Crain's Grand Rapids Business

Developers work to build public trust

Massive manufacturing projects raise questions | BY

After spending months behind the scenes on complex negotiations and crafting incentive packages to lure major advanced manufacturers, Michigan economic development organizations now face another challenge to landing projects: public sentiment.

Speci cally, the involvement of overseas companies or their U.S.-based subsidiaries have stoked

KAYLEIGH VAN WYK

fears about the state of Michigan doing business with U.S. political adversaries, including through a $2.4 billion battery manufacturing plant near Big Rapids. Other concerns involve disrupting vast tracts of rural land with heavy industry as well as potential environmental pollution.

Evergreen

housing near Heritage Hill

Parcel would house apartments or lofts, two new buildings

By Kate Carlson

A Lansing-based developer wants to repurpose a vacant ofce and “sea of asphalt” into a mixed-use residential and commercial project connecting downtown Grand Rapids and Heritage Hill.

Kris Elliott, owner of Evergreen Companies Inc., is weighing his in ll development options for the nearly 1-acre parcel at 241 State St. SE, which features a vacant medical o ce and adjacent surface parking lots. e vacant three-story, mid-century modern o ce building recently housed a Trinity Health administrative o ce.

“ e building is in a sea of asphalt, it looks like it needs to be warmed up over there,” Elliott said. “ is is really the rst time it’s become available, and there’s not that much residential in that neighborhood. We’re hoping to get some positive feedback from the historic

commission so we can decide if we can proceed.”

Conceptual site plans call for converting part of the triangular property surrounded by State Street, Washington Street and Lafayette Avenue into a “residential rental enclave,” Elliott said. e former medical o ce could be repurposed as market-rate apartments or lofts, while two mixed-use buildings could be constructed on the surface parking lots on both sides of the existing building, per Elliott’s plan.

Niche Grand Rapids brewers eye ‘untapped market’

Advocates ask state to allow direct-to-consumer sales

By Abby Poirier

Speciation Artisan Ales LLC

has carved out a niche in Grand Rapids’ craft beer industry by producing a signature line of “wild” spontaneously fermented ales, hand-crafted sours and fruit-centric beers, most of which it sells from over the bar at its Wealthy Street taproom.

e brewery operates in a relatively small corner of the craft

brewing market that produces styles that have fervent fans all over the globe. However, not many companies in the industry focus on nicky, time-consuming wild ales, which require years of barrel aging to produce signature avors and the proper amount of funky characteristics.

Owner Mitch Ermatinger said Speciation regularly has patrons coming from hundreds of miles away to buy beer, which can range

in price from $6 per 16-ounce can to more than $25 for a 750-milliliter bottle. Most weekends, more than half of the brewery’s sales are to beer tourists, he said.

“And almost all of them are from out of state,” Ermatinger said. “We get tons of Chicago tra c, tons of New York tra c. We’ve positioned ourselves as a specialty brand, and I think that attracts a wider base.”

MANUFACTURING

MillerKnoll CEO apologizes to staff following viral comments.

3

GOVERNMENT

Grand Rapids redesigning Leonard Street parking plan. PAGE 3

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Will downtown Kalamazoo arena nally happen? PAGE 4

Gotion Inc.’s planned $2.4 billion EV battery plant proposed near Big Rapids. | GOTION INC.

Speciation Artisan Ales founder Mitch Ermatinger is advocating that Michigan update its distribution laws to allow direct-to-consumer sales of beer. COURTESY PHOTO

City redesigning Leonard parking

Neighborhood pushback prompts officials to consider business use; eye south side of street |

Neighborhood pushback has caused the city of Grand Rapids to reevaluate plans to remove on-street parking along a key West Side corridor where business owners have long decried a lack of parking.

City planners are now developing an alternative streetscaping plan for a section of Leonard Street in the West Grand neighborhood to preserve on-street parking where business owners say they need it most.

The city received a $523,000 grant from the Michigan Department of Transportation to resurface and improve Leonard Street from Powers Avenue NW to Alpine Avenue NW. The half-mile stretch includes a variety of restaurants, including Arnie’s Bakery, retailers, churches and the West Leonard branch of the Grand Rapids Public Library. The segment also includes the four-story Victory on Leonard mixed-use

MillerKnoll CEO apologizes to staff

Owen focusing ‘on the things we can control’

By Kayleigh Van Wyk

MillerKnoll Inc. CEO Andi Owen apologized to employees following a viral video clip that sparked backlash on social media for comments toward workers hoping for bonuses while her own compensation package for the 2022 fiscal year approached $5 million.

In a brief video captured from a company meeting in March and posted on Twitter, Owen is shown addressing staff members of the Zeeland-based furniture company. Some employees had reportedly asked how to stay motivated if employee bonuses are not issued this year.

Owen’s response began on an optimistic note as she decided to address the topic.

“The most important thing we

can do right now is focus on the things that we can control,” Owen said in the video, going on to reference the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions and “bank failures” as unpredictable circumstances.

The clip, which had amassed more than 7 million views by midApril, then shows Owen appearing frustrated as she discouraged staffers from focusing on whether bonuses are coming.

“Don’t ask about, ‘What are we going to do if we don’t get a bonus?’ Get the damn $26 million,” Owen said, referring to an undisclosed internal metric. “Spend your time and your effort thinking about the $26 million we need and not thinking about what you’re going to do if you don’t get a bonus. All right? Can I get some commit-

ment for that?”

development, which calls for first-floor retail and 120 apartments.

In an effort to improve walkability, the city initially planned to remove on-street parking on the north side of Leonard to widen the sidewalk from 6 feet to 12 feet and plant trees. The city’s Vital Streets Oversight Commission, which guides public investments on roads and transportation infrastructure, approved the original plan.

BY KATE CARLSON

However, after a March 23 neighborhood engagement meeting about the proposed improvement plan to eliminate street parking drew public pushback, city staff decided to pursue new design options that maintain north side street parking, city engineer Tim Burkman said. The city now aims to remove parking on the south side of Leonard Street.

Sleeping Giant Capital co-invests in SignComp

CEO-in-residence program is paying dividends

By Mark Sanchez

The clip also featured Owen sharing an anecdote about a former employer who told her to avoid dwelling in “pity city” — which Owen then used in a rallying cry to employees at the end of the video.

“So, people, leave pity city. Let’s get it done,” she said.

The video sparked backlash on Twitter, though Owen did not specifically say employee bonuses were canceled. Following the meeting, Owen — a former executive at

A Kalamazoo-based investment firm launched to nurture a new generation of entrepreneurs and retain local ownership in companies going through a transition found a strong match in SignComp LLC.

Sleeping Giant Capital invested in a SignComp, a Walker-based company founded in 1986 that engineers and produces custom extrusions for the sign industry for customers in North America, Europe, Pacific Rim, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Central and South America.

The deal was Sleeping Giant Capital’s second investment and the first in which an entrepreneur

completed the firm’s 11-month residency training program, then made an accompanying investment and now leads the company as an owner/operator.

“It’s our full model, from sourcing, training, supporting the CEO and sourcing the deal, fundraising, closing the transaction and supporting the company on a go-forward basis,” Sleeping Giant Capital Managing Partner Doug Lepisto said. “It’s our whole model being deployed.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Justin Murray succeeded prior owner Jason Lamberts as president after going through Sleeping Giant Capital’s CEO-in-residence program. Both Lamberts and Murray each hold a minority interest and serve on SignComp’s board of directors under the new ownership.

A manager at Arnie’s Bakery, located at 815 Leonard St. NW, said the city’s previous plan to eliminate on-street parking in front of the restaurant would have harmed businesses. | KATE CARLSON/CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS

CEO Andi Owen. | COURTESY OF MILLERKNOLL

Will downtown Kalamazoo arena finally happen?

Business leaders have wanted such a facility for years

By Rachel Watson

An arena 26 years in the making is expected to ease a longtime crunch for event space and positively impact Kalamazoo’s downtown and tourism workforce for decades to come.

Catalyst Development Co. in April spent $4.27 million to acquire several parcels of downtown property from Kalamazoo County. The parcels are mostly empty, save for parking lots.

The land will be for Catalyst’s planned $300 million, 320,000square-foot Kalamazoo Event Center, which has been in the making since 1997.

Catalyst is part of Greenleaf Companies, which is chaired by William Johnston, husband of Ronda Stryker, who is director of Kalamazoo-based Stryker Corp. (NYSE: SYK), a $113 billion medical devices and health care technologies business founded by her grandfather. Stryker also is the second-richest person in Michigan, according to Forbes, behind De-

troit real estate mogul Dan Gilbert.

The Kalamazoo Event Center, which will be privately funded from as-yet-unnamed sources, will be built on two city blocks bounded by North Westnedge Avenue to the west, West Kalamazoo Avenue to the north, North Park Street to the east and Eleanor Street to the south.

It is expected to host more than 230 events, shows, concerts and community sporting events per year and will be the future home of Western Michigan University men’s hockey and men’s and women’s basketball, as well as Kalamazoo Wings hockey.

Kalamazoo City Manager James Ritsema was not available for an interview, but he said in a statement to Crain’s that the city is thrilled to see the development coming to fruition after so many years.

“Just as the Arcadia Creek project years ago spurred resident and economic development in the north section of downtown, so, too, will the arena and event center, through drawing residents as well as visitors from far and wide to watch the Broncos and K-Wings in action or catch a concert or exhibit,” he said. “We believe the arena and event center will become a rousing success that will trans-

form downtown Kalamazoo and surrounding neighborhoods — in particular, through the partnerships and initiatives supporting the city’s Northside — and provide a positive social and economic impact for decades to come.”

Southwest Michigan First is the economic development organization that’s helping to coordinate the project with Catalyst. CEO Jonas Peterson said the new event center will help “revitalize” downtown.

“It will give us the ability to host hundreds of events for our region, to shape perceptions ... with visitors as they come to come to our market, and it will help us attract and retain talent by establishing another really attractive community amenity,” he said.

Representatives from Greenleaf and Catalyst did not return calls for comment about the project.

Peterson said that now that the land assembly is complete, the project partners will work to more finely hone the concept design.

“Everybody is excited to move forward as quickly as possible, but we don’t have an overall timeline to release just yet,” he said.

Tourism, economic impacts

The new arena — which will be able to seat 8,000 people for sporting events — is expected to generate more than $54 million in annual economic impact regionally from an estimated 236 events bringing in 548,000 visitors, according to a feasibility study conducted in 2021 by Conventions Sports and Leisure International for Discover Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Downtown Partnership and Southwest Michigan First.

In Grand Rapids, the 12,000seat Van Andel Arena opened in 1996, and it has been widely recognized as playing a key role in making downtown Grand Rapids a destination. The Grand Rapids-Kent County Convention/Arena Authority in 2020 hired Michigan Sport Consulting Group at the University of Michigan to study the arena’s economic impact for the 2019 fiscal year. The study, published in 2021, found that the CAA’s three facilities, Van Andel, DeVos Place and DeVos Performance Hall, generated more than $82 million in local economic impact and led to the creation of 1,265 full- and part-time jobs. There has not been another study reported since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Jane Ghosh is president and CEO of Discover Kalamazoo, the destination marketing organization for Kalamazoo County. She said she is “positive and enthusiastic” about the arena project, given its potential to move existing events that don’t currently spur additional visitor spending to downtown, which has nearby restaurants and retailers including La Familia Café and JungleBird that could benefit. She is also looking forward to it bringing in new events that the city currently can’t attract.

Ghosh said the Conventions Sports and Leisure study found that the new arena wouldn’t impinge on the business of existing meeting and events spaces such as the Kalamazoo Expo Center, which hosts events including the

United Kennel Club Dog Show and National Street Rod Association meet-ups that need indoor and outdoor space, which the expo center has.

The new arena, with its emphasis on indoor concerts, family shows, boxing/mixed martial arts, professional wrestling, ice shows and motorsports, would bring in a lot of new business, she said.

Ghosh said she believes downtown Kalamazoo is already a vibrant place, but the two-block area on the west side of downtown where the arena will go is largely underutilized.

Joe Borgstrom is a principal at East Lansing-based Place + Main Advisers, a consulting firm with expertise in downtown redevelopment, community and economic development, Main Street and placemaking.

Borgstrom said the economic impact of an arena is dependent on several factors, including programming of the site — how many event nights per year it will have, with 200 as a good baseline number — what “spillover” into the community it will cause before and after events, how easy it is to access transportation to and from the site, and how well it connects to the rest of the downtown business district, including hotels and restaurants.

“People have a tendency to think about the building itself as the big thing, and obviously, it is. ... But to me, it’s going to be, how does it tie to the rest of the community? How does it flow?”

Borgstrom said Little Caesars Arena in Detroit is an example of a time a major new venue didn’t live up to the promise of spin-off development.

“That has never really materialized as (the Ilitch family) originally pitched, so even though it’s a successful venue, the leverage opportunity wasn’t maximized in that particular case,” he said. “These are two different scales, they’re two different communities and two different developers. ... But it just underlines the importance of the development of the surrounding areas, as well.”

Borgstrom said it’s unlikely the Kalamazoo Event Center will be able to draw huge musical acts like those that would stop at the larger Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, but events like Disney on Ice, circuses, RV shows and hockey are good candidates.

A rendering shows Catalyst Development Co.’s planned 320,000-square-foot Kalamazoo Event Center, which has been in the works since 1997. TOWERPINKSTER AND ROSSETTI

Survey: 39% of hospital nurses want to quit

Most cited staffing issues, not pay, as main concern

By Mark Sanchez

While Michigan hospitals had problems retaining nurses even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the situation grew much worse in the first two years of the public health crisis.

That’s according to newly published survey data showing that from just prior to the pandemic to March 2022, the rate at which nurses planned to leave the profession rose sharply across Michigan.

“Nurses are telling us loudly and clearly that they do not believe they are staffed appropriately,” said Christopher Friese, a professor of nursing, health management and policy at the University of Michigan and lead author of a peer-reviewed article on the findings that was published in April in the academic journal Medical Care.

In the survey conducted in February and March last year, researchers at the University of Michigan found that 39 percent of responding nurses said they planned to leave the profession within a year. That’s up from prior findings of about 20 percent in a survey a colleague conducted in December 2019 and January 2020, Friese said.

The percentage of planned departures is the highest rate Friese has ever seen in large surveys during his 25 years of nursing. A typical rate is about 10 percent, Friese said.

The survey, which garnered responses from 9,150 nurses, suggests that hospitals can make headway against an acute nurse staffing shortage by focusing more on retention, even as they work to bring more people into the nursing profession, Friese said.

Friese advocates that health care executives need to “commit

to improve staffing levels over time, and that’s going to be expensive and it’s going to be difficult, but right now I don’t see them addressing that issue. I see them trying to plug a hole, as opposed to build for the future.” If hospitals only boost the talent pool, nurses are still “going to leave at the same rate or faster,” unless retention issues get addressed as well, he said.

“They need to recognize that retaining their current nurses needs to be the priority, otherwise this is going to be a vicious spiral,” Friese said. “The urgent work in front of health care executives is really actively listening to their staff and acting on their concerns, and I don’t see enough of that happening across the state and the nation.”

Among the 1,224 nurses University of Michigan surveyed who recently left a job, 70 percent cited concerns about adequate staffing levels. Nearly three-quarters of nurses said they were less likely to leave if they had a favorable work environment.

University of Michigan plans to conduct a follow-up survey this spring or summer, Friese said.

One finding that surprised

Friese: The percentage of planned departures was the highest for younger nurses. Among licensed nurses who answered the survey, 59 percent who were age 25 or younger, and 53 percent between 25 and 35 years old, said they intended to leave their positions within a year.

The high percentages of younger nurses planning to leave the profession is particularly worrisome, Friese said.

“That’s our future health care workforce,” he said. “If they recently graduated, we would expect them to stay in the nursing workforce for two decades or so. If they’re likely to leave their first position in such a short period of time, that’s really going to make it hard for health systems to staff up.

“Hospitals and health systems spend a ton of money on recruiting (and) on orientation of new employers, and so they’re going to lose that investment very quickly if these rates continue among our newer nurses.”

Staffing concerns mount

The Michigan Health & Hospital Association has estimated that the

nursing shortage has resulted in hospitals staffing 1,700 fewer beds today than in 2020. The shortage also has generated longer ER wait times and greater difficulty transferring patients between care providers. The staffing shortage led Trinity Health Muskegon in February to temporarily close a 30bed unit used for post-operative patient recovery.

Among nurses who planned to leave, their most cited reason was inadequate staffing levels at hospitals, which is an issue that predates the pandemic, Friese said. Nurses also cited burnout and violence in the workplace as their top reasons for wanting to leave the profession.

“Few nurses cite COVID as the primary cause for their planned or actual departure,” researchers wrote in the Medical Care paper. “To maintain an adequate nursing workforce in the United States, health systems should enact urgent efforts to reduce overtime use, strengthen work environments, implement anti-violence protocols, and ensure adequate staffing to meet patient care needs.”

Concerns over inadequate staffing levels have been a common theme in nursing surveys for more than a decade. Many nurses feel that “they have been running too lean and (there are) too few nurses to care for the patients that are assigned to them,” Friese said. “So, that’s not a new finding. I think it’s taken on increased urgency as we’ve gone through the pandemic.”

Nurses who told University of Michigan that low staffing levels were the most worrisome part of their job were the most likely to leave, Friese said.

Pay and benefits were the least-cited reason for nurses wanting to leave the profession, Friese said. In recent contract settlements for unionized nurses at health systems in Michigan, “the sticking point wasn’t salary and benefits in any that I’m aware of. It was commitment to staffing,” he said.

Call for collaboration

Friese suggests that hospitals need to address nurse retention the same way that the health care industry elevated patient safety and quality following a landmark 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine that estimated 44,000 to 98,000 people in the U.S. die each year as a result of preventable medical errors.

Friese advocated that hospitals need to set aside competitive tendencies and collaborate to share best practices for retaining nursing on staff, similar to how they have worked on safety and quality initiatives. As an example, he cites identifying a best practice to reduce administrative work for nurses so they can focus more on patient care and perhaps raise their job satisfaction.

“We need a similar effort if we want nursing in Michigan to be the best it can be for Michiganders. Let’s identify who’s doing well in this regard and learn from them, rather than everybody doing their own thing,” he said. “I don’t think now’s the time to use this for competition, but, in fact, collaboration. (Let’s) learn from each other so that Michigan is a nurse-friendly state and Michigan is a good place for nurses to work, as opposed to competing over the same pool of people and a smaller pool of people. That’s not a winning strategy.”

Friese and others who conducted the survey wrote in Medical Care that their findings “suggest there is no time to waste” in addressing the problem. If not properly addressed, “it is likely that disruptions to the health care workforce will worsen, which will induce a spiral of additional resignations and threaten the delivery of essential care,” they wrote in the Medical Care article.

“Leaders need the moral courage to enact evidence-based strategies to stanch the hemorrhage of registered nurses and enable the U.S. health care system to deliver the care that patients expect and deserve,” researchers concluded.

Meijer plans trio of new store openings out of state

By Abby Poirier

Supercenter retailer Meijer Inc. plans to open three new stores this month, expanding its footprint across the upper Midwest.

Meijer announced opening dates for new supercenter stores in Elkhart, Ind. and Warren and Wooster, both in Ohio.

The new 159,000-square-foot Elkhart location is slated to open May 11 and will be the 42nd Meijer store in Indiana. The retailer first moved into Indiana in 1994 with a location in Mishawaka and now employs 10,000 workers

across the state.

Maureen Mitchell, vice president of the Indiana-Kentucky region for Meijer, said the company is committed to investing in the northern Indiana area, where it

has 11 existing store locations.

“We know that value and convenience are key for our customers, and the new store will provide both for Elkhart residents,” Mitchell said in a statement.

The company’s pair of Ohio locations will also take the 159,000-square-foot supercenter format. Both stores are slated to open May 16, and will increase the retailer’s footprint in the state to 52 stores. Meijer opened its first Ohio stores in 1981, the company’s first locations outside of Michigan.

Meijer now employs more than 11,000 people in the Buckeye State.

All three new locations will be located alongside Meijer Express gas stations and will offer staples including groceries, fresh produce, bakery goods, fresh florals, meats and a deli. Other departments will include a garden center, pharmacy, pets, electronics,

toys, sports and apparel.

In January, the company opened two smaller-format “Meijer Grocery” branded stores in southeast Michigan in Macomb and Orion townships.

The Meijer Grocery design features 75,000- to 90,000-squarefoot stores with parking wrapped around a single corner entrance. Originally founded in Greenville in 1934, Meijer now operates 501 supercenters, Meijer Grocery, neighborhood markets and Express locations across a six-state footprint in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Wisconsin. The retailer generated $20.5 billion in revenue in 2022, according to estimates from Forbes.

Among licensed nurses who answered the survey, 59 percent who were age 25 or younger, and 53 percent between 25 and 35 years old, said they intended to leave their positions within a year. | UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN HEALTH-WEST

Meijer is expanding its footprint with three new 159,000-square-foot supercenters in Indiana and Ohio. | COURTESY RENDERING

Showcase Industry Leaders Careers

Health care tops list of in-demand jobs

Region’s workforce participation nearly at pre-pandemic level

By Mark Sanchez

Health care ranks among the hottest of the hot jobs in West Michigan.

Nearly half of the 100 high-demand careers in the annual West Michigan Works! list of “hot jobs” for the seven-county region are in health-related professions that range widely from highly educated clinicians to administrative positions.

Health care has always ranked as a top career field for hot jobs, along with manufacturing, said West Michigan Works! COO Angie Barksdale. The showing in the 2023 list illustrates how health care continues to become a larger employer and economic force in West Michigan as health systems grow and the population ages, Barksdale said.

High-demand positions are across the board in health care, Barksdale said. Any position that “ends in tech,” whether a clinical position or administrative function such as in IT, is in high demand, she said.

“It’s just kind of a universal ‘fill in the blank’ and there’s a need,” Barksdale said.

A supplemental spending bill signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in March included $75 million for hospitals to recruit, retain and train workers. The Michigan Health & Hospital Association will distribute the funding through grants.

Citing member survey data, the MHA said hospitals across the state have more than 27,000 open positions, 8,500 of which are in nursing. Another 4,500 health care job openings in Michigan are for technicians and another 3,000 are for clinical assistants. Hospitals also have 1,700 job openings in support fields such as environmental and food services, according to the association.

“Maintaining the sustainability of our health care workforce is a universal priority for all Michigan hospitals and health systems,” MHA CEO Brian Peters said in a statement after the governor signed the supplemental spending bill.

The health care sector has lost talent over the last three years of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially nurses who opted to leave because of the stress and burnout. A University of Michigan survey involving 10,000 nurses found that nearly 40 percent wanted to leave their positions within a year, and more than 70 percent said they felt emotionally exhausted.

Cross-sector issue

The talent shortage that health

care providers feel today affects most economic sectors. Addressing the issue needs to come on multiple fronts, including recruiting more talent to the region, Barksdale said.

“There is a population issue that we in Michigan in general, and West Michigan specifically, need to do a better job in recruiting people to work and live here,” she said.

Efforts also need to maintain a focus on bringing more people into the workforce and retaining young talent in West Michigan after they complete their education, Barksdale said.

The talent crunch of the last several years worsened in the pandemic, as thousands of people left the workforce.

“There are a number of employers in our region who are doing creative things in terms of that retention space,” Barksdale said. “You can’t just keep pumping (through people). You’re losing them just as fast, if not faster.”

Statewide, the civilian labor force as of February remained below pre-pandemic levels at 4.84 million workers, versus 4.95 million in February 2020, according to data from the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget.

The labor force for the Grand Rapids metropolitan statistical area that includes Barry, Kent, Montcalm and Ottawa counties recently neared pre-pandemic levels and stood at 588,000 in February, just below the 588,900 in February 2020.

Some employers have responded with high pay, sign-on and retention bonuses, and by becoming increasingly flexible on work schedules, Barksdale said.

The practices reflect how employers in manufacturing and other sectors are adapting to a worker shortage and cultural influences among a younger generation that wants a greater balance between their work and careers and their home life.

That trend accelerated in the pandemic, Barksdale said.

“We are experiencing a culture shift of the work relationship. The pandemic has created this cultural shift that we have not seen in many, many generations,” she said. “The employers that are the most receptive, creative, and willing to try new things are going to be the most successful.

“It’ll be interesting over the next three to five years to see how it shakes out.”

“The employers that are the most receptive, creative, and willing to try new things are going to be the most successful.”

Angie Barksdale, COO, West Michigan Works!

Education leaders push equitable approach to tech

Panelists say nurture the next generation of tech workers already here

By Kayleigh Van Wyk she said.

As economic development officials position Grand Rapids to become a tech hub in the Midwest, some leaders are hoping for an equitable learning approach to the transformation.

While a key part of The Right Place Inc.’s tech strategy for Grand Rapids involves attracting companies and recruiting outside talent, panelists at the annual Confluence Thought Series event focused on another part of the plan: nurturing the next generation of tech workers already in the region.

“When it comes to tech in Grand Rapids, a lot of conversations are around creating the space that the industry wants it to be and less around investing in the people who are here,” Marcel Price, chief inspiration architect at The Diatribe, said during a panel held April 19 at the Grand Valley State University DeVos Center for Interprofessional Health.

“I think that as a community, we need to really invest in our schools — like really, really invest in our schools, invest in our communities, and invest in our children if we’re going to be able to cultivate an environment that’s going to get us to where we want to go,” he said.

Speaking during a panel discussion focused on innovation, policy and skills for the tech industry, Price said that as a leader of an organization that partners with schools to empower students through art and creativity, he hopes for some changes to the current education curriculum to foster skills-oriented learning in the classroom.

“I see people and organizations and after-school programs that are teaching young people about technology and giving them access to a camera or a computer or sound design,” Price said. “Can we bring tech right into our classrooms? I would love to see us be able to do that in schools so that when (students) go to higher education, if they choose to go, they’re mastering those skills they’ve already been doing in practice.”

At the same time, Price also advocated for better pay for teachers with tech expertise, posing the question of why anyone would “want to be a teacher to be poor and then struggle to teach?”

Price was joined on the panel by Grand Rapids Public Schools Superintendent Leadriane Roby and Joanne Roehm, senior director of strategy and operations at WMUx, an educational systems design team at Western Michigan University.

Roby experienced the COVID-19 pandemic during her tenure as assistant superintendent of a public school system in Minnesota before moving to Michigan. The pandemic provided a significant learning opportunity for teachers in her school system to “use various platforms and … bring instruction in a different way because you couldn’t be in person,”

“That was a tipping point for most educational systems because it required those who were intimidated by tech to embrace it because there was no other way to communicate,” Roby said. “The benefit of that has been a paradigm shift. You are seeing in classrooms where young people and staff are navigating technology, they are able to communicate in so many different ways.”

For education, cost often serves as one of the primary barriers to adopting new technology. To help

overcome that hurdle, WMUx works to build relationships with K-12 partners to cultivate one-onone relationships with students to create roadmaps for success in college and post-secondary education.

Roehm acknowledged the importance of working together and breaking down silos when it comes to effecting change.

“(W)e are really great at operating in silos. … We do our thing and we do it one way,” Roehm said. “Change is difficult and moves at a glacial pace, and that’s not going

to cut it if we all want to meet the needs of our community and our students moving forward.”

Roehm also advocated for exposing young students to different types of tech careers, which may require some rethinking of normal narratives.

“One thing that we are working with a lot is manufacturing and this sort of resurgence of the trades. And I’m looking forward to someone coming up with a new definition for that because … a lot of us don’t have positive connotation around that,” Roehm said. “In addition to exposing our children to all of these different career

paths and opportunities, we have to be having those conversations with parents and families and helping them change narratives about what their child can do and be and how they can succeed, even if that’s really uncomfortable for them.”

The panelists also discussed the importance of making space for conversation and bringing new ideas to the table. In terms of equity, Roby discussed the work as an often uncomfortable and complicated process, but necessary for the kind of transformation officials are hoping for with the tech hub strategy for Grand Rapids.

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Factory Yards developer to seek unusual funding

‘Transformational brownfield’ rarely used

By Kate Carlson

Developers behind the $150 million Factory Yards redevelopment south of downtown Grand Rapids plan to seek rarely used state tax incentives to offset substantial costs of the project.

Developers behind Factory Yards, a 467-unit mixed-use redevelopment plan that was pitched to city officials earlier this year, plan to seek up to $103 million through the state’s Transformational Brownfield Plan program.

Adopted in 2017 and amended in late 2021 to support more projects, transformational brownfield plans have only been approved for two projects in Michigan: Dan Gilbert-backed developments in downtown Detroit and the redevelopment of a defunct paper mill in Vicksburg. State officials are considering a $616 million transformational brownfield incentives request for proposed District Detroit projects spearheaded by the Ilitch family and billionaire developer Stephen Ross.

Three metro Detroit-based developers — Ben Smith, Scott Magaluk and Dennis Griffin — are behind the Factory Yards project. The development team recently

presented its tax incentives plan to the city’s Economic Development Committee. The developers intend to apply for transformational brownfield credits, $20 million in traditional brownfield credits, and Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Act incentives.

The developers are communicating with city officials as well as the Michigan Economic Development Corp. as they compile a Transformational Brownfield Plan application. They have not yet officially applied for the incentive plan.

In addition to the $20 million in traditional brownfield credits, the developers could qualify for up to $103 million more in transformational brownfield credits, which would reimburse eligible costs including building renovations, alterations and other construction costs.

Securing transformational brownfield incentives is “integral” for the project to move forward, said Smith, who is a founding partner at TerraNovus Capital.

“You can’t get a project like this done without it,” Smith said. “That’s why they created the (Transformational Brownfield Plan) legislation, to facilitate these

types of placemaking projects.” Legislation creating the Transformational Brownfield Plan program became law in 2017. State lawmakers in 2021 amended the law to open up the incentive program to more developers of large projects. Under the revisions, developers can now layer multiple incentives alongside transformational brownfield funding, which the Factory Yards developers plan when seeking Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Act (OPRA) incentives for the project. The OPRA program freezes the taxable value of commercial and commercial housing properties that have been labeled obsolete.

Transformational brownfield

funding would ultimately need approval by the Michigan Strategic Fund. The program allows developers to capture various state and some local taxes to offset project costs.

Major redevelopment

Early plans for the Factory Yards project include partially demolishing and redeveloping existing industrial buildings and adding new construction over more than 15 acres in Grand Rapids’ Roosevelt Park neighborhood. The project site includes several parcels around 655 Godfrey Ave. SW, several of which have been rezoned to facilitate the project,

containing four buildings totaling 550,000 square feet.

In addition to 467 apartment units, the plan also calls for ground floor commercial space with a variety of uses, including commercial offices, a fitness center and self-storage space, which would require another rezoning approval. A portion of the commercial space would include a food hall with 11 vendors, a brewery and event space. The plan calls for 800 parking spaces, including 220 in a parking deck.

The project timeline is dependent on the tax incentives approval process, though the developers expect a total three- to five-year timeframe. The first phase of the project would include a five-story building and a three-story building with a total of 382 apartment units, the food hall and ground floor commercial space.

Smith said the project aims to bring much-needed housing to the area, while the team plans to preserve about 77 percent of the existing buildings on the site. The developers are working with the city to create an affordable housing plan for the apartment units.

Smith called the project an “important connector” with the neighborhood that preserves historic assets on a large property at the south end of downtown.

3 STEPS TO EVALUATE A PAYROLL PROVIDER

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Step 1:

Determine a culture match

Organizational culture is your business’s fingerprint, and each business is entirely unique. This culture, facilitated from within, is usually a major factor in all facets of decision-making—including payroll.

Your payroll outsourcing partners need to promote your mission and care about your employees. With larger payroll companies, your business could never hear from the same service representative twice. This lack of familiarity with your account needs could be detrimental.

Step 2: Evaluate the software features you need

When assessing various providers

and payroll software options, it’s important to factor in the ease of use, cost of the software and customer service availability. With a plethora of software options to choose from, considering implementation time can help you decide which payroll service plan to choose. Shorter implementation time is not always a good thing — you might be left with too many questions, a poor launch and little understanding of the software itself. Your payroll software should be capable of meeting all your human capital management needs. Software with features like time and attendance, benefit enrollment and employee self-service will help your organization complete payroll and human resources tasks efficiently.

Step 3: Explore whether they can meet your post-implementation expectations

Understanding what postimplementation payroll operations look like is paramount during your evaluation process. Communication

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The $150 million Factory Yards project aims to repurpose several former industrial buildings south of downtown Grand Rapids. CONCEPT DESIGN STUDIO

CRAIN’S LIST TOP AREA COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE BROKERS

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Crain's Grand Rapids Business list of top area commercial real estate brokers, ranked by the total number of commercial listings, is the most comprehensive available. The list is based on responses to Crain's Grand Rapids Business surveys. Crain's Grand Rapids Business defines "West Michigan" as Allegan, Kent, Ottawa and Muskegon counties. Crain's Grand Rapids Business surveyed 103 companies; 27 returned surveys and 20 are listed. To be considered for future lists, email danielle.nelson@crain.com. DND = Did not disclose

LIST STORE: Download this list now at crainsgrandrapids.com in Excel or PDF format. | The Book of Lists and other lists are also available.

Developer plans second Walker industrial building

Parcel would house Specialty Tooling, new tenant

By Kate Carlson

A West Michigan industrial property developer seeks to tack on a 45,000-square-foot building to an ongoing construction project in Walker as regional industrial vacancy rates remain low.

Ada-based Honeycrisp Ventures

LLC plans to build the additional facility next to a 198,000-squarefoot industrial project that’s under construction at 3101 Fruit Ridge Ave. NW. e extra space would accommodate growth plans for an as-yet-undisclosed tenant. e larger structure, which should be completed in July, will support an expansion by automation systems manufacturer Specialty Tooling Systems Inc.

e Walker Planning Commission on April 19 approved the site plan for the additional building, which would include a truck dock and 12-space parking lot on the 32-acre property.

e initial build-out on the larger building was quasi-speculative, and Specialty Tooling Systems — which will occupy the entire 198,000-square-foot building — sought to scale up quickly, said Honeycrisp owner Ben Sietsema.

Honeycrisp originally planned

for trailer parking spaces on the property, though Specialty Tooling Systems didn’t need the space, leading to plans for an additional building, Sietsema said. Sietsema is in discussions with a potential tenant for the second structure, which he said “would not be a speculative build.”

“ is would meet a tenant’s needs. In order for us to really continue and solidify those conversations, we need to be assured that we can get this site plan approval,” Sietsema said. “We now have a little extra land so we decided to try to maximize the site.”

Wolverine Building Group is constructing the main building and will be the general contractor for the additional structure following site plan approval, Sietsema said.

Honeycrisp is making full use of the Fruit Ridge property as the West Michigan industrial real estate vacancy rate sits at 2.9 percent, slightly higher than the 2.6 percent average vacancy rate for industrial property in northwest Grand Rapids, according to the JLL West Michigan Q1 Industrial Insight report.

“ e West Michigan market remains tight, and demand for Class A warehouse (space) is strong,” ac-

THOUGHT LEADER REPORT

SPONSORED BY COPPERROCK CONSTRUCTION

cording to the industry report.

Sietsema said he is sensing “less velocity” and perhaps fewer executives pursuing industrial space than in the recent past because of economic pressures such as high interest rates. However, the companies now seeking out properties are more serious, he said.

“What’s driving companies looking for space right now are factors that are serious enough that they need to get deals done,” Sietsema said. “People aren’t just

looking for space right now to kick the tires — there is real demand behind companies looking for more industrial space.”

Honeycrisp is among the West Michigan developers chipping away at the region’s high demand for industrial space.

e company last year completed a similar industrial project nearby at 3501 Fruit Ridge Ave. NW. e company also received site plan approval on Feb. 14 to construct a 150,000-square-foot industrial

building at 1070 North Gateway Blvd. in Norton Shores. Honeycrisp has since received interest from “another active prospect” seeking to be a tenant at the Norton Shores space, Sietsema said.

As well, Honeycrisp closed on a 45-acre agricultural site in Zeeland that will be converted into nearly 1 million square feet of industrial space. e company has “two active proposals” that would help launch the Zeeland project, Sietsema said.

CopperRock

Construction

is a Grand Rapids-based company focused on providing clients with the latest construction innovations with a deep history of working for developers in multiple sectors across the West Michigan construction landscape.

Whether it be multi-family, industrial, medical, or office builds, we provide high-level services to all clients. We currently have a wide variety of projects in the works at various stages of development and construction.

CARSON GRAY Director of Development and Real Estate

“It is a privilege to help our clients through the phases of a development project from initial site acquisition through construction and stabilization,” said Carson Gray, director of development and real estate at CopperRock. “When working for developers, our focus is to assist in bringing innovative designs to meet the desired budget and deliver robust, high-quality builds, and a lasting investment for the owners and quality projects for the end users.”

CopperRock enjoys working with developers from various sectors.

Currently, CopperRock is working on over 1,000 units of multi-family apartments in multiple locations across the Midwest for developers, with many taking place in the greater Grand Rapids area. Among these developments, we recently broke ground on the Savannah at Waterford project in Walker, which will provide 250 units of living space in a highly sought-after area.

This development will feature singlestory buildings comprising of four to eight units per building and will provide attached garages and luxury finishes for residents. Additionally, we are working on two six-unit high-end condo projects, a workforce housing apartment project with over 300 units and a five-story steel structure apartment complex. Despite the changing interest rates everyone is experiencing, we have many clients creating opportunities in the multifamily market.

While the need for additional housing opportunities has been a focus of West Michigan real estate developers, so too is the need for industrial and commercial spaces. Assisting in the development of industrial projects is another area that CopperRock is passionate about, as there are individuals on our team with decades of experience in the design and construction of pre-engineered structures, and conventional steel manufacturing plants and warehouses.

We enjoy designing these to the needs of developers and manufacturers and look to assist in the maximization of both financial value as well as long-term usability. Currently, we have manufacturing/warehouse building projects ranging from 10,000 to 150,000-square-feet under construction for developers.

Our team seeks to asks the right questions, listens to our clients’ answers and executes at a high level. We provide the best experience as our clients navigate all the phases needed for their success.

BUILDING STRONG

Asking the right questions is key to bringing high-level service, Grand Rapids-based construction company says

REAL ESTATE

Construction continues on Honeycrisp Ventures’ 198,000-square-foot industrial building in Walker, where the developer hopes to add a second building to accommodate another company’s growth plans. | COURTESY OF HONEYCRISP VENTURES

Now is not the time to saddle business with overly restrictive air regulations

West Michigan is poised to weather the predicted national economic decline this year, unless the government gets in the way.

Our manufacturing sector drives an enormous amount of our economy. We are home to companies that lead the world in creating furniture, medical devices, biopharmaceuticals, metals and more. These businesses strive to be good neighbors. They invest in the latest technologies for their manufacturing processes; they also invest in technologies and equipment to ensure that their operations produce as little pollution as possible.

But that is not good enough for regulators in Washington, D.C. Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a proposal to ratchet up the regulations on a pollutant called PM2.5, regulated under the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Many parts of the country are still trying to come into compliance with the last revision of these standards and to make changes now would put these areas, and the industries that are mandated to reduce emissions further, into a precarious financial position, threatening their long-term viability.

If an area is unable to reach the EPA’s lofty PM2.5 standards, it is designated as a “nonattainment area” leading to burden-

some permitting requirements and expensive facility retrofits.

West Michigan is also dealing with certain counties being bumped up to “moderate nonattainment designation” for transport ozone that isn’t being produced in Michigan. Much of this pollution is travelling from areas outside of the state, such as Chicago, Gary and Milwaukee, but these potential new regulations from the EPA will be targeted on counties that have no say in pollution reduction, having little to no impact on the nonattainment zone.

Noncompliance in both of these nonattainment zones could plunge Michigan communities into a regulatory quagmire, and that is something we cannot afford.

To add insult to injury, these new rules are unnecessary. The EPA’s own data shows

that the United States has reduced six common pollutants regulated under NAAQS — including PM2.5 — by 78 percent between 1970 and 2020. We certainly want to continue making improvements to our air quality, but we need to strike a commonsense balance so that regulations don’t put the brakes on our economic growth.

These rules are also coming at a time when Michigan’s state legislature would like to go beyond federal regulations with no “clear and convincing” reasoning. This not only sends the message that Michigan is not open for business, but that regulators do not need to provide sound, scientific and thoughtful reasoning behind pollution reduction. Instead, they should focus on moving quickly with arbitrary, unattainable and expensive rules.

These impacts don’t happen in a vacuum. The regulatory environment directly impacts a business’s ability to succeed.

Businesses are facing uncertainty and the increasing amount of burdensome rules and legislation will negatively impact their operations, increasing costs that will pass down to the consumer and reducing the wages that could go directly to employees.

Every day, we look at economic trends: how is inflation affecting consumer, industry and manufacturing spending? Our members and their customers are finally starting to emerge from the financial hole wrought by the pandemic. But the EPA’s misguided insistence on revising the PM2.5 rule and increasing ozone nonattainment areas are stifling the efforts we are making to help our region flourish. We instead need to create certainty for businesses when it comes to setting regulatory policy that can often have a big impact on communities, investment and industry.

We’re urging the EPA and our government not to threaten the success of businesses along with our area’s world-class manufacturing industry. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in infrastructure upgrades and jump start new business opportunities, but more stringent and arbitrary rules will be a major roadblock to all that work. Our air is cleaner than it has been in decades, and our manufacturers have helped get us there through innovations that make their processes cleaner and more sustainable. Now is not the time for bureaucrats to levy punitive and unnecessary new rules on Michigan entrepreneurs.

How the next generation can learn from Tribal practices

In a world where information is just a computer keystroke away, it’s sometimes hard to remember that obtaining wisdom from information requires a great deal more effort. I was reminded of that during a recent lecture at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Harvard was established in 1636, 140 years before our nation’s Declaration of Independence from British rule. The university’s Charter of 1650 pledges its commitment to “the education of English and Indian youth.” It’s hard to know what that statement actually meant in 1650, but it likely didn’t mean equity in education access or diversity of education content. However, Harvard, like many other universities in our nation, has taken intentional steps to address those areas and is now clearly committed to educating all students about Native American culture.

I was invited to serve as a guest lecturer in late March before Harvard’s Native Americans in the 21st Century — Nation Building II course. The class is part of the

“Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development,” which was first introduced in 1987. This particular course was led by Eric Henson, who is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation and has been a research fellow/affiliate with the Harvard Project for 25 years.

I found the students to be very familiar with, and interested in, the governance and accountability present in the processes of the Indian Country economic sector. We discussed how economic development success among Native American tribes is built on some of the same platforms used by other successful businesses; developing a strategic plan, setting realistic goals, executing the tasks needed to achieve those goals, giving your team the opportunity to succeed sometimes through trial and error, and always communicating to the key stakeholders. There are many stakeholders in the Native American space, including our firm’s staff and board of directors, our portfolio companies and strategic partners, the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the

Potawatomi (NHBP) Tribal Council and the Tribal members.

The students wanted to know, “how favorably do Tribal members support economic development at Waséyabek?” It was an insightful question because it drilled down on the ever-present balance between providing revenues now to Tribal members versus investing those revenues in a way that will lead to economic sustainability for the Tribe for decades to come.

One question that really stood out during the Q&A portion of my lecture was, “Do I think that the Seven Grandfather Teachings could be applied in mainstream business and produce better outcomes?” For us, the answer is a resounding “yes.” As someone who has worked at, or led, several for-profit business entities around the globe, the long-view strategy taken by our NHBP Tribal Council allows us to plan and grow while appropriately managing the pressure of short-term financial returns vs. long term economic sustainability and cultural sensitivity. It’s an approach that demonstrates a commitment to treating staff, customers, stakeholders and the planet with integrity and respect.

Just recently, Western Michigan University announced it will begin offering a Graduate Certificate in Tribal Governance in partnership with the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, the Match-EBe-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians and the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians. The program will provide an understanding of the “legal and cultural history of the treaty tribes, tribal peoples, communities, business entities, and governments and how they relate to local, state, and federal governments.” It’s another tangible example of how the Indian Country economic story is now being shared with students. I encourage other universities to follow suit to ensure a more equitable and comprehensive economic curriculum for the next generation of professionals.

In retrospect, I’m grateful for the chance to speak to the students at Harvard and observe how Tribal culture is being shared with the next generation of business and government leaders. And it’s rewarding to see the interest of those students in turning information into wisdom that will guide them in the years to come. It bodes well for all of us.

GUEST COLUMN

GETTY IMAGES

Katie Gordon is senior manager of government affairs at the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce.

Deidra Mitchell is president and CEO of Waséyabek Development Company.

Downtown Market targets 100K draw

European-style Christmas market eyes 30 vendors

By Abby Poirier

Planners of a new traditional European-style Christmas market in Grand Rapids have set their sights high, with a goal to attract 100,000 visitors in the inaugural year.

Grand Rapids Downtown Market recently announced plans and opened vendor applications for a new Christkindl Markt event that aims to offer a new type of outdoor Christmas shopping experience steeped in European traditions.

Christkindl Markt 2023 advertises itself as “West Michigan’s Largest European Christmas Village” and will feature more than 30 vendors at a small outdoor village adjacent to the Downtown Market. The event is slated to run Wednesday-Sunday from Nov. 17 to Dec. 23.

Organizers say the event promises the full scope of Christmas entertainment and shopping, including holiday lights and decor,

curling sessions, handmade gifts and crafts from local and regional artisans, live entertainment including Santa appearances and caroling, and ready-to-eat food vendors and hot beverages.

In a promotional video for vendors, the market advertised that it anticipates more than 100,000 visitors for its inaugural season.

Brian Burch, managing partner at public relations firm Burch Partners and a spokesperson for the Downtown Market, likens the new program to Chicago’s famous Christkindlmarket, or even Grand Rapids’ own ArtPrize, in terms of scale and scope of vendors.

While offering a family-friendly cultural experience for visitors, the market hopes to drive sales for local vendors and artisans during a time of year when Michiganders are looking for the perfect holiday gift, Burch said.

“The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve is some of the greatest sales opportunities of the year,” he said. “The volume of people that comes to the Downtown Market during that time already (is) thousands of people a day even without the event. An additional event on top of it has the potential for significant sales.”

Bell’s Brewery (almost) blankets the country

By Abby Poirier

Bell’s Brewery Inc. is heading into the Pacific Northwest and Utah as it continues expanding its distribution footprint following its 2021 sale to an international beverage company.

Kalamazoo-based Bell’s said it recently inked deals with distributors in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Utah to bring its beers to new markets.

As part of the expansion, Bell’s flagship Two Hearted IPA and rotating variety packs will be available year-round in cans and bottles and on draft in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Distributors in all five states will have access to Bell’s Oberon Ale from March to September.

“Expanding our footprint to become a national brand is a top priority this year, and we can’t wait to share Bell’s beer with more fans across the country,” Carrie Yunker, Bell’s executive vice president, said in a statement. “We’re particularly excited about entering the Pacific Northwest market, a notably strong craft beer market already, where folks have been asking for Bell’s for decades.”

In 2021, Bell’s sold to Australia-based Lion Little World Beverages Inc., a division of Japan’s Kirin Holdings Co. Ltd. that also includes Fort Collins, Colo.-based New Belgium Brewing Co. With five new states added to the Bell’s distribution schedule, the brewery now sells beer in every U.S. state except for Hawaii.

ACCOUNTING

EHTC hired support services director Corey Alexander, who will oversee the finance, human resources and recruiting, internal technology and administrative departments and daily functions.

ADVERTISING & MARKETING

Extra Credit Projects won 17 awards from the American Advertising Federations, nine for clients locally and nationally across 14 categories ranging from out of home to social media campaigns to nontraditional to public service and broadcast television.

BUSINESS SERVICES

Zach Smith joined Calder Capital as a mergers and acquisitions analyst and Hannelore Green joined the firm as continuous improvement director.

CONSTRUCTION

Black Lake Construction announced Jimmy Green, president of ABC-Michigan, as a member and shareholder.

Sobie Co. of Caledonia announced it has achieved the Accredited Quality Contractor credential from Associated Builders and Contractors for its commitment to corporate responsibility. Only 450 of the nation’s elite merit shop construction contractors earned the credential in 2021. The company also promoted Kevin Carson to senior project manager-flooring and Bill Nagelhout to senior project manager-LPDA.

Wolverine Building Group announced the promotions of Jon Reimink as senior project manager; Chad Hall, assistant project manager; and Kaylee Dillard as assistant project manager.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Waséyabek Development Co. announced the appointment of Sara Moore, a Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi Indians Tribal member, to a four-year term on the WDC board of directors and the addition of Danielle Smith as vice president of human resources.

EDUCATION

Dr. Leah Chase, professor of biology and chemistry at Hope College, is the recipient of the international Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience’s Career and Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Lindsey Root Luna, Hope College associate professor of psychology and department chair, has been recognized as a Fellow by the Midwestern Psychological Association, the highest honor the association can bestow on a member.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Kendra Osowski joined Smalley Investments as managing partner of the retirement plan division.

FOOD & BEVERAGE

Adam Dickerson, brand manager at Holland-based New Holland Brewing Co., has been named to the Michigan Craft Distiller’s Association board of directors, his first term on the board. Dickerson is the brand manager for New Holland Spirits, the distilling division of New Holland Brewing Co.

Whitington

named ArtPrize 2.0 executive director

Catlin Whitington has been selected by the ArtPrize 2.0 steering committee as its new executive director. Whitington recently was vice president of campus operations for Austin’s Long Center for the Performing Arts, where he managed all aspects of event and facility operations and championed public engagement and access for the performing arts. Prior to joining Long Center, Whitington was planning manager for the South by Southwest Conference and Festivals in Austin, Texas. ArtPrize 2.0 will take place Sept. 14 through Oct. 1.

GOVERNMENT

The city of Grand Rapids achieved the Government Finance Officers Association Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for its FY2023 Fiscal Plan, marking the 35th consecutive year the city has received this prestigious award.

HEALTH

Bronson Healthcare and Acadia Healthcare Co. named Deb Rozewicz, RN, chief executive officer for Bronson Behavioral Health Hospital, a 96-bed inpatient behavioral health hospital being built in Battle Creek.

Cascade Trails is the recipient of A Place for Mom’s 2023 Best of Senior Living Award, a ratings and reviews site for senior care providers in North America, featuring over 14,000 senior living communities.

Grand Village recently received A Place for Mom’s 2023 Best of Senior Living Award.

Natalie Ryder, administrator of Ascension Borgess Allegan Hospital in Allegan, Ascension Borgess-Pipp Hospital in Plainwell and Ascension Borgess-Lee Hospital in Dowagiac, has been named by Becker’s Hospital Review to its 2023 list of Rural Hospital CEOs to Know.

StoryPoint Rockford received A Place for Mom’s 2023 Best of Senior Living Award.

The American Cancer Society in Michigan announced the appointment of board member Jeffrey MacKeigan of Grand Rapids, assistant dean for research, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine.

The Center for Physical Rehabilitation announced the development of its Sports Academy, which provides rehabilitation for athletes led by sport-certified specialists that includes a team of physical therapists, athletic trainers and certified strength and conditioning specialists. Its director is Rebekah VanZegeren, a certified bike fit and gait analysis specialist. The Center for

Physical Rehabilitation also hired Jenison clinic director Dustin Karlik

Spectrum Health Blodgett Hospital and Spectrum Health Zeeland Community Hospital, both part of Corewell Health, are included as two of only 101 hospitals in the U.S. on Money.com’s first-ever Best Hospitals for Bariatric Surgery list. Money.com, in partnership with The Leapfrog Group, indicated the standards included safety, performing a high enough number of the procedures to give patients the best odds of a good outcome and keeping patients safe from errors, infections and complications.

Wixom-based HNC Virtual Solutions recently appointed Rockford resident and seasoned health care finance executive leader Mary Anne Jones to its board of directors.

INSURANCE

Gibson announced the addition of Chuck Burnham as a sales executive in the property and casualty practice.

Portage-based J.M. Wilson hired Paige Craft as assistant surety underwriter and Lesley Boles as personal lines underwriter.

LEGAL

Hilger Hammond hired attorney Jeremy Orenstein, an experienced civil litigator who is well-versed in complex commercial cases, property disputes, catastrophic injury defense, and related appeals, and Stacey Knowles, a seasoned lawyer in commercial real estate transactions, contracts and corporate transactions.

Kelly Hollingsworth, a partner with Warner Norcross + Judd LLP, has been honored by Michigan Lawyers Weekly as one of its Up and Coming Lawyers for 2023.

Plunkett Cooney Grand Rapids attorney Lisa Hall was elected to serve her first term on the firm’s board of directors.

The East Grand Rapids Public Safety

Department received reaccreditation from the Michigan Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission.

Varnum partner Kevin Macaddino has been named to the Michigan Lawyers Weekly Hall of Fame for his notable cases, mentorship, community involvement and work with local, state and national bar associations. Intellectual property attorney Staci DeRegnaucourt has been named to the 2023 World Trademark Review 1000, a research directory focusing exclusively on trademark practices and practitioners. DeRegnaucourt is one of only five Michigan attorneys with a Gold ranking.

Warner Norcross + Judd LLP partner Andrea Bernard has been selected for Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s 2023 Hall of Fame.

LEISURE & RECREATION

The Muskegon YMCA announced Gabe Gerlach has been appointed CEO of the organization. She succeeds Bruce Spoelman, who retired from the YMCA after the 24 years in the organization including 19 in Muskegon.

MANUFACTURING

Holland-based FlexPost Inc. has been included in Inc. Magazine’s 2023 Inc. 5000 Regionals: Midwest list, after ranking regionally and nationally in both 2021 and 2022.

Ludington-based FloraCraft has promoted James Morkert to vice president of people, safety and culture. Morkert will collaborate with executive leadership to implement FloraCraft’s mission and goals through talent management, assess organizational success and market competitiveness, and analyze data.

NONPROFITS

Comprehensive Therapy Center announced the promotion of Ellen Sawyer from interim executive director to executive director. Ronald McDonald House Charities West Michigan announced Beth Stewart has joined the nonprofit’s finance and investment committee and Solmeris Hernandez joined its governance committee.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Leigh Ann Towne joined SeyferthPR as a senior account executive after spending 11 years at WXMI-TV (FOX 17) as a reporter, anchor and host of the station’s lifestyles program, Morning Mix.

REAL ESTATE

Ross Mortgage Corp. announced the additions of Melissa Ketchel as a loan partner and Brad Stinson as branch manager, who will bring his expertise in VA loans to the West Michigan community.

RETAIL

Blain’s Farm & Fleet has been named by Forbes magazine as one of America’s Best Mid-Size Employers for the fifth year in a row.

Carson

Ryder

Osowski

Rozewicz

Macaddino Morkert

Gerlach Towne Hollingsworth

Nagelhout

Jones

Craft

Golf courses foster next-gen turf talent

New apprenticeship aims to keep participants here

By Abby Poirier

An apprenticeship program aims to help West Michigan golf courses lure in new recruits to work in the turf maintenance side of the business.

Strategizing new ways to attract young people into the industry has become a key priority, particularly as an older generation of owners, managers and crew members head toward retirement age, golf course executives said.

As the 2023 season kicks off, course owners say they’re worried that Michigan’s $4.2 billion golf industry won’t have enough workers to keep up with the resurgence of demand it has experienced since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The golf business is good, (but) we’re seeing (baby) boomers retiring out of the turf side of the business and there are not enough applicants to fill the need,” said Jeff Hoag, co-owner of Scott Lake Golf and Practice Center in Plainfield Township, north of Grand Rapids.

Hoag, who partnered with his brother to buy the course from their parents in 1975 and serves on the board of directors for the Michigan Golf Course Association, noted that the multi-generational family ownership of many courses can contribute to the challenges with talent attraction.

Jim Szilagyi, general manager of Otsego-based Lynx Golf Course, which his grandfather founded in

MILLERKNOLL

From Page 3

the Gap — had sent a message to MillerKnoll staffers reiterating her intent and also shared a message with an apology for how her remarks landed.

A company spokesperson did not provide a statement to Crain’s Grand Rapids Business as of press time, though company officials have reportedly said the video was taken out of context.

“Andi fiercely believes in this team and all we can accomplish together, and will not be dissuaded by a 90-second clip taken out of context and posted on social media,” according to a statement to CNN by Kris Marubio, a spokesperson for the company.

Tone deaf?

Still, social media users pointed out the tone-deaf nature of Owen’s remarks in light of her own personal wealth. According to a proxy statement filed by the company toward the end of 2022, Owen’s salary for the previous fiscal year amounted to nearly $1.1 million while more than $3.5 million in stock awards and other compensation brought her total com-

1935, echoed those sentiments.

“We’re a small business with a limited amount of staff and a limited amount of people,” said Szilagyi, who serves as vice president of the Michigan Golf Course Association. “We’re not immune to the employment challenges that everybody else has.”

Lynx was the first course in Michigan to participate in the new Registered Apprenticeship Golf Course Maintenance Technician Program, a program from the Michigan Golf Course Association that offers candidates the chance to learn turf maintenance roles while immediately filling job openings.

The trade group coordinated with the Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Opportunity and U.S. Department of Labor to

pensation to $4.98 million.

By comparison, Owen’s compensation reached almost $6.4 million for the 2021 fiscal year. This year’s amount seems to reflect some of the financial pressures weighing on the company as hybrid work and delayed office returns continue to impact the office furniture market.

In March, MillerKnoll reported $987.4 million in sales for the third quarter of its 2023 fiscal year, a 4.4-percent decline from a year earlier.

“To be sure, this is a disruptive period. Traditional office usage and layouts are not as they once were, and new opportunities exist to help our customers design more hybrid, collaborative work environments,” Owen said in a conference call at the time.

In the current fourth quarter, MillerKnoll expects sales to decline to $930 million to $970 million, compared to the $1.1 billion recorded for the same period a year ago.

The company — which executives hoped would seize full market potential as a combined entity this year after furniture giants Herman Miller and Knoll merged in 2021— has launched strategies to streamline business and operations.

the industry while helping them get ahead in their careers.

The Golf Course Maintenance Technician Program currently has nine apprentices enrolled for the 2023 season, but Paisley said she expects to see 20 by the end of the year. Most apprentices will take about one or two years to complete the competency-based program.

Paisley said the program aims to attract talent and offer them training with the hopes of piquing their interest to continue their education in the field.

“The registered apprenticeship is not to take the place of a fouryear degree by any means,” she added. “It is to really address the critical agronomy needs that the courses have while potentially exposing somebody to a career that they might not have thought of before.”

maybe had nine students in their turf program where they used to have 40,” Hoag said. “You get a series of years like that and all of a sudden there’s no professionals coming out of the program.”

At the same time, Paisley added, graduates from in-state turf programs are not finding the salaries in the area to meet their needs, and are leaving for better pay. According to Paisley, 94 percent of Michigan’s golf courses are small businesses.

“Their salary just can’t meet the demands of a four-year turfgrass student coming out of school — not that they don’t understand the reason, they just can’t match (it),” Paisley said. “So what’s happening is those students are going to private, member-owned clubs or they’re leaving the state.”

launch the apprenticeship program in June 2022.

“We decided to tackle the issue as an industry head on and create a registered apprenticeship and develop our own talent pipeline from within,” said Jada Paisley, executive director of the Michigan Golf Course Association.

The program started last year with its first apprentices at Lynx Golf Course. The apprentices accessed online career training supported by Golf Course Superintendents Association of America and on-the-job training alongside other industry professionals and a mentor. Apprentices who complete the program receive a certificate from the Department of Labor while also earning a wage, a factor designed to help younger professionals learn the ropes of

Recently, the company announced the closure of a furniture manufacturing plant in Sheboygan, Wisc., in an effort to “better align its resources,” a company spokesperson said in April.

MillerKnoll’s current fiscal year will wrap up at the end of May. The results of which will determine any bonuses. At this time, no bonuses for anyone at the company have been decided.

Meanwhile, the company recently announced that it is marking the 100-year anniversary of its Herman Miller brand name with a curated exhibit in Milan, Italy, celebrating its designs.

In a January 2021 profile in the New York Times, Owen discussed the challenges of leading a major corporation experiencing vast uncertainty caused by the pandemic amid political and social turmoil across the country.

“We’ve tried to create opportunities for people to have frank conversations, for them to get together and discuss the hard topics of the day,” Owen reportedly said at the time. “I don’t think these are new problems. But whether it’s about race, or inclusiveness, or whether it’s about what’s happening in the world today, these are all things you have to talk about.”

According to Paisley, the causes of the current talent shortages in golf course maintenance are multi-faceted. In addition to losing workers to retirement, the industry also faces lower college enrollment nationwide following the COVID-19 pandemic, which is taking its toll on niche programs like turf maintenance. For example, Fortune in March reported undergraduate college enrollment dropped 8 percent from 2019 to 2022.

“Michigan State (University)

In order to change this, Michigan Golf Course Association’s new apprenticeship seeks to not only attract new talent but also nurture current employees to grow within their companies.

“We’re known for our golf in Michigan,” Paisley said. “So if we don’t do something to continue that, what does that mean for those tourism dollars? It’s really developing the talent from within and as an association, our board of directors just didn’t see any other options other than to do this. It’s just a really great way to develop that next generation.”

We at Coldbrook Insurance Group are excited to announce Rochele Duffy’s promotion to Client Executive.

Not only will she continue to service customers at a high level she will also be helping other businesses become a part of the Coldbrook team.

She has been in the insurance industry for 15 years with the last 6 being at Coldbrook. Throughout these years, she has gone from the ground-up to learn what her customers need most!

We are looking forward to her continued success in years to come.

Lynx Golf Course in Otsego was the first course in the state to participate in a new turf maintenance apprenticeship program. | LYNX GOLF COURSE

Paul Isely, professor of economics and associate dean at Grand Valley State University’s Seidman College of Business, says work remains for economic development agencies to build public trust in the massive Big Rapids-area battery plant. But Isely says the project would be a net positive for the region and state.

For economic development agencies working to bring the public on board with large-scale projects, Isely said it’s critical to establish trust from the outset.

“You have to be able to provide the trust and say, ‘Maybe that question is not able to be answered now, but we have listened to you and we will be watching that.’ It seems there were several instances (with the Gotion project) where people started to have concerns and those concerns weren’t immediately addressed,” Isely said. “That creates the feeling that there’s something to hide and that trust starts to be lost. Once the trust is lost, it’s really hard to get back. You have to be vigilant early on in these processes to make sure you’re maintaining that trust, that you are taking the time to listen to concerns.”

Isely sees the geopolitical concerns as a likely result of the deteriorating diplomatic relationship between the U.S. and China. That includes the Chinese-operated balloons spotted in North American airspace earlier this year, as well as ongoing discussions around TikTok’s Chinese parent company and data security.

“There’s absolutely no way anybody could have predicted that things would shift that much that fast,” Isely said of the diplomatic tension.

However, Isely said he believes the benefits of Gotion’s plan near Big Rapids should outweigh concerns.

“They’re bringing a technology

PARKING

From Page 3

Pending additional meetings that will take place in the next month or two with the West Grand Neighborhood Association and the West Side Corridor Improvement Authority on the alternative plan and final design, Burkman said construction should start next year. He added that city officials will need to eliminate street parking on one side of the street to carry out goals of the city’s Vital Streets Plan, which are to “balance the public right” between all users including pedestrians, motorists, cyclists and buses.

Business concerns

However the city moves forward, multiple business owners say maintaining street parking should be a priority to accommodate an influx of new traffic and residents.

With a surge in developments along Bridge Street — roughly 1 mile south — in recent years, drivers have started using Leonard

here and a manufacturing model that we can learn from, and that’s a good thing,” Isely said. “I think in the scope of concerns that we have with China, this one’s likely pretty small compared to some of the others.”

The economic opportunity with the Gotion project and its alignment with the state’s effort to retain automotive production amid the electric vehicle transformation also contribute to the greater good of the project, according to Isely.

“We do know that overall for the entirety of Michigan, this undoubtedly will make things better off,” Isely said. “We know that because of the ability to anchor automotive production here, and we know that because of the number of jobs being created. Even if the number of jobs created aren’t as many as they say, it’s still a project that generates value in many different ways. It brings technology and worker skill sets here to Michigan so that other businesses will then decide, ‘Hey, maybe I want to be there because Michigan workers now have that skill.’”

Economic developers respond

Confronted with public concerns, local economic development organizations have started to ramp up education campaigns and outreach for these large projects.

In West Michigan, The Right Place Inc. and project backers have worked to advocate in support of Gotion’s planned development, which is yet to be finalized. Last month, state lawmakers advanced a spending plan that included $175 million in support of Gotion’s facility, which promises to create 2,350 jobs. Meanwhile, Gotion’s North American vice president recently addressed some claims during a virtual panel discussion, proclaiming that there is “no communist plot” associated with the project.

For The Right Place and other proponents of the Gotion plant, the project is a major economic

Street as their way in and out of the city, said Jeff Joyce, owner of Mieras Family Shoes Inc., a 100-year-old business located at 841 Leonard St. NW. Mieras Family Shoes is located along the path of the city’s sidewalk redesign.

“We’re not worried about slowing the traffic, we’re worried about this (city) plan restricting it, and people will seek another alternative route and it will cause less vehicle traffic,” Joyce said.

Joyce compiled a letter backed by 14 other business owners along the Leonard Street corridor asking the city to maintain the existing 6-foot sidewalks and street parking.

“Each business has become a destination for thousands of different shoppers per year,” Joyce wrote in the letter. “It would be a financial hardship and directly affect each business listed here to make access more difficult. Businesses that have just enough parking for their workers and a few customers do not have any spots extra for neighbors or snow piles in the winter. Several of these businesses have zero parking and rely on curbside parking directly

opportunity to add new jobs and contribute to a domestic supply chain for EV components.

The Right Place President and CEO Randy Thelen said such a large-scale development also would benefit local manufacturing companies riding the wave of the ongoing EV transformation.

“A lot of our area companies are highly dependent on the automotive industry, and as that industry changes, the supply chain’s going to have to change,” Thelen said. “The more we can retain in Michigan and in the Midwest with this EV and battery industry, the more opportunities our companies will have to supply it.”

Thelen said the project represents “a sizable decision for the community, and you’re seeing people on both sides — pro and con — voicing their opinions.”

Thelen agreed with Isely that some questions on the Gotion project may be premature.

“I think right now, if there’s a question that goes unanswered, people assume that it’s this sort of ‘gotcha’ moment, when in fact it’s just more of a function of timing,” Thelen said.

“One challenge as you try to inform the public is that these are the types of projects that haven’t happened in this country for a couple decades,” Thelen added, referring to the wave of foreign automakers establishing U.S. operations in the late 20th century. “But we have to understand these projects are generally positive.”

Lansing outreach

In Lansing, a public education effort is underway for another large-scale manufacturing project. Unlike the Gotion plant, how-

in front of their businesses.”

Mieras said the store, which opened in 1922, would have lost about seven parking spaces under the city’s plan to eliminate street parking on the north side of Leonard. Potentially removing parking on the south side of the street instead also would negatively affect Mieras’ customers, he said.

“Most of our customers are young families with multiple children as well as elderly people who are not able to safely cross the street,” he said.

The city’s effort to make Leonard Street more walkable and pedestrian-friendly comes as business owners say the corridor, which stretches eastward from Powers Avenue to U.S. 131, needs more parking to accommodate business activity.

Joyce hopes the city will rethink its design, maintain street parking on both sides of Leonard and add handicap-accessible crosswalks. As well, if the city identifies underutilized property in the area, it should be converted into parking, he said.

The West Grand Neighborhood Association plans to hear more

ever, the proposed Michigan Manufacturing Innovation Campus slated for a nearly 2,000-acre site near Lansing hasn’t secured a development agreement.

The massive greenfield in Clinton County’s Eagle Township is near I-96, Michigan State University’s campus, a municipal airport and within an hour of driving distance to both Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor. Project backers see each of these factors as ideal to attract a large company manufacturing electric vehicle batteries, semiconductor chips or similar production.

“It’s kind of a rare site that is the best of all worlds,” said Bob Trezise, president and CEO of the Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP). “It’s very close to a major metropolitan area and university, but we’re able to provide that acreage necessary to ultimately land some kind of transformative company.”

LEAP has been working to assemble, manage and now market the site as Clinton County and Ea-

Clinton County Planning Commission, Clinton County Board of Commissioners and the Eagle Township Board of Trustees.

However, the project also has faced local opposition to the potentially massive change to the land and its intended use based on its donation to Michigan State University in 2005 by local farmer Dave Morris.

Residents have spoken out at public meetings against the potential decision to approve the project, and a Facebook group called Stop the Mega Site has emerged as a forum for community members to discuss concerns.

In response, LEAP recently launched a public education effort to answer questions from area residents and provide information about the site and the process.

A website and fact sheet now outline why officials believe the site is the best fit for the MMIC, how environmental concerns are being addressed, and what kind of agricultural impact the project will have.

“There’s a public process, and that appropriately involves the entire community and a conversation about the vision for this particular piece of property,” Trezise said.

Trezise said project officials are working to preserve as much agricultural property as possible and that the total 2,000 acres represent less than 1 percent of all agricultural property in Clinton County.

gle Township undergo a master planning amendment process ahead of any formal approval.

People in support of the project see it as a valuable way to bring new jobs to the area, boost battery and chip production in light of recent supply chain disruptions, and serve as an overall unique manufacturing opportunity not only for the state of Michigan but for the U.S.

LEAP recently submitted more than 100 letters of support from various individuals, businesses, alliances and nonprofits to the

feedback from residents and business owners.

However, Burkman said a previous parking study indicated that the use of street parking along the corridor was low and did not exceed 38 percent at any time or location while the study was conducted.

The business owners dispute the study’s findings.

“A lot of times, these parking studies don’t go and ask business owners what their peak times are, they just pick a time. A lot of times, it’s not when those businesses are busy,” said Annette Vandenberg, executive director of the West Grand Neighborhood Association.

Arnie’s Bakery Manager Jimmy Fahlen said his own informal parking study conducted from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 7 showed heavy on-street parking usage, even during spring break week. Arnie’s has a back parking lot, but the company has 75 employees, which more than fill the spaces, Fahlen said, noting that removing street parking on the north side of Leonard would “ruin our storefront.”

At the same time, Trezise said he understands the significance of a project of this scale for the community.

“I am deeply respectful of the fact that it is a significant change for some people who live in the immediate area,” he said. “I think that this will not be nearly as disruptive as they think, but I have complete respect that it is essentially for a few people close to their backyard. We just want a very respectful public dialogue and reach what is best, though, for the greater good of maybe tens of thousands of people and our country.”

“I don’t foresee people wanting to cross Leonard Street just to grab a baked good when they can go to the Meijer down the road or even just get a birthday cake somewhere else,” he said. “A lot of our customers are elderly. We’ve been around since 1905 and it’s kind of a tradition to get a birthday cake here, but people usually come into the store, pick up their baked goods and leave.”

West Grand neighborhood residents and businesses generally support the city’s Vital Streets Plan, which calls for more trees and broadly improving walkability.

However, the city’s proposal to eliminate on-street parking comes with unintended consequences for business owners, Vandenberg said.

“The West Side is unique in how strong the local, generational businesses are — there are longtime people here that are very loyal to these businesses,” Vandenberg said. “But if (shopping here) becomes inconvenient, especially as more convenient online options are available, it’s going to affect businesses.”

“It seems there were several instances (with the Gotion project) where people started to have concerns and those concerns weren’t immediately addressed.”

Paul Isely, professor of economics and associate dean at Grand Valley State University’s Seidman College of Business

Elliott, who has an option to buy the State Street property, seeks to determine how comfortable the Historic Preservation Commission is with adding density to the property for the proposed two additional buildings. The two new buildings don’t need to be a “high rise,” but three or four stories would help make the project more feasible, Elliott said.

“If they only allow us one or two (stories), this will never get built,” he said.

The commission did not vote on the project during its April 19 meeting. Elliott called the meeting a first step down a “long road” before the project comes to fruition.

“This is an underutilized part of town,” said Elliott, who said he prefers to redevelop historic properties. “It’s in a transitory space between downtown and Heritage Hill.”

Elliott’s Lansing-based Infinity Companies LLC also owns Loose Leaf Lofts, a 33-unit apartment project and adaptive reuse of a historic warehouse building at 333 Commerce Ave. in downtown Grand Rapids.

‘Vibrant connector’

As for Elliott’s latest proposal, the Heritage Hill Association neighborhood group noted a need for housing and mixed-use devel-

BREWERS

From Page 1

Currently, Speciation’s business model is limited by the amount of beer it can sell via its taproom for in-house or to-go consumption, plus the limited volume it moves via the traditional three-tiered distribution system.

“We don’t make money through distribution; we’re barely breaking even with that,” Ermatinger said, adding that the brewery would like to expand its business model to sell and ship beer directly to customers, a practice not currently allowed under Michigan law. “It would give us another outlet to sell directly to customers, and that’s where we really make money.”

While breweries can deliver directly to consumers’ doorsteps, a mode of distribution that took off during the COVID-19 pandemic, Michigan law dictates that deliveries have to be handled by the breweries and their employees using company vehicles.

Although drinkers can use third-party methods like Instacart, Hop Runner or Shipt to purchase beer or liquor from retailers directly, breweries cannot package and ship alcohol directly to consumers via UPS, FedEx, or other carriers.

For a company like Speciation, which offers small batches of products at a high-price point through a small ring of distributors, the ability to ship beer directly to consumers would alleviate pressure on taproom sales and wholesaler relationships.

“We’re struggling like pretty much every other brewery I know,”

SLEEPING GIANT

From Page 3

An East Lansing native, Murray led marketing and M&A teams at Mars Inc. and Stryker Inc. and “brings to SignComp a track record of building an impactful culture,” according to an announcement on Sleeping Giant Capital’s investment. He earned a finance degree in 2007 and an MBA in 2012, both from Michigan State University’s Eli Broad School of Business where he serves on the Advisory Board.

West Michigan-based, it’s got a profile that we like in terms of fundamentals, and it’s got some great avenues for growth that we’re excited about,” Lepisto said. “The company has a great product and it’s a superior product in terms of the customer retention that we have. So, it’s really just being able to broaden that awareness and familiarity of the solutions that SignComp provides, and there are some other kinds of adjacencies that we’re exploring as well.”

opments in its State Street Corridor Area Specific Plan, which was created in 2014 as a supplement to the neighborhood’s master plan. Heritage Hill Association stated in the plan that one of its goals is to establish housing and commercial developments fronting State Street that can be adaptable to other uses as needed.

The property under consideration by Elliott, along with surrounding parcels along State Street, used to serve as a “vibrant connector” from downtown to Heritage Hill, said Barbara Draughon, executive director of the Heritage Hill Association.

“We would love to see this area become that again with mixed-use buildings, residences, as well as pedestrian- and street-friendly shops and restaurants,” Draughon said.

Ermatinger said. Direct-to-consumer sales “would be the thing that would easily tip the scales overnight. Honestly, I have been begging for this since COVID. The ability to ship beer would just be a total game-changer.”

Growing consumer interest

While direct-to-consumer sales models have become popular in the wine industry nationwide, beer distribution has been slow to adopt the practice despite growing interest from craft beer enthusiasts.

A January survey by the Boulder, Colo.-based Brewers Association found that 79 percent of U.S. craft beer drinkers would be interested in purchasing beer via the direct-to-consumer model, which also faces challenges given the patchwork of state laws regulating the practice.

The 21st amendment gives states full authority to regulate alcohol. Like most states, Michigan relies on a three-tier system where suppliers (breweries, distilleries and wineries) are required to sell to distributors (wholesalers) who distribute to retailers (restaurants, bars and stores).

As of March, the only states that provide clear, statutory authority for brewers to legally solicit and fulfill sales remotely and across state borders are Alaska, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Vermont and Virginia, plus the District of Columbia, according to the Brewers Association report.

Other states have their own forms of direct-to-consumer sales, like Oregon, which will only issue

General guidelines in the area specific plan could allow for new construction in the area up to three stories high, Draughon said. There could be some flexibility there, though she noted likely opposition to a proposal that is six stories, for example.

Residents in the community also understand the need for more housing, Draughon added.

“I constantly hear people say the housing crisis affects our neighborhood as well, and we need to be part of the solution,” she said. “We welcome creative solutions.”

“We’re already the densest neighborhood in the city, but we understand there is a little more room here to develop,” Draughon added. “A lot of people have been thinking about this stretch for years, and we’re excited someone is looking at it again.”

shipping licenses to brewers located in states that themselves allow the practice and Rhode Island, which permits beer to be shipped to customers only who were physically present at the brewery’s premises at the time of purchase.

According to Chris Gartman, a Grand Rapids-based attorney with experience in the craft beverage industry at Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone PLC, Michigan’s three-tier system and its vested interests have held back the process to change the state’s laws to allow direct-to-consumer sales.

“Each of those tiers have distinct interests,” Gartman said. “The legislature has to balance those interests and keep everybody happy. I think the balancing of those interests is one of the reasons Michigan’s not there yet.”

Gartman added that one of the complications in tweaking the three-tier system lies in the contractual relationship between suppliers and wholesalers. Revenue interests also play a role: Direct sales would add revenue to breweries and take revenue away from wholesalers and retailers, which will be “a big part of the discussion,” he said.

Changes ahead?

Despite the complications that come with changing the distribution model of a highly regulated product like beer, Gartman thinks state legislation allowing direct sales, long a priority for craft brewing industry groups, might have a shot in the current environment in Lansing.

“I think there’s a chance there

“We are poised to grow with our talented and experienced team and partners at Sleeping Giant Capital,” Murray said.

Lepisto formed Sleeping Giant capital in 2020 with Derrick McIver. Both are associate professors of management at Western Michigan University’s Haworth College of Business and co-directors at the university’s Center for Principled Leadership and Business Strategy.

Sleeping Giant Capital makes investments that support prospective owner/operators buying a company after they go through a training program. The model not only seeds a new generation of entrepreneurs but also helps retain local ownership of companies that Sleeping Giant Capital backs.

SignComp was a perfect fit for Sleeping Giant Capital, Lepisto said.

“It ticks all of our boxes. It’s

could be a bill this year,” he said. “It’s been picking up speed, especially as we see other states getting it done. Michigan’s breweries want to see it happen here.”

Scott Newman-Bale, CEO of Bellaire-based Short’s Brewing Co. who formerly served as president of the Michigan Brewers Guild, where he’s currently co-chair of the Government Affairs Committee, agrees with Gartman, adding that allowing direct-to-consumer sales has consistently ranked as the top legislative request for the group’s membership.

“Right now, it’s in provisional discussions, letting everyone know what we are up to and why. We do have some proposed language generated and have identified some people legislatively to work with,” Newman-Bale said.

Newman-Bale thinks direct-to-consumer sales could have the greatest effect on smaller breweries. Larger-scale operations, including Short’s Brewing where he works, are already benefiting from the three-tier model and might not find shipping beer directly to be worthwhile.

“It really will benefit the smaller guys, which is kind of the whole point,” Newman-Bale said. “Small brewers don’t have the ability to get (products) on the shelf. Shelves are full and distributors don’t want new products and they are struggling to get their product sold even within the state.”

Jessica Stricklen, founder and president of Brewery Nyx LLC, Michigan’s first dedicated gluten-free brewery, said the ability to ship products to customers who aren’t able to make the trip to

Sleeping Giant Capital continues to scout for other deals and has five or six opportunities that it’s presently looking at, Lepisto said. He expects another deal could close this summer with another CEO-in-residence at Sleeping Giant Capital.

The investment firm also plans to open applications to the CEO-in-residence program.

“I’m more bullish now on just the opportunities we’re seeing and the talent that’s coming to us now to be owner/operators is really great,” he said. “There’s a lot of entrepreneurs out there that are wanting something different. They don’t want to start a company, they don’t want to continue working at their own company, but they have leadership experience, they have a track record and management skill set and they can lead a company. I think there’s a great fit for that, especially in West Michigan because people want to stay here.”

Grand Rapids would be “huge.”

“This is something that I’ve been hoping would come along,” Stricklen said. “We have people driving from out-of- state and from Canada, but definitely from across the state, too. They’ll drive several hours to get here, and they’ll buy a case or two to last them until the next time they’re ready to come to Grand Rapids. It would be wonderful if they could sign up for a subscription package and receive it at home instead of having to make that drive.”

“How many people are not willing to drive out here and so they just continue to drink cider and drink wine and drink cocktails? It could open us to a huge portion of gluten-free customers who just aren’t willing to drive. It’s an untapped market.”

Ermatinger at Speciation noted direct-shipping could provide new benefits for the brewery’s “Cultured Club” program, which offers exclusive bottles and regular discounts. Currently, about a quarter of the members hail from out of state, he said.

“Even if this wasn’t the equivalent of all of our taproom sales, if it was just a couple thousand dollars a month, that would be more than enough to make a huge difference,” Ermatinger said of direct sales, noting the challenges of operating a brewery throughout the pandemic and as inflation drives input costs higher.

“It’s been really hard to break even. Our costs are going up a little bit. The customer flow is incredibly unpredictable,” he added. “Any new revenue stream would be helpful.”

The vacant former medical office at 241 State St. SE, along the Heritage Hill neighborhood border. | KATE CARLSON/CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS

New MDARD director eyes opportunities to boost resilience of Michigan farms

Sixth-generation farmer Tim Boring is bringing firsthand knowledge of the industry to his new position in Lansing as director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. Boring hails from a family farm in Stockbridge, about 35 miles southeast of Lansing. The operation itself serves as a microcosm of the diversity of agriculture in the state, given that it produces everything from cucumbers and peppers to tomatoes and mint, as well as the standard grain crops. “Agriculture is a wonderful industry to work in,” Boring said. “I think one of the things that makes it really unique is how many of us have shared values. We all want the same sorts of things. I think being able to focus on those values is really something special.” Boring comes to the role after previously serving as the state executive director of the USDA Farm Service Agency and as vice president of the Michigan Agri-Business Association. He spoke with Crain’s Grand Rapids Business to discuss how the department plans to support Michigan farmers and agribusinesses, climate change solutions and his hopes for the coming year. |

BY ABBY POIRIER

President and CEO KC Crain

Group Publisher Jim Kirk

Publisher Lisa Rudy

Executive Editor Mickey Ciokajlo, mickey.ciokajlo@crain.com

Editor Joe Boomgaard, joe.boomgaard@crain.com

Managing Editor Andy Balaskovitz, andy.balaskovitz@crain.com

Special Projects Editor Tim Gortsema, tim.gortsema@crain.com

Director of Audience and Engagement Elizabeth Couch, elizabeth.couch@crain.com

Audience Engagement Editor Matthew Pollock, matthew.pollock@crain.com

Creative Director Thomas J. Linden tlinden@crain.com

Associate Creative Director Karen Freese Zane, kfreese@crain.com

REPORTERS

How did your life on the farm and the legacy of farmers that you come from prepare you for the work you’re doing today?

Coming into a position like this, watching over (the course of) my career what agriculture has evolved to look like, and the shifting landscape of production influences me to be really thoughtful and purposeful about what our agriculture looks like for the benefit of all Michiganders. It’s not just farmers or agribusinesses or food companies. It’s everybody that’s tied to agriculture, everybody that lives here, everybody that eats here, and making sure that we are implementing an approach that’s going to benefit everybody and has some specific deliverables then to rural communities and really using agriculture as a driver for economic investment.

How has agriculture evolved during your time in the industry?

We’ve moved some of our production to different areas of the state that are probably a little bit better suited (to growing them) for a variety of reasons. It just makes more sense to produce them there. Also, the individual areas are a little bit more productive. Each acre probably produces more than it used to 30, 40, 50 years ago. So, we don’t necessarily need as many acres if we’re operating under the current structure. But I think what’s lost within that is the value of how and where things are grown. I certainly see that at the consumer level. I think it’s a challenge for us then to be purposeful in how we make sure that we’ve got more diverse production going on across the state.

Our agricultural economy is better when we’re growing high-value crops like dry beans or carrots or onions or asparagus, and I think we’ve got a population base here who values where these things are grown. So, we need to be understanding of the fact that there’s increased value if we’re producing these sorts of things here in Michigan. When we’re growing diverse crops in rural communities all across the state, there’s a lot of value-added processing that goes into that.

How are Michigan farmers adapting to the effects of climate change?

Farmers can tell you every day today that they’re dealing with more extreme, challenging weather. A lot of that comes through irregular precipitation patterns. We tend to get more rain at the times we get it. There’s also nutrient loss implications of this. When we get more water falling at any one time, it’s a greater risk for transport of nutrients off of fields. So we’re going to be focused on that as well, generally building the resiliency of our ground.

So, controlling that water as it’s moving across field landscapes is really important. Mitigating against drought is seemingly an annual challenge. Fruit production is going to be increasingly at risk of warm periods in the spring that are going to get trees budded out earlier. So, production’s going to be a little bit more challenging just due to early bud break.

But the fact is that these are going to be realities we’re faced with. The solution here is not to move our fruit production across the globe, it’s investing in research to help growers mitigate those sorts of challenges, making sure that we’ve got economic systems in place to weather more variable production patterns.

What are some emerging challenges you see for family farmers today?

Traditionally, larger-scale production has grown through adding animal units or adding acres, and that’s not going to be a viable path for every single operation to grow. We’re operating with a fixed number of acres. So the opportunity then becomes: How do you add more value to the products you’re growing? Climate smart agriculture is certainly a way to do that. But it’s also understanding and recognizing the fact that different sized operations doing different sorts of things all deliver unique value to rural communities. Ensuring that we’ve got opportunities for folks to be active in the food system through a variety of different ways is going to be really important.

What do you mean by that?

Operating a farm beyond your 9-to-5 job still makes you a real farmer. You’re demonstrably contributing to the agricultural economy, and we need to be taking steps to make sure that we support that kind of work. That’s going to be something that we’re going to focus on, ensuring those

opportunities for farms of all kinds of sizes to participate in the production system.

As you look ahead, what concerns you about Michigan’s agricultural industry?

I know there’s a reason for a lot of optimism. We’ve got some uncertain economic times ahead of us. Inflation’s certainly a big concern, interest rates, global food chains are increasingly uncertain. We just have so many different aspects impacting our global markets beyond what we thought we might have a few years ago. There are challenges out there. There’s reasons for concern. However, Michigan is exceedingly well-poised to be dealing with these sorts of things. We’ve got a lot of diversity here and there’s a lot of different ways we can maximize what’s going on around us and respond to those challenges.

What sets up Michigan agriculture for success?

We’re in a much better position than a lot of agriculture across our country. We still have reliable access to water. We’ve got a variety of production systems to be able to produce different crops. So I think we’ve got an awful lot of potential here. We’ve got the opportunity ahead of us here at the department to make some significant and meaningful investments in Michigan’s long-term future.

I think there’s a real opportunity here within the department for understanding what makes Michigan special: Where do we have distinct competitive advantages? What’s in the best interest of everybody who lives here in Michigan? I think agriculture specifically with so many long-standing multi-generation farms, multi-generation businesses understand the value of long-term like positioning and long-term building for success. It’s not a short term sort of thing. Our producers and our agribusinesses operate on a multi-generational time scale and we have a unique opportunity to make some investments so that we can build for long-term success here in Michigan.

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