Crain's Detroit Business, March 6, 2017 issue by Crain's Detroit Business

MARCH 6 - 12, 2017

Huron raises 2nd-largest PE fund in state history

Pistons owner aims for more in Detroit, partner in Flint

Adds another fund with a strategy twist, Page 3

Gores wants company for hometown, Page 7

Education

Employment

Businesses aim high High child care costs with literacy program keeping women out of the labor pool

To continue to grow, economy will need more workers, and that means luring people back

By Dustin Walsh dwalsh@crain.com

CHAD LIVENGOOD/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Elijah Craft (right), a senior at Detroit’s Central High School, reads alongside Beyond Basics tutor Javier Reed during a tutoring session last week. “The improvement he’s made is tremendous,” Reed said about Elijah. “It speaks for itself.”

Backers make solving Detroit schools’ illiteracy crisis their business By Chad Livengood clivengood@crain.com

The battle against Detroit’s illiteracy crisis is fought one child at a time. Consider the story of Elijah Craft, a towering 6-foot, 6-inch 12th-grader at Central High School, where he plays football, basketball and baseball. The 17-year-old Elijah was reading at a first-grade level at the start of his final year in public school — a struggle fueled, in part, by a diagnosis of the dyslexia learning disability that made reading difficult. The school’s principal had Elijah sent to a classroom in the school where a not-for-profit organization called Beyond Basics operates a one-on-one reading tutoring program for students who are several grade levels behind.

In Elijah’s case, he was a decade behind. The team at Beyond Basics had to start at the beginning — teaching him how to sound out words and other fundamentals. After just five months, Elijah is now testing at a fifth-grade reading level, according to Pam Good, director of Beyond Basics. Beyond Basics, a literacy initiative funded largely by donations from corporations and foundations, is quietly operating in seven Detroit schools. But with more corporate support, it could become a model for how Detroit tackles the city's high illiteracy rate among youth and adults, a crisis that has a big impact for the local economy and talent pool. The program is an intensive SEE READING, PAGE 17

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Beyond Basics, by the numbers Beyond Basics is a literacy initiative program operating in the Detroit Public School Community District. Its funding comes largely through donations from corporations and foundations.

4,000

Number of students Beyond Basics has reached this school year

50,000

Number of students in schools operated by DPSCD

51,000

Number of Detroit students attending charter schools

A huge and rising cost is keeping workers, especially women, out of the workforce in Michigan and nationwide — child care. It’s an often-overlooked factor at a time when unemployment is low and the White House says it aims to put more people to work, which will mean pulling people back into the active labor force. Michigan is the 12th least-affordable state for infant care, which averages $9,882 annually, or $824 per month. Prices go down as the child ages — day cares aren’t required to have as much staffing in rooms with older kids — to $6,764, or $564 per month, for a 4-year-old. For a family with an infant and a 4-year-old, costs total more than $16,000 annually — more than a fully loaded Ford Fiesta Hatchback. Despite an expanding economy, the labor force participation rate in Michigan has continued to decline since the Great Recession, from 65.1 percent in 2006 to 61.4 percent in 2016. Some of the attrition can be attributed to technology expansion and Social Security insurance extensions. But the rising costs of day care, along with reduced state subsidies for child care in Michigan, are forcing workers — particularly women — to choose between working at a loss or dropping out of the labor force to raise young children, experts say. And increasingly, Michigan businesses see the lack of affordable child care options as a talent retention problem. Nationally, child care expenditures, including day care centers and in-home care, rose 39 percent between 1990 and 2011, according to the 2013 U.S. Census Bureau report

“Who’s Minding the Kids?” (based on the most recent Census data). “More and more families can’t afford child care, especially when it’s more than one child,” said Jackie Reinberg, national practice leader on absence, disability and life for risk management firm Willis Towers Watson in Philadelphia. “Child care is a big deal and it’s a massive challenge for this country.” SEE WORKFORCE, PAGE 16

Suite deal?

Pistons, Red Wings to split revenue for suites – is the basketball team leaving dollars on the court? Page 3

C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // M A R C H 6 , 2 0 1 7

MICHIGAN BRIEFS Who will fill jobs on state’s farms? Beyond annual concerns about the weather, harvest prices and crop-harming pests, fruit and vegetable growers around the state have a new worry: immigration crackdowns. According to a report in Bridge Magazine, many growers are wondering if there will be enough seasonal workers to pick their crops, especially if the workforce is reduced amid possible Trump administration actions over undocumented immigrants and there aren’t enough Americans eager to fill in. “If we lost a significant part of the workforce after we had everything ready to harvest, we would go out of business. Everything is hand-harvested,” Fred Leitz, a Berrien County farmer, told Bridge. According to a 2014 report by the American Farm Bureau Federation, undocumented workers comprise fully half of hired U.S. farm workers. There is no such calculation specific to Michigan agriculture, where the seasonal workforce is about 45,000. In the past month, Leitz said, he’s heard from a few of his past workers that they won’t be coming back this year. Most are originally from Mexico but have lived in the U.S. for the past 10 or 20 years. “They’re afraid. They’re

“I just think Americans aren’t going to do it. ... It’s hard work,” a West Michigan farmer said about hand-harvesting crops. not going to budge from where they are right now,” he said. In a state that ranks at or near the top in the nation in cherry and blueberry production — and where fruit and vegetables account for a $1.4 billion economic impact — the viability of seasonal farm labor is no small matter. There’s apprehension as well in Michigan’s restaurant and tourism industries, which also depend on immigrant labor.

Meijer to invest $375M in new, renovated stores Meijer plans to invest more than $375 million in new and remodeled stores this year, the Grand Rapids area-based retailer said last week. The investment will include seven new stores and remodeling of 22 stores, MLive.com reported. The new stores will be built in Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin and are expected to create about 2,100 jobs. This year, Meijer will finally open

stores in the Upper Peninsula. The two stores — the only new locations in Michigan in 2017 — will be in Escanaba and Sault Ste. Marie. The remodels include six projects in Michigan, with major overhauls planned for stores in Mt. Pleasant, Commerce Township and Algoma Township.

MICH-CELLANEOUS

Leaders of the troubled Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency said $6 million has been repaid to state residents falsely accused of benefits fraud as part of an ongoing review of thousands of cases. Bruce Noll, acting MUIA director, told members of the state House Oversight Committee last week that the agency is on track to finish by June a review of cases flagged as fraudulent claims. The testimony came amid ongoing investigations into alleged fraud — largely the result of a decision to allow a computer system to solely determine whether fraud had occurred, without a backup review by a person — and a security breach. J Plans for winding down operations of two prominent West Michigan retailers have been disclosed in Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notices filed with the state. Family Christian LLC plans to shutter its headquarters in Grand Rapids and in April lay off 170 employees J

INSIDE there and at a distribution center in Kentwood. The book, music and religious supply seller announced Feb. 23 that it would liquidate, ending its 85 years in business and closing more than 240 locations, including stores in Troy, Taylor and Sterling Heights. Meanwhile, Grand Rapids-based sporting goods company MC Sports, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Feb. 4, plans to end operations at its headquarters and distribution center starting March 31 and will lay off 61 employees at its Kentwood distribution center. MC plans liquidation sales at its 68 stores, including outlets in Sterling Heights, Ann Arbor and Brighton. J Grocery retailer and distributor SpartanNash Co. plans to unveil a new e-commerce service that will allow customers to order products online and pick them up at a store. Byron Center-based SpartanNash will pilot the program with store associates at an as-yet-undisclosed Family Fare location in the greater Grand Rapids area in the first quarter of this year, MiBiz reported. SpartanNash anticipates that 25 stores will offer the service by the end of the year. J Environmental activists rallied last week against a request from Nestlé Waters North America Inc.’s Nestle Ice Mountain to pump more groundwater in Osceola County, the Detroit

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COMPANY INDEX: SEE PAGE 18 Metro Times reported. The activists delivered a petition with more than 345,000 signatures to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, asking the department to reject the Connecticut company’s pending $200 permit to take 210 million gallons a year from its White Pines well. J A drastic reduction may be under consideration for Great Lakes restoration efforts, which in the past have received bipartisan support, the Detroit Free Press reported. The National Association of Clean Air Agencies confirmed that an initial proposal from the White House Office of Management and Budget calls for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to be cut from $300 million a year to about $10 million. The cut was first reported by a reporter from the Portland-based Oregonian who tweeted a list of potential cuts — none of which have been finalized.

Are Your Favorite Days of the Week Monday Through Friday? Then it must be because you love your job! Cool Places to Work in Michigan returns for another year. This prestigious program recognizes employers that go the extra mile to make their employees feel appreciated – as judged, in part, by the employees themselves.

NOMINATION DEADLINE: APRIL 7, 2017 » Nominate your Cool Place to Work today at crainsdetroit.com/nominate

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Nonprofits

Habitat affilates rehab their business models

By Sherri Welch swelch@crain.com

Local Habitat for Humanity affiliates are reworking a business model that’s failing in areas where the organization’s help is needed most: locations with poorer residents where housing values have failed to rebound since the recession. That has some chapters getting out of the zero-percent mortgage business and making other changes to keep their services afloat. It’s a critical question because the

homeownership the agencies promise can be an effective vehicle in breaking cycles of poverty and building wealth, careers and lives. Several local Doreen Marquis: Habitat agencies, First Oakland all operating inhome recipient. dependently, have reported losses in recent years,

largely due to cash-flow issues and debt brought on by the zero-percent mortgages central to the Habitat model for getting low-income people into homes of their own. The issue came to the forefront in mid-January for Habitat for Humanity Detroit, which laid off most of its employees and closed its two ReStore retail locations, pointing to high mortgage delinquency rates, a large number of empty homes in its portfolio, unprofitable ReStore operations and the loss of government

and corporate funding. While each affiliate operates somewhat differently, the no-interest mortgage has been a traditional cornerstone of their business models. Like the Detroit affiliate, Habitat agencies serving Oakland and Macomb counties have faced cash-flow issues in recent years tied to offering the zero-percent mortgages. Seeing that it was unsustainable, Habitat for Humanity of Oakland County stopped offering zero-percent mortgages last year, shifting to low-in-

terest loans made through Level One Bank. The affiliate now receives cash at closing, rather than waiting 20-30 years to recoup the sale price of a home as mortgage payments are made. Macomb County Habitat for Humanity’s board of directors voted to make the same change in late February. “What was happening in the old model was the cash cycle was too long,” said Tim Ruggles, executive SEE HABITAT, PAGE 15

Finance

Huron raises biggest fund in state since 1999

Sports business

Suite deal? Pistons to split revenue on luxury seating

By Tom Henderson thenderson@crain.com

OLYMPIA DEVELOPMENT

A mock-up of a Little Caesars Arena suite is on display inside a preview center within Comerica Park, and is used by Olympia Entertainment as a tool to sell suites to prospective buyers. At left is a rendering of the arena, which is scheduled to open this fall.

Pistons may be leaving money on the court with fewer suites than Palace, revenue split By Bill Shea bshea@crain.com

The Detroit Pistons will sacrifice some portion of their luxury suite revenue — an important, reliable revenue stream for any pro sports franchise — as part of their still-being-negotiated deal to move to Little Caesars Arena in September. Whether the team can make up

lost revenue elsewhere, via increased ticket and sponsorship prices, remains unclear. The Pistons expect to sell all of the suites under multiyear deals by the end of this month. The details of the agreement for the Pistons to abandon the Palace of Auburn Hills, their privately owned home since 1988, to join the Detroit Red Wings downtown remain un-

known, but a spokesman for the National Basketball Association team confirmed that deal includes a provision for the teams to jointly sell suites. The teams are still negotiating the exact revenue split for suites. It’s not known yet if the teams are splitting things such as static signage and concessions. Confirmation of the joint suite sales and revenue sharing arrangement is the first public glimpse into the formal business relationship between the teams. Both teams say their business relationship is a secret and won’t divulge specifics.

MUST READS OF THE WEEK Journalism honor

Neighborhood stalwarts

Crain’s Group Publisher Mary Kramer one of five inductees this year for Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame, Page 4

Ron Fournier: Untold stories include the businesses that never left Detroit, Page 6

Suites are among the critical revenue streams for pro sports teams because they’re typically long-term leases, usually with corporations, that generate money regardless of how the team is performing. The Pistons have fewer suites to sell at Little Caesars Arena (52) compared with their inventory at the Palace (175). Olympia Entertainment, which runs the business functions of the Red Wings, by the end of 2015 had presold all of the Little Caesars suites for the National Hockey League team’s games. SEE SUITES, PAGE 18

It took Detroit-based Huron Capital Partners LLC only three months to raise a fifth fund of $550 million, the largest private equity fund raised in Michigan since 1999, when Questor Partners raised $865 million. But Huron, annually the most active private equity firm in the state, isn’t stopping there as it gains a national reputation. It is also raising a fund of $100 million to finance investments in a new business strategy it announced last year that puts a different spin on private equity. Instead of the standard private equity model of only acquiring Christopher controlling inSheeren: Huron terests in comuses Flex Equity panies, what model. Huron brands as its Flex Equity model calls for taking minority stakes for between $5 million and $20 million in well-run companies whose owners need expansion capital but don’t want to give up control. Huron has several letters of intent signed on potential deals for that model. “It’s a unique solution. Not many private equity firms out there are willing to do non-majority deals, and certainly none have it as a focus,” said Huron partner Christopher Sheeren. “Our pitch to business owners is you can partner with Huron Capital; we’ve been around 17 years, you can have access to all our operating partners, and you don’t have to give up control. “To do that, you have to find owners you really trust, good managers with good companies. The ideal SEE HURON, PAGE 16

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Crain's Group Publisher Mary Kramer among Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame inductees By Annalise Frank afrank@crain.com

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Crain's Group Publisher Mary Kramer has been named one of five inductees into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame for 2017. The honor acknowledges reporters, editors, publishers, owners, photographers and others who contribute greatly to the news industry. Kramer is the third inductee Mary Kramer: with strong ties Inductee helped to Crainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and its create Detroit parent company, Homecoming D etroit-bas ed Crain Communications Inc. Longtime Automotive News reporter, columnist and editor John (Jack) Teahen Jr. was inducted in 2006, and Crain Communications Chairman and Crainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Detroit Business Edi-

tor-in-Chief Keith Crain was inducted in 2008. Kramer joined Crainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s as editor in 1989, eventually taking over responsibility for the revenue side of the publication. She turned over the publication to current Editor and Publisher Ron Fournier at the beginning of this year. As group publisher, Kramer is consulting with Fournier and his team on major initiatives such as Detroit Homecoming and Crainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Leadership Academy, both of which she helped create. The Hall of Fame banquet on April 9 at the Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center at Michigan State University also will honor: J Patricia Anstett, a medical writer from Detroit who has logged 40 years of newspaper journalism in Chicago; Washington, D.C.; and her home city. Anstett wrote for the Detroit Free Press for 22 years before retiring in September 2011. Much of her career work focused on coverage of breast cancer. She is the author of

the 2016 book â&#x20AC;&#x153;Breast Cancer Surgery & Reconstruction: Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Right for You.â&#x20AC;? J Stephen Cain, a retired investigative reporter who spent about 35 years with The Detroit News and later The Ann Arbor News. He has also covered city government, the University of Michigan and the criminal justice system. J John Gallagher, a business and urban redevelopment reporter for the Detroit Free Press for about 20 years. He also wrote the books â&#x20AC;&#x153;Reimagining Detroit: Opportunities for Redefining an American Cityâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;Yamasaki in Detroit: A Search for Serenity.â&#x20AC;? J David Gilkey, an award-winning U.S. and international photojournalist who worked for the Detroit Free Press before joining NPR in 2007. Gilkey was killed June 5, 2016, in southern Afghanistan, where he was covering the war. He also covered the war in Iraq, the earthquake in Haiti, the Ebola epidemic in Liberia and other conflicts.

McLaren interested in buying parts of DMC By Jay Greene jgreene@crain.com

Phil Incarnati, CEO of Flint-based McLaren Health Care Corp., has been interested in buying parts of Detroit Medical Center for several years, he said last week. Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp., which owns DMC, has yet to express any interest, he said. In an interview with Crainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, Incarnati said he has broached the idea with DMC and Tenet officials about buying Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hospital and Harper Hospital â&#x20AC;&#x201D; both on DMCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s downtown Detroit campus â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and Huron Valley Sinai Hospital in Commerce Township. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have expressed an interest in certain Tenet DMC assets over a couple-year period,â&#x20AC;? Incarnati said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They have made it known they are not interested in parting with those assets.â&#x20AC;? But Dan Waldmann, Tenetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s senior vice president for public affairs, confirmed DMC is not for sale, either the entire six-hospital system or individual hospitals. However, Waldmann said Tenet is open to specific collaborations or joint venture projects with other providers. He said Tenetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s policy is not to talk about individual sales, acquisitions or joint ventures. Although Tenet has announced it is seeking to sell some of its non-core hospitals, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Detroit is not one of those markets,â&#x20AC;? Waldmann said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We plan to be in Detroit for years to come.â&#x20AC;? DMC officials were unavailable for comment. But during the past several weeks, Incarnati and several McLaren executives had a business and social dinner with Keith Pitts, Tenetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vice chairman, and new DMC CEO Tony Tedeschi, M.D. They also discussed various business deals between the two health care companies. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Keith and I have been friends for a

long time, at least a decade. We are on public and private company boards. We have dinner two to three times per year,â&#x20AC;? said Incarnati, acknowledging that talk usually turns to potential business arrangements. Since McLaren acquired Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in September 2013 and settled a DMC lawsuit in January 2015 over the acquisition, Incarnati said McLaren executives, former DMC CEO Joe Mullany and other DMC officials have developed a good relationship. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A comfort level developed that led to a settlement agreement,â&#x20AC;? he said. As part of the Karmanos settlement, Incarnati said, McLaren and DMC pledged to work together on various projects, including oncology. Joint venture services could also include pediatrics, he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We would do some things together like at the (McLaren) Clarkston (medical center) campus,â&#x20AC;? Incarnati said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Maybe have a Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hospital brand on that campus. That was discussed. It could happen.â&#x20AC;? Over the past several weeks, sources within DMC physician and executive ranks have told Crainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s that McLaren has talked seriously about acquiring DMC Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hospital and Huron Valley Sinai Hospital as part of its effort to expand its regional presence in Southeast Michigan. In 2016, Tenet posted losses of $192 million on revenue of $19.2 billion, a larger loss than in 2015, when Tenet lost $97 million. Over the past two years, Tenetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stock price has dropped to about $20 per share from $60 and it just closed its second consecutive year of financial losses, leading some to speculate that a core asset like DMC might soon be on the chopping block. Even as DMC has improved profitability the past several years under

Tenetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ownership, health care experts say the margin growth is mostly the result of the Affordable Care Act and Healthy Michigan Medicaid expansion. DMC also has good revenue growth through its new heart hospital. Experts say that if the Republican Congress repeals the Affordable Care Act without a suitable replacement or block-grants the Medicaid program, hospitals in Michigan, especially DMC as the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest Medicaid provider, would take serious financial hits. As a result, some health care experts told Crainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s they believe DMCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s profits would drop well below investor-owned Tenetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s expectations, leading to a possible sale of the $2 billion-plus enterprise. But under what scenario would Tenet consider selling DMC? Carsten Beith, a managing director with Chicago-based Cain Brothers, said any investor-owned hospital chain like Tenet or Community Health Systems would not sell a core asset unless the sale price is greater than the current or future value of the asset. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t sell core assets in the ordinary course, especially if it is accretive to earnings,â&#x20AC;? said Beith, who lives in Birmingham. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tenet is fairly leveraged, and if they could reduce their debt outstanding, it would be the mostly likely scenario for Tenetâ&#x20AC;? to sell DMC. But Beith said it also would be highly unlikely that Tenet would sell parts of DMC, which Incarnati has proposed to Tenet. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Selling off the pieces doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t create a significant upside for them because what is left, does it create value?â&#x20AC;? Beith said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You sell the good and the bad assets. You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to keep the bad assets.â&#x20AC;? Jay Greene: (313) 446-0325 Twitter: @jaybgreene

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OPINION

Leveraging riverfront to boost neighborhoods

ou’ve got to like any project that entices economic development, improves the quality of life of Detroiters, and ties neighborhoods to downtown and the riverfront. So you’ve got to like the Detroit RiverFront Conservancy’s plan for the east riverfront. It calls for: JJTwo new pathways to the Detroit River akin to the Dequindre Cut, the popular pedestrian and bike trail that connects Eastern Market to the water. JJPreservation of about 8 acres of riverfront land for public use. The land had been marked for residential and business development. JJAn eastward expansion of the Detroit RiverWalk. JJSafety improvements along East Jefferson Avenue. JJA mixed-use development of the historic Stone Soap Building at 14501490 Franklin St. All this is bound to extend the momentum of a riverfront reclamation, begun in earnest a decade ago, that has been an extraordinary success. It

would further economic development in the area and offer more ways for neighborhoods to connect to this new jewel of the city. This may be a rare project that leverages progress made downtown and on the riverfront to help Detroit’s troubled residential neighborhoods. Khali Sweeney, founder of one of the city’s great nonprofit success stories, the Downtown Boxing Gym at 6445 E. Vernor Highway, said his student-athletes will be able “to participate in new educational and recreational activities connected to the riverfront.” “In addition,” said Sweeney, who teaches boxing to children willing to be tutored after school by his instructors, “we believe the increased access will lead to new investments and developments in the neighborhood surrounding our facility, which is a win for our entire community.” We agree. We hope the conservancy, with the help of the Southeast Michigan business community, can bring its plans to fruition.

It is our job to get it fixed Anyone who has driven along roads in metro Detroit knows that this town and its neighboring cities are getting front-row seats to the slow but steady deterioration of our roads and bridges. Sadly, that is the obvious part, but there is plenty more of our community that is crumbling, and we don't know about it. Recently we have been attacked by sinkholes that appear out of nowhere. We are facing constant breaks and repairs to our city’s water and sewerage systems. After a couple of hundred years, our city is wearing out, and it’s going to be up to the business community to be responsible for getting it repaired or fixed. Our sinkholes and the Flint water crisis are frightening warnings that our infrastructure is slowly, silently and secretly crumbling, and no one is yelling an alarm. The problem with our infrastructure is that it's hidden and for all those folks who are responsible for keeping our community running, money isn’t available to do a proper job of not just bandaging our systems but replacing them with modern systems. Sure, everyone has a big stake in this, but business is going to have to call out the problems and push for replacements when necessary. It is simply too easy to put a patch on whatever it is and kick the ball down

KEITH CRAIN Editor-in-chief

the field for the next guy to worry about. If we want to keep and attract businesses, then we are going to have to pay a lot more attention to our infrastructure than ever before. Last week, for a big part of our city, you couldn’t drink the water. We all assumed it would be fixed, and it was. If we want to count the services or utilities we rely on, then the leaders of our business community had better wake up and realize we live in a very fragile world. Business has to get very involved and start now. Our business community, along with elected and non-elected government executives, are going to have to realize the importance of all these systems. If we do not pay attention, we will see our businesses slowly slip away to communities that are simply more reliable. It is a subject no one wants to talk about, but we had better start talking about it now.

Untold story: Let’s not forget businesses that never left Detroit

RON FOURNIER Editor/Publisher

his is a story about two Detroit businessmen. One is David Kirby, who received incredible publicity for being new to town. The other is David Hardin Jr., who got ignored because he’s not. When I met Kirby in 2015, he seemed the living embodiment of what’s exciting about Detroit: a young entrepreneur from Brooklyn who had just moved to the city to be a part of its revival. In a column I wrote for Crain’s Detroit Business and The Atlantic, I called Kirby “a purpose-driven social hacker who thinks anything is possible if it’s important enough to change.” I got the idea from no less of an authority than Mayor Mike Duggan, who referred me (and several other reporters) to Kirby’s bodega-style organic grocery in the West Village, and said its owner represented a key to Detroit’s rebirth. Millennials, the mayor said, are disrupters and social entrepreneurs who boot-strap solutions to problems that traditional institutions can’t or won’t fix. As it turns out, Kirby was no savior. No fixer. That wasn’t his narrative; that’s not how he saw himself. He was simply a guy who wanted to bring healthy food to a neighborhood that has few grocery options — and who realized after 2½ years that he couldn’t grow his business without charging “insanely high” prices or opening a full-service kitchen. He didn’t like either option. So Kirby closed the market in October, despite its profitability, and now he is looking for a better way to serve Detroit. (“I would love to work with Mike Duggan,” he said. “I think that would be a continuation of this story.”) Looking to close the circle, I invited Kirby to my office the other day. We talked about all the publicity he received, the criticism that followed, and the one piece of Detroit’s comeback narrative that journalists like me tend to miss. “The criticism was legitimate — that I was a person who had been here a couple of months, happened to be in the right place at the right time, talked to the right people, and I was getting higher praise for something that was untested, unproven, and in a lot of people’s minds, a smalltime project,” Kirby said. There was a racial component to the fallout. Kirby is white. Duggan is white, as were most of the reporters whom the mayor directed to Kirby’s Parker Street Market. “For a very long time,” Kirby told me, “while everybody else was leaving, there were still predominantly

JACOB LEWKOW

David Hardin Jr. began working at HeavyWeightCuts in 2001, and bought the business and its two-story brick storefront in 2008.

Ron Fournier is editor and publisher of Crain’s Detroit Business. Catch his take on business news at 6:10 a.m. Monday on the Paul W. Smith show on WJR AM 760.

LARRY PEPLIN

David Kirby closed his Parker Street Market in October and now is looking for a better way to serve Detroit.

black businesses that (today) aren’t getting any of the credit for sticking around and being successful while everyone else is coming in.” He told me about a barber shop a few doors west of Parker Street Market on Kercheval Road, a place called HeavyWeightCuts run by an African-American man, David Hardin Jr., who lives above the shop. “I can’t think of one article that ever discussed the West Village or Parker Street that mentioned Dave’s business.” That includes my own column. I was so focused on the new people in town — and the comeback narrative that they represented — that I ignored those who grew up in Detroit and never left. People like Hardin, 43, who

began working at HeavyWeightCuts in 2001, and who bought the business and its two-story brick storefront in 2008. Last week, when I walked into his shop to explain my 2015 oversight, Hardin greeted me with a hello and a handshake. “Glad to finally have you here,” he chuckled. Hardin said journalists tend to overlook African-American businessmen like him — especially those who were making a buck during Detroit’s bleakest years. “Businesses like mine have been taken for granted. We live in the shadows,” he said. “When somebody comes in and is flashy and new, they get all the attention.” The reporters who do stop in his shop only want to know whether gentrification worries him. Hardin tells them no. “I like that we’re becoming a main street again,” he said, nodding his head toward the window. Hardin is built as solid as a fireplug, and wears his beard tight on the cheeks and bushy at the chin. When I visited him, he was dressed in a black Red Wings shirt with a Black Lives Matter pin. He had an electric razor in one hand and a comb in the other, sculpting a teenage boy’s hair. SEE FOURNIER, PAGE 7

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Gores vows commitment to Detroit, seeks business partner for Flint By Kurt Nagl knagl@crain.com

Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores says he sees even more opportunity in Detroit and is looking to work with a company to move operations to Flint, which is still feeling the effects of its lead-tainted water crisis. “What I would like to do in Flint is find one major corporation to move in,” Gores said at Crain’s 2016 Newsmaker of the Year luncheon last week at MotorCity Casino. “I want to find a business partner to relocate there and give them a little bit of hope. If you don’t give people … a promise, a hope, you don’t have much to work with.” Gores’ remarks came after accepting the 2016 Crain’s Newsmaker of the Year award, in an interview with KC Crain, Crain Communications executive vice president and director of corporate operations. Gores, who grew up in Flint, received the award primarily for his intended move of the Pistons from the Palace of Auburn Hills to downtown Detroit. “I didn’t anticipate buying a sports team, but then I dug in and saw the full opportunity and ability to impact the community,” Gores said of the Pistons. “How else can you do that? Sports teams are so interesting that way.” When asked by Crain about bringing a major league soccer stadium downtown, Gores revealed little and said Detroit real estate developer and businessman Dan Gilbert was leading that charge. “I don’t doubt that he is going to do it,” Gores said of Gilbert. Business and community leaders gathered in the MotorCity Casino Hotel’s Soundboard for the annual Crain’s event, which honors those who have moved the needle for the

FOURNIER FROM PAGE 6

Hardin was still gazing at Kercheval when I heard him chuckle again. “It’s kind of funny that nobody bothers to ask me how I sustain a business in a city like this.” So I asked: How do you sustain a business in a city like this? “We keep cursing to a minimum,” he said, “and conversation to a maximum. We have a diverse crowd of people who come in here and we talk to them. If they’re having trouble at home, they can open up to us because we talk about our troubles at home.” His patrons have certain expectations, he said: “Conversation, advice, snacks, and a good haircut. They might even get a business contact. There might be a guy in here looking to hire and later in the day somebody will say they need a job. We hook them up.” It’s worked for Hardin and his neighborhood for years — through a recession, bankruptcy and now gentrification. I filled a notebook with his insights, thanked Hardin for his time, and shook his hand. “Don’t be a stranger,” he said. I won’t be.

city and beyond. Other honorees included: J Andy Appleby, founder of the Utica-based United Shore Professional Baseball League. J Mona Hanna-Attisha, M.D., director of the Pediatric Public Health Initiative, Hurley Medical Center, Flint. J Barbara McQuade, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. J Joseph Mullany, former CEO of Detroit Medical Center. J Ronna Romney McDaniel, chair of the Michigan Republican Party. J Mina Sooch, president and CEO of Livonia-based Gemphire Therapeutics Inc.

J Kirk Steudle, director of the Michigan Department of Transportation. J Sam Valenti III, co-founder of Bloomfield Hills-based V5 Partners LLC. J M. Roy Wilson, president of Wayne State University. The event featured a panel discussion, also led by KC Crain. Panelists were Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom; former Detroit Mayor and Bing Youth Institute founder Dave Bing; and Hanna-Attisha, the pediatrician known for her role in exposing the water crisis in Flint.

KC Crain (left), executive vice president and director of corporate operations for Crain Communications, interviews Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores.

Kurt Nagl: (313) 446-0337 Twitter: @kurtalertnagl

KURT NAGL/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

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C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // M A R C H 6 , 2 0 1 7

SPECIAL REPORT: RETAIL

Ramping up for construction

The 3.9-mile redo of M-59/Hall Road between M-53 and Romeo Plank Road in central Macomb County will close lanes up and down the length of construction for the next two summers. ANNALISE FRANK

Businesses along busy M-59 shopping corridor brace for 2-year project

Allaying fears

By Annalise Frank afrank@crain.com

When a massive, two-year road reconstruction project is ramping up on one of the busiest shopping strips in town, retailers buckle their seatbelts for a bumpy ride. The nearly four-mile redo of M-59/Hall Road between M-53 and Romeo Plank Road in central Macomb County will close lanes up and down the length of construction for the next two summers, crimping traffic to hundreds of stores that depend on it for business. The Michigan Department of Transportation plans to keep all businesses accessible at all times during construction, but that doesn’t mean shoppers want to fight their way through it in the district that includes Lakeside Mall and the Mall at Partridge Creek. Storefronts along the construction corridor, which can see more than 50,000 cars per day, will likely take a 10 to 25 percent hit, said retail consultant Ken Dalto, founder and owner of Farmington Hillsbased Kenneth J. Dalto & Associates. “Two years is an eternity in retail,” Dalto said. “You can make some of it up around Christmas, but you can’t depend on it.” To mitigate the damage, companies — especially luxury goods sellers and restaurants, which will see the biggest declines — need to take a three-pronged approach, he said: announce in-store sales, get the word out about their status mid-construction and boost their

About the project n What: A two-year reconstruction

project of M-59/Hall Road

n Where: Sterling Heights, Utica,

and Clinton, Macomb and Shelby townships n Cost: $60 million-plus n Impact: During construction, three lanes will be open both directions of M-59 between M-53 and Romeo Plank Road 6 a.m.-9 p.m. each day. However, the M-59 bridge over the M-53 expressway will only have two lanes open each direction through the middle of summer. n Schedule: Construction will proceed this year at Delco Boulevard east nearly to Garfield Road. Next year will tackle farther east to Romeo Plank Road.

online presence. “They have to find a way to attract people to go through the construction,” he said. “The falloff from the construction will be greater than the fallout from the loss from (discounting).”

Worries about the construction played out last week as the Michigan Department of Transportation sought to reassure representatives of businesses affected by the project. Real-time updates on road and driveway closures will be available at MovingMacomb.org throughout the $60 million project that began last week, said MDOT Construction Engineer Jim Petronski. Beauty Bar Salon co-owner Cortney Forster certainly has worries. The Sterling Heights salon has four entrances — two on Hayes Road and one on M-59. The impending 10-day closure of Hayes Road is “a little scary,” said the other co-owner, Stacy Roberts. But being able to warn clients on social media about the timing of the closures is helpful, she said. “It’ll ease some of the pain that’ll be caused by it,” Roberts said. Petronski spoke at a public information meeting at the Clinton-Macomb Public Library last week. He gave out his cellphone number and said MDOT wanted to emphasize transparency. The department has spoken with about 80 percent of the 400 affected businesses in Sterling Heights, Utica, and Clinton, Macomb and Shelby townships, he said. Mike Keys, a Charter Township of Clinton trustee, and John Myers III, a community activist in Macomb County and resident of Sterling Heights, planned the meeting to “get businesses together, so people understand it’s more of an education than, ‘Hey, we’re going to screw you,’” Myers said. For attendee Debi Zentz, campus director of Heritage Church’s Sterling Heights location on

ANNALISE FRANK

Michigan Department of Transportation Construction Engineer Jim Petronski speaks at a meeting last week that aimed to inform and reassure those affected by a two-year M-59 reconstruction project. Schoenherr Road and M-59, the biggest priority was making sure people could still easily access the church. Zentz said that like for businesses, she was nervous about the impact. The project will maintain access to all businesses during work on the main road, Petronski said. It will also open temporary lanes to ease congestion. Business driveways will be blocked for five to seven days each while they are repaved, but workers will not close consecutive driveways or turnarounds. Driveway work is set to start in mid-April. The intersections of Schoenherr Road and Hayes Road with M-59 will also close for 10 days each in the summer. During the event’s question-and-answer segment, other business owners asked about signage, power outages, logistics and the driveway closings. Petronski said he does not know of any scheduled utility outages, and that detours will be posted.

Construction timeline The 2017 leg of the project is scheduled to end in October, breaking for winter and the holiday shopping season. The entire project will finish in October 2018. Contractors that don’t meet deadlines will be fined, Petronski said. The prime contractor on the project is Angelo Iafrate Construction Co., based in Warren. Macomb-based Rauhorn Electric Inc., Canton-based Cadillac Asphalt LLC and traffic control specialist Poco Inc. in Canton have also signed on. MDOT chose hot mix asphalt for the project instead of new concrete. The asphalt is 13 percent cheaper, easier to maintain and quicker to repair, meaning it could lessen the impact on businesses, Petronski said. Funding for the $60 million price tag is 82 percent covered by federal sources, 17.5 percent by the state and Sterling Heights picking up the remaining 0.5 percent, MDOT Communications Representative Diane Cross said in an email.

C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // M A R C H 6 , 2 0 1 7

Blue Cross proposal lowers rates for small businesses By Jay Greene jgreene@crain.com

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan plans to cut small business group rates an average of 1.3 percent for those customers renewing in the second half of this year, pending approval by the state insurance department, according to Blue Cross officials. Blue Care Network also has filed for a 3.2 percent rate cut for its small group customers. Michigan’s small employer groups employ 50 or fewer people. Blue Cross covers more than 251,000 small group employees, nearly half of the state’s market. In a statement, Blue Cross said it was

able to cut rates by working more closely with doctors and hospitals to deliver more cost-efficient care. One way is through its 25 Blue Cross Value Partnership programs, which include its patient-centered medical home initiative. “Offering our customers reliable products at affordable price points is a priority for Blue Cross,” said Blue Cross in a statement. “We’re very pleased that this year’s good news comes fast on the heels of last year’s rate moderation and the rate reductions we announced the year before.” Last year, Blue Cross increased small group rates by an average of 2.9 percent. But in 2015, Blue Cross provided

rebates to group customers and lowered rates 3.3 percent for its small group customers. Sandy Fester, Blue Cross’ vice president of middle and small group business, said the Affordable Care Act and Blue Cross’ conversion to a nonprofit mutual health insurer has helped it stabilize its small group rates the past three years. “We are better at managing our costs and have seen that trend come down the last three years,” said Fester, adding: “We are no longer the carrier of last resort and that, along with risk adjustments and tightly managed benefit costs, has (helped the) total decline.”

INAUGURAL 2017-18 SEASON

Blues reverse financial losses, report $122M net income for ’16 By Jay Greene jgreene@crain.com

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan reversed financial losses from 2015 to report net income of $122 million in 2016 on consolidated revenue of $25.9 billion, which amounts to less than a 1 percent profit margin, according to an audited financial statement released last week. Last year, Detroit-based Blue Cross lost $68 million in net income on its overall operations, according to Blue Cross’ calculations based on generally accepted accounting principles. But in 2016, Blue Cross’ membership growth of 100,000 people helped the state’s largest health insurer regain its financial footing. Last year, Blue Cross embarked on a strategic business initiative to rein in costs that also appears to be on target to reduce administrative expenses by $300 million over three years. The consolidated financial report includes Blue Cross, Blue Care Network, Blue Cross Complete Medicaid HMO and related entities, including AF Group, its Lansing-based workers’ compensation subsidiary. By end of 2016, total membership stood at 4.61 million in Michigan and 5.34 million nationwide. Blue Cross also exceeded 3 million family contracts for the first time in its 80-year history, officials said. “Setting a record for total contracts is an outstanding result. It shows the strength of our brand, the desirability of our products and the strong bonds we have with customers,” Daniel Loepp, CEO of Blue Cross, said in a statement. Blue Cross also filed last week a slightly less attractive financial statement to the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services under statutory accounting principles, which excludes Blue Cross subsidiaries and some investments. Under SAP accounting, Blue Cross posted an operating net loss of $180 million in 2016 compared with a $278 million loss on operations in 2015. SAP accounting essentially represents Blue Cross’ health insurance business lines.

“Setting a record for total contracts is an outstanding result. It shows the strength of our brand, the desirability of our products and the strong bonds we have with customers.” Daniel Loepp, CEO of Blue Cross

In 2015, Blue Cross reported net losses of $344.3 million, a 216 percent increase from net income gain of $295 million in 2014. Operating losses in 2016 included $242 million of losses from Blue Cross’ Medigap supplemental Medicare product. Based on state law allowing Blue Cross to convert to a nonprofit mutual, Medigap subsidization of senior plans ended in 2016. “In 2016, our company successfully transitioned our Medigap subsidy to the Michigan Health Endowment Fund,” Loepp said. “This will help lower-income seniors by promoting affordable coverage, while also helping our health insurance business get out from under a huge financial burden that negatively affects its annual performance.” On a GAAP basis, Blue Cross revenue increased 7 percent in 2016 to $25.9 billion, up from $24.2 billion in 2015. Mozak said Blue Cross revenue growth is aided by its Blue Cross Complete Medicaid HMO and its emerging markets division, which has grown significantly in the Medicare Advantage managed care area. But total cost of services increased 7.7 percent, to $14.5 billion from $13.46 billion. Rising pharmacy costs are one of the main drivers of higher benefit expenses, said Andy Hetzel, Blue Cross vice president of corporate communications. “Pharmacy costs are exploding. Last year, we paid out more in pharmacy claims than inpatient hospital” payments, Hetzel said.

Loepp compensation rises, despite losses CEO Loepp’s total compensation has steadily increased over the years. In 2016, his total compensation rose 21 percent to $10.9 million from $9 million in 2015. The 2016 compensation included a base salary of $1.54 million, bonus of $8.3 million and other compensation of $1.1 million. His base salary has remained the same the past three years, but his bonus compensation increased $2.15 million from 2015. Other compensation includes car allowance, health insurance premiums and retirement contributions. Loepp’s total compensation was $7.4 million in 2014, $6.67 million in 2013 and $3.86 million in 2012. Though Loepp’s performance always is based on the company’s previous year, Hetzel said other factors than net income influence bonus compensation. Blue Cross lost a net $68 million in 2015, while Loepp saw a bump in total compensation in 2016. Hetzel said Loepp guided a Blue Cross that had a “strong performance in annual and long-term goals in 2016,” a 100,000-member growth, strong financial numbers, growth in new business lines and lower administrative costs. “(Loepp’s) incentive program is multifaceted and does not just focus on profits,” Hetzel said. “There are other areas (like) improvements in customer experience.” Jay Greene: (313) 446-0325 Twitter: @jaybgreene

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C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // M A R C H 6 , 2 0 1 7

Bridge project leaves Delray residents, businesses in limbo By Chad Livengood clivengood@crain.com

The Michigan Department of Transportation’s land acquisition for the new Gordie Howe International Bridge focuses entirely on the predetermined footprint for the bridge’s landing, customs plaza and connection ramps to northbound and southbound I-75. MDOT, working on behalf of the Windsor-Detroit International Bridge Authority, is only buying land on 184 acres within the confines of the project's designed boundaries. Little has been planned at this point for the east and west ends of the Delray neighborhood that will be split in half by a toll and customs plaza bordering Jefferson Avenue to the south, a Norfolk Southern railroad to the north, and Post and Campbell streets to the west and east, respectively. The design will create two pockets of isolated homes in an area that will be dominated by an international border crossing carrying thousands of commercial trucks each day. On both ends of the plaza’s boundaries, there are sparsely populated residential streets that have been in distress for years. “It’s just inverse condemnation to let the area rot,” said Gregg Ward, owner of the nearby Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry off Jefferson Avenue. Ward has has been critical of Mayor Mike Duggan’s administration for remaining on the sidelines of the $4.5 billion bridge project, which has been sought by Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration and the Canadian government. “Why wouldn’t you look to a solution to get rid of this (blighted neighborhood) for future business development?” Ward said.

“Why wouldn’t you look to a solution to get rid of this (blighted neighborhood) for future business development?” Gregg Ward, owner of Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry

PHOTOS BY CHAD LIVENGOOD/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Southwest Detroit’s Delray neighborhood east of the planned toll and customs plaza for the Gordie Howe International Bridge is sparsely populated with swaths of vacant lots, and abandoned and blighted homes. The Michigan Department of Transportation is not buying up these properties because they’re not needed for the project.

No long-term plans City Planning Director Maurice Cox acknowledges the city has not developed long-term plans for Delray after the bridge is constructed. Cox said his department is focused on a strategy it is using elsewhere in the city to rehabilitate existing housing stock along the Vernor Highway corridor in the Mexicantown neighborhood of southwest Detroit. “While we have not developed a strategy for the neighborhoods outside of the (bridge’s) footprint, what we are hoping is that our work in Southwest/Vernor will provide a menu of options of attractive places for people to live,” Cox said in an interview with Crain’s. “You don’t want to get out so far and say what you can do for Delray until you know whether you can create viable options for people within a geography that they understand and know.” As Crain’s reported last week, MDOT is in the midst of a yearlong effort to buy up residential, commercial and industrial land and re-

On both ends of the boundaries of the proposed Gordie Howe International Bridge plaza, there are dwellings on sparsely populated streets that have been in distress for years.

A demolition company hired by the Michigan Department of Transportation clears a house site Feb. 13 on Schroeder Street in Detroit’s Delray neighborhood. The site is within the boundaries of a toll plaza for the Gordie Howe International Bridge.

locate residents and remaining businesses. The start of construction on the long-planned publicly owned bridge — which has been a moving target for years — isn’t expected until the second half of 2018 after the international authority awards a contract to a consortium of companies that will design, build and operate the span. Cox said the bridge and plaza will “fundamentally change” land use in Delray. That warrants further study of whether the area should even remain residential, he said. “What I’m a little more concerned about are the people who

for the transportation, logistics and shipping industries, which already have a sizable presence in southwest Detroit. “If you’re going to be impacted by having this bridge in your community, you don’t want everybody to just drive past it,” Ward said. But the city will take its planning cues from the remaining residents in the area, according to Cox. “The community who has stuck it out in that environment are going to drive this and help us understand what can make that a viable place to live or what kinds of options would they be willing to consider,” Cox said.

live there and whether they’re going to have viable options for continued well-being in their neighborhood,” Cox told Crain’s.

Residential or industrial? Ward’s business may cease to exist if the semi-trucks carrying hazardous material are allowed to cross the new bridge. Hazmat trucks are his primary customers. But he’s been one of the more outspoken advocates for the new bridge, citing the potential impact it could have on the economy. Ward thinks the surrounding residential areas should be developed

Kevin Casillas, president of the Southwest Community Benefits Coalition, said the city should do more to require the state to build a larger buffer around the bridge plaza. “From our perspective, they’re doing the minimum possible," said Casillas, pastor of the First Latin American Baptist Church, which is being relocated to make way for the bridge’s I-75 connection ramps. “More needs to be done to protect the quality of life and the residents in southwest Detroit and Delray.” Chad Livengood: (313) 446-1654 Twitter: @ChadLivengood

C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // M A R C H 6 , 2 0 1 7

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By Tyler Clifford tclifford@crain.com

Troy-based United Wholesale Mortgage has been named the country’s No. 1 wholesale mortgage lender by mortgage journal Inside Mortgage Finance, the company said in a news release. United Wholesale, which commands a national market share of 11.1 percent, said it recorded its best loan volume of nearly $23 billion in 2016, a 77 percent increase from its 2015 loan volume. This mirrors the growth of its parent company United Shore Financial Services LLC, which expanded its headquarters and plans to hire 600 in 2017. “It’s an awesome honor to place as the No. 1 wholesale lender in the country for two years in a row,” United Shore President and CEO Mat Ishbia said in a news release. “We’re very grateful for the strong partnerships we have with our clients throughout the country. This achievement is also a testament to the amazing talent and efforts of all our team members.” United Wholesale beat the next top lender, Texas-based Caliber Home Loans, by more than $9 billion, according to the release. Troybased Flagstar Bancorp Inc., which saw a nearly 20 percent decrease from 2015, came in at No. 8 with a loan volume of about $5.9 billion. The 2016 median loan volume of the top 25 lenders was about $4.8 billion, an increase of just more than 18 percent from 2015. For retail mortgages, Detroit-based Quicken Loans Inc. produced more than $95 billion in retail mortgages — almost 22 percent more than 2015 — behind top retail lender Wells Fargo & Co. Inc. of California at more than $130 billion — almost 6 percent more than in 2015, the release stated. Quicken Loans had a market share of about 4.6 percent in 2016, while Wells Fargo had 6.3 percent in market share.

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C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // M A R C H 6 , 2 0 1 7

CALENDAR

TUESDAY MARCH 7

J Trump Economics and Its Impact on the Middle Class. 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Detroit Economic Club. Speaker Neera Tanden, president, Center for American Progress. Townsend Hotel, Birmingham. $45 members; $55 guests of members; $75 nonmembers. Website: econclub.org.

WEDNESDAY MARCH 8

Asian Pacific American Chamber of Commerce 14th Annual East-West Business Connection. 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. J

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Global business networking event, comprised of Asian and U.S. businesses and minority business enterprises throughout the Midwest. Edward Village, Dearborn. $70 APACC members; $95 nonmembers; $100 walk-ins. Contact: Leonie Teichman, phone: (248) 430-5855; email: leonie@apacc.net.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Economic Prospects for the U.S. and Regional Economy in 2017-2018. 11:30 J

Contact Krista Bora at kbora@crain.com, (212) 210-0750 for a unique opportunity to co-brand your company with a reputable news source.

a.m.-1:30 p.m. March 16. Detroit Economic Club. Stuart Hoffman, senior vice president and chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group, will share his insights on Trump policy impacts and will forecast important indicators such as U.S. energy production, unemployment and interest rates, the stock market and consumer spending. Westin Book Cadillac, Detroit. $45 members; $55 guests of members; $75 nonmembers. Website: econclub.org.

J The State of Relations Between Cuba and the U.S. and Future Opportunities.

11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. March 21. Detroit Economic Club. Find out what’s next and learn about future opportunities in Cuba. Westin Book Cadillac, Detroit. $45 members; $55 guests of members; $75 nonmembers. Website: econclub.org. J CFA Detroit Speaker Series Lunch Featuring Adrian Cronje. Noon-1:30

p.m. March 21. Certified Financial Analyst Society Detroit. Speaker: Cronje, CFA chief investment officer and founding partner of Balentine, on “An Industry Wake Up Call: What Is the Real Threat to Our Industry and How to Turn It Into Opportunity?” $45. The Community House, Birmingham. Contact: Michelle Doran, phone: (734) 546-2390; email: info@ cfadetroit.org. J Tech Takeover: Safe Human-Robot Collaboration. 8:30-10:30 a.m. March

22. Automation Alley. Technology distributor and integrator Behco-MRM leads a discussion on the safety aspects of using collaborative robotics. Topics will include systems level issues, safety audits, smart considerations and risk assessment. A panel discussion and Q&A period will follow. Speakers will include: Brent Bartson, technical manager for Universal Robots; Elena Dominguez, safety consultant, Pilz Automation Safety; Ryan Groat, senior engineer, Panther Global Technologies; Adam Boike, application engineer, Behco-MRM. Automation Alley, Troy. $20. Email: events@automationalley. com; phone: (800) 427-5100. J Real Estate Forecast Breakfast. 8-9:30 a.m. March 23. Birmingham Chamber of Commerce. New housing trends in southeast Michigan and the developments in Detroit. Speakers: Dan Elsea, president, brokerage services, Real Estate One; Mike McNally, vice president, operations, Olympia Development; Michael Stoskopf, Home Builders Association of Southeastern Michigan. The Reserve, Birmingham. $40 members; $50 nonmembers. Website: bbcc.com. J Talent Outlook: Detroit Drives Degrees. 8-10:30 a.m. March 23. Detroit

Regional Chamber. Leaders from the higher education, business, government and nonprofit and philanthropic sectors meet to offer perspectives from the private and public sectors, and highlight work the Detroit Drives Degrees initiative is doing to strengthen the talent pipeline and meet the growing demands of employers. Detroit Athletic Club. $35 members; $70 nonmembers. Contact: Maggie Greaney, (313) 596-0482; website: detroitchamber.com. J Big Data and Business Analytics Symposium. 8 a.m.-6 p.m. March 24.

Wayne State University. This symposium focuses on managing and analyzing the data captured through marketing, product development, manufacturing, distribution, sales and service in a global setting. Gain

insights on identifying big data opportunities, developing business cases, and using analytics to drive business success. Wayne State Student Center Building, Detroit. $40. Contact: Mark Garrison, phone: (313) 5775683; email: mgarrison@wayne.edu. J Putting Social Media to Work for Your Business. 6-9 p.m. March 28. School-

craft College. Discover how to select and manage the right social media platform(s) for products or services. Jeffress Center, Schoolcraft College, Livonia. $45. Contact: Sara Gumina, phone: (734) 462-4438; email: sgumina@schoolcraft.edu; website: sbdcmichigan.org. J 9th Annual Trade Secrets with Connie Holzer. 6-9:30 p.m. March 29. JVS.

Keynote speaker Connie Holzer, owner of Tom Holzer Ford, who has built it into one of the top Ford dealerships in the country. Holzer took over the dealership when her husband died in 2006, at the same time the country was going into an economic tailspin. Troy Marriott. $150. Contact: Judy Strongman, phone: (248) 2334213; email: jstrongman@jvsdet.org; website: jvsdet.org/tradesecrets. J Great Lakes Business Intelligence and Big Data Summit. 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

March 30. WIT Inc. Attendees will learn best practices and success stories to help them capitalize on big data, business intelligence, analytics and data visualization opportunities. Troy Marriott. $169. Contact: Erin Adair-Guy, phone: (248) 641-5900, ext. 244; email: bisummit@witinc. com; website: greatlakesbisummit. com. The Culture of Accountability. 7-9 a.m. March. 31. The Business Roundtable. Stanley Targosz III, CEO of Education Planning Resources, will speak on how stronger cultures of accountability lead to higher performance and commitment within companies. Birmingham Country Club. $35 person; $350 table of eight and branding opportunities. Contact: Christa Moxon, phone: (269) 685-7829; email: christa.moxon@thebusinessrt.org; website: thebusinessrt.org. J

J Staying Relevant in a Noisy World. 7:30-9 a.m. April 4. Leadership Oakland. Joyce Jenereaux, former publisher and president of the Detroit Free Press and Michigan.com, on leadership and business lessons she learned along the way. MSU Management Education Center, Troy. $32 members; $36 nonmembers. Website: leadershipoakland.com.

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.

C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // M A R C H 6 , 2 0 1 7

Grupo Antolin, Credit Acceptance plan local expansions

PEOPLE: SPOTLIGHT

Village Green announces new executive team

By Dustin Walsh dwalsh@crain.com

and Lindsay VanHulle

Crain’s Detroit Business/Bridge Magazine

Spanish auto supplier Grupo Antolin and Southfield-based auto lender Credit Acceptance Corp. are planning newly announced major local expansions that will bring hundreds of new jobs. Both projects had state financial incentives approved last week. Grupo Antolin plans to open a new $61.2 million manufacturing plant in Shelby Township. Antolin Shelby Inc., a newly formed subsidiary of Grupo Antolin, will lease a 350,000-square-foot building under construction at the Cherry Creek Corporate Park at M-53 and 23 Mile Road. The project is expected to create 430 new jobs and is supported by a $3.6 million performance-based grant from the Michigan Strategic Fund. The new plant is needed as Grupo’s other plants are at capacity, according to a Michigan Economic Development Corp. memo. Grupo, with its North American headquarters in Auburn Hills, operates plants in Michigan in Wayne, Marlette and Warren as well as in Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri. The expansion stems from Grupo’s $525 million acquisition of Magna International Inc.’s interiors business in 2015. The Magna sale included 36 manufacturing operations and about 12,000 employees in Europe, North America and Asia.

Farmington Hills-based apartment management giant Village Green Holding LLC has as-

Grupo Antolin’s North American headquarters are in Auburn Hills. Earlier this year, Grupo announced it would sell its seating business to Southfield-based Lear Corp. for $307 million. That transaction is expected to close by June 30. Credit Acceptance plans to add more than 500 jobs in an expansion of its corporate headquarters.

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Ann Arbor Region President Comerica

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES Rebecca Roberts President & CEO

L J Ross Associates, Inc. As President and CEO, Rebecca is responsible for the efficient, ethical, and legal operations of all agency functions. Her background and experience includes 12 years in the collection industry. Rebecca is a graduate of Siena Heights University with a Bachelor of Arts and is pursuing her Master’s in Organizational Leadership. Rebecca is President of MACA and has been appointed by Gov. Snyder to the Collection Practices Board which oversees the licensure of the collection agencies in Michigan.

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Vice President & General Manager L J Ross Associates, Inc. As Vice President & General Manager, Jennifer is responsible for the efficient, ethical, and legal operations of all agency functions. Her background and experience includes 9 years in the collection industry and held positions such as Collection supervisor, Support services supervisor, and Sales manager. Jennifer has a Bachelor of Science from Eastern Michigan University and is currently pursuing her Master’s in Business Administration.

As region president, Kerns will work with representatives across Comerica to ensure the bank is meeting its clients’ needs and serving the community. She continues to lead the bank’s Ann Arbor commercial lending office, while adding region president responsibilities. A 23-year banking veteran, Kerns has held positions of increasing authority in commercial lending and retail since joining the bank in 1993. She has been helping the bank’s Ann Arbor clients meet their financial goals for 11 years.

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GRUPO ANTOLIN

The Michigan Strategic Fund gave the company a $2.3 million performance-based grant to help finance the $33 million project. The Michigan Economic Development Corp. said the company plans to add 532 jobs on top of its current workforce of 1,058. Credit Acceptance (NASDAQ: CACC), which works with auto dealerships to provide vehicle loans to customers who otherwise couldn’t obtain one, plans to expand its headquarters on 12 Mile Road in Southfield, including leasing extra space at one or more of its three local buildings, renovating and extending lease contracts, according to the MEDC. The state said Credit AccepCredit tance considAcceptance ered expanding plans to add an existing facility in Hendermore than son, Nev., a Las 500 jobs in an Vegas suburb, expansion of where wages are $2 per its corporate roughly hour below the headquarters. average wage in Southfield. Michigan Works and Oakland Community College will help cover recruitment and training costs of new employees, the MEDC said. The city of Southfield has offered a property tax incentive, the state said. Credit Acceptance has received state grants in the past — namely, a $1.8 million grant in 2012 that led to 274 jobs in Southfield, the MEDC said. In addition, AM General LLC plans to move its engineering and product development center from Livonia to Auburn Hills, creating 55 jobs in the process. Approaching the end of its 30-year lease in Livonia, the military and civilian vehicle manufacturer had been seeking a new site to accommodate growth amid a changing defense industry. The Oakland County site will be home for AM General’s engineering and advanced technology offices and prototype development that meets U.S. Department of Defense security requirements. The South Bend, Ind.-based company considered a move to Indiana to be more centralized, reduce costs and use existing space, according to a news release. The MEDC awarded a $1.4 million performance-based grant to support AM General’s capital investment of up to $9.5 million in Auburn Hills. Crain’s reporter Kurt Nagl also contributed to this report.

sembled a new executive team to oversee its strategic planning. Diane Batayeh, Diane Batayeh the company’s longtime president and COO, replaced Jonathan Holtzman as CEO. The leadership and structural change came after Holtzman sold the company’s properties to Dallas-based Compatriot Capital last June for $40 million. Village Green then dropped its ownership operations and emerged solely as a property management firm. Former senior vice president of property operations David Ferszt was appointed president, and former senior vice president of sales and marketing Barbara Hale was named executive vice president of Village Green Holding. Village Green manages more than $5 billion in real estate assets and about 165 properties across the U.S. It manages more than 40 properties in the Detroit area.

ProQuest appoints VanHees as SVP, CFO Ann Arbor information technology company ProQuest LLC named Robert

VanHees

as senior vice president and CFO. VanHees, 47, replaces Robert VanHees

Jonathan Collins, who left

a year ago to become executive vice president and CFO of Maumee, Ohio-based

Dana Inc.

VanHees was operating partner for five years at New York City private equity firm JLL Partners.

Whitfield named to lead Heidelberg Project Jenenne Whitfield has been named to the newly created position of president and CEO of the

Heidelberg Project as founder Tyree Guyton steps

back from the Detroit arts Jenenne Whitfield nonprofit. Whitfield, 55, has worked with the project alongside Guyton for 23 years, lately as executive director. Guyton, who is in a lengthy process of dismantling the art installation, will be the organization’s artistic director until that process is over.

March 6, 2017

’S U DETROIT C R A I N ’ S D E T R OCIRAIN T B S I N EBUSINESS S S // M A R C H 6 , 2 0 1 7

HABITAT

Stay in the know with Crain’s Email Newsletters

FROM PAGE 3

director of the Oakland Habitat. “This is a cash-hungry mission. We need capital to serve families.” With current interest rates, third-party mortgages make sense for Habitat homeowners, he said. But economic conditions such as increased interest rates and rising property values could force the affiliate to reconsider the third-party mortgage model in the future. “It’s all about affordability for the home buyer,” Ruggles said. The Oakland and Macomb affiliates are also looking at other ways to improve the profitability of their ReStore locations, which sell new and Tim Ruggles: Cash cycle was too used furniture, long in old model. home accessories, building materials and appliances, by moving them to higher-profile locations closer to donors. The model is similar to that employed by Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit and Salvation Army, Eastern Michigan Division with their upscale thrift stores. The Macomb and Oakland affiliates are also strengthening other parts of their business models, in an attempt to produce more cash to help more people get into and stay in homes. For example, Macomb Habitat serves as the exclusive deconstruction firm for Curtis Kitchens and provides those services to private owners. It’s now in conversations with Lowe’s to take over kitchen and bathroom deconstruction for one or more of their area stores, said Helen Hicks, who joined Macomb Habitat as president and CEO five years ago. On the service side, the affiliates are focusing more on home rehabs to reuse existing housing stock where it’s cost-effective to do so, increasing home repair services offered to low-income people to help them remain in their homes, and helping people prepare financially to be homeowners. The traditional zero-perc e n t- i n t e r e s t Habitat business model works like this: An affiliate fronts the cost of building or rehabbing a home with government Helen Hicks: Too and corporate many homes led to grants and revenue earned cash shortages. through ReStore locations and deconstruction services. Applicants are qualified for the mortgages based on their income, credit worthiness and ability to pay a mortgage, and they agree to put at least 250 hours in sweat equity into their new home. They are issued the no-interest mortgage for a period of 15-30 years and make monthly payments back to the affiliate. Given property values, some affili-

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crainsdetroit.com/crainsemails HABITAT FOR HUMANITY OAKLAND COUNTY

Workers toil at a Habitat for Humanity build last year. ates, like Macomb, have lost money on the homes up front. A home might take $100,000 to build, but it appraises for only $65,000, Hicks said. That amount is then assessed to make sure the mortgage payment does not exceed 30 percent of the applicant’s monthly income to ensure it is affordable for them. But the bigger issue for those without sufficient cash flow is the trickle of cash coming back to the affiliate over the life of the mortgage. Building too many homes in the past led to cash shortages and debt for the Macomb Habitat, as it was fronting money for new construction but waiting 15-30 years to recoup the mortgage amount, Hicks said. By moving to third-party mortgages, it will get the sale price for the home at the sale closing and be able to immediately redeploy that to other homes and repair services. Offering the zero-percent loans is still a sustainable model for Plymouth-based Habitat for Humanity of Western Wayne County, which is only doing the number of builds it has cash on hand to support, according to Executive Director Alice Dent. It’s also been sustainable for Habitat for Humanity of Huron Valley, which renovates empty houses with community organizations and sponsors and offers qualified low-income buyers a zero-percent mortgage. The Ann Arbor affiliate was recently named Habitat International’s No. 1 affiliate in renovations out of about 1,400 nationwide. Other Habitat agencies operating in places such as Flint, Lansing and Kent County are also thriving, given rising property values in their regions and, for some, their ability to recover cash more quickly by selling the mortgages to local banks looking to comply with the federal Community Reinvestment Act, which requires financial institutions to help meet the credit needs of the communities in which they operate, said Sandra Pearson, president and CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Michigan, the Lansing-based support organization for the state’s 65 Habitat affiliates. “You’re going to continue to see that trend that (Habitat) families will be financed through third-party financial products,” Pearson said. Some affiliates shifted to third-party mortgages sooner than others, but Pearson said it’s expected to continue. “While the traditional (zero-percent) model works for some, not all can be sustainable on that model,” she said. It’s about finding the right financing product for your market — knowing what it costs and what you can recover and building your funding model around that, Pearson said.

The human impact Before Doreen Marquis moved into a Ferndale home built through Habitat for Humanity of Oakland County in 1994, her three children shared a bedroom in a small townhome. The first recipient of a Habitat home from the Oakland affiliate, Marquis made her last mortgage payment on the house two years ago. Getting into a stable home with a payment cheaper than the rent she’d been paying allowed her to better her own education and that of her children, all of whom went on to earn college degrees, she said. “The opportunity Habitat gave me is going to have a trickle effect down the line for I don’t know how many generations,” Marquis said. When you hear people say they tried to get a mortgage their whole life, and you are able to help them get into a home, “those are the reasons we still stay in this business,” said Hicks. “People who own their own home have greater success in terms of having their children go to college ... (and) fewer health problems.” A 2015 Habitat for Humanity Minnesota study found that in 92 percent of Habitat homes, at least one adult — the homeowner or anothSandra Pearson: er adult living in the home — Trend is for thirdstarted, comparty financing. pleted or made plans to start a higher education program after moving into the home. Habitat homeowners and their families reported feeling safer, their health improved and they reduced reliance on government assistance. It remains yet to be seen what operating model the Detroit affiliate will forge to ensure its sustainability and work going forward. But one thing is clear: The state needs a strong Habitat Detroit affiliate to help meet the need in the city, Pearson said. Habitat Detroit’s executive director, Ken Cockrel Jr., declined to comment beyond saying the agency is still working to develop a sustainable model. Pearson believes Habitat Detroit will work in new ways with other nonprofits and could look at options such as becoming a partner in rental housing and selling the mortgages it holds. “There are business models that will work; it’s just going to take some time to rebuild,” she said. Sherri Welch: (313) 446-1694 Twitter: @SherriWelch

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C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // M A R C H 6 , 2 0 1 7

WORKFORCE FROM PAGE 1

Losing skilled workers In the U.S. and Michigan, primeage women (25 to 54 years old) have been dropping out of the workforce for more than a decade. In Michigan, the labor force participation rate among women declined to 73.5 percent in 2016 from 76.6 percent in 2001, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics. While the drop seems small, it represents more than 300,000 women no longer in the workforce. In fact, the U.S. is the only wealthy nation where labor force participation among women as a whole is falling — from 76.4 percent in 2001 to 73.7 percent in 2015, according to data from the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development. In Germany, for example, labor force participation among women rose from 77.4 percent in 2001 to 82.5 percent in 2015. When deciding which partner should exit the workforce due to exorbitant child care costs, the woman more often does so, said Krista Brumley, an associate professor focused on the sociology of gender and the workplace at Wayne State University. “Women tend to be in lower-paying, less secure jobs,” she said. “Plus they suffer from the motherhood penalty. Evidence suggests women are being pushed out because their work is not being valued as much as men’s. Ideal workers can work long hours and pri-

oritize work over family. Women tend to do this less as they have societal pressures to be attentive mothers, and without a strong partner at home to divide the workload, it’s very difficult, and we’ve left women in a real bind.” Women also are paid less for the same work — 79 cents on the dollar — and are less likely to receive promotions, Brumley said. The loss of women from the labor force is also alarming given the fact that more women than men are graduating from college. In 2014, women earned 57.3 percent of bachelor’s and

58.9 percent of master’s degrees in Michigan. Child care costs may be driving educated, highly skilled women from the workforce. At current state averages, which are much lower than many affluent parents pay in Southeast Michigan, day care for an infant costs only 12.5 percent less than the in-state tuition for a four-year public university in the state. That’s prohibitive, said Elise Gould, senior economist at Washington, D.C.-based think tank Economic Policy Institute. “When we look around the world, more and more women are entering the workforce,” Gould said. “That’s not happening here. While there’s no one issue that’s the sole cause of that, child care costs appear to play a major role.” Jessica Dorn nearly dropped out after her second child was born in 2014. Even as a dual-income family, Dorn, a senior client accountant at Detroit-based advertising agency Commonwealth/McCann and her husband, an engineer at IAC Group in Southfield, faced a crisis when deciding whether she would return to work. The Dorns pay slightly above the state average for two children under 4 years old. They chose a higher-quality day care, she said. “It was tough; we went with a list of pros and cons, but in the end decided

HURON FROM PAGE 3

situation is you find an owner who doesn’t want to sell now but might want to sell in four or five years. We help them grow the business, and then we both cash out.” Huron began raising its largest fund, the Huron Fund V LP, in October. As with its fourth fund, Huron will focus on deals involving equity investments of between $10 million and $50 million in companies with revenue up to $200 million. Among past investors who invested in the fifth fund are the state of Michigan retirement system and the University of Michigan endowment. Other investors included foundations, other public pensions, corporate pensions and family offices. “There’s a heavy Michigan participation. Very recognizable names, most of which I’m not allowed to

that the financial cost of day care would be temporary...,” Dorn said. “If it cost any more, I would have stayed home.” For Dorn, it was more than just a financial decision. “It’s important to me that they see a mom and dad that work, have goals and are successful,” Dorn said. “But I know not everyone is so fortunate, and that’s disheartening.” The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has a guideline that child care is not affordable if it costs more than 10 percent of a family’s income. In Michigan, infant care accounts for 16.5 percent of income in a family with a median household income of $59,940. By the HHS metric, only 26 percent of Michigan families can afford infant care, according to a 2016 study by the Economic Policy Institute.

Policy solutions? The issue is more pronounced for lower-income families. State subsidies for child care have plummeted. Parents receiving child care subsidies from the state of Michigan dropped by more than two-thirds, from nearly 65,000 to roughly 20,000 in 2014, according to data prepared by the House Fiscal Agency for the state Department of Education. This isn’t name,” said managing director Brian Demkowicz. “We had a lot of demand for the fifth fund. We had about $1 billion in demand, but we held firm at $550 million. You raise too much, you get out ahead of your skis. We’re already looking at some pretty good opportunities for that fund.” Some of the investors, like UM and the state, are repeat investors. Once fundraising is done for the sixth fund, Huron will have raised $1.7 billion since being founded in 1999. It has invested in 130 Brian Demkowicz: companies since Heavy Michigan its founding and participation. now has 16 portfolio companies. Demkowicz could not talk about

because Michigan families suddenly earned out of the program, but because the state raised the threshold for provider participation in 2008 when it determined it wasn’t accurately tracking subsidies paid for some home-based care providers. This meant fewer providers accepting subsidies and fewer families enrolling. Gov. Rick Snyder’s latest budget, proposed in February, calls for an increase in child care subsidies. What on the surface is a human services and budgeting conundrum is now a business issue, according to the Michigan Chamber of Commerce. “There’s a growing trend in conversations with our businesses in recent months,” said Wendy Block, director of health policy and human resources for the Michigan Chamber of Commerce. “We have 1.2 million open jobs in the Midwest and many in Michigan, and employers are really looking at the lack of affordable day care as a barrier to hiring and retainment.” The chamber is in the early stages of assembling state agencies and member companies to review what could be done through regulatory changes or legislation, Block said. The Trump administration, advised by President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, stressed child care reform as part of its overall tax reform package. Early ideas include expanding a child care tax credit and guaranteeing six weeks of maternity leave. Other states, such as New York, have rolled out programs to offer universal pre-kindergarten for 4-yearolds to reduce child care costs for their residents. Michigan offers free halfday pre-kindergarten for 4-year-olds in low-income families, but the program has struggled with inadequate state funding and logistical hurdles. For every percent of reduced child care costs, labor force participation for women grows by 0.2 percent, according to the Economic Policy Institute. In Michigan, finding a way to reduce the costs of child care to the HHS’ 10-percent-of-income guideline would boost labor force participation for women by 2 percent — theoretically putting 43,000 more women in Michigan into the labor force. Dustin Walsh: (313) 446-6042 Twitter: @dustinpwalsh

the new $100 million fund, declining comment or even confirmation for fear of violating rules of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission prohibiting firms from publicizing fundraising efforts. But the cat was let out of the bag in February when a New York investment banking firm, Sixpoint Partners, put out a news release saying it had helped Huron raise its fifth fund. The news release also mentioned a sixth fund without giving any details. Its purpose is a poorly kept secret in the private-equity world. “The jury came in a long time ago on Huron. Brian and his team have provided a great story in the arc of finance in Michigan. Their reputation is well-known coast to coast,” said Sam Valenti III, a major investor in Huron’s first fund when he ran Taylor-based Masco Capital. Tom Henderson: (231) 499-2817 Twitter: @TomHenderson2

C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // M A R C H 6 , 2 0 1 7

Firms help drive after-school reading program at old Packard plant By Chad Livengood

Meyer designed a curriculum, student testing and assessment measures and raised additional funding for the program, which serves about 50 students throughout the school year from two charter schools — Detroit Enterprise Academy and University Prep Science & Math Elementary. The Grosse Pointe Old Devils, a charity-minded group of hockey

buddies Ray is part of, raised $85,000 of the program’s $100,000 budget for this school year. The rest is funded by donations from businesses and philanthropic organizations, Meyer said. Quicken Loans employees helped paint and clean the program’s new classroom space over the Christmas holiday and dPOP — the workspace-design firm co-founded by Jennifer Gilbert, wife of Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert — donated furniture for the classroom, library and study rooms, Meyer said. The program received a donated 18-passenger school bus, which Meyer got a license to drive and pick up students from one of the two east side schools. “As soon as we had the bus, we had 50 kids on the list and a waiting list beyond that,” Meyer said. “Work doesn’t end for parents when schools end for students, so that was pretty essential to fill that gap and get the kids here.” Parents pick up their children each night when the program ends. While the program is focused on reading, Meyer begins each threehour after-school session with snacks for the children and a learning lesson that often integrates a writing assignment. The food is

mostly donated by S&F Foods Inc. in Romulus and Zee Zees, a division of Novi-based National Food Group. The volunteer mentors arrive around 5 p.m. to sit with the students and do one-on-one reading. “It’s a tremendous program. It’s very well organized,” said Zach Jones, who works in finance at American Axle in Detroit. Jones is on a team of four American Axle employees who come to the AmeriSource building each Thursday evening to work with the students. “Last year, we worked the entire school year and definitely saw some progress from beginning to end,” Jones said. Meyer tests the children at the beginning and end of the school year to track their progress. Last year, students advanced an average of 2.6 grade levels, she said. She attributes the progress to the individualized attention to each child. “With our kids being able to sit for an entire hour with one person giving them their full attention and working very specifically on targeted lessons, I think that’s where we’re really seeing those numbers,” she said.

“He was going to graduate with a first-grade reading level,” Aronson said of the teenager. “It’s criminal. How do you get from 11th grade to 12th grade with a first-grade reading level, much less graduate?” The 4,000 students Beyond Basics has reached this school year represent only a fraction of Detroit’s school-age children. There are about 50,000 students in 100 schools operated by DPSCD and the Education Achievement Authority, which will be folded back into the city school district this summer. An additional 51,000 Detroit kids attend charter schools within and outside of the city limits. Good has a plan for taking her program citywide. She estimates for $100 million, 100 Detroit schools could be staffed with tutors for oneon-one literacy intervention over the next five years. “That’s the price tag on literacy in Detroit schools,” Good said. “Embracing a literacy initiative for Detroit would change everything — and it would change it pretty quickly.” Steep as the cost may be, in the absence of a coordinated response from Lansing, corporate leaders sponsoring Beyond Basics are urging other business to get involved by adopting a Detroit school. “Until and unless DPS fixes itself and can really address and provide a quality education to the kids … organizations like this being plugged in to help is critical,” said Bob Evans, president of Freudenberg North America LP, a German automotive and heavy industry supplier that has operations in Plymouth Township and Howell. In July 2015, Freudenberg’s top 300 executives gathered at Cobo

Center for a biennial global company meeting and heard a pitch from Good about why they should sponsor the literacy program at Burton International Academy in Detroit. Good disclosed eye-opening statistics about how the majority of Detroit children are functionally illiterate. “Jaws dropped,” Evans said. “It sort of sold itself.” The German parent company committed about $80,000 over three years and Freudenberg’s Michigan-based subsidiaries donated another $37,000 toward funding the literacy program at Burton, Evans said. “We adopted one school,” Evans said. “It would be great if we could get businesses in our community to similarly adopt the other schools in the district and make this something that goes across the city.” Hanno Wentzler, president and CEO of Freudenberg Chemical Specialties SE & Co., visited Burton and read to students during a trip to Detroit. “It was just very, very emotional to see how these kids responded, especially coming from affluent Germany where we have a public education system which is very proper,” Wentzler said in a telephone interview from Germany. “It was very surprising to see that level of illiteracy still with kids 8, 9 or 10 years old.” Just 12 percent of Detroit third-graders were proficient in reading last year, according to state data. Mohammad Qazi, CEO of Ciena Healthcare, said the Southfield-based nursing home company is in the process of sponsoring a Detroit school.

Detroit needs “something radical” to reverse “shameful and embarrassing” illiteracy rates, Qazi said. “You can’t have an illiterate workforce,” Qazi said. “This is something that the business community can do. There’s no politics involved. Nothing to do with the (teachers) union.” At Burton, teachers have embraced the Beyond Basics staff and volunteer mentors, according to the principal. There’s another value in the tutoring that the tests don’t measure, supporters say. “We see a difference with how engaged the students are” after getting tutored, said Mary Beth Halprin, director of communication at Mercedes-Benz Financial Services USA LLC. Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, which has its North American headquarters in Farmington Hills, has donated $750,000 to Beyond Basics since 2008 for an array of education programs, Halprin said. Since 2009, the lending arm of Daimler AG has sponsored the tutoring program at Thirkell Elementary School west of Detroit’s New Center area and sees a return on its investment in the school, Halprin said. “As a company that’s based here in the Michigan area, we see the potential that these young people could be our employees someday,” said Halprin, who volunteers as a mentor at the school. “The call to action for a corporation is if you value building a workforce in this market, contributing today to these young people’s lives has an opportunity to pay off down the road."

clivengood@crain.com

Seventy-five years ago, the former Packard marine plant on East Grand Boulevard was used to build engines for British bomber planes in World War II. Today, on one of the floors of a 120,000-square-foot building that helped fuel the Arsenal of Democracy, a group of Detroit children is learning how to read and write. AmeriSource Industrial Supply Co. has dedicated a multi-room space within the building for an after-school reading program run by a full-time teacher and a corps of volunteer mentors that includes employees from American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. and Quicken Loans and students from Wayne State University. It’s an unusual setting for a classroom inside the one Packard building that always remained occupied long after the Packard Motor Co. deserted the sprawling and window-less 3.5-million-square-foot factory next door. “We had the space, so we did it," said Lou Ray, president of AmeriSource. “Somebody’s got to start somewhere." For years, Ray had been alarmed by the high rates of illiteracy among

READING FROM PAGE 1

intervention for children living in poverty that the Detroit Public Schools Community District can’t consistently provide because it’s cost-prohibitive for a school system that just barely escaped bankruptcy eight months ago. Before entering the program five months ago, Elijah said he couldn't read street signs — even Birwood Street, where he lives on the city's west side. “I know how to spell Birwood now,” he said. Companies in metro Detroit sponsor the program’s paid tutors who work one-on-one with the students on reading. Employees at the sponsoring companies also volunteer to read with the students and help with a reading and book publishing project during the six- to 10week program. “This program reinforces what the teachers cannot get to,” said John Wilson, principal of Burton International Academy, a 700-student elementary-middle school facility that has the program. “When you have 25 to 30 children in a classroom, you have a minute to a minute and a half with each child.” Javier Reed, who is the Beyond Basics program director at Central High School, has tutored Elijah Craft for an hour each school day since October on suffixes, tenses and vowel-tagging to teach him how to break down and pronounce words he doesn’t identify. “The improvement he’s made is tremendous,” Reed said during a session with Elijah last week. “It speaks for itself.”

CHAD LIVENGOOD/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Zach Jones (left), an employee at American Axle & Manufacturing who volunteers as a reading mentor for the Center for Success, works with 8-year-old Temperence Barnette, a third-grade student who attends the after-school program twice a week. Detroit youth. “We knew the need was all around us,” he said. In 2014, Ray hired educator Andrea Meyer to create a nonprofit that is now called the Center for Success. Meyer, a Rochester Hills native, spent five years teaching children in south-central Los Angeles and later taught in the Warren and Center Line school districts after she moved back to Michigan.

Film screening Beyond Basics is hosting a screening Monday of “A Day in the Life of Elijah Craft,” a documentary directed by Keith Famie about Detroit teenager Elijah Craft learning to read at age 17. The screening begins at 2 p.m. at the Detroit Athletic Club, 241 Madison St.

Wayne State University researchers Carl Freedman and Hilary Horn Ratner conducted a blind study of the academic progress of secondand third-grade students in the Beyond Basics “Read to Rise” program and students who were placed into a control group. Students in Beyond Basics showed a six-fold increase in word identification and 12.5 times as much grade level growth compared to students in the control group who were not tutored, according to the research. For students in the program, their “word attack” skills to sound out syllables increased 22-fold, Freedman said. “That’s predominately what they taught were word attack skills and then word meaning,” Freedman said. “These are not small increases. These are huge — in a very short period of time.”

“It’s criminal” Jack Aronson, founder of Garden Fresh Gourmet in Ferndale, chairs the board of Beyond Basics and recently helped produced a short documentary about Elijah Craft’s struggle and quick progress.

Chad Livengood: (313) 446-1654 Twitter: @ChadLivengood

C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // M A R C H 6 , 2 0 1 7

SUITES FROM PAGE 3 www.crainsdetroit.com Editor-in-Chief Keith E. Crain Executive Vice President KC Crain Publisher/Editor Ron Fournier, (313) 446-1674 or rfournier@crain.com Group Publisher Mary Kramer, (313) 446-0399 or mkramer@crain.com Managing Editor Michael Lee, (313) 446-1630 or malee@crain.com Director, Crain Custom Content Kristin Bull, (313) 446-1608 or kbull@crain.com Product Manager/Marketing Kim Winkler, (313) 446-6764 or kwinkler@crain.com Deputy Product Manager/Digital Carlos Portocarrero (313) 446-6056 or cportocarrero@crain.com Membership Director Nancy Hanus, (313) 446-1621 or nhanus@crain.com News Editor Beth Reeber Valone, (313) 446-5875 or bvalone@crain.com Special Projects Editor Amy Elliott Bragg, (313) 446-1646 or abragg@crain.com Design and Copy Editor Beth Jachman, (313) 446-0356 or bjachman@crain.com Research and Data Editor Sonya Hill, (313) 446-0402 or shill@crain.com Newsroom (313) 446-0329, FAX (313) 446-1687, TIP LINE (313) 446-6766

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Suites are just one aspect of what’s believed to be a complex business relationship between the teams — a deal that remains unfinished. Arn Tellem, who has led the relocation effort for Pistons owner Tom Gores, said last week that undisclosed things still were being worked out between the organizations. “There are still some minor issues we have to conclude, but we know we’ll do that soon,” he said before the annual Crain’s Detroit Business Newsmaker of the Year event that honored Gores (see story, Page 7). “The basic deal is done. We have pretty much agreement on virtually all of the issues.” That deal is separate from the agreement between Olympia and the city that must be amended for the Pistons to become a tenant, which is a public document. The Ilitch family, which owns the Red Wings and Olympia, is financing construction of the $635 million arena with a blend of public and private money, and in November the tentative deal was announced to bring the Pistons downtown from Oakland County as co-tenants with the Red Wings. All of the 52 suites and 22 mini suites, or loge boxes, are expected to be sold out for Pistons games within a month, said Kevin Grigg, the Pistons’ vice president of public relations. “We anticipate to be sold out of suites in the next 30 days. Suites are being sold jointly by the two organizations,” he said via email last week.

The suite science For Red Wings games, suites at 20,000-seat Little Caesars Arena lease for more than $300,000 a year, and the leases are for seven to 10 years, said Craig Turnbull, senior vice president of marketing and communications for the Red Wings, in a 2015 conversation with Crain’s. Basic math conservatively shows that, assuming 52 suites are leased at $300,000 annually over seven years, suites account for $109.2 million in revenue for the Red Wings alone. Typically, that money is paid over time rather than in a lump sum. The mini suites are actually loge boxes for four to eight people, and lease for about $100,000 a season. The larger suites can host 30 to 40 people. Suite leases for Pistons games are also being sold under seven- to 10year deals, Grigg confirmed, but he declined to discuss prices. At the Palace, the Pistons have 175 suites that lease under multiyear deals. There are suites of varying sizes and locations, and as of a few years ago they were leasing for about $250,000 a season. Some were closer to $100,000 and others leased for more. Premium seating tends to be leased by companies, which often use them as perks for clients and employees. “Suites do skew toward companies and corporate purchasers here at The Palace,” Grigg said. “With that

The Little Caesars Arena is under construction in downtown Detroit.

“We anticipate to be sold out of suites in the next 30 days. Suites are being sold jointly by the two organizations.” Kevin Grigg, Pistons vice president of public relations

said, we have a mix of corporate owners and individual buyers for all of our premium products.” Because the new arena is shared by two teams, the suites likely won’t be decorated in their respective logos and colors. “Final decisions have not been determined. (We) will be working through that with Olympia, but the suites are neutral and are not team branded. With that said, technological and digital aspects of the suites could allow for logos, etc., to be changed from game to game,” Grigg said.

Another revenue source It’s unclear if the Pistons will get as much suite revenue from Little Caesars suite leases versus what they get now from the Palace, but they do have a premium seat revenue source the Red Wings don’t have: The pricey on-court seats unique to basketball games, which are sold out and cost up to $70,000 a season. That revenue is kept by the Pistons, Grigg said. The team should generate at least $10 million a season from on-court seating, based on a rough estimate of the seat prices. “We currently have a wait list forming for any seats located courtside. As we push through the renewal process, a few seats may shake out as available, but primarily sold out on courtside seats,” Grigg said. There will be three rows of 402 folding-chair seats around the basketball court for Pistons games at Little Caesars Arena: 154 in the first row, 134 in the second row, and 114 in the third row. The cheapest courtside seat next season sells for $13,200, and the most expensive is $70,400 for “Super VIPs.” There are

388 courtside seats at the Palace. The Red Wings don’t have such seating because ice rinks don’t allow for such a configuration.

Other cost increases The Pistons also have raised season ticket prices for next season for non-premium seating. For example, the cheapest season ticket currently is $429. In 2017-18, that will jump to $616. At the other end of the spectrum, this season’s most expensive non-premium season ticket is $8,000 — a figure that will rise to $13,200 next season. Increasing season ticket prices and the cost of premium seating and other revenue sources could offset having to share revenue from suites. Additionally, by leaving the Palace, the Pistons won’t have the cost of operating and maintaining an arena on their books. “The seating configurations for both arenas are different, and there are some new seating areas available in the new arena that were not in The Palace,” Grigg said. “We have added additional price codes throughout the lower- and upper-level general seating locations to provide more options to the consumer. With that said, lower-level seats are increasing roughly 15 percent to 17 percent on average, with the biggest change in premium areas where we were below league average. Our pricing changes throughout the lower bowl will put us near average in the NBA.”

The revenue picture

cial data, but team management has previously said the team is profitable. The team was estimated to have had $172 million in revenue for the 2015-16 season, according to estimates from Forbes. com, while the Red Wings were said to have had $137 million in revenue from that same time frame. As they continue a long-term rebuilding process, the Pistons are averaging 15,495 fans per game at the Palace, nearly 6,000 fans a game fewer than they drew while leading the league in attendance through much of the previous decade. The Red Wings have made the playoffs for 25 consecutive years and annually rank near the top of the NHL in attendance. Both are expected take in more money from their new home. One sports-industry insider, who is familiar with the Detroit situation but spoke only on the condition of anonymity, estimated that the Pistons could collect as much as $500,000 in additional per-game revenue from playing at the new arena, which would translate into an extra $20 million over 41 regular-season home games. That boost, the source said, would stem from fan and corporate enthusiasm for the team’s return to the city, and from other factors such as dynamic single-game ticket pricing based on demand, increases in premium seating prices, and in concessions and merchandise sales. Single-game ticket prices won’t be set until later this year. Bill Shea: (313) 446-1626 Twitter: @Bill_Shea19

The Pistons don’t disclose finan-

INDEX TO COMPANIES These companies have significant mention in this week’s Crain’s Detroit Business: AM General LLC

Habitat for Humanity Detroit

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan

Habitat for Humanity of Michigan

Center for Success

Habitat for Humanity of Oakland County

Huron Capital Partners LLC

Crain Communications Credit Acceptance

Macomb County Habitat for Humanity

Detroit Medical Center

McLaren Health Care

Detroit Pistons

Michigan Department of Transportation 8, 10

Detroit Red Wings

Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame

United Wholesale Mortgage

Group Antolin

C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // M A R C H 6 , 2 0 1 7

THE WEEK ON THE WEB FEBRUARY 25-MARCH 3 CEO Ford repays RTA nearly $19,000

he Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan said CEO Michael Ford repaid nearly $19,000 following a report that he claimed about $37,000 in expenses, including airfare, luxury hotel rooms and out-of-town meals over 2½ Michael Ford: years. An RTA Issues under spokesman told review by RTA. The Detroit News the payment “addresses some contract issues” and other issues remain under review.

COMPANY NEWS

J The city of Detroit allowed the Russell Industrial Center to remain open temporarily, after ordering it closed last month due to what it called “blatant disregard for city ordinances, laws and regulations.” Since effectively evicting the center’s 150 or so tenants, the Buildings, Safety, Engineering and Environmental Department stayed its order, allowing tenants to remain in the building until a final decision was to be made Friday at a meeting with Russell center representatives. J Grand Rapids area-based retailer Meijer reached an agreement to sponsor the playing field at a new development at the former site of Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The Detroit News reported Meijer is giving the Detroit Police Athletic League $750,000 for at least five years of naming rights for Willie Horton Field of Dreams, presented by Meijer. The site is being redeveloped into a youth sports facility and Detroit PAL headquarters. Horton is the Detroiter who helped the Tigers win the 1968 World Series. J Sterling Heights airbag and seatbelt supplier Key Safety Systems Inc. is expected to sign a definitive agreement to acquire troubled Japanese auto supplier Takata Corp. by the end of March, said a person close to the negotiations speaking on condition of anonymity. Meanwhile, Takata pleaded guilty to fraud in a Detroit court and agreed to pay a $1 billion penalty for concealing a deadly defect in millions of its airbags. J Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp. is cutting top executives and expenses at its Detroit Medical Center to make it conform to management policies more similar to its other hospitals. Karen Fordham, president of Huron Valley Sinai Hospital in Commerce Township, resigned; also newly departed are DMC Pioneer ACO Executive Director Roger Wiseman, DMC Vice President of Pharmacy David Bach and communications director Emery King. J Southfield-based Beaumont Health was cleared to begin construction of a 183,000-square-foot mixed-use center

Detroit Digits A numbers-focused look at last week’s headlines:

$35,000

The fine levied against Dearborn-based Golden Recyclers Inc. by the state of Michigan for collecting clothing through more than 300 locally placed bins to benefit itself rather than a charity, as the bins implied.

$9 million

The amount of a five-year federal grant awarded to Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University School of Medicine to conduct the nation’s largest study on how cancer disproportionately affects African-Americans.

$23 million

The approximate amount of state funding approved for redevelopment of a former housing project site on Detroit’s west side. Gardenview Estates will include 97 townhomes.

on the site of the former Northwood Shopping Center in Royal Oak this summer after the city commission approved a zoning change. J Mercantile Bank Corp.’s Mercantile Bank of Michigan is expanding to metro Detroit, opening a commercial loan office in Troy last week and a full-service branch this summer. The Grand Rapids-based company’s first Southeast Michigan location is at 1700 Big Beaver Road. J Office staff at the North American headquarters of Anji Logistics USA Inc. will move March 15 from a temporary location in Birmingham to a new Warren facility’s 12,000 square feet of office space. J The Downtown Detroit Partnership named Toronto architecture firm Public Work to lead a Capitol Park Historic District redesign this fall. J New Jersey-based Automatic Data Processing LLC is terminating 16 more positions, after announcing in September that it would let go about 79 employees, as it closes its Ann Arbor office around March 30. J Woodpile BBQ Shack in Clawson will open its second Texas-style barbecue joint in a $7.5 million redevelopment in Detroit’s New Center in early 2018, Detroit real estate developer The Platform LLC announced. In other restaurant news, Bucharest Grill teased the opening of a new location in the growing Avenue of Fashion area of Detroit in a Facebook post; Maccabees Traders (formerly Maccabees Midtown) is reopening with a brand-new menu; and Detroit-based New Order Coffee is set this spring to open its flagship café in the Crystal Lofts building in Midtown. J Troy-based theater management company Emagine Entertainment Inc.

announced a call to metro Detroit high school students for “Hush Reel” videos, lighthearted 30- to 50-second videos that encourage moviegoers to silence mobile devices.

OTHER NEWS

J Responses to a request for proposals to redevelop the Stone Soap Building on Detroit’s east riverfront are due to the Detroit Economic Growth Corp. by May 1. The DEGC expects to recommend the chosen developer of the 88,000-square-foot property to Detroit City Council by June 30. J A Cleveland coalition is targeting Dan Gilbert in its battle against $282 million in upgrades to the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Quicken Loans Arena partly funded with taxpayer dollars, Cleveland.com reported. Greater Cleveland Congregations, which represents 43 organizations, will “hold a public action” March 21 with “Detroit faith leaders” to protest Gilbert’s lack of response to the group’s request for a meeting to discuss the arena plan. Gilbert, chairman of Detroit-based Quicken Loans Inc., owns the National Basketball Association champion Cavaliers. J A newly unveiled plan by the Detroit RiverFront Conservancy calls for the creation of two new pathways to the river on the east side akin to the Dequindre Cut, the popular pedestrian and bike trail between Eastern Market and the riverfront. J The Pontiac Regional Chamber and American Jewelry and Loan are teaming to host a three-week entrepreneurship workshop starting March 14. The workshop will be hosted by American Jewelry and Loan President Les Gold and Vice President Seth Gold, both of truTV’s reality show “Hardcore Pawn,” based on the pawnshop’s Detroit location. For details, visit www.pawndetroit. com/entrepreneurshipoakland. J Responding to community feedback, a path for cyclists and pedestrians will be included in the design of the new Gordie Howe International Bridge, the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority said. J Applications to compete for a share of $3 million in the 2017 Knight Arts Challenge Detroit will be available March 29, the Miami-based John and James Knight Foundation announced. J Comerica Bank’s Michigan Economic Activity Index recorded a slight dip in December, dropping 0.1 percentage points to hit 129.7. J Joseph Healey will retire in June after leading University Liggett School for 10 years, the Grosse Pointe Woods private school said. J Investor Wilbur Ross, whose funds control Southfield-based International Automotive Components Group, was sworn in as U.S. commerce secretary, and Detroit native Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, was confirmed as housing secretary.

OBITUARIES

J Ron Savage, a news anchor at WJBK-Fox 2, died Feb. 25. He was 63.

RUMBLINGS

Tigers pitch new, return promotional events for ’17 The Detroit Tigers have unveiled their 2017 season lineup of special events, special ticket and merchandise packages for more than 60 home games. New on the schedule are chances for fans to interact with former Tigers such as Willie Horton, Al Kaline, Jim Leyland and Alan Trammell, the team said. On select Saturday home games, the baseball club will host Alumni Saturdays, presented by Comerica Bank, where fans can participate in a Q&A with the former players. A full list of promotions and giveaways is at detroit.tigers.mlb.com. Returning this year is the Class Outside Educational series sponsored by Oakland University. The pregame series will take place before five home games in the first two months of the season. With a special ticket purchased at tigers. com/classoutside, fans can participate in the list of programs below: J Space Day — April 10

CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Comerica Park will host many Detroit Tigers giveaways.

Strike Out Bullying Day — April 12 Career Day — April 13 J Journalism Day — April 27 J Math Day — May 4 J Weather Day — May 18 Other events include 11 fireworks shows sponsored by Pepsi; Sunday Kids Days sponsored by Chevy Youth Baseball, where kids can ride the carousel and Ferris wheel for free and run the bases after the game; and Fox Sports Detroit University Days, where fans with a special ticket can receive a Tigers cap in the colors of various universities. For a complete season schedule, visit tigers.com. J J

MedNetOne exec leads U.S. curling to world honor Mark Lazar, director of corporate affairs at Rochester-based MedNetOne Health Solutions, last month coached the U.S. men’s curling junior national team to a silver medal at the 2017 World Junior Championships in South Korea. The American under-21 team lost to the Koreans on Feb. 26 on the final shot of the game at the Gangneung Curling Centre, which culminated a nine-game round robin tournament, according to Team USA. The World Junior Championships are a test event for the 2018 Olympic curling competition to also be held in Gangneung. Lazar’s club, TeamStopera, earned the trip to the world cham-

pionship by winning the 2017 USA Curling Junior National Championships on Jan. 21 in Fargo, N.D. Lazar, 39, joined MedNetOne in 2013, the company said in a statement. He was an Olympic curling trials competitor in 2006 and remains a nationally ranked curler, the company said. MedNetOne CEO Ewa Matuszewski is a curling fan whose daughters played the game. Curling has players slide 38- to 44-pound polished granite stones on a sheet of ice toward a target segmented into four concentric circles. A pair of sweepers use brooms to help guide the stone’s path toward the target. Teams slide eight stones per game and accumulate points.

Arc to honor work for developmentally disabled The Arc of Oakland County will hold its annual Dove Awards dinner and silent auction at the San Marino Club in Troy on March 24 as part of Developmental Disability Awareness Month. The Dove Awards recognize the efforts to enhance the lives of people with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Crain’s Senior Reporter Jay Greene is one of 18 awardees and represents the media distinction category. He has reported on state government efforts the past year to improve integration and coordination of the dual behavioral health and physical health Medicaid systems. The Arc of Oakland County, which is part of the state and national network of 700 chapters with 140,000 members, is a nonprofit that provides direct legal, general advocacy, informational and referral services as well as community

awareness for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. Among other new Dove honorees: J Chili’s, Auburn Hills, Employer of the Year Award. J Stan Gramke, CEO of New Horizons Rehabilitation Services Inc., Hall of Fame Award. J Kirk Jude Goddard, vice president of habilitation services with JVS, Janet and Paul MacCormack Lifetime Achievement Award. J Kathy Anaya, school social worker, Mason Middle School, Waterford School District, President’s Award. J Kyle Middleton, executive director, The Fowler Center Inc., Distinguished Service Award. Dove Awards tickets are $60 per person or $30 per person with a disability and can be purchased by calling (248) 816-1900. Visit the Arc of Oakland County’s website for more information.

Members of our Annual Disaster Ciiving Program and Disaster Responder Program pre-invest in disaster relief, ensuring the Red Cross can pre-position supplies, secure shelters, maintain vehicles and train volunteers nationwide, so we're always ready to respond, day and night. This support also means we can remain on hand to assist people as they recover and help become better prepared for the next disaster.

Annual Disaster Ciiving Program:

Disaster Responder Program:

Ford Motor Company Fund

DTE Energy Foundation

General Motors Foundation

Meijer

Ready 365 Members: Red Cross Ready 365 partners are actively assisting communities across Michigan - 365 days a year. This annual corporate membership program allows your company to stand with the Red Cross as we provide life saving services each and every day in communities across Michigan. AF Group

Emergent BioSolutions, Inc.

Magna International Inc.

Auto-Owners Insurance

Evans Distribution Systems

Barton Malow Company

Garr Tool Company

Michigan Millers Mutual Insurance Company

Consumers Energy Foundation and CMS Energy

Grainger Industrial Supply

Shively Brothers

Haworth Inc.

Stryker Corporation

Dart Container Corporation

Howard Miller

The Kroger Company of Michigan

Denso International America, Inc.

La-Z-Boy Foundation

Wolverine World Wide, Inc.

American Red Cross Michigan Region

redcross.org/local/michigan â&#x20AC;˘ 1 800 RED CROSSÂˇ (1-800-733-2767)