Education Businesses aim high High child care costs with

Pistons owner aims for more in Detroit, partner in Flint

Huron raises 2nd-largest PE fund in state history

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Gores wants company for hometown, Page 7

Adds another fund with a strategy twist, Page 3

�e battle against Detroit’s illiteracy crisis is fought one child at a time.

Consider the story of Elijah Craft, a towering 6-foot, 6-inch 12th-grader at Central High School, where he plays football, basketball and baseball.

�e 17-year-old Elijah was read-ing at a �rst-grade level at the start of his �nal year in public school — a struggle fueled, in part, by a diagno-sis of the dyslexia learning disability that made reading di�cult.

�e school’s principal had Elijah sent to a classroom in the school where a not-for-pro�t organization called Beyond Basics operates a one-on-one reading tutoring pro-gram for students who are several grade levels behind.

In Elijah’s case, he was a decade behind. �e team at Beyond Basics had to start at the beginning — teaching him how to sound out words and other fundamentals. Af-ter just �ve months, Elijah is now testing at a �fth-grade reading level, according to Pam Good, director of Beyond Basics.

Beyond Basics, a literacy initiative funded largely by donations from corporations and foundations, is qui-etly operating in seven Detroit schools. But with more corporate support, it could become a model for how Detroit tackles the city's high il-literacy rate among youth and adults, a crisis that has a big impact for the local economy and talent pool.

�e program is an intensive

Businesses aim high with literacy program

Backers make solving Detroit schools’ illiteracy crisis their business

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

By Chad [email protected]

Education

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

A huge and rising cost is keeping workers, especially women, out of the workforce in Michigan and na-tionwide — child care.

It’s an often-overlooked factor at a time when unemployment is low and the White House says it aims to put more people to work, which will mean pulling people back into the active labor force.

Michigan is the 12th least-a�ord-able state for infant care, which aver-ages $9,882 annually, or $824 per month. Prices go down as the child ages — day cares aren’t required to have as much sta�ng in rooms with older kids — to $6,764, or $564 per month, for a 4-year-old. For a family with an infant and a 4-year-old, costs total more than $16,000 annually — more than a fully loaded Ford Fiesta Hatchback.

Despite an expanding economy, the labor force participation rate in Michigan has continued to decline since the Great Recession, from 65.1 percent in 2006 to 61.4 percent in 2016.

Some of the attrition can be at-tributed to technology expansion and Social Security insurance exten-sions. But the rising costs of day care, along with reduced state subsidies for child care in Michigan, are forc-ing workers — particularly women — to choose between working at a loss or dropping out of the labor force to raise young children, experts say. And increasingly, Michigan businesses see the lack of a�ordable child care options as a talent reten-tion problem.

Nationally, child care expendi-tures, including day care centers and in-home care, rose 39 percent be-tween 1990 and 2011, according to the 2013 U.S. Census Bureau report

“Who’s Minding the Kids?” (based on the most recent Census data).

“More and more families can’t af-ford child care, especially when it’s more than one child,” said Jackie Re-inberg, national practice leader on absence, disability and life for risk management �rm Willis Towers Watson in Philadelphia. “Child care is a big deal and it’s a massive chal-lenge for this country.”

Employment

High child care costskeeping women out of the labor pool

By Dustin [email protected]

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

4,000Number of students Beyond Basics has reached this school year

50,000Number of students in schools operated by DPSCD

51,000Number of Detroit students attending charter schools

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

SEE READING, PAGE 17 SEE WORKFORCE, PAGE 16

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

Who will �ll jobs on state’s farms?

Beyond annual concerns about the weather, harvest prices and crop-harming pests, fruit and vegeta-ble growers around the state have a new worry: immigration crackdowns.

According to a report in Bridge Magazine, many growers are won-dering if there will be enough sea-sonal workers to pick their crops, es-pecially if the workforce is reduced amid possible Trump administra-tion actions over undocumented im-migrants and there aren’t enough Americans eager to �ll in.

“If we lost a signi�cant part of the workforce after we had everything ready to harvest, we would go out of business. Everything is hand-har-vested,” Fred Leitz, a Berrien County farmer, told Bridge.

According to a 2014 report by the American Farm Bureau Federation, undocumented workers comprise fully half of hired U.S. farm workers. �ere is no such calculation speci�c to Michigan agriculture, where the seasonal workforce is about 45,000.

In the past month, Leitz said, he’s heard from a few of his past workers that they won’t be coming back this year. Most are originally from Mexico but have lived in the U.S. for the past 10 or 20 years. “�ey’re afraid. �ey’re

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RUMBLINGS 19

WEEK ON THE WEB 19

COMPANY INDEX:SEE PAGE 18

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not going to budge from where they are right now,” he said.

In a state that ranks at or near the top in the nation in cherry and blue-berry production — and where fruit and vegetables account for a $1.4 bil-lion economic impact — the viability of seasonal farm labor is no small matter. �ere’s apprehension as well in Michigan’s restaurant and tour-ism industries, which also depend on immigrant labor.

Meijer to invest $375M in new, renovated stores

Meijer plans to invest more than $375 million in new and remodeled stores this year, the Grand Rapids ar-ea-based retailer said last week.

�e investment will include seven new stores and remodeling of 22 stores, MLive.com reported. �e new stores will be built in Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin and are ex-pected to create about 2,100 jobs.

�is year, Meijer will �nally open

“I just think Americans aren’t going to do it. ... It’s hard work,” a West Michigan farmer said about hand-harvesting crops.

stores in the Upper Peninsula. �e two stores — the only new locations in Michigan in 2017 — will be in Es-canaba and Sault Ste. Marie. �e re-models include six projects in Mich-igan, with major overhauls planned for stores in Mt. Pleasant, Commerce Township and Algoma Township.

MICH-CELLANEOUSJ Leaders of the troubled Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency said $6 million has been repaid to state residents falsely accused of bene�ts fraud as part of an ongoing review of thousands of cases. Bruce Noll, acting MUIA director, told members of the state House Over-sight Committee last week that the agency is on track to �nish by June a review of cases �agged as fraudulent claims. �e testimony came amid ongoing investigations into alleged fraud — largely the result of a deci-sion to allow a computer system to solely determine whether fraud had occurred, without a backup review by a person — and a security breach.J Plans for winding down operations of two prominent West Michigan re-tailers have been disclosed in Worker Adjustment and Retraining Noti�ca-tion Act notices �led with the state. Family Christian LLC plans to shutter its headquarters in Grand Rapids and in April lay o� 170 employees

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

Metro Times reported. �e activists delivered a petition with more than 345,000 signatures to the Michigan Department of Environmental Qual-ity, asking the department to reject the Connecticut company’s pending $200 permit to take 210 million gal-lons a year from its White Pines well.J A drastic reduction may be under consideration for Great Lakes resto-ration e�orts, which in the past have received bipartisan support, the De-troit Free Press reported. �e National Association of Clean Air Agencies con�rmed that an initial proposal from the White House O�ce of Man-agement and Budget calls for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to be cut from $300 million a year to about $10 million. �e cut was �rst reported by a reporter from the Port-land-based Oregonian who tweeted a list of potential cuts — none of which have been �nalized.

C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // M A R C H 6 , 2 0 1 7 3

Journalism honorCrain’s Group Publisher Mary Kramer one of � ve inductees this year for Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame, Page 4

Neighborhood stalwartsRon Fournier: Untold stories include the businesses that never le� Detroit, Page 6

MUST READS OF THE WEEK

Local Habitat for Humanity a� li-ates are reworking a business model that’s failing in areas where the orga-nization’s help is needed most: loca-tions with poorer residents where housing values have failed to re-bound since the recession.

� at has some chapters getting out of the zero-percent mortgage business and making other changes to keep their services a� oat.

It’s a critical question because the

homeownership the agencies promise can be an e� ective vehi-cle in breaking cycles of poverty and building wealth, careers and lives.

Several local Habitat agencies, all operating in-d e p e n d e n t l y ,

have reported losses in recent years,

largely due to cash-� ow issues and debt brought on by the zero-percent mortgages central to the Habitat mod-el for getting low-income people into homes of their own.

� e issue came to the forefront in mid-January for Habitat for Human-ity Detroit, which laid o� most of its employees and closed its two Re-Store retail locations, pointing to high mortgage delinquency rates, a large number of empty homes in its portfolio, unpro� table ReStore oper-ations and the loss of government

and corporate funding.While each a� liate operates some-

what di� erently, the no-interest mort-gage has been a traditional corner-stone of their business models.

Like the Detroit a� liate, Habitat agencies serving Oakland and Ma-comb counties have faced cash-� ow issues in recent years tied to o� ering the zero-percent mortgages.

Seeing that it was unsustainable, Habitat for Humanity of Oakland County stopped o� ering zero-percent mortgages last year, shifting to low-in-

terest loans made through Level One Bank. � e a� liate now receives cash at closing, rather than waiting 20-30 years to recoup the sale price of a home as mortgage payments are made.

Macomb County Habitat for Hu-manity’s board of directors voted to make the same change in late Febru-ary.

“What was happening in the old model was the cash cycle was too long,” said Tim Ruggles, executive

Habitat a� lates rehab their business modelsBy Sherri [email protected]

Nonpro� ts

It took Detroit-based Huron Capi-tal Partners LLC only three months to raise a � fth fund of $550 million, the largest private equity fund raised in Michigan since 1999, when Quest-or Partners raised $865 million.

But Huron, annually the most ac-tive private equity � rm in the state, isn’t stopping there as it gains a na-tional reputation. It is also raising a fund of $100 million to � nance in-vestments in a new business strategy it an-nounced last year that puts a di� erent spin on private equity.

Instead of the standard private equity model of only acquiring controlling in-terests in com-panies, what Huron brands as its Flex Equity model calls for taking minority stakes for between $5 mil-lion and $20 million in well-run companies whose owners need ex-pansion capital but don’t want to give up control.

Huron has several letters of intent signed on potential deals for that model.

“It’s a unique solution. Not many private equity � rms out there are willing to do non-majority deals, and certainly none have it as a focus,” said Huron partner Christopher Sheeren. “Our pitch to business owners is you can partner with Hu-ron Capital; we’ve been around 17 years, you can have access to all our operating partners, and you don’t have to give up control.

“To do that, you have to � nd own-ers you really trust, good managers with good companies. � e ideal

Finance

Huron raises biggest fund in state since 1999By Tom [email protected]

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

� e Detroit Pistons will sacri� ce some portion of their luxury suite revenue — an important, reliable revenue stream for any pro sports franchise — as part of their still-be-ing-negotiated deal to move to Little Caesars Arena in September.

Whether the team can make up

lost revenue elsewhere, via increased ticket and sponsorship prices, re-mains unclear. � e Pistons expect to sell all of the suites under multiyear deals by the end of this month.

� e details of the agreement for the Pistons to abandon the Palace of Au-burn Hills, their privately owned home since 1988, to join the Detroit Red Wings downtown remain un-

known, but a spokesman for the Na-tional Basketball Association team con� rmed that deal includes a provi-sion for the teams to jointly sell suites.

� e teams are still negotiating the exact revenue split for suites. It’s not known yet if the teams are splitting things such as static signage and con-cessions.

Con� rmation of the joint suite sales and revenue sharing arrange-ment is the � rst public glimpse into the formal business relationship be-tween the teams. Both teams say their business relationship is a secret and won’t divulge speci� cs.

Suites are among the critical reve-nue streams for pro sports teams be-cause they’re typically long-term leases, usually with corporations, that generate money regardless of how the team is performing. � e Pis-tons have fewer suites to sell at Little Caesars Arena (52) compared with their inventory at the Palace (175).

Olympia Entertainment, which runs the business functions of the Red Wings, by the end of 2015 had presold all of the Little Caesars suites for the National Hockey League team’s games.

Sports businessSports business

Suite deal? Pistons to splitrevenue on luxury seating

By Bill [email protected]

Christopher Sheeren: Huron uses Flex Equity model.

Pistons may be leaving money on the court with fewer suites than Palace, revenue split

Doreen Marquis: First Oakland home recipient.

SEE SUITES, PAGE 18

SEE HURON, PAGE 16

SEE HABITAT, PAGE 15


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Crain's Group Publisher Mary Kramer among Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame inductees

Crain's Group Publisher Mary Kramer has been named one of �ve inductees into the Michigan Journal-ism Hall of Fame for 2017.

�e honor ac-knowledges re-porters, editors, publishers, own-ers, photogra-phers and others who contribute greatly to the news industry.

Kramer is the third inductee with strong ties to Crain’s and its parent company, D etroit-bas ed

Crain Communications Inc. Long-time Automotive News reporter, col-umnist and editor John (Jack) Teahen Jr. was inducted in 2006, and Crain Communications Chairman and Crain’s Detroit Business Edi-

tor-in-Chief Keith Crain was inducted in 2008.

Kramer joined Crain’s as editor in 1989, eventually taking over respon-sibility for the revenue side of the publication. She turned over the publication to current Editor and Publisher Ron Fournier at the begin-ning of this year. As group publisher, Kramer is consulting with Fournier and his team on major initiatives such as Detroit Homecoming and Crain’s Leadership Academy, both of which she helped create.

�e Hall of Fame banquet on April 9 at the Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center at Michigan State University also will honor:J Patricia Anstett, a medical writer from Detroit who has logged 40 years of newspaper journalism in Chicago; Washington, D.C.; and her home city. Anstett wrote for the Detroit Free Press for 22 years before retiring in September 2011. Much of her ca-reer work focused on coverage of breast cancer. She is the author of

the 2016 book “Breast Cancer Sur-gery & Reconstruction: What’s Right for You.”J Stephen Cain, a retired investiga-tive reporter who spent about 35 years with �e Detroit News and later �e Ann Arbor News. He has also covered city government, the Uni-versity of Michigan and the criminal justice system. J John Gallagher, a business and ur-ban redevelopment reporter for the Detroit Free Press for about 20 years. He also wrote the books “Reimagining Detroit: Opportunities for Rede�ning an American City” and “Yamasaki in Detroit: A Search for Serenity.”J David Gilkey, an award-winning U.S. and international photojournal-ist who worked for the Detroit Free Press before joining NPR in 2007. Gilkey was killed June 5, 2016, in southern Afghanistan, where he was covering the war. He also covered the war in Iraq, the earthquake in Haiti, the Ebola epidemic in Liberia and other con�icts.

By Annalise [email protected]

Mary Kramer: Inductee helped create Detroit Homecoming

McLaren interested in buying parts of DMCPhil Incarnati, CEO of Flint-based

McLaren Health Care Corp., has been interested in buying parts of Detroit Medical Center for several years, he said last week.

Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp., which owns DMC, has yet to express any interest, he said.

In an interview with Crain’s, Incar-nati said he has broached the idea with DMC and Tenet o�cials about buying Children’s Hospital and Harp-er Hospital — both on DMC’s down-town Detroit campus — and Huron Valley Sinai Hospital in Commerce Township.

“We have expressed an interest in certain Tenet DMC assets over a cou-ple-year period,” Incarnati said. “�ey have made it known they are not in-terested in parting with those assets.”

But Dan Waldmann, Tenet’s senior vice president for public a�airs, con-�rmed DMC is not for sale, either the entire six-hospital system or individ-ual hospitals. However, Waldmann said Tenet is open to speci�c collabo-rations or joint venture projects with other providers. He said Tenet’s poli-cy is not to talk about individual sales, acquisitions or joint ventures.

Although Tenet has announced it is seeking to sell some of its non-core hospitals, “Detroit is not one of those markets,” Waldmann said. “We plan to be in Detroit for years to come.”

DMC o�cials were unavailable for comment.

But during the past several weeks, Incarnati and several McLaren exec-utives had a business and social din-ner with Keith Pitts, Tenet’s vice chairman, and new DMC CEO Tony Tedeschi, M.D. �ey also discussed various business deals between the two health care companies.

“Keith and I have been friends for a

long time, at least a decade. We are on public and private company boards. We have dinner two to three times per year,” said Incarnati, acknowledging that talk usually turns to potential business arrangements.

Since McLaren acquired Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in September 2013 and settled a DMC lawsuit in January 2015 over the ac-quisition, Incarnati said McLaren ex-ecutives, former DMC CEO Joe Mulla-ny and other DMC o�cials have developed a good relationship.

“A comfort level developed that led to a settlement agreement,” he said.

As part of the Karmanos settle-ment, Incarnati said, McLaren and DMC pledged to work together on various projects, including oncology. Joint venture services could also in-clude pediatrics, he said.

“We would do some things togeth-er like at the (McLaren) Clarkston (medical center) campus,” Incarnati said. “Maybe have a Children’s Hos-pital brand on that campus. �at was discussed. It could happen.”

Over the past several weeks, sourc-es within DMC physician and execu-tive ranks have told Crain’s that Mc-Laren has talked seriously about acquiring DMC Children’s Hospital and Huron Valley Sinai Hospital as part of its e�ort to expand its regional presence in Southeast Michigan.

In 2016, Tenet posted losses of $192 million on revenue of $19.2 bil-lion, a larger loss than in 2015, when Tenet lost $97 million.

Over the past two years, Tenet’s stock price has dropped to about $20 per share from $60 and it just closed its second consecutive year of �nan-cial losses, leading some to speculate that a core asset like DMC might soon be on the chopping block.

Even as DMC has improved pro�t-ability the past several years under

Tenet’s ownership, health care experts say the margin growth is mostly the re-sult of the A�ordable Care Act and Healthy Michigan Medicaid expan-sion. DMC also has good revenue growth through its new heart hospital.

Experts say that if the Republican Congress repeals the A�ordable Care Act without a suitable replacement or block-grants the Medicaid program, hospitals in Michigan, especially DMC as the state’s largest Medicaid provid-er, would take serious �nancial hits.

As a result, some health care ex-perts told Crain’s they believe DMC’s pro�ts would drop well below inves-tor-owned Tenet’s expectations, lead-ing to a possible sale of the $2 bil-lion-plus enterprise.

But under what scenario would Tenet consider selling DMC?

Carsten Beith, a managing direc-tor with Chicago-based Cain Broth-ers, said any investor-owned hospi-tal chain like Tenet or Community Health Systems would not sell a core asset unless the sale price is greater than the current or future value of the asset.

“�ey don’t sell core assets in the ordinary course, especially if it is ac-cretive to earnings,” said Beith, who lives in Birmingham. “Tenet is fairly leveraged, and if they could reduce their debt outstanding, it would be the mostly likely scenario for Tenet” to sell DMC.

But Beith said it also would be highly unlikely that Tenet would sell parts of DMC, which Incarnati has proposed to Tenet.

“Selling o� the pieces doesn’t cre-ate a signi�cant upside for them be-cause what is left, does it create val-ue?” Beith said. “You sell the good and the bad assets. You don’t want to keep the bad assets.”

Jay Greene: (313) 446-0325Twitter: @jaybgreene

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OPINION

This is a story about two Detroit businessmen. One is David Kir-

by, who received incredible publicity for being new to town. �e other is David Hardin Jr., who got ignored be-cause he’s not.

When I met Kirby in 2015, he seemed the living embodiment of what’s exciting about Detroit: a young entrepreneur from Brooklyn who had just moved to the city to be a part of its revival.

In a column I wrote for Crain’s De-troit Business and �e Atlantic, I called Kirby “a purpose-driven social hacker who thinks anything is possi-ble if it’s important enough to change.”

I got the idea from no less of an au-thority than Mayor Mike Duggan, who referred me (and several other reporters) to Kirby’s bodega-style or-ganic grocery in the West Village, and said its owner represented a key to Detroit’s rebirth. Millennials, the mayor said, are disrupters and social entrepreneurs who boot-strap solu-tions to problems that traditional in-stitutions can’t or won’t �x.

As it turns out, Kirby was no savior. No �xer. �at wasn’t his narrative; that’s not how he saw himself. He was simply a guy who wanted to bring healthy food to a neighborhood that has few grocery options — and who realized after 2½ years that he couldn’t grow his business without charging “insanely high” prices or opening a full-service kitchen. He didn’t like either option.

So Kirby closed the market in Oc-tober, despite its pro�tability, and now he is looking for a better way to serve Detroit. (“I would love to work with Mike Duggan,” he said. “I think that would be a continuation of this story.”)

Looking to close the circle, I invited Kirby to my o�ce the other day. We talked about all the publicity he re-ceived, the criticism that followed, and the one piece of Detroit’s come-back narrative that journalists like me tend to miss.

“�e criticism was legitimate — that I was a person who had been here a couple of months, happened to be in the right place at the right time, talked to the right people, and I was getting higher praise for some-thing that was untested, unproven, and in a lot of people’s minds, a small-time project,” Kirby said.

�ere was a racial component to the fallout. Kirby is white. Duggan is white, as were most of the reporters whom the mayor directed to Kirby’s Parker Street Market.

“For a very long time,” Kirby told me, “while everybody else was leav-ing, there were still predominantly

black businesses that (today) aren’t getting any of the credit for sticking around and being successful while everyone else is coming in.”

He told me about a barber shop a few doors west of Parker Street Mar-ket on Kercheval Road, a place called HeavyWeightCuts run by an Afri-can-American man, David Hardin Jr., who lives above the shop. “I can’t think of one article that ever dis-cussed the West Village or Parker Street that mentioned Dave’s busi-ness.”

�at includes my own column. I was so focused on the new people in town — and the comeback narrative that they represented — that I ignored those who grew up in Detroit and never left. People like Hardin, 43, who

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

Last week, when I walked into his shop to explain my 2015 oversight, Hardin greeted me with a hello and a handshake.

“Glad to �nally have you here,” he chuckled.

Hardin said journalists tend to overlook African-American business-men like him — especially those who were making a buck during Detroit’s bleakest years.

“Businesses like mine have been taken for granted. We live in the shad-ows,” he said. “When somebody comes in and is �ashy and new, they get all the attention.”

�e reporters who do stop in his shop only want to know whether gen-tri�cation worries him. Hardin tells them no. “I like that we’re becoming a main street again,” he said, nodding his head toward the window.

Hardin is built as solid as a �re-plug, and wears his beard tight on the cheeks and bushy at the chin. When I visited him, he was dressed in a black Red Wings shirt with a Black Lives Matter pin. He had an electric razor in one hand and a comb in the other, sculpting a teenage boy’s hair.

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

It is our job to get it �xedAnyone who has driven along

roads in metro Detroit knows that this town and its neighboring cities are getting front-row seats to the slow but steady deterioration of our roads and bridges.

Sadly, that is the obvious part, but there is plenty more of our commu-nity that is crumbling, and we don't know about it. Recently we have been attacked by sinkholes that ap-pear out of nowhere. We are facing constant breaks and repairs to our city’s water and sewerage systems.

After a couple of hundred years, our city is wearing out, and it’s going to be up to the business community to be responsible for getting it re-paired or �xed.

Our sinkholes and the Flint water crisis are frightening warnings that our infrastructure is slowly, silently and secretly crumbling, and no one is yelling an alarm.

�e problem with our infrastruc-ture is that it's hidden and for all those folks who are responsible for keeping our community running, money isn’t available to do a proper job of not just bandaging our sys-tems but replacing them with mod-ern systems.

Sure, everyone has a big stake in this, but business is going to have to call out the problems and push for replacements when necessary. It is simply too easy to put a patch on whatever it is and kick the ball down

the �eld for the next guy to worry about. If we want to keep and attract businesses, then we are going to have to pay a lot more attention to our infrastructure than ever before.

Last week, for a big part of our city, you couldn’t drink the water. We all assumed it would be �xed, and it was.

If we want to count the services or utilities we rely on, then the leaders of our business community had bet-ter wake up and realize we live in a very fragile world.

Business has to get very involved and start now.

Our business community, along with elected and non-elected gov-ernment executives, are going to have to realize the importance of all these systems. If we do not pay at-tention, we will see our businesses slowly slip away to communities that are simply more reliable.

It is a subject no one wants to talk about, but we had better start talking about it now.

KEITH CRAINEditor-in-chief

RON FOURNIEREditor/Publisher

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

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

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

SEE FOURNIER, PAGE 7

Leveraging riverfront to boost neighborhoodsYou’ve got to like any project

that entices economic de-velopment, improves the

quality of life of Detroiters, and ties neighborhoods to downtown and the riverfront.

So you’ve got to like the Detroit RiverFront Conservancy’s plan for the east riverfront. It calls for:JJ Two new pathways to the Detroit

River akin to the Dequindre Cut, the popular pedestrian and bike trail that connects Eastern Market to the water.JJ Preservation of about 8 acres of

riverfront land for public use. �e land had been marked for residen-tial and business development.JJ An eastward expansion of the De-

troit RiverWalk.JJ Safety improvements along East

Je�erson Avenue.JJ A mixed-use development of the

historic Stone Soap Building at 1450-1490 Franklin St.

All this is bound to extend the mo-mentum of a riverfront reclamation, begun in earnest a decade ago, that has been an extraordinary success. It

would further economic develop-ment in the area and o�er more ways for neighborhoods to connect to this new jewel of the city.

�is may be a rare project that leverages progress made downtown and on the riverfront to help De-troit’s troubled residential neighbor-hoods.

Khali Sweeney, founder of one of the city’s great nonpro�t success sto-ries, the Downtown Boxing Gym at 6445 E. Vernor Highway, said his stu-dent-athletes will be able “to partici-pate in new educational and recre-ational activities connected to the riverfront.”

“In addition,” said Sweeney, who teaches boxing to children willing to be tutored after school by his in-structors, “we believe the increased access will lead to new investments and developments in the neighbor-hood surrounding our facility, which is a win for our entire community.”

We agree. We hope the conser-vancy, with the help of the Southeast Michigan business community, can bring its plans to fruition.


Ambition:it ’s what driv� us

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Connecting real estate opportunitiesand decisions to your broader ambitions is the foundation of our business. It’s what drives us—every day.

Recognizing top performers acrossthe country that embrace thatcommitment and help you achieveyour ambitions is at the core of our culture. It’s what we do—every year.

For 2016, we celebrate our colleague inDetroit for his drive to deliver beyond what’s expected. We honor him for his achievements, and we thank our clientsfor placing their trust in JLL.

Tim Kay

Gores vows commitment to Detroit, seeks business partner for FlintDetroit Pistons owner Tom Gores

says he sees even more opportunity in Detroit and is looking to work with a company to move operations to Flint, which is still feeling the e�ects of its lead-tainted water crisis.

“What I would like to do in Flint is �nd one major corporation to move in,” Gores said at Crain’s 2016 News-maker of the Year luncheon last week at MotorCity Casino. “I want to �nd a business partner to relocate there and give them a little bit of hope. If you don’t give people … a promise, a hope, you don’t have much to work with.”

Gores’ remarks came after accept-ing the 2016 Crain’s Newsmaker of the Year award, in an interview with KC Crain, Crain Communications executive vice president and director of corporate operations. Gores, who grew up in Flint, received the award primarily for his intended move of the Pistons from the Palace of Au-burn Hills to downtown Detroit.

“I didn’t anticipate buying a sports team, but then I dug in and saw the full opportunity and ability to impact the community,” Gores said of the Pistons. “How else can you do that? Sports teams are so in-teresting that way.”

When asked by Crain about bring-ing a major league soccer stadium downtown, Gores revealed little and said Detroit real estate developer and businessman Dan Gilbert was leading that charge.

“I don’t doubt that he is going to do it,” Gores said of Gilbert.

Business and community leaders gathered in the MotorCity Casino Hotel’s Soundboard for the annual Crain’s event, which honors those who have moved the needle for the

city and beyond.Other honorees included:

J Andy Appleby, founder of the Uti-ca-based United Shore Professional Baseball League.J Mona Hanna-Attisha, M.D., direc-tor of the Pediatric Public Health Ini-tiative, Hurley Medical Center, Flint.J Barbara McQuade, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.J Joseph Mullany, former CEO of Detroit Medical Center.J Ronna Romney McDaniel, chair of the Michigan Republican Party.J Mina Sooch, president and CEO of Livonia-based Gemphire �erapeu-tics Inc.

J Kirk Steudle, director of the Mich-igan Department of Transportation.J Sam Valenti III, co-founder of Bloom�eld Hills-based V5 Partners LLC.J M. Roy Wilson, president of Wayne State University.

�e event featured a panel discus-sion, also led by KC Crain. Panelists were Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom; former Detroit Mayor and Bing Youth Institute founder Dave Bing; and Hanna-Attisha, the pediatrician known for her role in exposing the water crisis in Flint.

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

By Kurt [email protected]

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

KURT NAGL/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Hardin was still gazing at Kerche-val when I heard him chuckle again. “It’s kind of funny that nobody both-ers to ask me how I sustain a business in a city like this.”

So I asked: How do you sustain a business in a city like this?

“We keep cursing to a minimum,” he said, “and conversation to a maxi-mum. We have a diverse crowd of people who come in here and we talk to them. If they’re having trouble at home, they can open up to us be-cause we talk about our troubles at home.”

His patrons have certain expecta-tions, he said: “Conversation, advice, snacks, and a good haircut. �ey might even get a business contact. �ere might be a guy in here looking to hire and later in the day somebody will say they need a job. We hook them up.”

It’s worked for Hardin and his neighborhood for years — through a recession, bankruptcy and now gen-tri�cation.

I �lled a notebook with his insights, thanked Hardin for his time, and shook his hand. “Don’t be a stranger,” he said. I won’t be.

FOURNIERFROM PAGE 6

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

When a massive, two-year road reconstruction project is ramping up on one of the busiest shopping strips in town, retailers buckle their seatbelts for a bumpy ride.

�e nearly four-mile redo of M-59/Hall Road between M-53 and Romeo Plank Road in central Ma-comb County will close lanes up and down the length of construction for the next two summers, crimping tra�c to hundreds of stores that de-pend on it for business.

�e Michigan Department of Transportation plans to keep all businesses accessible at all times during construction, but that doesn’t mean shoppers want to �ght their way through it in the dis-trict that includes Lakeside Mall and the Mall at Partridge Creek.

Storefronts along the construc-tion corridor, which can see more than 50,000 cars per day, will likely take a 10 to 25 percent hit, said re-tail consultant Ken Dalto, founder and owner of Farmington Hills-based Kenneth J. Dalto & Associ-ates.

“Two years is an eternity in re-tail,” Dalto said. “You can make some of it up around Christmas, but you can’t depend on it.”

To mitigate the damage, compa-nies — especially luxury goods sell-ers and restaurants, which will see the biggest declines — need to take a three-pronged approach, he said: announce in-store sales, get the word out about their status mid-construction and boost their

online presence.“�ey have to �nd a way to at-

tract people to go through the con-struction,” he said. “�e fallo� from the construction will be greater than the fallout from the loss from (discounting).”

Allaying fears

Worries about the construction played out last week as the Michi-gan Department of Transportation sought to reassure representatives of businesses affected by the proj-ect.

Real-time updates on road and driveway closures will be available at MovingMacomb.org throughout the $60 million project that began last week, said MDOT Construction Engineer Jim Petronski.

Beauty Bar Salon co-owner Cort-ney Forster certainly has worries.

�e Sterling Heights salon has four entrances — two on Hayes Road and one on M-59. �e im-pending 10-day closure of Hayes Road is “a little scary,” said the oth-er co-owner, Stacy Roberts.

But being able to warn clients on social media about the timing of the closures is helpful, she said.

“It’ll ease some of the pain that’ll be caused by it,” Roberts said.

Petronski spoke at a public infor-mation meeting at the Clinton-Ma-comb Public Library last week. He gave out his cellphone number and said MDOT wanted to emphasize transparency.

�e department has spoken with about 80 percent of the 400 a�ected businesses in Sterling Heights, Uti-ca, and Clinton, Macomb and Shel-by townships, he said.

Mike Keys, a Charter Township of Clinton trustee, and John Myers III, a community activist in Ma-comb County and resident of Ster-ling Heights, planned the meeting to “get businesses together, so peo-ple understand it’s more of an edu-cation than, ‘Hey, we’re going to screw you,’” Myers said.

For attendee Debi Zentz, cam-pus director of Heritage Church’s Sterling Heights location on

Schoenherr Road and M-59, the biggest priority was making sure people could still easily access the church. Zentz said that like for businesses, she was nervous about the impact.

�e project will maintain access to all businesses during work on the main road, Petronski said. It will also open temporary lanes to ease congestion. Business drive-ways will be blocked for �ve to sev-en days each while they are re-paved, but workers will not close consecutive driveways or turn-arounds.

Driveway work is set to start in mid-April. �e intersections of Schoenherr Road and Hayes Road with M-59 will also close for 10 days each in the summer.

During the event’s ques-tion-and-answer segment, other business owners asked about sig-nage, power outages, logistics and the driveway closings. Petronski said he does not know of any sched-uled utility outages, and that de-tours will be posted.

Construction timeline

�e 2017 leg of the project is scheduled to end in October, break-ing for winter and the holiday shop-ping season. �e entire project will �nish in October 2018.

Contractors that don’t meet dead-lines will be �ned, Petronski said.

�e prime contractor on the proj-ect is Angelo Iafrate Construction Co., based in Warren. Macomb-based Rauhorn Electric Inc., Canton-based Cadillac Asphalt LLC and tra�c con-trol specialist Poco Inc. in Canton have also signed on.

MDOT chose hot mix asphalt for the project instead of new concrete. �e asphalt is 13 percent cheaper, easier to maintain and quicker to re-pair, meaning it could lessen the im-pact on businesses, Petronski said.

Funding for the $60 million price tag is 82 percent covered by federal sources, 17.5 percent by the state and Sterling Heights picking up the re-maining 0.5 percent, MDOT Com-munications Representative Diane Cross said in an email.

SPECIAL REPORT: RETAIL8

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

Businesses along busy M-59 shopping corridor brace for 2-year projectBy Annalise [email protected]

Ramping up for construction

n What: A two-year reconstruction project of M-59/Hall Roadn Where: Sterling Heights, Utica, and Clinton, Macomb and Shelby townshipsn Cost: $60 million-plusn Impact: During construction, three lanes will be open both directions of M-59 between M-53 and Romeo Plank Road 6 a.m.-9 p.m. each day. However, the M-59 bridge over the M-53 expressway will only have two lanes open each direction through the middle of summer.n Schedule: Construction will proceed this year at Delco Boulevard east nearly to Gar�eld Road. Next year will tackle farther east to Romeo Plank Road.

About the project

ANNALISE FRANKMichigan Department of Transportation Construction Engineer Jim Petronski speaks at a meeting last week that aimed to inform and reassure those a�ected by a two-year M-59 reconstruction project.

ANNALISE FRANK


For more information, call 248-377-0100or visit www.pistons.com

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INAUGURAL 2017-18 SEASON

Blue Cross proposal lowers rates for small businesses

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michi-gan plans to cut small business group rates an average of 1.3 percent for those customers renewing in the sec-ond half of this year, pending approv-al by the state insurance department, according to Blue Cross o�cials.

Blue Care Network also has �led for a 3.2 percent rate cut for its small group customers.

Michigan’s small employer groups employ 50 or fewer people. Blue Cross covers more than 251,000 small group employees, nearly half of the state’s market.

In a statement, Blue Cross said it was

able to cut rates by working more close-ly with doctors and hospitals to deliver more cost-e�cient care. One way is through its 25 Blue Cross Value Partner-ship programs, which include its pa-tient-centered medical home initiative.

“O�ering our customers reliable products at a�ordable price points is a priority for Blue Cross,” said Blue Cross in a statement. “We’re very pleased that this year’s good news comes fast on the heels of last year’s rate moderation and the rate reduc-tions we announced the year before.”

Last year, Blue Cross increased small group rates by an average of 2.9 percent.

But in 2015, Blue Cross provided

rebates to group customers and low-ered rates 3.3 percent for its small group customers.

Sandy Fester, Blue Cross’ vice presi-dent of middle and small group busi-ness, said the A�ordable Care Act and Blue Cross’ conversion to a nonpro�t mutual health insurer has helped it stabilize its small group rates the past three years.

“We are better at managing our costs and have seen that trend come down the last three years,” said Fester, adding: “We are no longer the carrier of last resort and that, along with risk adjustments and tightly managed bene�t costs, has (helped the) total de-cline.”

By Jay [email protected]

Blues reverse �nancial losses,report $122M net income for ’16

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan reversed �nancial losses from 2015 to report net income of $122 million in 2016 on consolidated revenue of $25.9 billion, which amounts to less than a 1 percent pro�t margin, according to an audited �nancial statement released last week.

Last year, Detroit-based Blue Cross lost $68 million in net income on its overall operations, according to Blue Cross’ calculations based on generally accepted accounting principles.

But in 2016, Blue Cross’ member-ship growth of 100,000 people helped the state’s largest health insurer regain its �nancial footing. Last year, Blue Cross embarked on a strategic busi-ness initiative to rein in costs that also appears to be on target to reduce ad-ministrative expenses by $300 million over three years.

�e consolidated �nancial report includes Blue Cross, Blue Care Net-work, Blue Cross Complete Medicaid HMO and related entities, including AF Group, its Lansing-based workers’ compensation subsidiary.

By end of 2016, total membership stood at 4.61 million in Michigan and 5.34 million nationwide. Blue Cross also exceeded 3 million family con-tracts for the �rst time in its 80-year history, o�cials said.

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

Blue Cross also �led last week a slightly less attractive �nancial state-ment to the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services un-der statutory accounting principles, which excludes Blue Cross subsidiar-ies and some investments.

Under SAP accounting, Blue Cross posted an operating net loss of $180 million in 2016 compared with a $278 million loss on operations in 2015. SAP accounting essentially represents Blue Cross’ health insurance business lines.

In 2015, Blue Cross reported net losses of $344.3 million, a 216 percent increase from net income gain of $295 million in 2014.

Operating losses in 2016 included $242 million of losses from Blue Cross’ Medigap supplemental Medi-care product. Based on state law al-lowing Blue Cross to convert to a nonpro�t mutual, Medigap subsidi-zation of senior plans ended in 2016.

“In 2016, our company successful-ly transitioned our Medigap subsidy to the Michigan Health Endowment Fund,” Loepp said. “�is will help lower-income seniors by promoting a�ordable coverage, while also help-ing our health insurance business get out from under a huge �nancial bur-den that negatively a�ects its annual performance.”

On a GAAP basis, Blue Cross rev-enue increased 7 percent in 2016 to $25.9 billion, up from $24.2 billion in 2015. Mozak said Blue Cross rev-enue growth is aided by its Blue Cross Complete Medicaid HMO and its emerging markets division, which has grown signi�cantly in the Medicare Advantage managed care area.

But total cost of services increased 7.7 percent, to $14.5 billion from $13.46 billion.

Rising pharmacy costs are one of the main drivers of higher bene�t ex-penses, said Andy Hetzel, Blue Cross vice president of corporate communi-cations.

“Pharmacy costs are exploding. Last year, we paid out more in phar-macy claims than inpatient hospital” payments, Hetzel said.

Loepp compensation rises, despite losses

CEO Loepp’s total compensation has steadily increased over the years. In 2016, his total compensation rose 21 percent to $10.9 million from $9 million in 2015.

�e 2016 compensation included a base salary of $1.54 million, bonus of $8.3 million and other compensa-tion of $1.1 million. His base salary has remained the same the past three years, but his bonus compen-sation increased $2.15 million from 2015. Other compensation includes car allowance, health insurance pre-miums and retirement contribu-tions.

Loepp’s total compensation was $7.4 million in 2014, $6.67 million in 2013 and $3.86 million in 2012.

�ough Loepp’s performance al-ways is based on the company’s previ-ous year, Hetzel said other factors than net income in�uence bonus compen-sation. Blue Cross lost a net $68 mil-lion in 2015, while Loepp saw a bump in total compensation in 2016.

Hetzel said Loepp guided a Blue Cross that had a “strong perfor-mance in annual and long-term goals in 2016,” a 100,000-member growth, strong �nancial numbers, growth in new business lines and lower administrative costs.

“(Loepp’s) incentive program is multifaceted and does not just focus on pro�ts,” Hetzel said. “�ere are other areas (like) improvements in customer experience.”

Jay Greene: (313) 446-0325Twitter: @jaybgreene

By Jay [email protected] “Setting a record for total

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


Bridge project leaves Delray residents, businesses in limbo�e Michigan Department of

Transportation’s land acquisition for the new Gordie Howe Interna-tional Bridge focuses entirely on the predetermined footprint for the bridge’s landing, customs plaza and connection ramps to northbound and southbound I-75.

MDOT, working on behalf ofthe Windsor-Detroit International Bridge Authority, is only buying land on 184 acres within the con-�nes of the project's designed boundaries.

Little has been planned at this point for the east and west ends of the Delray neighborhood that will be split in half by a toll and customs plaza bordering Je�erson Avenue to the south, a Norfolk Southern rail-road to the north, and Post and Campbell streets to the west and east, respectively.

�e design will create two pock-ets of isolated homes in an area that will be dominated by an interna-tional border crossing carrying thousands of commercial trucks each day.

On both ends of the plaza’s boundaries, there are sparsely pop-ulated residential streets that have been in distress for years.

“It’s just inverse condemnation to let the area rot,” said Gregg Ward, owner of the nearby Detroit-Wind-sor Truck Ferry o� Je�erson Ave-nue.

Ward has has been critical of Mayor Mike Duggan’s administra-tion for remaining on the sidelines of the $4.5 billion bridge project, which has been sought by Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration and the Canadian government.

“Why wouldn’t you look to a solution to get rid of this (blighted neighborhood) for future business development?” Ward said.

No long-term plans

City Planning Director Maurice Cox acknowledges the city has not developed long-term plans forDelray after the bridge is construct-ed.

Cox said his department is fo-cused on a strategy it is using else-where in the city to rehabilitate ex-isting housing stock along the Vernor Highway corridor in the Mexicantown neighborhood of southwest Detroit.

“While we have not developed a strategy for the neighborhoods out-side of the (bridge’s) footprint, what we are hoping is that our work in Southwest/Vernor will provide a menu of options of attractive places for people to live,” Cox said in an in-terview with Crain’s. “You don’t want to get out so far and say what you can do for Delray until you know whether you can create viable options for people within a geogra-phy that they understand and know.”

As Crain’s reported last week, MDOT is in the midst of a yearlong e�ort to buy up residential, com-mercial and industrial land and re-


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

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

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

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

locate residents and remaining businesses.

�e start of construction on the long-planned publicly owned bridge — which has been a moving target for years — isn’t expected until the second half of 2018 after the international authority awards a contract to a consortium of compa-nies that will design, build and op-erate the span.

Cox said the bridge and plaza will “fundamentally change” land use in Delray. �at warrants further study of whether the area should even re-main residential, he said.

“What I’m a little more con-cerned about are the people who

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

Residential or industrial?

Ward’s business may cease to ex-ist if the semi-trucks carrying haz-ardous material are allowed to cross the new bridge. Hazmat trucks are his primary customers. But he’s been one of the more outspoken ad-vocates for the new bridge, citing the potential impact it could have on the economy.

Ward thinks the surrounding res-idential areas should be developed

for the transportation, logistics and shipping industries, which already have a sizable presence in south-west Detroit.

“If you’re going to be impacted by having this bridge in your com-munity, you don’t want everybody to just drive past it,” Ward said.

But the city will take its planning cues from the remaining residents in the area, according to Cox.

“�e community who has stuckit out in that environment are going to drive this and help us understand what can make that a viable placeto live or what kinds of options would they be willing to consider,” Cox said.

Kevin Casillas, president of the Southwest Community Bene�ts Coalition, said the city should do more to require the state to build a larger bu�er around the bridge pla-za.

“From our perspective, they’re doing the minimum possible," said Casillas, pastor of the First Latin American Baptist Church, which is being relocated to make way for the bridge’s I-75 connec-tion ramps. “More needs to be done to protect the quality of life and the residents in southwest De-troit and Delray.”

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


Labor & Employment ExperienceIn Your Corner.®

Former member of the National Labor Relations Board and Commissioner of the U.S. International Trade Commission. Dennis has served as a presidential appointee under four U.S. presidents

Involved in signi� cant international trade initiatives, including creation of the World Trade Organization, the North American Free Trade Act, and the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

Contact Dennis Devaney at [email protected]

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United Wholesale ranked top lender in ’16

Troy-based United Wholesale Mortgage has been named the coun-try’s No. 1 wholesale mortgage lend-er by mortgage journal Inside Mort-gage Finance, the company said in a news release.

United Wholesale, which com-mands a national market share of 11.1 percent, said it recorded its best loan volume of nearly $23 billion in 2016, a 77 percent increase from its 2015 loan volume. �is mirrors the growth of its parent company United Shore Financial Services LLC, which expanded its headquarters and plans to hire 600 in 2017.

“It’s an awesome honor to place as the No. 1 wholesale lender in the country for two years in a row,” Unit-ed Shore President and CEO Mat Ishbia said in a news release. “We’re very grateful for the strong partner-ships we have with our clients throughout the country. �is achievement is also a testament to the amazing talent and e�orts of all our team members.”

United Wholesale beat the next top lender, Texas-based Caliber Home Loans, by more than $9 bil-lion, according to the release. Troy-based Flagstar Bancorp Inc., which saw a nearly 20 percent decrease from 2015, came in at No. 8 with a loan volume of about $5.9 billion. �e 2016 median loan volume of the top 25 lenders was about $4.8 billion, an increase of just more than 18 per-cent from 2015.

For retail mortgages, De-troit-based Quicken Loans Inc. pro-duced more than $95 billion in retail mortgages — almost 22 percent more than 2015 — behind top retail lender Wells Fargo & Co. Inc. of Cali-fornia at more than $130 billion — almost 6 percent more than in 2015, the release stated. Quicken Loans had a market share of about 4.6 per-cent in 2016, while Wells Fargo had 6.3 percent in market share.

By Tyler Cli�ordtcli�[email protected]

UNITED SHORE FINANCIAL SERVICES LLCTroy-based United Shore Financial Services LLC is the parent company of United Wholesale Mortgage.


TUESDAYMARCH 7

J Trump Economics and Its Impact on the Middle Class. 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Detroit Economic Club. Speaker Neera Tanden, president, Center for American Progress. Townsend Hotel, Birmingham. $45 members; $55 guests of members; $75 nonmem-bers. Website: econclub.org.

WEDNESDAYMARCH 8

J Asian Paci�c American Chamber of Commerce 14th Annual East-West Busi-ness Connection. 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Global business networking event, comprised of Asian and U.S. busi-nesses and minority business enter-prises throughout the Midwest. Ed-ward Village, Dearborn. $70 APACC members; $95 nonmembers; $100 walk-ins. Contact: Leonie Teichman, phone: (248) 430-5855; email: [email protected].

UPCOMING EVENTSJ Economic Prospects for the U.S. and Regional Economy in 2017-2018. 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. March 16. Detroit Eco-nomic Club. Stuart Ho�man, senior vice president and chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group, will share his insights on Trump policy impacts and will forecast important indicators such as U.S. energy pro-duction, unemployment and interest rates, the stock market and consumer spending. Westin Book Cadillac, De-troit. $45 members; $55 guests of members; $75 nonmembers. Web-site: econclub.org.

J The State of Relations Between Cuba and the U.S. and Future Opportunities. 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. March 21. De-troit Economic Club. Find out what’s next and learn about future opportu-nities in Cuba. Westin Book Cadillac, Detroit. $45 members; $55 guests of members; $75 nonmembers. Web-site: econclub.org.

J CFA Detroit Speaker Series Lunch Featuring Adrian Cronje. Noon-1:30 p.m. March 21. Certi�ed Financial Analyst Society Detroit. Speaker: Cronje, CFA chief investment o�cer and founding partner of Balentine, on “An Industry Wake Up Call: What Is the Real �reat to Our Industry and How to Turn It Into Opportunity?” $45. �e Community House, Bir-mingham. Contact: Michelle Doran, phone: (734) 546-2390; email: [email protected].

J Tech Takeover: Safe Human-Robot Collaboration. 8:30-10:30 a.m. March 22. Automation Alley. Technology distributor and integrator Beh-co-MRM leads a discussion on the safety aspects of using collaborative robotics. Topics will include systems level issues, safety audits, smart con-siderations and risk assessment. A panel discussion and Q&A period will follow. Speakers will include: Brent Bartson, technical manager for Uni-versal Robots; Elena Dominguez, safety consultant, Pilz Automation Safety; Ryan Groat, senior engineer, Panther Global Technologies; Adam Boike, application engineer, Beh-co-MRM. Automation Alley, Troy. $20. Email: [email protected]; phone: (800) 427-5100.

J Real Estate Forecast Breakfast. 8-9:30 a.m. March 23. Birmingham Chamber of Commerce. New hous-ing trends in southeast Michigan and the developments in Detroit. Speak-ers: Dan Elsea, president, brokerage services, Real Estate One; MikeMcNally, vice president, operations, Olympia Development; Michael Sto-skopf, Home Builders Association of Southeastern Michigan. �e Reserve, Birmingham. $40 members; $50 non-members. Website: bbcc.com.

J Talent Outlook: Detroit Drives De-grees. 8-10:30 a.m. March 23. Detroit Regional Chamber. Leaders from the higher education, business, govern-ment and nonpro�t and philanthrop-ic sectors meet to o�er perspectives from the private and public sectors, and highlight work the Detroit Drives Degrees initiative is doing to strength-en the talent pipeline and meet the growing demands of employers. De-troit Athletic Club. $35 members; $70 nonmembers. Contact: Maggie Greaney, (313) 596-0482; website: detroitchamber.com.

J Big Data and Business Analytics Symposium. 8 a.m.-6 p.m. March 24. Wayne State University. �is sympo-sium focuses on managing and ana-lyzing the data captured through marketing, product development, manufacturing, distribution, sales and service in a global setting. Gain

insights on identifying big data op-portunities, developing business cas-es, and using analytics to drive busi-ness success. Wayne State Student Center Building, Detroit. $40. Contact: Mark Garrison, phone: (313) 577-5683; email: [email protected].

J Putting Social Media to Work for Your Business. 6-9 p.m. March 28. School-craft College. Discover how to select and manage the right social media platform(s) for products or services. Je�ress Center, Schoolcraft College, Livonia. $45. Contact: Sara Gumina, phone: (734) 462-4438; email: [email protected]; website: sbdcmichigan.org.

J 9th Annual Trade Secrets with Con-nie Holzer. 6-9:30 p.m. March 29. JVS. Keynote speaker Connie Holzer, owner of Tom Holzer Ford, who has built it into one of the top Ford dealer-ships in the country. Holzer took over the dealership when her husband died in 2006, at the same time the country was going into an economic tailspin. Troy Marriott. $150. Contact: Judy Strongman, phone: (248) 233-4213; email: [email protected]; website: jvsdet.org/tradesecrets.

J Great Lakes Business Intelligence and Big Data Summit. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. March 30. WIT Inc. Attendees will learn best practices and success sto-ries to help them capitalize on big data, business intelligence, analytics and data visualization opportunities. Troy Marriott. $169. Contact: Erin Adair-Guy, phone: (248) 641-5900, ext. 244; email: [email protected]; website: greatlakesbisummit.com.

J The Culture of Accountability. 7-9 a.m. March. 31. �e Business Round-table. Stanley Targosz III, CEO of Edu-cation Planning Resources, will speak on how stronger cultures of account-ability lead to higher performance and commitment within companies. Birmingham Country Club. $35 per-son; $350 table of eight and branding opportunities. Contact: Christa Mox-on, phone: (269) 685-7829; email: [email protected]; website: thebusinessrt.org.

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

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Rebecca Roberts President & CEOL J Ross Associates, Inc.As President and CEO, Rebecca is responsible for the e� cient, ethical, and

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

Jennifer SilvaVice President & General ManagerL J Ross Associates, Inc.As Vice President & General Manager, Jennifer is

responsible for the e� cient, ethical, and legal operations of all agency functions. Her background and experience includes 9 years in the collection industry and held positions such as Collection supervisor, Support services supervisor, and Sales manager. Jennifer has a Bachelor of Science from Eastern Michigan University and is currently pursuing her Master’s in Business Administration.

Kristine KernsAnn Arbor Region PresidentComericaAs region president, Kerns will work with

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

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Grupo Antolin, Credit Acceptance plan local expansions PEOPLE:SPOTLIGHT

Spanish auto supplier Grupo Antolin and South-� eld-based auto lender Credit Acceptance Corp. are planning newly announced major local expan-sions that will bring hundreds of new jobs.

Both projects had state � nancial incentives ap-proved last week.

Grupo Antolin plans to open a new $61.2 million manufacturing plant in Shelby Township. Antolin Shelby Inc., a newly formed subsidiary of Grupo Antolin, will lease a 350,000-square-foot building under construction at the Cherry Creek Corporate Park at M-53 and 23 Mile Road.

� e project is expected to create 430 new jobs and is supported by a $3.6 million perfor-mance-based grant from the Michigan Strategic Fund.

� e new plant is needed as Grupo’s other plants are at capacity, according to a Michigan Economic Development Corp. memo. Grupo, with its North American headquarters in Auburn Hills, operates plants in Michigan in Wayne, Marlette and Warren as well as in Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri.

� e expansion stems from Grupo’s $525 million acquisition of Magna International Inc.’s interiors business in 2015. � e Magna sale included 36 man-ufacturing operations and about 12,000 employees in Europe, North America and Asia.

Earlier this year, Grupo announced it would sell its seating business to South� eld-based Lear Corp. for $307 million. � at transaction is expected to close by June 30.

Credit Acceptance plans to add more than 500 jobs in an expansion of its corporate headquarters.

By Dustin [email protected]

and Lindsay VanHulleCrain’s Detroit Business/Bridge Magazine

� e Michigan Strategic Fund gave the com-pany a $2.3 million performance-based grant to help � nance the $33 million project. � e Michigan Economic Development Corp. said the company plans to add 532 jobs on top of its current workforce of 1,058.

Credit Acceptance (NASDAQ: CACC), which works with auto dealerships to provide vehicle loans to customers who otherwise couldn’t obtain one, plans to expand its head-quarters on 12 Mile Road in South� eld, in-cluding leasing extra space at one or more of its three local buildings, renovating and ex-tending lease contracts, according to the MEDC.

� e state said Credit Accep-tance consid-ered expanding an existing facil-ity in Hender-son, Nev., a Las Vegas suburb, where wages are roughly $2 per hour below the average wage in South� eld.

Michigan Works and Oakland Community College will help cover recruitment and train-ing costs of new employees, the MEDC said. � e city of South� eld has o� ered a property tax incentive, the state said.

Credit Acceptance has received state grants in the past — namely, a $1.8 million grant in 2012 that led to 274 jobs in South� eld, the MEDC said.

In addition, AM General LLC plans to move its engineering and product development cen-ter from Livonia to Auburn Hills, creating 55 jobs in the process.

Approaching the end of its 30-year lease in Livonia, the military and civilian vehicle man-ufacturer had been seeking a new site to ac-commodate growth amid a changing defense industry. � e Oakland County site will be home for AM General’s engineering and ad-vanced technology o� ces and prototype de-velopment that meets U.S. Department of De-fense security requirements.

� e South Bend, Ind.-based company con-sidered a move to Indiana to be more central-ized, reduce costs and use existing space, ac-cording to a news release. � e MEDC awarded a $1.4 million performance-based grant to support AM General’s capital investment of up to $9.5 million in Auburn Hills.

Crain’s reporter Kurt Nagl also contributed to this report.

Credit Acceptance plans to add more than 500 jobs in an expansion of its corporate headquarters.

GRUPO ANTOLIN Grupo Antolin’s North American headquarters are in Auburn Hills.

Village Green announces new executive team

Farmington Hills-based apart-ment management giant Village

Green Holding LLC has as-sembled a new execu-tive team to oversee its s t r a t e g i c planning. Di-ane Batayeh, the compa-ny’s longtime

president and COO, replaced Jon-athan Holtzman as CEO.

� e leadership and structural change came after Holtzman sold the company’s properties to Dal-las-based Compatriot Capital last June for $40 million. Village Green then dropped its ownership oper-ations and emerged solely as a property management � rm.

Former senior vice president of property operations David Fersztwas appointed president, and former senior vice president of sales and marketing Barbara Halewas named executive vice presi-dent of Village Green Holding.

Village Green manages more than $5 billion in real estate assets and about 165 properties across the U.S. It manages more than 40 properties in the Detroit area.

ProQuest appoints VanHees as SVP, CFO

Ann Arbor information tech-nology company ProQuest LLC

named Rob-ert VanHeesas senior vice p r e s i d e n t and CFO.

VanHees, 47, replaces Jonathan Col-lins, who left a year ago to

become executive vice president and CFO of Maumee, Ohio-based Dana Inc.

VanHees was operating part-ner for � ve years at New York City private equity � rm JLL Partners.

Whit� eld named to lead Heidelberg Project

Jenenne Whit� eld has been named to the newly created posi-

tion of presi-dent and CEO of the H e i d e l b e r g Project as founder Tyree Guyton steps back from the Detroit arts nonpro� t.

Whit� eld, 55, has worked with the project alongside Guyton for 23 years, lately as executive director. Guyton, who is in a lengthy process of dismantling the art installation, will be the organization’s artistic director until that process is over.

Diane Batayeh

Robert VanHees

Jenenne Whit� eld


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CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESSMarch 6, 2017 Page 15

director of the Oakland Habitat.“�is is a cash-hungry mission. We

need capital to serve families.”With current interest rates,

third-party mortgages make sense for Habitat homeowners, he said. But economic conditions such as in-creased interest rates and rising prop-erty values could force the a�liate to reconsider the third-party mortgage model in the future.

“It’s all about a�ordability for the home buyer,” Ruggles said.

�e Oakland and Macomb af-�liates are also looking at other ways to improve the pro�tability of their ReStore locations, which sell new and used furniture, home accesso-ries, building

materials and appliances, by moving them to higher-pro�le locations clos-er to donors. �e model is similar to that employed by Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit and Salvation Army, Eastern Michigan Division with their upscale thrift stores.

�e Macomb and Oakland a�li-ates are also strengthening other parts of their business models, in an at-tempt to produce more cash to help more people get into and stay in homes.

For example, Macomb Habitat serves as the exclusive deconstruction �rm for Curtis Kitchens and provides those services to private owners. It’s now in conversations with Lowe’s to take over kitchen and bathroom de-construction for one or more of their area stores, said Helen Hicks, who joined Macomb Habitat as president and CEO �ve years ago.

On the service side, the a�liates are focusing more on home rehabs to reuse existing housing stock where it’s cost-e�ective to do so, increasing home repair services o�ered to low-income people to help them re-main in their homes, and helping people prepare �nancially to be homeowners.

�e tradition-al zero-per-c e n t- i n t e r e s t Habitat business model works like this: An a�liate fronts the cost of building or re-habbing a home with government and corporate grants and reve-nue earned through ReStore

locations and deconstruction ser-vices. Applicants are quali�ed for the mortgages based on their income, credit worthiness and ability to pay a mortgage, and they agree to put at least 250 hours in sweat equity into their new home.

�ey are issued the no-interest mortgage for a period of 15-30 years and make monthly payments back to the a�liate.

Given property values, some a�li-

ates, like Macomb, have lost money on the homes up front. A home might take $100,000 to build, but it appraises for only $65,000, Hicks said. �at amount is then assessed to make sure the mortgage payment does not ex-ceed 30 percent of the applicant’s monthly income to ensure it is a�ord-able for them.

But the bigger issue for those with-out su�cient cash �ow is the trickle of cash coming back to the a�liate over the life of the mortgage.

Building too many homes in the past led to cash shortages and debt for the Macomb Habitat, as it was front-ing money for new construction but waiting 15-30 years to recoup the mortgage amount, Hicks said. By moving to third-party mortgages, it will get the sale price for the home at the sale closing and be able to imme-diately redeploy that to other homes and repair services.

O�ering the zero-percent loans is still a sustainable model for Plym-outh-based Habitat for Humanity of Western Wayne County, which is only doing the number of builds it has cash on hand to support, according to Ex-ecutive Director Alice Dent.

It’s also been sustainable for Habi-tat for Humanity of Huron Valley, which renovates empty houses with community organizations and spon-sors and o�ers quali�ed low-income buyers a zero-percent mortgage.

�e Ann Arbor a�liate was recently named Habitat International’s No. 1 a�liate in renovations out of about 1,400 nationwide.

Other Habitat agencies operating in places such as Flint, Lansing and Kent County are also thriving, given rising property values in their regions and, for some, their ability to recover cash more quickly by selling the mort-gages to local banks looking to com-ply with the federal Community Rein-vestment Act, which requires �nancial institutions to help meet the credit needs of the communities in which they operate, said Sandra Pearson, president and CEO of Habitat for Hu-manity of Michigan, the Lan-sing-based support organization for the state’s 65 Habitat a�liates.

“You’re going to continue to see that trend that (Habitat) families will be �nanced through third-party �-nancial products,” Pearson said. Some a�liates shifted to third-party mort-gages sooner than others, but Pearson said it’s expected to continue.

“While the traditional (zero-per-cent) model works for some, not all can be sustainable on that model,” she said.

It’s about �nding the right �nanc-ing product for your market — know-ing what it costs and what you can re-cover and building your funding model around that, Pearson said.

The human impact

Before Doreen Marquis moved into a Ferndale home built through Habitat for Humanity of Oakland County in 1994, her three children shared a bedroom in a small town-home.

�e �rst recipient of a Habitat home from the Oakland a�liate, Marquis made her last mortgage payment on the house two years ago.

Getting into a stable home with a payment cheaper than the rent she’d been paying allowed her to better her own education and that of her children, all of whom went on to earn college degrees, she said.

“�e opportunity Habitat gave me is going to have a trickle e�ect down the line for I don’t know how many generations,” Marquis said.

When you hear people say they tried to get a mortgage their whole life, and you are able to help them get into a home, “those are the reasons we still stay in this business,” said Hicks.

“People who own their own home have greater success in terms of hav-ing their children go to college ... (and) fewer health problems.”

A 2015 Habi-tat for Humanity M i n n e s o t a study found that in 92 percent of Habitat homes, at least one adult — the home-owner or anoth-er adult living in the home — started, com-pleted or made

plans to start a higher education pro-gram after moving into the home.

Habitat homeowners and their families reported feeling safer, their health improved and they reduced re-liance on government assistance.

It remains yet to be seen what oper-ating model the Detroit a�liate will forge to ensure its sustainability and work going forward. But one thing is clear: �e state needs a strong Habitat Detroit a�liate to help meet the need in the city, Pearson said.

Habitat Detroit’s executive direc-tor, Ken Cockrel Jr., declined to com-ment beyond saying the agency is still working to develop a sustainable model.

Pearson believes Habitat Detroit will work in new ways with other non-pro�ts and could look at options such as becoming a partner in rental hous-ing and selling the mortgages it holds.

“�ere are business models that will work; it’s just going to take some time to rebuild,” she said.

Sherri Welch: (313) 446-1694Twitter: @SherriWelch

HABITATFROM PAGE 3

Tim Ruggles: Cash cycle was too long in old model.

Helen Hicks: Too many homes led to cash shortages.

Sandra Pearson: Trend is for third- party �nancing.

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY OAKLAND COUNTYWorkers toil at a Habitat for Humanity build last year.


situation is you �nd an owner who doesn’t want to sell now but might want to sell in four or �ve years. We help them grow the business, and then we both cash out.”

Huron began raising its largest fund, the Huron Fund V LP, in Octo-ber. As with its fourth fund, Huron will focus on deals involving equity investments of between $10 million and $50 million in companies with revenue up to $200 million.

Among past investors who invest-ed in the �fth fund are the state of Michigan retirement system and the University of Michigan endowment. Other investors included founda-tions, other public pensions, corpo-rate pensions and family o�ces.

“�ere’s a heavy Michigan partici-pation. Very recognizable names, most of which I’m not allowed to

name,” said managing director Brian Demkowicz. “We had a lot of demand for the �fth fund. We had about $1 bil-lion in demand, but we held �rm at $550 million. You raise too much, you get out ahead of your skis. We’re al-ready looking at some pretty good op-portunities for that fund.”

Some of the investors, like UM and the state, are repeat investors.

Once fund-raising is done for the sixth fund, Huron will have raised $1.7 billion since be-ing founded in 1999. It has in-vested in 130 companies since its founding and now has 16 port-folio companies.

Demkowicz could not talk about

the new $100 million fund, declining comment or even con�rmation for fear of violating rules of the U.S. Se-curities and Exchange Commission prohibiting �rms from publicizing fundraising e�orts.

But the cat was let out of the bag in February when a New York invest-ment banking �rm, Sixpoint Part-ners, put out a news release saying it had helped Huron raise its �fth fund. �e news release also mentioned a sixth fund without giving any details. Its purpose is a poorly kept secret in the private-equity world.

“�e jury came in a long time ago on Huron. Brian and his team have provided a great story in the arc of �nance in Michigan. �eir reputa-tion is well-known coast to coast,” said Sam Valenti III, a major investor in Huron’s �rst fund when he ran Taylor-based Masco Capital.

Tom Henderson: (231) 499-2817Twitter: @TomHenderson2

HURONFROM PAGE 3

Brian Demkowicz: Heavy Michigan participation.

Losing skilled workers

In the U.S. and Michigan, prime-age women (25 to 54 years old) have been dropping out of the workforce for more than a decade. In Michigan, the labor force participation rate among women declined to 73.5 per-cent in 2016 from 76.6 percent in 2001, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics. While the drop seems small, it represents more than 300,000 wom-en no longer in the workforce.

In fact, the U.S. is the only wealthy nation where labor force participation among women as a whole is falling — from 76.4 percent in 2001 to 73.7 per-cent in 2015, according to data from the Organisation of Economic Co-op-eration and Development. In Germa-ny, for example, labor force participa-tion among women rose from 77.4 percent in 2001 to 82.5 percent in 2015.

When deciding which partner should exit the workforce due to exor-bitant child care costs, the woman more often does so, said Krista Brum-ley, an associate professor focused on the sociology of gender and the work-place at Wayne State University.

“Women tend to be in lower-paying, less secure jobs,” she said. “Plus they su�er from the motherhood penalty. Evidence suggests women are being pushed out because their work is not being valued as much as men’s. Ideal workers can work long hours and pri-

oritize work over family. Women tend to do this less as they have societal pressures to be attentive mothers, and without a strong partner at home to di-vide the workload, it’s very di�cult, and we’ve left women in a real bind.”

Women also are paid less for the same work — 79 cents on the dollar — and are less likely to receive promo-tions, Brumley said.

�e loss of women from the labor force is also alarming given the fact that more women than men are grad-uating from college. In 2014, women earned 57.3 percent of bachelor’s and

58.9 percent of master’s degrees in Michigan. Child care costs may be driving educated, highly skilled wom-en from the workforce.

At current state averages, which are much lower than many a�uent par-ents pay in Southeast Michigan, day care for an infant costs only 12.5 per-cent less than the in-state tuition for a four-year public university in the state.

�at’s prohibitive, said Elise Gould, senior economist at Washington, D.C.-based think tank Economic Poli-cy Institute.

“When we look around the world, more and more women are entering the workforce,” Gould said. “�at’s not happening here. While there’s no one issue that’s the sole cause of that, child care costs appear to play a major role.”

Jessica Dorn nearly dropped out af-ter her second child was born in 2014.

Even as a dual-income family, Dorn, a senior client accountant at Detroit-based advertising agency Commonwealth/McCann and her husband, an engineer at IAC Group in South�eld, faced a crisis when decid-ing whether she would return to work.

�e Dorns pay slightly above the state average for two children under 4 years old. �ey chose a higher-quality day care, she said.

“It was tough; we went with a list of pros and cons, but in the end decided

that the �nancial cost of day care would be temporary...,” Dorn said. “If it cost any more, I would have stayed home.”

For Dorn, it was more than just a �nancial decision.

“It’s important to me that they see a mom and dad that work, have goals and are successful,” Dorn said. “But I know not everyone is so fortunate, and that’s disheartening.”

�e U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has a guideline that child care is not a�ordable if it costs more than 10 percent of a family’s in-come. In Michigan, infant care ac-counts for 16.5 percent of income in a family with a median household in-come of $59,940. By the HHS metric, only 26 percent of Michigan families can a�ord infant care, according to a 2016 study by the Economic Policy In-stitute.

Policy solutions?

�e issue is more pronounced for lower-income families.

State subsidies for child care have plummeted. Parents receiving child care subsidies from the state of Michi-gan dropped by more than two-thirds, from nearly 65,000 to roughly 20,000 in 2014, according to data prepared by the House Fiscal Agency for the state Department of Education. �is isn’t

because Michigan families suddenly earned out of the program, but be-cause the state raised the threshold for provider participation in 2008 when it determined it wasn’t accu-rately tracking subsidies paid for some home-based care providers. �is meant fewer providers accepting sub-sidies and fewer families enrolling.

Gov. Rick Snyder’s latest budget, proposed in February, calls for an in-crease in child care subsidies.

What on the surface is a human services and budgeting conundrum is now a business issue, according to the Michigan Chamber of Commerce.

“�ere’s a growing trend in conver-sations with our businesses in recent months,” said Wendy Block, director of health policy and human resources for the Michigan Chamber of Com-merce. “We have 1.2 million open jobs in the Midwest and many in Michi-gan, and employers are really looking at the lack of a�ordable day care as a barrier to hiring and retainment.”

�e chamber is in the early stages of assembling state agencies and member companies to review what could be done through regulatory changes or legislation, Block said.

�e Trump administration, ad-vised by President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, stressed child care reform as part of its overall tax reform package.

Early ideas include expanding a child care tax credit and guaranteeing six weeks of maternity leave.

Other states, such as New York, have rolled out programs to o�er uni-versal pre-kindergarten for 4-year-olds to reduce child care costs for their residents. Michigan o�ers free half-day pre-kindergarten for 4-year-olds in low-income families, but the pro-gram has struggled with inadequate state funding and logistical hurdles.

For every percent of reduced child care costs, labor force participation for women grows by 0.2 percent, accord-ing to the Economic Policy Institute.

In Michigan, �nding a way to re-duce the costs of child care to the HHS’ 10-percent-of-income guideline would boost labor force participation for women by 2 percent — theoreti-cally putting 43,000 more women in Michigan into the labor force.

Dustin Walsh: (313) 446-6042Twitter: @dustinpwalsh

WORKFORCEFROM PAGE 1


intervention for children living in poverty that the Detroit Public Schools Community District can’t consistently provide because it’s cost-prohibitive for a school system that just barely escaped bankruptcy eight months ago.

Before entering the program �ve months ago, Elijah said he couldn't read street signs — even Birwood Street, where he lives on the city's west side.

“I know how to spell Birwood now,” he said.

Companies in metro Detroit sponsor the program’s paid tutors who work one-on-one with the stu-dents on reading. Employees at the sponsoring companies also volun-teer to read with the students and help with a reading and book pub-lishing project during the six- to 10-week program.

“�is program reinforces what the teachers cannot get to,” said John Wilson, principal of Burton Interna-tional Academy, a 700-student ele-mentary-middle school facility that has the program. “When you have 25 to 30 children in a classroom, you have a minute to a minute and a half with each child.”

Javier Reed, who is the Beyond Basics program director at Central High School, has tutored Elijah Craft for an hour each school day since October on su�xes, tenses and vow-el-tagging to teach him how to break down and pronounce words he doesn’t identify.

“�e improvement he’s made is tremendous,” Reed said during a session with Elijah last week. “It speaks for itself.”

Wayne State University research-ers Carl Freedman and Hilary Horn Ratner conducted a blind study of the academic progress of second- and third-grade students in the Be-yond Basics “Read to Rise” program and students who were placed into a control group.

Students in Beyond Basics showed a six-fold increase in word identi�cation and 12.5 times as much grade level growth compared to students in the control group who were not tutored, according to the research.

For students in the program, their “word attack” skills to sound out syl-lables increased 22-fold, Freedman said.

“�at’s predominately what they taught were word attack skills and then word meaning,” Freedman said. “�ese are not small increases. �ese are huge — in a very short pe-riod of time.”

“It’s criminal”

Jack Aronson, founder of Garden Fresh Gourmet in Ferndale, chairs the board of Beyond Basics and re-cently helped produced a short doc-umentary about Elijah Craft’s strug-gle and quick progress.

“He was going to graduate with a �rst-grade reading level,” Aronson said of the teenager. “It’s criminal. How do you get from 11th grade to 12th grade with a �rst-grade reading level, much less graduate?”

�e 4,000 students Beyond Basics has reached this school year repre-sent only a fraction of Detroit’s school-age children.

�ere are about 50,000 students in 100 schools operated by DPSCD and the Education Achievement Authori-ty, which will be folded back into the city school district this summer. An additional 51,000 Detroit kids attend charter schools within and outside of the city limits.

Good has a plan for taking her program citywide. She estimates for $100 million, 100 Detroit schools could be sta�ed with tutors for one-on-one literacy intervention over the next �ve years.

“�at’s the price tag on literacy in Detroit schools,” Good said. “Em-bracing a literacy initiative for Detroit would change everything — and it would change it pretty quickly.”

Steep as the cost may be, in the ab-sence of a coordinated response from Lansing, corporate leaders sponsoring Beyond Basics are urging other business to get involved by adopting a Detroit school.

“Until and unless DPS �xes itself and can really address and provide a quality education to the kids … or-ganizations like this being plugged in to help is critical,” said Bob Evans, president of Freudenberg North America LP, a German automotive and heavy industry supplier that has operations in Plymouth Township and Howell.

In July 2015, Freudenberg’s top 300 executives gathered at Cobo

Center for a biennial global company meeting and heard a pitch from Good about why they should spon-sor the literacy program at Burton International Academy in Detroit.

Good disclosed eye-opening sta-tistics about how the majority of De-troit children are functionally illiter-ate.

“Jaws dropped,” Evans said. “It sort of sold itself.”

�e German parent company committed about $80,000 over three years and Freudenberg’s Michi-gan-based subsidiaries donated an-other $37,000 toward funding the literacy program at Burton, Evans said.

“We adopted one school,” Evans said. “It would be great if we could get businesses in our community to similarly adopt the other schools in the district and make this something that goes across the city.”

Hanno Wentzler, president and CEO of Freudenberg Chemical Spe-cialties SE & Co., visited Burton and read to students during a trip to De-troit.

“It was just very, very emotional to see how these kids responded, espe-cially coming from a�uent Germa-ny where we have a public education system which is very proper,” Went-zler said in a telephone interview from Germany. “It was very surpris-ing to see that level of illiteracy still with kids 8, 9 or 10 years old.”

Just 12 percent of Detroit third-graders were pro�cient in reading last year, according to state data.

Mohammad Qazi, CEO of Ciena Healthcare, said the South-�eld-based nursing home company is in the process of sponsoring a De-troit school.

Detroit needs “something radical” to reverse “shameful and embarrass-ing” illiteracy rates, Qazi said.

“You can’t have an illiterate work-force,” Qazi said. “�is is something that the business community can do. �ere’s no politics involved. Nothing to do with the (teachers) union.”

At Burton, teachers have em-braced the Beyond Basics sta� and volunteer mentors, according to the principal.

�ere’s another value in the tutor-ing that the tests don’t measure, sup-porters say.

“We see a di�erence with how en-gaged the students are” after getting tutored, said Mary Beth Halprin, di-rector of communication at Mer-cedes-Benz Financial Services USA LLC.

Mercedes-Benz Financial Ser-vices, which has its North American headquarters in Farmington Hills, has donated $750,000 to Beyond Ba-sics since 2008 for an array of educa-tion programs, Halprin said.

Since 2009, the lending arm of Daimler AG has sponsored the tu-toring program at �irkell Elementa-ry School west of Detroit’s New Cen-ter area and sees a return on its investment in the school, Halprin said.

“As a company that’s based here in the Michigan area, we see the po-tential that these young people could be our employees someday,” said Halprin, who volunteers as a mentor at the school. “�e call to action for a corporation is if you value building a workforce in this market, contribut-ing today to these young people’s lives has an opportunity to pay o� down the road."


READINGFROM PAGE 1

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

Firms help drive a�er-school reading program at old Packard plantSeventy-�ve years ago, the former

Packard marine plant on East Grand Boulevard was used to build engines for British bomber planes in World War II.

Today, on one of the �oors of a 120,000-square-foot building that helped fuel the Arsenal of Democra-cy, a group of Detroit children is learning how to read and write.

AmeriSource Industrial Supply Co. has dedicated a multi-room space within the building for an af-ter-school reading program run by a full-time teacher and a corps of vol-unteer mentors that includes em-ployees from American Axle & Man-ufacturing Inc. and Quicken Loans and students from Wayne State Uni-versity.

It’s an unusual setting for a class-room inside the one Packard build-ing that always remained occupied long after the Packard Motor Co.deserted the sprawling and win-dow-less 3.5-million-square-foot factory next door.

“We had the space, so we did it," said Lou Ray, president of Ameri-Source. “Somebody’s got to start somewhere."

For years, Ray had been alarmed by the high rates of illiteracy among

Detroit youth. “We knew the need was all around us,” he said.

In 2014, Ray hired educator An-drea Meyer to create a nonpro�t that is now called the Center for Success. Meyer, a Rochester Hills native, spent �ve years teaching children in south-central Los Angeles and later taught in the Warren and Center Line school districts after she moved back to Michigan.

Meyer designed a curriculum, student testing and assessment measures and raised additional funding for the program, which serves about 50 students throughout the school year from two charter schools — Detroit Enterprise Acade-my and University Prep Science & Math Elementary.

�e Grosse Pointe Old Devils, a charity-minded group of hockey

buddies Ray is part of, raised $85,000 of the program’s $100,000 budget for this school year. �e rest is funded by donations from businesses and philanthropic organizations, Meyer said.

Quicken Loans employees helped paint and clean the program’s new classroom space over the Christmas holiday and dPOP — the work-space-design �rm co-founded by Jennifer Gilbert, wife of Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert — donat-ed furniture for the classroom, li-brary and study rooms, Meyer said.

�e program received a donated 18-passenger school bus, which Meyer got a license to drive and pick up students from one of the two east side schools.

“As soon as we had the bus, we had 50 kids on the list and a waiting list beyond that,” Meyer said. “Work doesn’t end for parents when schools end for students, so that was pretty essential to �ll that gap and get the kids here.”

Parents pick up their children each night when the program ends.

While the program is focused on reading, Meyer begins each three-hour after-school session with snacks for the children and a learn-ing lesson that often integrates a writing assignment. �e food is

mostly donated by S&F Foods Inc. in Romulus and Zee Zees, a division of Novi-based National Food Group.

�e volunteer mentors arrive around 5 p.m. to sit with the students and do one-on-one reading.

“It’s a tremendous program. It’s very well organized,” said Zach Jones, who works in �nance at American Axle in Detroit.

Jones is on a team of four Ameri-can Axle employees who come to the AmeriSource building each �urs-day evening to work with the stu-dents.

“Last year, we worked the entire school year and de�nitely saw some progress from beginning to end,” Jones said.

Meyer tests the children at the be-ginning and end of the school year to track their progress. Last year, stu-dents advanced an average of 2.6 grade levels, she said.

She attributes the progress to the individualized attention to each child.

“With our kids being able to sit for an entire hour with one person giv-ing them their full attention and working very speci�cally on targeted lessons, I think that’s where we’re re-ally seeing those numbers,” she said.



CHAD LIVENGOOD/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESSZach Jones (le�), an employee at American Axle & Manufacturing who volunteers as a reading mentor for the Center for Success, works with 8-year-old Temperence Barnette, a third-grade student who attends the a�er-school program twice a week.


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Suites are just one aspect of what’s believed to be a complex business relationship between the teams — a deal that remains un�nished. Arn Tellem, who has led the relocation e�ort for Pistons owner Tom Gores, said last week that undisclosed things still were being worked out between the organizations.

“�ere are still some minor issues we have to conclude, but we know we’ll do that soon,” he said before the annual Crain’s Detroit Business Newsmaker of the Year event that honored Gores (see story, Page 7). “�e basic deal is done. We have pretty much agreement on virtually all of the issues.”

�at deal is separate from the agreement between Olympia and the city that must be amended for the Pistons to become a tenant, which is a public document.

�e Ilitch family, which owns the Red Wings and Olympia, is �nancing construction of the $635 million are-na with a blend of public and private money, and in November the tenta-tive deal was announced to bring the Pistons downtown from Oakland County as co-tenants with the Red Wings.

All of the 52 suites and 22 mini suites, or loge boxes, are expected to be sold out for Pistons games within a month, said Kevin Grigg, the Pis-tons’ vice president of public rela-tions.

“We anticipate to be sold out of suites in the next 30 days. Suites are being sold jointly by the two organi-zations,” he said via email last week.

The suite science

For Red Wings games, suites at 20,000-seat Little Caesars Arena lease for more than $300,000 a year, and the leases are for seven to 10 years, said Craig Turnbull, senior vice president of marketing and communications for the Red Wings, in a 2015 conversation with Crain’s.

Basic math conservatively shows that, assuming 52 suites are leased at $300,000 annually over seven years, suites account for $109.2 million in revenue for the Red Wings alone. Typically, that money is paid over time rather than in a lump sum.

�e mini suites are actually loge boxes for four to eight people, and lease for about $100,000 a season. �e larger suites can host 30 to 40 people.

Suite leases for Pistons games are also being sold under seven- to 10-year deals, Grigg con�rmed, but he declined to discuss prices.

At the Palace, the Pistons have 175 suites that lease under multiyear deals. �ere are suites of varying siz-es and locations, and as of a few years ago they were leasing for about $250,000 a season. Some were closer to $100,000 and others leased for more.

Premium seating tends to be leased by companies, which often use them as perks for clients and employees.

“Suites do skew toward compa-nies and corporate purchasers here at �e Palace,” Grigg said. “With that

said, we have a mix of corporate owners and individual buyers for all of our premium products.”

Because the new arena is shared by two teams, the suites likely won’t be decorated in their respective lo-gos and colors.

“Final decisions have not been determined. (We) will be working through that with Olympia, but the suites are neutral and are not team branded. With that said, technologi-cal and digital aspects of the suites could allow for logos, etc., to be changed from game to game,” Grigg said.

Another revenue source

It’s unclear if the Pistons will get as much suite revenue from Little Caesars suite leases versus what they get now from the Palace, but they do have a premium seat revenue source the Red Wings don’t have: �e pricey on-court seats unique to basketball games, which are sold out and cost up to $70,000 a season. �at revenue is kept by the Pistons, Grigg said. �e team should generate at least $10 million a season from on-court seat-ing, based on a rough estimate of the seat prices.

“We currently have a wait list forming for any seats located court-side. As we push through the renew-al process, a few seats may shake out as available, but primarily sold out on courtside seats,” Grigg said.

�ere will be three rows of 402 folding-chair seats around the bas-ketball court for Pistons games at Little Caesars Arena: 154 in the �rst row, 134 in the second row, and 114 in the third row. �e cheapest court-side seat next season sells for $13,200, and the most expensive is $70,400 for “Super VIPs.” �ere are

388 courtside seats at the Palace.�e Red Wings don’t have such

seating because ice rinks don’t allow for such a con�guration.

Other cost increases

�e Pistons also have raised sea-son ticket prices for next season for non-premium seating. For example, the cheapest season ticket currently is $429. In 2017-18, that will jump to $616. At the other end of the spec-trum, this season’s most expensive non-premium season ticket is $8,000 — a �gure that will rise to $13,200 next season.

Increasing season ticket prices and the cost of premium seating and other revenue sources could o�set having to share revenue from suites. Additionally, by leaving the Palace, the Pistons won’t have the cost of operating and maintaining an arena on their books.

“�e seating con�gurations for both arenas are di�erent, and there are some new seating areas available in the new arena that were not in �e Palace,” Grigg said.

“We have added additional price codes throughout the lower- and up-per-level general seating locations to provide more options to the con-sumer. With that said, lower-level seats are increasing roughly 15 per-cent to 17 percent on average, with the biggest change in premium areas where we were below league aver-age. Our pricing changes throughout the lower bowl will put us near aver-age in the NBA.”

The revenue picture

�e Pistons don’t disclose �nan-

cial data, but team management has previously said the team is pro�table. �e team was estimated to have had $172 million in reve-nue for the 2015-16 season, ac-cording to estimates from Forbes.com, while the Red Wings were said to have had $137 million in revenue from that same time frame.

As they continue a long-term re-building process, the Pistons are averaging 15,495 fans per game at the Palace, nearly 6,000 fans a game fewer than they drew while leading the league in attendance through much of the previous decade. �e Red Wings have made the playo�s for 25 consecutive years and annu-ally rank near the top of the NHL in attendance.

Both are expected take in more money from their new home.

One sports-industry insider, who is familiar with the Detroit situation but spoke only on the condition of anonymity, estimated that the Pis-tons could collect as much as $500,000 in additional per-game revenue from playing at the new arena, which would translate into an extra $20 million over 41 regu-lar-season home games.

�at boost, the source said, would stem from fan and corporate enthusiasm for the team’s return to the city, and from other factors such as dynamic single-game ticket pricing based on demand, increas-es in premium seating prices, and in concessions and merchandise sales.

Single-game ticket prices won’t be set until later this year.

Bill Shea: (313) 446-1626Twitter: @Bill_Shea19

SUITESFROM PAGE 3

The Little Caesars Arena is under construction in downtown Detroit.

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

INDEX TO COMPANIESThese companies have signi�cant mention in this week’s Crain’s Detroit Business:

AM General LLC 14

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan 9

Center for Success 17

Crain Communications 7

Credit Acceptance 14

Detroit Medical Center 4

Detroit Pistons 3

Detroit Red Wings 3

Group Antolin 14

Habitat for Humanity Detroit 3

Habitat for Humanity of Michigan 15

Habitat for Humanity of Oakland County 3

Huron Capital Partners LLC 3

Macomb County Habitat for Humanity 3

McLaren Health Care 4

Michigan Department of Transportation 8, 10

Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame 4

United Wholesale Mortgage 11

19C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // M A R C H 6 , 2 0 1 7

RUMBLINGS

�e Detroit Tigers have unveiled their 2017 season lineup of special events, special ticket and mer-chandise packages for more than 60 home games.

New on the schedule are chanc-es for fans to interact with former Tigers such as Willie Horton, Al Ka-line, Jim Leyland and Alan Tram-mell, the team said. On select Sat-urday home games, the baseball club will host Alumni Saturdays, presented by Comerica Bank, where fans can participate in a Q&A with the former players. A full list of promotions and giveaways is at detroit.tigers.mlb.com.

Returning this year is the Class Outside Educational series spon-sored by Oakland University. �e pregame series will take place be-fore �ve home games in the �rst two months of the season. With a special ticket purchased at tigers.com/classoutside, fans can partici-pate in the list of programs below:J Space Day — April 10

Detroit Digits

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

$35,000The �ne levied against Dearborn-based Golden Recyclers Inc. by the state of Michigan for collecting clothing through more than 300 locally placed bins to bene�t itself rather than a charity, as the bins implied.

$9 millionThe amount of a �ve-year federal grant awarded to Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University School of Medicine to conduct the nation’s largest study on how cancer disproportionately a�ects African-Americans.

$23 millionThe approximate amount of state funding approved for redevelopment of a former housing project site on Detroit’s west side. Gardenview Estates will include 97 townhomes.

Tigers pitch new, return promotional events for ’17CEO Ford repays

RTA nearly $19,000

The Regional Transit Authori-ty of Southeast Michigan said CEO Michael Ford repaid

nearly $19,000 following a re-port that he claimed about $37,000 in ex-penses, includ-ing airfare, luxu-ry hotel rooms and out-of-town meals over 2½ years. An RTA spokesman told �e Detroit News the payment “ad-

dresses some contract issues” and other issues remain under review.

COMPANY NEWSJ �e city of Detroit allowed the Russell Industrial Center to remain open temporarily, after ordering it closed last month due to what it called “blatant disregard for city or-dinances, laws and regulations.” Since e�ectively evicting the center’s 150 or so tenants, the Buildings, Safety, Engineering and Environ-mental Department stayed its order, allowing tenants to remain in the building until a �nal decision was to be made Friday at a meeting with Russell center representatives.J Grand Rapids area-based retailer Meijer reached an agreement to sponsor the playing �eld at a new development at the former site of Ti-ger Stadium in Detroit. �e Detroit News reported Meijer is giving the Detroit Police Athletic League $750,000 for at least �ve years of naming rights for Willie Horton Field of Dreams, presented by Meijer. �e site is being redeveloped into a youth sports facility and Detroit PAL headquarters. Horton is the Detroi-ter who helped the Tigers win the 1968 World Series.J Sterling Heights airbag and seat-belt supplier Key Safety Systems Inc. is expected to sign a de�nitive agree-ment to acquire troubled Japanese auto supplier Takata Corp. by the end of March, said a person close to the negotiations speaking on condi-tion of anonymity. Meanwhile, Taka-ta pleaded guilty to fraud in a Detroit court and agreed to pay a $1 billion penalty for concealing a deadly de-fect in millions of its airbags.J Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp. is cutting top executives and expenses at its Detroit Medical Cen-ter to make it conform to manage-ment policies more similar to its oth-er hospitals. Karen Fordham, president of Huron Valley Sinai Hos-pital in Commerce Township, re-signed; also newly departed are DMC Pioneer ACO Executive Director Roger Wiseman, DMC Vice President of Pharmacy David Bach and com-munications director Emery King.J South�eld-based Beaumont Health was cleared to begin construction of a 183,000-square-foot mixed-use center

FEBRUARY 25-MARCH 3THE WEEK ON THE WEB

MedNetOne exec leads U.S. curling to world honorMark Lazar, director of corporate

a�airs at Rochester-based Med-NetOne Health Solutions, last month coached the U.S. men’s curl-ing junior national team to a silver medal at the 2017 World Junior Championships in South Korea.

�e American under-21 team lost to the Koreans on Feb. 26 on the �nal shot of the game at the Gangneung Curling Centre, which culminated a nine-game round robin tournament, according to Team USA. �e World Junior Championships are a test event for the 2018 Olympic curling competi-tion to also be held in Gangneung.

Lazar’s club, TeamStopera, earned the trip to the world cham-

Arc to honor work for developmentally disabled�e Arc of Oakland County will

hold its annual Dove Awards din-ner and silent auction at the San Marino Club in Troy on March 24 as part of Developmental Disabili-ty Awareness Month.

�e Dove Awards recognize the e�orts to enhance the lives of peo-ple with developmental and intel-lectual disabilities.

Crain’s Senior Reporter Jay Greene is one of 18 awardees and represents the media distinction cat-egory. He has reported on state gov-ernment e�orts the past year to im-prove integration and coordination of the dual behavioral health and physical health Medicaid systems.

�e Arc of Oakland County, which is part of the state and na-tional network of 700 chapters with 140,000 members, is a nonpro�t that provides direct legal, general advocacy, informational and refer-ral services as well as community

pionship by winning the 2017 USA Curling Junior National Champi-onships on Jan. 21 in Fargo, N.D.

Lazar, 39, joined MedNetOne in 2013, the company said in a state-ment. He was an Olympic curling trials competitor in 2006 and re-mains a nationally ranked curler, the company said. MedNetOne CEO Ewa Matuszewski is a curling fan whose daughters played the game.

Curling has players slide 38- to 44-pound polished granite stones on a sheet of ice toward a target seg-mented into four concentric circles. A pair of sweepers use brooms to help guide the stone’s path toward the target. Teams slide eight stones per game and accumulate points.

awareness for children and adults with intellectual and developmen-tal disabilities and their families.

Among other new Dove honorees: J Chili’s, Auburn Hills, Employer of the Year Award.J Stan Gramke, CEO of New Hori-zons Rehabilitation Services Inc., Hall of Fame Award.J Kirk Jude Goddard, vice presi-dent of habilitation services with JVS, Janet and Paul MacCormack Lifetime Achievement Award.J Kathy Anaya, school social worker, Mason Middle School, Waterford School District, President’s Award.J Kyle Middleton, executive direc-tor, �e Fowler Center Inc., Distin-guished Service Award.

Dove Awards tickets are $60 per person or $30 per person with a disability and can be purchased by calling (248) 816-1900. Visit the Arc of Oakland County’s website for more information.

J Strike Out Bullying Day — April 12J Career Day — April 13J Journalism Day — April 27J Math Day — May 4J Weather Day — May 18

Other events include 11 �reworks shows sponsored by Pepsi; Sunday Kids Days sponsored by Chevy Youth Baseball, where kids can ride the carousel and Ferris wheel for free and run the bases after the game; and Fox Sports Detroit University Days, where fans with a special ticket can receive a Tigers cap in the colors of various universities.

For a complete season schedule, visit tigers.com.

CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESSComerica Park will host many Detroit Tigers giveaways.

on the site of the former Northwood Shopping Center in Royal Oak this summer after the city commission ap-proved a zoning change.J Mercantile Bank Corp.’s Mercan-tile Bank of Michigan is expanding to metro Detroit, opening a commer-cial loan o�ce in Troy last week and a full-service branch this summer. �e Grand Rapids-based company’s �rst Southeast Michigan location is at 1700 Big Beaver Road.J O�ce sta� at the North American headquarters of Anji Logistics USA Inc. will move March 15 from a tem-porary location in Birmingham to a new Warren facility’s 12,000 square feet of o�ce space.J �e Downtown Detroit Partnership named Toronto architecture �rm Public Work to lead a Capitol Park Historic District redesign this fall.J New Jersey-based Automatic Data Processing LLC is terminating 16 more positions, after announcing in September that it would let go about 79 employees, as it closes its Ann Ar-bor o�ce around March 30.J Woodpile BBQ Shack in Clawson will open its second Texas-style bar-becue joint in a $7.5 million redevel-opment in Detroit’s New Center in early 2018, Detroit real estate devel-oper �e Platform LLC announced. In other restaurant news, Bucharest Grill teased the opening of a new lo-cation in the growing Avenue of Fash-ion area of Detroit in a Facebook post; Maccabees Traders (formerly Macca-bees Midtown) is reopening with a brand-new menu; and Detroit-based New Order Co�ee is set this spring to open its �agship café in the Crystal Lofts building in Midtown.J Troy-based theater management company Emagine Entertainment Inc.

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

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

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

Michael Ford: Issues under review by RTA.

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