NEWSPAPER
© Entire contents copyright 1985 by Crain Communications Inc. All ri ghts reserved .
Crain's
Price: 50 cent s a copy; $20 a year.
Will Burroughs get on the MAP?
•
PAGE 4 ~Reta il ers
scare up Halloween sales PAGE 32
•
Republic flights fuel Metro Airport growth PAGE 14
WEEK OF OCT. 28 - NOV. 3, 1985 VOLUME 1
0
NO. 39
Stroh goes slow River Place begins push for tenants BY MARY SOLOMON SMYKA CRAIN'S DETROIT BUSINESS
DWIGHT CENDROWSKI
Thomas Wilson (left), executive director of the Detroit Pistons, says guard Isiah Thomas (right) is helping bring the franchise profitability. Story, Page 29 ~
LATE NEWS Avanti's Detroit move all but dead An order by u.s. Bankruptcy Court in South Bend, Ind. , has all but killed Avanti Motor Corp.'s plans to move to Detroit. The court gave the South Bend car maker until Nov. 25 to develop a plan to pay more than $3 million it owes secured creditor 1st Source Bank of South Bend. Ifit fails to do so, Avanti could be liquidated, or the bank could come up with its own plan. Avanti also is enjoined from suing 1st Source. "There is more of a possibility the company will remain in Indiana" as a result of the order, said Robert Weiss, attorney for Avanti. Avanti had been seeking a plant in Detroit and said it would hire 100 people. The Detroit City Council voted in August to seek a $2 million federal Urban Development Action Grant for the company.
Sanders loan gets final state OK Fred Sanders Inc. of Highland Park has received final state approval for a $503,000 loan to help the company boost sales and regain its financial footing. The city of Highland Park will receive the Michigan Small Cities grant and lend it to the 1l0-year-old company, according to the Michigan Department of Commerce, which administers the program. The grant is "the final piece of the state's portion of a refinancing package for Sanders," said Walt Sorg, the commerce department's public relations director. The $4.2 million package includes a $750,000 loan from Michigan's Economic Development Authority, a $2 million stock offering, and a $950,000 line of credit from a commercial lender.
State seeks branch of Bank of China The state of Michigan has filed an application asking the Bank of China to establish a branch here . Eugene Kuthy, commissioner of the Financial See LATE NEWS, PAGE 2
~
Stroh River Place expects to sign its first office tenant - to lease 40,000 square feet of space - in about 30 days. River Place officials also expect to announce within a month that former London Chop House chef Jimmy Schmidt will return from Denver to open a fine dining restaurant at River Place next fall. Negotiations and other activities are proceeding on several fronts for use of the $200 million Detroit riverfront development: • Stroh officials have held discussions with General Motors Corp. about leasing River Place office space. Persistent rumors in automotive and real estate circles are that the· dicussions center on relocating Cadillac Motor Car Division headquarters from Clark Street in Detroit to a new River Place building. • Stroh and American Natural Resources
Co. officials have discussed developing a joint venture on a 15-acre patchwork of properties the two companies own between River Place and ANR's Harbortown development. • Stroh has received more than 250 inquiries about approximately 250 residential units in two soon-to-be-renovated buildings. • Stroh officials have discussed eventually extending River Place's boundaries to encompass the Dundee Cement Co. property. On Nov. 7, Stroh will unleash a major marketing campaign prepared by New York-based Gordon & Shortt Advertising Inc. to attract office tenants River Place is the name of the $200 million redevelopment of Parke Davis & Co.'s former riverfront site. Stroh named Detroit-based Lambrecht Co. as River Place leasing agent last February. But Theodore Moss, president of River See STROH, PAGE 36
~
Cement firms seek to stay on riverfront BY MARY SOLOMON SMYKA CRAIN'S DETROIT B USINESS
Cement silos stand along the Detroit riverfront where developers are gradually changing the face of the city. Hoping to avoid a costly confrontation with the city of Detroit, and with its new neighbors, National Gypsum Co. Cement Division has commissioned a study of how its riverfront cement operation and its storage silos might better blend with their changing environs. The silos, used for storage by Huron Cement Co., a division of Dallas-based National Gypsum, are on the Detroit riverfront east of the Renaissance
Center, near several proposed and recently developed projects. The character of the riverfront is changing from industrial to residential, retail and office use. Huron Cement hopes that acting on the study will prevent complaints from new, non-industrial neighbors and also curb any thoughts on the part of city officials to take condemnation action against the operation, said Edward Price, director of governmental and public affairs for National Gypsum Cement Division. A move to a new site would cost the company about $15 million - assuming the company could find a port See CEMENT, PAGE 35
~
GLENN TRIEST
Cement silos along Detroit River are seen as conflicting with new developments.
Lear Siegler builds factory in Romulus BY JANE WHITE CRAIN'S DETROIT B USINESS
Lear Siegler Inc. is constructing a $2.5 million, 89 ,800square-foot seating factory on Eureka Road at 1-275 in Romulus. It will employ 200 people. On a 60-acre site on the northwest corner of Eureka and 1-275, the plant will start producing car seats in December and will be operating at full capacity by next spring, according to plant manager Tom Henstock. The plant has been under construction since·July. Henstock said the plant will be a just-in-time supplier to General Motors Corp.'s Willow Run assembly plant, where Oldsmobile Delta 88s are assembled. "The community is real happy about the project," said Ri-
chard Viskochil , director of community development for the city of Romulus. "It creates a lot more focus to the 1-275 area and helps us market it." The I-275-Eureka Road intersection is a growing area for the city, Viskochil said. South across Eureka Road from the Lear Siegler project is the 63-acre Oakwood Industrial Park, which had a ground breaking in August. International Paint Stripping of Taylor is moving its headquarters to a 20,000-squarefoot building in the park . Viskochil said the city is building a sewer and storm drain on the southeast corner of the intersection in anticipation of future growth. Headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., publicly-held Lear Siegler makes electronic and material handling equipment as well as car parts. Sales were $1.94 billion in 1984. CDB