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DETROIT BUSINESS MAIN 03-03-08 A 1 CDB
2/29/2008
6:49 PM
Page 1
®
www.crainsdetroit.com Vol. 24, No. 9
MARCH 3 – 9, 2008
$2 a copy; $59 a year
©Entire contents copyright 2008 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved
Systems vie for
Oakland patients
THIS JUST IN
State House introduces
film-industry stimulus bills
A long-brewing package
of incentives to boost Michigan filmmaking heads for
committee this week.
House Bills 5841-5856 are
intended to give Michigan
the most competitive incentives in the U.S. The House
bills
were
introduced
Thursday; a Senate package is expected this week.
Provisions include:
■ A 40 percent Michigan
Business Tax rebate for
qualified production costs.
A 2 percent credit would be
available for projects in
older “core” communities.
■ An income tax deduction equal to all or part of
the gain from a minimum
$25,000 investment in a production if the initial investment plus at least part of
the gain is reinvested in another project within a year.
■ A 25 percent MBT credit for an investment of
$250,000 or more in film or
digital media production infrastructure.
■ Eligibility for production companies to apply for
Michigan Economic Growth
Authority tax credits and to
participate in the state’s
capital access program.
■ Loans of up to $15 million under a program that’s
part of the 21st Century Jobs
Fund. Up-front loans to production companies in the
amount of expected tax credits also would be available.
■ A 50 percent MBT rebate for production company costs of providing training to state residents for
certain positions.
■ Application and redemption fees on film-related tax credits would capitalize a fund to support the
Michigan Film Office. Half of
state earnings on some
film-related loans and investments also would go
into the fund.
The House Commerce
Committee and the Senate
Commerce and Tourism
Committee are scheduled
to hold a joint hearing at 3
p.m. Tuesday in room 519 of
the House Office Building.
— Amy Lane
NEWSPAPER
See This Just In, Page 2
WOODWARD AVENUE ACTION ASSOCIATION
The proposed loop would run along Woodward
Avenue for 3.4 miles and have 23 stations.
Yet coveted county has excess beds, flat growth
BY JAY GREENE
Fast lane
to light rail
CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS
Private-sector
money could cut
years from process
Competition between hospitals for good-paying patients
in Oakland County is heating up.
Over the past several years, five major hospital systems
in the Detroit area have targeted Oakland County for expansion with up to five acute-care hospitals and at least seven outpatient centers.
But with the state Department of Community Health already
designating the county as having 1,237 excess acute-care
beds and the once-hot population growth flattening a bit, do
hospitals still want to build or expand in Oakland County?
And if they do, will patients come?
“There is a perception that Oakland County is more affluent with better-paying patients,” said Jack Weiner, presiSee Hospitals, Page 27
OAKLAND COUNTY PROJECTS
St. John’s Providence Park
Hospital (above) is among several
projects under way in Oakland
County. For list, see Page 27.
BY BILL SHEA
Private-sector money behind a $103 million light-rail transit loop on Detroit’s
Woodward Avenue could mean decades
trimmed from the project’s planning and
could reinvigorate other transportation
projects already in the works, mass transit
insiders say.
“I suspect there would be some streamlining that would shave years off the process,”
said Eli Cooper, transportation program
manager for Ann Arbor. “We’re talking
about cutting years off of the planning phase.
(Private money) could save 20 years.”
Private money paying for construction
means a considerable amount of bureaucracy at the local, state and federal levels is removed from the equation, said Cooper, who
monitors transit projects in the region. He
estimated such a project could be running
in two to three years.
Crain’s Detroit Business first reported last
week that a private-sector proposal, known
as the Woodward Transit Catalyst Project,
would involve a mass transit line on 3.4
miles of Woodward, but few details have
emerged, including the names of potential
investors.
What is known is that the street-level loop
would run between Hart Plaza and Grand
Boulevard, and a dozen stops would be
placed in high-traffic areas that include major businesses, theaters, ballparks, museums and hospitals.
See Transit, Page 29
Mayor may not be only
lawyer under scrutiny
City, others review lawsuit, settlement
BY ROBERT ANKENY
Nearly a dozen Detroit-area lawyers, including Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, ultimately could
be under scrutiny by at least
one of four different agencies
for their conduct in the police whistle-blower lawsuit,
its settlement and the subsequent text message brouhaha, legal experts said.
Those lawyers include the
City Law Department and
other city-employed lawyers
connected with the lawsuit
Kilpatrick
and a Freedom of Information case that followed, as well as outside attorneys for Kilpatrick and the city, and even the
lawyer who won the $8.4 million settlement for
the fired police officers.
Investigations into conduct by the mayor,
former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty and others relative to the lawsuit and settlement are
being conducted by the Detroit City Council and
the Detroit Board of Ethics.
Kilpatrick and Beatty also are under investigation by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy’s staff for possible charges of perjury, a
felony that carries a 15-year maximum prison
term.
Two other possible charges against those under investigation could be obstruction of justice and misconduct by a public official, both
five-year felonies. Worthy said findings of the
investigation should be announced within the
next 10 days.
And many of the lawyers involved in the case
See Lawyers, Page 28
‘Textgate’ among 2007
top verdicts, settlements,
Execs by day,
home chefs by night,
Page 11
Page 19
2/29/2008
5:03 PM
Page 1
Page 2
March 3, 2008
THIS JUST IN
■ From Page 1
Board vote to end state
pre-seed fund is postponed
A vote that likely would have
ended a pre-seed loan fund for
emerging Michigan companies
was postponed last Monday because of a lack of a quorum in
Lansing at a scheduled meeting
of the Strategic Economic Investment and Commercialization Board.
The Michigan Economic Development Corp. has recommended that
the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund
not be funded out of the next
round of $30 million from the
state’s 21st Century Jobs Fund. The
$8 million loan fund is expected
to run out of money this spring.
Ann Arbor Spark, a nonprofit economic-development organization
that administers the fund, hopes
to keep it alive. The decision on
whether to fund it is expected to
be made at the next SEIC meeting
on March 12.
— Tom Henderson
Commissioners will vote to
recommend buyout deal
The Oakland County Board of
Commissioners will vote Thursday
to recommend approval on a proposed “voluntary separation in-
centive,” offering buyouts to older county employees as a budgettrimming measure.
Some 520 employees are eligible. Finance Committee Chairman Mike Rogers said the county
projects about 150 employees
would likely take the option.
Oakland County Human Resources Director Nancy Scarlet
has said the plan could save as
much as $12 million. If approved,
the county would take applications from April 1-May 31.
The county is grappling with
flat or falling property values
that could translate into a projected $14.8 million budget shortfall by next year and a $33.5 million deficit by 2010.
— Chad Halcom
IAV Automotive to move
IAV Automotive Engineering Inc.
plans to move from Ann Arbor to
Northville Township when construction of a $23 million project
is complete this fall.
IAV Automotive, the North
American subsidiary of IAV Group
of Berlin, opened its first North
American office in Ann Arbor in
1998 and has grown to 95 employees with about $15 million in annual sales.
On Tuesday, IAV Automotive
broke ground on a 40,000-squarefoot technical center that will
eventually employ more than 170.
Wayne County provided IAV
with $150,000 through a new Job
Creation Fund that was modeled
after similar programs in other
states and was created on a pilot
basis for IAV. The Michigan Economic Growth Authority awarded a
tax credit valued at more than $3
million over 12 years. Northville
Township approved a 12-year
abatement worth $1.4 million.
— Brent Snavely
Beringea investing in buyout
Farmington
Hills-based
Beringea L.L.C. will announce this
week that it has invested in the
management-backed buyout of
Path Group plc, a distributor of
consumer electronic accessories
headquartered in Oxfordshire,
England.
Path Group has an office in
Hong Kong and a U.S. subsidiary,
Path Group Inc., in Wixom.
Beringea’s investment total
won’t be disclosed. The purchase
price was $14 million. Jamie Kennell, an investment director at
Beringea, will join the Path
Group board.
— Tom Henderson
Michigan Strategic Fund makes
$3.75 million investment
The Michigan Strategic Fund
board approved an investment of
$3.75 million Wednesday from the
state’s 21st Century Investment
Fund in RPM Ventures II L.P., a new
fund being raised by RPM Ventures L.L.C., an Ann Arbor-based
venture-capital company.
It was the first investment
since August from the $109 million fund, which is managed by
New York City-based Credit Suisse
First Boston. Its seven investments have totaled $58.75 million.
In January, RPM received an
investment of an undisclosed
amount from the $95 million Venture Michigan Fund, which is also
administered by Credit Suisse.
— Tom Henderson
Kaffer joins Crain’s staff
Nancy Kaffer has joined Crain’s
Detroit Business as the reporter
covering small business and retail.
Kaffer, 32, was a freelance writer
covering innovation and jobs, culture and business for the Model D
and Metromode Web sites. She also
has worked full
time and as a
freelancer for
the Metro Times
and also has
been a reporter
for the Hattiesburg
(Miss.)
American and
Dearborn Press
Kaffer
& Guide.
Kaffer is a native of Alabama
and graduated from Spring Hill
College in Mobile. She lives in
Clawson.
She can be reached at (313) 4460412 or at nkaffer@crain.com.
CORRECTIONS
䡲 A story on Page 6 of Crain’s Feb. 25 edition was incorrect in saying
that Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson “had vowed to
skip” a Feb. 22 meeting called by Gov. Jennifer Granholm to discuss
Cobo Center expansion plans. Patterson in fact had a previous commitment but was able to attend the meeting about 30 minutes after it
started.
䡲 A story on Page 4 of the Feb. 18 issue incorrectly stated Borders Group
Inc.’s net loss for the quarter ending Nov. 3 as $42 million, or 71 cents a
share. The actual loss was $161.1 million, or $2.74 a share, according to
the company’s statement.
䡲 In a story about Handleman Co. on Page 4 of the Feb. 25 edition,
Crain’s listed the wrong former title for Senior Vice President and
CFO Khaled Haram. Haram previously served as senior vice president
and chief information officer. Also, former Executive Vice President
and CFO Thomas Braum joined Handleman in 1985, not 1992.
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2/29/2008
6:09 PM
Page 1
March 3, 2008
Teams look
north to fill
downtown
office space
BY DANIEL DUGGAN
Businesses in the suburbs should be
expecting more calls from a 313 area
code.
New leasing teams at three Detroit office buildings are all launching campaigns to fill vacant office space with
suburban companies willing to bring
their businesses across Eight Mile
Road.
A three-broker team from Southfieldbased Signature Associates takes over the
leasing assignment today for the 1 million-square-foot Comerica Tower in Detroit.
Sam Munaco, Garrett Keais and
David Miller plan to fill the nearly
400,000 square feet of vacant space
though an aggressive push into the suburbs.
While Munaco is a Detroit office specialist, Miller and Keais are suburban
specialists who intend to use their toplevel contacts to “educate” suburban
businesses about the
idea of going downtown.
“In a lot of markets, it might be
something
that
they’re not thinking
about,” Miller said.
“Five years ago, even
three years ago, this
is something that
Miller
people wouldn’t do.
But people are comfortable with the
concept that the city is coming alive
again.”
Suburban tenants will be pursued not
just by the Signature team.
Steve Eisenshtadt, a vice president
with Farmington Hills-based Friedman
Real Estate Group, was named leasing
representative
for
1001 Woodward Ave.
last week, and the Detroit office of Jones
Lang LaSalle was
named leasing representative for the
Chase Tower at 611
Woodward Ave. in
January.
Brokers at all three
Eisenshtadt
buildings say the
time is right to urge suburban businesses to be downtown.
Eisenshtadt, a longtime Detroit office
broker, said the key is in the employees
being coveted.
“There was a time when the employers wanted to be near their homes in the
suburbs,” he said. “But you have a bulk
of employees 25 to 30 years old who
want more of an urban environment.”
Downtown brokers hope to ride the
momentum from the recent announcement by Quicken Loans to move from
Livonia to Detroit. At One Kennedy
Square, Marketing Associates moved
from Bloomfield Hills to Detroit, and
Health Plan of Michigan moved from
Southfield.
See Brokers, Page 28
Page 3
‘Green’ auto products
plant opens in Detroit
Car wash, motor oil in pipeline
BY JAY GREENE
Green Earth Technologies, a Stamford, Conn.-based maker of consumer products safe for the environment,
has
opened
a
manufacturing plant in Detroit to
bottle and package automotive appearance and performance products in the emerging $20 billion
“green” auto supply market.
The products — based on patent
pending nanotechnology that allows manufacturers to reduce the
size of materials so they are more
easily biodegradable — include
nontoxic car wash and smokeless
motor oils, said Jeff Marshall,
president and CEO of Green Earth.
As a startup company formed
through venture capital, Green
Earth went public last July
(Pink Sheets:
GETG).
“We are an
Americangrown company. We want to
reduce the dependence
on
foreign oil, and
Marshall
we think we can
make a dent in the market,” Marshall said. “At $100 per barrel, we
can produce homegrown products
and solve many problems created
from (high-priced) foreign oil.”
The packaging plant, at 6040
Russell St., is at the site of Kwik
Paint Products, an automotive supplier and packaging company. Ron
Lipson, Kwik’s
president and
founder,
also
has been named
president of GET
Manufacturing, a
wholly owned
subsidiary of
Green Earth.
“We are the
exclusive manLipson
ufacturing arm
of Green Earth,” said Lipson, who
founded Kwik Paint in the early
1980s. Kwik employs about 125
workers in its 55,000-square-foot
building, located about a mile
north of Eastern Market. The plant
started producing and shipping
See Green, Page 28
Sales soar amid slump
Corrosion Fluids:
‘It’s all positioning’
BY NANCY KAFFER
Corrosion Fluids Products Corp. has had
decades of steady growth. But in the past
four years, the business has more than
doubled its sales.
With Michigan’s economy ailing, Corrosion Fluids’ 2007 sales totaled $71.9
million, well on the way to President Joe
P. Andronaco’s goal of becoming a $100
million company by 2010.
Corrosion Fluids was founded in 1968
by CEO Joe V. Andronaco, an engineer
who saw a
business opportunity in a
growing field.
On the Grow is a
(He’s “Joe Sefeature that will
nior” to the
appear in most issues
company’s
highlighting growing
companies, large and
employees;
small. Know of a
son Joe P. is
company you think
“Joe Junior.”)
Crain’s should write
After a few
about? Contact
rocky months,
Managing Editor
business took
Andrew Chapelle at
off and the
achapelle@crain.com.
company grew
from a oneman operation in a garage to a full-service provider of pumps, valves, pipes
and hosing to the chemical and processing industries.
Now, Corrosion Fluids has about 135
employees, with 20 positions added in
the last year in 10 regional markets.
The company’s recent success doesn’t
have one simple cause, Joe P. Andronaco said.
OntheGrow
See Sales, Page 29
NATHAN SKID/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS
Joe Andronaco, president of Corrosion Fluids Products Corp., has set the
goal of becoming a $100 million company by 2010. It had $71.9 million
in sales in 2007.
CRAIN’S
INDEX
Earnings a mixed bag:
Auto suppliers add to
their bottom lines while
banks, retail and housing
were hit hard. Page 4.
New water contracts:
Suburban communities
negotiating with Detroit
Water and Sewerage over
new tailored contracts.
Page 6.
Power
Breakfast:
Founder of
the
Women’s
Power
Breakfast,
Dulcie
Rosenfeld,
to step
down after
15 years.
Page 22. Rosenfeld
Online sharing: Cultural
Alliance launches a Webbased clearinghouse for
members to share
resources. Page 24.
Real estate shift: CORE
Partners co-founder joins
Staubach Co. Page 26.
These organizations appear in this
week’s Crain’s Detroit Business:
AFG Industries Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Barbara Ann Karmanos
Cancer Institute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Borders Group Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Champion Enterprises Inc. . . . . . . . . 4
Corrosion Fluids Products Corp. . . . . 3
Domino’s Pizza Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Citizens Republic Bancorp Inc. . . . . 4
CMS Energy Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Detroit Metropolitan Airport . . . . . . . 6
Detroit Pump & Mfg. Co. . . . . . . . . 29
Detroit Regional Mass Transit . . . . 29
DTE Energy Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Etkin Equities L.L.C. . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Flagstar Bancorp Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Ford Motor Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Friedman Real Estate Group . . . . . . 3
General Motors Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Gleaners Community Food Bank . . . 22
Green Earth Technologies . . . . . . . . 3
Guardian Industries Corp. . . . . . . . 12
Handleman Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Henry Ford Health System . . . . . . . 27
HS R&A Co. Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Il Posto Ristorante . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
ITC Holdings Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Jones Lang LaSalle . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Kwik Paint Products . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Lear Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Loomis Sayles & Co. L.P. . . . . . . . . . 4
Macomb County Community
Services Agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Macomb County Continuum of Care .19
Mayfield Gentry Realty Advisors . . . 28
McLaren Health Care Corp. . . . . . . 27
Michigan Business
Aviation Association . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Oakland County Internat’l Airport . . . 6
Oakland County Planning & Economic
Development Services . . . . . . . . . 27
Penske Automotive Group Inc. . . . . . 4
Pulte Homes Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Republic Bancorp Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Rofin-Sinar Technologies Inc. . . . . . . 4
SBC Global Services Inc. . . . . . . . . 13
Signature Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
St. John Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
St. John Riverview Hospital . . . . . . 12
St. Joseph Mercy Oakland Hospital 27
SBC Global Services Inc. . . . . . . . . 14
T-Mobile USA Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
The Detroit Medical Center . . . . . . . 12
Transwestern Fountain Walk L.L.C. . 16
Trinity Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Votar L.L.C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
William Beaumont Hospitals . . . . . 27
Willow Run Airport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Ypsilanti Community Utilities
Authority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
BANKRUPTCIES . . . . . . . . 17
BUSINESS DIARY . . . . . . . 25
CALENDAR . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
CAPITOL BRIEFINGS . . . . . . 6
CLASSIFIED ADS . . . . . . . . 23
DIVIDENDS. . . . . . . . . . . . 17
EARNINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
KEITH CRAIN . . . . . . . . . . . 8
LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
MARY KRAMER. . . . . . . . . . 9
OPINION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
PEOPLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
RUMBLINGS . . . . . . . . . . . 30
WEEK IN REVIEW . . . . . . . 30
2/29/2008
5:00 PM
Page 1
Page 4
March 3, 2008
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NEWS ABOUT DETROIT AREA PUBLIC COMPANIES
Fourth-quarter earnings are
mixed for local companies
BY TOM HENDERSON
Afterglow at Centaur
D.J. Mike Anthony
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Crain’s Detroit Business
American Surgical Centers
Photo courtesy of Michell Danel
“It was a very mixed bag,” said
Dana Johnson, chief economist for
Comerica Bank, about fourth-quarter earnings reports for public
companies in Southeast Michigan.
Auto suppliers added nearly $1
billion to their bottom lines, with
seven of nine companies that reported by Friday increasing their
income over the fourth quarter of
2006. Lear Corp. went from a loss of
$654 million to net income of $27
million, and the sector combined
for net income of $309.5 million,
compared with a combined loss of
$630.4 million for the same quarter
a year earlier.
Banks, retail and housing were
hit hard, though, led by Pulte
Homes Inc., which went from a loss
of $8.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2006 to a loss of $874.7 million
in the fourth quarter of 2007.
The mix of good and bad was
evenly divided — 26 of 52 stocks
tracked by Crain’s in the region
had better earnings quarter over
quarter, and 26 had worse.
Not counting General Motors Corp.
and Ford Motor Co., the area’s public
companies had a combined loss of
$345.6 million for the quarter, an
improvement of almost $90 million
from the fourth quarter of 2006.
Counting GM and Ford, which
cut their losses by $1.2 billion, the
area’s public companies went
from a combined loss of $5.1 billion
in the fourth quarter of 2006 to a
loss of $3.8 billion for the fourth
quarter of 2007.
“Given the deterioration in the
economy, profitability isn’t as
stark as it could be,” said Johnson.
David Sowerby is portfolio manager and chief market analyst for
Bloomfield Hills-based Loomis Sayles
& Co. L.P. He tracks about 85 public
companies through Michigan; and
statewide, stocks fared better.
“I’m giving it a B-minus. Earnings for the median public company
in Michigan was up 5 percent year
over year,” said Sowerby, who said
he considers that a more reliable
gauge than the average increase.
“If you have a big winner or a big
loser, that can distort the average,
so I use the median, and 5 percent is
a respectable figure given all the
problems in the state economy.”
He said Michigan companies exceeded analysts’ expectations,
fared better than their national
counterparts and had several
strong sectors.
Utility stocks improved sharply,
led by DTE Energy Corp., which went
from income of $142 million to $255
million. CMS Energy Corp. was up
from $8.5 million to $12.5 million,
and ITC Holdings Corp. was up from
$3.6 million to $15.6 million.
“It’s no surprise that the utility
companies are doing well, with
very high energy prices,” said
Johnson. “And it’s no surprise
housing builders continue to do
4THForQUARTER
EARNINGS
complete results visit
www.crainsdetroit.com
Without GM and Ford.
50 reporting companies.
$345.6
million
20.7%
2007
$435.6
million
2006
With GM and Ford.
52 reporting companies.
$3.8
billion
25.5%
2007
$5.1
billion
2006
Source: Individual companies
very poorly. They’re under enormous downward pressures.”
Champion Enterprises Inc. was
also off, from net income of $3.6
million to a loss of $6 million.
Technology was another strong
sector, with four of seven stocks
showing improvement in earnings
and the sector going from combined net income of $57.7 million
to $61.9 million. Plymouth-based
Rofin-Sinar Technologies Inc. was the
big winner, going from $11.5 million to $16.9 million.
Of the area’s eight reporting
public bank stocks, seven had declines and six lost money. The sector went from net income of $11.9
million in the fourth quarter of
2006 to a combined loss of $12.54
million in fourth-quarter 2007.
Flint-based Citizens Republic Ban-
corp Inc. was the sole gainer, going
from income of $690,000 to $28 million, but the reason for the increase wasn’t performance. The
bank took big fourth-quarter
charges in 2006 to account for the
costs of its merger with Ann Arbor-based Republic Bancorp Inc.
Troy-based Flagstar Bancorp Inc.
was the big loser, going from net
income of $7 million to a loss of
$30.1 million.
Of bank stocks, Sowerby said:
“Deep recession-like. That’s the
only way I can describe it.”
There was good bank news of
sorts, he said. The public banks he
tracks throughout Michigan had a
median decline in net income of 12
percent, compared to a median decline nationally of 27 percent.
The area’s four retail stocks all
declined, going from combined income of $8 million to a loss of $131.7
million.
Borders Group Inc. was hardest
hit, going from a loss of $39.1 million to a loss of $161.1 million. Handleman Co. went from a loss of $14.2
million to a loss of $15.9 million,
Penske Automotive Group Inc. saw
net income fall from $30.3 million
to $29.4 million, and Domino’s Pizza
Inc.’s net income went from $31
million to $16.2 million.
We’re over the hump,” said
Johnson on pressures facing state
stocks. “We’re at the beginning of
the end of restructuring pains. We
all know the economy is going to
be weak in 2008, and that’s going to
create some difficulties. But it’s evident that restructuring efforts are
taking effect.”
Tom Henderson: (313) 446-0337,
thenderson@crain.com
STREET TALK
THIS WEEK’S STOCK TOTALS: 19 GAINERS, 45 LOSERS, 10 UNCHANGED
CDB’S TOP PERFORMERS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Clarkston Financial Corp.
TechTeam Global Inc.
Somanetics Corp.
Perceptron Inc.
Champion Enterprises Inc.
Veri-Tek International Corp.
Ford Motor Co.
Rofin-Sinar Technologies Inc.
Valassis Communications Inc.
North Pointe Holdings Corp.
CDB’S LOW PERFORMERS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
2/29
CLOSE
2/22
CLOSE
PERCENT
CHANGE
$9.00
8.75
27.79
11.80
8.88
5.49
6.53
39.37
11.22
15.59
$7.60
7.85
25.51
10.85
8.23
5.25
6.25
38.46
11.06
15.40
18.42
11.47
8.94
8.76
7.90
4.57
4.48
2.37
1.45
1.23
2/29
CLOSE
2/22
CLOSE
PERCENT
CHANGE
Syntel Inc.
$27.23
American Axle
19.68
Borders Group Inc.
9.26
Credit Acceptance Corp.
15.18
Pulte Homes Inc.
13.54
Comerica Inc.
36.24
BorgWarner Inc.
43.11
Citizens Republic Bancorp Inc.
11.13
CMS Energy Corp.
14.39
TRW Automotive Holdings Corp. 22.08
$31.26
22.04
10.13
16.57
14.71
39.25
46.60
12.01
15.44
23.65
-12.89
-10.71
-8.59
-8.39
-7.95
-7.67
-7.49
-7.33
-6.80
-6.64
Source: Bloomberg News. From a list of publicly owned companies with headquarters
in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw or Livingston counties. Note: Stocks trading
at less than $5 are not included.
DBpageAD.qxd
2/27/2008
9:40 AM
Page 1
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2/29/2008
2:58 PM
Page 1
Page 6
March 3, 2008
Quick approval sought for Communities negotiating
airport, education spending new water contracts
BY CHAD HALCOM
LANSING — Members
Senate appropriations
of Michigan’s aviation incommittees and then
dustry are pressing lawthrough both chammakers for speedy action
bers.
on legislation that would
“These projects are
enable Michigan to colvery important, but we
lect nearly $163 million
have confidence that
in federal funding for airthe Legislature will do
port projects around the
the right thing and act
state.
before our money goes
Officials say the fundto another state,” said
ing needs to move into
Michael Conway, diplace for projects slated to
rector of public affairs
Amy Lane
begin construction in the
for the Wayne County
approaching season. And
Airport Authority. “We
they worry that Michigan could feel it’s very important, not just
lose some of its share of federal for Detroit Metro but for other airfunds to competing states if the ports in the state, that the Joint
Legislature doesn’t act soon on a Capital Outlay committee acts.”
capital outlay budget that authoIt’s not just funding for airport
rizes state and federal spending for improvements that is before the
projects statewide.
committee. The $5.1 million in
In Southeast Michigan, pro- state matching funds for aviation
jects include the $17.9 million re- is part of a larger 2008 capital outconstruction of a taxiway and lay budget that authorizes nearly
apron critical to the new north $562 million in recommended,
terminal at Detroit Metropolitan bond-supported construction and
Airport, an $18.9 million final seg- renovation of buildings owned by
ment of funding committed in the universities and community collate 1990s for construction of De- leges, as well as state agencies.
troit Metro’s McNamara TermiThat list remains fluid, as lawnal and other improvements, $6.4 makers consider whether addimillion in runway safety area im- tional projects should be funded.
provements at Willow Run Airport, Some have discussed separating
and $3.7 million in runway and the airport portion to ensure proother work at Oakland County Inter- jects get the federal funds they
national Airport.
need to proceed with bids.
Funding authorization is before
Bill Gehman, a board member
the Legislature’s Joint Capital with the Michigan Business Aviation
Outlay Subcommittee, whose ap- Association, which recently testiproval is key before the budget fied before the committee, said
can move to the full House and that if the committee can’t reach a
Capitol
B r i e fi ng s
decision soon on the education
spending, then the airport portion
should be dealt with separately.
Gehman is a former director of
aeronautics in the Michigan Department of Transportation and senior aviation consultant in the
Lansing office of consulting firm
of Mead & Hunt Inc.
“We need to have something at
least in a couple weeks here, to get
the projects going,” Gehman said.
Subcommittee Chairman Morris Hood III, D-Detroit, said he understands the urgency that’s been
expressed and said it’s important
that Michigan “be teed up and
ready to go so that we can take advantage of the construction season.”
But he said he believes there is
still some time before the federal
money is distributed. And with
the education funding also dealing with projects scheduled for
construction this year, it makes
sense to address funding for all
projects at once rather than separating the two portions, he said.
“I don’t like to pick one or the
other, to say that the aeronautics
portion of it is more important
than the schools and universities
and community colleges,” he said.
“Let’s … do the whole thing.”
Hood said he hopes “by the end
of March or at the latest the end
of April” to complete work.
“As soon as possible, I would
like to get it done,” he said.
Amy Lane: (517) 371-5355,
alane@crain.com
Attorneys
to Grow
With
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Suburban communities are getting in early on negotiations with
the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to adopt tailored versions
of the new model contract recently
approved for all of the department’s municipal customers.
The contract, completed and approved Feb. 8 by a regional Technical Advisory Committee of the water
department and dozens of suburban communities, is under formal
negotiation between the department and 28 communities plus one
Oakland County regional authority, DWSD Director Victor Mercado
told the Oakland County Commissioners’ Building and Planning
Committee last week.
One regional body, the Ypsilanti
Community Utilities Authority, has
completed negotiations on the
three-week-old boilerplate document and has reached its own formal contract on water pressure
ranges and peak flow capacity.
“We were looking to do an opening round of maybe five or six communities negotiating at first, following the model contract adoption,”
said DWSD Public Affairs manager
George Ellenwood. “So this level of
early participation has been kind of
a pleasant surprise.”
Mercado said the new 30-year
contracts with each community
will update and partly standardize
arrangements with all 86 municipal
and regional bodies with which the
department negotiates. He also said
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information in the final contracts
will help DWSD gauge infrastructure needs and demand in each
community, and, in an indirect
way, the rates each will have to pay.
“What these actually help us do
is plan for the real level of need in
a community,” he said. “Because
we don’t build the system to meet
the goal of the overall average use
of the system over an average day.
We build the system to meet the
flow level and demand at the absolute peak times.”
The model contract, with language covering issues common to
all communities, must be tailored to
each community for its own specific
issues, including ranges of water
pressure the DWSD is to maintain
in that city or township and the
peak flow capacity or maximum demand each community expects it
will make on the system. The information is then used to calculate
each community’s long-term infrastructure needs and the rates it
should pay to maintain its system.
“Some communities have kind
of peculiar situations and issues
that are going to require more dialogue with (the department),” said
Kurt Giberson, director of the
Dearborn Department of Public
Works and one of the five suburban co-chairs of the technical advisory committee. “It’s not ever going to be a slam dunk for getting
all individual community needs
met. But it goes a long way.”
Giberson’s department is among
the 30 customers to initiate negotiating with Detroit, but there is no
set timetable to complete that
process or present a contract proposal to the Dearborn City Council.
Guy Kebbe, Sterling Heights director of public works, and also a
technical advisory committee member, said his community is also in
negotiations and hopes to have a
contract ready for council review
by June. He also said the committee
members serve on various breakout groups or subcommittees that
handle issues like engineering proposals or rate calculation.
“We pretty much knew how the
mechanism of (the DWSD) worked
before, but now we have an opportunity to have a more in-depth role
in the process as it affects all of us
involved,” he said.
Mercado said the DWSD hopes
to have 75 percent of its municipal
and regional customers into new
contracts by 2010. The department
services water and sewer system
needs of 125 communities in Southeast Michigan.
The technical advisory committee, which handles water issues
only, convened in 2004 to develop a
standard contract that reflected
more “modern market conditions”
in other concerns and partly to
help address some lingering acrimony between city and suburbs on
how the DWSD determines demand and sets billing rates.
The technical advisory committee will review each community’s
water usage annually to evaluate
whether it is in compliance with
its contracts and renegotiate usage
levels at five-year intervals.
Chad Halcom: (313) 446-6796,
chalcom@crain.com.
DBpageAD.qxd
2/19/2008
12:19 PM
Page 1
2/29/2008
3:18 PM
Page 1
Page 8
March 3, 2008
OPINION
Spend less on prison,
more on higher ed
or the first time in history, more than 1 percent of all
American adults are in prison, an all-time high.
And the burgeoning prison population isn’t driven by
skyrocketing crime rates. It has more to do, according to a report released last week by The Pew Center on the States, with
policies that send more lawbreakers to prison for longer periods, including parole violators.
That’s frightening news, but we were even more bothered
by this: Michigan spends $1.19 in state general fund money on
the corrections system for every dollar spent on higher education. Only four other states spend more general fund money on
corrections than higher ed, and in only one of those, Vermont,
is the disparity greater than in Michigan.
This is true even though Michigan’s prison population actually has fallen slightly and even though our rate of incarceration is in the middle of the pack.
We need to make controlling this a priority as other states
have. The report cites Kansas and Texas for adopting measures that include using community supervision for low-risk
offenders and imposing non-prison sanctions on those with
minor violations of probation or parole rules. Other solutions
might be administrative: finding ways to spend prison dollars
more efficiently so we don’t need to spend so many of them.
Michigan can make changes that will free up precious
funds without endangering our citizens. It’s time to start.
F
Expansion isn’t always growth
Two new hospitals are under construction in Oakland
County, while as many as three others are being contemplated
if state approval can be won.
This in a county that is growing only modestly and in a
metro area that is growing not at all. (See story, Page 1.)
It’s the consequence of people moving away from areas
with infrastructure and resources to areas where they have to
be re-created. That leaves the metro area in a situation where
some probably don’t have good access to hospitals, but without
the overall population growth to justify adding more beds.
The two hospitals being built by Henry Ford Health System
and St. John Health are intended to offset losses incurred by
providing Medicaid and uncompensated care elsewhere. However, three hospitals under consideration by William Beaumont Hospitals and McLaren Health Care Corp. may be more
likely to siphon off patients from existing hospitals without
the same compensating social benefit.
That’s a question the state ultimately will decide, but it’s
one more example of the dilemmas caused by geographic expansion without real growth.
LETTERS
Better transit center needed
Editor:
For over two years, I’ve traveled
between Birmingham and Chicago on Amtrak. I find the service to
be cost-effective and convenient,
for the most part. There are, however, some definite shortfalls.
This summer I sat next to a
young attorney from Germany
who had been attending a Rotary
International
convention
in
Chicago with her parents. This
was her first train trip in the U.S.,
and she expected to meet friends
when she arrived in Birmingham.
I watched from the train window as it traveled on to my destination in Pontiac and saw no one
there to meet her. She had no U.S.
cell phone. I couldn’t help but
wonder how lost she must have
felt, or what happened next.
Amazingly, the Amtrak Birmingham train stop has no facilities
in place or nearby to help a traveler if something goes amiss.
Also, the location is under con-
welcomes letters to the editor.
All letters will be considered for
publication, provided they are
signed and do not defame
individuals or organizations.
Letters may be edited for length
and clarity.
Write: Editor, Crain’s Detroit
Business, 1155 Gratiot Ave.,
Detroit, MI 48207-2997.
E-mail: cgoodaker@crain.com
struction with cars randomly
parked.
And, in December, snow left the
access road minimally plowed
with no snow removal to the walkway. Taking my daughter to the 6
a.m. train was an ordeal. We could
not use the wheels to pull her
heavy luggage, but rather had to
pick up and carry it.
Troy-Birmingham can do better
than this. These are lovely communities with forward-thinking
residents and governance. Let’s do
what we can to promote a transit
center representing the positives
this area can and does offer.
Elaine Garvin
Bloomfield Hills
West side was ignored
Editor:
It was with great interest and
excitement that I began to read the
articles in your Feb. 11 issue of
Crain’s concerning “Embracing
the D.”
But in finishing, all I felt was
dismay at the lack of recognition
of the west side of Metropolitan
Detroit in any of the Detroit Metro
Convention & Visitors Bureau’s
marketing plans. It was if nothing
exists worth mentioning north of
Michigan Avenue and west of
Southfield Freeway/Road. Southfield, Plymouth, Northville, and
Novi among others, all have thriving tourism, but none of them
were mentioned, let alone indicatSee Letters, Page 9
KEITH CRAIN: Someone really ought to see the light
I’ve never had a particular aversion to lobbyists. I figure that if I
can’t get around to all the folks in
Washington I am supposed to talk
to on behalf of my position, whatever that might be, then what’s wrong
with hiring someone to do it for me?
The trouble with lobbyists is like
everything else. When they go to extremes, it’s wrong. But it’s always
hard to figure out how far is too far.
Meanwhile, I wrote a couple of
weeks ago that the government had
mandated switching television signals in the United States without
any due process. It is going to obsolete millions
of television sets so it
can sell certain bands for
billions of dollars and
force everyone who gets
over-the-air signals to
spend their own money
for a converter box. The
whole thing is a scam,
and most objections will
come after it’s too late to
do anything about it.
I couldn’t help but agree with
Frank Beckmann of
WJR, who has become a
lightning rod for highlighting
government
waste and stupidity.
During the energy crisis debate in Congress, it
was decided not enough
was being done for energy conservation, and
Congress, with a complete lack of information, added to the energy
bill a provision to outlaw normal
electric lightbulbs and mandate flu-
orescent lightbulbs, a replacement
that has all sorts of limitations and
defects.
Instead of simply letting the marketplace decide that someone has
invented a better lightbulb, the government is creating a monopoly situation and putting out the good old
incandescent lightbulb. All at a
huge cost to consumers.
Once again, Congress has gotten
talked into passing laws that are
not based on logic or even decent
scientific information. And they
will create a monopoly for some-
one, put others out of business and
create chaos in the marketplace.
The truth is that if someone had a
better lightbulb, the consumer
would buy it. We don’t need government helping us with that.
There are times when we have to
get government involved. Reasonable people know when we need our
federal government to stick its
paws into the private sector. When
they do it under cover of darkness,
then you know something’s wrong.
Stock up on old-fashioned lightbulbs before they’re outlawed.
2/29/2008
11:41 AM
Page 1
March 3, 2008
Page 9
MARY KRAMER: ‘2-1-1’ program good news for our region
Forget the debate
over
Washington’s
“economic stimulus”
package. The quickest
way to put money into
the hands of working,
low-income residents
in metro Detroit is
through their tax returns.
Mike Brennan, CEO
of the United Way of
Southeast Michigan, figures $70 million to $100
million is “left on the table” in the
region by unclaimed Earned Income Tax Credits.
For a family of four earning under $40,000, it could mean a tax
credit of up to $4,300.
United Way is trying
to recruit tax preparers
and volunteers in the region to help get the word
out. But employers can
help, too. If you have
employees on the payroll you think might
qualify, you can get
more information to distribute companywide
from the United Way.
Just call the “2-1-1”
help line and ask for information.
You’ll be introduced to one of the
most successful “good news” stories in our region. 2-1-1 is the magic number for all kinds of help.
Facing foreclosure? You can find
out the programs that best fit your
circumstances. Out of food at
home? Gas or electricity being
shut off? Ditto.
In its first year, it logged 100,000
calls, rising to 160,000 in 2007. United Way expects to handle 250,000
calls in 2008 and 500,000 within five
years.
In three years, it’s the secondlargest 2-1-1 program in the country.
The 24/7 help line has 40 trained
staff members, and assistance in
Spanish and Arabic is always available. An online system of
“prompts” with a resource data
base allows staffers to identify 7,000
services in 1,200 service categories.
United Way sends data on calls
to service providers monthly.
More important, the program
tracks where the needs are — and
can identify where geographic service gaps are in the region.
The program also has been used
to target outcomes. For example,
when the Michigan Dental Association wanted to offer free dental services during February, 2-1-1 operators asked callers with other
problems: Does your child have a
dentist?
In three weeks, 900 children
were signed up for the “Make a Kid
Smile” program.
The talented call-center workers
deserve applause, along with Sullivan and Brennan. Three businesspeople who helped make 2-1-1 a reality deserve kudos: Lear Corp.’s Jim
Vandenberghe for raising the money; Joan Gehrke, the volunteer
chair of the effort; and Strategic
Staffing Solutions CEO Cindy
Pasky for an innovative 2-1-1 “on
the go” program to help people on
the streets.
Mary Kramer is publisher of
Crain's Detroit Business. Catch her
take on business news at 6:50 a.m.
Mondays on the Paul W. Smith
show on WJR AM 760. and in her
blog. E-mail her at mkramer
@crain.com.
LETTERS CONTINUED
■ From Page 8
ed in the “region map.”
Novi boasts Twelve Oaks Mall
and Rock Financial Showplace. Both
bring in hundreds of thousands of
visitors each year from outside
metro Detroit but are not worth a
mention by the DMCVB. Plymouth
has its winter ice festival and summer art festival while Northville has
the Tipping Point Theatre and
Genitti’s Hole-in-the-Wall.
I feel the DMCVB can do a better
job of representing the metro Detroit area in its marketing.
Keith Kuhn
Chairman of the board
Greater Novi Chamber of Commerce
Novi
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BEST-MANAGED NONPROFITS
Learn about making the most of
limited resources, plus hear
remarks and table discussions
with nonprofit leaders.
It happens 8:30-11:30 a.m. March
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The keynote speaker is Scott
Schropp, vice president, Merrill
Lynch-The Iles Group, whose topic
is “The Upcoming Transfer of
Wealth: A Fund Development
Strategy.” Also on the program are
two panel discussions:
Secrets of the Best Managed
Nonprofits, featuring Susan Ellis
Goodell, executive director,
Forgotten Harvest; Maury Okun,
executive director, Detroit Chamber
Winds & Strings; and Sally LePla,
executive director, Habitat for
Humanity-Oakland County.
Forgotten Harvest and Detroit
Chamber Winds were the winner
and runner-up in the 2007 Crain’s
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Habitat for Humanity is a winner of
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Community Foundation for
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Pasky, president & CEO, Strategic
Staffing Solutions; and Wendy
Jackson, program officer, Kresge
Foundation.
Registration is $35 through March
5, $45 after. Get more details at
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2/29/2008
12:09 PM
Page 10
Page 1
March 3, 2008
Gonzalez buys out joint venture
BY BRENT SNAVELY
After a partnership that lasted 10 years,
Gonzalez Design Group has bought out 49 percent of a joint venture it had with Comau
Inc., giving Gonzalez more control.
Gonzalez Design Group and Comau
owned Gonzalez Production Systems, a supplier of robotics, body shop tooling and general assembly tooling for the automotive industry. The division has about $50 million
in annual sales and 150 employees.
Originally, the venture was formed between Gonzalez and Progressive Tool & Industries Co., which was owned by the Wisne family until 1999, when it was
sold to Comau S.p.A.,a unit
of Italy-based Fiat S.p.A.
“Gonzalez Production
Systems was started with
the Wisnes’ at the encouragement of Ford Motor Co.,” said President
Gary Gonzalez. The relationship worked well early but was not as smooth
Gonzalez
after the sale.
Gonzalez said that after Luca Savi became CEO about a year ago, Comau decided
it wanted to divest its ownership in joint
ventures in which it was a minority owner.
“We were starting to diversify the business, so it looked like a good time for us and
it was a good time for Comau and Comerica
supported us, so we are excited,” he said.
The transaction closed about two weeks
ago. Gonzalez declined to disclose the price,
and Comau’s general counsel declined to
comment.
With the automotive industry distressed,
it’s rare for a traditional bank to loan additional money to a midsize automotive supplier, said Melanie Duquesnel, a vice president at Huntington National Bank.
But surviving as a standalone company
won’t be easy, Gonzalez said.
The production systems group faces
fierce competition from a number of larger
competitors including Kuka Flexible Production Systems Corp., Sterling Heights; Paslin
Co., Warren; Utica Enterprises Inc., Shelby
Township, and Comau. Several have annual sales between $200 million and $300 million, Gonzalez said. Plus, there is increasing competition from Europe and Asia.
Total sales for Gonzalez Group declined
from $92 million in 2006 to $85 million in
2007. That includes the company’s design
engineering, contract services and semi-kinetics divisions.
But Gonzalez has had recent success diversifying into other industries, including
aerospace, and also has opened an office in
Mexico to support the aerospace industry.
In September, Ford named Gonzalez as
one of its select Aligned Business Framework suppliers. It is intended to foster earlier and greater collaboration than in the
past between Ford and its suppliers.
And, the Gonzalez Production is one of
four preferred suppliers that Ford works
with for body shop tooling.
“I think Gary is in the right place at the
right time. He has managed his company
without trying to overextend himself,”
Duquesnel said. “And as a result, he has a
solid foundation and is able to grow.”
Brent
Snavely:
(313)
446-0405;
bsnavely@crain.com
Construction to begin to expand
Detroit Science Center for school
BY CHAD HALCOM
Within a month and without much fanfare,
construction will begin on a $15 million expansion to the Detroit Science Center to make
room for the newest charter school backed by
the Thompson Educational Foundation.
The foundation confirmed last week it
has awarded the contract to build University
Preparatory Science-Math Middle School to Detroit-based DeMaria Building Co.
The school has just reached its enrollment
capacity of 162 students, 108 sixth-graders
and 54 seventh-graders, for the first academic
year this coming fall, and will operate at a
temporary location until construction concludes at the science center on John R by
May 2009, said Margaret Trimer-Hartley, superintendent of University Preparatory ScienceMath Schools.“We haven’t closed enrollment
yet, but at this point we’re continuing to take
applications to develop a waiting list,”
Trimer-Hartley said.
The school hopes to grow to its full capacity of 162 students each in sixth, seventh and eighth grades by 2010 or so, she
said.
Construction will likely begin late this
month, since the Detroit Building Department
approved a permit last week for DeMaria to
build a new emergency exit and stairwell at
the science center to replace an existing exit
that will be covered by the new building, said
Kelly Fulford, director of public relations
and marketing for the science center.
Trimer-Hartley said the company hopes
simply to move on to breaking up the science center parking lot in April in order to
complete the full project by next spring.
The science center, currently occupying
110,000 square feet on four levels, will add
nearly 80,000 square feet with the attached
four-story structure to house 60,000 square
feet for the school and more than 15,000
square feet for a new lobby, welcome area,
cafeteria and gift shop.
DeMaria has completed two jobs on other
Thompson charter schools totaling more
than $8 million. Those were for renovations
and expansions to University Preparatory Middle School on St. Antoine and University
Preparatory Elementary School on Holden,
said Marketing Manager Amy Osebold.
The middle school will feature a full curriculum, but will integrate topics of math
and science into the other areas of study as
much as possible as part of the school focus, Trimer-Hartley said.
The foundation will lease the middle
school space for The Public School Academies
of Detroit, a nonprofit formed last year as the
management company of the science-math
schools and the applicant that obtained the
charter in December from Grand Valley State
University.
The management company is also in development on a high school near the Detroit
riverfront, and is also weighing a possible
elementary school, Trimer-Hartley said.
Chad
Halcom:
(313)
446-6796,
chalcom@crain.com.
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2/29/2008
11:01 AM
Page 1
March 3, 2008
Page 11
A CONVERSATION WITH
Big payouts drop nationwide
The top 10 verdicts and
awards dropped 25
percent from 2006 to 2007
after falling 72 percent from 2005 to 2006, according to
Lawyers USA. And the total of the top 10 verdicts in 2002
was 41 times larger than last year.
Brian
McKeen,
McKeen &
Associates
P.C.
Brian McKeen began practicing law in
1982, started his own firm in 1998
and has become one of Michigan’s
foremost medical malpractice
attorneys. In 2001, McKeen won
what is believed to be the largest
malpractice verdict ever in Michigan,
a $55 million judgment against
Henry Ford Hospital Systems for a 5year-old girl who suffered severe
brain damage after improper
treatment for respiratory arrest.
He currently serves on the executive
boards of the Michigan Association
of Justice and the American
Association of Justice, and was
named one of the Top 10 Lawyers of
the Year for 2006 by Michigan
Lawyers Weekly, a statewide
publication for the legal industry.
With tort reform, Michigan’s drug
shield law and generally poor
economic conditions, Michigan
attorneys aren’t seeing as many big
cases, with large jury awards or
settlements, as in the past. What’s
been the effect of tort reform on
plaintiff law firms? It’s put a lot of
attorneys out of business, frankly. A
lot of Michigan firms no longer do
medical malpractice.
They will no longer take cases where
elderly patients or babies died,
because they don’t see the
opportunity for sufficient verdicts or
settlements. That has
disenfranchised many medical
litigants.
Ironically, as more law firms have
gotten out of doing those cases, they
have sought out firms like mine and
made referrals to people like me.
law
Big verdicts, big dollars
A
Glass
Glass clash
clash
Guardian Industries Corp.
Guardian
Industries
Corp.
battles
over
its patents
on
battles
over Page
its patents
low-E
glass.
12. on
low-E glass. Page 12.
quarter-century-old criminal
case involving millions of
dollars in bank fraud losses,
several huge patent battles, and
squabbles between major health
care institutions marked the
Moving a hospital
2007 legal scene for Detroit
The Detroit
Detroit Medical
Medical Center
Center
The
fights to
to block
block the
the Barbara
Barbara
fights
Ann Karmanos
KarmanosCancer
Cancer
Ann
Institute from
from moving
moving to
to St.
St.
Institute
JohnRiverview.
Riverview.
John
Page12.
12.
Page
lawyers and judges.
One lawsuit that began as a bid
by fired Detroit police officers
Tax collection
collection
Tax
seeking damages or their jobs
The Detroit
Detroit Public
Public Schools
Schools
The
are sued over an operating
are sued over an operating
tax. Page 13.
tax. Page 13.
back has led to investigations
swirling around several Detroit
Since virtually all your cases are on
contingency (where attorney fees are
based on a portion, usually one-third,
of the amount paid), how do you
decide which cases to take, since you
need to win to win? No. 1, you need
to be careful which cases you accept
for litigation, and No 2, pursue them
passionately, diligently and expertly.
And manage each case so you
maximize chances of winning. By and
large, most cases are still settled,
but there has been some uptick of
cases going to trial and jury verdict.
lawyers, including Mayor Kwame
Your practice takes you all over the
country. How do you find the situation
for medical malpractice cases in
Michigan compares with that in other
states? Caps on noneconomic
damages in Michigan are among the
worst in the country, and the
procedural obstacles are most
onerous here. Plus we have an
appellate judiciary hostile to victims
of negligence and medical
malpractice in particular. It’s not true
in trial courts, although some judges
are more conservative than others.
But we see appellate judges and
panels overtly hostile to rights of
people injured by negligence of
physicians.
patient died under his care.
If you know
someone
interesting you
would like Bob
Ankeny to
interview, call
(313) 446-0404 or
write bankeny@
crain.com
Inside
Index to cases
2007’s top
verdicts and
settlements
Kilpatrick and his former chief of
staff, Christine Beatty, herself a
GARY MALERBA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kwame Kilpatrick testifies in the trial that ended up costing the city of
Detroit $8.4 million.
‘Textgate’
law school student.
Another case, a medical
malpractice lawsuit, packed a
$35.4 million verdict against a
doctor whose detox center
Other cases provided unpaid
commissions to salespeople or
reinforced the realm of
responsibility of the Michigan Tax
Tribunal.
This selection of large verdicts,
settlements and interesting
litigation is the result of reporter
Robert Ankeny’s efforts combing
through case files and reviewing
submissions from law firms and
case parties. Case profiles begin
on this page and continue
through Page 16. Our interactive
verdicts list is at
www.crainsdetroit.com/focus. -
Decision: A jury
awarded former Detroit
police officers Harold
Nelthrope and Gary
Brown $6.5 million in a
lawsuit alleging
wrongful termination
under the
Whistleblower
Protection Act. The
case was settled on
Oct. 17 with the city
agreeing to pay $8
million, plus $400,000
more to settle a similar
lawsuit brought by
Officer Walter Harris.
Venue: Wayne County
Circuit Court, Judge
Michael Callahan;
verdict Sept. 11, 2007.
Filed: June 2003.
Plaintiffs: Harold
Nelthrope, Gary Brown.
Lead lawyer: Michael
Stefani, Stefani &
Stefani P.C., Royal
Oak.
Defendants: City of
Detroit, Detroit Police
Department, Mayor
Kwame Kilpatrick.
Lead lawyer: Samuel
McCargo, Lewis &
Munday P.C., Detroit.
Harold Nelthrope, Gary Brown vs.
City of Detroit, Detroit Police
Department, Mayor Kwame
Kilpatrick
T
his was the underlying lawsuit in what has become
“Textgate” for the city of Detroit and Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
The Detroit Free Press, later
joined by The Detroit News, sought
through a Freedom of Information
Act request, followed by a lawsuit,
to gain information about a confidential agreement connected with
the whistle-blower case settlement.
Their investigation uncovered
text messages between Kilpatrick
and his then Chief of Staff Christine
Beatty that appear to show the two
lied under oath at the trial not only
about an affair they were carrying,
but also about the reason that Officer Harold Nelthrope and Deputy
Chief Gary Brown were fired.
At deadline for this report, the
Wayne County prosecutor’s office
was conducting an investigation
that could lead to perjury charges
against Kilpatrick and Beatty. Last
week, the Michigan Supreme Court
denied an appeal from the city and
Kilpatrick to keep documents about
the settlement sealed, and Judge
Robert Colombo Jr. released them.
Clothier
Clothier
collared
collared
After more than
After
more than
25 years,
25
years,
Grosse
Pointe
Grosse
fashion Pointe
fashion
designer Ilene
designer
Moses isIlene
Moses
is jailed.
collared.
Page 13.
13.
Page
Moses
Drug detox
man’s death
death results
results in
in the
the
AA man’s
largest reported
reported 2007
2007
largest
medical malpractice
malpractice verdict
verdict
medical
in Michigan.
Michigan. Page
Page 14.
14.
in
Commissions dispute
Bloomfield Hills
Hills sales
sales
AA Bloomfield
representation firm
firm battles
battles
representation
with aa South
South Korean
Korean auto
auto
with
parts company over a sales
parts company over a sales
contract. Page 14.
contract. Page 14.
Underpaid
Underpaid
Two saleswomen claim SBC
Two
saleswomen
claim SBC
Global
Services Inc.
Global
Services
underpaid
themunderpaid
for a huge
them
for a DSLPage
contract.
DSL contract.
14.
Page 14.
Double billing
Double
billing
Subscribers
sue T-Mobile
Subscribers
sue
T-Mobile
USA over data
access
overcharges.
data access
USA
service
Page 15.
service charges. Page 15.
Cityhall
Hall
Fighting city
TranswesternFountain
FountainWalk
Walk
Transwestern
contests the
the assessed
assessed and
and
contests
taxable values
values of
of its
its property
real
taxable
property
in Novi.
in
Novi. Page
16.Page 16.
DETROIT BUSINESS MAIN 03-03-08 A 12,13 CDB
2/29/2008
11:03 AM
Page 1
Page 12
March 3, 2008
FOCUS: LAW
Fight over glass
Moving a hospital
Guardian Industries Corp. vs. AFG Industries Inc.
Detroit Medical Center vs. Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute
rotecting its niche in energy conservation,
went to court in a battle over its
basic patents on low-emissivity
glass.
This is glass with a microscopically thin, virtually invisible
metal or metallic oxide coating
deposited directly on the surface
to control heat transfer through
windows.
Windows manufactured with
low-E coatings typically cost
about 10 percent to 15 percent
more than regular windows, but
reduce energy loss by as much
as 50 percent.
Guardian claimed damages of
some $90 million in its patent infringement lawsuit against AFG
Industries Inc. The lawsuit was
settled just before the trial started, with Guardian receiving an
eight-figure award plus added
payments should AFG decide to
continue to use the low-emissivity glass patents.
P
Decision: A patent
infringement lawsuit, in which
Auburn Heights-based
claimed $90 million in
damages, was settled before
trial, giving Guardian an eightfigure settlement, plus
substantial additional
payments if AFG Industries
Inc. uses Guardian’s patents
on low-emissivity glass.
Venue: U.S. District Court,
Eastern District of Michigan,
Judge Arthur Tarnow.
Filed: Sept, 25, 2003
Plaintiff: Guardian Industries
Corp., Auburn Hills.
Lead lawyer: R. Terrance
Rader, Rader, Fishman &
Grauer P.L.L.C., Bloomfield
Hills.
Defendant: AFG Industries
Inc., Kingsport, Tenn.
Lead lawyer: Martin Zoltick,
Rothwell, Figg, Ernst &
Manbeck, Washington, D.C.
W
ayne County Circuit
Court Judge Gershwin
Drain granted The Detroit
Medical Center an injunction to
stop the move of the Barbara Ann
Karmanos Cancer Institute to St. John
Riverview Hospital, based largely on
an August 2004 contract that DMC
argued forced Karmanos to operate a cancer treatment center on
its campus.
The DMC said it could have lost
$25 million a year if the cancer
institute moved, including
payments for non-cancer
treatment services the institute
performs.
“We didn’t think leaving
breached the contract,” said Jon
March, attorney for the cancer
institute with Grand Rapidsbased Miller Johnson.
The cancer institute is named
for the late wife of Peter
Karmanos Jr., chairman and
CEO of Compuware Corp. He
donated $15 million to the
RE A DY. W ORLDWIDE. 24/7.
A judge’s order stopped the planned
move of the Karmanos Cancer
institute to St. John Riverview
Hospital after the DMC said the move
breached its contract with the cancer
center.
organization in 1995. Created in
1994, it is a merger of the Michigan
Cancer Foundation, the Meyer L.
Prentis Comprehensive Cancer Center
of Metropolitan Detroit and the
cancer programs of Wayne State
University and the DMC.
The cancer institute treated
more than 20,000 cancer patients
in fiscal 2007, and sees 6,000 new
patients a year on a budget of
about $216 million.
After Drain’s ruling, Karmanos
dropped its plans to move.
Verdict: Preliminary injunction
issued against Barbara Ann
Karmanos Cancer Institute to
block move from Detroit
Medical Center main campus to
St. John Riverview Hospital.
Venue: Wayne County Circuit
Court, Judge Gershwin Drain,
July 10, 2007.
Filed: May 4, 2007.
Plaintiff: Detroit Medical Center,
Detroit.
Lead lawyer: Charles Raimi,
DMC in-house counsel.
Defendant: Barbara Ann
Karmanos Cancer Institute.
Lead lawyer: Jon March, Miller
Johnson, Grand Rapids.
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2/29/2008
11:03 AM
Page 2
March 3, 2008
Page 13
FOCUS: LAW
Collecting expired taxes
Briggs Tax Service L.L.C. vs. Detroit Public Schools et al.
he Detroit Public Schools were
sued by a proposed class of
business taxpayers for collecting more than $150 million during 2002-2005, a period in which a
school operating tax had lapsed.
The tax was renewed in 2005.
Wayne County Circuit Judge
Isadore Torres
ruled that the dispute should be settled by the Michigan Tax Tribunal.
Plaintiffs appealed;
the state Court of
Appeals affirmed
the decision and
the Michigan
Supreme Court denied leave. The Tax
Tribunal then dismissed the claim,
holding that a 30day statute of limitations applies. An
appeal is pending
in the Michigan
Court of Appeals.
T
NEWSCOM
Detroit Public
Schools collected
$150 million on an
operating tax that
had expired.
Decision: The Michigan Tax
Tribunal ruled that a proposed
class of Detroit tax payers waited
to long to sue for recovery of
$150 million collected for a
school operating tax that had
expired. The lawsuit remains
pending in the state Court of
Appeals.
Venue: Wayne
County Circuit
Court, Judge
Isadore Torres,
Michigan Appeals,
Supreme Court,
Michigan Tax
Tribunal.
Filed: June 20,
2006.
Plaintiffs: Briggs
Tax Service L.L.C.,
Detroit et al.
Lead lawyer: Jack
Mazzara, The
Mazzara Law Firm
P.L.L.C., Grosse
Pointe Woods.
Defendants: Detroit
Public Schools et
al.
Lead lawyer: Larry
Saylor, Miller,
Canfield, Paddock
& Stone P.L.C.,
Detroit.
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A clothier collared
United States vs. Ilene Moses
Verdict: Guilty, Feb. 1, 2007; 52
counts, bank fraud, mail fraud,
money-laundering, perjury.
Sentenced July 20, 2007, to 171/2 years in federal prison.
Filed: April 4, 1996.
Plaintiff: United States.
Lead lawyer: Assistant U.S.
Attorney Lynn Helland.
Defendant: Ilene Moses, former
Detroit clothing maker.
Lead lawyer: Thomas Minock,
Cramer & Minock P.L.C., Ann
Arbor.
Her company filed for Chapter
11 bankruptcy in May 1990, and after years of legal maneuvers and
claimed illness, Moses came to trial in January 2007 and was convicted of all 52 counts sent to the
jury after a three-week trial.
Now 71, Moses is incarcerated
in the Dublin (Calif.) Federal Correctional Institution, a minimum-security women’s prison. Her projected release date is Dec. 1, 2022.
"Shooting the Messenger: Why News Media Needs
a New Game Plan for Covering the Economy"
Presented by the Troy Chamber of Commerce
Speaker: Mary Kramer, publisher of
Wednesday, March 19, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
Management Education Center, 811 W. Square Lake Rd.
$34 Troy Chamber members/$44 Non-members
RSVP to 248.641.8151 or theteam@troychamber.com
cooley’s
auburn hills
open house.
Attend a Cooley Law School spring open house at our
newAuburn Hills Campus.Thursday,March 13,2008
Cooley administrators, department representatives, and faculty members will be
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cooley.edu
Judge Patrick Duggan.
knowledge. skills. ethics.
W
hen former Grosse
Pointe fashion designer
Ilene Moses was sentenced to 17-1/2 years in federal
prison by U.S. District Judge
Patrick Duggan last July, it ended
a saga that began more than 25
years ago.
Moses had
founded
Michelle’s Boutique in Grosse
Pointe in the
1960s, and in
the 1980s was a
Crain’s Newsmaker of the
Moses (file photo) Year and a Detroit News
Michiganian of the Year for her
entrepreneurship as president
and CEO of Detroit-based clothing
manufacturer SMS Inc.
In 1996, she was indicted by a
federal grand jury in Detroit, with
the federal investigators charging
that she and several confederates,
starting in 1982, set up a series of
shell companies and a fake corporate benefactor to defraud Michigan National Bank and Swiss Cantobank International of $26 million.
2/29/2008
11:06 AM
Page 14
Page 1
March 3, 2008
FOCUS: LAW
Death in drug detox
Commissions dispute
Susie Oppenheim vs. Dr. Aeneas Guiney, Project Straight Clinic
Votar L.L.C. vs. HS R&A Co. Ltd.
Verdict: $35.4 million, medical
malpractice, July 26, 2007.
Venue: Oakland County Circuit
Court, Judge Edward Avadenka.
Filed: Sept. 1, 2005.
Plaintiff: Susie Oppenheim.
Lead lawyer: Brian McKeen,
McKeen & Associates P.C.,
Detroit.
Defendant: Dr. Aeneas Guiney,
Project Straight Clinic, Troy.
Lead lawyer: John Toth, Toth,
Baldridge & Griz P.C., Bingham
Farms.
n the largest reported 2007
medical malpractice verdict
in Michigan, an Oakland
County Circuit Court jury returned a wrongful death damages verdict against a doctor
who operated a rapid drug-detox
clinic called Project Straight in
Troy. A patient died in 2004.
Dr. Aeneas Guiney was found
negligent by a jury and ordered
to pay the family of 33-year-old
Danny Oppenheim Jr. of Kansas
$35.5 million. Brian McKeen, attorney for Susie Oppenheim,
I
Danny’s mother, said that
Guiney neglected to consider his
patient’s history of hypertension
and lack of tolerance for anesthetics. When Danny’s oxygen
levels dropped below safe levels,
the doctor and his staff failed to
properly resuscitate him and he
died after several days on life
support, McKeen said.
Guiney’s medical license was
suspended in 2006 after Oppenheim and another patient died.
The Project Straight clinic then
closed.
I
n a dispute over sales commissions, Votar L.L.C., an independent sales representation firm
in the auto industry, claimed that
HS R&A Co. Ltd., a South Korean
company, had granted it a fiveyear exclusive sales contract for
North America.
Votar alleged that HS pirated one
of its key employees in 2002, broke
off all dealings with the Bloomfield
Hills sales rep firm, and built a
plant in Alabama to supply auto
parts to a Hyundai plant there.
A federal court jury in Detroit
agreed with Votar and awarded
$7.6 million in damages and owed
commissions.
Decision: A federal court jury
awarded a Bloomfield Hills sales
representation firm $3.1 million
in damages and an estimated
$4.5 million more for future
commissions under what was to
have been an exclusive contract
with a South Korean auto parts
company that the sales rep firm
claimed was violated.
Judge John Corbett O’Meara
Filed: Dec. 5, 2007.
Plaintiff: Votar L.L.C.,
Bloomfield Hills.
Litigation ...
Results Count
Lead lawyer: Randall Gillary,
Randall Gillary P.C., Troy.
Defendant: HS R&A Co. Ltd.,
Kyoungnam, South Korea.
Lead lawyer: David Poirier,
Young & Susser P.C.,
Southfield.
Decision: A federal court jury in
Detroit awarded two damage
judgments totaling more than
$6.7 million on behalf of two
sales workers for SBC Global
Services Inc. who claimed SBC
breached an implied contract
and underpaid them on what
the company had called a
“billion-dollar deal.”
Judge Sean Cox, Aug. 28,
2007.
Filed: April 12 and May 9,
2001.
Plaintiffs: Pamela Anton, Cheryl
Freeman Snipes.
Lead lawyer: David Lawrence,
Couzens Lansky Fealk Ellis
Roeder & Lazar P.C.,
Farmington Hills.
Defendant: SBC Global
Services Inc.
Lead lawyers: David Deromedi,
Kathryn Wood, Dickinson Wright
P.L.L.C., Detroit.
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• Six Fellows of the American
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• Six litigators top ranked in
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• Three litigators listed for
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Best Lawyers in America
Pamela Anton, Cheryl Freeman
Snipes vs. SBC Global Services Inc.
t has been almost seven years
since two saleswomen at SBC
Global Services Inc. filed lawsuits, claiming they were underpaid on a huge wholesale DSL contract they had landed for the
company when they got a total of
$36,000 in commissions between
them.
The cases were combined before
U.S District Court Judge Sean Cox
in Detroit and went to trial last
August. A jury found that the communications company had underpaid Pamela Anton and Cheryl
Freeman Snipes to the tune of $3.2
million and $3.5 million, respectively.
Judge Cox on Feb. 4, 2008, denied SBC’s effort to have the judgment overturned.
• Eighteen litigators listed in
Best Lawyers in America
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Ann Arbor Bloomfield Hills Boca Raton Detroit Holland Lansing New York Palm Beach Washington D.C.
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I
2/29/2008
11:07 AM
Page 2
March 3, 2008
Page 15
FOCUS: LAW
ISTOCKPHOTO.COM
Double billing
Chun Wing Wong vs. T-Mobile USA Inc.
he lawsuit alleged that
Bellevue, Wash.-based T-Mobile USA Inc. violated the
Michigan Consumer Protection
Act, double-billing subscribers by
charging them for data access services when they paid a flat rate
monthly fee of $4.99 or $9.99 that
was to guarantee unlimited access.
Federal Judge Nancy Edmunds
set aside a waiver provision in
subscribers’ contracts that required arbitration of such disputes in order for the lawsuit to
proceed as a class action.
The case wound up with T-Mobile changing its billing policies
and paying subscribers in the
class more than $3.7 million.
Lawyers were paid almost $1.1
million.
T
Decision: A class-action lawsuit
brought against T-Mobile USA
Inc. resulted in a net cash
settlement for overcharges on
data access services of $3.7
million plus attorney fees of
more than $1 million.
Judge Nancy Edmunds, July 20,
2007.
Filed: Oct. 12, 2005.
Plaintiffs: Chun Wing Wong,
Davisburg, and all others so
situated.
Lead lawyer: E. Powell Miller, The
Miller Law Firm, Rochester.
Defendant: T-Mobile USA Inc.,
Bellevue, Wash.
Lead lawyer: Andrew
McGuinness, Dykema, Detroit.
Michigan’s Finest Italian Steakhouse
Specializing in Corporate Events
49115 Pontiac Trail, Wixom X 248-960-7771
Now taking reservations online X ristorantevolare.com
2/29/2008
11:08 AM
Page 1
Page 16
SEEKING CASE STUDIES
FOCUS: LAW
You can fight city hall
Transwestern Fountain
Walk L.L.C. vs. City of Novi
ountain Walk contested the assessed and
taxable values of its
real property, which Novi
had assessed based on a true
cash value of $74.5 million.
The case was settled
based on revised true cash
values of $57.5 million for
tax years 2004-2006 and $47
million for 2007, Honigman
winning the company a savings of $2.4 million for the
four tax years.
F
Decision: In a tax case against
the city of Novi, Transwestern
Fountain Walk L.L.C. won
settlements that saved the
company almost $2.4 million.
Venue: Michigan Tax Tribunal,
Lansing, Judge Jack Van
Coevering, settled Oct. 11, 2007.
Filed: June 2004
Plaintiff: Transwestern Fountain
Walk L.L.C., Chicago.
Lead attorney: Michael Shapiro,
Honigman Miller Schwartz and
Cohn L.L.P., Detroit.
Defendant: City of Novi.
Lead attorney: Stephanie Simon
Morita, Secrest, Wardle, Lynch,
Hampton, Truex and Morley P.C.,
Farmington Hills.
March 3, 2008
PHOTO COURTESY OF TRANSWESTERN FOUNTAIN WALK L.L.C.
Transwestern Fountain Walk L.L.C. saved nearly $2.4 million in taxes by
challenging the assessed and taxable values of its property in Novi.
WE KNOW THE AUTO INDUSTRY
We’d like to know which local
companies are using diversity
initiatives to improve their bottom
lines. Crain’s
Detroit
Business will
publish a
special report
on diversity
April 14.
We’ll have
extra
emphasis on
how
companies of
all sizes put
their ethnic,
generational
and other categories of diversity to
work for them. If you have a story
to share, contact Jennette Smith,
assistant managing editor/Focus
at jhsmith@crain.com or (313)
446-1622.
Crain’s also will co-host with the
Michigan Roundtable for Diversity
a full-day conference on diversity.
The June 12 event at the MGM
Grand Detroit is focused on
innovation through diversity.
Crain’s will post more information
on our Web site,
www.crainsdetroit.com soon.
NOMINATIONS SOUGHT
FOR 40 UNDER 40
Crain’s is seeking nominations for
the 2008 class of “40 under 40,”
which recognizes young achievers
based on factors
such as financial
impact and civic
and community
leadership.
Winners will be
profiled in the
Sept. 29 issue,
and Crain’s will
celebrate their
achievements at
an Oct. 30 event at
Big Rock Chophouse/The Reserve
in Birmingham.
To be eligible, nominees must be
under age 40 as of Sept. 29,
2008. For sponsorship
opportunities, please call (313)
446-6052.
Nominations must be received by
April 7.
NOMINATE POWER SELLERS
HIGH GEAR. HIGH PERFORMANCE. HIGH EFFICIENCY.
The world’s leading automotive manufacturers and suppliers know what drives their business. They also
know they can’t delay when it’s time to hit the road in high gear. That’s why they turn to Dykema —
the law firm that’s been with them on every route they’ve traveled. When it comes to knowing the auto
industry, Dykema is the only choice for high gear, high performance, high efficiency representation.
A LAW FIRM FOR THE AUTO INDUSTRY UNLIKE ANY OTHER
California I Illinois I Michigan I Texas I Washington, D.C.
© 2008 Dykema Gossett PLLC
www.dykema.com
Are you a Power Seller? Do you
know one? We’re talking about the
kind of salesperson who makes
the most of every opportunity and
demonstrates sincere concern for
customers.
If so, let us know. Crain’s Detroit
Business will profiles a selection
of the region’s top
sellers in its July
14 issue.
If you’re a sales
manager,
nominate your best closers for
consideration. If you’re a
customer, nominate the best
professional who calls on you.
The nomination deadline is March
24.
For both award programs, visit
www.crainsdetroit.com/nominate
for the online form.
Contact Jennette Smith, assistant
managing editor/Focus, at (313)
446-1622 or jhsmith@crain.com
with questions about the process;
or Jennifer Dunn in marketing at
(313) 446-6786 or
jdunn@crain.com with technical
questions about the nomination
form.
2/29/2008
12:09 PM
Page 1
March 3, 2008
Page 17
EARNINGS
Aastrom Biosciences Inc. Nasdaq: ASTM
ITC Holdings Corp.
2nd Quarter Dec. 31
Revenue
Net income
Earnings per share
4th Quarter Dec. 31
2007
2006
Revenue
$109,400,000 $73,074,000
Net income
$15,642,000
$3,593,000
Earnings per share:
$.36
$.08
12 months
Revenue
$426,249,000 $223,622,000
Net income
$73,296,000 $33,223,000
Earnings per share:
$1.68
$.92
Revenue
Net income
Earnings per share
2007
$84,000
($5,172,000)
($.04)
6 months
$171,000
($10,222,000)
($.08)
Advanced Photonix Inc.
4th Quarter Dec. 31
Revenue
Net income
Earnings per share
Revenue
Net income
Earnings per share
2006
$158,000
($4,225,000)
($.04)
$262,000
($8,282,000)
($.07)
Amex: API
2007
2006
$5,306,000
$5,881,000
($2,726,000)
($964,000)
($.11)
($.05)
9 months
$17,980,000 $17,427,000
($6,489,000) ($3,321,000)
($.31)
($.17)
Agree Realty Corp.
NYSE: ADC
4th Quarter Dec. 31
Revenue
FFO†
2007
2006
$9,177,000
$8,354,000
$5,266,000
$5,260,000
Earnings per share
$.63
$.63
12 months
Revenue
$34,468,000 $32,907,000
FFO†
$20,739,000 $19,984,000
Earnings per share
$2.47
$2.40
†- Funds from operations is an accounting standard
used by real estate investment trusts that reflects net income plus adjustments such as depreciation and amortization.
Asset Acceptance Capital Nasdaq: AACC
4th Quarter Dec. 31
Revenue
Net income
Earnings per share
Revenue
Net income
Earnings per share
2007
2006
$61,360,273 $61,540,444
$3,951,594
$9,808,239
$.13
$.28
12 months
$247,998,183 $254,872,766
$20,406,513 $45,517,998
$.63
$1.24
Bonal International Inc.
NYSE: BWA
3rd Quarter Dec. 28
2007
2006
Revenue
$594,917
$421,339
Net income
($127,000,000) ($32,000000)
Earnings per share
$.06
$.02
9 months
Revenue
$1,798,006 $1,423,673
Net income
$388,192
$275,353
Earnings per share
$.23
$.16
Clarkston Financial Corp. OTCBB: CKSB
4th Quarter Dec. 31
Revenue
Net income
Earnings per share
Revenue
Net income
Earnings per share
2007
$1,573,000
($2,519,000)
($1.98)
12 months
$11,580,000
($3,988,000)
($3.15)
Credit Acceptance
4th Quarter Dec. 31
Revenue
Net income
Earnings per share
Revenue
Net income
Earnings per share
2006
$3,474,000
($265,000)
($.21)
$13,237,000
($712,000)
($.57)
Nasdaq: CACC
2007
2006
$63,232,000 $55,823,000
$12,484,000 $8,495,000
$.40
$.27
12 months
$239,927,000 $219,332,000
$54,916,000 $58,640,000
$.1.76
$1.66
Domino’s Pizza Inc.
NYSE: DPZ
4th Quarter Dec. 30
Revenue
Net income
Earnings per share
2007
2006
$445,941,000 $435,255,000
$16,176,000 $31,045,000
$.26
$.49
12 months
Revenue
$1,462,870,000 $1,437,319,000
Net income
$37,882,000 $106,227,000
Earnings per share
$.59
$1.65
Energy Conversion Devices
Nasdaq: ENER
2nd Quarter Dec. 31
2007
2006
Revenue
$56,449,000 $22,947,000
Net income
($5,426,000) ($2,913,000)
Earnings per share
($.14)
($.07)
6 months
Revenue
$103,491,000 $50,129,000
Net income
($12,993,000) ($5,215,000)
Earnings per share
($.33)
($.13)
First Mercury Financial Corp. NYSE: FMR
4th Quarter Dec. 31
Revenue
Net income
Earnings per share
2007
$44,906,000
$10,214,000
$.54
2006
$34,507,000
$3,598,000
$.20
12 months
Revenue
Net income
Earnings per share
$202,585,000 $137,492,000
$41,731,000 $21,869,000
$2.25
$1.58
NYSE: ITC
Kaydon Corp.
NYSE: KDN
4th Quarter Dec. 31
2007
2006
Revenue
$123,729,000 $100,147,000
Net income
$22,697,000 $17,657,000
Earnings per share
$.70
$.55
12 months
Revenue
$451,382,000 $403,992,000
Net income
$77,707,000 $69,508,000
Earnings per share
$2.41
$2.17
Oxford Bank Corp.
OTCBB: OXBC
4th Quarter Dec. 31
2007
Revenue
$7,056,000
Net income
($5,246,000)
Earnings per share
($4.53)
12 months
Revenue
$11,997,000
Net income
($5,928,000)
Earnings per share
($4.87)
Perceptron Inc.
2006
$7,904,000
$375,000
$.29
PARTY PLATTERS
EXECUTIVE BOX LUNCHES
DELIVERED
Y O U R C AT E R I N G S O L U T I O N
$2,026,000
$3,216,000
$2.51
Nasdaq: PRCP
2nd Quarter Dec. 31
2007
2006
Revenue
$19,11l7,000 $12,234,000
Net income
($188,000)
($864,000)
Earnings per share
($.02)
($.11)
6 months
Revenue
$36,783,000 $22,944,000
Net income
$259,000 ($1,505,000)
Earnings per share
($.03)
($.18)
Saga Communications Inc.
4th Quarter Dec. 31
Revenue
Net income
Earnings per share
Revenue
Net income
Earnings per share
Syntel Inc.
4th Quarter Dec. 31
Revenue
Net income
Earnings per share
Revenue
Net income
Earnings per share
Revenue
Net income†
Earnings per share
JIMMYJOHNS.COM
©2004 JIMMY JOHN’S FRANCHISE, LLC
Nasdaq: SYNT
2007
2006
$94,001,000 $73,106,000
$15,908,000 $13,277,000
$.39
$.32
12 months
$337,673,000 $270,229,000
$62,860,000 $50,916,000
$.1.52
$1.24
Universal Truckload
4th Quarter Dec. 31
Revenue
Net income
Earnings per share
NYSE: SGA
2007
2006
$37,501,000 $38,219,000
$3,133,000
$3,671,000
$.16
$.18
12 months
$144,023,000 $142,946,000
$11,004,000 $12,448,000
$.55
$.61
NASDAQ: UACL
2007
2006
$171,528,000 $163,829,000
$4,804,000
$5,286,000
$.30
$.33
12 months
$680,359,000 $641,627,000
$17,836,000 $21,009,000
$1.11
$1.30
A laptop or media device
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has been lost or stolen ...
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DIVIDENDS
Company
Amount
Community Central Bank
PSB Group Inc.
$.06
$.04
Payable Record
date
date
2008
2008
04-01
03-14
03-03
02-29
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BANKRUPTCIES
The following businesses filed for Chapter 7 or Chapter 11 protection in U.S.
Bankruptcy Court in Detroit Feb. 22-28. Under Chapter 11, a company files for reorganization. Chapter 7 involves total liquidation.
Ansbury Cleaners Inc., 54156 Van Dyke
Ave., Utica, voluntary Chapter 7. Assets:
$25,000; liabilities: $149,501.
Gist Enterprises L.L.C., 2682 Butternut St.,
Detroit, voluntary Chapter 7. Assets:
$390,500; liabilities: $385,302.
Otzer Capital L.L.C., 16400 J.L. Hudson Drive, Southfield, voluntary Chapter 11. Assets and liabilities not available.
Self-Guided Systems L.L.C., 442 Five Gaits
Court, Bloomfield Hills, voluntary Chapter 7. Assets: $20,032,005; liabilities:
$2,547,866.
— Compiled by Jonathan Eppley
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2/29/2008
11:10 AM
Page 1
Page 18
March 3, 2008
Homeless center planned for Roseville
BY SHERRI BEGIN
The Macomb County Rotating
Emergency Shelter Team hopes to
break ground this fall on a new,
one-stop shop for the homeless on
its Roseville property.
The group has received a
$600,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to help fund the $3.8 million
project on Erin Street, north of 13
Mile Road and west of I-94.
MCREST, which began in 1988,
houses about 60 people through a
collaboration of 84 churches in the
county. It is operating on a
budget
of
$540,000 for 2008.
All the shelters in the county continue to
see “ ‘frequent
flyers,’ people
who have rotated through the
shelters for a Lewis
number of years,” said MCREST
Executive Director Jimetta Lewis.
But many of the people coming in
now are new, she said. “They are
first-time homeless who have lost
their jobs ... ,” and many of them are
families.
As of January 2007, Macomb
County had 1,142 homeless people,
up from 899 in 2004, said Carrie
Fortune, coordinator of the Macomb County Continuum of Care, the
county system used to move homeless off the streets and into permanent housing. More recent figures
aren’t yet available.
As of Feb. 8, 356 school-age children in the county were living in
shelters, hotels, garages and vehicles, according to data collected by
the Macomb Intermediate School District, Fortune said.
“There are issues when a child
is considered homeless, and they
have to go to school every day not
knowing where they are going to
live or where they are going to get
their next meal,” said Frank Taylor, director of the Macomb County
Community Services Agency.
Plans for the 12,000-square-foot
center include a daytime drop-in
center, case workers to provide access to assistance and services, and
25 beds to provide transitional housing for mentally ill men, Lewis said.
The center will be called Jack’s
Place, Lewis said, in honor of her
brother who committed suicide. It
will include a commercial kitchen
to accommodate a MichiganWorks!
culinary arts training program.
Fourteen nonprofits have agreed
to provide services from the new
center, including job training; mental health, dental and health care;
substance-abuse counseling; legal
aid; and housing assistance.
The “one-stop shop” model is patterned after the county’s response
to Hurricane Katrina victims.
Government and nonprofit
agencies gathered at the Comfort
Inn in Mt. Clemens and the Sterling Inn in Sterling Heights, where
the majority of 187 Hurricane Katrina evacuees in the county were
temporarily housed.
“The evacuees were allowed to go
from one table to the next to get the
services they needed,” Lewis said.
Within five months of the hurricane, all evacuees were in permanent homes or had been given assistance to get back home or to another
relative’s house, Fortune said.
Sherri Begin: (313) 446-1694,
sbegin@crain.com
CALENDAR
TUESDAY
MARCH 4
Is the Michigan Business Tax Friend
or Foe? 1:15-5:15 p.m. The Wayne Law
Review and Wayne State University
Law School. Includes three panel sessions: “Overview of the MBT: What
Changes and Why Now?” “Incentivizing Doing Business in Michigan,” and
“Consequences of a Gross Receipts
Levy Within the MBT.” Spencer M.
Partrich Auditorium, Wayne State
University Law School, Detroit. Free.
Contact: (313) 577-3939.
WEDNESDAY
MARCH 5
Small Business Seminar Access to
Capital Roundtable. 8-10:30 a.m. Detroit Regional Chamber. Mike Semanco of Hennessey Capital. Participate
in a series of roundtable discussions
with industry professionals to ask
questions and learn how to prepare
and position your company when presenting to different lenders. Detroit
Regional Chamber, Detroit. $15 members, $30 nonmembers. Contact:
Kalisha Gaines, (313) 596-0392.
THURSDAY
MARCH 6
Regional Economic and Community Development Forecast. 11:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m.
Birmingham Bloomfield Chamber.
Government and business representatives from Birmingham-area communities and Oakland County Executive L.
Brooks Patterson.
Townsend Hotel,
Birmingham. $85
members, $95 others. Contact: (248)
644-1700.
Greater
Novi
Chamber Business
Accelerator Luncheon. 11:30 a.m.1:30 p.m. Rock Financial Showplace
and Experience West Oakland, a committee of the Greater Novi Chamber.
Christopher Baum, Detroit Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau senior vice president, sales and marketing. Rock Financial Showplace, Novi.
$25 members, $30 others. Contact: Whitney or Jenny, (248) 347-4622.
DDP MEETS MARCH 17
The Downtown Detroit Partnership
will hold its annual meeting and
luncheon March 17 at the Detroit
Marriott Renaissance Center from
noon to 1:45 p.m.
An overview of accomplishments in
2007 and plans for 2008 will be
discussed.
The deadline for reservations is
March 5 and tickets can be
purchased at www.
downtowndetroit.org for $65 each.
For more information, call (313)
566-8250.
and the 2008 World Trader of the Year.
Townsend Hotel, Birmingham. Contact: Beverly Maddox, (313) 596-0343.
COMING EVENTS
Urban Land Institute Young Leaders
Networking Event. 5:30-8:30 p.m.
March 12. Detroit District Council of
the Urban Land Institute Young Leaders Group. Corner Bar, Birmingham.
Free. Contact: Shannon Sclafani, (248)
807-1600.
Crain’s M&A Awards. 5-9 p.m. March
13. Crain’s Detroit Business and the
Association for Corporate Growth,
Detroit chapter. Six awards will be
presented to honor companies and executives in the following categories:
Best Deal of the Year; Dealmaker of
the Year; Lifetime Achievement; Best
Minority/Women Enterprise Deal.
Troy Marriott. $60 members, $30 students, $75 others. Group rates available. Contact: www.regonline.com/
08deals or (313) 446-0300.
Influential Women: “Making Your
Sleep Healthy and Happy.” 4-5:30 p.m.
March 13. Community House and Inforum. Barbara Fisher, founder and
managing director of United Psychological Services. Community House,
Birmingham. $22. Contact: Community House, (248) 644-5832.
Patterson
FRIDAY
MARCH 7
The 2007-2008 Detroit Red Wings.
ANOTHER KNOCKOUT
AT THE NEW DIA.
From bars to beaches to boxing, Ashcan artists caught Americans at play 100
years ago. Use your free time to see how they spent theirs. Life’s Pleasures: The
Ashcan Artists’ Brush with Leisure, 1895–1925. March 2–May 25, 2008
Tickets, dia.org or Box Office | Members see it FREE, 313.833.7971
This exhibition was organized by the Detroit Institute of Arts. Support has been provided by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs
and the City of Detroit. George Bellows, Dempsey and Firpo, 1924, oil on canvas. Purchase with funds from Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (31.95).
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
5200 Woodward Ave 313 833 7900
11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Detroit Economic
Club. Ken Holland, executive vice
president and general manager, and
Mike Babcock, head coach, Detroit
Red Wings. The Masonic Temple, Detroit. $40 members, $50 guests of members, $75 nonmembers. Contact: (313)
963-8547.
The Growth of the Healthcare Industry.
11 a.m. March 13. Michigan chapter of
CoreNet Global. Jim Safran, president
and CEO, Beaumont Services Corp.;
Brian Connolly, president and CEO,
Oakwood Healthcare Inc.; John Vismara, vice president, United Physicians Group; and Dan Riina, health
care consultant, TRG Healthcare.
Radisson Hotel, Bloomfield Hills. $35
members, $15 faculty and students,
$60 others. $10 late fee after March 5.
Contact:
Paula
Arwady,
paarwady@comcast.net.
State of Macomb County Address.
11:30 a.m. March 18. Chamber Alliance of Macomb County and Citizens
First Bank. Macomb County Board of
Commissioners Chairman William
Crouchman. Banquet and Events Center at MacRay Harbor, Harrison
Township. $25 members, $40 others in
advance. $30 members, $45 others at
the door. Contact: (586) 493-7600.
Regional Redevelopment Summit. 8
a.m.-3:15 p.m. The Michigan Suburbs
Alliance. Geoff Anderson, president of
Smart Growth America; and Dan
Gilmartin, executive director of the
Michigan Municipal League. MGM
Grand Detroit Casino. $30 members
and students, $40 others through
March 4; $60 members, $70 others.
Contact: Melanie Piana, (248) 546-2380.
Digital Divide Black Business Expo. 69 p.m. International Detroit Black
Expo Inc. Part of a series of monthly
business expos. Northwest Activity
Center, Detroit. Free. Contact: (313)
309-3215.
Detroit Regional Chamber Foundation
International Consular Gala. 6-11 p.m.
Honoring the Consular Corps of Detroit, the 2008 Emerging Global Leader
The Real Estate and Builder Conference. 1:30-7 p.m. March 18. Conference of the Turnaround Management
Association,
Detroit
chapter.
Atheneum Hotel, Detroit. $50 members, $100 others. Contact: Jennifer
Brewer, (248) 593-4810.
CALENDAR GUIDELINES
More Calendar items can be found
on the Web at www.crainsdetroit.
com. Please send news releases
for Calendar to Joanne Scharich,
Crain’s Detroit Business, 1155
Gratiot Ave., Detroit, MI 482072997, or e-mail jscharich@
crain.com. You also may submit
Calendar items in the Calendar
section of crainsdetroit.com.
2/29/2008
Page 19
business
Get outdoors
Page 1
March 3, 2008
MIXED MEDIA
11:12 AM
Il Posto hungry for expansion, Page 22.
John Hieftje
Mayor
Ann Arbor
John Hieftje, 56, is a true outdoorsman.
When the Ann Arbor mayor
isn’t immersed in city work,
he stays far away from
fluorescent lights.
Hieftje enjoys hiking,
kayaking, fishing and taking
walks with his wife, Kathryn
Goodson, and dog, Ruby. When
it’s time to retreat, he reads
Backpacker and Canoe and
Kayak, magazines that mirror
his outdoor hobbies.
For news, he turns to The
Wall Street Journal, The New
York Times, Crain’s Detroit
Business, The Detroit News,
Detroit Free Press and The Ann
Arbor News, online.
“Each week I try to get a
different paper,” Hieftje said.
“I like the balance.”
Television is for watching sports:
When it comes to TV,
Hieftje’s interests lie on the
basketball court.
“I’m a Pistons fan,” he said.
“I don’t have a favorite Pistons
player. That is one of the great
things about them, they are a
team.” He also watches
University of Michigan
basketball.
Other interests:
Hieftje said he has
an appreciation for
the arts and likes to
watch films at the
historic Michigan
Theater in Ann
Arbor.
“My wife and I
go to what you’d
call an alternative
or art
theater,”
he said.
“You don’t
find the
blockbusters, it’s more
independent films.”
But Hieftje doesn’t have a
favorite movie. “My opinion
changes with the last good
movie I saw,” he said.
Hieftje is a huge fan of jazz
and classical music. In fact,
his wife is a professional
pianist.
However, Hieftje’s media
hobbies don’t keep him nearly
as busy as his day job. He said
the city is currently rezoning
its downtown area and trying
to establish commuter rail
services to connect Ann Arbor
and Howell, and Ann Arbor
and Detroit.
— Leah Boyd
Food fare
W
hen life gets busy, it’s easy to let
cooking take the back seat. Although it sounds somewhat animalistic, we eat whenever, wherever and however we can. Sometimes it’s boxed,
other times it’s defrosted, and more times than
we’d like to admit, it’s branded by the golden
arches. Come on, who hasn’t had a
Big Mac on a crazy day?
Crain’s was convinced that not every business professional has abandoned the apron
— that there are still people who not only relish a
perfect home-cooked
meal, but also approach it
as an art to be shared
with love. So we asked readers to nominate metro Detroit’s most talented domestic chefs — our peers with culinary passion.
We received more than 100 responses. After sifting through an amazing
batch of pastry chefs, pit masters,
sauciers and connoisseurs, we narrowed the list to five: Jim Edelman,
Randall Fogelman, Korin Sharp,
Annabel Cohen and Michelle Fanroy.
Our picks span the culinary spectrum, ranging from
French cuisine to
scratch baking — each
with a unique flavor
and an individual mix
of talent, style and expertise. These domestic
chefs were kind enough
to wine and dine us
while we chronicled
their love for all things
yummy. You can read
their profiles on the following pages.
VIDEO
No dinner plans yet? Watch our chefs
in action, then print their recipes at
www.crainsdetroit.com/businesslives. Enjoy!
PHOTOS BY NATHAN SKID
2/29/2008
11:16 AM
Page 1
Page 20
March 3, 2008
BUSINESS LIVES
Fear no food
im Edelman’s advice to aspiring domestic chefs: Don’t
be afraid to try new things.
“It’s food, and as long as you
don’t burn it or over-salt it,
everything can be fixed — or at
least laughed about later.”
Perhaps he can’t understand
what it’s like to be afraid to cook,
but, still, he recommends deep
breaths, slow movements and
clear thoughts — then, he said,
you’ll never be thrown a curve
ball you can’t handle.
During the week, Edelman
keeps it simple: A piece of meat
or fish and a pile of veggies. On
the weekends, he tackles more
elaborate projects, like shiitake
mushroom ravioli with basilpine-nut butter sauce followed
by roast tenderloin with a wild
mushroom ragout.
“I love finding a flavor that I
experience in an Asian or Indian
restaurant and adding that to a
dish that I make at home. I love
cooking at home,” he said.
The Edelman residence is tailor-made for cooking and entertaining.
He and his wife, Celeste, are
seven years into the remodeling
and expansion of their almost
4,000-square-foot 1970s home on
an 8-acre parcel in a remote section of Salem Township. Edelman’s expansive, modern kitchen
is where the magic happens.
Guests sit along the other side of a
long island to watch him cook.
“I don’t like them to come over
on my side,” he said, half-joking.
Edelman built his own kitchen
cabinets to save money for the
must-have items, including high-
Cupcake therap
the Edelmans break out the
feather duster, but the menu isn’t decided until the day of the
event. Edelman wakes up, considers his cravings, then shops
for menu items so they are guaranteed fresh. Celeste functions
as her husband’s sous-chef.
But parties aren’t always elegant.
Each fall, the Edelmans host a
chili cook-off that started with six
friends and has escalated into 30plus entries and 200 guests. “The
judging is by no means scientific,” he said, “but that doesn’t stop
the cooks from approaching it
like they’re competing in the
World Series of chili.”
J
Name: Jim Edelman
Age: 44
Title: National sales
manager.
Company: Clear Channel
Radio Detroit.
Specialty: Roasting, pan frying,
grilling, smoking, preserving meat,
fish and fowl.
Favorite cooking gadgets: Chef’s
knife and cutting board. “I also
think that a can opener is
important. In fact, what came
first, the can opener or canned
food?”
end appliances and long sweeps of
granite counters that he made
sure were wide, so drawers could
be deeper and hold more items.
About a week before a party,
Beef tenderloin with an espresso rub.
Edelman said he avoids the
predictable and processed foods
of chain restaurants, preferring
family-owned spots like Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor. He calls
Eastern Market in Detroit “a
great food find” and treasures
the varied Middle Eastern spots
in Dearborn. “We have a lot of
great indigenous restaurants
here,” he added.
— Marti Benedetti
A
tidy compact kitchen in
Dearborn is the world
headquarters of a new
cure-all: cupcake therapy. Chief
Cupcake Therapist Korin Sharp
wears an “I (heart) cupcakes a lot”
T-shirt as she organizes apple-cinnamon cupcake ingredients.
What is cupcake therapy? A
strong desire to make people happy with baked goods, the therapist
said. “My day job (federal compliance analyst for DTE Energy Co.) is
on the dry side with lots of rules,
facts and figures. When I’m in the
kitchen, I use my creative spirit,”
she continued.
The cupcakes are prepared
quickly, even with peeling and
grating three apples. Sharp fills
the paper sleeves two-thirds full,
then pops them into the oven, a
dozen at a time. Those that aren’t
immediately consumed head to the
office — some lucky tasters have
confided that, months after sampling her work, they’re still dreaming of her cake.
Cupcakes suffuse her leisure,
from professional baking classes
and visits to cupcake bakeries
across North America to reading
cupcake cookbooks and browsing
the Web for cupcake recipes.
Sharp compiles candidates in an email archive.
Her already-baked portfolio
holds 50 varieties — the count
would be higher if she didn’t recreate favorites.
Tall and soft-spoken, Sharp is as
focused as her name. She’s reserved as she moves around her
work space, occasionally allowing
her sly humor to peek through.
Her analytical side came out dur-
Name: Korin Sharp
Age: 28
Title: Federal compliance analyst.
Company: DTE Energy Co.
Specialty: Cupcakes and superbly
decorated cakes.
Favorite cooking gadget: The
workhorse of every pastry chef, a
KitchenAid stand mixer. “I can’t
live without it.”
ing a discussion of cupcake pricing
around the country. For $3.50
each, they’d better be perfection —
and not just to the eye.
Cake decorating is her forte. It’s
obvious as she swirls creamcheese icing from a pastry bag
Bistro Randall
andall Fogelman understands the interplay between fresh ingredients,
culinary excellence and robust conversation. His connection to Eastern Market
Corp. offers him a unique view of the best
Detroit has to offer.
“People talk about Detroit as being a food
desert. I disagree,” said Fogelman, director
of special projects for Eastern Market Corp.
“I think if you look hard enough you can
find the ingredients you are looking for.”
Fogelman’s studio apartment is in Detroit’s Midtown. This evening, however, it
has been transformed into Bistro Randall.
Most of the ingredients used for this meal
were purchased locally. “The Eastern Market is an incredible resource for this city.
You can get basically anything you want
super-fresh there,” Fogelman said.
The dining room for 10 features one lone
table backed by a wall dedicated to Detroit architecture. Plush with an elaborate display of
place settings, each spread has three wine
glasses, china, silverware and a menu.
This evening, Bistro Randall is serving
roasted pumpkin and shrimp bisque paired
with a Concannon Central Coast Stampmaker’s white wine viognier, mixed greens and
pancetta lardons dressed in Dijon tarragon
vinaigrette and topped with a poached egg.
The entrée consists of beef Wellingtons with
roasted red pepper and portabella mushroom cream sauce, accompanied by grilled
asparagus, served with Summer Andriana’s
Cuvée cabernet sauvignon. An apple tarte
“They don’t shop like Americans, who
buy groceries two weeks in advance.” he
said.
Fogelman constantly searches for
ways to work in and around food. He filleted fish at Union Street, “just for practice;” took a part-time job at Whole Foods,
“so I could learn more about cuts of
meat”; waited on customers at Rafal
Spice Co.; and organized Comerica TasteFest, now known as the Comerica
CityFest, Detroit’s largest food festival.
R
Fogelman prepared pumpkin and shrimp
bisque (above) and mixed greens with
pancetta lardon.
tatin with house-made vanilla ice
cream for dessert, served with Sacchetto’s extra dry prosecco.
Fogelman’s a pro, and his passion
attracts some not-so-subtle hints.
“One of my holiday gifts from
friends this year was fresh, mail-ordered organic lamb with a recipe for
osso buco. It was a great gift. I got to
try something new, and they got an invite
to dinner.”
Fogelman has always surrounded himself with those who were willing to teach
him the culinary arts. He began experimenting with food during his undergraduate years, starting with a two-semester stay
in Florence, Italy. He says the finest aspect
of his trip was the abundance of fresh ingredients used for an evening’s meal.
He has taken cooking classes at a handful of
schools, including New York’s Institute for
Culinary Education and New School. In 2000,
he founded the Detroit Spice Co.
“Living here in Detroit is about economics, urban development and food,
everything I love. Anyone who knows me
would not be surprised to learn that I
work for Eastern Market Corp.”
— Nathan Skid
Name: Randall Fogelman
Age: 34
Title: Director of special projects.
Company: Eastern Market Corp.
Specialty: Using seasonal ingredients
for creative dishes.
Favorite cooking gadget: Shun classic 8-Inch
chef’s knife. “It is incredibly sharp and has
great balance and feel.”
March 3, 2008
2/29/2008
11:16 AM
Page 2
Page 21
BUSINESS LIVES
rapy
onto fresh apple-cinnamon cupcakes. “It’s like playing with PlayDoh, but it’s edible. You can make
anything out of sugar,” Sharp said.
Recent efforts include a “spaghetti-and-meatballs cake” of Swiss
meringue noodles, chocolate truffle
meatballs and strawberry puree
sauce; a cactus cake in a clay pot
with crumbled cookies in place of
dirt; and a miniature coral reef with
a sea turtle atop a wave (below).
Today’s result: Nothing flashy,
but one bite confirms her mastery.
Tender
crumb, nottoo-sweet
niblets of apple and subtle
cinnamon
notes. Truly a
dream.
In
her
short-term
baking future:
Mountain
Dew or key
lime cupcakes
with
meringue icing,
caramelized
by a blowtorch. Down the line: A
cupcake bakery or catering business.
— Constance Crump
The power of presentation
E
Name: Annabel Cohen
Age: 46
Title: Marketing manager.
Company: Eagle Ottawa L.L.C.
Specialty: Blending ethnic flavors into
dishes.
Favorite cooking gadget: Panini griller. “I
always say toast is the best thing since
sliced bread, and the panini griller makes
perfect toast.”
very dinner party deserves an ornate ta- for food. I like everything fresh.”
blescape.
Cohen is able to juggle her job as a marketing
Annabel Cohen’s has a spring motif. manager, raising her 18-year-old daughter,
Vases filled with pastel tulips and gerbera Raquel, and entertaining often because she
daisies; green leaf-shaped plates; and strategical- keeps a clean, well-organized house — and she
ly placed bunches of green grapes, limes and takes a lot of shortcuts, including buying pregreen apples. Square leather samples from Eagle washed greens, roasted chickens, soups in a box
Ottawa, an automotive leather supplier, lie be- that can be enhanced with homemade flavors,
neath place settings.
and loaves of high-quality
Cohen changes her
bread.
tablescapes to suit her
The avid traveler recentmood or fulfill a crely vacationed in Japan. This
ative idea. Mixing and
month, she’s going to India.
matching interesting
It’s fair to say that friends
items can work woncan count on a dinner party
ders.
upon her return. “I am in“Food is my life. … I
spired by different foods
love the process, the
when I travel,” she said. Inexpression, the chemcorporating ethnic flavors
istry and composiinto dishes comes natural to
tion,” she explained.
Cohen. Her parents were
The self-proclaimed
from Brazil, and her grandlousy sleeper said that
Steak and scrambled eggs topped with goat cheese. parents were from Turkey
it’s not unusual for her
and Poland.
to wake up in the midLucky for guests, she doesn’t like leftovers, so
dle of the night and start cooking. “I call it my
everyone goes home with a Chinese cardboard
golf.”
A Sunday brunch at her artful 1950s Bloom- container of food.
“The secret to my success is that I am not a
field Hills home proved that she takes her “golf”
pretty seriously. The menu included spinach tri- snob. I just cook what I like, and I cook like
angles, fresh blueberry, raspberry and boysen- everyone’s grandmother used to, assuming
berry parfaits garnished with yogurt and gra- granny was a great cook — a little bit of this and
nola, steak and wild mushroom and chèvre a little bit of that,” she said. “I usually make up
scramble. Flan was for dessert. Upbeat and ener- my own recipes. That’s what happens when you
getic, Cohen finds no entertaining task is too find 12 extra kiwis in the fridge.
much. “I didn’t do anything for this until this
Roasted salmon with kiwi salsa, anyone?”
morning,” she said, “including going shopping
— Marti Benedetti
Costco
Green Oak Village Mall
2/29/2008
11:18 AM
Page 22
Page 1
March 3, 2008
BUSINESS LIVES
Power Breakfast founder to step down
ulcie Rosenfeld’s baby is turning 15 on
March 12, and it’s not Jim, or Jill, or
Nancy or Hank. It’s
the Women’s Power Breakfast — the annual
fundraiser
Rosenfeld
founded shortly after
joining the board of
Gleaners Community Food
Bank of Southeastern
Michigan.
“They asked me to
raise a lot of money,” Rosenfeld
said Rosenfeld, who
signs her yearly income tax return “career
volunteer.”
The idea for the breakfast came from a story in
The New York Times
about a fundraiser for
Meals on Wheels.
The premise was simple. Socialites and businesswomen pay $100 a
ticket for a basic breakfast — oatmeal or dry cereal. A gentleman could
come, but he had to ante
up $1,000. There was no
assigned seating. Instead,
guests picked a table
number out of a silver
bowl, then sat, met and
Julie Yolles
mingled with other civicminded women.
“That was my hook,” Rosenfeld said.
Arrive at 7:30 a.m. for orange juice, coffee and networking. Pick table numbers at
7:59. Breakfast and speaker at 8 a.m. Leave
for work or home by 9:15. Badda boom, badda bing.
“We were flying by the seats of our
pantsuits that first year,” said Peg Tallet,
D
Name: Michelle Fanroy
Age: 40
Title: Regional vice president.
Company: Menttium Corp.
Specialty: Sweet potato pie.
Favorite cooking gadget: “I wouldn’t want
to have a kitchen without a cast iron skillet
or griddle — I use mine every Sunday.
Pancakes have to be made on cast iron.”
Baking
with love
any kids have a couple of household
chores. Michelle Fanroy’s was baking two sweet potato pies a week.
“I come from a family where Sunday dinners are important,” she recalled. “I’ve always been expected to bake the pies.”
Authoritative and energetic, Fanroy is
clearly at ease presenting her pie-baking
skills. She radiates a strong appreciation for
tradition, especially when it comes to family
and food.
Fanroy works out of her Troy home but
travels frequently on business. In her work
for Menttium Corp., she helps clients through
strategic mentoring.
“There may be no concrete result, or it’s
years in the making. Even then it’s subjective,” she says. “With baking, there is a tangible result — and the kids love it, too. The
best part for me is seeking perfection each
time: The right taste that only I know. It’s relaxing and satisfying.”
Fanroy’s sweet potato pie is sweeter and
smoother than most, she said. “I roast my potatoes instead of boiling them. Roasting retains
flavor better.” Surprisingly, she uses frozen
deep-dish pie crust. “If you can’t make it better
than you can buy it, why bother?” she asks.
Fanroy’s repertoire also includes other
longtime family favorites, such as banana
pudding, peach cobbler, rum cake and
pineapple cake.
“I learned to cook by sneaking in the back
entrance of my grandmother’s kitchen. After
breakfast, she would kick everyone out, but I
would sit at her small table and not make a
sound — just watch and learn. She shopped
at Eastern Market, starting at 4 a.m. I go with
my kids now — a son, 10, and a daughter, 14
— we make a morning of it, buying fruits,
vegetables, meat. They’re learning that food
is supposed to be fresh.”
Fanroy said she’ll pass down her grandmother’s most important lesson: You have to
bake with love.
“The success of a recipe is all in how it feels,
looks, smells and tastes. Not just the accuracy
of the measurements. It has to make your eyes
roll back in your head — then it’s right.”
— Constance Crump
M
Givers
&
Shakers
WOMEN’S POWER BREAKFAST
To benefit: Gleaners Community Food Bank
of Southeastern Michigan.
Chairs: Judge Trudy DunCombe Archer, 36th
District Court Detroit; Lois Miller, Gleaners
advisory board; Lisa Payne, Taubman Centers Inc.
When: 7:30-9:15 a.m., Wednesday,
March 12.
Where: Detroit Institute of Arts, Great Hall.
Specs: Coffee and networking — 7:30 a.m.
Breakfast and program — 8-9:15 a.m.
Speaker: Vicki Escarra, president and CEO,
America’s Second Harvest — The Nation’s
Food Bank Network.
What to wear: Business attire.
Cost: $100-$1,000.
RSVP: (313) 923-3535, ext. 260.
capital campaign consultant for Gleaners.
“I remember telling Dulcie that we had to
get the new first ladies of Michigan and Detroit involved, so we sent Michelle Engler
and Trudy Archer notes, and they both
agreed (to be the honorary chair and event
chair, respectively). After that, there was
no turning back.”
And no invitations, either. Just handwritten notes. The initial guest list was
compiled from Rosenfeld’s and Tallet’s
Rolodexes and holiday card lists, and
names found in the Crain’s Book of Lists.
So, in 1994, 120 of Detroit’s top female
corporate leaders and community volunteers came together at the Detroit Club to
fight hunger. Joining Archer as inaugural
co-chairs were Lisa Ford, wife of Bill Ford Jr.,
and Rosenfeld. Tickets started at $75.
Elder Automotive Group CEO Irma Elder, always one for a tidy bottom line, told Rosenfeld: “My secretary wrote me down for a $150
pledge, but I’ll give you $1,000 to make your
goal an even $15,000.
“I did it because I thought it was a terrific cause,” Elder said. “Dulcie made the
Power Breakfast what it is today.”
When the 15th annual Woman’s Power
Breakfast concludes at 9:15 a.m., Rosenfeld’s tour of duty will come to an end. It’s
time to pass down the cereal spoon.
“It’s not the end of the Power Breakfast,”
said Rosenfeld, who snowbirds six months
a year in Carlsbad, Calif., with her husband, Norman, retired president and CEO of
Sibley’s Shoes. “I’m sure it will go on famously and successfully as long as the
need is still there and, unfortunately, I’m
afraid the need will go on indefinitely.”
Gleaners distributes food to more than
400 agencies locally, averaging about 2 million pounds of food a month. At the end of
2007, Gleaners saw a 22 percent increase in
local demand, while receiving 20 percent
less in national food donations.
“The Power Breakfast is not about what
you’re eating,” Rosenfeld said. “It’s about
the people you’re with and the cause that
you’re serving. It’s an outrage that anyone
in this community should be hungry.”
The Power Breakfasts have netted more
than $1 million. Attendance is around 300,
depending on the venue and number of
women’s restroom stalls, which Rosenfeld
says is paramount.
So how many men have crashed the Power Breakfast? Rosenfeld said former Gleaners President Don Slatkin came one year.
David Hermelin, now deceased, sent money.
And Rosenfeld’s husband came, too.
“He just stood on the outside and looked
in,” she laughed. “But he sure paid his
$1,000.”
Etkin project has Il Posto expanding
T
ony Gioutsos, owner of Il Posto Ristorante in Southfield, is eager for
spring to arrive.
That’s when Etkin Equities L.L.C., Il Posto’s landlord, plans to begin tearing down a
former Tom’s Oyster Bar at Franklin Center,
giving Il Posto visibility from Franklin
Road for the first time.
“They had the view,
so this will be a big deal
for us,” Gioutsos said.
Il Posto also plans to
convert a portion of
Tom’s former space into
a patio for outdoor dining. Three stone archways in Il Posto will be
knocked out and replaced with windows
for a patio view. An existing, smaller patio
will become a courtyard.
Brent Snavely
Etkin plans to pay for
the project, said Jim Ketai, a principal of Southfield-based Etkin.
In return, Il Posto agreed to a higher lease
rate.
According to CoStar Group, a real estate
data provider, there is 7,000 square feet of
space available for lease at Franklin Center, for an average asking rate of $21.75 a
square foot.
Ketai said Etkin decided to demolish
Tom’s because it couldn’t find a tenant to
take the spot and because it will free up
space for parking. The project should be
completed by June, he said.
Gioutsos and several partners bought Il
Table
Ta l k
Posto, Pi Restaurant and
said. “I don’t think I had a
Pi Banquet Hall in June
strong enough general
2006 through an auction
manager to fully make
after a foreclosure.
that transition until
Pi and Pi Banquet Hall
now.”
are on the other side of
Northwestern Highway.
Pi is the former Excalibur,
which was purchased by
Greg Miller, co-owner of the Lodge Grill & Bar
former Il Posto owner
on Orchard Lake Road in
Giovanni Belsito in 2002.
Keego Harbor, is about to
Il Posto, at 29110
open a second restaurant.
Franklin Road, was
Miller said his goal is to
named Restaurant of the
open the 8,000-square-foot
Year by Hour Detroit in
restaurant
by
St.
2006. But shortly after
Patrick’s Day, pending
that, Belsito experienced
approval of a liquor lifinancial trouble.
cense. It will be at 45660
“The short story is
Mound Road in Shelby
this: When he had Il PosTownship at a building
to, he wanted to expand,
so he ended up buying
NATHAN SKID/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS previously occupied by
Shelby Roadhouse.
Excalibur and Excal- Tony Gioutsos of Il Posto looks
With 50 plasma-screen
ibur’s banquet hall,” forward to upcoming changes.
TVs and a 65-foot-long
Gioutsos said. “My family invested in that, but the whole deal went bar, Miller said the atmosphere is similar
to Champps Americana. It specializes in ribs,
south.”
Returning Il Posto to its glory days has steak, chicken, burgers, sandwiches and
been hard, Gioutsos said. Challenges in- salads with entrées ranging from $8 to $14.
clude the economy, nearby competition, as
Last month, Forté began selling
well as a reputation that Il Posto gained for gourmet coffee for 25 cents a cup and freshly made pastries for $1 each from 8 a.m. to
pretentious service.
Gioutsos said the renovation plans, 10:30 a.m., with all proceeds benefiting the
along with a new general manager, Maur- Make-A-Wish Foundation of Michigan.
The restaurant will continue to do so unizio Soussi, from Larco’s Italian Chophouse
in Troy, will give Il Posto a much-needed til it unveils a full breakfast menu on
March 31. Forté, which opened in the midboost.
“We are not going to treat our customers 1990s in downtown Birmingham, has previwith arrogance and snobbery,” Gioutsos ously served only lunch and dinner.
Short takes
March 3, 2008
Page 23
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RESTAURANT FOR LEASE OKEMOS, MICH
Former restaurant Villegas, 4,031 sq. ft., partially
equipped incl. hoods, Class C license available. Call
Tom LeBlanc, DTN Mgmt. 517-371-5300
DOWNTOWN FERNDALE MULTI-USE BUILDING
For sale or lease. 4,950 sq. ft. Office/Warehouse,
Retail or Restaurant. Loading dock, private parking.
Call 248-388-3333
WANTED: APARTMENTS 1975 OR
NEWER
• 150 or more units
• Detailed 12 month operational trailing cost,
previous year end operating statement and
current rent roll needed
• Unit breakdown with square footage and
construction makeup
• Must have price reflective of today’s market
conditions
• Cash buyer
Send information to: Grand Sakwa
P .O. Box 252018
West Bloomfield, MI 48325
CONSULTANTS
FINANCIAL SERVICES
PAYMENT: All classified ads must be prepaid.
Checks, money order or Crain’s credit approval
accepted. Credit cards accepted.
CLOSING TIMES: Monday 3 p.m.,
one week prior to publication date.
Please call us for holiday closing times.
• 30 lot minimum with no maximum
• Lots between 50’ to 80’ wide with utilities at the site
• Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, and
Washtenaw Counties
• Must have price reflective of today’s
market conditions
• Cash buyer
P.O. Box 252018
WATERFRONT PROPERTY
A Great Reason to Live in Michigan!
Come home to your new custom home (your plans or
ours). Enjoy water sports and stunning sunsets.
In Brighton at HiltonPointeEstates.com
Advertise your
goods and services in
AUCTIONS
BUSINESS ASSETS
WANTED: ZONED MULTIFAMILY/
APARTMENT PROPERTY
• 10 acres minimum which allows higher
densities
• Utilities at site
• Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, and Washtenaw
Counties
• Must have price reflective of today’s market
conditions
• Cash buyer
P.O. Box 252018,
ANNOUNCEMENTS
WAREHOUSE DONATION
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is
seeking 10,000 - 20,000 sq. ft. warehouse
in Metro Detroit to be donated to the Society to help fulfill its mission. A combination sale/donation will be considered.
Please contact 313-393-2926 or email
execdir@svdpdet.org.
Bronze sculptures, wood
carvings, marble, alabaster
& onyx pieces, glass vases,
pottery, paintings, shadow boxes,
ceramic pieces, jade & marble table,
shell art, reptile art, golf art, totem poles,
plant pedestals, oriental art, oriental
room dividers, antique brass & silver
pieces, planters, fountains, baskets, stain
glass ceiling fixtures, showcases,
furniture, lights, jeweled purses, candles,
marble tables, metal chairs, carved wood
furniture and much more
---------------------------------------------------------
Terms: 10% buyer’s premium
applies at this sale!
R. J. Montgomery & Assoc., Inc.
visit our website for more info
www.rjmauctions.com
FOR LEASE:
Romulus Warehouse, Near I-275 & VanBorn Rd.
20,000 to 60,000 sq. ft. available, 9 truck wells,
Call 248-821-5522
Leasing 4 Units - 12,000, 24,000, 50,000 & 106,000
s.f. @ Burt Indust’l Pk. (I-96/Telegraph), Very Clean,
Dry, Well-Maint., Docks, Truck Pkg, EZ Freeway
Access. (248) 356 - 5466
MADISON HEIGHTS
STEPHENSON HIGHWAY
27,500 sf., distribution bldg. 32’ ceiling,
sprinklered, multiple truck wells, 20’ x
25’ OH truck door, heavy power. Below
market rates. Lease or sale.
Call Mel Stern, Broker
248-626-9400
Real Estate Advisors - Call us
Planning to
Buy
Sell • Lease
f multiple Commercial
We’re linked to
•
Networks and we create results for you
“Incredible deals are being Negotiated”
Call us Now!
Custom Office Suites
from 200 to 2,500 sq. ft.
Shared Reception
Conference Room
Kitchen
Broadband Internet
South Genesee’s Premier Warehouse
45,000 sq. ft.
With Rail
83,700
sq. ft.
With 4 Docks
Quality Tenants
Exceptional Value
Catellus Group, LLC
810-695-7700
NOW LEASING
Erwin Tonch, CCIM
Inspect: Wed, Mar 5, 9-4
INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY
COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES
34935 Schoolcraft, Livonia
Online Auction
Start: Wed, Mar 5
End: Wed, Mar 12
Lost Lease - Assets of
Hob Nob Gallery
WANTED: NEIGHBORHOOD SHOPPING
CENTERS
• 100,000 sq ft or greater
• Must have Anchor Tenant
• Price must reflect vacancies and current
income
• Aggressive cap on exsisting income
• Cash buyer
P.O. Box 252018
TONCH
Properties
www.tonch.com (734) 522-1200
WANTED: BANK OWNED/FORECLOSED
COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES.
Send information to: info@wepurchaseland.com
Or call (586) 582-9700
SHOPPING CENTER & OFFICE BLDG. FOR SALE
Everett Plaza, Lansing, MI, 62,000 sq. ft. total, good
location, tenant base and income. Call Tom LeBlanc.
DTN Mgmt Co. 517-371-5300
AVAILABLE NOW
4,000 to 100,000 sq. ft.
Also 10,000 & 25,000 sq. ft.
Free Standing Bldgs w/truckwells.
1 Mile from Metro Airport
REA CONSTRUCTION
(734) 946-8730
Also Heavy Industrial
Land Available
www.reaconstruction.net
SOUTHFIELD AREA
GREAT USER/ INVESTMENT
OPPORTUNITY
WAS $14.75 psf + electric, - NOW $9.75 psf
+ electric. Will sell for $45.00 psf.
Up to 15,000 sq. ft. available - can be divided.
Clean, secure, well maintained
Southfield office building.
Please Contact: Dan Verderbar
248.324.2000
www.friedmanrealestate.com
Troy - 15 acres at I-75/
Rochester Rd/Big Beaver
Excellent Development opportunity
39,000 sq. ft. of existing Industrial
Buildings with 70 loading doors
and 5 drive thru bays .
For Sale @ below market rate
$10,000 bonus to selling agent
Contact Jerry Rauch @ Burr & Temkin
(313)640-4444
2/29/2008
11:20 AM
Page 1
Page 24
March 3, 2008
CRAIN’S REAL ESTATE
AUCTIONS
H
13650 E 10 Mile Rd., Warren, MI
Tues March 18th at 4pm
E 10 M ile Rd.
666++//-3.3.6
ress
Acre
Ac
Beth Rose
CAI Auctioneer
Registration at 3pm
Auction held at: Holiday Inn
30000 Van Dyke Ave. in Warren
Rose Auction Group, LLC
877-696-7653
bethroseauction.com
Endless possibilities! 3.66 +/- acres of vacant land with 585 feet of frontage. The district is
classified as medium/light industrial & allows a legal use of this property for, but not limited
to, any commercial retail, medical office, assisted living and much more. A New Walgreen’s
Store is adjacent to the property & the Henry Ford Health System Bi-County Hospital is
located at the same intersection. Property includes gas, electric, city water & sewer hook ups.
Access to railroad opportunities. Sells to the highest bidder!
INVESTMENT PROPERTY
OFFICE BUILDING
AIRPARK-LINDEN, MI
Development Opportunities/Partnership,
Commerical & Residential, Call 248-921-6600
www.horizonlakes.com
WANTED: OFFICE BUILDINGS
20,000 sq. ft. or greater. Macomb, Oakland County
only. Send information to: info@wepurchaseland.com
Or call (586) 582-9700
OFFICE BUILDING
OFFICE SPACE
FOR SALE or LEASE
Premier Office Space Available
37899 12 Mile Rd • Farmington Hills, MI
• 17,000 SqFt Traditional Style Office Building with
Private Entrances
• Individual HVAC Controls, Operable Windows,
ADA Accessible
UNIQUE OFFICE SPACE
3 furnished offices in historic building circa 1880.
Near Ren Cen, Reasonable rates. For more info,
go to: www.kiyaimages.com/paulhughes
or call Paul M. Hughes (313) 567-1650
Bloomfield Hills "A" Office -- Window office(s)
available in existing law firm suite; optional secretarial
station; includes library/conference room and kitchen;
optional use of internet, fax, copier and scanner 248-645-1450
Milford Village Office Space Available
New Construction, move in immediately, excellent
parking, build out included, walking distance to shops
and restaurants. Suites from 400 sf to 9000 sf
248-343-6487
WAREHOUSE STORAGE SPACE
• Abundant Parking
• Convenient Access to M-5, I-275 and I-696
Expressways
• Up to 2,800 SqFt Available for User/Investor
For More Info Please Contact:
Bob Moon
robert.moon@freg.com
248.324.2000
34975 W Twelve Mile Rd
Farmington Hills, MI 48331
www.friedmanrealestate.com
Heated Storage For Big Boy Toys
Motor Homes, Classic Cars,Industrial Equip.,
Individual Units 700-5000 sq.ft, Oversize
Doors. Located on Van Dyke Fwy Near
31 Mile Rd In Washington Twp.
Call 1-586-336-9999
Turnkey Storage
CRAIN’S EXECUTIVE RECRUITER
MANAGEMENT
The Youth & Education division of ACCESS,
a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to
the development of the greater community in
all aspects of economic and cultural life, is
launching a new, state of the art youth facility
to be erected in Dearborn MI. We are seeking a
visionary to take us to the next level of progress in overall youth development. This is an
incredible opportunity in transformational
youth development and design. Optimum candidate will lead youth in academic, social,
emotional, and recreational advancement as
well as conduct community outreach and empowerment. Minimum requirements, M.A. degree in education or a related field, with specific experience in youth development, program
management and grant writing. Familiarity
working with multi-cultural communities a
must, qualified applicants please submit your
resume to: HRDept@accesscommunity.org
GENERAL
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN’S
MEMORIAL PHOENIX ENERGY INSTITUTE (MMPEI) is seeking a Marketing
and Communication Director to refine and
implement an innovative, marketing communication plan in support of the Institute’s mission: to chart the path to a
clean, affordable and sustainable energy
future.
The marketing communication
plan is aimed at establishing MMPEI’s expertise in energy research and education
among its various target audiences. For
more information on MMPEI, please visit
www.mmpei.umich.edu.
To review the entire position description
with applicant qualifications and to apply,
visit http://www.umich.edu/~jobs/
and refer to job posting ID #16665.
The University of Michigan is an equal
opportunity/affirmative action employer.
FINANCE
Jeffrey Johnston to managing director,
Absolute Commercial Land Auction
Zoned M-2
M-2 Commercial
Commercial
Zoned
PEOPLE
MANAGEMENT
GENERAL MANAGER
Greater Media Detroit is looking for a general
manager for the three-station cluster of WCSX, WRIF
and WMGC. This person is responsible for the overall
operation of a profitable business, including all strategic, sales, programming and personnel decisions.
The general manager is responsible for the maintenance of the station FCC license, community involvement, and ethical business practices for clients and
employees alike. A minimum of 5 years of broadcast
senior management experience with a proven track
record of success; Complete understanding of all
FCC rules and regulations, sales practices and strategic planning and execution. Prior local radio cluster
management experience is a positive plus. Apply in
confidence by sending qualifications and résumé to
Human Resources Department, Greater Media
Detroit, One Radio Plaza, Detroit, Michigan 48220.
financial advisory services practice,
Alix Partners L.L.P., Southfield, from
senior managing director, Conway
MacKenzie and Dunleavy, Birmingham. Also, Jeff Forman to director,
from director of corporate development, Ciba Vision/Novartis, Duluth,
Ga.
Meg Potts to director of finance, CFO
Partners Inc., Rochester Hills, from finance manager for engineering and
aftermarket, American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc., Detroit.
HEALTH CARE
William Gordon to chief of staff, St.
Joseph Mercy Oakland Hospital, Pontiac, from surgical director of the intensive care unit.
INDUSTRY GROUPS
Tina Benvenuti Sullivan to communications director, Automotive Youth Educational Systems, Troy, from managing director, Eview 360, Farmington
Hills.
INFO/TECHNOLOGY
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
David Robson
has been
named COO of
Detroit-based
law firm Miller
Canfield
Paddock and
Stone P.L.C. He
replaces
Robert Post.
Robson, 47,
had been
Robson
senior vice
president, CFO and chief
investment officer of Bostonbased Pembroke Real Estate Inc.
Robson earned a bachelor of
science with a major in
engineering science and
mechanics from Pennsylvania
State University and an MBA from
the University of Michigan. He
lives in Birmingham.
Miller Canfield, established in
1852, employs 800 at offices in
five states, Canada and Poland.
dustries of Greater
Detroit, Detroit,
Michael van Lent to chief scientist,
Soar Technology Inc., Ann Arbor,
from associate director for games research, the Institute for Creative
Technologies, University of Southern
California, Los Angeles.
Shawn Duffy to vice president of business development, WoodWing USA,
Detroit, from vice president of sales,
MediaSpan, Ann Arbor.
Blake Helppie to CEO, JobApp Network, Troy, continuing as partner,
Vineyard Capital Group, Troy.
Wayne Keiser to
senior sales engineer, Puritan Automation, Wixom,
from engineering
and sales representative, Novi
Precision Products, Brighton.
Jeffrey Basch to
vice president of
business developKeiser
ment,
Adaptive
Materials Inc., Ann Arbor, from market director of automotive business
development, General Electric, Southfield. Also, Annamaria Hornyak to director of human resources, from senior manager of global compensation,
Hayes Lemmerz International Inc.,
Northville; and William Siddall to
manager of military programs, from
product development manager-forward models, Ford Motor Co., Dearborn.
REAL ESTATE
from senior account executive
and director of
video production
services,
Marx
Layne
&
Co.,
Farmington Hills.
REAL ESTATE
Lane
Todd Hoffmeyer to
vice president of
development and
acquisition, Tinelle
Properties L.L.C.,
Southfield, from
senior associate
retail division, Lee
&
Associates,
Novi.
SUPPLIERS
Sir Ronald Hampel,
Hoffmeyer
retired chairman
of
Templeton
Emerging Markets Investment Trust,
London; and Kenneth Langone, founder
and chairman, Invemed Associates
L.L.C., New York, N.Y., to the board of
directors, TI Automotive, Warren.
Ryan Carr to CFO, Azure Dynamics
Corp., Oak Park, from CFO, Ryko
Manufacturing, Sanford, Fla.
Ronald Gesquiere to director of business development, Piston Group, Detroit, from vice president, sales and
application engineering,
ZF
Sachs, Northville.
Rob Peters to director of architectural
design and planning, The Forbes Co.,
Stephen Schmitt
Southfield, from director of store planning.
to key account
manager, automotive division,
CONSTRUCTION
RETAIL
Toyoda Machinery
USA,
Wixom,
Construction Administrator
Mick McGuire, partner, Pershing
Square Capital Management L.P.,
New York, N.Y., to the board of directors, Borders Group Inc., Ann Arbor.
from
regional
sales manager, Index Corp., Noblesville, Ind.
Florida - Michigan
Experience with all phases of commercial build-outs,
remodeling and alterations. Estimating, cost controls,
contracts, customer contact.
Part Time, Full Time or Per Diem
Phone: 239.292.2771
Email: e.viazanko@comcast.net
LEGAL
MARKETING
Stefan Kogler to executive vice president, creative director, new and alternative media, Campbell-Ewald, Warren, from senior vice president,
creative director, new and alternative
media.
ATTORNEY POSITION
NONPROFITS
Attorney wanted for small Ann Arbor, Michigan firm specializing in commercial transactions and litigation. Ideal candidate will
have three or more years experience in
transactions with some experience in
commercial litigation and commercial
transactions primarily aviation related.
Experience in the aviation industry and/or
international law a plus; Competitive salary and benefits package. Please submit
resume to:
Box#10048 CDB
1155 Gratiot Avenue
Detroit, MI 48207
Crain’s Classifieds Gets Results
Scott Reithel to
general manager,
CSI Support & Development SerWarren,
vices,
Reithel
from senior vice
president, Security Management
Inc., Milwaukee.
Mark Lane to director of public relations and special
events, Goodwill In-
Schmitt
PEOPLE GUIDELINES
Announcements are limited to
management positions. Nonprofit
and industry group board
appointments can be found at
www.crainsdetroit.com. Send
submissions for People to Joanne
Scharich, Crain’s Detroit Business,
1155 Gratiot Ave., Detroit, MI
48207-2997, or send e-mail to
jscharich@crain.com. Releases
must contain the person’s name,
new title, company, city in which
the person will work, former title,
former company (if not promoted
from within) and former city in
which the person worked. Photos
are welcome, but we cannot
guarantee they will be used.
Cultural Alliance
pioneers online
clearinghouse
for members
BY SHERRI BEGIN
The Cultural Alliance of Southeastern Michigan has launched a
Web-based clearinghouse for its
members to share resources.
The Sharing Resources Clearinghouse at www.culturalalliancesemi.org offers assets from filing
cabinets, tables, buses with drivers
and a guest artist condo in the luxury Ellington Lofts on Woodward
Avenue to expert consulting on endowment building, political advocacy and grant writing.
While other arts and cultural
organizations around the country
have pooled purchasing in consortium models, no others have
used a clearinghouse model to
share resources, said Maud Lyon,
founding director of the alliance.
“The whole
point of this is
that it’s about
sharing,
not
buying
and
selling … but
it’s not just
about
single
Lyon
transactions,”
she said.
“What we’re trying to do is build
relationships between organizations. While you are talking about
one transaction … other things
may come of the (conversation) in
the future,” Lyon said.
The clearinghouse is intended
to build equity between groups of
different sizes and disciplines,
she said. While large organizations may have expertise and
physical assets that smaller organizations need, small organizations may have unique assets that
big organizations don’t have.
A committee of the alliance developed the concept for the site.
The group includes leaders from a
number of cultural groups, including Arts League of Michigan, the Birmingham Bloomfield Arts Center, Cranbrook Educational Community, Detroit
Chamber Winds & Strings, the Detroit
Science Center, the Detroit Symphony
Orchestra, Mosaic Youth Theatre
Preservation Wayne and the University of Michigan Dearborn Art Gallery.
The committee began with a notion of trading an asset for an asset, said Chair Oliver Ragsdale
Jr., who is president of the Arts
League of Michigan.
But members quickly realized
it was not that simple, he said,
since organization A may need
something B has, and B may need
something from C.
To use the clearinghouse, arts
and cultural organizations must
first be members of the Cultural
Alliance. They must then offer an
asset on the site.
Ten to 15 organizations are using the clearinghouse and another 32 are have gone through workshops to begin using it, said Lyon.
Sherri Begin: (313) 446-1694, sbegin@crain.com.
2/29/2008
2:59 PM
Page 1
March 3, 2008
Page 25
BUSINESS DIARY
ACQUISITIONS
EXPANSIONS
TriMas Corp., Bloomfield Hills, announced its Cequent group acquired
Parkside Towbars, in Western Aus-
Anago of Metro Detroit, a Coral
tralia. Parkside Towbars manufacturers and distributes towbars, hitches,
roofbars and other related vehicle accessories. Cequent is also a designed,
manufacturer, and marketer of vehicle
accessories. Parkside Towbars will be
integrated with Cequent’s established
business in Australia, operating under
the brand of Hayman Reese.
CONTRACTS
Stone Interactive Group, an Ann Arbor
Web marketing agency, announced
three new clients: Rugs To My Door, Detroit; American Educational Institute,
Birmingham; and Cornerstone Home
Loans, Okemos and Grand Rapids.
A.R. Brouwer Co., Dexter, is constructing an addition to the Real Life Nursery
School on Geddes Road in Canton
Township. The 10,623-square-foot addition is a new building attached to the
existing nursery school by an enclosed
walkway and designed in the same
style as the existing building. The project is expected to be completed by fall.
Qualitech, Bingham Farms, was selected by Christopher Investment Co.,
an Auburn Hills property management company, to provide, install and
conduct training for the Skyline Property Management Software Solution.
GroupeStahl, a St. Clair Shores manufacturer and distributor of products
for textiles, has announced an agreement with Target Transfers Ltd. of
Braintree, England. Target Transfers
is an exclusive distributor of Stahls’
products in the U.K. and Ireland.
Tech Team Global Inc., Southfield, announced a four-year contract renewal
with Belgacom Mobile, a mobile
telecommunications operator in Belgium, to deliver multilingual customer services to its “Pay & Go” prepaid calling card customers.
DesignHub Inc., a Saline-based
creative services and marketing firm,
design
and
developed
www.
metroparkingservices.com, the new
Web site for Metropolitan Parking Services L.L.C., Detroit. DesignHub also
designed the logo, stationery, and
sales collateral for Pointwise Real Estate Group L.L.C. a developer with offices in Bedford, Texas, and in Plymouth.
Willis Building Co., Saline, has been
awarded a contract for a 70,000square-foot warehouse addition for
Eden Foods Inc. at 701 Tecumseh
Road, Clinton Township. The addition
will be the first LEED accredited
building in Lenawee County.
Spin Advertising Inc. of Ann Arbor has
been retained by Ram Realty Inc. of
Palm Beach, Fla., to furnish marketing and advertising services for both
its Riverfront Towers project and The
Ellington Lofts.
Diversified Industrial Staffing, Troy,
has retained the services of Identity
Marketing & Public Relations, Bingham Farms, to provide marketing and
public-relations services and support.
ROIonline L.L.C., a Brighton Internet
marketing company, has been awarded new client contracts with European business-to-business search engines Europages and Kompass to
represent them for sales in the U.S.
Shazaaam! L.L.C., Southfield, was
named public-relations and marketing-communications agency of record
for the Enuresis Treatment Center,
Farmington Hills.
Acquest Development Inc., a Bloomfield Hills real estate developer, will
oversee and manage a $15 million expansion and enhancement project for
the MeadowView Marriott Conference
Resort and Convention Center in
Kingsport, Tenn.
NLM, a Detroit-based logistics company, has formed a technology and services alliance with A3 Integration, an
Ann Arbor-based software systems integrator. Also, NLM has taken a minority equity position in A3 Integration, the terms of which were not
disclosed.
Springs, Fla.-based franchise janitorial company, has opened an office at
37688 Hills Tech Drive, Farmington
Hills. Telephone: (248) 994-0091. Web:
www.anagousa.com.
The Sterling Insurance Group, Sterling
Heights, has formed a new division
called the Signature Client Group which
services high net-worth clients. Sterling also announced that it has purchased Angst Insurance Agency which
has locations in White Lake Township
and Lansing. The insurance agency
also changed its name from Sterling
Agency to Sterling Insurance Group.
As companies grow, diversify, merge, acquire
and divest, the need for a service-focused labor and
employment law firm with a national breadth and local
presence has never been more critical. That’s why Ogletree Deakins
helps you determine
where you go now
and the best path to reach your future destination. One of the
nation’s largest and most respected labor and employment firms,
MOVES
Decus Communications, from Birmingham to 20 W. Washington, Clarkston. Web site: www.decusllc.com.
Telephone remains: (248) 942-5896.
Bosal International North America, an
exhaust systems and components
manufacturer, to a new headquarters
and manufacturing plant in Ypsilanti.
The facility combines Bosal’s former
Warren production site and Ann Arbor technical center.
JPRA Architects, a retail planning, architecture, interior and environmental
graphic design firm, to 41050 W. 11 Mile
Road, Novi. Telephone: (248) 737-0180.
Olson Law Firm, from Troy to 950 W.
University
Drive,
Suite
102,
Rochester. Telephone: (248) 656-9600.
TAQA New World Inc. to a new U.S.
headquarters at the Domino’s Farms
Office Park, 24 Frank Lloyd Wright Drive, Lobby J, Suite J3200, Ann Arbor.
Modern Professional Services L.L.C., a
technical staffing and direct placement firm, to 5700 Crooks Road, Troy.
Web site: www.modprof.com.
Uncle Buck’s Party Rental and Supplies from Waterford Township to
3202 Old Farm Lane, Commerce Township. Telephone: (248) 666-5432. Web
site: www.unclebucksparty.com.
NAME CHANGES
IVC Healthcare Staffing, Ann Arbor,
to Indispensable Healthcare. Web site:
www.indispensiblehealthcare.com.
NEW PRODUCTS
Health Alliance Plan, Detroit, has
launched the Wise Health Care Consumer course, an interactive online
tool designed to empower consumers
to play a more active role in their
health and health care decisions. The
course, developed by HAP and O/E
Learning Inc. of Troy, is available free
at www.hap.org/whcc.
Kurtis Kitchen and Bath Centers, Livonia, has introduced new lines of River
Run Cabinetry and Murano Collection
granite for new or remodeled home installations.
Attendance on Demand, Farmington
Hills, has introduced the HP WebNet
employee time clock. The device is Internet-ready, instantly pushing employee time and labor data directly to
the Web-hosted employee time tracking system Attendance on Demand.
NEW SERVICES
Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital, Commerce Township, and the Barbara Ann
Karmanos Cancer Center, Detroit,
now offer teleconference technology
as part of the cancer center partnership between the two hospitals.
DIARY GUIDELINES
Send news releases for Business
Diary to Joanne Scharich, Crain’s
Detroit Business, 1155 Gratiot
Ave., Detroit, MI 48207-2997 or
send e-mail to jscharich@crain.
com. Use any Business Diary item
as a model for your release, and
look for the appropriate category.
Without complete information, your
item will not run. Photos are
welcome, but we cannot guarantee
they will be used.
Ogletree Deakins has 33 locations and serves over half
the Fortune 50. Learn more at www.ogletreedeakins.com
or call 1.866.287.2576.
Ogletree Deakins.
Now.
Governor’s Place
33 Bloomfield Hills Parkway
Suite 120
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304
248.593.6400
BLOOMFIELD HILLS
2/29/2008
Page 26
4:59 PM
Page 1
CORE Partners co-founder joins Staubach Co.
BY DANIEL DUGGAN
Nearly two years after co-founding the CORE
Partners L.L.C. real estate
firm, Barbara Eaton and a
three-person
brokerage
team will join the Detroit
operation of Staubach Co. effective today.
Hiring Eaton is part of an
effort for the Addison,
Texas-based Staubach to
build its presence in the Detroit market, said Rob Roe, Eaton
president of the company’s Great Lakes region
offices headquartered in Cleveland.
“We’ve always thought Detroit is a solid market, and we’re still bullish about that market,”
he said.
Brokers Brian True, Carole Rich and J.P.
Champine will be leaving CORE — Consultants
of Real Estate — with Eaton. That’s nearly half
the 10-broker staff.
In April 2006, Eaton left her position as managing director of the Detroit office of Chicagobased UGL Equis to found Royal Oak-based
CORE Partners with Matthew Farrell, who
left Southfield-based Friedman Real Estate
Group.
The firm currently lists 6.6 million square
feet of office space in metro Detroit.
Farrell and co-owner Eric Banks said it is
an amicable move.
“CORE will move forward,” Farrell said.
“And we look forward to working with Barbara now that she is moving to Staubach.”
With Eaton and her team, the Staubach Co.
will have nine brokers.
Founded in 1977 by Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach, the company acts as an
outside real estate adviser to the state of
Michigan and is the listing firm for the 177acre, 25-building campus that Pfizer Inc. used
for a research facility in Ann Arbor.
Staubach has had a Detroit office since 2001.
Daniel
Duggan:
(313)
446-0414;
dduggan@crain.com
2
We won!
2
Oakwood salutes our employees, physicians and volunteers
for winning the Michigan Quality Leadership Award.
Oakwood Healthcare System is proud to receive the 2007
Michigan Quality Leadership Award from the Michigan
Quality Council. Recognizing performance excellence in
companies from all industries, this prestigious award
demonstrates our commitment to becoming the
recognized leader in clinical quality, service and value.
March 3, 2008
Aastrom to ask
shareholders to OK
reverse merger
Ann Arbor-based Aastrom Biosciences Inc., which has several
stem-cell-based products in trials
for bone, skin and tissue regeneration in both the U.S. and Europe,
will ask shareholders to approve a
reverse merger to drive its stock
above $1 a share.
On Dec. 20, the Nasdaq stock exchange notified the company it
had to get its share price above $1
for at least 10 consecutive days by
June 17 or face delisting, which
would push it to the Over the
Counter Bulletin Board.
Shareholder votes will be tallied
April 8, said CEO and President
George Dunbar. “A Nasdaq delisting is a big deal,” he said. “It
makes it problematic to raise money, and it makes the stock illiquid.”
He said he hopes to do the reverse split within four weeks of
shareholder approval. The ratio
will be determined by the board of
directors after the vote, but will
range between a one-for-five and a
one-for-14 split, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company
has about 130 million shares outstanding. The stock (Nasdaq:
ASTM) closed at 53 cents on Friday.
— Tom Henderson
Salad Creations to
open 2nd location
Salad Creations is planning to
open its second location in Michigan on March 10 at 18349 Hall Road
in Macomb Township.
Last May, franchisees Anthony
Ciotti and Luciano Gonzalez
opened the first Salad Creations in
the state at 1043 Woodward Ave.,
Detroit. Ciotti and Gonzalez, who
now function as metro Detroitarea developers for the Margate,
Fla.-based chain, expect to open a
third location in Rochester Hills
by the end of May.
The goal is to have five locations
open by the end of the year.
Salad Creations allows customers to create their own salads
by picking from four kinds of lettuce and numerous fresh vegetables and cheeses for $6.99. Soups,
sandwiches and smaller salads are
also available.
— Brent Snavely
Small Plates opens
For more information, visit www.oakwood.org.
Small Plates Express opened Feb.
8 in the First National Building in
Detroit.
It is a carry-out version of Small
Plates, a tapas restaurant that was
open by Todd Stern at 1521 Broadway Ave. in 2002.
Small Plates Express offers a
lunchtime menu of signature dishes and sophisticated takes on traditional offerings.
— Brent Snavely
2/29/2008
5:40 PM
Page 1
March 3, 2008
Page 27
Hospitals: Competition for growth raises question of need
■ From Page 1
dent and CEO of 428-bed St. Joseph
Mercy Oakland Hospital in Pontiac.
“They look at it as a potential
growth market.”
Weiner said adding another 600
acute-care beds to the nearly 4,000
already in the
county will only
increase health
care costs because
“there
aren’t enough
patients” to fill
the beds.
While the population in Oakland
County
Weiner
grew 0.71 percent in 2000, rates
have dipped the past couple of
years to 0.16 percent in 2005 and
0.05 percent in 2006, said Katherine
Graham, a research analyst with
Oakland County Planning & Economic
Development Services.
“You can build a hospital and
have no volume to fill it, so you
have to build medical centers and
fill those with doctors to direct patients to the hospital,” Weiner
said. “This is the strategy they are
looking at.”
Still, executives at competing
hospitals cite statistics that indicate Oakland County’s projected
annual population growth rate of
1.6 percent is more than double the
region’s 0.6 percent expected
growth rate over the next five
years, according to the latest figures from Oakland County.
Moreover, Oakland County is
still the fourth-richest county in
the U.S. with a population of more
than 1 million, with an average per
capita income of $52,274. Higher
income levels generally mean larger proportions of insured patients.
Due to state legislation approved in 2002, Henry Ford Health
System received special permission to bypass the state certificateof-need process to build a new 300bed hospital in West Bloomfield
Township.
That same legislation also allowed St. John Health to build a 200bed hospital in Novi. The bill permitted the hospitals, which are
under construction, to transfer
beds from existing hospitals.
McLaren Health Care Corp. also
wants to build a 200-bed hospital in
Clarkston on the same site where
it is developing a comprehensive
health care center.
Long-range plans call for William
Beaumont Hospitals to build two 200bed hospitals, in Independence
Township and Commerce Township, although officials confirmed
those plans are dependent on CON
approval.
Beaumont also is building three
new medical centers in Independence
Township,
Commerce
Township and Novi in addition to
the center it opened in West
Bloomfield Township last year.
To protect its market share and
offer additional patient access, St.
Joseph is planning two additional
urgent care centers, in Lake Orion
and White Lake Township, Weiner
said. In December, St. Joseph, part
of Trinity Health, opened a center in
Waterford Township.
Robert Riney, Henry Ford’s executive vice president and COO,
says there is need for additional
health care services in western
and northern Oakland County,
where most of
the new hospitals and medical
centers will be
located, because
patients travel
long distances
to existing facilities.
Graham confirmed higher
Riney
population
growth rates in western and northern Oakland County.
For example: From 2000-2006,
population grew 18.8 percent in
Commerce Township, 13.8 percent
in Novi, 6.6 percent in Independence Township and 1.4 percent in
West Bloomfield Township compared with overall county growth
of 1.7 percent during that period,
she said.
“With the economic downturn,
these growth numbers have gone
down,” said Graham.
Riney acknowledged excess
beds in Oakland County, but he described the problem as a “maldistribution” of hospital beds with
too few on the western side.
“There is no question this will
intensify the competitive environment for the hospitals that are currently there,” said Riney.
Henry Ford has a 35-year history of serving Oakland County with
ambulatory centers in West
Bloomfield Township and Novi.
Riney said the Henry Ford West
Bloomfield Hospital, due to open in
2009, will attract paying patients to
offset the uncompensated care at
its flagship hospital in Detroit.
Bob Hoban, St. John’s chief
strategy officer, said the health
system is attracted to southwestern Oakland County because of
steady population growth and
well-insured patients.
St. John’s 200-bed Providence
Park Hospital in Novi is expected to
open in August.
McLaren also wants to build its
200-bed hospital in Clarkston to offer acute-care services in northwestern Oakland County where
there isn’t a nearby hospital, said
Kevin Tompkins, McLaren’s vice
president of marketing and public
affairs.
“You put a pen to a map in downtown Clarkston and draw an eightmile radius and find a population
that accounts for 21,000 annual inpatient discharges but no hospital
beds,” Tompkins said.
McLaren is building a comprehensive 135,000-square-foot Health
Care Village at Clarkston on a 79-acre
site. Phase one of the project is
scheduled to open in 2009. Phase
two could include building the hospital by 2010, Tompkins said.
“If a community has its own
acute-care hospital, people tend to
gravitate around that and will utilize those facilities that offer top
quality, but also for convenience,”
Tompkins said.
Beaumont also is eyeing a possible hospital in Independence
Township, about three miles from
Clarkston in northwestern Oakland County.
With four medical centers
scheduled to open by 2010, Mike
OAKLAND COUNTY HEALTH CARE PROJECTS
Hospital construction under way or planned for Oakland County:
䡲 Henry Ford Health System, Detroit
300-bed Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital, West Bloomfield Township.
To open in 2009.
䡲 McLaren Health Care Corp., Flint
McLaren Health Care Village at Clarkston. To open in 2009.
Proposed 200-bed hospital in Clarkston. Possible opening in 2010.
䡲 St. John Health
200-bed Providence Park Hospital, Novi. To open in August.
䡲 St. Joseph Mercy Oakland Hospital, Pontiac
Lake Orion Urgent Care Center. To open in spring.
White Lake Township urgent care center. To open this summer.
䡲 William Beaumont Hospitals, Royal Oak
Beaumont Medical Center, West Bloomfield Township. Opened in 2007.
Surgery center to open in 2008.
Beaumont Medical Center, Commerce Township. To open in 2009.
Beaumont Medical Center, Novi. To open in 2009.
Beaumont Life Care Campus, Independence Township. To open in 2010.
Proposed 200-bed hospital in Independence Township. Possible opening
2013-2016.
Proposed 200-bed hospital in Commerce Township. Possible opening
2013-2016.
Source: Hospital companies
Killian, Beaumont’s vice president of marketing and public affairs, said patient
demand
could lead Beaumont to seek to
build two new
hospitals
in
Oakland County
over the next
eight years.
But
Killian
Killian
said the region’s
recent economic downturn has affected the need for hospitals.
“The economic climate looked
like growth five years ago, when
Henry Ford and St. John received
permission (to build hospitals),
but the economy has changed,”
said Killian. “Our position was
there is not a need for two hospitals in the western county; maybe
one.”
For Weiner, St. Joseph could
lose patients to the new hospitals,
which is one reason it is developing the three urgent care centers.
“We want to make sure patients
have access to our system where
we have been for 100 years,” he
says. “We need to find ways to
compete.”
But the new health care facili-
ties will increase health care costs.
“It will increase the costs of resources because we don’t have excess pharmacists, technicians,
skilled nurses and other health
professionals,” he said. “There are
a cascading set of circumstances
that will increase the costs of
health care.”
Killian agreed with Weiner that
competition for new employees
will increase costs.
“There is a limited number of
nurses and techs to fill the hospitals,” Killian said. “There will be
movement of staff from Detroit
and the east county. That only can
make the costs go up.”
But is there a need for five new
hospitals in Oakland County?
“I think these two hospitals
have to open and see how they can
meet the needs of the community,”
Riney said. “Afterward, another
analysis should be done on the
need for more hospitals (in Clarkston, and in Independence and
Commerce townships).”
Ultimately, Riney said, “There
will be winners and losers” in Oakland County.
“There will be the emergence of
organizations that can meet their
goals by services they provide, and
there might be those that don’t;
but at end of the day, there will be
improvement in overall quality,”
he said.
Jay Greene: (313) 446-0325;
jgreene@crain.com
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2/29/2008
6:48 PM
Page 1
Page 28
March 3, 2008
Green: Auto products plant Lawyers: Could be sanctioned
has car wash, oil in pipeline
■ From Page 1
■ From Page 3
Green Earth products last week.
“We are hiring 50 for GET, and by
the end of the year we will have about
100 employees,” Lipson said. The plant
will use an automated bottling and
packaging line with a capacity of 240
units per minute. This could amount
to $1 million in sales per day, Green
Earth said.
Doug Rothwell, president of Detroit
Renaissance Inc., said companies like
Green Earth and GET are a good fit for
Detroit.
“This is a sector of the economy
that is growing,” Rothwell said. “We
have a strong base in engineering,
manufacturing and product development. These are skills you need to
compete” in the green industry.
Over the past several months, the
Detroit Regional Economic Partnership,
which is a public-private partnership
run by the Detroit Regional Chamber,
also has been actively targeting outstate green companies to relocate in
the region, Rothwell said.
Green Earth’s products also include
biodegradable tire-cleaning supplies,
windshield rain repellents and a variety of smokeless motor oils for autos,
small engines and boats.
“We have found that the market for
green technology products is very vast,
well in excess of $10 billion each for appearance and performance products,”
Marshall said.
Two of Green Earth’s competitors
are Oakland, Calif.-based Clorox,
which sells five biodegradable homecleaning products in its Green Works
line, and Simple Green, a Huntington
Harbour, Calif.-based company that
produces biodegradable car wash and
all-purpose cleaners.
Jeff Hyder, Simple Green’s senior
vice president of sales and operations,
said he welcomed Green Earth’s entrance into the green car wash and
cleaner market.
“We have been in business 35 years
and selling readily biodegradable car
wash for five years,” he said. “Every
company in America is working on
sustainability issues, looking to reduce the need for virgin material. Retailers are requiring us to do that.”
While several companies compete
with Green Earth in the appearance
market, Marshall said the company
has no competitors in the green oil
business.
Earlier this month, Green Earth
signed manufacturing contracts with
Inventek Colloidal Cleaners in Philadelphia and Bio-Tec Fuel and Chemical
L.L.C. in Guymon, Okla.
Inventek, which uses Green Earth’s
nanotechnology along with its proprietary colloidal chemistry process, will
manufacture the active ingredients in
the automotive appearance products.
Bio-Tec Fuel, which uses recycled
beef tallow and Green Earth’s nanotechnology process, will manufacture the automotive oil products.
Both companies will ship those materials to Detroit for bottling and packaging. GET then will package the
products where they will be shipped
by truck to contracted distributors.
In January, Green Earth contracted
with Steel City Products, a McKeesport,
Pa.-based automotive aftermarket
company, to distribute its products.
Steel City serves auto supply stores,
drugstores, retailers, hardware stores
and supermarkets. Major companies
include Cincinnati-based Kroger and
Giant Eagle Inc., based in O’Hara Township, Pa.
“We expect to announce four or five
other retailers in the next two weeks,”
Marshall said.
Detroit was chosen for the packaging plant because of its proximity to
the automotive industry and its central distribution location, Marshall
said.
Jay
Greene:
(313)
446-0325;
jgreene@crain.com
Brokers: Luring suburban
customers downtown
■ From Page 3
Key in hiring Signature Associates
was the ability to team Munaco’s Detroit experience with Keais’ and
Miller’s deep lists of suburban contacts, said W. Emery Matthews, chief
investment officer with Detroit-based
Mayfield Gentry Realty Advisors L.L.C.
Mayfield Gentry made the decision in
conjunction with the building’s majority investor, New York-based iStar Financial.
Mathews said Signature seemed a
better fit than Grubb & Ellis, which was
hired for the assignment in July.
Grubb & Ellis confirmed it lost the listing and declined to comment further.
Given the new exuberance, challenges abound to fill Detroit space.
The Detroit office vacancy is 27.9
percent compared with 25.3 percent
for the overall market, according to a
fourth-quarter report by the Southfield office of CB Richard Ellis.
Most of the absorption in Detroit
has been through companies expand-
ing or moving from the suburbs; and
the tenants rumored to be looking for
space, such as Deloitte & Touche USA
L.L.P. and Bank of America, aren’t new
to the area.
Attempts to bring suburban tenants
to Detroit in recent years have failed
when the employees of companies
were eager to move to the city but toplevel executives weren’t as eager, said
A.J. Weiner, a vice president with
Jones Lang LaSalle.
Weiner and the leasing team for the
Chase Tower consider suburban tenants to be among the targets.
“We have a targeted suburban strategy, looking at the users we feel most
likely to be part of the revitalization,”
he said. “Because it has to start at the
top, if the leaders don’t want to make
the move, you won’t have the motivation you need.”
Daniel Duggan: (313) 446-0414;
dduggan@crain.com
could be investigated and sanctioned for attor- fani agreed copies of the telltale text messages
ney misconduct by the Attorney Grievance Commis- were to be turned over to Kilpatrick’s lawyer.
sion if it is determined they had knowledge of
The version of the settlement presented to the
perjury or other crimes and did not report them. City Council for approval did not show the part
“Serious misconduct by any lawyer, and that of the agreement involving the text messages,
includes the mayor, should be reported,” said and the council is investigating conduct by the
Peter Henning, a Wayne State University Law mayor and city lawyers.
School professor who teaches professional reThe Detroit Free Press, later joined by The Desponsibility, “and it’s the duty of all lawyers as troit News, sued the city for access to all settleofficers of the court to do that.”
ment documents, and those documents, includOf concern is the handling of text messages being a 196-page deposition transcript from
tween the mayor and Beatty in 2003 and 2004 that Stefani, were made public last week after the
appear to contradict their sworn testimony in Michigan Supreme Court turned down the city’s
the whistle-blower trial about a romantic affair appeal to block their release.
between them and about why two police officers
Callahan said that if he had known the conwere fired.
tent of the text messages, indiThe grievance commission
cating possible perjury by Kilis barred from talking about
patrick and Beatty, he would
ongoing cases, Grievance Adhave ordered a new trial for
ministrator Robert Agacinski
damages only, starting with the
said. Neither can it confirm
$6.5 million jury verdict as a
what’s being investigated unfloor.
less a formal complaint is isCallahan called the situation
sued charging a lawyer with
“a web of deceit” and said the
wrongdoing under the Code of
whistle-blower lawsuit was
Professional Conduct. Penal“the most compelling case in
Michael Callahan, judge,
ties for violating the code can
my nearly 18 years on the
Wayne County Circuit Court
range from reprimands to loss
bench.”
of the license to practice law in Michigan.
Callahan said the investigations could be remHenning said that attorney misconduct iniscent of Watergate, turning on who knew
charges are tried on a civil, rather than a crimi- what and when they knew it.
nal, standard.
“The advice about ‘Follow the money’ just be“That means they don’t need proof beyond a comes ‘Follow the lawyers.’ ”
reasonable doubt,” he said. “They wouldn’t have
Callahan said because of post-trial motions on
to prove, for instance, that a lawyer lied to a attorney fees, “there never was a final judgment,
judge, just that the lawyer’s statements misled only an order of dismissal.”
the judge.”
In a perjury prosecution, Henning said, “a
lawyer might claim he hadn’t understood the
Also being examined is the question of what
judge’s question, and dance around it that way.”
Henning said that one of the strongest rules allegiances city attorneys and outside lawyers
governing attorney conduct is Rule 3.3, which who worked for the city and Kilpatrick owed to
the Detroit City Council as opposed the mayor
governs “Candor toward the Tribunal.”
This rule, among other things, says a lawyer personally.
Tomorrow the City Council will consider a
must make full disclosure of “material facts” to
judges “to avoid assisting a criminal or fraudu- resolution introduced last Thursday by Councilman Kwame Kenyatta calling for Kilpatrick to
lent act by the client.”
It also requires lawyers “to take reasonable resign. The mayor has said he will not step
remedial measures” if they discover false testi- down.
Kenyatta’s resolution, if approved, will also
mony has been given. And the rule ends up saying that this duty to disclose “continues to the direct City Council’s special attorney, William
conclusion of proceedings” and is required even Goodman, to research methods by which Kilif the information would otherwise be protected patrick can be removed by the council.
Kenyatta said Goodman also is investigating
by the confidentiality rule.
“It bars lawyers from allowing clients to offer the role and actions of city lawyers in the whisfalse evidence and says they have a duty to correct tle-blower lawsuit and settlement.
Private lawyers who defended Kilpatrick and
it by informing the court to mitigate any harm.
“This is the strongest lawyer conduct rule,” Beatty included Sam McCargo, of Detroit-based
Henning said, “because it even trumps confiden- Lewis & Munday P.C., and Wilson Copeland II, of
Detroit-based Grier & Copeland P.C. Now repretiality.”
senting the mayor and involved with follow-up
on the text messages is William Mitchell III, of
Mitchell Lord & Associates P.L.L.C. in Southfield.
University of Detroit Mercy Law School Professor None was reached on Friday for comment.
Larry Dubin said that “the conclusion of proCity attorneys connected to the whistle-blowceedings means after the time for appellate re- er case and the Detroit Free Press/Detroit News
view runs out.”
Freedom of Information lawsuit that sought acInformation revealed last week after the cess to the settlement documents include VaMichigan Supreme Court denial showed that lerie Colbert-Osamuede; FOIA lawyer Ellen Ha;
some city lawyers were aware her boss, Dennis Mazurek; and the head of Deof the text messages, and at troit’s law department, John Johnson.
least some of what they might
Colbert-Osamuede and Ha did not return
show, during the period when voice mail messages left last week. The voice
the whistle-blower trial was mail boxes of Mazurek and Johnson were full
still technically under way.
and did not offer an alternative way to leave a
Michael Stefani is the message.
lawyer who represented the
Also, former City Council member and ex-AsDetroit police officers in the sistant Prosecutor Sharon McPhail is Kiltwo successful whistle-blower patrick’s general counsel and appeared at the
cases that the city of Detroit Free Press deposition taken from Stefani in the
Dubin
settled last November for $8.4 FOIA case. Deputy Mayor Anthony Adams, a
million including interest and attorney fees.
key Kilpatrick aide, is also a lawyer.
A $6.5 million jury verdict on behalf of two of
“We don’t care to comment on speculation
the officers was returned before the trial Wayne about attorney conduct investigations,” James
County Circuit Court Judge Michael Callahan on Canning, the mayor’s interim press secretary,
Sept. 11.
said.
A final judgment was never entered in the
Stefani, attorney for the police officers, was
case, however. It was dismissed on Dec. 11 after out of town and did not return a call Friday reStefani and lawyers for Kilpatrick and the city questing comment.
negotiated the $8.4 million settlement that inRobert
Ankeny:
(313)
446-0404;
cluded a confidential agreement in which Ste- bankeny@crain.com
‘Follow the
“
money’ just becomes
‘Follow the
lawyers.’
”
A call for resignation
‘A web of deceit’
2/29/2008
5:38 PM
Page 1
March 3, 2008
Transit: Private funds could put project in fast lane
■ From Page 1
Those entities, along with foundations,
would be asked to fund construction, and a 2007
study by the University of Detroit Mercy indicates
money from the city’s general fund, a dedicated
tax or user fees would subsidize operational
costs. No details have been finalized, however.
Such an effort also is likely to accelerate efforts to establish a regional rail system. Plans
call for the Woodward loop to tie into the Detroit-to-Ann Arbor transit line proposed by the
Southeast Michigan Council of Governments regional planning group.
That project is four to six weeks away from
having cost estimates, said Carmine Palombo,
SEMCOG’s director of transportation planning.
The 48-mile route would include stops at Detroit
Metropolitan Airport, Ypsilanti and Dearborn besides Ann Arbor and Detroit, but it doesn’t
qualify for federal funding because ridership
and passenger revenue estimates don’t meet
benchmark criteria.
SEMCOG is looking to the state and local
communities for funding and remains in talks
with the railroad companies that own the
tracks along the route to get permission to use
them. Amtrak would be contracted to operate
the line.
Having a connecting line into downtown Detroit may help secure agreements, Palombo
said, because it gives the route added value.
“People coming from Ann Arbor are going to
look to come downtown, whether it’s for a ballgame or to work or to go to the theater,” he said.
Detroit Regional Mass Transit, run by John Hertel on behalf of the executives of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties and Detroit Mayor
Kwame Kilpatrick, is serving as the clearinghouse for the Woodward project.
Hertel’s job running DRMT is to develop a regional consensus on mass transit and drum up
support. He said a $400,000 regional transit
study by Kansas City-based transportation con-
sulting firm TranSystems Corp. will be ready for
his four bosses by the end of the year, and it’s
expected to factor in the Woodward proposal
and a separate public transit
study involving Woodward
by the Detroit Department of
Transportation.
“We’re working with all of
them and working in everybody, anything that would be
out there,” he said. He declined to comment on any of
the specifics on the Woodward proposal.
Hertel
Some are guarded about
the Woodward idea until more details are made
public.
“These are just such broad plans, it’s hard to
react to. In theory, if you can connect these
lines together, this would be a positive,” said
Doug Rothwell, president of Detroit Renaissance,
the nonprofit CEO council representing the region’s major employers.
While applauding the private sector’s willingness to fund construction, the question
about subsidizing the operational costs — estimated in the study at $4.2 million to $5.6 million
annually — raises questions, Rothwell said.
“That’s the thing that scares a lot of people:
What are the annual costs and where’s the money coming from?” he said.
Dick Blouse, CEO of the Detroit Regional
Chamber and executive director of the One D
coalition, composed of six leading civic groups
and formed in 2006 to lead the region’s economic revitalization, declined to comment. Mass
transit is one of the revitalization effort’s target
areas.
Private money behind transit projects is the
wave of the future, said Douglas Bowen, managing editor of 150-year-old New York Citybased Railway Age magazine.
“It seems somewhat radical, but you’re going
to see more of that nationwide,” he said. “For
cities that don’t have an established public
transit culture, you’re going to have people of
means benevolently force-feeding the concept
down to the general public level.”
Those people of means behind the Woodward
proposal haven’t come forward, but those with
knowledge of the project say it’s logical that local billionaires such as Mike Ilitch, Peter Karmanos Jr. and Dan Gilbert would be interested
because their companies are — or will be, in the
case of Gilbert’s Quicken Loans — along Woodward. Others, such as Roger Penske, are known
for their leadership in the city and region.
Bowen said more private investment in public transit projects is expected because federal
money isn’t there, or takes decades to get from
Washington to the projects. The Bush administration’s proposed fiscal year 2009 budget for
the Federal Transit Administration is $10.1 billion
compared with $9.4 billion last year, but it remains under the $10.3 billion authorized under
a multiyear transportation bill enacted in 2005.
A recent example of private-sector leadership for public transit is Seattle, Wash., where
Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen proposed
several years ago what has become a 1.3-mile
streetcar system. The $52 million cost is being
split between businesses along the route (including Allen) and local, state and federal
funds. The line, which began service in December, is part of Allen’s massive redevelopment of
Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood.
“The private sector is the place where you go
if you want to get things done,” said Wayne
County Executive Robert Ficano. “(The line)
can be a catalyst to help show public transit can
do well in Detroit.”
Bill Shea: (313) 446-1626, bshea@crain.com
Page 29
www.crainsdetroit.com
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Keith E. Crain
PUBLISHER Mary Kramer, (313) 446-0399 or
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ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR/FOCUS Jennette
Smith, (313) 446-1622 or jhsmith@crain.com
BUSINESS LIVES EDITOR Michelle Darwish, (313)
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bankeny@crain.com.
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(313) 446-1694 or sbegin@crain.com
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(313) 446-0414 or dduggan@crain.com
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manufacturing, defense contracting and Oakland
and Macomb counties. (313) 446-6796 or
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ADVERTISING
Sales: Corrosion Fluids says, ‘It’s all positioning’
■ From Page 3
Rather, it’s the product of adhering to the
company’s core strategies: Offer an integrated
array of services, reinvest in the business, diversify your client base and work with speed
and competence.
In fact, “speed and competence” is the company’s motto, appearing throughout the administrative offices and warehouse of Corrosion Fluids’ Farmington headquarters, a site that’s the
multiple winner of the city’s beautification
award.
The company practices an aggressive growth
strategy — about 10 percent of 2007’s sales were
acquisition-related, Joe V. Andronaco said.
The father-son team saw the dangers inherent in dependence on one market segment and
has worked to expand operations to encompass
multiple sectors: power, steel, chemical, pharmaceutical, automotive, paper, food, originalequipment manufacturers and refining.
“Back in the ’90s, 35 percent of our business
was made up by the pharmaceutical industry,”
he said. “Today, it’s 3 to 4 percent of our total
business.”
Corrosion Fluids also has deepened its offerings, developing an array of services.
The Andronacos aren’t content to simply sell
a client a pump, valve or pipe. Corrosion Fluids
can repair a damaged part, design an upgrade,
provide supporting equipment and equip an expansion, a versatility that’s proven effective in
designing cost-efficient solutions.
Joe P. Andronaco points to a Corrosion Fluids-engineered DTE Energy job.
The company needed to change the way water flowing into a plant was cooled. Its existing
system, using pumps to redistribute and cool
the water, was prone to breakage because of a
structural weakness that led to repeated, costly
ABOUT CORROSION FLUIDS
The company: Farmington-based Corrosion
Fluids Products Corp.
Years in business: Founded in 1968 by CEO Joe
V. Andronaco.
What they sell: The company provides pumps,
valves, pipes and hosing to the chemical and
processing industries.
Annual sales: $71.9 million in 2007.
Sales goal: President Joe P. Andronaco’s target
is $100 million in sales by 2010.
Customer base: OEMs and power, steel,
chemical, pharmaceutical, automotive, paper,
food and refining industries.
repairs.
DTE Energy was contemplating installing a
new system when a Corrosion Fluids engineer
redesigned the existing pumps, creating a more
stable system for a lower price.
Another company strategy has been to handle only top-tier products, Joe P. Andronaco
said, aiming to work only with suppliers
ranked among the nation’s top five, not always
an easy goal for a small company.
But continued reinvestment in the company
is the core strategy the Andronacos said perhaps is most important to Corrosion Fluids’
success.
The business took a hit after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, with sales ultimately
dropping from $33.2 million to $28.2 million in
2003.
The Andronacos used the slowdown to upgrade their facility and offer more employee
training.
As the country rebounded from the attacks,
sales rebounded, rising to roughly $41.3 million
in 2005.
But things really started moving in 2006.
At that year’s managers’ meeting, Joe P. Andronaco asked his team to commit to $52 million in sales.
Some had trepidations, he said, but all signed
on. Corrosion Fluids finished the year with
$56.3 million in sales and jumped $20 million in
2007 to the current $71.9 million high.
“It’s all positioning,” Joe P. Andronaco said.
“We had all these branches, so when the economy did start growing, we were positioned well.”
The Andronacos aren’t ready to stop growing. In each of their offices, Joe P. Andronaco
said, is a map with targeted expansion areas
marked.
Corrosion Fluids is a respected name in the
business, said John Swantek, vice president of
sales for Detroit Pump & Mfg. Co., in business
since 1926.
“They’re a good competitor,” he said. “They
have many branches, here in the state and out
of state as well. They’ve done a good job in
growing.”
Corrosion Fluids, Detroit Pump and other
similar businesses have a unique relationship,
Swantek said.
“We’re not only competitors but also customers,” he said.
“In this business, one day you’re competing
with a guy, next day you’re depending on them.
That’s truly what’s going on in the marketplace.”
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2/29/2008
6:10 PM
Page 30
fter tonight, you’re
going to fire me,
aren’t you?” Bernard
Financial Group President
Dennis Bernard shouted
while parading around a
stage in a short-sleeve dress
shirt, clip-on tie and rainbow-colored wig meant to
imitate his good friend and
client Peter Burton.
Burton, partner with
Bingham
Farmsbased Burton-Katzman
Development Co.,
took his
Burton
lumps
like a champ during a roast
hosted by the National Association of Industrial and Office
Properties Thursday at MGM
Grand Detroit Casino.
Burton-Katzman partner
Larry Goss lined up with
Bernard, Etkin Equities L.L.C.
principal Douglas Etkin and
Dan Share of Barris, Sott,
Denn & Driker to take their
best shots.
Stories from Burton’s college days were paired with
childhood photos and his
most embarrassing moments.
“He’s the only guy I know
who would put his foot in
his mouth and then try to
convince you it’s delicious,” Goss said.
Absopure.
Southfield-based Signature Associates listed the
deal as one of its transactions for the year.
However, since publication, a spokeswoman for the
building owner has denied
that the lease took place.
“The entire facility was
never leased out,” said Kim
Freely, manager of corporate public relations for
Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based
Sears Holdings, which owns
the building through its
subsidiary company, Kmart.
Signature Managing Director Mark Woods said the
transaction involved an
eightmonth
sublease
crafted
when Plymouthbased Absopure
-Water
Corp.
needed a
Woods
temporary facility to store a lots of
bottled water.
Absopure has refused to
return phone calls placed
by Crain’s. In addition to
several members of the legal department, Vice President Mike Nagel did not return three phone messages
left over the past three
weeks, creating a bottleneck in Crain’s best efforts
to verify what happened.
Where was the water?
Ann Arbor Spark nears site
choice for new incubator
In the Crain’s Jan. 28
Biggest Deal report, a
1,052,000-square-foot lease
to Absopure-Plastipak at 8249
N. Haggerty Road ranked as
the largest industrial lease
of 2007. There are differing
reports on whether the
space was really used by
March 3, 2008
RUMBLINGS
Executives
behaving badly
is OK at roast
A
Page 1
March is coming in with
a decision to make and will
likely go out with a new
lease and location for the
proposed Spark East business incubator in Ypsilanti.
Ann Arbor Spark President
WEEK IN REVIEW
FROM WWW.CRAINSDETROIT.COM, WEEK OF FEB. 23-29
and CEO Mike Finney said
late last week the economic
development partnership
and business accelerator
was “within 30 days” of
choosing between the landmark Smith Furniture
Building on Washington
Street and a competing
mixed-use office and retail
space on Michigan Avenue
to house
the new
incubator.
The
new site,
once chosen,
would be
leased by
the Spark
Finney
and become part of a network of
three incubator programs
in Washtenaw County by
late spring or early summer.
“We have already had
talks with some potential
client (businesses) for the
site, and some of that discussion is fairly serious,”
Finney said. “But we are
keeping the focus on (startup) companies in knowledge-based industries.”
TV ad to feature Zetterberg
Detroit Red Wings forward
Henrik Zetterberg will be featured in an upcoming television advertising campaign
promoting the playoffs.
The National Hockey
League will be in Detroit on
Tuesday to film Zetterberg
in a commercial called
“Walkout” — a spot “designed to highlight the distinct intensity and drama of
playoff hockey seen
through the eyes of the
players,” according to an email from Michael DiLorenzo,
NHL director of corporate
communications.
The ad will show Zetterberg walking onto the ice
for a road playoff game with
20,000 fans rooting against
him. The league didn’t say
where the spot would be
filmed.
The campaign, called
“The Cup Changes Everything,” begins airing March
31. Playoffs begin in April.
Cuisine, court battles among new Web offerings
We have plenty on our menu at
www.crainsdetroit.com this week.
First, you can check out the fare
cooked up by metro Detroit’s best
domestic chefs. The profiles of our
five picks begin on Page 19, but you
can see them in action at our Web
site.
“A lot of the conversations I have
with clients stem from our love of
food,” says Jim Edelman, national
sales manager of Clear Channel
Radio Detroit, in one video.
Watch clips of Edelman and the other
WEB WORLD
Kevin Hill
chefs and find their recipes at
www.crainsdetroit.com/
businesslives.
Or, maybe you’re hungry to learn
more about 2007’s top verdicts and
settlements after reading the Focus
section that starts on Page 11.
You can dig deeper into these cases
at www.crainsdetroit.com/focus.
There, you’ll find links to more
information about the parties,
attorneys and judges involved, court
documents and past coverage of the
cases in Crain’s and other media.
DMC moves to
solve dispute
with WSU
he board of The Detroit Medical Center
voted Tuesday to address several points raised
by the Wayne State University
School of Medicine over the
DMC’s decision to withhold
$12 million in annual Medicaid payments to the medical school.
They include: Voting to
place the disputed funds in
an interest-bearing escrow
account; hiring a former
federal prosecutor with
Medicaid fraud experience
to determine if the $12 million in payments to WSU
and additional payments
from the state violate federal laws on excessive compensation to physicians;
and selecting one of the
three independent firms
that WSU has suggested to
conduct a separate audit on
the “fair market value” of
the combined payments.
DMC instructed CEO
Mike Duggan to make sure
services to the poor are not
interrupted while the dispute is ongoing.
Steve D’Arcy, chairman
of the DMC, said if WSU has
to reduce care to the poor at
DMC because of funding
shortages, DMC will pick
up the slack.
Meanwhile, Gov. Jennifer
Granholm on Tuesday asked
David Fink, the Rochester attorney who mediated the
original agreement between WSU and DMC in
2006, to also work with both
parties to settle the dispute.
T
Ficano’s goals: Get Cobo
expansion, jobs fund
In his State of the County
address Wednesday, Wayne
County Executive Robert Ficano
says he
will continue to
push for
an expansion
of Cobo
Center
so that
the North
Ficano
American
International Auto Show
won’t move away.
RiverWalk funding OK’d
A $40 million funding
agreement for Phase 3 of
the RiverWalk improvement project was OK’d
Tuesday by the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., including a landscaped walk and
bike path from Rivard
Street to Gabriel Richard
Park and a pavilion on city
property.
The plan now goes to the
Detroit City Council.
Also approved was a proposal to hire JJR L.L.C., Ann
Arbor, to design the second
phase of the Dequindre Cut
Greenway project between
Gratiot and Mack avenues,
which will rehabilitate an
abandoned railroad rightof-way running from the
Detroit River east of the Renaissance Center north to
Mack.
Strike causes shutdowns
The strike at American
Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. forced General Motors Corp. to close a truck
plant in Pontiac on Thursday due to parts shortages,
the Associated Press reported. It also forced the
closure of truck plants Friday in Flint; Fort Wayne,
Ind.; and Oshawa, Ontario.
ON THE MOVE
䡲 Steven Hamp, principal,
Hamp Advisors L.L.C., to the
board of directors, Visteon
Corp., Van Buren Township.
䡲 Robert Kurnick to president, Penske Automotive
Group, Bloomfield Hills,
from vice chairman of the
board. He replaces Roger
Penske Jr., who is buying
four dealerships from the
separately owned private
company Penske Motor
Group. Also, Bernie Wolfe
will become vice president.
The changes are effective
March 31.
OTHER NEWS
䡲 The International Association of Machinists, the
union that represents baggage handlers and ticket
agents at Northwest Airlines
Corp. and other airlines,
says it will oppose any airline merger, the Associated
Press reported. Negotiators
for Northwest and Delta
Airlines have not met since
Feb. 21.
䡲 The Midwestern Governors Association on Feb. 24
elected Gov. Jennifer
Granholm vice chairwoman,
making her the presumptive chairwoman in 2009,
the Associated Press reported.
䡲 J.C. Penney is opening
10 new stores in Michigan
on March 7, including a
104,000-square-foot store in
Chesterfield Township that
will employ 160.
䡲 The state Legislature
has approved a package of
bills requiring mortgage
loan officers to register
with the Michigan Office of
Financial and Insurance Regulation, undergo a criminal
records check by their employer, and meet educational requirements.
䡲 The Detroit Lions said
Wednesday that season
ticket prices for 2008 will
increase an average of 18
percent.
䡲 Carl Icahn’s Thornwood
Associates offered to sell a
portion of the shares it
owns in Federal-Mogul Corp.
to investment firm Nineteen
Eighty-Nine for $900 million,
the price it paid, Reuters reported.
䡲 Johnson Controls Inc.
filed a motion in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Detroit asking the judge to compel Plastech Engineered Products Inc.
to either accept or reject its
sourcing agreement.
䡲 Clarkston Financial Corp.
announced Thursday that
it has agreed to sell its 55
percent ownership in Huron
Valley State Bank to John
Welker and Mark Murvay for
$4.3 million, subject to regulatory approval.
䡲 Delphi Corp. asked for a
two-month extension of
bankruptcy protection Friday, the Associated Press
reported.
䡲 Elfat Al Aouar, the former wife of fugitive La Shish
restaurateur Talal Chahine,
has been sentenced to 90
days in prison and stripped
of her citizenship after
pleading guilty to citizenship fraud. Al Aouar, 41, is
serving an 18-month sentence for tax evasion. She is
to serve the 90-day sentence
simultaneously with the
term she received last May.
䡲 Dr. Robert Folberg, professor of pathology at the
University of Illinois in Chicago, and Dr. Barbara Ducatman, a pathologist and director of the West Virginia
University Center for Excellence in Women’s Health,
have said they would like to
become dean of a new medical school for Oakland University and Beaumont Hospitals, the Detroit Free Press
reported. Both will make
presentations for the job
this month. The school is to
open as soon as 2010.
䡲 The state House and
Senate on Thursday passed
bills related to complying
with new identification
rules for border crossings
requiring an “enhanced”
drivers license or ID card,
the Associated Press reported. Gov. Jennifer
Granholm is expected to sign
them.
OBITUARIES
䡲 Susan Cascade, former
advertising director at
Crain’s Detroit Business, died
of breast cancer Feb. 26.
She was 63.
䡲 Doug Fraser, former
president of the United Auto
Workers, died Feb 23. He
was 91.
䡲 Sarah Rosner, former
corporate vice president at
A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. in
Bloomfield Hills, died Jan.
23. She was 70.
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2/29/2008
10:40 AM
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9:38 AM
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focus: law - Crain`s Detroit Business

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