wells at least once every three years, and often more frequently under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations — but school districts on city water are not. The Flint crisis has many school districts, day care providers and some municipalities elsewhere in Michigan eager for assurances that the same contamination issues haven’t hit closer to home, experts said. Rochester Community Schools retained Ann Arbor-based Nova Environmental Inc. to collect water samples from 21 schools and other buildings for testing at a Michigan De partment of Environmental Quality laboratory. The initial testing found no samples above the EPA corrective action threshold of 15 parts per billion — but a second sample batch has gone to Ohio-based National Testing Laboratories Ltd., and results are expected back later this week. Superintendent Robert Shaner sought the testing following reports on the Flint crisis, and the second sample collection SEE WATER, PAGE 19
QL MEDIA HOUSE
Street-level projects such as the “If I Die” chalk wall on Woodward have been a big part of the “place-making” efforts to make downtown more appealing.
City place-making plans taking time By Kirk Pinho kpinho@crain.com
“The lead work is such that we find ourselves pulling weekends or longer days.” KaryAmin,partnerand vice president,Nova Environmental Inc. Regulation vs. red-tape cutting: Water crisis raises questions on how DEQ balances regulation, customer service. Page 18.
The big things were supposed to be done by now. Three years ago this month, the concept of “place-making” in downtown Detroit was officially introduced with a plan to turn the central business district into a pedestrian and shopping haven using a community development concept aimed at boosting a community’s quality of life to attract and retain businesses and workers. What was intended to be completed by the end of 2015 is a check-
Natural gas pipeline sits at Nexus of DTE’s income growth plans By Gary Anglebrandt Crain’s Detroit Business
In the first quarter of next year, businesses and residents in Washtenaw, Lenawee and Monroe counties can expect to see construction begin on a pipeline that will bring natural gas from 250 miles away. The Nexus pipeline is a joint-venture project between Detroit-based DTE Energy Co. and Houston-based
Spectra Energy Corp., which are equally splitting the $2 billion project cost. Nexus will pipe natural gas sourced from Appalachian fracking fields in Ohio and Pennsylvania — part of the Marcellus and Utica shale basins that are among the country’s richest sources of natural gas. Nexus will start in eastern Ohio, run across the Buckeye State and enter Michigan in Lenawee County
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before moving on to Monroe and Washtenaw counties. Fifty-five of the 250 miles will be in Michigan. Those 55 miles are mostly rural and run along existing utility corridors, so the companies do not expect to meet much resistance from property owners here, although they have faced some blowback in Ohio. In Washtenaw, it will join with a DTE pipeline that connects to hubs in Ontario and the Chicago area. The project began in 2013. The companies are still working to get all the relevant approvals and per-
mits from local municipalities all the way up to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission . But it is scheduled for operation in the final quarter of 2017, pending commission approval, which DTE expects to get in the fourth quarter of this year. The project is separately funded outside the utility side of DTE’s business, and therefore the company does not need to seek a rate hike approval from the commission to pay for it, the company said. Nexus will be able to carry 1.5 billion cubic feet per day. For perspective: The amount of gas it sends out every day on the utility side of its business is 0.8 billion cubic feet. The project is a major one for a segment little known to DTE customers, who think of the company SEE PIPELINE, PAGE 21
list of the projects and ambitious plans the city still needs done: completion of the $137 million M-1 Rail project, now slated to be completed in the first quarter next year; the redevelopment of the 2-acre former Hudson’s department store site, with a development plan not yet submitted to the city; and a pair of complex projects that would reimagine two key city arteries: Woodward and Jefferson avenues. Those projects remain in the works at varying levels of completion. SEE DOWNTOWN, PAGE 20
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MICHIGAN
BRIEFS Republicans offer little about state in city debate In their debate last week at the Fox Theatre in Detroit, Republican
presidential candidates fielded Michigan-centric questions about Flint’s lead water crisis and infrastructure, the possibility of a federal bailout for Detroit Public Schools , and jobs. But with Michigan’s presidential primary set for Tuesday, Fox News Channel moderators held off until the debate’s second hour to ask a question aimed specifically at the state’s voters. And even then, Michigan questions took up fewer than 10 minutes of a roughly two-hour broadcast. Interestingly, GOP front-runner and businessman Donald Trump was the only one of the four candidates at the event not to be given a question related to Michigan. “That certainly was surprising,� said Aaron Kall, director of debate at the University of Michigan , of Trump’s silence during the local questioning. Kall said debate moderators
might have believed Trump has a good shot at winning Michigan, and thus decided to test other candidates on the issues. But, he added, it also reflected an overall lack of time and attention paid to statewide issues given that the debate was held here. Kall earlier told Crain’s he thought Flint’s water crisis and the automotive industry, to name two, might play more prominently. Michigan landed Thursday’s Republican debate and a scheduled debate Sunday in Flint between Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders not only as the state formally kicks off its presidential election season, but as it deals with the escalating fallout from a lead-poisoning crisis in Flint’s drinking water. (More on the debate in Detroit, Page 22.)
‘Food Court Wars’ couple opens new restaurant Mark and Krysta McGee, the Lansing-area couple profiled in a locally filmed episode of the Food Network ’s “Food Court Wars� in
2014, have opened a stand-alone coffee shop and restaurant in Eaton Rapids. According to a Lansing State Journal report on the new Mark’s Place, the couple had wanted to create a community-oriented venture, even if it required a lot of sweat equity. They did it on a small budget, investing $25,000 into the renovation of the 2,200-square-foot Main Street space and doing most of the work themselves after moving upstairs with their 7-year-old child. “We recycled everything that we used,� Krysta McGee said. “We found skills that we didn’t know we had.� The new business replaces Mark’s Gourmet Dogs , which the McGees closed in December after a year and a half as a specialty hot dog vendor at the Lansing Mall. A grand opening is set for March 11. The McGees would like for people to gather at their place for live music and other events. “It’s cool because it’s our place,� Mark McGee said. “We can do whatever we want.�
MICH-CELLANOUS 䥲 The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality made crucial errors as the city of Flint began using a new drinking water source that would become contaminated with lead, but the rules the agency failed to heed may not be strong enough
to protect the public, auditors said Friday. A report by the state auditor general found that staffers in the DEQ’s drinking water office failed to order the city to treat its water with anti-corrosion chemicals as it switched to the Flint River in 2014, The Associated Press reported. The city had been using Lake Huron water from Detroit but made the change to save money. 䥲 The future of Oklahoma energy magnate Aubrey McClendon’s planned development in the dunes overlooking Lake Michigan in Saugatuck Township became even more uncertain with his sudden death last week, MLive.com reported. The planned development with high-end homes, a resort and golf course was in question even before McClendon, 56, was killed in a fiery crash in Oklahoma City, the day after the part-owner of the National Basketball Association ’s Oklahoma City Thunder was indicted in Oklahoma for rigging bids for oil and natural gas leases while he was CEO of Chesapeake Energy . McClendon was accused of similar bid-rigging in a lawsuit filed by a Northern Michigan property owner, an allegation he denied. 䥲 Global pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. will use a small Kalamazoo company’s chemistry and compounds to develop new medicines for infectious diseases, MLive.com reported. Kalamazoo-based Aureo Gen Biosciences Inc. says it has a li-
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COMPANY INDEX: SEE PAGE 21 censing agreement with New Jersey-based Merck for the use of AureoGen’s proprietary chemistry and compounds. The science has helped produce derivatives that show promise in fighting diseases that impact organ transplant recipients, AIDS patients and others. AureoGen did not disclose how much Merck is paying as part of the agreement. 䥲 Plans call for creating a 19th century-styled business district in part of Traverse City, the Traverse City Record-Eagle reported. Construction on the $1.3 million remake of Garland Street in the tourist-oriented city could begin as early as April with substantial completion planned before the Fourth of July. The city is rebuilding the Lshaped street to make a better connection to downtown. 䥲
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Lear seeks UAW deal for city jobs Supplier: Lower wage tier part of ‘balancing act’ By Dustin Walsh dwalsh@crain.com
Lear Corp. ’s Matt Simoncini wants the
Salvador Salort-Pons wants to do even more to bring the Detroit Institute of Arts to street level. ERIC WHEELER
Down-to-earth DIA By Sherri Welch swelch@crain.com
If Salvador Salort-Pons, the new director of the Detroit Institute of Arts, had things his way, he’d bring the city’s “temple of art” down to the ground. Making physical changes to bring the museum’s Woodward Avenue plaza to street level would go a long way toward making the DIA more accessible to people from all walks of life, he believes, and help position the museum to play a role in Detroit’s revitalization. “We want to be an agent of change in the community,” Salort-Pons said last week during a conversation in the museum’s Kresge
New director wants museum to be accessible, connected to Detroit Court “cultural living room.” “The problem is, we are still seen as an elitist institution — we are the temple of art.” The elitist view of the museum persists despite its visitor-centered reinstallation of its art collection eight years ago, an approach that’s been benchmarked by museums around the world for its aim to make the works of art accessible to everyone,
rather than just art historians. Four and a half months into his tenure as the museum’s director, Salort-Pons is looking at ways for the museum to participate in the city’s revitalization, from forging a town square around the museum and other Midtown institutions, to helping revitalize neighborhoods through community art projects. At the same time, he plans to look for ways to measure the impact the DIA is having on children’s creativity and, by extension, their problem-solving skills and confidence levels. But the museum must first be seen as more accessible. SEE DIA, PAGE 17
supplier to be the bellwether of manufacturing success in the city of Detroit. That comes at a cost — a lower cost, if Lear gets the labor deal it wants to make the economics work. The CEO of Southfield-based Lear aims to create 500 to 1,000 new union-represented manufacturing jobs in Detroit, potentially under a new classification at a lower hourly rate than at its other plants. Simoncini said it could create new jobs in the city instead of Mexico if it could attain a new wage tier with the United Auto Workers that pays in the mid-teens per hour with some benefits. A specified pay rate and benefits would need to be negotiated and are subject to moving up or down, the company Matt Simoncini: said. Lear currently pays Lear CEO wants $35 per hour, which in- “apprentice” pay. cludes the cost of benefits, at its just-in-time seating plants and upward of $25 per hour at its component plants, Simoncini said. “Right now, we (the UAW and Lear) are in agreement on the goal, but we need to get to an acceptable wage solution,” Simoncini said. “The UAW wants to put their name on a fair deal, so it’s a balancing act, and I wish I could pay everyone at the highest end of the SEE LEAR, PAGE 21
Lester to buy Stroh River Place properties By Kirk Pinho kpinho@crain.com
Matt Lester plans to buy a big part of a 25-acre mixed-use riverfront development that would add
301 apartments and a 67,000square-foot office building to his greater downtown real estate portfolio. Lester, the founder and CEO of Bloomfield Township-based Prince ton Enterprises LLC , says he has the Stroh River Place apartments at 500 River Place and the Class A Talon Centre office building at 100 River Place under contract from their owners. “They are both jewels,” Lester said. The purchase of the buildings, part of one of Detroit’s most significant riverfront redevelopments nearly 30 years ago, represents a big bet
on a resurgent riverfront district. “Stroh River Place is the premier apartment complex in the D, in my opinion,” Lester said. “If I were looking for luxury and value in the D, this would be the first place I would go looking.” The properties are in the $200 million Stroh River Place development, which sits on land formerly owned by Parke-Davis & Co., the former Detroit-based pharmaceutical company purchased in 1970 by Warner-Lambert Co. , which New York-based Pfizer Inc. bought three decades later in 2000 for $90 billion. The Stroh River Place apartments purchase from the Detroit General Retirement System for an undisclosed price is expected to close early next month, according to SEE RIVERFRONT, PAGE 20
MICHAEL LEWIS II
The century-old buildings that make up River Place once housed Parke-Davis’ pharmaceutical operations.
MUST READS OF THE WEEK Online exclusive: Demolition map Check out an interactive map of every home demolished by the five largest contractors in Detroit’s massive federally funded blight-elimination effort. crainsdetroit.com/data
Gold in the suites — in Utica New independent-league stadium has sold more than $1 million in premium seating with promise of white-glove service, Page 4
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New baseball league finds takers for premium seating By Bill Shea bshea@crain.com
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The developer of a new rookie pro baseball league and stadium in Utica said he will have sold $1 million in premium stadium seating by Opening Day in May. Nineteen of 24 suites being built at $12 million Jimmy Johns Field along M-59 have been leased under five-year contracts that range in annual cost from $35,000 to $55,000, said ballpark owner and Rochester sports entrepreneur Andy Appleby. Additionally, 16 of 18 half-moonshaped “On Field Diamond Tables” that each seat four have been leased under five-year contracts for $20,000 annually, he said. Talks are underway to lease the final suites and tables before the three-team independent United Shore Professional Baseball League season begins on May 30, Appleby said. Once those deals are signed, the stadium will have topped $1 million in premium seat revenue for 2016. Appleby, a former Palace Sports & Entertainment executive who has owned professional baseball and soccer clubs, said he relied on lifelong business relationships to sell the suites and tables. “I’ve lived here for 30 years and have not just a great reputation, but developed thousands of relationships here,” he said. “It’s a place where my office is eight minutes from the ballpark and my home is 16 minutes.” Additionally, an improved postrecession economy has made it easier to sell premium seating and corporate sponsorships, Appleby said. “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it as vibrant as today,” he said. In addition to the usual premium seating perks, what Appleby and his company, Rochester-based General Sports and Entertainment LLC, are selling is the idea of first-class customer service beyond what you see even at major league venues, he said. “My goal is not just to be the cleanest facility in America, but double the service level,” he said. “Because it’s our deal and our baby, we plan to be there all the time. We’re really going to introduce a level of service that hasn’t been seen before, a level of personal service.” His goal of elite customer service — no napkin on the ground for more than five seconds, attendants in the bathrooms — means an army of stadium workers. About 20-30 people will work full time at the stadium and with the teams, from ballpark operations and ticket staff to front office personnel and managers. Most of the league’s expenses will be driven by game-day staff, coach and management salaries, Appleby said, and he estimates annual league operating costs at about $4 million. Player salaries are not a major expense: The pay scale is $600 to $800 a month, the league said, meaning a maximum of $60,000 a month
LARRY PEPLIN
Andy Appleby says the stadium’s selling points will include white-glove customer service. For more construction photos, see crainsdetroit.com/photos.
could be spent on player salaries. The USPBL, whose teams will have up to 25 players each, is for players ages 19 to 25 who have not yet made it into Major League Baseball’s minor leagues. Each of the USPBL’s three teams (the Utica Unicorns, Eastside Diamond Hoppers and Birmingham Bloomfield Beavers) will play a 50-game season. All three clubs will share the stadium. He isn’t worried that fans won’t be interested in developmental-level baseball, and expects to sell 500 to 1,000 season tickets, or combinations of full-season tickets that equal that many. His business plan is to generate revenue from the baseball games — ticket, concession, merchandise and suite sales revenue — and lease the ballpark and site for public and private events such as fireworks, concerts, graduation ceremonies, Little League games, youth soccer games and high school sports. Single-game tickets will range from $6 to $25, with the latter seat price having $5 worth of concessions wrapped into it. The majority of revenue is coming from corporate sponsorships and premium seating. There are six $35,000 “cabana” suites over the dugouts that lease for $35,000 a season. They have fans, sectional seating, fire pits, and are separated by fabric akin to a tropical resort cabana. Dugout-level suites lease for $45,000. The draw is their proximity to the action — about 30 feet from home plate. “They’re some of the closest in baseball history,” Appleby said. The seven “founders” suites are large premium spaces atop the stadium that lease for $55,000 a year. One company that has a suite is Troy-based mortgage lender United Shore Financial Services LLC , which last year spent an undisclosed sum for the league’s naming rights. “Andy has done an amazing job with his vision for this league, and we are so excited to be a part of it,” United Shore President and CEO Mat Ishbia said.
The USPBL stadium is commanding a premium for suites that other minor-league baseball teams in the state are not. “I personally think the prices we charge for our partnership and suites are dirt cheap because of the level of service we’re providing,” he said. Another independent developmental league team, the Traverse City Beach Bums of the Frontier League , is leasing its 27 suites at 3,518-seat Wuerfel Park for 2016’s 48-game season at $4,320 each. Single-game rentals are $120. Wuerfel Park also has premium four-person tables that lease for $2,000 to $2,400 for the season, or $60-$70 for a game. All of those prices are discounted from 2015. The ballpark, just outside of Traverse City in Bath Township, opened in 2006 at a cost of $6 million. By contrast, Lansing’s city-owned 7,527-seat Cooley Law School Stadium, formerly Oldsmobile Park, has 13 corporate suites for the Single-A Lansing Lugnuts that lease for $16,500 a season (70 games), according to Nick Brzezinski, the team’s assistant general manager for sales. The suites lease for three years and include 10 tickets. All are currently leased, Brzezinski said, and five other suites are reserved for single-game rentals at $600 per night for groups or companies that want a one-off way to watch the Toronto Blue Jays affiliate. Appleby, a Crain’s Detroit Business 40 under 40 honoree in 2000, previously owned the Fort Wayne Wizards , a Class A minor league baseball affiliate of the San Diego Padres , and England’s Derby County FC Ltd. soccer club. Sports industry watchers are impressed with Appleby’s efforts so far. “If those sales numbers are accurate, they are very impressive for independent league baseball. In fact, those numbers would be impressive for many minor league A-level teams, which are a step above independent league baseball,” said Mike Dietz, president and director of Dietz Sports & Entertainment in Farmington Hills. 䡲 Bill Shea: (313) 446-1626 Twitter: @Bill_Shea19
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CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS
OPINION DPS woes deserve national attention D
uring last week’s Republican presidential debate here in Detroit, the candidates didn’t have their facts straight when discussing the status of Detroit’s schools. Now, there is no need to harp on this too much, because the candidates had plenty of other facts wrong, too. That is the predictable result of a live debate and the state of American politics, which seems to be based more on celebrity bravado than on meat-and-potatoes policy issues. But the brief reference to the Detroit Public Schools does raise a larger issue. The long-needed DPS reforms have gone through so many iterations and delays, the collective understanding — both nationally and in our own backyard — is garbled. Here are the facts: PAUL SANCYA/ASSOCIATED PRESS DPS is under the control of a newly state-appointed transition manager, retired U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes. Rhodes has a track record of finding pragmatic solutions, most recently in his work on Detroit’s bankruptcy. One of Rhodes’ big tasks is to hire an interim superintendent, and he has said he is considering a mix of internal and external candidates. Whoever is selected has his or her work cut out. The district’s finances are in a death spiral because of a crippling debt load, and teachers and students are rightfully discouraged at poor and, in some cases, unsafe building conditions. Meanwhile, legislators in Lansing continue to weigh options, from funneling a portion of national tobacco settlement money to school budgets, to Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposal that also would split DPS into two districts, one to service debt and one to educate kids. DPS’ $515 million in debt is a crisis, and the district is rapidly running out of funds. The powers that be in Lansing need to continue to work toward resolving this issue; this is the kind of issue that merits late-night sessions and serious dealmaking. Imagine if a DPS solution could be applauded at the Republican National Convention in July?
Flint crisis: DEQ changes weighed With all the document digging and email discoveries related to the Flint water crisis coming to the surface, there is a related issue bubbling up. The crisis, as Jay Greene explains on Page 18, is bringing new scrutiny to Gov. Snyder’s efforts in recent years to streamline state regulations. Snyder created a new state office to cut red tape, streamline approvals and eliminate redundant rules. The state found ways to speed up processes to obtain a permit or accelerate economic development. Were there cases, like Flint, where public health and environmental protection checks were handled in a too cursory manner because of the push to cut red tape? State officials say no, but the Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency are conducting a review to find out what did lead to the regulatory breakdowns that resulted in lead-contaminated water. The real problem may have boiled down to former DEQ director Dan Wyant’s propensity to act as much as an economic development proponent as a regulator. Plus, consider that the DEQ, like other state departments, has faced staff cuts and budget cuts over the past 20 years. Just like any other organization trying to do more with less, it’s conceivable that shortcuts were taken. The state, like any other entity recovering from a crisis, must get back to the basics. Basic needs, including clean and safe drinking water, come first.
Wayne State med school must forge ahead November 2015, Crain’s pubI nlished an article about a financial deficit facing Wayne State University’s School of Medicine and the Wayne State University Physician Group. At that time, I wrote an oped piece stating that the problem was long-standing and was discovered internally, and that although it would require tough decisions and significant changes over time, the problem would be resolved. I also indicated that this signaled a new era of accountability for the School of Medicine and the university, and a golden opportunity to reposition within the quickly evolving health care landscape. Since then, we have been hard at work. As we continue to examine and develop solutions to address our finances, the time has come for us to confront an issue of underproductive faculty. Most of our faculty are outstanding, but too many are not doing enough. A systematic, data-driven analysis has identified members of the faculty we intend to address through processes, up to and including separation from Wayne State University. We define unproductive faculty members as those who have not met the lowest of bars when it comes to applying for and receiving grants, publishing papers and/or providing patient care. Sadly, too many members of our
OTHER VOICES Jack Sobel Jack Sobel is dean of Wayne State University’s School of Medicine and chairman of the board of Wayne State University Physician Group. faculty have been underproductive for many years, draining the School of Medicine and university of needed resources totaling many millions of dollars. We cannot allow these valuable resources to be provided to individuals who are not significantly advancing our mission. Previous administrations may have tolerated underproductive faculty, but in conjunction with the transparency and accountability established under university President M. Roy Wilson and his administration, that time is over. This is a new era, both for the School of Medicine and the university. Let me be clear. This issue is about what is right and what is wrong — not labor and tenure, as many would have you believe. Underproductive faculty members use resources that would be far
better spent promoting talented, ambitious faculty who are advancing knowledge, educating our future doctors, and caring for our patients. Supporting people who are not contributing to the advancement of medicine or the medical school impedes our ability to build a bright future for all. We have communicated with faculty union leadership who are aware of this issue and have discussed it openly and frankly in campus presentations and communications. The School of Medicine administration has also presented the issue to the university’s board of governors. Faculty members who have been identified as unproductive will be sent letters notifying them of that fact, and advising them of the next steps to be taken. Moving forward, our resources will be strategically redirected and invested in the labs and output of productive faculty. This is a challenging time. Addressing this situation will require action and resolve from our leadership, and President Wilson is leading the way with his firm example and demand for accountability. Challenging times can also be viewed as opportunities, however, and we are confident that in seizing this opportunity, the School of Medicine will emerge stronger and better positioned for the future. 䡲
TALK ON THE WEB Re: Snyder hires outside legal counsel related to Flint crisis Why do taxpayers have to pay for
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Reader responses to stories and blogs that appeared on Crain’s website. Comments may be edited for length and clarity.
Edythe Ford
Re: Schuette asks MPSC to limit DTE Energy request for rate hike Kudos to our attorney general. It’s about time utilities stop burden-
Re: Foreign homebuyers hit No sympathy for greedy investors. They’re the ones driving the push to foreclosure. Third act
ing ratepayers with the cost of updating infrastructure. Those costs should be borne by stockholders and/or taken from profits as a cost of doing business.
Two great businessmen. Hope this can get worked out.
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House panel review revives battle over charity gaming rules By Sherri Welch swelch@crain.com
The battle over the rules governing the millionaire parties or poker games many Michigan charities host to raise money is back on. The House Regulatory Reform Committee is reviewing two tiebarred bills that would replace the rules it took the Michigan Gaming Control Board two years to put in place after court battles with the Michigan Charitable Gaming Associa tion and related parties.
The Senate in December passed SB187, a bill introduced by Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, in March 2015, as the Gaming Control Board was appealing a lower court’s ruling that it didn’t follow the correct process in enacting its rule set for the charity poker games. Two months later, in May, the Michigan Court of Appeals reversed the lower court’s ruling, effectively putting the Gaming Control Board’s rules back in place. Those rules, which have limited the ability for permanent poker rooms to profit from the games and required more charity representatives to be present at the millionaire parties, among other things, took immediate effect late in June 2015. In December, about five months after the gaming board’s new rules were affirmed by the Court of Appeals, the Senate passed SB187. Now SB187 and HB4293, sponsored by Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Potterville, are before the House Regulatory Reform Committee. Together, the bills would amend the Traxler-McCauley-Law-Bowman Bingo Act, to — among other things — replace the current millionaire party rules with a subset of rules that the Gaming Control Board doesn’t believe will enable it to keep fraud and bad actors out of the games, said David Murley, deputy director for legal affairs and gaming regulation. The three main things the legislation would do is eliminate the current rules, reduce the number of representatives a charity must have at the games from three to two and increase the amount of poker chips in play per game, per day, in some circumstances (such as when a charity is hosting a game at its own venue and using its own people to deal)
from $15,000 to $60,000, he said. Absent from the legislation is mention of permanent poker rooms, something that’s been a point of contention for the Gaming Control Board, Michigan Charitable Gaming Association and area poker rooms. “With our rules and more accountability, we’ve gotten the worst out of it,” Murley said. “If this passes, it eliminates our ability to really control these events (and) ... makes it harder for the charity to manage.” The Gaming Control Board doesn’t support the legislation in its current form, he said. “It doesn’t con-
tain any criminal or civil provision (penalties) in it.” In a Feb. 19 letter sent to charities hosting the games, Executive Director Rick Kalm said the Gaming Control Board plans to work with the Michigan Legislature to consider stronger penalties to discourage “unscrupulous people” from taking advantage of nonprofits holding millionaire parties. Currently, the Bingo Act stipulates that a violation is a misdemeanor with a jail sentence of up to six months and a fine of not more than $1,000, Murley said. The gaming board would seek longer sen-
tences and heftier fines for violations, along with some type of civil penalties, such as a $5,000 fine. “If we were just talking the occasional fundraiser at the church, tougher penalties might not be needed,” Murley said. “But when you have multiple events at a location ... and when you involve third parties ... there’s more opportunity for fraud.” The House panel is hearing testimony and meeting with interested parties, including the Gaming Control Board and the Michigan Charitable Gaming Association and the bills’ sponsors “to see where we can
come to common ground on these bills,” said Jennifer Smeltzer, legislative director for committee chairman Rep. Ray Franz, R-Onekama. Permanent poker rooms and stricter violations are among the concerns being discussed, she said. She said Franz is confident of finding common ground on some of the issues. Last year, 1,055 Michigan charities hosted 10,600 millionaire parties, according to the gaming board. They reported $90 million in chip sales last year, compared to almost $200 million in 2011 and less than $8 million in 2004.
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SPECIAL REPORT: RENEWABLE ENERGY GARY ANGLEBRANDT ganglebrandt@crain.com Twitter: @anglebrandt
The real issue in Lansing: Energy choice program ny discussion of Michigan’s utilities and their priorities must include the state’s consumer choice program. When asked about their legislative preferences, both DTE Energy Co. and Consumers Energy Co. circle back to reliability and affordability. It is their obligation to provide electricity not only at affordable prices, but to show clear planning toward future demand. To them, the Electric Customer Choice program is the fly in the ointment. Michigan’s utilities aren’t actually monopolies. Current law forces them to concede 10 percent of the market to competitors. For the most part, these are trading outfits that don’t produce energy; they buy and sell it, aiming to offer better deals to their mostly commercial customers. But these competitors aren’t covered by the same reliability regulations the utilities are. That irritates the utilities. When large industrial plants, as competitors’ customers often are, repeatedly switch back and forth from utility to competitor, they wreak havoc on power planning. It’s “a fairness question,” DTE CEO Gerry Anderson said in a Feb. 10 conference call. Choice is on the table in the current legislative debate in Lansing. Proposals have included forcing customers to commit to either a utility or a competitor for a designated length of time — decades, not years — making competitors accountable for reliability planning, or scrapping the program altogether, although this looks less likely now. Choice is the utilities’ ultimate target in the legislative horse-trading, said Martin Kushler, a senior fellow at the
A
American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy who works out of Lansing.
Kushler spent the 1990s working in the Michigan Public Service Commission and has been working on utility regulation issues here ever since. When the state’s regulatory framework was last overhauled, in 2008, the utilities conceded on renewable energy and energy efficiency mandates in exchange for keeping Choice limited to 10 percent of the market, he said. Now they are looking to get a better deal: No mandates and changes to Choice, in exchange for acquiescence on a form of planning used in the industry to forecast supply and demand. (See related stories, Page 11.) The various legislative topics on energy are often mashed together as one — but it’s the choice issue that is seemingly the largest irritant to utilities. 䡲
Corporate investment in renewable energy on the rise in Michigan
By Jay Greene jgreene@crain.com
Going green has been a mantra from some companies for decades, but the business case for it is evident in a new wave of large corporate-led investments in Michigan. While some enable corporations to produce more renewable energy internally, others are aimed at improving overall energy efficiency. That’s as the major utilities and state lawmakers debate the merits and downsides of the next round of state energy legislation regarding renewable energy requirements. There are noteworthy case studies in the making on the issue. A Nevada-based data center operator, Switch, made news in February when it said it would convert a pyramid-shaped building that once housed office furniture maker Steelcase Inc.’s research center near Grand Rapids into a super green data center that operates 100 percent on renewable power. And the groundbreaking power purchase agree-
Data center operator Switch will open a super green facility that will operate on renewable power near Grand Rapids.
ment being negotiated between Switch and Jackson-based Con sumers Energy Co. is piquing the interest of other big energy users who may opt to strike similar deals, company officials tell Crain’s. While details of the Switch-Consumers agreement aren’t expected until summer, Adam Kramer, Switch’s executive vice president, said it will be a longterm lease of 20 to 25 years and will require Consumers to build or contract with an independent power producer for new renewable energy sources. Under the agreement, Switch would pay Consumer’s a fixed price for each unit of electricity produced by renewable energy. This kind of deal, which would be the first in Michigan, could provide a hedge against future price increases. “We will get a flat price for the next 25 years,” Kramer said. “Tell me a commodity that stays flat that long. We will pay a premium above the base rate, and we will pay more now, but in the long-term our costs will be lower because everything goes up.” Besides saving money, Kramer said, Switch CEO Rob Roy also wants to do what is “right for the environment.” The contract will also require the Michigan Public Service Commission to approve a so-called “green energy rider tariff,” which could be the first approved in Michigan. A green tariff is a utility program that allows customers to purchase up to 100 percent of electricity from renewable sources, primarily wind, solar, hydroelectric and biomass. Nancy Popa, Consumer’s director of renewable energy, said it is likely an interim contract will preSEE INVEST, PAGE 10
DEBATING STATE’S ENERGY FUTURE, PAGE 11 • TAPPING INTO WIND, SOLAR, PAGE 12 • RENEWABLE ENERGY COMPANIES, PAGE 13
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cede any long-term power purchase agreement because of the nine to 18 months it will take to negotiate the contract, gain final PSC approvals and then build new renewable power production. Popa said Consumer’s is working to design a green tariff to meet Switch’s needs. Other customers have expressed interest in similar deals, she said. “We already have something in place to allow Switch to become 100 percent renewable through renewable energy credits,” Popa said. “They could join our Green Generation program in the interim before they generate renewable energy.” Detroit-based DTE Energy Co. also expects to submit a similar green energy rider to the PSC later this year for its planned community solar projects that could total up to 100 megawatts in 2016, said Irene Dimitry, vice president of business and development with DTE. “It will be a voluntary tariff,” Dimitry said. “We have GreenCurrents, where people buy renewable energy credits, but people want to point to an asset that provides power. Our intent is to make it available to all customer classes.” Kramer did not specify how
IKEA
Ikea’s expansion of solar panels at the Canton Township store may help it reach its goal
of being energy independent by 2020. much renewable energy would be required to power Switch’s planned $5 billion data center in Gaines Township, near Grand Rapids. However, Switch’s data center in Las Vegas, which also is about 2 million square feet, uses about 180 megawatts of electricity. This would require 120 wind turbines or 720,000 solar panels (250 watts per panel) on 900 acres of land. Switch is one of a growing number of companies in Michigan and nationally — General Motors, Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon and Whole Foods — that have pledged to be powered by 100 percent renewable energy. So far, 51 companies have
signed the Corporate Renewable Energy Buyer’s Principles to increase access to renewable energy. “Companies are very interested in how the Switch deal gets done,” said Liesl Clark, president of the Lansing-based Energy Innovation Business Council.
Ready to catch fire Experts say private investment in renewable energy in Michigan over the next several years is poised for major growth regardless of the anticipated slowdown in investments by Consumers and DTE, the state’s two investor-owned utilities.
Last year, Consumers and DTE reached the state-mandated goal of producing more than 10 percent of their renewable energy by Dec. 31, said the PSC in a report last month. While Consumers and DTE have announced modest renewable energy investments for this year, the community solar and wind projects — totaling about 150 megawatts of wind power and 107 megawatts of solar — will amount to 20 percent less than the average of the preceding five years. During those years, the investments averaged about 318 megawatts per year. But stepping up next with additional renewable investments could be private companies across a range of industry types and sizes, from GM and Steelcase to Black Star Farms LLC winery. Also getting into the game: Municipalities such as Lansing, Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids, said Clark, who also is a founding principal with 5 Lakes En ergy, a Lansing consulting firm. Herman Miller Inc. , Amway Corp. and Dow Chemical Co. have been able to purchase renewable energy from independent power producers under Michigan’s retail open access programs. And other companies on the hunt for renewable energy sources to power Michigan operations include Google , Nestlé , Ford Motor Co. and Whirlpool Corp.
There also is interest for consumer-oriented retail space when it comes to going green. Ikea has built
the state’s largest solar array, a 977kilowatt project, at its Canton Township store. And other retailers, such as Target and Wal-Mart , have said they intend to build more rooftop solar. George Heartwell, the former mayor of Grand Rapids, said the city is one-quarter of the way toward its 100 percent municipal renewable energy goal by 2020. Construction is slated this spring for a 3-megawatt, $18 million solar array at the former Butterworth Landfill superfund site, he said. The facility, which would save the city $200,000 annually, is a private-public project with American Capital En ergy of Lawrence, Mass. “We will use that power on 38 acres to power the wastewater treatment facility across the river, rather than put it on the grid,” Heartwell said. Grand Rapids also is planning to expand rooftop solar programs and use of geothermal power for many city properties, he said. Rob Threlkeld, GM’s global manager for renewable energy, said the Detroit automaker is poised this summer to increase its target of 125 megawatts of renewable energy SEE NEXT PAGE
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production. GM has invested $67 million in 13 solar projects in Michigan. “It is the right thing financially, and the right thing for the environment,” said Threlkeld, who said GM has saved $80 million using renewable energy since the mid1990s. Because wind and solar prices have dropped, Threlkeld said he expects GM to announce more renewable investments in Michigan, Texas and Mexico. Steelcase, meanwhile, one of the largest furniture manufacturers in the nation, has met its 100 percent renewable energy pledge by equal amounts of production and renewable energy credit purchases. John DeAngelis, energy program manager, said many corporations like Steelcase are looking to increase renewable energy production. But as Steelcase made decisions to increase its renewable energy production, DeAngelis said, Michigan was a poorer investment than Oklahoma, where wind production is much less expensive and the regulatory environment more welcoming. Later this year, Steelcase will begin purchasing 25 megawatts of wind energy in a 12-year power purchase agreement with Apex Clean Energy , which operates a 150-megawatt wind plant in Oklahoma. “For us, it didn’t make as much sense to invest in wind in Michigan because of the economics,” DeAngelis said. DeAngelis said Steelcase is closely watching the power purchase agreement and green tariff being negotiated between Switch and Consumers. “Michigan has come a long way in the renewable energy landscape. The prices continue to come down, and I expect that will continue to encourage more development,” DeAngelis said. 䡲 Jay Greene: (313) 446-0325 Twitter: @jaybgreene
New hearings expected to rekindle debate Michigan’s energy future could be mapped out as part of work to update 2008 law By Lindsay VanHulle Crain’s Detroit Business/Bridge Magazine
LANSING — The debate about Michigan’s energy future could be revived this spring, as lawmakers working to update the 7-year-old state policy bring amended bills back to the table. New hearings could begin as soon as this month in the Senate, where a package of bills has been in revisions, said Sen. Mike Nofs, RBattle Creek, chairman of the Senate’s energy committee. And in the House, Rep. Aric Nesbitt, that chamber’s energy committee chairman, has been working to drum up support for a set of bills that moved to the floor last fall. Restarting energy talks could signal a willingness of lawmakers to finish work updating Michigan’s 2008 energy law before the legislative session ends in December, at which point the bills would have to be reintroduced. Doing so also would give the industry some certainty to plan for future energy needs, from reliability to renewables — especially with uncertainty at the federal level now that the U.S. Supreme Court granted a stay on the Obama administration’s ability to enforce new rules requiring carbon emissions reductions. It’s expected that federal courts will decide the legality of the program. General uneasiness about the fate of the U.S. Environmental Protec tion Agency ’s Clean Power Plan — which requires Michigan to lower its carbon emissions 31 percent by 2030 — “points out that Michigan really needs to set its own energy policy and not really rely on the federal government to make those decisions,” said John Austerberry, a spokesman for Detroit-based DTE Energy Co.
State energy administrators re-
cently opted to suspend their efforts to comply with the Clean Power Plan rules until the issue is resolved in court. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette joined dozens of other states in a lawsuit claiming the new carbon rules are an EPA overreach. The state needed to file its initial plan by September. The decision to suspend work on the compliance plan, short of allowing a vendor to fulfill an ongoing contract to model various energy scenarios, is in large part because the EPA required public comments that could become outdated or moot by the time a court rules, said Paul Proudfoot, director of electric reliability with the Michigan Public Service Commission. “It kind of left us in a lurch,” he said. “We’re kind of like where everybody else is, I guess. We didn’t expect a stay, and we got a stay.” Complying with the carbon rules also is more complicated without an updated state energy policy. As it stands today, Michigan expects to be in compliance with Clean Power Plan emissions targets through at least 2025. But state energy administrators also based their early assumptions on current law. That includes mandates that utilities generate 10 percent of their electricity from renewable sources and reduce energy waste by 1 percent of total electric sales. Both requirements would be eliminated under bills pending in the Legislature, a move favored by Republican lawmakers and Gov. Rick Snyder but opposed by environmental and renewable industry groups. Proudfoot, though, said he isn’t concerned that the state would fall short of its 2025 compliance target if the standards disappear. There’s enough pressure on coal, he said, that renewables will have to be part of the state’s electricity mix. “If I was a long-range planner for a utility, I would be trying to reduce my carbon,” Proudfoot said, adding that utilities will continue to retire aging coal-fired plants and have already invested in new wind and solar projects. “We will have that renewable energy in our portfolio going forward,” he said, “whether the act’s repealed or not.” That is one of the arguments lawmakers offer in support of ending the mandates. Opponents, though, say utilities won’t have an incentive to pursue renewable energy if they’re not required to do so. In the Senate package, both the renewable and energy efficiency standards would go away. Nofs said he has been meeting with business and environmental groups, and will meet with Senate Democrats, on revised bill language. Even with the changes, “there still are no mandates in it,” Nofs said,
though there has been some discussion about offering incentives for renewable energy and efficiency. “Everyone wants a number. We don’t think there needs to be a number.” Instead, he said, utilities would use a new process known as integrated resource planning (See related story, Page 12) that would consider all components — from natural gas to renewables to energy efficiency — to create an electric portfolio that is competitive, reliable and flexible. The House package approved by committee in 2015 would retain the 10 percent renewable mandate, but replace the efficiency mandate with an incentive-based program, said Nesbitt, R-Lawton. Debate is continuing among legislators in the House about provisions related to electric “choice,” in
which some customers can leave a regulated utility to buy electricity from an alternative supplier. Michigan’s two biggest electric utilities, DTE and Jackson-based Consumers Energy, say they hope the Legislature will vote on energy bills by the end of the year. Consumers is retiring seven coal units by April 15, and building a new natural gas plant can take three to five years and cost nearly $1 billion, utility spokesman Dan Bishop said via email. “Lansing policymakers now have the opportunity to ensure that Michigan’s rebounding economy will have the power it needs by passing legislation that provides certainty for the state’s regulated utilities to build the next generation of clean power plants,” Bishop said. 䡲 Lindsay VanHulle: (517) 657-2204 Twitter: @LindsayVanHulle
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State’s big utilities continue focus on wind, solar By Jay Greene
A shift in energy
jgreene@crain.com
Wind and solar are two focus areas for near-term capital investment by both of Michigan’s big electricity providers. Consumers Energy Co. plans this year a second solar initiative that will provide about 7 megawatts of power with a mix of about 450 residential and commercial customers with 150 kilowatt projects or less. Last year, Consumer’s launched a 10 megawatt community solar program named Solar Gardens with more than 400 subscribed customers. The project so far includes 3 megawatts at Grand Valley State Uni versity and 1 megawatt at Western Michigan University , said Nancy Popa, Consumer’s director of renewable energy. Last fall, Consumer’s signed a contract with Geronimo Energy to purchase power from a 100megawatt wind farm in Huron County that will produce energy by the end of 2017. The Apple Blossom Wind Farm project will add another 20 percent to the utility’s 500 megawatt state-mandated production target. DTE Energy Co. this year plans to fund up to 100 megawatts of additional community solar projects, depending on customer interest, and another 50 megawatts in wind, said Irene Dimitry, DTE’s vice president of business and development. DTE is the largest solar power pro-
Michigan’s two major utilities are replacing their fleets of aging coal plants with a mix of natural gas — as a primary “base load” fuel — and renewable energy sources.
DTE Energy Co. 䡲 DTE’s total electricity genera-
ducer with 26 utility-owned solar arrays. “We’ve got approval for up to 50 megawatts of solar projects, with most of it going into Lapeer,” Dimitry said. Dimitry said DTE also plans a 50megawatt wind farm in Huron County called the Pinnebog Wind Project that will power more than 22,000 homes. “It makes sense to have renewable and natural gas in our portfolio
going forward with coal plants retiring (in early 2020) and the (federal) Clean Power Plan” regulations looming. By DTE’s estimation, 60 percent of Michigan’s entire coal-based generation will be in play. In all, the changes will affect 30 percent of the state’s total fleet, including those of municipal utilities and other small players. 䡲 Gary Anglebrandt contributed to this story.
tion is 12,400 megawatts. 䡲 DTE’s 630-megawatt Trenton Channel plant in Trenton has three units. One was closed last year and another is set to close in April. No other closures have been announced. Of DTE’s four other coal plants, the 523-megawatt River Rouge and the 1,367-megawatt St. Clair are the oldest, both having been built in the 1950s. 䡲 DTE Electric last year bought a 732-megawatt plant in Carson City for $241 million from LS Power Group and a 350-megawatt plant in East China Township for $69 million from DTE’s Power & Industrial division on the non-utility side of its business. 䡲 It expects to spend $1.2 billion on new electricity generation by 2020 and eventually $8 billion in total to replace coal. In all, it plans to shut down 3,500 megawatts of coal-based capacity by 2030. Two solar arrays are set to open in spring, totalling 45 megawatts of generating capacity. DTE bills one of them, a 30-megawatt array being built in Lapeer, as the largest utility-owned array east of the Mississippi River.
Consumers Energy Co. 䡲 Consumers’ total electricitygenerating capacity is 8,700 megawatts. 䡲 Consumers, well ahead of DTE in its plant closures plan, will shut three of its remaining five coal plants in April, a total of seven units with combined capacity of about 950 megawatts. According to the company, that will make it the second-best utility in the country at reducing coal. It currently does not plan to shut down any more coal plants after that. 䡲 Consumers is building a 100megawatt wind farm in Michigan’s Thumb, its biggest wind farm to date. (See story, left.) In the final quarter of last year, it closed on a deal to buy a 540-megawatt natural gas plant in its hometown of Jackson for $155 million from AlphaGen Power LLC and DPC Juniper LLC. 䡲 The company plans to spend $1.7 billion in the next 10 years on new capacity. 䡲 Consumers will make up for the loss of capacity from the closures through multiple tweaks to mix sources, including adding more natural gas and renewables, as well as buying power from the market. Gary Anglebrandt
What’s an IRP and why are utilities all for them? Here’s an explanation By Gary Anglebrandt Crain’s Detroit Business
In the legislative debate in Lansing over revamping the state’s energy regulations, Republican lawmakers are proposing replacing renewable energy mandates with something called an “integrated resource planning process.” The state’s two major utilities, DTE Energy Co. and Consumers Energy Co., support this plan, while renewable energy promoters see the loss of a straightforward 10 percent renewable mandate — and in its place comes murky jargon.
So what is an IRP? Integrated resource plans came about in the 1980s to keep electricity bills low while strengthening the reliability of the grid — which is to say, cut costs but don’t cause blackouts. When asked to show how they would capably supply energy in the near future, utilities would simply count how many more plants they planned to build. IRPs allowed them to take into account other tools, especially “demand-side” energy-efficiency measures to cut energy usage, but also supply-side measures like buying power from other sources. All these options then are “inte-
grated” into an overall resource plan. Utilities do them internally but can be forced by regulation to do them externally as well. The utilities traditionally have not been in favor of IRPs, or at least not when they’re imposed by the government. While they conduct these internally for their own planning, they haven’t had to share them with the public. Now they are all for IRPs. Why? They say they need flexibility to meet the many regulatory obligations they face on several, often conflicting, fronts: They must keep rates low for customers, meet renewable energy mandates, meet energy efficiency mandates, and make detailed plans showing how they will keep the lights on. This in turn requires predicting demand, supply and markets several years out, which the utilities already are struggling to do. The grid’s manager, Midcontinent Independent System Operator Inc. , projects a capacity shortfall in 2016-2017 for the Lower Peninsula. Added to all this are federal emissions rules on carbon and mercury, which only will become more stringent in the years ahead, and a massive overhaul of the utilities’ fleets of aging power plants.
The utilities say an IRP gives them the flexibility they need to address these many pressures, all on one platform, in a way that allows them to show how pushing one regulatory side causes another to bend. They don’t mind rules; they just don’t want the rules considered in isolation. This allows for “the best solutions at the time we need to make those decisions,” said Irene Dimitry, DTE’s vice president of Irene Dimitry: This business planallows for the best ning and develsolutions. opment. Reliability and affordability — the very things IRPs are designed to address — are the foremost regulatory obligations on utilities’ minds. Promoting renewables takes a backseat to these priorities. The utilities supported the mandate when it was created in 2008 but now say renewables have been supported well enough since to stand on their own.
‘No mandate needed’ The problem pro-mandate people have with this is that while IRPs
can include renewable sources, the current proposals don’t make utilities use renewable energy, as a mandate does. Nor are mandates (or “renewable portfolio standards,” in the jargon) and IRPs mutually exclusive. Many states actually have both. Baking standards into an IRP is another option. They also look suspiciously on the IRP process itself, since it necessarily begins with the utilities. Utilities are the ones with the frontline view of supply, demand and resources, and so it is they that feed data into the IRP. To supporters of mandates, that looks like a lot of room to fudge numbers. “(Utilities) tweak assumptions and can get the result they want to see,” said Martin Kushler, senior fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based American Council for an Energy-Effi cient Economy , which studies IRPs
and is funded by the full spectrum of parties interested in energy, from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and conservationist groups to utilities and manufacturers, including DTE Energy and the Michi gan Environmental Council. Not to worry, the utilities say. They are committed to renewables now and moving forward. Anyone who wants to weigh in
on the IRP process would be able to because it would be public and transparent, spokespeople for DTE and Consumers said. People with an ax to grind, be they from an industrial company or environmental group, would be welcome, though it’s unclear how often this process would occur. “The Michigan Public Service Commission has a statutory responsibility to act in the best interests of Michigan residents and businesses. That responsibility continues going forward,” said Dan Bishop, Consumers Energy’s head of media relations. DTE says its investments in renewables speak for themselves — it’s building what it bills as the largest utility-owned solar array this side of the Mississippi River — and the big fleet overhaul means it has no choice but to increase renewables along with natural gas. Besides the practical necessity of closing its old coal plants, DTE needs a diversified portfolio to meet its various regulatory obligations, not to mention the desires of customers who want more renewables, Dimitry said. Consumers makes similar arguments. “We didn’t need a mandate to decide we’re going to do more,” Dimitry said. 䡲
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Michigan Renewable Energy Companies Listed alphabetically
AEP Indiana Michigan Power Renewable portfolio consists of solar, wind and hydroelectric power. Michigan locations include the Cook Nuclear Plant in Bridgman and service centers in Benton Harbor and Three Rivers, and external affairs office in Lansing. ■ Headquarters: Fort Wayne, Ind. ■ Top local executive: Gregory Clark, manager of state governmental and environmental affairs ■ 110 W. Michigan Ave., Lansing 48933 ■ (800) 311-6424; Lansing: (517) 367-1242 ■ IndianaMichiganPower. com
Top local executive: James Doull, senior vice president
Berden, owner
■ 3550 Green Court, Ann Arbor 48105
■ 4040 Mushroom Road, Snover 48472
■ (734) 665-1000
■ (810) 404-1933
■ bv.com
■ dbsolarllc.com
Boyce Hydro Power LLC
DTE Energy Co.
Hydroelectric plants Headquarters: Edenville Top local executive: Lee
Mueller, co-member manager ■ 6000 S. M-30, Edenville 48630 ■ (989) 698-3161
CMS Energy Corp. Energy provider. Nine percent of power supplied comes from wind, solar, hydro and biomass.
Applied Energy Technologies
Headquarters: Jackson
Provider of solar mounting solutions delivers engineering, manufacturing and installation services for utility and commercial solar projects.
Russell, president and CEO
Top local executive: John
■ 1 Energy Plaza, Jackson 49201 ■ (800) 477-5050 ■ cmsenergy.com
Top local executive: Aaron
Faust, vice president of business development ■ 22367 Starks Drive, Clinton Township 48036 ■ (586) 466-5073 ■ aetenergy.com
Black & Veatch Engineering, procurement and construction of renewable and alternative-energy projects. Headquarters: Overland Park,
Kan.
Under the non-utility operations of their Power and Industrial Projects group, DTE sells electricity from renewable energy projects. Headquarters: Ann Arbor Top local executive: Gerard
Anderson, chairman and CEO
■ 121 E. Front St., Traverse City 49684 ■ (231) 935-3659 ■ heritagewindenergy.com
ICR Services Offers a comprehensive range of engineering services including robotics, field service solutions, and electronic and mechanical repair. Headquarters: Warren Top local executive: Paul
Gutierrez, president; Scott Reiter, CFO/VP of operations
■ 1 Energy Plaza, Detroit 48226
■ 28601 Lorna Ave., Warren 48092
■ (800) 235-8000
■ (586) 582-1500
■ dteenergy.com
■ ICRServices.com
Hemlock Semiconductor Group A provider of polycrystalline silicon and other silicon-based products used in the manufacturing of semiconductor devices and solar cells and modules.
■ cresitenergy.com
Headquarters: Traverse City
DB Solar LLC Solar design, sales and installation company Headquarters: Snover
Top local executive: Marty
Lagina, founder and chief executive; Craig Tester, founder and Rick Wilson, VP of operations
Headquarters: Monroe Top local executives: Gregory Adanin, president and CEO; Glover Donohoe, plant manager
■ 509 Sherbrooke St., Commerce Township 48382 ■ (248) 520-2474 ■ michigansolarsolutions.com
Nova Consultants Inc.
■ 111 Borchert Park Drive, Monroe 48161 ■ (734) 682-4000 ■ ventower.com
Headquarters: South Bend,
Top local executive: Carla
Ind.
■ 21580 Novi Road, Suite 300, Novi 48375
Top local executive: Thomas
■ (248) 347-3512
Kanczuzewski, president
■ novaconsultants.com
■ 2990 W. Grand Blvd., Suite 310, Detroit 48202
■ hscpoly.com
Operates wind farms in Rubicon Township, McBain and Garden Township.
Top local executive: Mark
Hagerty, founder
Headquarters: Detroit
Headquarters: Wyandotte
■ (734) 283-4595
Wind turbine tower supplier
Agrawal, president
Provides energy assessments and energy-efficient product design and sales in the metro Detroit area.
■ 4082 Biddle Ave., Wyandotte 48192
Township
Designs, builds, supplies and invests in solar solutions
Top local executive: Denise
Heritage Sustainable Energy
Ventower Industries
Energy efficiency services provider.
Beachy, president
Kulick, president-owner
■ suniva.com
Headquarters: Novi
Cresit Energy LLC
Top local executive: Robert
Headquarters: Commerce
■ (707) 709-5351
Inovateus Solar MI
■ (574) 485-1400
■ (989) 301-5000
Designs, sells and installs renewable energy systems for homes, businesses, schools and local municipalities using local materials and labor.
Walker-Miller Energy Services LLC
Headquarters: Hemlock
■ 12334 Geddes Road, Hemlock 48626
■ 2650 Schust Road, Saginaw 48603
Michigan Solar Solutions LLC
Engineering, energy and environmental company
■ 708 Sherman Lane, Cassopolis 49031
Headquarters: Clinton
Township
Top local executive: Dean
Top local executive: Sunil
■ (313) 366-8535 ■ www.wmenergy.com
Novi Energy LLC An energy consulting and energy infrastructure project development company.
■ inovateus.com
McNaughtonMcKay Electric Co. Supplies solar panels and other electrical components. Headquarters: Madison
Headquarters: Novi Top local executive: Anand Gangadharan, president
■ 23955 Novi Road, Novi 48375 ■ (248) 735-6684
Heights Top local executives: Donald Slominski Jr., president and CEO; Mark Ferda, renewable energy account manager
■ 1357 E. Lincoln Ave., Madison Heights 48071-4134
Walker-Miller, president and CEO
Suniva Manufacturer of high-efficiency crystalline silicon photovoltaic solar cells and high-power solar modules.
■ (248) 399-7500; renewable energy: (734) 645-6005
Headquarters: Norcross, Ga.
■ mc-mc.com
Baumstark, CEO
About this list This directory is composed of renewable energy companies with a presence in Michigan. Information is provided by the companies and the company websites. It is not a complete listing but the most comprehensive available. Companies are listed with the address and top executive of their main Michigan office. To be included on this list, contact Sonya Hill, data editor, shill@crainsdetroit.com or call (313) 446-0402
Top local executive: John
Lower solar prices, tax credits entice homeowners, small businesses By Jay Greene jgreene@crain.com
Homeowners and small businesses continue to use federal tax credit incentives and existing net metering rules to make private investments in rooftop solar. Mark Hagerty, president of Michigan Solar Solutions, said he is “keeping very busy with homeowners and small companies that are willing to make the investments, lower their electricity costs and recoup their investments in seven to eight years.” The Upper Peninsula is develop-
ing into one of the more active renewable markets, where 30 or more private homeowners have installed solar panels in an effort to reduce the highest electricity costs in Michigan at 23 cents per kilowatt, said Melissa Davis, executive director of the Houton Energy Efficiency Team. “When prices skyrocketed after (a) coal plant closed, everybody started installing solar,” Davis said. Besides the 30 percent federal tax credit for small wind and solar through Dec. 31, the Michigan Public Service Commission said in a report that wind and solar costs continue
to drop, making both renewable sources cheaper than building new gas or coal-fired power plants. At winery Black Star Farms LLC , CFO Michael Lahti said the Traverse City-based business’ 53 kilowatt, 204-panel solar array recently came online with a goal to produce about 15 percent of its annual electricity usage. It purchases electricity from Cherryland Electric Co-Op in Grawn. “We have five different buildings, and our goal is to be as sustainable as possible with energy costs,” said Lahti. “Our project will be paid off in seven years, and afterward the sav-
ings go to our bottom line.” Besides Black Star, a number of other wineries are installing solar, Clark said, including Chateau Chan tal Winery, Good Neighbor and Round Barn Winery. Under Michigan law, 50 percent of renewable energy must be built by utilities and 50 percent purchased. This mix caused a number of independent power producers, including Apex Clean Energy and Chart House Energy LLC, to enter the market in Michigan. Chart House Energy CEO Rob Rafson said he believes solar will
grow annually at about 30 percent as long as the federal tax incentive is at play. Last summer, Chart House installed a 520 kilowatt system at Holland-based Agritek Industries, which provides about 33 percent of the facility’s power. The Holland Board of Public Works, which last year shuttered its coalfired plant, also has been increasing its renewable energy production to about 20 percent of its electricity needs for its 28,000 customers. 䡲 Jay Greene: (313) 446-0325 Twitter: @jaybgreene
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75-mile trail nearly ready to blaze a path through Downriver Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Roughly two-thirds of the trail is complete. The trail has evolved over 10 years of initiatives, alliances and cooperation from officials in the 21 cities that make up Downriver. Many officials see the trail as a way to provide easy access to fitness and recreation for residents and visitors. On 44 acres, owned by Wayne County, a $3.125 million dock and John Hartig: “We fishing pier at want to develop the the refuge is next generation of under construcconservationists.” tion and expected to be completed in December, Hartig said. The Great Lakes Educa tion Program of Michigan Sea Grant’s ship, the Clinton, will dock there and provide wildlife education. Also being built on the site is a $7 million visitors’ center called the Refuge Gateway, which is owned and will be operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Due to be completed in spring 2017, the center is on the Humbug Marsh, Michigan’s only Wetland of International Importance and one of 37 in the country. Hartig said the designation is important because it showcases
By Marti Benedetti mbenedetti@crain.com
For the past several years, downtown Detroit’s riverfront has hogged all the attention. This year, Wayne County’s Downriver riverfront may have its turn in the spotlight. Nearly ready for its debut is a 75mile trail from Trenton to the intersection of I-94 and I-275 in Romulus. At the Trenton end of this trail is a new dock and fishing pier and a visitor’s center at the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. Recently, funding was approved to complete the mile of unfinished trail in Trenton between Elizabeth Park and the refuge, said John Hartig, manager for the refuge in Grosse Ile. Along the trail, both wooded and paved, are opportunities to hike, bike, kayak and fish, said Anita Twardesky, community outreach manager for the Riverside Kayak Connection in Wyandotte and president of the Downriver Linked Greenways Initiative, a regional effort to promote nonmotorized transportation Downriver. Sections of the trail intersect with four Huron-Clinton Metroparks — Lower Huron, Willow, Oakwoods and Lake Erie. And a good stretch of the trail is part of the Iron Belle Trail, a 1,259-mile hiking trail and a 774mile bicycling route from Belle Isle State Park in Detroit to Ironwood in
EC KORNEFFEL CO.
A 75-mile trail from Trenton to the intersection of I-94 and I-275 in Romulus is nearly ready for its debut.At the Trenton end of this trail is a new dock and fishing pier, expected to be completed in December. that Downriver has internationally recognized natural resources and outdoor recreation. “With this center, we want to develop the next generation of conservationists,” he said. “Historically, we’ve done very little, but now we
are placing a priority on doing this (education) in urban areas. We are working hand in hand with the De troit Riverfront Conservancy.” The LEED-certified visitor center will provide educational information about the refuge and the
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marsh, a nature and bookstore, two classrooms, and two outdoor patios. “The (environmentally sensitive) building will have all kinds of features that will teach people how to live sustainably,” he said. The development is on the site of a former Chrysler plant that has sat vacant for 15 years. Hartig said that in the spring 10 million walleye spawn in the refuge area, attracting a large number of boaters who come to fish. With the new dock, they won’t need a boat; they can fish for free from the dock. Twardesky said designing signs and branding for the trail is in progress. Plans also call for bike racks, trash containers and benches. Trail leaders would like to add signs that explain the history of various sites and cities. Still unfinished is the part of the trail that connects Detroit to Trenton. “There are still some dicey places,” Twardesky said. “But people want the urban experience. They want to see how steel is made.” A portion of the coastline still has steel and foundry operations, such as the DSC McLouth Steel Plant , formerly McLouth Steel, in Gibraltar. The greenways initiative, with funding from the U.S. Department of Natural Resources , hired the Living Lab, a landscape architecture studio in Detroit, to do a planning assessment of the hiking portion of the 25-mile Iron Belle Trail from River Rouge south to Flat Rock. Leah Groya, Living Lab planner and principal, said they are developing branding for the trail, which crosses several major streets. “The goal is to better understand the conditions of the route through the Downriver communities,” she said. “We’re looking at how much infrastructure along the trail is in place and to provide design elements for the road crossings.” 䡲
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CALENDAR WEDNESDAY MARCH 9
JVS Trade Secrets. 6-9:30 p.m. JVS. Speaker is fashion designer Linda Schlesinger-Wagner, founder of Skinnytees, a company that has grown from selling in a single shop to an $8 million clothing line sold in stores, online and on QVC. Temple Beth El, Bloomfield Hills. $150. Contact: Judy Strongman, phone: (248) 233-4213; email: jstrongman@jvsdet.org
THURSDAY MARCH 10
March 16. Marketing & Sales Executives of Detroit. Panelists: Jacques Driscoll, owner of Green Dot Stables, Johnny Noodle King and the Huron Room in Corktown/Mexicantown; Nick Gorga, founder of Hatch Detroit; Jon Goldstein, owner of Maple Theatre; James Van Dyke, partner in the Roxbury Group and part owner of the Aloft Hotel in the David Whitney Building. Moderated by Nancy Benovich Gilby, Ehrenberg director of entrepreneurship, University of Michigan. Aloft Hotel, Detroit. $45 members; $60 nonmembers. Website: msedetroit.org
Cybersecurity Conference. 7 a.m.-2
p.m. Detroit Regional Chamber. Experts from government, law enforcement and the private sector will cover topics to help businesses navigate the National Institute of Standards and Technology cybersecurity framework. Detroit Golf Club. $75, $25 for chamber members. Contact: Marianne Alabastro, phone: (313) 596-0479; email: malabast@detroitchamber.com
People, Profit, Progress Conference. 8 a.m.-4 p.m. March 17. American Society of Employers. ASE’s 13th annual conference and workshops. Suburban Collection Showplace, Novi. ASE members $239; nonmembers $299. Contact: Linda Yesh-McMaster, phone: (248) 223-8002; email: lyesh-mcmaster@aseonline.org
Management Techniques from the Best Ship in the Navy. 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Detroit Economic Club. Mike Abrashoff tells how he took com-
Breakfast with nearly 400 policy and decision makers. Detroit Athletic Club. $100. Phone: (313) 963-5522; website: michronicle.com/events
mand of the worst-performing ship in the U.S. Navy’s Pacific fleet and 12 months later it was the best ship in the Navy using the same crew. Westin Book Cadillac, Detroit. $45 DEC members, $55 guests of DEC members, $75 nonmembers. Phone: (313) 963-8547; email: info@econclub.org.
UPCOMING EVENTS DEC Presents Trevor Fetter. 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. March 14. Detroit
Economic Club. Fetter, chairman and CEO of Tenet Healthcare, speaks. Westin Book Cadillac, Detroit. $45 DEC members, $55 guests of members, $75 nonmembers. Website: econclub.org
Pancakes & Politics. 7:30-9:30 a.m. March 17. Michigan Chronicle.
2016 Great Lakes Business Intelligence & Big Data Summit. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. March 24. WIT Inc. Program will feature-
case studies, interactive demos, opportunities to meet with top providers, and chances to network. The Somerset Inn Hotel, Troy. $159. Contact: Amanda Mansour, phone: (248) 641-5900 ext 244; email: amansour@witinc.com; website: www.greatlakesbisummit.com Taste of Leadership Oakland. 4:30-7 p.m. March 24. Leadership Oakland. This event promotes business-tobusiness networking as well as personal and professional connection opportunities. Oakland County Ex-
ecutive L. Brooks Patterson is the honorary event chairman. San Marino Club, Troy. $32; $250 for a table of eight. Contact: Nancy Maurer, phone: (248) 952-6880 ext.2; email: nmaurer@leadershipoakland.com.
15
Kelly and Michael.” Sound Board, Detroit. $495 general; $895 VIP. Contact: Jordan Broad, phone: (248) 206-7065; email: Jordan@FuelLeadership.com DEC Presents Denise Morrison. 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. April 27. Detroit Economic Club. Denise Morrison, president and CEO, Campbell Soup Co., is the speaker. Westin, Southfield. $45 DEC members, $55 guests of DEC members, $75 nonmembers.
Contact: (313) 963-8547; email: info@econclub.org DEC Presents Dinesh Paliwal. 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. May 9. Detroit Economic Club. Dinesh Paliwal, chairman, president and CEO of Harman International, is the speaker. Cobo Center. $45 DEC members, $55 guests of DEC members, $75 nonmembers. Contact: (313) 963-8547; email: info@econclub.org
DEC Presents Peter Karmanos. 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. April 14. Detroit Economic Club. Karmanos is the principal owner/governor and CEO of the Carolina Hurricanes, as well as the chairman and co-founder of MadDog Technology. The Townsend Hotel, Birmingham. $45 DEC members, $55 guests of DEC members, $75 nonmembers. Phone: (313) 9638547; email: info@econclub.org Women’s Power Breakfast. 7-9 a.m. April 21. Gleaners Community Food
Bank. Brings together more than 600 of the area’s most powerful women. Co-chairwomen are Faye Nelson, vice president public affairs, president, DTE Energy Foundation; Andra Rush, chairman and CEO, Rush Trucking Corp.; Nancy Schlichting, CEO, Henry Ford Health Systems. Eastern Market Shed 3. $120 individual; $1,000 table. Contact: Suzette Hohendorf, phone: (313) 923-3535; email: wpb@gcfb.org DEC Presents John Noseworthy. 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. April 21. Detroit Economic Club. Noseworthy is president and CEO of the Mayo Clinic. Cobo Center, Detroit. $45 DEC members, $55 guests of DEC members, $75 nonmembers. Phone: (313) 963-8547; email: info@econclub.org
Corporate Facility Graphics That Inspire
Fuel: Detroit. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. April 21. Fuel Leadership. Speakers include Mark Kelly, commander of Space Shuttle Endeavour’s final mission; authors Marcus Buckingham and Mitch Albom; Jacques Panis, president, Shinola; Martha Stewart; Sarah Kay, founder, co-director, Project Voice; Michael Strahan, co-host, “Live With
7Cs Best Practices: Tactical meetings with PCS Insight. 8:30-10 a.m. March 15. Automation Alley. Pavan Muzumdar, managing director of PCS Insight and creator of the organiza-
tional management system iCube, will discuss why most meetings are ineffective and what to do about it. Automation Alley, Troy. $20 member; $40 nonmember; $30 walk-in member; $50 walk-in nonmember. Contact: (800) 427-5100; email: info@automationalley.com
Entryways, Lobbies, Common Areas, Training Rooms, Conference Rooms, Offices and much more. We do more than provide graphic branding solutions that attract and inspire. Our mission is to evoke a unique emotional experience and leave a lasting impression on our partners and their clients. As a national leader in large format graphics, we set the benchmark for quality. From our passionate team of creative designers, expert printers, and professional installers to our world-class facility and state-of-the-art technologies—we make you look remarkably good.
The Next Generation Economy: How Will it Affect Your Brand? 5-8 p.m.
Calendar guidelines. Visit crainsdetroit.com and click “Events” near the top of the home page. Then, click “Submit Your Events” from the drop-down menu that will appear. Fill out the submission form, then click “Submit event” at the bottom of the page. More Calendar items can be found at crainsdetroit.com/events.
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DEALS & DETAILS ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS Northville Crossing Restaurant, Northville, owned by Alex and Effie Alexandris, has been acquired by Matt and Jen Amin, owners of Omelette & Waffle Café in Plymouth and reopened as the Omelette & Waffle Café. Website: www.omelettewafflecafe.com. Attorneys Title Agency LLC, Farmington Hills, has acquired the Michigan direct operations of the Stewart Title Co. in Livonia, Holland and Sterling Heights. Terms of the trans-
action were not disclosed. Attorneys Title Agency has established a national relocation division, which will offer employee relocation title and services, and operate nationally. As part of this transaction, Attorneys Title Agency will add three locations and retain a majority of Stewart’s former Michigan employees. Websites: atatitle.com, stewart.com.
CONTRACTS Altair Engineering Inc., Troy,
announced that its workload management software PBS Professional will be installed for the new Silicon Graphics International Corp. supercomputing system destined for the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colo. PBS Professional was
included to provide NCAR with an ICE XA supercomputer with the ability to perform 5.34 quadrillion calculations per second at three times the energy efficiency of its predecessor. Websites: altair.com, sgi.com, ncar.ucar.edu.
EXPANSIONS SVS Vision Optical Centers, Mt.
Clemens, has opened optical centers at 36824 Van Dyke Ave., Sterling Heights, and 18835 Traditions Drive, Northville. Telephone: (586) 276-9300, (248) 305-1600. Website: svsvision.com.
MOVES Innovative Learning Group Inc. has
moved from 514 E. 4th St., Royal Oak, to 1130 Coolidge Highway, Troy. The company has also un-
veiled a new corporate brand, which includes a redesigned website and logo. Telephone: (248) 5441568. Website: innovativelg.com.
NEW PRODUCTS Jet’s America Inc., Sterling Heights,
operator of Jet’s Pizza, has introduced gluten-free pizza to its menu. Website: jetspizza.com.
STARTUPS
PEOPLE: SPOTLIGHT Ex-bankruptcy judge to run Detroit schools Steven Rhodes, the retired federal judge who handled Detroit’s bankruptcy, was named last week to run the troubled Detroit
The Hold It Co., Franklin, a company
established by Suzanne Lucas Binder and Michele Harris to patent, produce and market the Permit Pal, which uses a patented Velcro system to attach parking tags, handicapped permits or other official cards to vehicle windows. Telephone: (248) 855-4458. Website: thepermitpal.com.
ADVERTISING SECTION
MANUFACTURING
Public Schools.
Rhodes, appointed as DPS transition managSteven Rhodes er by Gov. Rick Snyder, will oversee the school district’s finances and operations, but he will appoint an interim superintendent as soon as possible to handle academics, The Associated Press reported. A clause in Rhodes’ contract sets a June 1 deadline for action by the Legislature. The contract otherwise runs through Sept. 30.
DTE promotes execs to prep for Kurmas’ exit
HUMAN RESOURCES Kevin Clinton and Matt Leinonen Director of Partnership Planning and Director of Central Merchandise Planning Carhartt, Inc. As the director of partnership planning, Clinton will work to align the account planning team with the strategic account team and the regional account team to further support Carhartt's growth objectives. Clinton joined Carhartt in 2012 as a member of the finance department where he was involved in numerous projects that helped prepare him for his new role.
Jill Zientarski Human Resources Manager Clear Rate Communications Inc. Jill Zientarski joins Clear Rate Communications as Human Resources Manager. She is responsible for strategic planning, policy design, talent acquisition and retention, employee development and administration. Previously, Jill established the HR department at DES-CLAW, following several years of management at Target. She is completing her Master of Training and Development degree at Oakland University and is a member of Detroit Young Professionals and the Society for Human Resource Management.
ACCOUNTING Christopher King, CPA Senior Associate The Siegfried Group Chris is a Certified Public Accountant who joins the Detroit Market as a Senior Associate. Chris comes to Siegfried from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan where he gained insurance industry experience with a primary focus on consolidations. He also spent over two years with UHY where he gained audit experience in the manufacturing, services, and non-profit industries. He received his BBA in Management and MS in Accounting from Walsh College.
Leinonen will play a critical role in shaping the strategic direction of the overall merchandise planning strategy. Leinonen has been a member of the Carhartt team since 2014 and had previously served as the manager of merchandise planning and the senior manager of merchandise planning. Prior to joining Carhartt, Leinonen held leadership roles in merchandise planning at Abercrombie & Fitch, was the director of brand development at Finish Line, and was a senior business analyst at Target.
ACCOUNTING
LAW
Jose P. Sancen
Sean P. McNally
Senior Associate
Partner / Practice Group Leader
The Siegfried Group Jose is an exceptional accounting and finance professional who joins the Detroit Market as a Senior Associate. He comes to Siegfried from PwC, where he gained two and a half years of audit experience with a primary focus in the Consumer and Industrial Products and Power and Utilities industries. He received his Bachelors of Science in Accounting from Wayne State University.
Kotz Sangster Wysocki PC Sean McNally has been appointed Leader of the Construction Practice Group at Kotz Sangster. In addition to this role, he serves on the firm's Board of Directors and as its General Counsel. McNally is also responsible for Board oversight for the firm's operations in Grand Rapids. He maintains a diverse commercial litigation and business practice, with his primary focus on the construction, manufacturing and real estate industries. McNally also serves as a Trustee for the Franny Strong Foundation.
Detroit-based DTE Energy Co. announced several promotions and executive changes due to the pending retirement of longtime DTE executive Steve Kurmas. Steve Kurmas Effective April 4, Jerry Norcia, president and COO of DTE Electric and Gas Storage and Pipelines,
has been named president and Jerry Norcia COO for DTE Energy, succeeding Kurmas, who will become vice chairman and will retire next year after 38 years with DTE. Norcia joined DTE Energy in 2002. Trevor Lauer, senior vice president of distribution operations, will succeed Norcia as president and COO of DTE Electric, the company’s largest business unit. Lauer joined DTE Energy in 2005.
Jackson new head of WSU undergrad admissions Ericka Jackson was
named director of undergraduate admissions for Wayne State University.
Crain’s has moved its complete list of appointments and promotions to www.crainsdetroit.com/peopleonthemove. Guaranteed placement in print and online can be purchased at this website.
Jackson had been assistant dean of admissions and student affairs at the WSU Law School. 䡲 Ericka Jackson
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DIA FROM PAGE 3
The idea of bringing the DIA’s Woodward Avenue plaza to street level as a way to increase its accessibility isn’t meant to be a pie-in-thesky analogy, he said. “I don’t know if we can do it. But I’d like to, if we can.�
Creating a town square Salort-Pons, who was born in Spain and studied in Italy before coming to the U.S. in 2004 to work at Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, aims to bring a bit of Europe back to Detroit with the creation of a town square. In European cities, the town square is a “magnetic center� where everyone goes, he said. Without that in Detroit, it’s easy to get lost. “If you want to make Detroit a livable city, you have to have points of reference,� Salort-Pons said. He wants to work with other nearby institutions like the Detroit Historical Museum and Wayne State University to make their shared area into the main town square of Detroit, with the DIA at the heart of it. He envisions doing that by transforming the urban plan of the area to create more walkability and by creating inviting entrances and gathering areas, beginning with the DIA’s Woodward Avenue plaza. “The DIA resembles a temple
when you walk up to it,â€? he said. “If we could, I would take it to the ground level.â€? Physically, the area around the DIA needs to change, Salort-Pons said. “And then, I think we need to do better outreach,â€? especially to the African American and Latino communities in the city. To truly be the heart of a town square, the DIA should reflect the city’s demographics, with representation from all of its residents coming to enjoy life and art, Salort-Pons said. “We want to be the mirror of the society so when everyone comes here they ‌ see themselves reflected.â€? The goal is to be relevant to everyone, he said. That means not just making the museum accessible for all people to visit it, but making sure all people who come to the museum are engaged. Bringing a diverse group of people with different talents and backgrounds together will create “a melting pot,â€? he said. “And that brings change.â€? Increasing diversity within the museum’s own operations, as well as in its galleries, is also a goal, Salort-Pons said. “Even though we are pretty good in diversity, it’s not in all the different ranks. That is a disadvantage for the museum.â€? When you have people from different backgrounds and races, what they bring to the table is
JOB FRONT MISCELLANEOUS
POSITIONS AVAILABLE
much richer, he said. But identifying diverse candidates for the museum’s various departments is often an issue, because the pipeline is not diverse, SalortPons said. “We want to help with that� by creating internships for high school or college students, for example, focusing on diverse candidates. Sometimes, only privileged people can afford to take internships because they are not paid, he said, noting he’d change that by offering paid internships.
Neighborhood revitalization Salort-Pons is also looking to spur revitalization in the city’s neighborhoods. “When you put art in the community, there are some dynamics it sparks,� he said. The community respects the art and starts to take care of the area around it. With a $10,000 Arts Challenge Detroit grant from the Miami-based John S. and James L. Knight Founda tion, the DIA is funding and coordi-
nating the creation of a mural by local artists in the city’s eastside Osborn neighborhood, as well as art workshops for residents. The four-story, 34-foot-wide mural will be painted by two Osborn-born artists, with help from other residents. Work is set to begin on the mural at Gratiot Avenue and
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OAKLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION
ANALYZE MATCH
Oakland Community College is currently accepting applications for the position of Executive Director, Oakland Community College Foundation. For additional information, minimum qualification requirements, and to apply on-line, please visit our website at:
www.oaklandcc.edu/Employment Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Deadline to apply is Friday, April 1, 2016. Refer to Position number 16ADME01-11417.
CrainsDetroit.com/JobConnect |
Crain’s Classifieds Gets Results
As an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer, Oakland Community College is seeking candidates who will augment the diversity of its faculty, staff and administration.
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Director, Institute of Continuing Legal Education University of Michigan, Ann Arbor The Institute of Continuing Legal Education (ICLE) at the University of Michigan seeks a Director. The Director is responsible for the vision and strategic direction of the Institute, strategic partnerships with related organizations, and representing the Institute at the local, state, and national levels. The Director sets the overall business, marketing and IT strategy for the Institute and provides leadership for its staff and its many volunteer speakers and authors. The Director is responsible for the Institute’s overall budget and ďŹ nancial performance. The Director reports to ICLE’s Executive Committee and to the Dean of the University of Michigan Law School or his designee. The ideal candidate will have 5+ years of experience directing an educational or information service organization or business unit with annual income of $3 million+ and a staff of 20+. He or she will be familiar with technology trends in communication and education services and have experience with high-level management of technical resources. The ideal candidate will have a successful track record of developing staff and volunteer talent, developing business models for law-related education and information services, and identifying and adapting to market trends and customer needs in the marketplace. For the complete position description, please visit http://umjobs.org/ For questions or more information, please contact Shawna McManus, Director of HR, Michigan Law at mcmanus@umich.edu The University of Michigan is an equal opportunity employer.
Six Mile Road in May, with assistance from the Osborn Neighborhood Alliance. The project builds on the DIA’s Inside/Out project that has taken reproductions of its famous artwork into Detroit neighborhoods and other communities around the tricounty area, Salort-Pons said. “We can work with local artists and through art help build up communities,â€? Salort-Pons said. “These works of art (bring) this bonding experience ‌ they improve the landscape where they are.â€? According to a national study released by the Washington, D.C.based Institute of Museum and Library Sciences and Local Initiatives Support Corp. in November, there are a number of U.S. museums and libraries leveraging their prominent local positions to help rebuild troubled neighborhoods, driving economic, educational and social efforts that help raise standards of living. Among them is the Detroit Public Library, highlighted for housing one of 10 learning labs in the city to provide literacy and math education and career pathways assistance. The branch participates in the Focus: Hope-led Hope Village Initiative, a neighborhood network of nine institutions providing a 100block area with skills training programs. The library is also a part of a community referral program linking people to health care, parenting
and tax-preparation assistance in the area. The country’s museums and libraries have vast potential to develop the physical, social and economic initiatives necessary for comprehensive community revitalization, said the institute’s director Kathryn Matthew. They are often located in areas that area very central to communities in need, especially in the case of libraries. And museums are already doing a lot of outreach and attracting many from the community on a regular basis, she said. “It’s all about the deep relationships museums have with their communities...and knowing how to leverage that,� Matthew said.
Showing impact on kids Last year, nearly 70,000 students came to the DIA, Salort-Pons said. “But what is the impact we have on these kids? We don’t know. (But) we need to know are we improving their creativity?� The DIA could test kids when they come in and then after field trips to the DIA, over time, test them again to see if they’ve improved in creativity, he said. If you can spark creativity in kids “you are actually giving them a mental tool. ... (They) will be a better problem solver and be more confident,� he said. Sherri Welch: (313) 446-1694 Twitter: @SherriWelch
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Flint water crisis puts DEQ under increased scrutiny By Jay Greene jgreene@crain.com
The Flint water crisis is bringing new scrutiny to Gov. Rick Snyder’s effort to streamline state regulations. The effort has been lauded by the business community for cutting red tape in acquiring permits and modifying or eliminating redundant regulations, but environmental groups question whether it has led to a permissive culture in the Michigan De partment of Environmental Quality
that helped lead to the crisis. In 2011, Snyder created the Of fice of Regulatory Reinvention to evaluate whether some regulations are outdated or hamper business development. Since then, 348 regulations have been rescinded from DEQ, 11 percent of the department’s total. Overall, Michigan departments have rescinded 2,217 regulations, or 16 percent of their total, by the ORR process. Snyder also has demanded that the DEQ conduct speedier reviews of air, water and land environmental permits and licenses to create a more business-friendly regulatory environment for the state. Jason Geer, director of energy and environmental policy with the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, said the DEQ’s permitting process has improved measurably under the Snyder administration. “The permitting process is just as rigorous, just as hard (to gain approval), but it is a process now that involves the stakeholders,” Geer said. “Stakeholders and DEQ staff meet and come up with ways to consider the risks and come up with a way to mitigate the risks.” Not everyone agrees. Lisa Wozniak, executive director with the Michigan League of Conservation Voters , said the culture of the Snyder administration has been to eliminate or modify some rules without a clear evaluation of environmental or public health impact. “They are creating a culture of getting to ‘yes’ more quickly,” Wozniak said. “Some say it is good for the business community but not in the best interests of the state citizens from public safety.” Maggie Pallone, DEQ’s deputy director for policy and legislative affairs, said Snyder has tried in the past five years to encourage economic development to help Michigan climb out of a recession and increase its national standing. “To say by encouraging economic development we were lax on the environment, I don’t think is true,” she said. “We did a good job at educating the business community in the rules on what the law said. It was not just DEQ handing out permits. It was a lot less confrontational.” Geer said the chamber feels the ORR has been very successful in using a mixed group of stakeholders — a 12-member committee that includes business and environmental representatives — to review outdated and unnecessary regulations.
“We want to create a safe but healthy economic environment,” he said. Shortly after taking office in early 2011, Snyder created the ORR to increase the efficiency of Michigan’s government and to create a more welcoming business environment. It was a similar approach to what former Republican Gov. John Engler did in the early 1990s. Engler believed environmental regulations slowed development, so he eliminated dozens of regulations, restructured the Department of Natural Resources and eliminated at least 18 citizen advisory boards. Environmental enforcement declined substantially, state reports said. Snyder’s ORR efforts and practice of allowing businesses to communicate more with DEQ regulators has been praised by the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and met with skepticism by the environmental community. “By eliminating bureaucratic red tape, the state has improved the delivery of our services and can better protect Michiganders and allow our businesses to be successful,” said the ORR in 2012 when announcing dozens of rule changes. The Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs , which oversees ORR, touts CNBC’s annual report on the nation’s top states for business. Over the past six years, Michigan has improved to 22nd in 2015, up from 29th in 2013 and 41st in 2010. James Clift, policy director of the Michigan Environmental Council, said ORR’s sole focus was to eliminate or modify regulations to make it easier for businesses to operate in Michigan. “The purpose was to resolve barriers that the business community perceived, not reviewing the rules for the science,” said Clift, who was one of 12 members on the DEQ’s regulatory rules advisory committee. “I dissented on one-third of the 77 recommendations (groups of DEQ rules that were rescinded).”Still, Clift said he does not believe any of the 348 deleted DEQ regulations contributed to the Flint water crisis. “There was a mentality, an atmosphere and attitude (in DEQ) that probably was a contributing factor” to the problems that led DEQ to ignore red flags when it came to fixing the Flint water problem, Clift said. Pallone said she rejects the notion that the Snyder administration put business interests ahead of public health and environmental protection. However, as a result of the Flint water crisis, Pallone said the DEQ and the Environmental Protection Agency are conducting a review of the regulatory breakdowns that led to Flint’s drinking water supply problems. One of the problems at the DEQ, said Clift, was that Dan Wyant, who was director of DEQ under Snyder until he resigned last December
BLOOMBERG
A failure to treat river water with anti-corrosion chemicals contributed to the crisis. over his handling of the Flint water crisis, seemed to relish wearing two hats: economic development and environmental protection. Wyant personally visited regional offices to encourage staff to become more business friendly and to increase permitting and licensure turnaround times, Clift said. Moreover, DEQ staff were trained in good customer service techniques and were graded on how well they served businesses, said a source familiar with business permitting issues. “Customer service was their No. 1 priority. They didn’t want complaints going to the director,” said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. “Dan Wyant talked often about being an equal partner in economic development. That always made me cringe,” Clift said. “We don’t want our No. 1 regulator being the arbiter of what is good for economic development and the environment.” Environmental lawyers told Crain’s that entities seeking regulatory review have found much easier sledding under Snyder than ever before. “DEQ always used to be sticklers for the rules,” said one environmental lawyer who asked to remain anonymous. “Permits that once would have raised a lot of red flags have gone through a lot smoother.” Anne Woiwode, former state director of the M i c h i g a n S i e r r a C l u b , said there has been a lax attitude among regulators to bend over backward to satisfy business interests. “Much of the attention to permitting of regulations goes to the proactive effort to obtain permission to pollute,” Woiwode said. For example, Snyder’s own scorecard of regulatory reinvention touts how quickly it turns around permitting applications and how customer service of applicants has soared. But Woiwode said the scorecard that DEQ uses to address success has nothing in it that measures responsiveness to citizen complaints.
“There has not been an incentive to respond to these kinds of complaints, so over time I expect DEQ staff stop prioritizing this,” she said.
How the rules are made While Geer said the business community is happy with its ability to participate more in the permitting process, the chamber’s main criticism of the DEQ now is the lack of stakeholder involvement in DEQ’s rule-making powers. “The current law requires one public hearing and then (DEQ) can (enact) regulation,” Geer said. “There is no stakeholder feedback process. They can do anything they wish.” In the early 1990s, the Engler administration won a court case against the Legislature that stripped its authority to veto regulations. In response, the chamber is backing Senate Bill 827, introduced last week by Sen. Tom Casperson, REscanaba. It would create an environmental rules committee within the executive administration that would provide oversight to regulations proposed by the DEQ. Geer said this committee of business leaders, environmental, health and medical officials would review all proposed regulations. The committee would have authority to approve, reject or ask DEQ to withdraw. “We would like to create this committee to create openness and transparency in the process,” Geer said. “There should be some things within the governor’s purview, but not be allowed a free hand.” Clift said the rules committee would be a “blatant attempt to turn over regulatory authority to the people we are supposed to be regulating.”
The shrinking DEQ In a 2010 report, the EPA said Michigan’s DEQ had experienced more than 20 years of budget cuts, staff reductions, had limited resources to enforce air and water standards and was willing to take shortcuts to safeguard the environment.
For example, DEQ’s Drinking Water Program was forced to fill vacancies “with staff from other programs that have been cut or eliminated,” the EPA said. “While this practice preserves jobs, it decreases the technical knowledge of staff and requires tremendous resources to train these staff.” It is not clear what has happened during Snyder’s tenure to rectify those problems. Fast forward to Flint. On Dec. 29, Snyder’s own Flint Water Advisory Task Force said this of the DEQ’s oversight of Flint’s switch from Lake Huron-treated water to the Flint River: “We believe the primary responsibility for what happened in Flint rests with the DEQ. The city of Flint’s water customers — fellow Michigan citizens — were needlessly and tragically exposed to toxic levels of lead through their drinking water supply.” The task force said DEQ failed in three areas: regulatory enforcement, public response, and interpretation of the EPA’s lead and copper rule. “We believe that in the Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assis tance at DEQ, a culture exists in
which ‘technical compliance’ is considered sufficient to ensure safe drinking water in Michigan,” said the Snyder Flint task force. Geer said the chamber doesn’t agree that (the DEQ) sees technical compliance as sufficient. “We have arguments all the time with DEQ. They, at times, seem to be going way beyond what is required. We agree some culture change is needed,” he said. But environmentalists say DEQ’s culture change didn’t simply start with the ORR review or Snyder’s proclamations that “Michigan is open for business.” Over 30 years, “there have been hiring freezes, shifting budgets, and the DEQ is being forced more than ever to oversee more with less,” Wozniak said. From 1999 through 2015, DEQ’s general fund budget declined 64 percent from $96 million to $35 million, said the House Fiscal Agency last year. “There has been a de-prioritizing of programs intended to protect human health and those systemic problems caused Flint,” Wozniak said. But under Snyder, DEQ’s state general fund budget increased from $21.5 million in 2011 to $35 million in 2015. For fiscal 2017, Snyder has proposed a $12 million increase at DEQ to $47.7 million. Overall, DEQ’s budget, which includes federal funds, bond funding and other grants, has grown under Snyder to $487 million in 2015 from $406 million in fiscal 2011. Snyder’s proposed 2017 budget for DEQ is $513 million. 䡲 Jay Greene: (313) 446-0325 Twitter: @jaybgreene
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WATER FROM PAGE 1
was expected Saturday as an added precaution, said district community relations director Lori Grein. Two state-certified labs tested samples from the Howell Public School District and found late last month that 14 out of 30 samples from Northwest Elementary School had lead content, though only three from “seldomused fixtures� were above the EPA action threshold. Utica Community Schools retained Farmington Hills environmental research and consulting firm Arch Environmental Group in mid-January to sample and test drinking water at its 45 schools and other buildings. The samples, tested for Arch by Lakeland Laboratories Inc. in Pinckney, found no lead levels at any school district site. Kary Amin, partner and vice president at Nova Environmental, said the company expects to collect samples from 80-100 buildings from at least half a dozen other school districts besides Rochester within the next several weeks — mostly in Macomb and Oakland counties. Normally the company does little or no analysis for schools using city water. Testing centers like National Testing Laboratories have been pretty good so far about returning
How to test water quality A business or homeowner or school district can requisition sample containers directly from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s Drinking Water Analysis Laboratory in Lansing, or hire an independent private laboratory certified by the state. An environmental engineering firm, which in turn uses DEQ or a certified lab, can also collect samples and evaluate results. Local health departments generally maintain a small supply of the most common sample collection units, for easier and faster service, and can usually offer some advice on the most appropriate kinds of tests to request. But local supplies may be depleted by recent demand. Individual sample units should be drawn from only one water source, and samples that are not submitted in the correct units may not be analyzed. Sample unit requests to the state can be submitted by email, phone, fax or mail to the DEQ. More information is available at the DEQ’s website.
results, and the extra work hasn’t created any backlogs or delays, Amin said — but the sampling means extra work hours. “The lead work is such that we find ourselves pulling weekends or longer days recently, because for the process of lead testing ideally you want first draw — where you wait six hours with no activity at the fixture for collecting a sample,� Amin said. “So to get the water before the kids start using it, you have to come in very early in the morning or weekends. Logistics come into play for your sampling strategy.� Scott Staber, president and CEO of Arch Environmental, said his company has submitted about 25
proposals to Michigan school districts in the past two months or so, many of them in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties, even though those districts rarely requested such testing unless they had a specific cause for concern. “Schools don’t necessarily have a huge budget for something that’s not mandated. So I would say all or nearly all are doing this because they’re trying to be proactive, and to ensure parents and the community their children are safe,� he said. “We do have a fair amount of new work, but it hasn’t become unmanageable yet. And I think it’s going to continue to have a surge upward until the Flint issue
gets resolved.� National Testing also confirmed having an “appreciable� increase in water-quality testing requests from Michigan, where it maintains a laboratory in Ypsilanti, but did not give specific growth figures. The company has also been approached by MDEQ for testing assistance, Vice President Steve Tischler said in an email. “Our volume is up, and we have added resources to meet this new demand. If the trend we are seeing continues, we will be looking to add resources in the form of instrumentation and people,� he said. The MDEQ charges $18 to test an individual sample for lead and $26 per sample for lead and copper, a more industry-standard metals test. Independent labs are generally more expensive, charging anywhere from $25 to more than $60 per sample, experts said, but return results faster — and some say they are picking up business from customers who feel less confident in a state-run laboratory since Flint. Water analysis laboratory officials at the MDEQ report demand for water quality testing has at least tripled statewide in the past few months — so much so that the agency ran out of one kind of sampling container and had to resupply it recently. The workload means the agency is sometimes taking up
19 to two weeks to deliver test results, but some private labs told Crain’s they obtain results for a customer within three or four days. Environmental engineering firms can collect anywhere from a basic sampling of two or three locations in one building, to a more comprehensive collection from every single water fixture in it. That means an average-sized school district could end up with a bill of tens of thousands of dollars for the district, depending on number of fixtures tested, number of buildings and whether the district relies on the engineering company’s specialist or its own personnel to gather samples. Chris McCarthy, owner of Howell-based Water Tech LLC , which conducted some of the sample testing for the Howell school district, said lead and copper testing is usually a small portion of business for the firm, which focuses more on standard environmental testing for home inspectors at the time of home sales, or on new wells. But lead testing has more than doubled in recent months, largely from commercial and school customers and others who aren’t under legal requirements to do so. “This year is definitely going to be one of the bigger years for lead and copper testing,â€? he said. 䥲 Chad Halcom: (313) 446-6796 Twitter: @chadhalcom
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RIVERFRONT FROM PAGE 3
Lester. The Talon Centre sale, expected to close by the middle of this month, is being brokered by Peter Jankowski, vice president of brokerage services for Bingham Farmsbased Core Partners LLC , and Luke Timmis, investment sales associate at Southfield-based Signature Associates Inc. There are no brokers on the Stroh River Place deal, Lester said. The purchase prices have not been disclosed. The Stroh River Place anchor is at 300 River Place, a 500,000-squarefoot office building owned by the Stroh Cos. That also houses the Rat tlesnake Club restaurant. The complex also includes a parking structure and the Roberts Riverwalk Hotel & Residence at 1000 River Place, the former Omni Hotel. Lester’s purchase does not include these buildings. The Stroh family bought the property in 1979. It contained more than a dozen late 19th and early 20th century buildings, which were later redeveloped into the Stroh River Place project just west of the UAW-GM Center for Human Resources. Stroh River Place has 301 units: 87
DOWNTOWN FROM PAGE 1
But other progress has been made in smaller ways.
Three years of action To be sure, the downtown atmosphere is better than it was in March 2013 when the plan was unveiled, and more is to be done this year. Those things include redevelopment projects, art installations, new events and urban redesign plans and others. “The plan that was outlined was a guideline to get us to a place we want to be,” said AJ Weiner, managing director in the Royal Oak office of Jones Lang LaSalle. “We would all agree the environment is better two, five and 10 years ago. We are on the right direction.” Dan Gilbert’s Rock Ventures LLC says that more than 1,000 free events are now held annually in four targeted parks downtown — Campus Martius, Beatrice Buck Park, Capitol Park and Grand Circus Park — and that more are expected this year. “We will have more and more diverse events and place-making activations with more external public and private partners as well as more of a focus on arts and cultural programming,” the company said. And progress is being made on those big-ticket items, costing hundreds of millions in public and private dollars. They include turning Woodward into an esplanade and promenade between Jefferson to the south and Grand Circus Park to the north, and making crossing Jefferson to Hart Plaza easier and more conducive to a walkable downtown. Both considered more pedestrian-friendly urban planning options, the esplanade — a park-like area, possibly including bike lanes, created by widening the existing median
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one-bedroom units ranging from 730 to 1,022 square feet renting from $1,141 to $1,521 per month; 160 twobedroom units ranging from 1,011 to 1,935 square feet renting from $1,462 to $2,239 per month; and 54 threebedroom units ranging from 1,237 to 1,636 square feet renting from $1,527 to $1,902 per month, according to Princeton Enterprises. Constructed in early 20th century buildings, the apartments were renovated in 1987, according to Princeton. The Talon Centre building is owned by Talon Center Partners LLC, which is registered to Daniel Stern, owner of Bloomfield Hills-based Lormax-Stern Development Co.
The building was originally a Parke-Davis pharmaceutical plant and later became Stroh Brewery Co.’s headquarters. The building was renovated in the early 1990s for about $15 million. Real estate brokers said the deal is a win for Princeton and shows how strong the area has become in recent years. “It’s a further endorsement of the benefits of the Riverwalk investment that the city and others were able to facilitate,” said AJ Weiner, managing director in the Royal Oak
— would be south of Campus Martius. The promenade — consisting of glass café projections, outdoor cafés and kiosks — would be between Campus Martius and Grand Circus Park. “This (plan) was to lay out the framework for a broad plan of infrastructure, place-making, retailing and so on, but we don’t ever expect to be done” with improvements, said Matt Cullen, president and CEO of Rock Ventures, one of the financial backers of the plans. “We want to improve it all the time.” So, many of the plan’s facets, described by its backers in shorthand as LQC, meaning lighter, quicker, cheaper, have been implemented, including in Grand Circus Park, said Bob Gregory, president of the Detroit 300 Conservancy , an affiliate of the Downtown Detroit Partnership working on the place-making efforts. “You can go back three or four years ago, and people felt very uncomfortable, whether because of crime, dope or overgrown landscaping,” Gregory said. “These are not big, skyscraping kinds of projects, but we went in there, working off that plan and opened up the pathways, removed the hedges, adding programming and chairs and umbrellas. People are coming back there.” In the next year or so, also look for a redesign of Capitol Park to be unveiled to soften the downtown enclave with wider sidewalks, new plantings, bike lanes and other improvements, Gregory said. Significant redevelopment of some of the area’s buildings is also expected. Efforts by Rock, the DDP and others — the city of Detroit, the Detroit Economic Growth Corp. , the Detroit RiverFront Conservancy and others among them — will continue. New retailers will come and make splashes for city shoppers, including the soon-to-open Nike Inc. community
MICHAEL LEWIS II
River Place was a renovation of century-old buildings formerly owned by the old drugmaker Parke-Davis.
office of Jones Lang LaSalle . “I think you now have an argument, with the Orleans Landing project and the DNR building, that it further feeds into what is going to be a really exciting riverfront in the years to come.” The $65 million Orleans Landing mixed-use project, to the west of River Place, broke ground last fall. The nearby DNR Outdoor Adventure Center , a renovation of the former Globe Trading Co. building,
opened last summer. Steve Morris, principal of Farmington Hills-based Axis Advisors LLC, which represented the Detroitbased Skillman Foundation in the renewal of its first-floor lease at the Talon Centre, called the east riverfront office market one that has been “tertiary” for many years. “But with office vacancy in (downtown) Detroit coming down to under 13 percent, nothing being
store on Woodward. Designer John Varvatos, a Detroit native, also opened a Woodward store. Dan Mullen, executive vice president of Gilbert’s Bedrock Real Estate Services LLC , said the new activity downtown has been a key part of recruiting new tenants to Bedrock’s buildings. “Almost every single one of our tenants feels that way,” he said. “Fifth Third and Ally Financial were thrilled to be next to the programming in the park and the urban beach and everything else.” In addition, art installations downtown are seemingly unveiled weekly, with more to come in different pockets of the central core. Walk around a Gilbert-owned building and odds are that you’ll notice something new every time — a mural here, a piano there, a temporary installation somewhere else. Last year, an installation gave space for people to write the one thing they wanted to do before they die on the side of a Woodward building. A massive Shepard Fairey mural was installed on the side of the One Campus Martius building, formerly the Compuware Corp. headquarters now owned by Bedrock and Detroitbased Meridian Health. Last week, Bedrock announced a new Vault of Midnight Inc . comic book store in Gilbert’s The Z mixed-use development and a new “experiential entertainment” venue called Escape the Room at 1030 Brush St.
Gilbert, the founder and chairman of Quicken Loans Inc. and Rock Ventures, is involved in. “Yes, you look to the north and take a chunk of Brush Park, and development of some stuff on the west side in Corktown, and they’ve got a number of ideas that haven’t come to fruition,” said Robin Boyle, chairman of the Wayne State University Department of Urban Studies and Planning. Bedrock is one of the investment partners in a $70 million redevelopment of 8.4 acres of Brush Park into a new mixed-use development with residential and retail space, and earlier this year purchased a pair of Corktown buildings at 1700 W. Fort St. and 1681-1749 W. Lafayette Blvd. from The Display Group. Quicken also opened its 66,000-square-foot data center in Corktown in June. “Then there is another group working on some neighborhoods, some of the housing initiatives. You could argue that the Bedrock empire has seen a little bit of mission creep in downtown Detroit and you could argue that they are taking their toys and spreading them too widely — which is potentially good, but then you don’t have that delivery in the central core.” Bedrock’s real estate portfolio is now more than 85 properties — buildings, parking decks and surface parking lots — totaling more than 14 million square feet, largely downtown, acquired over the past five years, according to the most recent Quicken Loans tally. The investment is more than $2.2 billion, according to Quicken. The M-1 Rail project is a 3.3-mile streetcar loop under construction between Larned Street downtown and Grand Boulevard in the New Center area. It is scheduled for a first-quarter completion next year. A redevelopment plan for the Hudson’s site is now due by next month after several deadline exten-
Too ambitious? But urban planning academicians say that the timelines three years ago for completion of the large-scale projects were too ambitious, with perhaps too small of a group tackling them, with perhaps too many other things on their plates — particularly given how rapidly Bedrock’s real estate portfolio has grown in the past three years and other efforts that
built and expansion still continuing, certain large users are going to have to look east or at the New Center area,” he said. Ben Rosenzweig, vice president of brokerage at Birmingham-based Indigo Centers, said Princeton has been able to maintain its multifamily properties well and its work at the Grand Park Centre office building at 28 W. Adams, which it purchased three years ago, proves the company can attract downtown office tenants. “The Talon Centre and Stroh’s River Place apartments are a great addition to their portfolio of highquality properties in a great Detroit location,” Rosenzweig said. Princeton Enterprises owns and manages the former Milner Hotel , which was redeveloped into The Ashley apartment building with 67 units in a $9 million project completed last year. Closure of the two purchases would bring Princeton Enterprises, founded in 1995, to a greater downtown multifamily portfolio of 10 buildings with 1,138 units. “This is two out of what we consider to be several in the works,” Lester said. “There is more to come.” 䡲 Kirk Pinho: (313) 446-0412 Twitter: @kirkpinhoCDB
sions to submit it. The development is expected to include at least 225,000 square feet of mixed-use space, at least 250 residential units and at least 900 parking spaces. Gilbert said in a December interview with Crain’s that work continues.“We’re working hard. We have to get it right. We want to make sure it’s a unique, special destination, something that Detroiters and visitors can be proud of,” he said. Work also continues on the Woodward esplanade, Gregory said. South of the planned M-1 station downtown, planning for the esplanade is on pause so further planning of Hart Plaza and Jefferson Avenue can be completed. North of the M-1 station, work continues studying, planning and designing the initial phase of turning that portion of Woodward north to Grand Circus Park into an esplanade. Planning to make crossing Jefferson Avenue to go to and from Hart Plaza is also ongoing, Gregory said. June Manning Thomas, the Centennial Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, said that while the groups spearheading the place-making and retail efforts are perhaps “even a little bit ahead” of where she expected them to be on the overall plan, perhaps they didn’t quite grasp all the headwinds they would face on a number of fronts. “I think everyone is kind of new at development in downtown Detroit,” she said. “It’s not greenfield development in Sterling Heights. You’ve got a bureaucracy that is probably at one of its lowest levels in terms of staffing. Then you have permitting that you have to go through after a whole wave of pinkslipping that started about four years ago or even before that.” 䡲 Kirk Pinho: (313) 446-0412 Twitter: @kirkpinhoCDB
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spending to replace coal will begin after that, with DTE’s bill eventually coming in at $8 billion. Officials at DTE and Consumers say they will lean toward natural gas because renewable energy technology hasn’t advanced enough to depend on for base load energy. Gas is cleaner than other fossil fuels and will allow them to meet federal emissions rules. Since gas doesn’t rely on the vagaries of wind and sunshine to produce power, it can be the base that enables the expansion of renewables. They also like that natural gas plants are smaller and nimbler than coal plants. They require less investment, take up less real estate, can be built within two years, and are easily switched on and off. Natural gas plants “can dispatch on incredibly short notice — within 15 minutes,” Slater said.
FROM PAGE 1
merely as a predictable provider of monthly utility bills. The Gas Storage & Pipelines division stands apart from the utility business and was the company’s best-performing division last year. Its profits increased 30 percent from $82 million in 2014 to $107 million in 2015. Other divisions were flat, down or lost money. Fitch Ratings, in a February upgrading of DTE’s credit rating, approvingly noted that Nexus is buoyed by “take-or-pay contracts” with distributors with an average term of 15 years. These contracts are exactly what they sound like: Customers that choose not to take gas from the pipe will still have to pay for it. They can sell their share on the secondary market. Either way, Nexus gets the important early funding it needs to make the project viable, upfront. GS&P is one of two non-utility business divisions that could drive up DTE’s net income 25 percent by 2018, the ratings company projected. (The other is DTE’s Power & Industrial Projects division, which manages power at factories for industrial customers.) DTE plans to spend up to $2.6 billion developing its gas and pipelines business through 2020. GS&P’s customers are utilities, including DTE itself. The division supplies fuel through pipelines and uses underground storage facilities, many of them in St. Clair County, to make sure it has the supply needed at times of peak demand. Nexus will allow DTE to expand the gas side of its business. The company says Michigan’s geography gives it an edge. Natural gas wells made of porous rock were depleted in the middle of the last century but now serve as ideal places to store gas. DTE’s strategic play is to combine this natural storage asset with a direct line to one of the country’s biggest hotbeds of natural gas production. DTE says it already has contracts with seven companies for two-thirds of the pipeline’s capacity. They include Union Gas Ltd. , Enbridge Inc. , Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Noble Energy Inc. Markets directly served will be those in northern Ohio and Southeast Michigan. The reach will be extended by connecting to another DTE jointventure pipeline called Vector, which runs 348 miles between the Chicago area and Dawn, Ontario, which is a major energy hub. A map provided by DTE shows a string of northern Ohio gas utilities and industrial parks along the Nexus route that would be welcome new customers. These include Columbia Gas of
LEAR
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market. I believe in organized labor, but with the caveat that we need to stay competitive.” In Mexico, labor rates sit at under $8 per hour, including the cost of benefits, according to recent reports. “More cars are being assembled within 100 miles of Detroit than anywhere in the world, yet the vast majority of components are manufactured in Mexico,” Simoncini said. “No one wants to subsidize this, whether it’s the UAW, suppliers or OEMs, but
Risks Ohio Inc., Dominion Resources Inc. and a gas plant being built near Toledo called the Oregon Clean Energy Center. DTE would not say how much revenue it expects from the expansion. But, like Michigan, Ohio has aging coal plants that likely will be replaced by natural gas. “Ohio has the same situation we do,” said David Slater, president of DTE’s gas and pipeline division.
Critical connection Besides adding a major asset to its GS&P division, not to mention to its regular gas utility business, Nexus also fits into a shift that will remake DTE’s electric utility infrastructure over the next 15 years. DTE is in the early stages of switching this base from coal to natural gas. It expects gas to generate 30-45 percent of its mix by 2030. The overhaul serves not only to upgrade the aging fleet, but also to meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed Clean Power Plan to cut carbon emissions 32 percent by 2030. (DTE’s fellow Michigan utility, Jackson-based Consumers Energy Co., has similar plans. Three of its five coal plants will close in April.) DTE last year spent $310 million on purchases of two natural gas plants. It’s in the middle of shutting down two-thirds of its coal plant in Trenton. It hasn’t announced plans to close units at any of its four other coal plants, but it will have to in the years ahead to meet its targets. It expects to spend $1.2 billion on new electricity generation by 2020. DTE CEO Gerry Anderson previously told Crain’s that the bulk of the
wouldn’t we all rather make parts where they used to be made?” But Kristin Dziczek, director of the industry and labor group at the Ann Arbor-based Center for Automotive Research , said the plan only works if it’s subsidized by low wages and tax incentives. “There are plenty of companies that employ people in the city and outside who are providing thousands of jobs in the suburbs and across the country at the same exact rate,” Dziczek said. “Unless this is aimed at really being a training program, why does it come with a lower wage?” Simoncini said the low-wage tier
INDEX TO COMPANIES These companies have significant mention in this week’s Crain’s Detroit Business: Arch Environmental ............................................11 20 Bedrock Real Estate Services ........................2 Black Star Farms ...............................................113 9, 11, 12 Consumers Energy ...................................9 3 Detroit Institute of Arts.....................................3 Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge.....114 DTE Energy........................................11, 9, 10, 11, 12 General Motors..................................................110 4 General Sports and Entertainment .................4 3 Lear .......................................................................3 M-1 Rail ..................................................................11 Michigan Chamber of Commerce...................118
Michigan Charitable Gaming Association.......77 Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality .....118 Michigan Gaming Control Board.......................77 Michigan Solar Solutions .................................113 Nova Environmental............................................11 3 Princeton Enterprises ........................................3 9 Steelcase .............................................................9 3 Stroh River Place.................................................3 3 Talon Centre ........................................................3 4 United Shore Financial Services ......................4 4 United Shore Professional Baseball League ..4 Water Tech..........................................................119
Industry watchers worry the utilities are setting up themselves, and by extension the state’s economy, for disaster should the price of natural gas spike. Price spikes have caused problems in the past. In the early 2000s, low prices enticed independent investors to build plants. Prices went back up and these “merchant plants,” as they are called, went bust. (Now they are easy pickings for the utilities. Consumers Energy last year bought one for what it says was the quarter of the price to build one.) “There’s no way natural gas is going to stay as cheap as it has been for the last couple of years,” said Martin Kushler, a senior fellow at the California-based American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy whose office is in Lansing. Slater said Nexus’ direct connection to natural gas sources will help stabilize prices by making the logistics more efficient, and smoothing the peaks and valleys of supply and demand. Longterm contracts with set prices also will help. The revolution in fracking technology that’s been going on for the past decade has been the leading the plunge in prices. That technology won’t be un-invented. But Kushler said that may be beside the point; when fracking depletes existing reserves, prices will reflect the tightened supply. At the moment, DTE is busier fending off price questions coming from the other direction. In the Feb. 10 conference call, analysts were more concerned that prices are so low that drillers won’t have anything to put into the Nexus pipeline. Prices don’t make it worth the money it takes to get gas out of the ground. Anderson said not to worry. “The drilling has to resume, and our pipes are in the right locations to benefit and grow .” 䡲
would be based on an apprenticelike structure, where those workers would have a path to growth, which includes first rights to higher-paying openings within the organization. That classification would apply to new jobs only, not as a replacement to current jobs, he said. The UAW declined to discuss any talks about working with Lear toward its goal. The city of Detroit didn’t respond to requests about whether tax incentives or other incentives are being discussed for the plan. Fred Hubacker, managing director at Birmingham-based advisory firm Conway MacKenzie Inc., said the UAW’s need for membership could drive the acceptance of a lower wage. “I think the UAW will accept this, and they should, because it’s good for their membership numbers, which is a high priority, and it’s good for the city of Detroit,” Hubacker said in an email to Crain’s. Conway MacKenzie served as the financial adviser to the city’s recent Chapter 9 bankruptcy and worked on nearly every supplier bankruptcy during the Great Recession. Lear already operates a joint venture in the city, Integrated Manufac -
turing and Assembly LLC , that employs as many as 700, Simoncini said, at a lower wage rate than its fully owned plants. “We know we can find qualified candidates,” Simoncini said. “We’ve proven we can succeed in the city, so we want to open another plant to encourage others to follow us.” Lear could reopen a shuttered 100,000-square-foot plant it owns in the city or continue to push a city-led effort to redevelop the I-94 Industrial Park near the junction of I-94 and I-75 near the American Axle & Manu facturing Holdings Inc. headquarters. “To me, the investment here is consistent whether we put a plant in Mexico or Detroit,” Simoncini said. “This could be a huge winner.” A new plant in Detroit would double down on Lear’s investments in the city last year. In July, Lear bought the 50,000square-foot Hemmeter Building on Centre Street in Detroit for nearly $6 million. Then in September, it acquired a building on State Street in Detroit’s Capital Park to house an innovation and design center. 䡲 Dustin Walsh: (313) 446-6042 Twitter: @dustinpwalsh
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CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS www.crainsdetroit.com Editor-in-Chief Keith E. Crain Group Publisher Mary Kramer, (313) 446-0399 or mkramer@crain.com Editor Jennette Smith, (313) 446-1622 or jhsmith@crain.com Director, Digital Strategy, Audience Development Nancy Hanus, (313) 446-1621 or nhanus@crain.com Managing Editor Michael Lee, (313) 446-1630 or malee@crain.com Managing Editor/Custom and Special Projects Daniel Duggan, (313) 446-0414 or dduggan@crain.com Assistant Managing Editor Kristin Bull, (313) 446-1608 or kbull@crain.com News Editor Beth Reeber Valone, (313) 446-5875 or bvalone@crain.com Senior Editor Gary Piatek, (313) 446-0357 or gpiatek@crain.com Research and Data Editor Sonya Hill,(313) 446-0402 orshill@crain.com Editorial Support (313) 446-0419; YahNica Crawford, (313) 446-0329 Newsroom (313) 446-0329, FAX (313) 446-1687 , TIP LINE (313) 446-6766
REPORTERS Jay Greene, senior reporter Covers health care, insurance, energy, utilities and the environment. (313) 446-0325 or jgreene@crain.com Chad Halcom Covers litigation, the defense industry and education. (313) 446-6796 or chalcom@crain.com Tom Henderson Covers banking, finance, technology and biotechnology. (313) 446-0337 or thenderson@crain.com Kirk Pinho Covers real estate, Oakland and Macomb counties. (313) 446-0412 or kpinho@crain.com Bill Shea, enterprise editor Covers media, advertising and marketing, the business of sports, and transportation. (313) 446-1626 or bshea@crain.com Robert Snell, reporter Covers city of Detroit and regional politics. (313) 446-1654 or rsnell@crain.com Lindsay VanHulle, Lansing reporter. (517) 6572204 or lvanhulle@crain.com Dustin Walsh, senior reporter Covers the business of law, auto suppliers, manufacturing and steel. (313) 446-6042 or dwalsh@crain.com Sherri Welch, senior reporter Covers nonprofits, services, retail and hospitality. (313) 446-1694 or swelch@crain.com
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ON THE WEB FEB. 27-MARCH 4
Detroit Digits State to pay A numbers-focused look at last Earley to consult week’s headlines: 3 until mid-July The number of rooms challenging
ichigan has agreed to pay Darnell Earley, the Detroit Public Schools’ former state-appointed emergency manager, more than $82,000 to serve as a consultant through mid-July. Earley stepped down last month from DPS amid criticism for his role in Flint’s water crisis, as the former EM in that city, and his handling of teacher sick-outs and building conditions in Detroit’s schools.
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COMPANY NEWS 䡲 The Boston-based Wahlburgers chain is set to open its first Michigan restaurant in Detroit’s Greektown this summer. Greektown Casino-Hotel (soon to be known as Jack Detroit CasinoHotel Greektown) confirmed the chain will locate across from the casino at 569 Monroe St. Crain’s first reported the burger chain — owned by entertainer siblings Mark and Donnie Wahlberg and their brother Paul — was headed to Greektown in December. 䡲 Meijer Inc.’s $80 million campaign to remodel a dozen Southeast Michigan stores is expected to be completed by the holiday season, the Walker-based retailer said. Meijer has started renovating its store in Roseville, expected to take six months, and will stagger renovations at stores in Allen Park, Clinton Township, Lapeer, Lenox Township, Marysville, Port Huron, Royal Oak, Shelby Township, Southfield, Warren and Wixom. 䡲 Birmingham-based Conway MacKenzie Inc. filed a countersuit against co-founder and former Chairman and CEO Van Conway. The suit alleges the ousted turnaround executive “treated the firm as a personal expense account.” Conway sued the firm last month, alleging its board violated agreements by removing him as chairman and CEO while he was on medical leave. 䡲 Innovation Ventures LLC, the Farmington Hills-based maker of the popular 5-Hour Energy drink, could collect more than $22 million plus interest after obtaining a jury verdict against a New Jerseybased competitor that has bottled a rival “6 Hour Power” shot for about 10 years. 䡲 Federal-Mogul Holdings Corp.’s largest shareholder, billionaire investor Carl Icahn, is seeking to buy the remaining stake in the Southfield-based parts supplier. Icahn Enterprises LP already owns 82 percent of the company. 䡲 United Wholesale Mortgage, a division of Troy-based United
patrons in a riddle game by Manhattan-based Escape the Room. The company opened its first Michigan location earlier this month in the retail space of the Brush Street Garage in Detroit. In each 60-minute game, players solve increasingly challenging riddles to find the keys that will get them out of a locked room.
248
The number of 4-by-7-foot wood panels used to create the court for the Horizon League’s men’s basketball tournament held at Joe Louis Arena. Armasa-based Connor Sports supplied the floor from maple trees taken from northern Michigan.
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The high estimate of “unproductive faculty” at the Wayne State University School of Medicine, according to the
school’s dean. The school issued a letter to 527 faculty members to step up research and help turn around the school’s $1.5 million monthly deficit or face job cuts. Shore Financial Services LLC, was the top wholesale lender in the U.S. in 2015 with $13 billion, according to data compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance. Detroitbased Quicken Loans Inc. was the No. 2 retail lender in the U.S., with $78.5 billion. 䡲 Three Detroit nonprofits — Alternatives for Girls, Midnight Golf and the Southwest Detroit Community Justice Center — will share $150,000 in pro bono business consulting services as the winners of an inaugural, nonprofit elevator pitch competition hosted by JFM Consulting Group. 䡲 Three metro Detroit companies were listed on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For. Detroit-based Quicken Loans ranked fifth, Southfield-based Credit Acceptance ranked 27th and Southfield-based Plante Moran was 33rd. 䡲 The World of Erhard, a regional automotive dealership group, acquired Jaguar of Novi for an undisclosed sum from Troy-based Elder Automotive Group. Erhard moved the Jaguar dealership to its Land Rover Farmington Hills dealership amid the group’s construction of a new Bloomfield Hills dealership. 䡲 Brothers Jeff and Kevin Goldman opened Chicago-based national franchise The Exercise Coach in West Bloomfield Township. The fitness studios rely on computers and robotics instead of treadmills, dumbbells and other traditional methods to build muscle quicker. 䡲 Bon Bon Bon owner Alexandra
Clark plans to open a new flagship location in Hamtramck, replacing the original shop and handmade chocolates making facility on Evaline Street. Clark bought the building at 11360 Joseph Campau Ave. for $110,000 from Ashraf Ahmed. 䡲 The third Vault of Midnight Inc. comic book and board game store is slated to open in The Z in downtown Detroit by spring. Vault of Midnight is expected to hire five full-time employees at 1226 Library St. in Bedrock Real Estate Services LLC’s mixed-use parking garage/retail space development. 䡲 After months of construction and planning, Thai-inspired restaurant Katoi will open in a former automotive garage in Corktown later this month. The restaurant is at 2520 Michigan Ave. 䡲 Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is parting ways with Wieden & Kennedy, the ad agency that created the automaker’s iconic “Imported From Detroit” commercials after a notable six-year run, Advertising Age reported. 䡲 The Detroit Tigers began spring training games amid a sprawling $40.8 million renovation of their facility in Lakeland, Fla. The project, subsidized entirely by taxpayers, includes construction of a 78,000-square-foot building within Joker Marchant Stadium that will include a new clubhouse, administrative offices, and player development area.
OTHER NEWS 䡲 A marijuana reform group’s two petitions to halt a zoning ordinance that puts restrictions on Detroit’s roughly 200 medical marijuana dispensaries were deemed invalid by the city’s legal team, said Detroit City Councilman James Tate, who proposed the zoning ordinance last year. 䡲 Wages for Michigan’s technology-industry workers lag those of their counterparts nationwide by an average of 24.3 percent, according to a report from CompTIA, an Illinois nonprofit trade association. While the average tech job in Michigan paid $84,800, the average tech job in the U.S. paid $105,400, the report said. 䡲 The Southeast Michigan Purchasing Managers Index slid 5.1 points in February to a level of 52, the lowest value in six months. A reading above 50 indicates economic growth for the index.
OBITUARIES 䡲 Gil Hill, a former Detroit city councilman and mayoral candidate known to action movie fans as the salty-tongued police inspector in three “Beverly Hills Cop” films, died Feb. 29. He was 84. 䡲 Thomas R. Morley, former Morley Candy Makers Inc. president and chairman, died Feb. 29. He was 86. 䡲
RUMBLINGS Detroit GOP debate draws crowd, media to political circus gentle but steady snowfall on Thursday didn’t prevent a hundred-some protesters and activists from gathering to chant and march outside Detroit’s Fox Theatre during the Republican presidential debate. The real show, however, was inside the ornate theater. That’s where celebrity businessman and GOP frontrunner Donald Trump held court for much of the Fox News-moderated debate with U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Trump’s bombastic and sometimes crude comments dominated the news and social media during and after the debate, but the boisterous audience got in on the act, too. Video quickly emerged of young people “dabbing” — a popular facein-elbow (like shielding a sneeze) dance move — in the audience, and there were reports of drunken attendees ejected by security. The Flint water crisis, the Detroit Public Schools’ financial situation, and the auto industry were only briefly and cursorily addressed by the candidates, who spent much of the evening insulting each other — par for the course in these GOP debates. (See Michigan Briefs, Page 2.) More than 400 journalists from about 100 domestic and international news outlets were credentialed to cover the debate, according to Republican National Committee debate organizers. The Hockeytown Café next to the Fox was used as the media filing center, and reporters watched the debate from the restaurant’s dozens of TVs normally used for Detroit Red Wings broadcasts. Michigan’s Republican and Democratic presidential primaries are Tuesday.
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Inforum offers classes for women entrepreneurs Inforum, the professional
women’s organization, is working with two local leaders in finance and entrepreneurship for a program Inforum bills as the equivalent of master’s classes in entrepreneurial development for women business owners. The goal? In Inforum’s words: “Positioning Michigan as the Midwest hub for high-growth women entrepreneurs.” One class is currently underway, meeting one Saturday a month through Sept. 17. It is taught by Patti Glaza, a vice president at Invest Detroit who is managing director of its First Step and Detroit Innovate funds. She has also been CEO of several tech startups. Applications are now being accepted for the second master’s class, which will meet one Friday a month from April 22 to Dec. 9. It will be taught by Paula Sorrell, an
BILL SHEA
Hockeytown Café was used as the media
filing centerduring the GOP debate. Ann Arbor-based business consultant who recently finished a fouryear stint as vice president for entrepreneurship for the Michigan Economic Development Corp.
The classes, which are sponsored by the MEDC and the New Economy Initiative for Southeast Michigan, will help entrepreneurs assess their company’s operations, finances and personnel; provide them professional coaching and mentors; and introduce them to sources of capital to fund growth. The cost to attend, $1,500, includes Inforum membership.
‘Ask Dr. Nandi’ may relocate medical TV show Partha Nandi, M.D., creator and star of the “Ask Dr. Nandi” medical TV show produced in Farmington Hills, may be looking for a new home — outside of Michigan. After three years of funding that totaled $2.8 million, Nandi told Crain’s that the show failed to garner tax incentives from the Michigan Film In stitute for 2015.
This means Partha Nandi: Nandi’s 120 to May move TV show 130 production out of Michigan. employees might not have a job in Michigan. “We might move to Chicago, L.A. or New Orleans,” he said. “We want to stay here, but economic forces might take us elsewhere. We break even on the show.” The financial incentives to film the show in Michigan amounted to about 25 percent of production costs. If the show moves, Nandi said, he will make weekend trips to continue production. “My employees don’t have any choice. They have families here. I don’t think many employees will make the trip,” Nandi said. Nandi is chief health editor at Detroit’s WXYZ Channel 7 and practices at Troy Gastroenterology PC. 䡲
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