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www.crainsdetroit.com Vol. 27, No. 5 J A N U A R Y 3 1 – F E B R U A R Y 6 , 2 0 1 1 $2 a copy; $59 a year

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©Entire contents copyright 2011 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved

Pinnacle Race Course talkswith potential investors

Wanted:Creative,viableideas torevitalize the ‘D’

Private sector, foreignbuyers rebuild dealmaking,1

Lists: Biggest deals, officeand industrial leases, localsales, Pages 14-18

See This Just In, Page 2

Chicago firm takes over 2 local retail brokerages

In a reconfiguration of De-troit’s retail brokerages, aChicago-based firm is takingover two big names: LaKritz-Weber & Co. and the brokerageoperation of Lormax Stern De-velopment Co.

Mid-America Real EstateGroup, by hiring the brokersfrom both operations, thisweek kicks off its West Bloom-field Township office, addingto its Chicago, Milwaukee andMinneapolis offices.

Its 12-person team in-cludes most of the staff atSouthfield-based LaKritz-Weber. Founder Bill LaKritzwill close the 30-year-old firmand work for Mid-America asa broker.

Additionally, the brokerageoperation of West Bloomfield-based Lormax Stern Develop-ment Co. will close as ownersDaniel Stern and Chris Brochertjoin the new firm, Mid-America

This Just In

Finance Extra: Big Deals

Page 3

BY DANIEL DUGGAN

CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

When real estate values wereplunging in 2009, developersacross the country were lookingat the worst disaster of their ca-reers.

But Joey Agree told the boardof directors of Agree Realty Corp.

that it was theopportunity oftheir lives.

“Everyonestarted raisingfunds defen-sively, but westarted raising

funds offensively,” said Agree,president and COO of the Farm-ington Hills-based company. “Itwas a once-in-a-lifetime chance tobuy assets.”

The publicly held real estate in-vestment trust set out at the endof 2009 to move from a companythat develops and leases retailproperties into one that also buysretail properties. Along the way,it was a chance to broaden thenumber of companies Agree hasas tenants.

In the past year, it has moved in-creasingly away from troubledAnn Arbor-based Borders Group Inc.— which was almost a third ofAgree’s rental income — and tak-en on buildings leased by RhodeIsland-based CVS Caremark Corp.;

Mooresville, N.C.-based Lowe’sCos. Inc.; and Pittsburgh-based PNCFinancial Services.

The moves were financed by theproceeds from several Bordersproperty sales, along with a public

offering that raised $31 million.Agree Realty (NYSE: ADC) startedthe year with little debt and hadfull use of a $55 million revolving

BY NANCY KAFFER


As the Detroit Regional Chamberworks to balance its budget, Presi-dent and CEO Sandy Baruah saysfiscal stability and long-term via-bility lie in realigning chamberprograms with its core mission:economic development in South-east Michigan.

“You’re going to see much morefocus on economic developmentprograms, see amuch more ro-bust economicdevelopmentstaff,” Baruahsaid. “Andyou’re going tosee more rev-enue coming in.”

Facing a pro-jected budgethole of “severalhundred thousand dollars” —Baruah declined to provide a spe-cific figure — the chamber beganbolstering its financial situation,including laying off nine employ-ees two weeks ago, leaving thechamber with 65 employees. Themost recent cuts were necessary,Baruah said, to make budgetaryroom for a renewed emphasis on

MAJOR DEALSA closer look:What AgreeRealty has beenup to, Page 27

Downturn strategy: Buy Chamber:Let’s focus onwhat mattersDevelopment seenas key to its health

BY NANCY KAFFER


Corruption indictments involv-ing city of Detroit water opera-tions have spurred efforts by de-partment critics to try to dumpcity management in favor of a re-gional consortium.

For Oakland County Water Re-

sources Commissioner John Mc-Culloch, the indictments were justanother reason to question themanagement of the department byU.S. District Court Judge JohnFeikens, who had oversight of theutility from 1977 until he retiredlast year.

Feikens appointed former De-troit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick

special administrator of the de-partment in 2002, a position thatmay have enabled Kilpatrick andhis associates to commit thecrimes described in the Januaryindictment.

Since 2005, McCulloch has chal-lenged Feikens to corral not justKilpatrick but the fees paid to thecourt’s outside contractors, such

as Thomas Lewand, member ofBodman PLC, and Maryland-basedInfrastructure Management Group.

McCulloch and Oakland Countyreturned to court last week to askU.S. District Judge Sean Cox, whotook over management of the casefrom Feikens, to create an interim

Troubles taint water system

NATHAN SKID/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Farmington Hills-based Agree Realty Corp. President and COO Joey Agree sawthe downturn as “a once-in-a-lifetime chance to buy assets.”

Be Brilliant ADVERTISE TO A STATEWIDE AUDIENCE

in the inaugural issue of Crain’s Michigan Business, launching February 14. AD CLOSE: February 2

For advertising oppotunities contact Marla Downs at 313.446.6032 or [email protected].

Critics question contracts, oversight by the courts

Agree Realtydiversifiesfrom Borders

See Agree, Page 27 See Chamber, Page 28

See Water, Page 29

Baruah

20110131-NEWS--0001-NAT-CCI-CD_-- 1/28/2011 7:06 PM Page 1

Ethos WeekMarch14-18

Do theRight Thing

WJR’s Paul W. SmithEMU’s David Mielke

cob.emich.edu

Real Estate-Michigan. Stern and Brochert also will

continue their longstanding de-velopment component of LormaxStern on its own.

“Detroit is the second most-populous market in the Mid-west,” Jeff Kuchman, a Chicago-based principal withMid-America, said in a press re-lease. “...we strongly believe it’sa great place to do business.”

In addition, the new firm willbring in Brad Rosenberg, who leftthe Farmington Hills-based Land-mark Commercial Real Estate Ser-vices brokerage in November.

With founding principals com-ing from a range of firms, thenew entity kicks off with 200shopping centers under listingand 50 retailers represented.

Tony Schmitt, a founding princi-pal of the new firm, said the teamthat has been assembled brings arange of experience and special-ties.

“The real excitement here isthe team of individuals that’sbeen assembled,” he said. “Alongwith that, we have the Mid-America brand to back us up,which is going to allow for a lotof growth and future opportunityfor the company.”

While it will bring him a newcompetitor, longtime retail bro-

ker Jim Bieri said there are posi-tives to be found in the move aswell.

“You have a highly successfulfirm that wants to come to De-troit,” said Bieri, principal withStokas Bieri Real Estate, whichhas offices in Detroit and South-field. “That’s a good thing.”

— Daniel Duggan

Strategic Staffing surpasses$200 million revenue mark

Detroit-based Strategic StaffingSolutions posted $205 million inrevenue for 2010, marking its20th consecutive year of revenuegrowth and its first time crossingthe $200 million mark.

Its sales this year increased 21percent from 2009 sales of about$169 million.

“Our basic approach to busi-ness is (to see) opportunitywhere other companies see bar-riers,” CEO and President Cyn-thia Pasky said in an earnings re-lease.

The information-technologystaffing and services companyexpanded its customer base in fi-nancial services, primarily inEurope, and doubled its sales inthe health care and insurance in-dustries with the opening of itsDetroit Development Center,which now employs 200.

The Detroit Development Cen-ter “was an unheard-of conceptone year ago, and now compa-

nies nationally are in-sourcingIT work to Detroit, instead of out-sourcing offshore,” Pasky said.

— Sherri Welch

Public hearings set on light railTwo public hearings to gather

comments on the draft environ-mental impact statement for theproposed Woodward Avenue LightRail Transit Project are scheduledfor Feb. 12 in the lower level au-ditorium of the main branch ofthe Detroit Public Library, 5201Woodward Avenue.

The first hearing is 11 a.m.-1p.m.; the second is 6-8 p.m.

Both hearings will include apresentation about the project,which is a 9.3-mile light-rail lineon Woodward Avenue fromdowntown through the New Cen-ter area and up to the MichiganState Fairgrounds on Eight MileRoad.

For details, see Woodward-LightRail.com or call (313) 933-1300.

— Bill Shea

Adeona sells stock to fund work on Alzheimer’s therapy

Ann Arbor-based Adeona Phar-maceuticals Inc. (Amex: AEN)said Friday that it has executedan agreement to raise about $4 million by selling some 2.9million shares of common stockat $1.40 a share to two new insti-

tutional investors.The investors, who were not

named, also received warrants topurchase about 1.4 millionshares of stock at an exerciseprice of $2 a share. The warrantscan be exercised for 13 monthsand would generate about $2.9 million more for Adeona.

CEO and Chairman James Kuosaid in a press release that the fi-nancing would allow the compa-ny to continue its commercial-ization efforts if clinical studiesare successful.

If trials are successful, thecompany will market its zinc-based therapy as a prescriptionmedical food to treat symptomsof Alzheimer’s disease.

The deal is expected to close onor before Feb. 2.

— Tom Henderson

ITC reorganizes units,promotes two execs

ITC Holdings Corp., Novi, has re-organized some of its corporatestructure and appointed execu-tives to head its major operatingcompanies.

Gregory Ioanidis, formerly ITC’svice president of business strate-gy, was named president of ITCMichigan. He’ll oversee ITCTrans-mission, which operates the elec-tricity transmission system inSoutheast Michigan, and Michi-gan Electric Transmission Co. LLC,which operates a transmissionsystem.

Named president of CedarRapids, Iowa-based ITC MidwestLLC was Doug Collins, formerlyITC Midwest executive director.

— Amy Lane

CORRECTIONS� A story on of the Jan. 24 edition should have said that the bank-ruptcy of Bob Slattery’s Midtown Development Group Inc. will not impactthe Wilys Overland Loft condominium development, of which Slattery wasa partner. That project will continue to be managed by majority ownerPlymouth-based DeMattia Group, and Slattery will have a diminished eq-uity stake in the project. DeMattia CEO Gary Roberts said the condoproject is in no financial jeopardy and sales will continue.� A story on page 16 of the Jan. 24 edition should have said that BlueCross Blue Shield of Michigan’s new financial incentive program to re-ward specialty physicians for quality improvements and cost reduc-tion begins in 2013. � A story on Page 1 of the Jan. 24 edition had an incorrect title forChris Fisher. He is president of the Lansing-based Associated Buildersand Contractors of Michigan.

■ From Page 1

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January 31, 2011CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESSPage 2

THIS JUST IN


January 31, 2011 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

These organizations appear in this week’s Crain’sDetroit Business:AbronADR Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Agree Realty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Amherst Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Angle Advisors-Investment Banking . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Ann Arbor Spark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Arboretum Ventures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Ardesta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

BDO USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

BlackEagle Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Borders Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Business Leaders for Michigan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Chrysler Financial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

College for Creative Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan . . . . 4

Cooper-Standard Holdings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Detroit Economic Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Detroit Medical Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Detroit Regional Chamber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Detroit Venture Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Doeren Mayhew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Domestic Mediation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

EDF Ventures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Farbman Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

First Mercury Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Ford Motor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Forgotten Harvest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

General Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

General Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

General Motors Ventures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Gleaners Community Food Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Grand Sakwa Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Health Alliance Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Health Plan of Michigan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Henniges Automotive Holdings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Henry Ford Health System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Honigman Miller Schwartz & Cohn . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Huron Capital Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

ImageSoft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Kerr Russell & Weber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Lormax Stern Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

MacBeedon Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Michigan Economic Growth Authority . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Michigan Manufacturers Association . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Newmark Knight Frank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Outside Hub Holdings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Pinnacle Race Course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Presbyterian Villages of Michigan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Pro Care Health Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Pure Visibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Rockbridge Growth Equity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Salvation Army Eastern Michigan Division . . . . . . . 23

Seneca Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Signature Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

The Urban Mediation Institute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Total Health Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

United Methodist Retirement Communities . . . . . . . 4

Vanguard Health Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Venture Michigan Fund II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

THIS WEEK @WWW.CRAINSDETROIT.COM

Company index

Department index

Not always about businessCrain's 10 Things to Do in Detroit This Weekendappears Thursdays in the daily e-newsletter andunder the Features menu at crainsdetroit.com.

Not always about profitsCrain's Nonprofit Newsletter goes outevery Thursday. Sign up atcrainsdetroit.com/section/crainsemails.

Business reacts to draft ofSnyder tax reform plan.Capitol Briefings, Page 6

Outside Hub matchesaudiences, advertisers, Page 25

Judge might consolidatemost-favored-nation suitsagainst Blues, Page 26

Inside

BANKRUPTCIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

BRIEFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

BUSINESS DIARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

CALENDAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

CAPITOL BRIEFINGS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

CAREERWORKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

CLASSIFIED ADS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

KEITH CRAIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

OPINION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

OTHER VOICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

PEOPLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

RUMBLINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

WEEK ON THE WEB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

BY JAY GREENE


Health Alliance Plan of Michigan isinterested in adding a Medicaidhealth maintenance organization,two years after it unsuccessfully ap-plied to the stateto enter Michi-gan’s profitableMedicaid man-aged-care mar-ket, HAP offi-cials confirmedto Crain’s.

The MedicaidHMO market isset to explode bymore than800,000 membersin 2014 when thefederal govern-ment lowers theincome eligibili-ty requirementto 133 percent ofthe federal poverty level — about$14,404 for an individual or $29,327for a family of four.

But for HAP to offer a MedicaidHMO in Southeast Michigan, the500,000-member health plan mostlikely would have to purchase anexisting plan, said Jon Cotton, di-rector of finance with the 280,000-member Health Plan of Michigan, thestate’s largest Medicaid HMO.

Cotton said the likely target foracquisition is Detroit-based 1,600-member Pro Care Health Plan, one of

HAP eyes another tryat MedicaidHMO marketMost likelyoption: Buyexisting plan

BY SHAWN WRIGHT


Veronika Scott, a College for Cre-ative Studies student who designeda coat for the homeless that dou-bles as a sleeping bag/shelter,knows what a good idea and a littlebit of ingenuity can accomplish.

Scott’s Element S. coat began asa class project that asked CCS stu-dents to design for a need. To makethe coat, she used products fromtwo Michigan companies — Tyvekfrom Midland-based Dow CorningCorp. and fleece from Dearborn-

based Carhartt Inc.But Scott’s goal is more than

just the coat; it’sto empower, em-ploy, educateand instill pridein homeless peo-ple in the shel-ter system.Scott, 21, hasbeen fundingthe venture withher own money,with help from

family along the way. Making thecoats are homeless women who

will be paid, fed and housed to cre-ate the coats for people living onthe streets.

Continuing in the spirit of cre-ative thinking, Crain’s DetroitBusiness is looking for the nextcrop of innovative entrepreneursfor its “Big Ideas” contest, to behighlighted during Crain’s and sis-ter publication Advertising Age’sIdea: Detroit conference March 23.

Scott will be one of the social en-trepreneurs speaking during Idea:Detroit.

“What I hope this conferenceshows is that innovation in thecity is, number one, not hard to

Wanted: Creative, viable ideas to help revitalize Detroit

BY BILL SHEA


The owners of struggling Pinna-cle Race Course have been in infor-mal talks to sell a minority stakein the thoroughbred track amidefforts to resolve problems withdelinquent property taxes anddwindling revenue.

“We’ve talked to investor orpartner types, national players

with multipletracks,” saidtrack co-ownerJerry Camp-bell. “We don’thave any pend-ing transac-tions.”

He declinedto name the po-tential inves-tors in the Hur-

on Township site.The track, modeled after Ken-

tucky’s Churchill Downs, has yet toturn a profit.

Campbell is the retired chair-man and founder of the formerRepublic Bancorp Inc. in Ann Ar-bor, which he sold in 2006 for$1.05 billion to Citizens BankingCorp.

He and his wife, Lisa, havebeen building since 2007 whateventually will be a $142 millionhorse track on 320 acres at Penn-sylvania and Vining roads, a milesouthwest of Detroit MetropolitanAirport.

Jack Krasula, owner of theSouthfield executive search firmTrustinus LLC and host of a show onWJR AM 760, is a longtime busi-ness partner with Campbell andhas invested in the track from thebeginning.

Pinnacle closed in November,ending its simulcast wageringand food service because not

enough revenue was generated tocover costs.

The timeline laid out in the fallwas to reopen for simulcast bet-ting this month, but that’s beendelayed.

“Our plan is to reopen in thefirst quarter and (have) live rac-ing begin in July through Septem-ber,” Campbell said.

Pinnacle had only a weekendlive race schedule last year be-cause of funding cutbacks for thestate personnel required to bepresent for live racing.

The track and the MichiganHorsemen’s Benevolent and Protec-tive Association were forced to paythe state to hold live racing, re-ducing winner purses and dri-ving some horse owners to otherstates with more lucrative stakes,Campbell said.

Meanwhile, the track contin-ues to be mired in a dispute overtax and municipal service pay-ments.

Pinnacle didn’t pay $1.46 mil-lion in property taxes collectivelyfor 2009 and 2010 because it didn’t

receive its tax bills — a bureau-cratic snafu, the county and town-ship have said.

“We have appealed those taxes.They’re exorbitantly high,” Camp-bell said.

The appeal has been submittedto the Michigan Tax Tribunal, whichisn’t expected to resolve the casesfor some time because of a two-year backlog. Campbell is beingrepresented by Detroit-based Hon-igman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP.

Township troubleThe Huron Township attorney

is expected to sue Pinnacle over$170,000 in arrearages for policeprotection, said township Super-visor Elke Doom.

“We are in agreement that (thetownship attorney) needs to pur-sue this,” she said, adding thatPinnacle told the township lastsummer that it didn’t believe itneeded to honor its police con-tract.

Pinnacle Race Courseoffers minority stake

See Pinnacle, Page 29 See HAP, Page 27

See Conference, Page 26

Financial whoa: Track owners seek to tighten reins

Campbell

Cotton

IDEA: DETROIT� What: Innovation-focusedconference sponsored by Crain’sDetroit Business and Advertising Age.� When: March 23� Where: Taubman Center,College for Creative Studies� Registration:crainsdetroit.com/events

Closed in November after holding only a weekend race schedule last year,Pinnacle Race Course in Huron Township is looking for investors.

NUMBERSMedicaidHMOs: How theyfared in 2009-10, Page 27

Scott


WHO ARE THE TOP CFOS?CFOs are often the unsung heroes of organizations’senior management teams. These leaders grapple with

budget pressure and increased redtape, and contribute to strategicplanning in new ways.Crain’s Detroit Business is seekingnominations for its fourth annual CFOawards to give recognition to thesefinancial leaders. Winners and finalists

will be recognized at a June event.To nominate someone, visit www.crainsdetroit.com/nominate. Nominations must be received by Feb. 11.Nominees must be CFOs or hold an equivalent job.Judges will select winners based on excellence infinancial or other corporate operational management.Nominees will be considered for public companies,private companies and nonprofits.Questions? Contact Jennette Smith, deputy managingeditor, at (313) 446-1622 or [email protected].

UM-Dearborn and Crain’s Detroit Business present

Sustainability in Health Care ManagementJoin us as we explore best practices, standards and initiatives launched by the health care industry to achieve sustainability.

William R. AlvinHealth Alliance Plan

Vernice Davis AnthonyGreater Detroit Area Health Council

Joseph T. AounNuyen,Tomtishen and Aoun, P.C.

Malcolm Henoch, MDOakwood Healthcare

Daniel WakemanSt. Luke Hospital

Moderated by: Mary Kramer,Publisher of Crain’s Detroit Business

For more info or to register online,

visit umd.umich.edu/sustainability_lecture

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February 8, 2011 7:30 a.m.–10:00 a.m.

$35 per person

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January 31, 2011CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

BY SHERRI WELCH


Presbyterian Villages of Michigan,United Methodist Retirement Commu-nities and Henry Ford Health Systemplan to begin work in May on thefirst phase of the $35 million seniorcommunity planned near Detroit’seast riverfront.

Housed in one of two formerParke-Davis buildings purchased inDecember from the UAW/GM Centerfor Human Resources for $700,000,the initial phase of the East Jeffer-son Neighborhood Project will in-clude one of the city’s first assistedliving centers, with 74 affordableand six market-rate units.

It also will house a second Detroitlocation for Henry Ford’s Center forSenior Independence, providing se-niors with medical and social ser-vices both at the center and off-site,enabling them to live independent-ly in their own homes.

A $2 million grant from the Com-munity Foundation for SoutheastMichigan’s Detroit NeighborhoodFund is supporting the project,with the first phase scheduled forcompletion in July 2012.

“Particularly in the East Jeffer-son neighborhood, there is a grow-ing population of older adults(and) not many options … for as-sisted living, affordable or other-wise,” said John Thorhauer, presi-dent and CEO of United MethodistRetirement Communities.

“Unfortunately, many people(have to) move to the suburbs forhealth care as they age. Thatshould not be necessary. Theyshould be able to stay in their owncommunities.”

Located two blocks off the De-troit River, the project site isbounded by Franklin Street to thenorth, Wight Street to the south,McDougall Street to the west andWalker to the east.

The nonprofits are gatheringcommitments for tax credits, loansand grants from the state, WayneCounty and the City of Detroit thatwill total an initial $24.6 millionwith their own investments.

As reported by Crain’s in Au-gust, the affordable assisted livingcomponent of the project is the sec-ond of five pilot sites across thestate selected for funding by theMichigan State Housing Development

Authority, following another builtby Genesis Nonprofit Housing Corp. inGrand Rapids.

In addition to 350 constructionjobs, the first phase of the projectshould create 183 health care jobsand have an estimated economicimpact of $250 million in the firstdecade, the organizations said.

Monthly lease rates haven’t yetbeen established, but they will besubsidized in exchange for theMSHDA tax credits, said DawnMagretta, vice president of devel-opment and public affairs at PVM.

The initial work is part of a two-phase senior community plannedby PVM that will also offer inde-pendent living, residential nurs-ing home units and a communitycafé when completed, in additionto the affordable assisted livingand senior health care, wellnessand adult day care services provid-ed at Henry Ford’s Center for Se-nior Independence.

As part of the national Programof All-Inclusive Care for the Elder-ly, the Henry Ford center will pro-vide nursing home-eligible seniorsfrom the immediate neighborhoodwith care and assistance to im-prove their quality of life. It’s aninnovative approach to health caredelivery that seeks to balance themedical needs of the frail elderlywith their social and economicneeds, said John Polanski, presi-dent and CEO for community careservices at Henry Ford.

The program is funded throughMedicare and Medicaid.

The center might, for example,bring a frail senior from her hometo the center five days a week toget assistance bathing, have herhair done, obtain medical care andattend social events. It could even

provide assistance with laundry orother chores around the home,Polanski said.

“The market dynamics (in theEast Jefferson neighborhood) ob-viously suggest there’s an obscenenumber of frail elderly within thatmarket who could certainly usethese services,” he said.

With the center, “we’re able tokeep them out of a nursing homeby providing those services, whichthe state has said ultimately im-proves one’s quality of life and re-duces the cost of health care,”Polanski said.

PVM plans to begin the secondphase of the East Jefferson Neigh-borhood project in 2012, renovatingthe second building to include agreenhouse environment for abouttwo dozen seniors and a communitycafé on its ground floor.

Plans also call for constructionof a new building to house 50-60 in-dependent living senior apart-ments, Myers said.

Co-locating the affordable as-sisted living with independenthousing and health care serviceswas attractive because residentscould choose to remain on the cam-pus when their health care needsincreased, Thorhauer said.

When completed, the East Jeffer-son Neighborhood Project will cre-ate 150 to 170 housing units. But it isexpected to provide servicesthrough the health center and com-munity café for about 750 residen-tial seniors from the communityand surrounding neighborhoods,Myers said.

The value of the East Jeffersonproject is greater than the idea ofjust retaining residents and creat-ing jobs, he said.

Seniors “bring so much of theheritage we built Detroit on … (and)a value to the quality of life of thecommunity in terms of the rich wis-dom they bring and the experiencesthey’ve had,” Myers said.

With the new University PrepMath and Science High School thatopened last fall just two blocksaway, “we see the intergenera-tional opportunities to be tremen-dous … students will be able to vol-unteer and potentially beemployed as part of the East Jeffer-son Project,” he said.

Sherri Welch: (313) 446-1694,[email protected]

Work set to begin in spring on East Jefferson senior community

The following businesses filed for Chapter 7 or 11 protec-tion in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Detroit Jan. 21-27. Un-der Chapter 11, a company files for reorganization;Chapter 7 involves liquidation.Alpha Electric Inc., 39349 Mound Road, Sterling Heights,involuntary Chapter 7. Assets and liabilities not avail-able.Washington Disposal Services LLC, P.O. Box 210509,Auburn Hills, voluntary Chapter 11. Assets and liabili-ties not available.Best Stay Coldwater Inc., 2111 N. Wixom Road, Wixom,voluntary Chapter 11. Assets and liabilities not avail-able.Horizon Coldwater LLC, 2111 N. Wixom Road, Wixom,voluntary Chapter 11. Assets and liabilities not avail-able.

— Shawn Wright

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LANSING — Thewheels are starting toturn, potentially fast, onGov. Rick Snyder’s pro-posal to scrap the Michi-gan Business Tax and re-place it with a corporateincome tax.

The administrationlast week began circulat-ing a 29-page draft pro-posal, titled the Michi-gan Corporate IncomeTax Act, that went to keylawmakers and stake-holders — including accountingand tax professionals — and busi-ness organizations that were en-couraged to distribute it to theirmembers.

The proposal follows the tenor ofwhat Snyder has said he wouldpropose: Eliminate the MBT andreplace it with a 6 percent corpo-rate income tax that would applyto “C” corporations, which are themost common type of business en-tity and generally include mostpublic companies and many largeprivately held companies.

Ken Silfven, Snyder’s deputypress secretary, said the new taxstructure is designed to be simple,fair and efficient, and its proposedimplementation date is Jan. 1,2012.

Silfven said the process of craft-ing the new tax structure will beinclusive, and more specifics ofthe tax restructuring will be pre-sented in conjunction with Sny-der’s budget, which is scheduled tobe unveiled Feb. 17.

He did not have a timetable forwhen Snyder would like the legis-lation passed.

The draft’s wording expressesthe intent to improve Michigan’seconomic condition, foster contin-ued and diverse economic growthand enable the state “to competefairly and effectively in the worldmarketplace for economic develop-ment opportunities.”

No analysis was available fromthe governor’s office, but Snyderhas said previously that the pro-posal would provide an estimatedtax cut of about $1.5 billion.

The new corporate tax wouldnot be paid by most individuallyowned businesses, like sole propri-etorships, LLCs and other smallerbusinesses. Those businesses,which have paid both the MBT andindividual income tax, would endup paying only the individual in-come tax, which is currently at4.35 percent and will drop to 4.25

percent on Oct. 1.A key benefit seen for

C corporations is thatthey would no longerpay taxes on modifiedgross receipts, as is thecase under the currentMBT.

Mike Johnston, vicepresident of govern-ment affairs for theMichigan ManufacturersAssociation, said theMMA looks forward toworking with the gover-

nor and “appreciates that he is go-ing in a direction that is intendedto lower taxes on Michigan busi-nesses.”

However, the MMA is concernedthat the draft does not continuekey tax credits that have beenawarded to businesses and are tiedto the current MBT — includingthose for brownfield redevelop-ment, advanced battery invest-ment and the Michigan EconomicGrowth Authority program.

The question is, if the MBT is re-pealed, “do you just abandon thosedeals?” Johnston said.

“Companies have made billionsof dollars of long-term capital in-vestments in Michigan based onthose contractual agreements withthe state,” he said. Johnston saidthe MMA has raised the issue withthe administration.

The MMA has also expressedconcern about the continued exis-tence of the personal property tax,which it would like eliminated.

The draft proposal does not con-tinue a 35 percent personal proper-ty tax credit that is part of the cur-rent MBT structure.

“If it exists without credits, it’slikely a tax increase on a bigchunk of the manufacturing sec-tor,” Johnston said.

And, pointing to a study recent-ly released by the MMA that foundMichigan manufacturers on aver-age have a 29 percent higher taxburden than the national averagefor manufacturing, Johnston saidthat the new tax structure needs tocompete effectively against taxrates nationally.

Silfven said the draft is “a start-ing point,” and tax credits in theMBT will be among topics of dis-cussion.

Charlie Owens, director of theNational Federation of IndependentBusiness-Michigan, said his mem-bers are still responding to a sur-vey on the tax-restructuring con-cept, but early indications are that

they are supportive.The proposal “takes into consid-

eration the special needs of smallbusinesses and the problems ofdouble taxation that occurred un-der the Michigan business tax,” hesaid.

Owens said the proposal in-cludes the small-business creditthat is in the current MBT and wasalso in the predecessor single busi-ness tax, and “we see that as arecognition by the Snyder admin-istration of the important role thatsmall business plays in Michigan’seconomy.” The proposal also con-tinues an exemption for business-es that have no more than $350,000in gross receipts.

Originally, there were concernsthat small C corporations that hadless than $350,000 in gross receipts,or that paid the MBT’s 1.8 percentalternative profits tax, would see atax increase under the new 6 per-cent corporate tax structure. But“language that would allow thesetax options to continue was includ-ed in the proposed draft,” Owenssaid.

He said the proposal is consis-tent with Snyder’s pursuit of an“economic gardening” strategy,“whereby existing businesses arerecognized and encouraged togrow and provide jobs.”

Comings & goings■ Matt Frendewey, former direc-

tor of executive affairs in the officeof Attorney General Mike Cox, hasjoined Troy communications firmThe Quell Group as senior accountexecutive.

■ Tom Hickson, previously direc-tor of legislative affairs at theMichigan Association of Counties,has become vice president for pub-lic policy at the Michigan CatholicConference.

■ Kristyn Ladd, former director ofSenate majority communicationsin the Michigan Senate, has beennamed internal communicationsand community relations managerfor Lansing-based Jackson NationalLife Insurance Co.

■ Daniel Mahoney, former fi-nance director for the House De-mocratic Caucus and for previousHouse Speaker Andy Dillon’s gu-bernatorial campaign, has becomevice president for membership anddevelopment at the Small BusinessAssociation of Michigan.

Amy Lane: (517) 371-5355,[email protected]

Business leaders react todraft of Snyder tax plan

Amy Lane

CapitolBr iefings

Novi-based Trinity Health and for-profit Vanguard Health Systems Inc.,Nashville, have each contributedabout $10 million to a new healthcare venture fund with three otherhealth systems.

The Nashville-based HeritageHealthcare Innovation Fund LP,which has raised about $50 mil-lion, will provide up to $10 millionin funding to health companies —primarily in the information tech-

nology field — that can helpproviders improve efficiency andenhance quality, said Jim Bossch-er, Trinity’s vice president of trea-sury.

The other three health systemsin the fund are Des Moines-basedIowa Health System, CommunityHealth Systems in Nashville and 52-hospital LifePoint Hospitals, Brent-wood, Tenn.

Vanguard owns and operates De-

troit Medical Center. Trinity owns 46hospitals, including 12 in Michi-gan.

The fund will be managed byHeritage Group LLC.

Founded in 1986, the HeritageGroup is a privately held invest-ment and advisory firm led byRock Morphis and David McClel-lan.

— Jay Greene

Trinity, Vanguard give $10M each to health care venture fund


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Editor: We at the Southeast Michigan

Council of Governments and itspublic/private sector partner or-ganization, the Metropolitan Af-fairs Coalition, agree with KeithCrain’s Jan. 17 column, “OK, sowho’s going to fix the roads?” andthank him for restating a messagethat we’ve been saying for severalyears.

The latest issue of SEMCOG’squarterly magazine, Semscope, atwww.semcog.org, is devoted to thecrisis the region faces in fundingits infrastructure — not just roadsand bridges but also public transit,sewage treatment and water, aswell as electricity, gas and tele-communications.

Revenue to cover fixed costs andoperations comes largely from tax-es, fees or other charges to cus-tomers based on consumption. Thechallenge of basing charges onconsumption is that now everyoneis trying to conserve. Conserva-tion is a good thing. However, it

means less money. Funding roadmaintenance primarily on the gastax — which is a user fee — willnot work going forward.

Maintaining quality infrastruc-ture is emerging as one of ourgreatest regional challenges. Rev-enues are not keeping up with theneed to maintain and rebuild ag-ing infrastructure or operate theseinfrastructure systems. For exam-ple, SEMCOG’s regional trans-portation plan (through the year2035) identifies $1.3 billion in

available revenue each year tocover $2.8 billion in transportationneeds. Over the past six years,road conditions have continued todeteriorate. Nearly 35 percent ofSoutheast Michigan’s roads arenow ranked in poor condition; in2004, only 10 percent of roads wereranked poor.

Solutions must focus on efficien-cies and rethinking how we payfor these systems. SEMCOG andMAC agree with the need for an in-crease in the state and federal gastax in the short term. In the longterm, we need to institute a sus-tainable funding mechanism fortransportation and explore alter-nate user fees. We also support en-abling private investment intransportation infrastructure.Southeast Michigan’s future pros-perity, safety and quality of lifeare at stake.

Paul E. TaitExecutive director, SEMCOG

President, Metropolitan Affairs Coalition

Give Bing time to sortwater system tangle

he fight over who controls the Detroit water system isviewed as a city-vs.-suburbs war. But there’s one otherresponsible party: The U.S. District Court, which has

had oversight of the water system since 1977.As Nancy Kaffer reports on Page 1, it was U.S. District

Judge John Feikens who gave temporary control of the waterdepartment cookie jar to then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in2002 and then removed it in early 2006. But in that period,most, if not all, of the water department corruption allegationsoutlined in last month’s federal indictment occurred.

During most of that time, Feikens had two outside contrac-tors to maintain vigilance — Detroit attorney Thomas Lewandand Maryland-based Infrastructure Management Group.

Oakland County’s challenges on contracts and fees paid tooversight monitors began in 2005. Last week, Oakland Countyfiled a request to create a regional oversight board.

Feikens, 93, is ailing and had given up control on the waterdepartment last year. Judge Sean Cox has filled in.

The suburban anger is understandable, especially over feespaid to court-appointed monitors who appear to have missedthe corruption under their noses. But those monitors werecourt-appointed, not city of Detroit employees.

Leadership from Macomb and Wayne counties supports al-lowing Mayor Dave Bing, who inherited the mess, some timeto work problems out — both in the department managementand relations with suburban customers.

That seems preferable to a court battle or even state legisla-tive action that inevitably would lead to a court battle.

If this confrontation moves into the courts or the Legisla-ture, it could derail other Bing initiatives, including courtingfederal aid for a regional transportation system.

It also would polarize city and suburban residents and sup-porters, making it harder for the mayor to sell his consolidationplans to residents who feel threatened by suburban neighbors.

This is a good time for all parties to take a step back andlook at the larger goals.

From a CPA, a simple solutionToday, Gov. Rick Snyder may make history.At a summit in Lansing convened by Business Leaders for

Michigan, the governor, first CPA ever elected to that post, isexpected to present a simplified state balance sheet.

Reducing hundreds of pages of budget documents into asimple revenue and expense summary — with what the state ison the hook for — should help Michigan residents understandwhat’s at stake — and may even build public support for Sny-der’s urgent reinvention agenda.

Today could make certified public accountants everywherein Michigan proud.

Roads need new funding system

I know it’s perhaps one of themost unpopular positions inMichigan, but for the life of me, Ican’t figure out why we just don’tlet Matty Moroun expand hisbridge.

I don’t understand why our newgovernor, who I think is the bestexample of entrepreneurismaround, wants to substitute publicmoney for private investment —even if the public dollars are com-ing from Canada and he’s leverag-ing them to get more federal roaddollars into Michigan. It’s all pub-

lic money.Moroun wants to put

his own money into thebridge.

It’s probably heresyto suggest it, but ifsomeone came alongand offered to buy theMackinac Bridge to-morrow, I’d sell it in ananosecond. I’m notsaying we don’t need asecond bridge; I justdon’t think we need to own everyproject in our state.

The governor of Indi-ana, Mitch Daniels,sold the Indiana tollroads to a private com-pany for several billiondollars, and by all stan-dards the toll roads aredoing just fine in pri-vate hands.

No one has been ableto convince me that wewill not get by quitenicely with an expand-

ed Ambassador Bridge for manyyears. If we ever needed even more

lanes for crossings, then I bet wecould find some other private in-vestor to build it in a decade — orwhenever it’s needed.

Meanwhile, I understand it maynot be long before the debate overa rail tunnel crossing to accommo-date double- and triple-stackedcontainers will heat up. If that hap-pens, it will allow for even greaterfreight traffic between Detroit andCanada.

If we can find someone whowould like to invest money and of-fer the public and business a ser-

vice, why in heaven’s name do wewant public dollars to get in-volved? It just simply doesn’t makea lot of sense to me.

This may be the political hotpotato of the decade, unless you’drather talk about sharing the own-ership of the Detroit water systemor even selling it to private enter-prise. That gets a lot of folks mad,too.

But heck, if the owner of the Am-bassador Bridge wants to expandhis crossing, let him. It’s his mon-ey, risk and reward.

Crain’s Detroit Businesswelcomes letters to the editor.All letters will be considered forpublication, provided they aresigned and do not defameindividuals or organizations.Letters may be edited for lengthand clarity.Write: Editor, Crain’s DetroitBusiness, 1155 Gratiot Ave.,Detroit, MI 48207-2997.E-mail: [email protected]

Why not let Moroun expand his bridge?

T

See Letters, Page 9

LETTERS

OPINION

KEITH CRAIN:



ered it a good showing inlight of the economicdownturn. Then I learnedthat other law schoolswere reporting employ-ment rates approaching100 percent.

Some schools apparent-ly hire their graduatesinto temporary jobs thatend shortly after the Feb.15 reporting date. Other

schools pay the salaries of gradu-ates who receive short-term em-ployment at law firms.

Wayne Law has resisted bolster-ing our employment statistics inthese ways. We are trying to fundpublic service employment for cur-

rent students and recent graduates,but will do so as a pump-primer tocreate long-term opportunities andserve needy and underrepresentedgroups and citizens.

The median salary figures thatlaw schools trumpet can also bemisleading, due once again to therequired reporting methodology.

In light of this, what is aprospective law student to do? Afew suggestions:

� Do not apply to law school ifmoney is your primary motivation.The law is a profession requiringhard work, intellectual ability andthe desire to serve others. Apply tolaw school only if you are intellectu-ally curious about the law, if you

have a passion for justice, and ifyou want to help people.

� Apply to a range of law schools.Lower-ranked law schools offer sub-stantial scholarships to candidateswho will improve the schools’LSAT and GPA medians. The aver-age salary of recent Wayne Lawgrads ($77,900) remains higher thantheir average debt at graduation($67,029). While significant, this lev-el of debt is manageable.

� Control your expenditures. Astudent who tries to live the lifestyleof a lawyer while in law school mayfind herself living the lifestyle of astudent after graduation.

� While a big law firm payingsix-figure starting salaries may be

your cup of tea, don’t obligate your-self to obtain this type of employ-ment if you were motivated to studylaw for other reasons. The advan-tage of a professional degree is thatit makes you the master of yourown fate.

In short, proper motivation, pru-dent choice of law school, carefuldebt management and conscious ca-reer choices can make law school awinning proposition. It’s not foreverybody, but our profession con-tinues to welcome motivated, altru-istic, intelligent men and women.Our society requires no less.

Robert Ackerman is dean andprofessor of law at the Wayne StateUniversity Law School.

A Jan. 9 article in theThe New York Times, “IsLaw School a LosingGame?” paints an incom-plete picture of employ-ment prospects for lawschool graduates. I believethat law students havemore control over theirdebt and career prospectsthan the article implies.

It is true that employ-ment information published by U.S.News & World Report as part of itsannual rankings of law schools canbe misleading. As a general matter,blame for this cannot be laid at thefeet of the law schools. We are re-quired by the American Bar Associ-ation to report our graduates’ em-ployment numbers each year. TheABA instructs law schools to reporta graduate as employed whetheremployment is full time or parttime and regardless of whether thejob is in a legal or non-legal job. U.S.News calculates an employmentrate using its own methodology.

Nevertheless, it is widely be-lieved that some schools pad theiremployment numbers. When ourCareer Services office reported anemployment rate of 90.8 percentfor 2009 graduates as of ninemonths after graduation, I consid- Provocative thinking, shared experiences and inspired, workable business ideas are the earmarks

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LETTERS CONTINUED■ From Page 8

Ag leaders back DRICEditor:

Agricultural leaders of Michiganstrongly support building the De-troit River International Crossing.

Building this publicly ownedcrossing would provide a majorboost to Michigan’s economy, helpwith job growth and strengthen ouraccess and infrastructure related tointernational trade. Agricultureemploys one in four Michigan citi-zens and generates $71.3 billion ayear in economic activity.

Without DRIC, commerce will beconstricted. A December storm thatshut down the Blue Water Bridge —one of the four international cross-ings into Canada — stranded mo-torists and hundreds of trucks,many hauling agricultural freighteither from or into Canada. In somecases, plants had to shut down be-cause they ran short of parts.

Virtually all containerizedfreight destined for Africa, Europeand Eastern Asia from Michigantravels through Canada and mustcross the Michigan/U.S.-Canadianborder.

DRIC is a win-win for Michiganbusinesses, and Michigan agricul-tural leaders urge Lansing to fast-track this important project. It isvital to Michigan’s agricultureeconomy and the more than 1 mil-lion people who work in Michi-gan’s second-largest industry.

Dave ArmstrongPresident and CEO

GreenStone Farm Credit ServicesKen Nobis

PresidentMichigan Milk Producers Association

George HouseExecutive director

Michigan Allied Poultry Industries Inc.Ben KudwaLegislative director

Potato Growers of MichiganJim Byrum

PresidentMichigan Agri-Business Association

OTHER VOICES:

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hat a difference a year madein the world of mergers andacquisitions.

What did 2010 hold? Plenty of sur-prises, as it turned out, and a quick-er return to normalcy for privateequity and M&A than one wouldhave imagined at the end of 2009.

The year 2009 was anomalous forM&A as the reces-sion continued itspost-quake after-shocks. The 46transactions of atleast $10 millionin SoutheastMichigan werefewer than in anyyear since Crain’sbegan trackingthem in 1996.

But due to thebillions of dollars poured into theregion as the federal governmenttried to keep the domestic auto in-dustry from going the way of thedodo, total deal volume hit an all-time high of $80.9 billion — nearly$68 billion of it from Washington.

Of the nongovernment-fundingdeals that did close in 2009, manywere for troubled companies sell-ing at a discount. The year endedon a down note as Wind Point Part-ners, a Chicago-based private-equi-ty firm that opened a Michigan of-fice in 1997, chose not to renew itslease in Southfield and moved itsemployees back to Illinois.

In 2010, deal-making was back inthe hands of the private sector.

There were 64 deals of at least $10 million in the year, for a volumeof $18.1 billion. Local investmentbankers and private equity special-ists say banks started lending intodeals in the second half of the yearafter a long time sitting on the side-

lines, and foreign companies endedyears of tire-kicking by writingchecks and buying U.S. companies.

“Things changed quite a lot in 12months,” said Cliff Roesler, man-aging partner of Birmingham-based Angle Advisors-InvestmentBanking LLC, who predicts that 2011“will be a banner year. Companieshave cash on the balance sheet,and they’re going to have to deployit somehow.”

One deal tells the taleOne deal best sums up the local

turnaround, and it happens to bethe largest of the 64 last year.

In a pending deal announced inDecember that is expected to en-counter no difficulties in closing,Toronto-Dominion Bank is buyingFarmington Hills-basedChrysler Fi-nancial Corp.from Cer-berus Capital Manage-ment for $6.3 billion.

A Canadian bankpaying billions for anAmerican finance

company bearing the nameChrysler? So it can enter the U.S.auto market and finance debt toAmerican consumers? A year ago,

that deal would have been be-yond anyone’s imagining.

Chrysler sold Chrysler Fi-nancial to Cerberus in 2007 as itbriefly staved off bankruptcy,and the finance arm doesn’teven finance Chrysler productsthese days — that is done bygovernment-bought GMACturned Ally in these post-reces-sion days — but such is the sud-

den promise of the American econo-my and the American auto industrythat a Canadian bank wants to paybillions from its stockpile of cash todo business here.

It is particularly newsworthy giv-en that Canadian banks were per-haps the world’s most conservativeduring the recent boom years. Theyavoided subprime lending and allthe derivatives mess that went withit, and they escaped the toxic-assetmesses and liquidity crises of theirbanking brethren to the south.

T-D hoarded its cash and nowwants to spend it here, a bank-bites-dog story, to be sure.

A big deal for an auto financer,which would have seemed halluci-natory in 2009, wasn’t even ananomaly in 2010.

The second biggest deal in theyear was General Motors Co.’s $3.5 billion purchase of Texas-based AmeriCredit Corp. in October.In need of a captive financing armnow that it no longer owned


CEO James McElya led Novi-basedCooper-Standard Holdings Inc. backinto the black last year. The maker ofsealing products, fluid-handlingsystems and anti-vibration productsgets 95 percent of its $2.2 billion inrevenue from sales to automakers,led by Ford Motor Co., General MotorsCo., Fiat S.p.A. and Volkswagen AG.McElya, 63, a past chairman of theOriginal Equipment SuppliersAssociation and the Motor &Equipment Manufacturers Association,spoke with Automotive News.

What if U.S. light-vehicle sales jump tomore than 13 million units in 2011? It’llbe very difficult for the industry to takethat kind of an increase. ... Right now,there are still shortages of rawmaterials, especially in Europe. The tier-two and tier-threesubsuppliers are really going to(determine) whether the industry willbe able to ramp up to the area of 13 million to 14 million units.In 2008-09, only about a third of thesupply base restructured. (Others)got amendments and waivers to theircredit agreements. Most of that debtwill mature in 2011 and 2012. Whenthat debt matures, will the banksrenew their loans? Under whatconditions? The smaller guys, I think,are going to feel that impact the most.

Which raw-material supplies are tight?One of our largest raw materials isEPDM, which is synthetic rubber.When the bottom fell out, a lot ofpeople took capacity out. They closedchemical plants and the like. It’s noteasy to turn those things back on. Thesame thing happened with steel.

Cooper-Standard, like a lot of suppliers,has been slashing debt and holdingonto cash. Is it time to invest? A coupleof trends tie into this. There is a trendfor globalization and global platforms.At the last OESA conference, therewas a number thrown out that by2015, of the global volume, 85 percent or more will be based offof global platforms. If you believe that— and I do — regional players aregoing to be in trouble. Ford said it willgo from 2,600 down to 750 suppliers,and the vast majority of those will besuppliers that can service Fordglobally. .... Banks are going to say, whenasked to refinance loans, “Are youone of the chosen few that are goingto be selected by Ford or by Chrysler?”Put all that together, and I think thereis going to be M&A activity that’sgoing to be unprecedented. A lot ofguys will start offering up theirbusinesses for sale.

What are the opportunities you see in2011? There’ll be plenty ofopportunities in mergers andacquisitions for good companies thathave cash and a good balance sheet. Also, there are what I call unnaturalowners of companies in the supplybase. So many of the people thatowned debt now are equity owners.They’re not natural equity owners.They’d like to get their cash and goback to being lenders, as they were. ... I think it’ll create opportunities for alot of people.

b i g d e a l s o f 2 0 1 0

Ext ra

MORE ON DEALS2011: Reasons foroptimism, Page 12Honigman: Detroitfirm leads nation indeals advisingbanks, Page 13Angle: BirminghamM&A firm teams upfor global market,Page 24

A CONVERSATION WITH

James McElya, Cooper-Standard

Holdings Inc.

W

20092010

20092010

46

64

$18.1B

$67.8Bfromdeals inwhichfederalgovern-menttookequity

$80.9B

$13.1B

NUMBER OFLOCAL DEALS

VALUE OFLOCAL DEALS

BIGGEST 2010 DEAL

$6.3 billionToronto-DominionBank’s pendingacquisition of ChryslerFinancial Corp.

ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

Under reconstructionDealmaking finds footing with private sector, foreign buyers

Companies havecash on the

balance sheet,and they’re

going to haveto deploy it

somehow.Cliff Roesler, Angle Advisors-

Investment Banking LLC

”

“

See Deals, Page 12

CRAIN’S LISTS� Biggest deals,Pages 14-15� Office andindustrial leases,Pages 16-17� Local sales, Page 18


Investment Banking Services:Mergers & AcquisitionsSales & DivestituresCapital Transaction PlanningFairness OpinionsInternational Transaction Advisory

Industry Specializations:Business ServicesDiversified IndustrialsMedical Technology Plastics & Packaging

To discuss your company’s strategy orvalue, please contact:

Transactions Closed in 2010


Finance Extra: Big Deals of 2010

GMAC, GM renamed the firm Gen-eral Motors Financial Co. Inc.

The third-biggest deal of theyear was the $1.5 billion purchaseof Ford Motor Co.’s Volvo unit by Zhe-jiang Geely Holding Group of China.

Another deal that showedRoesler that things were gettingback to normal, particularly in theauto supply chain, was WynnchurchCapital Partners’ announced sale inNovember of its Farmington-basedHenniges Automotive Holdings Inc., amaker of highly engineered sealsand anti-vibration systems, to Lit-tlejohn & Co. LLC.

“It’s a good indicator when largeNew York-based private equityfirms are re-entering the auto mar-ket,” he said.

So, too, are Chinese and Germancompanies.

In fact, Angle, which alreadyhad an office in China, is expectedto announce this week that it hasformed a relationship with a Ger-man firm, Frankfurt-based @VisoryPartners GmbH, that will involve anexchange of investment profes-sionals, an eventual swap of com-pany stock and collaboration onlarge purchases of U.S. auto sup-pliers by German companies indeals financed by German banks.(See story, Page 24.)

Another deal by Angle — a smallone in January — also points outthe increased interest in Americancompanies. Darby Overseas Invest-ments invested $33.5 million to paydown debt in Prestolite Electric Bei-jing Ltd., a unit of Prestolite Inc. ofPlymouth.

Had the debt not been paid off,the lenders holding it may haveforced a liquidation.

“So here you have a recapital-ization by the Chinese to save anAmerican company,” Roeslersaid.

Survey says …Fred Rozelle is a managing part-

ner in the Detroit office of BDO USALLP and leads the national practicein manufacturing and distribu-tion. According to a national sur-vey of private equity executivesthat BDO released earlier this

See Page 13

Deals: Onthe mend■ From Page 11

A GOOD YEAR AHEAD FOR DEALS?Area investment bankers and privateequity investors predict a strong2011, with M&A activity up across awide range of industries and acrossa wide range of deal sizes. Thereasons include:� The oldest of the baby boomerswho held out from sellingbusinesses at the bottom of themarket are still looking to cash outand retire. � The temporary extension of theBush tax cuts creates an incentiveto sell near term to lock in lowercapital gains rates.� While prices have risen enough toencourage selling, they haven’t risenso high as to scare buyers. Would-be buyers who are confident in a

long-term recovery think there is stilla good upside left.� As OEMs and tier-one suppliersexpand their manufacturing into newregions, they want their suppliers tojoin them. It’s manufacturing in theregion to sell to that region. Smallersuppliers without the capital toexpand into Europe or Asia will lookto be bought by companies who do.� Companies were rigorous abouttightening their belts and trimminglabor during the recession. As salesvolumes have rebounded, a lag inhiring has sent much of thatincrease in revenue directly to thebottom line, and available foracquisitions by strategic buyers.“There are significant pools of

money at many companies, andthey’re trying to figure out ‘How can Iput it to work?’ ” said Cliff Roesler,managing partner of Birmingham-based Angle Advisors-InvestmentBanking LLC.� Seller expectations, fueled duringthe boom years, are more realisticfollowing the recession. � There is a broadening consensusthat while this recovery is slow byhistorical standards, it is real andsustainable, and there will be nodouble-dip recession. That will leadto increased hiring this year, moreworkers making money and moremoney to be spent by consumers.“Businesses are more confident inthe recovery and more willing to put

capital to work, shifting fromdefense to offense,” said KevinProkop, a partner in Livonia-basedRockbridge Growth Equity LLC.� Banks are back in the M&A game,for two reasons. On the lendingside, they’ve begun providingfunding for deals by healthycompanies. On the sell side,valuations have rebounded enoughso they are willing to sign off ondeals for distressed companies theyhold senior debt on. “Banks havebeen paralyzed, but they’re willing totake the pain now,” said GarrettKanehann, a partner in BloomfieldHills-based BlackEagle Partners LLC,which buys and turns arounddistressed companies.

� There will be fewer distresseddeals than in 2009 or 2010. “Notonly are we seeing more dealsgetting done, but we’re seeingfewer deals dying,” said BrianDemkowicz, managing partner atDetroit-based Huron CapitalPartners, which did two acquisitionsand three divestitures in 2010,including the sale of St. Clair-basedRoss Education LLC for $232 million, a return of 19 timesthe original investment. “Weprobably had 10 or 11 deals underletters of intent last year that had ahard time getting done because thefinancials weren’t what had beenreported. Deal quality will be a lothigher this year,” he said.

20110131-NEWS--0012,0013-NAT-CCI-CD_-- 1/28/2011 10:26 AM Page 1

California | Illinois | Michigan | Texas | Washington, D.C. www.dykema.com

Unparalleled Client Service and Results

When the Deal is a Big Deal for You, Call Dykema.

GreenChoiceHolding Company, Inc.

Acquisition ofFamily Federal Savings of Illinois

July 2010

John Hancock TrustCombinations of mutual fundsAcquired fund assets: $1billion

2010

Compuware CorporationAcquisition of DocSite, LLC

September 2010

American PhysiciansCapital, Inc.

$386 million public company saleto The Doctors Company

October 2010

Detroit RegionalConvention Facilities

Authority$80 million special tax

revenue bonds

September 2010

General MotorsAcquisition of

General Motors Strasbourg SAS

October 2010

Cloverland ElectricPurchase of

Edison Sault Electric Co. fromWisconsin Energy Corp.

May 2010

Navistar, Incand its affiliates

Complex trucksale/financing transactions

2010

Asterand, plcAcquisition of BioSeek, Inc.

March 2010

MichiganFinance Authority

$1 billion+ Straight-A Funding,LLC conduit financing program

June 2010

ITC Holdings Corp.and Its Affiliates

Strategic Development Projects

2010

Constellation EnergyProjects and ServicesGroup, Inc. AffiliatesDevelopment of steam and

chilled water facility

December 2009 to December 2010



month, 59 percent of respondentssaid Asia will provide the greatestsource of foreign investment in

M&A in 2011.“And I’m see-

ing German automanufacturersand suppliers in-vesting heavilyin the U.S., too,”he said.

The greatestpercentage of hisstudy’s respon-dents, 37 per-

cent, said manufacturing presentedthe best investment opportunitythis year, up from 21 percent a yearago, when health care (23 percentthis year) was first at 35 percent.

Other study results: 49 percentof respondents expect to close atleast three deals in the next year,while 39 percent reported closingthat many in 2010; 70 percent saidthe values of their portfolios in-creased during 2010, while 51 per-cent in the previous survey saidtheir portfolios decreased in 2009;83 percent said the quality of thecompanies they acquired in 2010was moderately to much betterthan the quality of companies pur-chased in 2009.

“We did a ton of distressed dealsin 2009 and some distressed deals in2010. We don’t have distressed dealsin our backlog of potential dealsnow,” said Scott Eisenberg, a man-aging partner of the Birmingham-based investment advisory firm ofAmherst Partners LLC and presidentof the Michigan chapter of the Asso-ciation for Corporate Growth.

His firm was involved in 12 dis-tressed deals in 2009 and three lastyear.

“We’ve got a lot more foreignbuyers interested now,” said Eisen-berg. He said a long stint of tirekicking by would-be Indian andChinese buyers turned into a pur-chase last January by India-basedTVS Logistics Services Ltd. of Flint-based Manufacturers Equipment andSupply Co.

He said to expect lots of cross-border deals in 2011.

“A lot of people here are tryingto figure out where and how to ex-pand overseas,” he said. “And for-eign players are trying to figureout how to access the U.S. market.You’ll see more and more of that.We’re on a three- or four-year peri-od of increasing M&A activity.”

John Gatti, chairman of the tax-ation practice group at Kerr Russell& Weber PLC in Detroit, and PhillipTorrence, chairman of the finan-cial institutions practice group atHonigman Miller Schwartz and CohnLLP, both said 2010 saw growth intransactions between U.S. and for-eign companies, as well as life sci-ence and health care companies ordeals among banks or bank hold-ing companies.

Selling outThis may be the year that own-

ers of smaller companies, as wellas venture capital and private eq-uity owners, decide to sell.

“If a small company out therelost 10 percent of sales during thedownturn, it may still have troublecovering overhead — even if thebank doesn’t necessarily have it inworkout yet or anything, they’restill just hanging on,” said Gatti,

From Page 12

who also is vice chairman of themergers and acquisitions taskforce for the Michigan Association ofCertified Public Accountants.

“As the lending market im-proves, I think the market for larg-er suppliers to want to buy theseguys up and add to their volume is

going to be strong.”Torrence said he believes this

year will see acceleration in deals,especially among life sciencescompanies and businesses in theportfolio of venture capital or pri-vate equity firms.

“Our firm handled a lot of year-end deals involving venture back-ing, and there are more in thepipeline,” he said. “The stakehold-ers will be able in the next year tostart dual-tracking their exits —you start the process of shoppingfor a buyer or IPOs. Either go pub-lic, or you sell.”

Tom Henderson: (313) 446-0337,[email protected]

Reporter Chad Halcom helped re-port this story.

Detroit-based Honigman MillerSchwartz and Cohn LLP led U.S. lawfirms in the number of deals asadvisers to banks and thriftswith 14, according to SNL Finan-cial LC.

Phillip Torrence, chairman ofthe financial institutions prac-tice group for Honigman, saidmost of the $64.2 million in dealsinvolved community banks,though none were Federal DepositInsurance Corp.-assisted transac-tions where federal regulatorsclose a bank and turn over its as-sets to another.

Torrence said capitalization

and regulatory issues continue tobe concerns.

“A bank holding institutioncan sell a bank; and say you sellone for $20 million, you nowhave those proceeds to con-tribute to your capital ratio.

“But staying adequately capi-talized can take many steps. It’s amatter of triage.”

Torrence said a lot of deals willneed conversions of trust-pre-ferred securities unique to bankholding companies or other mea-sures to avoid action by regula-tors.

— Chad Halcom

Honigman leads deals as adviser

Rozelle

We’re on a three-or four-year periodof increasing M&A

activity.Scott Eisenberg,

Amherst Partners LLC

”

“

20110131-NEWS--0012,0013-NAT-CCI-CD_-- 1/28/2011 10:27 AM Page 2


CRAIN'S LIST: MERGERS & ACQUISITIONSRank Acquirer name Target Acquirer advisers Target advisers

Annualrevenue($000,000)

Dateeffective Description

Value oftransaction($000,000)

1. Toronto-Dominion Bank, Ontario Chrysler Financial Corp.,Farmington Hills

Pending Cerberus Capital Management bought Chrysler Financial for$7.4 billion in 2007

$6,300.0

2. General Motors Co., Detroit AmeriCredit Corp., FortWorth, Texas

Bank of America/MerrillLynch; Morgan Stanley

Credit Suisse; Jefferies; JPMorgan

$1,500.0 October Renamed General Motors Financial Co. Inc.; headquarters remains inTexas

$3,500.0

3. Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Volvo unit of Ford MotorCo.

Citibank; Rothschild JP Morgan $12,442.0 August $1.3 billion cash, plus a $200 million note $1,500.0

4.Vanguard Health Systems Inc.,Nashville, Tenn.

Detroit Medical Center Internal Kaufman Hall $2,100.0 January2011

Deal value includes $365 million to retire outstanding debt;$7.5 million to fund the DMC Legacy Board over 10 years andassumption of $335 million of DMC's unfunded malpractice andpension obligations. Does not include $850 million in capitalcommitments over the next five years

$707.5

5.First Michigan Bank, Troy Assets and deposits of CF

Bancorp, Port HuronJaffe, Raitt, Heuer & Weiss;Nelson Mullins Riley &Scarborough; Oppenheimer

None $60.0 April Purchased $870 million in assets. Bank shut down by FDIC $697.8

6.First Michigan Bank, Troy First Banking Center,

Burlington, Wis.Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer & Weiss;Nelson Mullins Riley &Scarborough; Oppenheimer

None $33.0 November Purchased $750.7 million in assets. Bank shut down by FDIC $693.3

7.Faurecia S.A., France Emcon Technologies, Troy Cleary Gottlieb Steen &

Hamilton; BNP ParibasGroup

Morgan Lewis & Bockius;JP Morgan

$3,500.0 February Faurecia announced the acquisition of Emcon in November. It plansto combine Emcon with its exhaust systems business to form FaureciaEmissions Control Technologies, which is expected to post globalrevenue of about $7.7 billion annually

$507.5

8.Pacific Century Motors, Beijing Nexteer Automotive unit of

General Motors Co.Moelis & Co. DeutscheBank $1,600.0 November Pacific Motors is formed by E-Town, a state-owned enterprise serving

as the financing and investing arm of the Beijing Municipalgovernment, and Beijing-based supplier Tempo Group

$420.0

9. Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd.,Toronto

First Mercury FinancialCorp., Southfield

Internal Bank of America; MerrillLynch

Pending $16.50 per share $294.0

10. Covidien plc, Dublin, Ireland Somanetics Corp., Troy Citicorp; Leeink Swann Co. $50.0 July Medical devices maker Somanetics closed its Michigan operationsfollowing the sale

$250.0

11. JLL Partners Inc., New York Ross Education LLC, St. Clair BMO Capital Markets June Ross was a portfolio company of Huron Capital Partners LLC, Detroit.The sale produced a 19-times return on investment

$232.0

12.Level One Bank, Farmington Hills Paramount Bank,

Farmington HillsHardin Schiff; DonnellyPenman & Partners; Crowe& Horwath

$9.0 December Purchased $251 million in assets from receivership, includes fourbranches

$208.3

13.McMillan Shakespeare Ltd.,Melbourne

Detroit-based Ally FinancialInc.'s Interleasing AustraliaLtd.

April Acquired company is leasing agent for GM's Holden brand inAustralia

$205.9

14.BorgWarner Inc., Auburn Hills Traction systems division of

Haldex Gropu, Stockholm,Sweden

Internal Lazard, MannheimerSwartling

$172.0 est. Pending Acquisition represents less than one-times sales $205.0

15.Littlejohn & Co., Connecticut Henniges Automotive

Holdings Inc., FarmingtonHills

Pepper Hamilton $272.0 December Purchased from Wynnchurch Capital Partners, which purchasedMetzeler Automotive Profile Systems-North America and GDXAutomotive in 2007 for between $90 million-$100 million andcombined them into Henniges. Value is estimated

$180.0

16.OM Group Inc., Cleveland EaglePicher Technologies

LLC unit of EaglePicherCorp., Dearborn

Jones Day Lazard LLC $125.0 January2010

EP Management, formerly EaglePicher Corp. before exitingbankruptcy in 2009 under new ownership, sold off its Missouri-basedaerospace and defense battery manufacturing segment. OM Groupassumed certain pension and other retirement benefit obligations aspart of the deal

$171.9

17. BorgWarner Inc., Auburn Hills Dytech Ensa SL, Vigo, Spain Internal $180.0 April Acquired company makes exhaust gas recirculation coolers and otherproducts with locations in Spain, Portugal and India

$147.7

18.Patriarch Partners LLC, New York Dura Automotive Systems

Inc., Rochester HillsJones Day Lazard Freres & Co.;

Kirkland & Ellis$1,750 January

2010Plans to roll Dura into its Global Automotive Systems group, whichincluding Dura is expected to post more than $2 billion in annualrevenue. Dura makes a wide variety of components, including doors,parking brakes and pedals, cable systems, and others

$125.0

19.Irving Place Capital, New York Pet Supplies Plus,

Farmington HillsBank of America/MerrillLynch

Honigman Miller August Headquarters remains in Farmington Hills, and Harvey Solway,Dominic Buccellato and Richard Valade continue to have minorityshares. Estimated transaction value based on a loan issued to back thedeal

$120.0

20.Rockbridge Equity Growth EquityLLC, Livonia; Falcon InvestmentAdvisors LLC; Thad Paschall

Protect America Inc., BigRock, Texas

Dinan & Co.; HonigmanMiller; RSM McGladrey

Imperial Capital; Rooney &Associates; MitchellSilberberg; Pipkin, Oliverand Bradley

January2010

Rockbridge is portfolio company of Quicken Loans founder DanGilbert. Acquired company does home security and monitoring. Dealis for more than $100 million. Sold by founder Thad Paschall, whostill has a minority share; BIA Digital Partners and HarbingerMezzanine Partners. Senior lenders in the deal are CapitalSourceBank, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs

$100.0

20.Munder Capital Management,Birmingham

Integrity Asset Management,Rocky River, Ohio

Godwin & Proctor Colchester Partners; Foley &Lardner

$25.0 December Munder used proceeds of a syndicated $60 million delayed-drawterm loan to finance the purchase. Deal value is estimated at morethan $100 million

$100.0

22.Stefanini International HoldingsLtd., Brazil

TechTeam Global Inc. Fredericks, Michael & Co.;DLA Piper LLP

Houlihan Lokey; Ropes &Gray

$135.0 December Paid $8.35 per share representing a 24 percent premium toTechTeam's average closing stock price over the three-month periodended Nov. 1

$93.4

23. SAIC Motor Corp Ltd. Shanghai GM Motor Co Ltd. China Intl Cap Internal February SAIC acquired an additional 1 percent stake in the joint venture $84.5

24. Kissner Group, Ontario Detroit Salt Co. LLC, Detroit $40.0 est. October Seller is Ferrantino family, founders of EQ-The Environmental QualityCo. Deal value is estimated

$80.0

25. Spyker Cars Nev. Saab Automobile AB KPMG Corp Fin Deutsche Bank $908.2 February Spyker acquired the former GM unit for $74 million in cash. GMretained $326 million worth of preferred shares in the deal

$74.0

26. First Mercury Financial Corp.,Southfield

Valiant Insurance Group Inc BofA Merrill Lynch Aon Benfield $50.0-$60.0 November Expands First Mercury's specialty insurance market portfolio andallows it to enter the marine insurance market

$52.7

27.National Australia Bank Ltd. F&M Bank-Iowa Central,

Citizens Republic Bancorp,Flint

Keefe Bruyette Morgan Stanley $12.0 June Transaction included $125 million in loans and $410 million indeposits

$50.0

27.Rockbridge Equity Growth EquityLLC, Livonia; Falcon InvestmentAdvisors LLC; Nick Greer

One on One Marketing LLC,Salt Lake City

Dinan & Co.; HonigmanMiller; FTI Consulting

Arbor Advisors LLC; DLAPiper; Bennett TuellerJohnson & Deere

October Rockbridge is portfolio company of Quicken Loans founder DanGilbert. Senior lender is Fifth Third Bank; subordinated lender isFalcon Investment Advisors. Seller Nick Greer keeps a share in themarketing company. Sale is more than $50 million

$50.0

27.Rockbridge Equity Growth EquityLLC, Livonia; Falcon InvestmentAdvisors LLC; Ken Gross

Connect America LLC,Philadelphia

Honigman Miller Schartzand Cohn; RSM McGladrey

Security PerformancePartners; Drinker Biddle &Reath

$25.0 December Rockbridge is portfolio company of Quicken Loans founder DanGilbert. Senior lenders are TD Bank, The Private Bank. Subordinatedlenders are Falcon Investment Advisors. Seller Ken Gross keeps ashare in the medical alert device company. Deal is more than$50 million

$50.0

27.Champion Enterprises HoldingsLLC

Substantially all assets,Champion Enterprises Inc.

Morgan Joseph Ropes & Gray $1,000.0 March Buyer consists of an investor group of affiliates of CenterbridgePartners, MAK Capital Fund and Sankaty Advisors. Bought out ofbankruptcy

$50.0

27.Detroit Renewable Energy LLC Detroit waste-to-energy

plant owned by EnergyInvestors Fund and CovantaEnergy Corp.

Honigman Miller November Buyer is majority owned by Connecticut-based Atlas Holdings LLCwith co-owner Ohio-based Thermal Ventures LLP. Deal also includesDetroit Thermal LLC, which owns and operates a district energyunderground steam system in downtown Detroit, and HamtramckEnergy Services LLC, which operates private industrial steam plants atfive General Motors facilities

$50.0

32.Sun Pharmaceutical Ltd., SunPharma Global Inc.

Remaining 24.2% share inCaraco PharmaceuticalLaboratories, Detroit

William Blair; CarringtonColeman

Pending Transaction value is based on payment of $4.75 a share. Effect wouldbe to take the company private

$45.6

Source: Company submissions, Crain's research and Bloomberg News. Many transactions had multiple sources of information. In some cases, more than one estimated value of a transaction exists. In those cases, Crain's has chosen the value it believes to bemost accurate. The list does not include all 2010 transactions; only transactions valued at $10 million or more are included.


Continued on Page 15



CRAIN'S LIST: MERGERS & ACQUISITIONSRank Acquirer name Target Acquirer advisers Target advisers

Annualrevenue($000,000)

Dateeffective Description

Value oftransaction($000,000)

33.Maynards Industries Ltd.,Vancouver

Twinsburg stamping plant,Old Carco LLC

Williams Williams Rattnerand Plunkett PC,Birmingham

Jones Day March The liquidation company purchased the Twinsburg Stamping plant, aChrysler asset, at an auction in September

$45.5

34. Getin Noble Bank SA, Warsaw GMAC Bank Polska SA, AllyFinancial Inc.

March Acquired company was insurance agent who financed auto loans at70 dealerships in Poland

$43.9

35.Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.,Pasadena, Calif.

TechTeam GovernmentSolutions Inc., TechTeamGlobal

Houlihan Lokey October $43.0

36.Federal-Mogul Corp., Southfield Daros Group, Gothenburg,

SwedenMannheimer Swartling $28.0 est. June Acquired company makes high-technology piston rings for large-bore

engines used in industrial energy generation and commercialshipping. Has operations in China, Germany and Sweden

$39.0

37.Riverfront Holdings Inc., asubsidiary of General Motors Co.,Detroit

Millinder Center complex,Forest City Enterprises Inc.,Cleveland

Internal Internal December Riverfront, a General Motors Co. subsidiary, purchased the mixed-useMillender Center complex, which contains the Courtyard by Marriotthotel

$37.8

38.Darby Overseas Investments Ltd.,Washington, D.C.

Prestolite Electric BeijingLtd., a unit of PrestoliteElectric Inc., Plymouth

Internal Angle Advisors $325.0 January2010

The private investment firm acquired a minority stake in the Chinaarm of the auto supplier

$33.5

39.Primary Capital Ltd., London, U.K. Paperchase Products Ltd.,

Borders Group Inc., AnnArbor

Rothschild $69.2 July Acquired company is stationery, cards and gift retailer based in theUnited Kingdom

$31.0

40.Waste Associates Holdings LLC, aportfolio company of BlackEaglePartners, Bloomfield Hills

Waste Associates LLC,Richmond, Va.

Alvarez & Marsal;Honigman Miller

BB&T Capital Markets $40.0 February Purchased from DB Zwirn. Value is estimated at more than $30million

$30.0

40.Huron Capital Partners LLC,Detroit

Artissimo Designs Inc.,Redondo Beach, Calif., andMontreal

Honigman Miller; CroweHorwath

Lapointe RosensteinMarchand Malancon

$50.0 plus July Manufacturer of decorative wall art. Deal is valued at more than$30 million

$30.0

42. Inteva Products LLC, a unit ofRenco Group Inc., Troy

Body systems business ofArvinMeritor Inc.

Cadwalader, Wickersham &Taft LLP, Internal

Houlihan Lokey, UBS $2.0 January2010

Inteva purchases the final piece of ArvinMeritor's divestiture of itspassenger car business, which stopped operations in 2009

$27.3

43. Bennett LeBow Shares in Borders Group Inc. Jefferies & Co. NM Rothschild $2,800.0 May Through Vector International, Bennet LeBow acquired a 15.5% stakein Borders Group Inc.

$25.0

43.Wynnchurch Capital Ltd.,Rosemont, Ill.

Wolverine AdvancedMaterials LLC, a unit of EPManagement Corp.,Dearborn

Moelis & Co. Miller Buckfire $125.0 Dec. 31 Supplier of gasket materials to the automotive and industrialindustries has manufacturing facilities in Blacksburg, Va., Leesburg,Fla., Germany, South Korea and China. It has sales offices in Braziland India with a technical center in Japan. Value is estimated

$25.0

45. FreightCar America Inc., Chicago Business Assets of DTE RailServices, DTE Energy Co.

McDermott Will & Emery Internal $25.0 November Purchase of rail care fleet maintenance and management operationsof DTE Rail Services, a nonregulated subsidiary of DTE Energy Co.

$23.2

46.Banco Patagonia SA, Buenos Aires GMAC Cia Financiera SA,

General Motors Co.Severgnini RobiolaGrinberg &Larrechea;Cardenas Di Cio RomeroTarsitano & Lucero

JP Morgan November Acquired company financed new car dealerships $23.0

47.ProQuest LLC, Ann Arbor Congressional Information

Service and UniversityPublications of Americaproduct lines fromLexisNexis, Dayton, Ohio

Baker and McKenzie; Ernst& Young; Lockton Cos.

$20.0 plus November Deal value is estimated at more than $20 million $20.0

47.Fisker Automotive, Irvine, Calif. Assets from Motors

Liquidation Corp., theresidual assets from GM

Alix Partners July Fisker purchased GM's vehicle assembly plant in Wilmington, Del.,to build plug-in electric vehicles

$20.0

47. O2 Investment Partners LLC,Bloomfield Hills

Silbond Corp., Weston,Mich.

Honigman Miller; BakerTilly

December Acquired company makes a line of tetra ethyl ortho silicates and waspurchased from 13 individual shareholders

$20.0

47.US LBM Holdings LLC, a portfoliocompany of BlackEagle Partners,Bloomfield Hills

Universal Supply Co.,Hammond, N.J.

Alvarez & Marsal;Honigman Miller

Moelis & Co. $90.0 January2010

Company bought from Stock Building Supply, Raleigh, N.C.Value is estimated at more than $20 million

$20.0

47.ProQuest LLC, Ann Arbor Ebrary, Palo Alto, Calif. Greenberg Traurig; Ernst &

Young; Lockton Cos.$30.0 Janaury

2011Acquired company is digital library of 273,000 digital books,magazines, journals and reports from 500 publishers. Deal value ismore than $20 million

$20.0

52.TriMas Corp., Bloomfield Hills South Texas Bolt & Fitting

Inc., HoustonSeneca Partners Internal $14.5 November STBF makes stud bolts, fasteners and specialty products and was

merged into Lamons Gasket Co., a portfolio company in the TriMasEnergy division

$18.0

53. InfuSystems Holdings Inc.,Madison Heights

First Biomedical Inc.,Olathe, Kansas

$9.8 June Acquired company sells, rents, services and repairs infusion pumpsand other medical equipment

$17.2

54. Johnson Controls Inc., Milwaukee 2 plants of Visteon Corp.,Van Buren Township

Foley & Lardner Kirkland & Ellis April Plants in Highland Park and Mexico will be folded into JCI'sPlymouth-based JCI Automotive Experience

$17.1

55.Klarius Group Ltd., Lancaster,England

Quinton Hazell, Leceister,England, unit of AffiniaGroup Inc., Ann Arbor

Hill Dickinson, FordCampbell

Angle Advisors, K&L Gates $237.0 est. February Automotive parts maker and distributor Quinton Hazell has 800employees across Europe. Acquired for $12 million in cash and$3.3 million in assumed debt

$15.3

56. Armaly Brands Co., Walled Lake Brillo brands and assets Butzel Long; UHY Advisors;Amherst Capital Partners

Sawaya Seagalas March Acquired from Church & Dwight Co. $15.0

57.Engineered Plastic Components,Grinnell, Iowa

Assets of Innatech LLC,Rochester

Internal Amherst Capital Partners &Clark Hill PLC

July Bought from bankruptcy; operations moved to EPC facility in St. Clair.Company specialized in molding and assembly of highly engineeredproducts for the automotive industry

$14.0

58.TriMas Corp., Bloomfield Hills High and low pressure

cylinder business, Taylor-Wharton International

Internal Internal $17.0 June Acquired business makes acetylene cylinders and was merged intoNorth Cylcinder, a company in the TriMas engineered componentsdivision

$11.0

59.Banyan Mezzanine Funds, Miami American Mobility & Guest

Services Inc. portfoliocompany of Huron CapitalPartners LLC, Detroit

Cary, Rodriguez,Greenberg & Paul

Honigman Miller; Tonneson& Co.

<$10.0 November Sold company provides stroller and scooter rental services. Value isestimated at more than $10 million

$10.0

59.Asterand plc, Detroit BioSeek Inc., San Francisco Dykema Gossett; Bird and

Bird; CenkosWilson, Sonsini $3.2 Initial payment of more than $1 million up to $9 million payable in

2011 if sales-growth targets are hit. BioSeek makes assays based onhuman cells. Sold by consortium of owners

$10.0

59.DTE Energy Services, Ann Arbor Interest in California

cogeneration plant ownedby Mt. Poso CogenerationCo.

Internal November Acquired interest in a 49.5 megawatt power plant near Bakersfield,Calif. Buyer plan to operate plant and lead its conversion to biomassfuel. Deal estimated at more than $10 million

$10.0

59. Art Van Furniture Inc., Warren Brewbakers Furniture Corp.,Onaway, Michigan

Internal Dawda Mann August Acquired company is furniture, electronics and appliances retailer innorthern Michigan. Value is estimated at just over $10 million

$10.0

59.Fisher/Unitech, Troy CADVenture, Willoughby,

Ohio$10.0 plus December Acquired company is reseller of CAD software and supplier of

computer equipment and services. Deal value is estimated at morethan $10 million

$10.0

59.HIG Capital, Miami Excel Homes portfolio

company of Huron CapitalPartners LLC, Detroit

Honigman Miller; SF & Co. $42.0 May Acquired company is in Harrisburg, Pa. Sale value is estimated atmore than $10 million

$10.0

Source: Company submissions, Crain's research and Bloomberg News. Many transactions had multiple sources of information. In some cases, more than one estimated value of a transaction exists. In those cases, Crain's has chosen the value it believes to bemost accurate. The list does not include all 2010 transactions; only transactions valued at $10 million or more are included.


Continued from Page 14




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CRAIN'S LIST: OFFICE LEASES Ranked by square feetRank Building Owner Tenant Broker Square feet

1. Renaissance Center, Detroit General Motors Co.,Detroit

Blue Cross Blue Shield ofMichigan

UGL Equis, Hines InterestsLP

465,000

2. 3800 Hamlin, Auburn Hills MAK Real EstateInvestment Inc., New

York

Volkswagen Group ofAmerica Inc.

CB Richard Ellis 338,279

3. Compuware Building, Detroit Compuware Corp. Quicken Loans Inc. Friedman Real EstateGroup

244,792

4. 12723 Telegraph, Redford General DevelopmentCo., Southfield

Chrysler Group LLC Friedman Real EstateGroup

200,000

5. Penobscot, Detroit B PBDM LLC (underreceivership)

Wayne County Friend of theCourt

Friedman Real EstateGroup

145,030

6. Travelers Tower II, Southfield Lehman BrothersHoldings Inc.

R.L. Polk & Co. Grubb & Ellis, KojaianManagement Co. andSignature Associates

138,153

7. 15500 & 15700 Lundy Pkwy.,Dearborn

Ford Motor LandDevelopment, Dearborn

Oakwood Healthcare Inc. NAI Farbman 134,936

8. 1300 Rosa Parks Blvd., Detroit B Cullan Meathe, Detroit City of Detroit Jones Lang LaSalle 117,800

9. 28333 Telegraph Road,Southfield

Kojaian ManagementCorp., Bloomfield Hills

International AutomotiveComponents

CB Richard Ellis, JonesLang LaSalle

114,397

10. The Doner Building, Southfield B Schostak Bros., Livonia W.B. Doner & Co. Plante Moran Cresa 104,000

11. 150 W. Jefferson, Detroit B Piedmont Office RealtyTrust, Ga.

Butzel Long PC Transwestern, NewmarkKnight Frank

101,147

12. 39550 Orchard Hill Place,Novi B

Friedman Real EstateGroup

Cooper Standard Automotive Jones Lang LaSalle 92,067

13. One Detroit Center, Detroit iStar Financial, NewYork

Internal Revenue Service Signature Associates,Cushman & Wakefield

Alliance, CB Richard Ellis

81,413

14. 1350 John R Road, Troy Stuart FrankelDevelopment Co., Troy

U.S. Army Grubb & Ellis 75,400

15. 45000 Helm St., PlymouthTownship

Henry Pitts, Md. JCIM LLC (an entitycontrolled by Johnson

Controls Inc.)

CB Richard Ellis, USI RealEstate Brokerage Services

Inc.

75,000

16. Bank of America Building, Troy Bank of America,Charlotte

Dickinson Wright PLLC Jones Lang LaSalle, CBRichard Ellis

67,798

17. Grace Lake Corporate Center,Van Buren Township

Visteon Corp., VanBuren Township

Dana Limited Corp. Signature Associates,Cushman & Wakefield

Alliance

67,589

18. 150 W. Jefferson, Detroit B Piedmont Office RealtyTrust, Ga.

Starcom MediaVest Group Transwestern, Jones LangLaSalle

62,273

19. 25300/25330 Telegraph Road,Southfield B


Metropolitan Life InsuranceCo.

Jones Lang LaSalle 61,000

20. 1919 Technology Drive, Troy B Hayman Co., Troy Raytheon Co. CB Richard Ellis 59,472

21. 25300 Telegraph, Southfield B Lehman BrothersHoldings Inc.

Sedgwick ClaimsManagement Services

CB Richard Ellis, SignatureAssociates

56,878

22. 2347 Walton Road, AuburnHills B

Steven Singer,Bloomfield Hills

Chrysler Group LLC UGL Equis, Singer RealtyCo.

55,350

23. 1272 Doris, Auburn Hills Alissa Goldfaden, citynot available

TI Group AutomotiveSystems LLC

Grubb & Ellis, UGL Equis 52,183

24. Renaissance Center, Detroit General Motors Co.,Detroit

Hewlett-Packard Co. Hines Interests LP 52,000

25. American Commerce Center,Southfield

Jonna Cos., BloomfieldHills

Autoliv ASP Inc. Signature Associates,Cushman & Wakefield

Alliance

51,954

26. Farmington Hills Officenter II,Farmington Hills B


Sandler, Travis TradeAdvisory


27. Bloomwood Centre North,Bloomfield Hills B

The Kogan Cos.,Bloomfield Hills

Bank of America Jones Lang LaSalle 48,885

28. Candlewood Village Center,Troy

Kirco Development Co.,Troy

Somanetics Corp. CB Richard Ellis, SignatureAssociates

47,868

29.45875 Dylan, Novi General Development

Co., SouthfieldToyota Signature Associates,

Cushman & WakefieldAlliance, Colliers

International

46,500

30.Novi Research Park, Novi LNR Partners, Florida Kongsberg Automotive Signature Associates,

Cushman & WakefieldAlliance, Friedman Real

Estate Group

40,583

31. 1001 Woodward, Detroit Ed Pappas, Detroit GalaxE. Solutions Inc. Newmark Knight Frank 40,500

32. 41555 12 Mile Road, Novi Howard Friedlaender,Farmington Hills

EDMC Signature Associates,Cushman & Wakefield

Alliance

40,386

33. 100 Galleria, Southfield B Nemer Property Group Michigan Mutual Newmark Knight Frank 39,888

34. American Center, Southfield Redico, Southfield Charter One CB Richard Ellis 39,459

35. Troy Officentre D, Troy B Osprey ManagementCo., Brighton

Carlson MarketingWorldwide


36. First Center Office Plaza,Southfield B

Soverign Group, Fla. Harley Ellis Deveraux Corp. Signature Associates,Cushman & Wakefield

Alliance

35,587

37. 14655 Dexter, Detroit B Bishop Real Estate City of Detroit Jones Lang LaSalle 34,200

38.1835 Technology Drive, Troy B The Hayman Co., Troy Hutchinson FTS Inc. The Hayman Co.,

Signature Associates,Cushman & Wakefield

Alliance

33,170

39.1000 Town Center Drive,Southfield

Blackstone Group, NewYork

Maritz Inc. Signature Associates,Cushman & Wakefield

Alliance, PankhurstProperties

32,000

40. 47912 Halyard Drive, PlymouthTownship

Dematia Group,Plymouth

Cequent PerformanceProducts Inc.

Signature Associates,Cushman & Wakefield

Alliance

31,156

List is based on information from CoStar Group Inc., CPIX, Crain's research, from published information or as submitted by brokers, advisers or propertyowners. Crain's has tried to list all brokers involved in a transaction, but in some cases brokers may have been omitted. Some leases were omittedbecause of a lack of complete information.B Lease renewal.

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CRAIN'S LIST: INDUSTRIAL LEASES Ranked by square feetRank Building Owner Tenant Broker Square feet

1. 8249 N. Haggerty Road,Canton Township

Sears Holding Corp., Ill. W.F. Whelan Co. Colliers International 1,100,000

2. 4815 Cabot St., Detroit B S.L. Cabot Inc., NewYork

S.L. Cabot LLC Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance

421,794

3. 28700 Plymouth Road, Livonia (Sublessor) A&P, NewJersey

Mastronardi Produce -USA Inc.

Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance, Binswanger

367,000

4. 6500 Huber Road, Detroit B Samuel Fodale,Highland Park

Chrysler Group LLC UGL Equis 302,970

5. 38100 Ecorse Road, Romulus Welsh Cos., Minn. A123 Systems Inc. Grubb & Ellis 287,300

6. 17950 Dix-Toledo Road,Brownstown Township

Ashley Capital, NewYork

Penske Logistics LLC CB Richard Ellis, Grubb & Ellis 285,700

7. 36445 Van Born Road, Romulus B Ashley Capital, NewYork

Plastipak PackagingInc.

Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance

274,007

8. 36663 Van Born Road, Romulus Ashley Capital, NewYork

Owens & MinorDistribution Inc.

Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance, Jackson &

Cooksey

209,450

9. 19661 Brownstown CenterDrive, Brownstown Township B


C-Mac TransportationLLC

NA 200,224

10. 30260 Oak Creek Drive, Wixom U.S. Real Property LLC,Detroit

TAG Holdings Jones Lang LaSalle, Lee &Associates

198,000

11. 29700 Commerce,Chesterfield Township

(Sublessor) UnovaIndustrial Automation

Systems

Advanced IntegrationTooling Solutions


12. 41775 Ecorse Road, Belleville B Ashley Capital, NewYork

FedEx Smartpost Inc. Fischer & Co, SignatureAssociates, Cushman & Wakefield

Alliance

179,760


Exel Inc. Grubb & Ellis 159,504

14. 4400 Purks Road, Auburn Hills First Industrial RealtyTrust, Chicago

Chrysler Group LLC UGL Equis, Signature Associates,Cushman & Wakefield Alliance

157,100

15. 9400 McGraw St., Detroit Farbman Group,Southfield

Spectrum GovernmentSolutions Security LLC

Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance, Principal

Associates

140,000

16. 11820 Globe St., Livonia The Grossman Co. LLC,Franklin

Toyota MotorEngineering &Manufacturing

Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance, Burger Easton

& Co.

137,750

17. 17950 Dix-Toledo Road,Brownstown Township


American TireDistributors Inc.

Jackson & Cooksey, Grubb & Ellis,Signature Associates

135,751

18. 1400 Rochester Road, Troy Bostick Real Estate LLC,Warren

Axletech International Colliers International 135,219

19. 35660 Clinton St., Wayne Clinton StreetProperties, Detroit

LKQ of Michigan Inc. CB Richard Ellis 134,240

20. 1600 E. Grand Blvd., Detroit Samuel Fodale,Highland Park

ISCS Plante Moran Cresa 133,000

21. 21445 Hoover Road, Warren AIC Ventures, Dallas Chrysler Group LLC Grubb & Ellis, UGL Equis 132,500

22. 315 W. Silverbell Road,Lake Orion B


Fuyao Automotive N.A.Inc.

NA 122,622

23. 29700 Commerce Blvd.,Chesterfield Township B

Intermec TechnologiesCorp., Washington

Advanced IntegratedToolings Solutions

Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance, CB Richard

Ellis

115,539

24. 15080-15090 Commerce DriveNorth, Dearborn

DNP FairlaneCommerce LLC

Pauls' TV LLC CB Richard Ellis 112,500

25. 42445 W. 10 Mile Road, Novi David Jankowski,Farmington Hills

Comau Inc. Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance

107,542

26. 13600 Fullerton, Detroit Ashley Capital, NewYork

C.T.C. Distribution Inc. NA 105,888

27. 8747 Brandt St., Dearborn B Brandt Street Properties,Dearborn

The Edison Institute Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance

104,900

28. 2110 Executive Hills Drive,Auburn Hills

The Hapsmith Co.,Calif.

Cooper StandardAutomotive


29. 2800 Superior Court, Auburn Hills J.A.R. Development Co.LLC, Farmington Hills

Dokka Fasteners Inc. Grubb & Ellis, SignatureAssociates, Cushman & Wakefield

Alliance

100,180

30. 1835-1975 Technology Drive,Troy

The Hayman Co., Troy Magna Powertrain Colliers International 97,389

31. 1515 Newburgh, Westland Insite Real EstateDevelopment Inc., Ill.

CEVA Logistics U.S.Inc.


32. 6333 Lynch Road, Detroit Industrial Realty Group,Calif.

Goodwill's GreenWorks Inc.


94,192

33. 1675 E. Whitcomb Ave.,Madison Heights

(Sublessor) ValeniteLLC, Oak Park

Navistar Inc. Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance, Plante Moran

Cresa

90,747

34. 1350 Hamlin Road, Rochester Hills Lehman Brothers, NewYork

Kostal Kontakt SystemeInc.

Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance, Redico

85,245

35. 41873 Ecorse Road,Van Buren Township


Pro Trans InternationalInc.


82,029

36. 3900 Automation Ave.,Auburn Hills

Lindy PropertyManagement Co, Pa.

Magneti MarelliHolding USA Inc.

Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance, Pankhurst

Properties

81,844

37. 60 Corporate Drive, Auburn Hills Stanley Frankel, Troy Menlo Logistics Colliers International 79,200

38. 35 Corporate Drive, Auburn Hills Stanley Frankel, Troy Fanuc Robotics Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance, Colliers

International

79,000


Exel Inc. NA 78,822

40. 754 W. Maple Road, Troy Bostick Real Estate LLC,Warren

U.S. Farathane Corp. Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance

78,000

List is based on information from CoStar Group Inc., CPIX, Crain's research, from published information or as submitted by brokers, advisers or propertyowners. Crain's has tried to list all brokers involved in a transaction, but in some cases brokers may have been omitted. Some leases were omitted becauseof a lack of complete information.B Lease renewal.





CRAIN'S LIST: LOCAL SALES Ranked by priceRank Building Buyer Seller Broker/advisers

Square feetnumber of units

Price($000,000)

1. 777/789 E. Eisenhower Parkway, Ann Arbor Commonwealth REIT, Colo. Transwestern Investment, Chicago Transwestern 409,449 $65.2

2. Columbia Center, Troy Kirco Development Corp., Troy Kennedy Associates Real Estate CounselLP, Seattle

CB Richard Ellis 507,000 $62.0

3. Millender Center, Detroit General Motors Co., Detroit Forest City Enterprises, Cleveland NA 40,000 squarefeet + 1,850

parking spaces

$37.8

4. Fairlane Center, Allen Park Lormax Stern Development Co., WestBloomfield Twp.

Archon Group, Texas Lormax Stern Development Co., CBRichard Ellis

400,000 $30.0

5. 2700 High Meadow Circle, Auburn Hills U.S. Farathane Corp., Auburn Hills General Development, Southfield Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance, General Development

Co.

240,000 + 18acres

$17.0

6. 27355 Cabaret Drive, Novi Apple REIT Nine, Va. White Lodging Services, Ind. NA 148 units $16.2

7. Home Depot, 18700 Meyers Road, Detroit Howard Arnberg, Fla. Jeffrey Sobel, Southfield Lormax Stern Development Co., Mid-America

139,000 $16.0

8. 1250 Brown Road, Auburn Hills Shamrock Capital Advisers, Calif. Bank of America, N.C. NAI Farbman, Coldwell BankerCommercial

542,800 $14.2

9. 275 Fieldcrest St., Ann Arbor Bleznak Real Estate Investment Group/Hartman & Tyner Inc.

Bank of America, N.C. Hendrix & Partners Inc. 233 units $14.0

10. 275 Harbor Way, Ann Arbor Vesper Holdings, New York Aspen Square Management, Mass. Hendrix & Partners Inc. 208 units $13.2

11. 4-property portfolio sale, Dearborn Igal Namdar Scheuer Family Trust Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance

203,306 $10.2

12. 1750 Summit Drive, Auburn Hills Weber Automotive Corp., Germany Goertz & Schiele Corp., Auburn Hills Lee & Associates, Signature Associates,Cushman & Wakefield Alliance

218,174 $9.5

13. 26442-26850 Haggerty, Farmington Hills Oakland Law Group PLLC, FarmingtonHills

New York Life Insurance Co., New York CB Richard Ellis, Friedman Real EstateGroup

278,000 $8.5

14. 340 E. Huron/336 E. Ann Arbor Road, Ann Arbor U of M Credit Union, Ann Arbor Ann Arbor News, Ann Arbor Colliers International 54,399 $7.9

15. 23777 Southfield Road, Southfield Edison Public Schools Academy, Ferndale Imagine Schools Inc., Va. Friedman Real Estate Group 78,529 $7.0

16. 5-property portfolio sale, various Triton Cos., Rochester LNR Partners Inc., Fla. Friedman Real Estate Group 98,830 $6.5

17. 175/217 Jackson Plaza, Ann Arbor Eyde Co., Lansing ADP Inc., New York Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance

108,000 $5.5

18. 620 S. Platt Road, Milan Robert Kass, Detroit Johnston Enterprises Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance

356,246 $5.4

18. 2955 Haggerty Road, Canton Township Charles Hawes, Belleville Paul Opfermann CB Richard Ellis, Thomas Duke 124,905 $5.4

18. 41965 Ecorse Road, Belleville General Electric Co., Conn. Ashley Capital, New York CB Richard Ellis 121,112 $5.4

21. 1900 Brown Road, Auburn Hills Giffin International, Farmington Hills Kensington Realty Advisors, Chicago Grubb & Ellis, Signature Associates,Cushman & Wakefield Alliance

125,750 $5.0

22. 4121 N. Atlantic Blvd., Auburn Hills Magna E-Car Systems of America Inc.,Troy

Doug Manix, Troy Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance, Colliers International

82,185 $4.9

22. 25500 Meadowbrook, Novi Michael Garavaglia, Southfield 25500 Meadowbrook LLC NAI Farbman 116,000 $4.9

24. 17197 Laurel Park Drive, Livonia Friedman Properties, Farmington Hills Bank of America, N.C. NAI Farbman 213,272 $4.5

25. 27175 & 27275 Haggerty Road, Novi Friedman Properties, Farmington Hills LNR Partners, Fla. Transwestern 176,160 $4.1

26. 47050 Five Mile Road, Northville Techno Semichem Co. Ltd, Korea Redico, Southfield Grubb & Ellis, Jones Lang LaSalle 131,709 $4.0

27. 7940 S. Circle Drive & Bluebird Hill Lane, Parma/Orion

Nick Mystrom, Parma Newbury Management Services LLC,Southfield

NAI Farbman 689 lots $3.7

28. 333 Parent Ave., Royal Oak Geoffrey Langdon, Bloomfield Hills Citizens Bank, R.I. Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance

45 units $3.6

28. 43600 Gen-Mar Drive, Novi CVS Caremark Corp., R.I. J. Bennett Donaldson, Troy Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance

73,848 $3.6

28. 5-property portfolio sale, Sterling Heights John Bogadsarian, Ann Arbor Tina Gallo, Warren Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance

31,724 $3.6

28. 200 N. Main St., Royal Oak Emagine Entertainment Inc., Troy Laith Hermiz, Royal Oak Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance

1.6 acres $3.6

32. 46719 Hayes Road, Shelby Othman Kadry, Bloomfield Hills 46719 Hayes Road Holdings LLC, M.D. NAI Farbman 92,515 $3.5

32. 42050-42150 Executive Drive, Harrison Township Yanfeng USA Automotive Trim, Warren AMP Industries, Harrison Twp. L. Mason Capitani 159,285 $3.5

34. 45875 Dylan Drive, Novi Toyota Boshoku America, Novi Amson Dembs Development Inc./ GeneralDevelopment

Colliers International, SignatureAssociates, Cushman & Wakefield

Alliance, Lee & Associates

45,095 $3.4

34. Columbia Center III, Troy Doeren Mayhew & Co. PC, Troy Kennedy Associates Real Estate Jones Lang LaSalle 77,000 $3.4

36. 26600 Telegraph Road, Southfield First Mercury Insurance Co., Southfield Kojaian Management Corp., BloomfieldHills

Grubb & Ellis, Signature Associates,Cushman & Wakefield Alliance

97,400 $3.3

37. 35601 Veronica St., Livonia M. Jacob & Sons Inc., Detroit Action Distributing Co. Inc., Livonia Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance, CB Richard Ellis

160,000 $3.1

38. 4600 Arrowhead Drive, Ann Arbor Masco Corp., Taylor Arrowhead Partners LLC, Southfield CB Richard Ellis, Redico 150,417 $3.0

38. 500 Kirts Blvd., Troy U.S. Medical Management, FarmingtonHills

Handleman Co., Troy Friedman Real Estate Group 147,609 $3.0

40. 1349 S. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills Fayiz Hadid, Southfield Flagstar Bank, Troy Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance

50,000 $2.8

40. 944 Baldwin Road, Lapeer Timothy Piontkowski, Lapeer Genesys Health System, Grand Blanc NAI Farbman 23,918 $2.8

42. 1500 Highwood, Pontiac Daniel Schreiber Kenneth Kareta, Troy Colliers International 90,315 $2.7

43. 1700-1816 Dix Highway, Lincoln Park Talon Real Estate Inc., Roseville Bank of America, N.C. NAI Farbman 295,974 $2.6

43. 28200 Napier, Wixom St. Catherine of Siena AcademyFoundation, Wixom

Dart Container, Mason Grubb & Ellis, Lee & Associates 24.82 acres $2.6

45. University & I-75, Auburn Hills General Development, Premier Equities Old Carco LLC (former Chrylser property) UGL Equis, General Development Co. 212 acres $2.5

45. 30000 Plymouth Road, Livonia Frank Dabaja Centro Properties Group, New York CB Richard Ellis 80,000 $2.5

45. 47585 Galleon Drive, Plymouth Township Michael Marcantonio, Ann Arbor Allan Nachman, Birmingham CB Richard Ellis, Signature Associates,Cushman & Wakefield Alliance

66,900 $2.5

45. 50500 Mound Road, Shelby Township Syed Arif, Ill. Automotive Component Holdings, VanBuren Twp.

CB Richard Ellis 1,870,480 $2.5

49. 2329-2333 E. Walton, Auburn Hills Christophe Sevrain, Bloomfield Hills GE Capital Realty Group, Conn. L. Mason Capitani, Hayman Co. 46,600 $2.3

49. Porftolio of properties on Brown St., Birmingham Professional Property Management, Troy Daniel Livernois, Troy Signature Associates, Cushman &Wakefield Alliance

17,000 $2.3

List is based on information from CoStar Group Inc., Real Capital Analytics, CPIX, Crain's research, from published information or as submitted by brokers, advisers or property owners. Crain's has tried to list all brokers involved in a transaction, but in some casesbrokers may have been omitted.



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BY DANIEL DUGGAN


The commercial real estate bro-kers who listed local property in2010 are proud they found buyers.

But they’re not very proud of theprices they negotiated.

In compiling the biggest deals of2010, Crain’s located 122 sales thattopped $1 million in metro Detroit.However, only 10 of the deals weregreater than $10 million. Therewere just 20 sales in 2009.

An analysis of the deals showsan average sale price of $47 persquare foot. That’sdown from the $51per square foot in2009 anddown signifi-cantly fromthe $63 calcu-lated by theWashington,D.C.-basedCoStar Groupin 2007.

Driving thedeals, in part,is the pent-up de-mand among in-vestors and compa-nies in the region,said Mark Woods,managing directorof Southfield-basedSignature Associates.

“You can only do nothing for solong,” he said.

As a result, Woods said, the com-panies that can invest in their fa-cilities are doing so, and the buy-ers with access to capital aremaking their moves.

“And the banks and owners aresaying ‘it’s time,’ ” Woods said.“They’re changing their positionand deciding to sell for whateveramount they can sell for.”

Along with the deals come op-portunities.

Buyers are finding chances tobuy buildings at record low prices.Among the deals watched by theindustry in 2010 is the acquisitionof the Riverview Building inSouthfield by the Southfield-basedFarbman Group.

Bought for $5 million at 60 per-cent occupancy at the end of 2009,the 183,000-square-foot buildingended 2010 at 85 percent occupancyas the building’s low cost basis al-lows rental rates that have under-cut the Telegraph corridor.

Stories like that have motivatedbuyers in the Detroit market.

“There’s a high volume of dealsright now in the $5 million to $10 million range,” said Farbman’sCEO Andy Farbman. “What’s hugeis that the velocity of transactionscan create some stability in pric-ing, which will make investors feelmore comfortable in the market.”

He said the fourth quarter of2010 was one of the best ever forthe investment sales division ofNAI Farbman, the company’s bro-kerage.

“And the first quarter is lookingjust as good,” he said. “That meanswe’ve touched the bottom.”

Along with investors, users ofreal estate have taken advantageof the times as well.

General Electric Co. bought a121,000-square-foot building inBelleville for $5.3 million, givingup the idea of building a facility.

In the automotive sector, Ger-many-based Weber Automotive Corp.spent $9.5 million on a building inAuburn Hills; Korean Techno Semi-chem Co. Ltd. bought a 131,000-square-foot building in Northvillefor $4 million; and Ontario-basedMagna International Inc. spent $4.9 million for an Auburn Hills

building. In the ser-

vices sector,Troy-based Do-eren Mayhew &Co. PC pur-chased a 77,000-square-foot of-fice building inTroy for $3.4 million;Southfield-based First Mer-cury InsuranceCo. purchased a97,000-square-foot building for$3.2 million; andSouthfield-based ImageSoftInc. bought a15,000-square-

foot space in Southfield for $1.4 million.

Companies that buy their realestate rather than lease can savemoney, provided it’s the right fit,said Steve Morris, managing direc-tor of the Southfield office of New-mark Knight Frank.

“Owner-users who purchased abuilding at less than 50 percent ofreplacement costs can save signifi-cant sums over leasing, providedthey are able to hold the propertyfor seven to 10 years,” he said.“However, if an owner-user buys abuilding that has more space thanthey need, they will lose money ontheir investment if they have to car-ry the vacant space for a long time.”

And 2010 also showed a return tosome of the large deals the Detroitmarket has seen in the past.

General Development Co. bought212 acres of land no longer neededby Chrysler Group LLC for $2.5 million.

The company then signed alease and developed a 78,000-square-foot building for U.S.Farathane. Later in the year, thelease was converted to a sale, withFarathane buying the building for$15 million and $2 million for someof the land around the building.

Gary Weisman, co-owner ofSouthfield-based General Develop-ment, said he bought the land dur-ing a bad time for local real estatebecause he knew the market wouldcome back.

“It was a time where people hadto make a decision, panic or dou-ble-down,” he said. “We chose todouble-down because we believe inthis marketplace.”

Daniel Duggan: (313) 446-0414,[email protected]

Low prices revivecommercial sales

Banks andowners are... changing

theirposition anddeciding to

sell forwhatever amount

they can sell for.Mark Woods, Signature Associates

”

“


H U R O N C A P I T A L PA R T N E R S L L C

Consistent and Reliable H U R O N C A P I T A L P A R T N E R S

Add-on acquisition for TouchPoint Print

Solutions Corp.

May 2010

Successful exit and sale

June 2010

Recapitalization in partnership with

management

July 2010

2010 Dividend

recapitalization

July 2010

Successful exit and sale

November 2010

Dividend recapitalization

December 2010

Another Active Year for Huron Capital Partners

In a year of significant change, one thing remained constant: Huron Capital’s consistent and reliable performance. Huron completed transactions valued in excess of $300 million, returning over $150 million in aggregate proceeds to its investors. In addition, Huron Capital Partners was named, “Private Equity Firm of the Year” by The M&A Advisor at its December 2010 Awards Gala.

www.huroncapital.com

500 Griswold Street, Suite 2700 I Detroit, Michigan 48226 I Tel: 313.962.5800225 Ross Street, 5th Floor I Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15219 I Tel: 412.201.7040

4 King Street West, Suite 1300 I Toronto, Ontario M5H 1B6 I Tel: 416.234.0313

PLATFORM INVESTMENT CRITERIA

Revenues Up to $300 million

EBITDA $5 million or more

Equity per Deal $10 million to $70 million

TRANSACTION TYPES

Buyouts Buy & Build

Recapitalizations Growth Initiatives

Family Successions Corporate Spin-offs


ACQUISITIONSAmerigon Inc., Northville, has acquiredthe 15 percent minority interest in itstechnology development subsidiary,BSST LLC, Irwindale, Calif., plus the re-versionary rights to the technology pre-viously owned by Dr. Lon Bell, formerchief technical officer of Amerigon andformer president of BSST. Adaptive Materials Inc., Ann Arbor, afuel cell maker, has been acquired byUltra Electronics Holdings plc, UnitedKingdom.ProQuest LLC, Ann Arbor, a databasesoftware company, acquired Ebrary,Palo Alto, Calif., an online e-book li-brary company.

CALL FOR ENTRIESThe U.S. Small Business Administra-tion, Washington, D.C., has $5 millionin funding available to organizationsthat provide assistance to small busi-nesses working together. The SmallBusiness Teaming Pilot program canmake 10 to 20 grant awards rangingfrom $250,000 to $500,000 in the currentfiscal year. Deadline: Feb. 25. Web-site: www.sba.gov/teaming.

CONTRACTSCaraco Pharmaceutical LaboratoriesLtd., Detroit, announced that two dis-

tribution agreements with Sun Phar-maceutical Industries Limited, Mum-bai, India, have been extended untilJan. 28, 2012, but will terminate fol-lowing these extensions.Cogeneration Consultants Inc., WalledLake, with a technology demonstrationgrant provided by the state of Michigan,has signed an agreement with the cityof Warren to develop a waste heat-to-electricity power plant at the city’swastewater treatment plant.

EXPANSIONSGoldfish Swim School, Birmingham, awater safety and swim lesson school,has entered into a franchise agreementto open a third location, in Ann Arbor.Our Credit Union, Royal Oak, openedat 6693 Rochester Road, Troy. Website:www.ourcuonline.org.Health Alliance Plan of Michigan, De-troit, opened a customer service cen-ter at 21700 Northwestern Highway,Southfield. Website: www.hap.org. Axis Music Academy, Southfield,opened Axis Lab at 29555 Northwest-ern Highway, Southfield. Telephone:(248) 799-8100. Website: www.axismusic.com.

NEW PRODUCTSForeSee Results, Ann Arbor,launched a mobile portal applicationfor iPhone. Website: www.foreseeresults.com.

NEW SERVICESGreat Expressions Dental Centers,Bloomfield Hills, introduced the SmileProtection Employee Dental BenefitsProgram, a free discount program.Website: www.getsmileprotection.com.

The Storage Business Owners Al-liance LLC, Farmington Hills,launched a new website, constructedby Greg Nigosian and Adviso Inc.,Dearborn. Website: www.thesboa.com.Hospice of Michigan, Detroit, offers afree complete toolkit to assist individ-uals and families in end-of-life deci-sion-making and planning. Website:www.haveyouhadthetalk.org.Fisher Unitech, Troy, a product life-cy-cle management software provider,announced the integration of a learn-ing management system into its Solid-Works education curriculum forSolidWorks, SolidWorks Simulation,SolidWorks Enterprise PDM and3DVIA courses. Website: www.funtech.com.Bright House Networks, Livonia,launched ESPN Buzzer Beater, a newHD network available to all BrightHouse Networks Sports Pass HD cus-tomers. Website: www.brighthouse.com.

OTHERPlymouth Township-based EsperionTherapeutics Inc. has begun enrollingpatients in a U.S. Food and Drug Ad-ministration phase-two trial of its leaddrug candidate to regulate cardiovas-cular disease.

STARTUPSKing & Murray PLLC, a litigation lawfirm, at 355 S. Old Woodward, Suite 100,Birmingham. Telephone: (248) 792-2396.Website: www.kingandmurray.com.Flipspot Gymnastics and Cheer LLC, at233 Kay Industrial Drive, Orion Town-ship. Telephone: (248) 340-0910. Web-site: flipspotgym.com.

BUSINESS DIARY


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UPCOMING BREAKFAST ROUNDTABLE:

February 15Ready to Retire? Considerations for Passing Down the Family Business

All roundtables will be held from 7:30-8:30 a.m. at

27400 Northwestern Hwy., Southfield, MI 48034.

Visit roundtables.pmfa.com to register. Seating is limited.

INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT I *TRUST SERVICES

*INSURANCE SERVICES I *TAX PLANNING

ESTATE PLANNING I WEALTH MANAGEMENT

BUSINESS TRANSITION I PHILANTHROPIC PLANNING

CALENDAR

WEDNESDAYF E B . 2

University of Michigan Lecture. 4-5:30p.m. Gerald R. Ford School of PublicPolicy. With House Majority LeaderU.S. Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va. MichiganLeague Ballroom, Ann Arbor. Free.Contact: (734) 615-3893; website:www.fordschool.umich.edu.

Detroit Economic Club. 11:30 a.m.-1:30p.m. With Parag Khanna, director, glob-

al governance ini-tiative, New Amer-ica Foundation,and author, TheSecond World:How EmergingPowers Are Re-defining GlobalCompetition in the21st Century. Ma-sonic Temple, De-troit. $45 DECmembers; $55

guests; $75 nonmembers. Contact: (313)963-8547; e-mail: [email protected];website: www.econclub.org.

COMING EVENTSUM-Dearborn Sustainability in HealthCare Management. 7:30-10 a.m. Feb. 8.Crain’s Detroit Business. With WilliamAlvin, president and CEO, Health Al-liance Plan and senior vice president,Henry Ford Health System; Vernice

Davis Anthony,president andCEO, Greater De-troit Area HealthCouncil; and oth-ers. University ofMichigan-Dear-born. $35 each, $30for groups of 10 ormore and UM fac-ulty and students;$50 at the door.Contact: (313) 446-

0300; e-mail: [email protected];website: www.crainsdetroit.com.

State of the Industry Dinner SectionMeeting. 5:30-8:30 p.m. Feb. 15. SAE De-troit Section. With David Cole, chair-man emeritus, Center for AutomotiveResearch; Neil De Koker, president andCEO, Original Equipment Suppliers As-

sociation; LonnieMiller, vice presi-dent, marketingand industryanalysis, R.L. Polk& Co.; Jason Stein,editor, AutomotiveNews; and DavidSchutt, CEO, SAEInternational. SanMarino Club,Troy. $40 member;$55 nonmember;

$15 student; $400 table of 10. Contact:(248) 324-4445; e-mail: [email protected]; website: www.sae-detroit.org.

Detroit Economic Club. 11:30 a.m.-1:30p.m. Feb. 17. With Josh Linkner, chair-man and founder, ePrize. Westin BookCadillac, Detroit. $45 DEC members; $55

guests of members; $75 nonmembers.Contact: (313) 963-8547; e-mail:[email protected]; website: www.econ-club.org.

Keynote Luncheon: Michigan EconomicDevelopment Corp. 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.Feb. 17. Baker College. With CynthiaGrubbs, account manager, MEDC.Crowne Plaza, Auburn Hills. $32 cham-ber members, $42 nonmembers. Con-tact: (248) 853-7862; e-mail:[email protected];

website: www.auburnhillschamber.com.

How to Become a Government Contrac-tor. 9 a.m.-noon. Feb. 17. ProcurementTechnical Assistance Center of School-craft. Learn to sell your goods and ser-vices to the federal and state govern-ments. Washtenaw CommunityCollege, Ann Arbor. $40, advance regis-tration required. Contact: (734) 462-4438;e-mail: [email protected]; web-site: www.schoolcraft.edu/cepd.

CALENDAR GUIDELINESIf you want to ensure listing onlineand be considered for printpublication in Crain’s DetroitBusiness, please use the onlinecalendar listings section ofwww.crainsdetroit.com. Here’show to submit your events:From the Crain’s home page, click“Detroit Events” in the red barnear the top of the page. Then,click “Submit Your Entries” fromthe drop-down menu that willappear and you’ll be taken to ouronline submission form. Fill outthe form as instructed, and thenclick the “Submit event” button atthe bottom of the page. That’s allthere is to it.More Calendar items can be foundon the Web atwww.crainsdetroit.com.

SEE RICK SNYDER, NEWSMAKEROF THE YEAR, ON FEB. 14Crain’s Detroit Business salutesGov. Rick Snyder, 2010

Newsmaker ofthe Year, Feb.14, 11:30a.m.-2 p.m., atJoe LouisArena.His electionand his action-oriented plansled to hisselection; hewants thestate budget

to be done no later than July 1 anda new business-tax system to startsix months later.Tickets are $75 at the door;advance tickets are $60 each,$55 for groups of 10 or more and$50 for members of Inforum or theDetroit Economic Club. Call (313)446-0300 for discounted tickets;for more information, [email protected] or visitwww.crainsdetroit.com.

Snyder

Khanna

Anthony

De Koker



James Abron

Former career: CivilengineerNew career:Mediator andarbitrator

Name: James Abron, 51.Education: Bachelor’s degree in

civil engineering from Purdue Univer-sity, a professional development de-gree in engineering from the Univer-sity of Wisconsin, MBA from GoldenGate University in San Francisco, anda conflict-resolution specialist cer-tificate from Schoolcraft College.

Last career: Civil engineer at Jones& Henry Engineers Ltd. in Toledo,Ohio.

New career: Mediator and arbitra-tor for his three companies: Abron-ADR Services and Domestic MediationLLC, both in Livonia, and The UrbanMediation Institute LLC in Detroit.

Why he decided to change careers: “Iwas bored, and the economychanged and pressured public agen-cies to reduce their budgets andsalaries. I went to the private sectorfor eight years and was not happydoing that work anymore,” Abronsaid. “I realized I liked interactingwith people and doing projects. Ilike to solve people’s problems.”

He learned about the mediationprogram at Schoolcraft College from

a mailing, and decided he wanted tomake the career change.

How he made the transition: Abronwent through the six-month media-tion program at Schoolcraft Collegeat night while he was working.

“In the middle of this year, after Ihad done volunteer mediating, Istarted my businesses,” he said. “Icreated three separate companiesfor marketing purposes. I had donesome arbitration in the constructionindustry, so I felt comfortable jump-ing in and doing it.”

Obstacles overcome: He said thetraining for being a mediator was in-tense and very different than an ar-bitrator, which he had experiencedoing.

“The role of an arbitrator is muchlike a judge; you make a decision,”Abron said. “With mediation, youwork to get parties to come to anagreement, but you make no deci-sions. You cannot solve their prob-lems. You have to reframe what yousay so it is objective. It was an ad-justment for me because it was notmy normal role.”

Advice for others: “You have to beflexible and actively market yourbusiness,” he said.

Networking is very important.Abron does this through the South-field Chamber of Commerce and the En-gineering Society of Detroit.

Also important: “You have to picka career you love because when youare self-employed, you have to workharder.” Thoroughly research thecareer and take stock of your abili-ties, he said. Fill in the holes withadditional training or advice fromother professionals in your indus-try.

“Constantly do the work. I medi-ate several times a week. I’ll evenvolunteer as a mediator if I don’thave work. You can’t wait for thephone to ring. You have to go outand create business.”

— Marti Benedetti

If you have made a similar change inyour career or know someone whohas made an interesting career tran-sition, contact Jennette Smith, deputymanaging editor at Crain’s DetroitBusiness, at [email protected].

CareerTransition

CAREERCALENDAR

March 10,2011Somerset Inn, Troy

5 – 9 p.m

REGISTRATION

Non-members: $60 ea.

ACG members/groups of

10+: $50* ea.

Students: $30* ea.

Winners and finalists will be

chosen from these categories:

� Best Large Deal of the Year

� Best Small Deal of the Year

� Deal Maker of the Year,

Buyer/Seller

� Deal Maker of the Year, Adviser

� Lifetime Achievement

Winners will be announced

in the February 28 issue of

Crain’s Detroit Business and

honored at the March 10 event.

Winners of the Association for

Corporate Growth Cup will also be

presented by ACG, Detroit Chapter.

®

Network with the

deal makers of 2010

at a strolling dinnerIN PARTNERSHIP WITH

IS PLEASED TO PRESENT

To register please visit www.regonline.com/2010maawards

TITLE SPONSOR MAJOR SPONSOR LOCATION SPONSOR

*For questions and discounted

rates call 313.446.0300.

Help for jobseekers

areerWorks is a collectionof advertising, news andinformation geared to-

ward readers in career transi-tion or looking for new jobs.

Included in our coverage: “Ca-reerTransition,” highlighting aperson who has made a success-ful leap from one profession toanother; a calendar of job- andtraining-related events; andnews stories affecting the jobmarket.

CareerWorks is also online.On our Web site, at

www.crainsdetroit.com/careerworks, you can post ananonymous résumé and attractemployers. You can scan thenewest jobs from our area or allof Michigan. You can set up e-mail alerts so whenever a jobthat interests you is posted,you’ll know about it.

Employers can post jobs orsearch résumés for talent.

C

CareerWorks onlineVisit www.crainsdetroit.com/careerworks to search for jobs,post a résumé or find talent.

PEOPLEFINANCE

Timothy Ford,owner and presi-dent, Premier Fi-nancial AdvisorsInc., Dearborn, toboard of direc-tors, DearbornFederal SavingsBank, Dearborn. Mark Matheson tochief credit offi-cer, CrestmarkBank, Troy, re-

maining senior vice president.

HEALTH CAREMichael Herbert to senior vice presi-dent, executive director, BeaumontPhysician Partners, Royal Oak, frominterim president and CEO, Physi-cians Practice Group Inc., Augusta,Ga.Suzanne White to chief medical officerand executive vice president, DetroitMedical Center, Detroit, from special-ist-in-chief, emergency medicine; andGeorge Shade Jr. to chief quality andsafety officer and executive vice presi-dent, from chief of obstetrics and gy-necology.John Barnwell to associate vice presi-dent of medical affairs, DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital, Detroit, remainingchief of the department of generalsurgery.

LAWLynn McGuire toshareholder,Butzel Long PC,Ann Arbor, fromsenior attorney.

NONPROFITSJody Wachler todeputy director,FAR Conservatory,

Birmingham, remaining administra-tor.Steven McCarty, partner, UHY Advi-sors Inc., Sterling Heights, to board ofdirectors, Employer Services Assur-ance Corp., Little Rock, Ark.

SERVICESAnn Duke to vice president of salesand marketing, Save On Everything,Troy, from advertising director, HourMedia, Royal Oak.

IN THE SPOTLIGHTAnn Arbor-based Everist Genomics,formerly Genetics Squared, has

named PrasadSunkarapresident andCEO.Sunkara, 60,had beenchairman ofmedicaldiagnosticscompanyAngiologix inAnn Arbor.He succeeds

Bill Worzell, who co-founded thecompany in 2002 and had beenCEO since 2006. He remains chieftechnology officer.Sunkara earned a Ph.D. inmicrobial chemistry at the IndianInstitute of Science and completeda post-doctoral fellowship in celland tumor biology at the M.D.Anderson Cancer Center inHouston.Everist Genomics focuses ondeveloping gene-based molecularanalysis for the prediction ofcancer recurrence and theequipment to evaluate andmanage cardiovascular disease.

Sunkara

Ford

McGuire

Learn how to retool a careerThe Tech MBA Online program

and Michigan Works are sponsoringa free Career Retool Workshop forjob seekers, those in career transi-tion and people who want to retoolfor promotion. The event runs 5:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Engineer-ing Society of Detroit, 20700 CivicCenter Drive, Southfield. Contact:(313) 215-3513; e-mail:[email protected]; website: careerretool.eventbrite.com.

Workshop for entrepreneursDetroit SCORE Chapter 18, in part-

nership with Jewish Vocational Ser-vices, is hosting a workshop thatwill help potential entrepreneurslearn what it takes to start and man-age a business. The event is 8:45a.m.-noon Wednesday at Jewish Vo-cational Services, 29699 SouthfieldRoad, Southfield. Cost is $10. Call(313) 226-7947 to register.

Keys to successful networkingThe Michigan Small Business &

Technology Development Center ispresenting a workshop on the keysto successful networking 6-9 p.m.Tuesday at the Executive OfficeBuilding Conference Center,Building 41 West, 2100 PontiacLake Road, Waterford Township.Cost is $40. To register, go towww.oakgov.com/peds/calendarand click on the workshop or call(248) 858-0783.


Troy | 248.269.8424 | 755 W. Big Beaver Rd.

valentine’splan a perfect

day.

dinner for this special

Extended hours Valentine’s Day weekend.


BY SHERRI WELCH


Gleaners Community Food Bank ofSoutheastern Michigan hasabandoned plans to open anew distribution center at aformer industrial site inMt. Clemens after it discov-ered that environmentalcleanup would be too cost-ly.

An unnamed donor lastspring offered to give thefood bank a vacant building thatpreviously housed industrialpaints and solvents.

An environmental assessmentshowed “that it would be kind ofexpensive to make the buildingfood-grade quality,” said GleanersCEO DeWayne Wells, without giv-ing the specific cost.

As part of a new three-yearstrategic plan, the food bank nowis assessing space around its twomain warehouses in Detroit andPontiac — both of which have va-cant land around them — and atsmaller operations in Howell, ajoint operation with the SalvationArmy Eastern Michigan Division inWarren, and the “Fishes andLoaves” client choice pantry site inTaylor.

Gleaners also is looking atwhere demand for emergency foodis rising, which of those areas maynot currently have access to apantry or emergency food, and thetypes of food it expects to bring inthrough future donations and fed-eral allocations.

“What we have been gettingfrom the (U.S. Department of Agricul-ture) this year hasn’t been tradi-tional, (canned) beans and peas,”Wells said.

The federal agency has beensending more frozen chicken andblueberries and more perishablefoods like eggs and cheese that re-quire cold storage, he said.

“Over the next six months, we’llhave a good sense of … where ourneeds are going to be and whatwould be some potential optionsfor meeting that need.”

Gleaners’ strategic plan alsocalls for increasing programs toget more people signed up for fed-erally funded food programs suchas food stamps and free summerbreakfasts/lunches, its nutritioneducation courses and its advoca-cy around local, state and nationalfood policy issues, Wells said.

Gleaners’ core metric for mea-suring its impact traditionally hasbeen pounds of food distributed,Wells said. Last year, it distributed36.8 million pounds of food.

But it’s now moving to a “mealsper day” metric to encompass itsoutreach, educational and advoca-cy work, he said.

For example, a $25 weekly sav-ings helps participants of its nutri-tion classes to save up to $1,300 per

year, which could buy a certainnumber of meals per day, Wellssaid.

Last year, Gleaners providedjust under 80,000 meals per day, orroughly three meals per day, to26,564 people.

“Our goal is to grow by 57 per-cent by the end of 2013 … (to)124,537 meals per day,” Wells said.

Wells said preliminary numbersfor fiscal 2010 show total revenueof $73.6 million, including the val-ue of donated food, up from $67 million in fiscal 2009, whichended Sept. 30.

Seeing the same increase in per-ishable donations and rescuedfood, Oak Park-based food rescueForgotten Harvest in Decemberadded 9,000 square feet of refriger-ation and another 1,000 square feetfor food handling, at a cost of$850,000.

The expansion is part of a $1.6 million investment that alsoincludes repaving the parking lot,a new volunteer training andworkforce development area andan industrial kitchen area for foodprocessing, said Chief Develop-

ment OfficerRuss Russell inan e-mail.

Those pro-jects should be-gin this sum-mer, he said.

“To meet theneed for food,we must nearlydouble our ca-

pacity over the next three fiscalyears to 36 million pounds of res-cued food,” Russell said.

Forgotten Harvest expects to in-crease the amount of food it res-cues from 19 million pounds lastyear to 26 million this fiscal year.

It reported total revenue of $26.3 million, including the value ofdonated food, and an excess of $1.4 million for fiscal 2009, the yearof its latest tax filing.

Forgotten Harvest launched an$11 million campaign in October toincrease its capacity to rescuemore food and to expand its indi-vidual donor base and increase in-dividual gifts.

Since then, it’s raised $3 milliontoward the effort, Russell said.

Sherri Welch: (313) 446-1694,[email protected]

Environmental costschange building plans asGleaners expands reach

Our goal is togrow by 57

percent by theend of 2013.

DeWayne Wells,Gleaners Community Food

Bank of SoutheasternMichigan

”

“

Russell


FINANCIAL SERVICES

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Confidential Reply Boxes Available

See

Crainsdetroit.com/Section/Classifieds

for more classified advertisements

Wayne State University is seeking a Research Compliance Administrator

Essential Job Duties:

1) Coordinate and attend Institutional Review Board (IRB) meetings, creating regulatory compliant documentation of meeting proceedings and committee decisions. Create memos from meeting minutes stating the condition(s) of approval directives for research investigators, ensuring policy and regulatory research compliance.

2) Assist faculty and research investigators with compliance and regulatory issues. Address questions and provide procedural direction to ensure that the memos of conditions of approval directives are addressed appropriately.

3) Review research investigator responses to the memos of the conditions of approval directives and determine if issues are properly addressed. Generate approval letter or direct unresolved issue to IRB committee chair as appropriate.

Minimum Qualifications:

Education: Graduation from an accredited college or university supplemented bycoursework in research, business administration, or related field and/or an equivalentcombination of education and/or experience.

Additional qualifications include:Some knowledge of research regulations and laws. Some knowledge and experience withUniversity policies, procedures and practices surrounding the approval of research. Someknowledge of psychological, pharmaceutical, medical OR drug agency research.Experience with PC and computer based applications. Attention to detail and ability tocontinuously multitask in a fast-paced work environment. Ability to establish and meetdeadlines, work under extreme pressure and function independently. Ability tocommunicate effectively with staff, faculty, students, researchers. Strong analytic andproblem solving skills.

Resumes will only be accepted at http://jobs.wayne.edu. Job Posting #037430.Wayne State University is a premier institution of higher education offering more than 350undergraduate and graduate academic programs through 12 schools and colleges to morethan 33,000 students in Metropolitan Detroit.

WSU is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.

PROPOSALS WANTED

The Huron-Clinton Metroparks is soliciting proposals from experienced and qualified firms to providemaintenance services for the Metroparks’ Kensington Golf Course. The contract will be performance basedand the Metroparks expects the same level of maintenance, and appearance of Kensington Golf Course ascurrently achieved by Metroparks forces throughout the contract. The contract period is April 4, 2011through February 28, 2012.

A copy of the complete RFQ/RFP document may be obtained by subscribing to www.MITN.info,whereby notification of any addendums may be received. Copies may also be obtained from thePurchasing Department, 13000 High Ridge Drive, Brighton, Michigan 48114, and (810) 227-2757. ThePurchasing Department is not responsible for forwarding addendums to prospective bidders. It shall be theBidder’s responsibility to make inquiry as to changes or addenda issued.

A mandatory pre-proposal meeting is scheduled for TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2011 AT 10 A.M. localtime. The meeting will begin at the Administrative Office of Huron Clinton Metropolitan Authority,13000 High Ridge Drive, Brighton, MI 48114.

Looking for More Revenue?

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ADAMS FINANCIAL SERVICESWorking capital

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All types of business loans will be consideredPlease Call 248-643-7418

Great Small Business Opportunity - Successfulcorp. computer products supplier retiring. Lowoverhead, excellent working hrs. Contact Robert J.Craig, JBP, Inc. 248-851-2770 or cell 248-981-4440.

— Business for Sale —Established gourmet market grossing$3.7 million with high profit margin;family operated for over 20 years; familycollects over $400,000 income / benefits;beautiful 18,000 sq. ft. building with manynew fixtures; walk-in humidor andcocktail/wine bar; SDD, SDM, Class Clicenses; full-service kitchen/catering; deli,bakery, produce, meat, etc.; highestvolume independent Godiva retailer instate; great reputation; asking $2.9 millionplus inventory.

Call (248) 888-1466

FRANCHISE DEVELOPMENT

OPPORTUNITYIn SOMERSET MALL FOOD COURT

Troy, Michigan

Michigan Area Development Opportunitiesalso available

Qualified candidates, please contactJoe Arancio at 480-502-2006 or

[email protected]

Additional information online athttp://teriyakiexperience.com/us_brochure.swf

www.teriyakiexperience.com


BY DUSTIN WALSH


Birmingham-based merger-and-acquisition advisory firm An-gle Advisors LLC and Frankfurt,Germany-based @Visory PartnersGmbH have entered into a sharedservices contract to capitalize onmanufacturing globalization.

By pooling funding and ser-vices, the agreement allows thecompanies to retain customers inneed of advisers in multiple re-gions, said Cliff Roesler, Angle’smanaging director.

“There’s a need for the indus-trial sector to establish itselfglobally,” he said. “Favorableconditions exist for suppliers tofollow their customers, whichcreated a need for us to expand inthe global market.”

The two entities, which will re-tain their individual corporateidentities, will share servicesand team members with advisersin Birmingham; Frankfurt; Man-chester, England; Paris; SaoPaulo, Brazil; and Beijing andShanghai, China.

Scott Eisenberg, managingpartner of Birmingham-based

Amherst Part-ners LLC, said afirm wantingto be involvedin middle-market dealsin emergingmarkets needsto have a glob-al reach.

“If you wantto go up market to middle-marketdeals, you have to partner global-ly,” he said. “It’s really impor-tant to have feet on the ground,especially in the less-developedparts of the world.”

Amherst is part of an interna-tional network of 45 M&A firmscalled IMAP, the International Net-work of M&A Partners.

Two members from @Visorywill move to Angle’s offices inBirmingham to help the firm ex-pand its capital-raising efforts,Roesler said.

An Angle adviser will move toFrankfurt to provide @Visorywith an adviser experienced inautomotive acquisitions and di-vestitures.

The two are also funding ajoint M&A research project out ofFrankfurt.

The firms will own a minoritystake in each other once the dealis completed.

The firms have alreadyworked on deals together, includ-ing a tier-two North Americaninteriors supplier looking for anacquisition or merger with a Eu-ropean company, and a Euro-pean automotive electronics sup-plier that is being shopped tostrategic buyers in North Ameri-ca and Asia.

Dustin Walsh: (313) 446-6042,[email protected]

Angle, Germanfirm team upto go global

Eisenberg


is based on monthly unique visi-tors to a particular site.

“The number of sites we have isless important than their perfor-mance,” Dooley said. “If a site hasa strong following, we can connectthat independent publisher withbig-name accounts like General Mo-tors Co., Deere and Co., Energizer Bat-tery Co. and BF Goodrich to adver-

tise on their websites.” Dooley joined Outside Hub three

years ago and has held senior man-agement positions at Geocities andAutomotive Jumpstart Media. He hasalso worked in marketing forNewsweek and ESPN The Maga-zine.

Mark Koulgeorge, managingpartner of Chicago-based invest-ment firm MK Capital, which hasdedicated $6 million to OutdoorHub, said it is nearly impossiblefor an independently run websiteto get a national brand to adver-tise.

“A lot of advertisers understandthat independent publishers havea unique voice, but they have aproblem buying that type of mediain an efficient manner,” Koulge-orge said. “They can’t say, ‘I wantto reach 50,000 fishermen today’then go out and find them.”

On the other hand, Koulgeorgesaid, small local websites have adifficult time getting a large com-pany to field their calls.

“There is almost no way forsome small, local site to cut a dealwith a national brand,” Koulge-orge said. “Outside Hub makesthose independent publishers eco-

nomically viable. They can turn ahobby into a full-time gig.”

Linda Girard, CEO of Ann Ar-bor-based Pure Visibility Inc., whichfocuses on Web analytics andsearch engine optimization, saysthe fastest-growing trend in onlinemarketing is paid search.

“In my opinion, paid search, ortaking over the top-ranking spoton a site like Google, is more effec-tive than a display or banner adbecause there is a search term cor-related with that user’s need rightaway,” Girard said.

However, Girard said the abilityto track consumer behavior andspending habits will determine thesuccess or failure of an online mar-keting campaign.

“Are the big names seeing peo-ple click on the advertisementsand buying their products?” sheasked. “If they are, then it worksand (the) site will be successful.”

Outside Hub is expanding its of-ferings in 2011 to include mobiledevice application development aswell as content creation, includingwebsite building and video pro-duction.

Nathan Skid: (313) 446-1654,[email protected]

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BY NATHAN SKID


Detroit real-estate veteranDavid Farbman, CEO of South-field-based Outside Hub HoldingsLLC, has parlayed his passion forthe outdoors and his expertise inreal estate into an online-basedmarketing, advertising and pro-duction company with revenue of$10 million, up from $7 million in2009.

The company started as a third-party advertising sales team for in-dependent publishers of outdoorswebsites, which are usually run byenthusiasts, not Web-savvy mar-keters.

Outside Hub — planning tochange its name to Outdoor Hubduring the first half of 2011 — pur-chases the space along the top andsides of outdoor-enthusiast web-sites and sells the space to con-tent-relevant advertisers.

“We have the largest aggregatedonline audience of outdoor enthusi-asts in the country,” Farbman said.“We stay true to our niche, which isan inch wide and a mile deep.”Farbman said the company gets 8million unique visitors per month

across the 325 websites in its portfo-lio. Outside Hub focuses on adver-tising across fishing, hunting,shooting, camping, hiking, boating,mountain sports and general out-doors websites and has offices inChicago, Minneapolis and NewYork. It has 30 full-time employees.

Outside Hub President SteveDooley said the price to advertise

Outside Hub pulls together audiences for advertisers

Auto show attendance strongAttendance at the 2011 North Amer-

ican International Auto Show Jan. 15-23 was 735,370, which included thebreaking of the single-day record of75,327 for a Friday.

Last year’s attendance at theCobo Center event was 714,137.

Southeast Michigan received anestimated $350 million to $375 mil-lion boost to the economy in theform of lodging, transportation,catering and entertainment — amore than $25 million improve-ment over last year’s show.

— Shawn Wright

Small biz group to offer counseling, training

Small Business and Technology De-velopment Centers in Michigan willprovide free counseling to Michi-gan manufacturers, help smallmanufacturers diversify, doublethe workforce of high-level assis-tance throughout the state and fo-cus on small businesses in theirgrowth phase.

The Allendale-based SBTDC re-ceived a $1.6 million federal grant,to be distributed through its Man-ufacturing Assistant Team andGrowth Group Team, to help boostsmall manufacturers, small busi-nesses and entrepreneurs with thecounseling and training.

Details can be found at misbtdc.org.

— Nancy Kaffer

GM spinoff Remy may go publicFormer General Motors Co. unit

Remy International Inc., which has abusiness hub in Troy, may go publicthis year, Bloomberg News reported.

Pendleton, Ind.-based Remy sup-plies alternators and electric andhybrid motors for light- and heavy-duty vehicles, as well as aftermar-

ket parts. It operates its passenger-vehicle unit out of Troy.

Remy CEO John Weber toldBloomberg that the company isconsidering many options, includ-ing a stock sale but also a possiblemerger or an acquisition.

— Dustin Walsh

Biz survey: CEOs more upbeatMichigan executives have

grown somewhat more optimisticabout the state’s near-term eco-nomic prospects, according to afourth-quarter survey conductedby the CEO group Business Leadersfor Michigan.

Results from the quarterly sur-vey of 75 top executives found that33 percent think Michigan’s econo-my will improve over the next sixmonths, compared with 10 percentwho held that belief in the thirdquarter.

However, executives still arenot as optimistic about Michigan’snext six months as they are the na-tion’s. Forty-seven percent of re-spondents said they expect im-provement in the nationaleconomy in the next six months.

Looking to the next 18 months, 60 percent of CEOs think Michi-gan’s economy will get better, upfrom 49 percent in the third quarter.

Thirty-seven percent of thosesurveyed predict hiring increasesin Michigan in the next sixmonths, largely unchanged fromthe third-quarter survey.

“The economy, both in the U.S.and Michigan, is getting better,”Business Leaders President andCEO Doug Rothwell said in a newsrelease.

“But this will be a modest recov-ery by historical standards, andMichigan will most likely lag thatforecast if we don’t make signifi-cant policy changes.”

— Amy Lane

COURTESY OF OUTSIDE HUB HOLDINGS LLC

Outside Hub Holdings LLC President Steve Dooley (left) and CEO David Farbmanaim to bridge the gap between small websites and large advertisers.

BRIEFLY



come by and, number two, nothard to start … you won’t have asmany difficulties,” Scott said. “Ifeel that Detroit is the wild, wildWest of creativity — you can doanything, if you’re driven enough.I would not have been able to dothis anywhere else.”

For the Idea: Detroit competi-tion, entrants are asked to submittheir best ideas in the categories ofarts and culture, entrepreneur-ship, education, environment andbringing people to live in Detroit.

Entrants must submit state-ments of 200 words or less about aproblem, issue or opportunity andhow they would address it with a

solution, product or service. Sub-missions should include lists ofwho would contribute and how thegoals can be realized.

The deadline for submissions isFeb. 25.

Finalists will be notified byMarch 11 and invited to present atthe March 23 conference, to be heldat the College for Creative Studies’A. Alfred Taubman Center for De-sign in Detroit.

Winners will be announced atthe conference. In addition, theIdea: Detroit audience will choosea People’s Choice Award winner.

Each award winner will earn acash prize, and the People’s Choice

winner also gets a complimentaryone-month membership at the newDetroit Creative Corridor Centercooperative workspace.

Judging criteria will be based ona point system, based on creativi-ty/innovation, relevance to im-proving the region, ability to beimplemented and quality of pre-sentation.

Visual aids to demonstrate ideasare optional. Any visuals shouldbe 5MB or smaller, in a .pdf or .jpgformat and submitted to Kim Win-kler, Crain’s marketing coordina-tor, at [email protected].

For more information, visitwww.crainsdetroit.com/2011ideas.

Conference: Showcasing ideas for ‘D’■ From Page 3

BY CHAD HALCOM


A recent pile-on of prospectiveclass-action lawsuits against BlueCross Blue Shield of Michigan overits favorable charging agreementswith health care providers couldmerge into one more orderly casein weeks, attorneys said.

At least four lawsuits seekingmore than $20 million in combineddamages have been filed since Oc-tober against the insurance com-pany over its “most favored na-tion” contracts with hospitals,although one case already hasbeen dismissed and a fifth case isstill taking shape.

Most-favored nation agreementsare billing arrangements BlueCross allegedly began making withMichigan’s 131 hospitals in 2007,either for the carrier to match anyprice a competing private insurerpays on medical services or re-quiring hospitals to charge com-petitors more than Blue Cross —usually by a set percentage.

But is there one cohesive classthat can be made out of four law-suits?

“It’s a real chess game right now,with all of the competing interests,”said Gregory Drutchas, principal atDetroit-based Kitch Drutchas WagnerValitutti & Sherbrook PC and head ofits health care practice. “There’sprobably not a county in this statethat some attorney couldn’t find aplaintiff — employer or insurer.But consolidating all the casescould mix some winners with somelosers, or spoil the whole case.

“I’m sure Blue Cross has somelawyers who are really thinkingout every move here. Becausewhat you do very early on couldset the whole tone.”

All of the cases filed so far large-ly mirror the U.S. Department of Jus-tice and Michigan attorney gener-al’s joint antitrust lawsuit againstBlue Cross but seek specific dam-ages on behalf of other insurers orinsured businesses. Attorneys inmost, if not all, of the lawsuits ex-pect to appear March 2 before U.S.District Judge Denise Page Hoodon a motion for consolidation.

“We are going to have to prove

some of the same things, but thegovernment is after injunctive re-lief to stop the practice, and wehave specific monetary damages toassert,” said Jason Thompson,partner at Sommers Schwartz PCand chairman of its complex litiga-tion department, who brought thelatest class-action lawsuit on be-half of the City of Pontiac earlierthis month.

Pontiac, which is self-insuredand has used Humana Inc. as athird-party claims administratorsince ending its Blue Cross rela-tionship in 2008, is now suing theinsurer and 22 Michigan hospitalsalleged to have “most favored na-tion-plus” agreements with BlueCross in a lawsuit before U.S. Dis-trict Judge Steven Murphy.

The plus agreements allegedlycaused hospitals to charge BlueCross’ competitors more than 20percent above Blue Cross for ser-vices at William Beaumont Hospitalsin Royal Oak and St. John Provi-dence Health System in Warren, toas much as 39 percent more atCovenant Medical Center in Sagi-naw, according to government andclass-action lawsuits.

More conventional most-favorednation agreements allegedly re-quired only that Blue Cross get abilling rate at least equal to anyother insurer.

Also suing are Hillsdale-basedThe Shane Group Inc. and BradleyVeneberg of Munising in an Oct. 29lawsuit, and the Michigan RegionalCouncil of Carpenters Employee Assis-tance Fund along with the Abate-ment Workers National Health andWelfare Fund and Monroe Plumbers &Pipefitter Local 671 Welfare Fund in aDec. 8 lawsuit.

A fourth case over most-favorednation status was filed Nov. 22 byFrankenmuth Mutual Insurance Co.but withdrawn the same week;Haverford, Pa.-based Chimicles &Tikellis LLP is seeking plaintiffswho received care at any of at least18 Michigan hospitals for a “poten-tial” lawsuit against Blue Cross.

“We continue to believe the gov-ernment’s lawsuit is deficient andshould be dismissed. (And) whilewe haven’t responded formally tothe civil suits, our position is thatthey ignore the benefits of negoti-ating for the deepest possible dis-counts for Michigan customers,”said Helen Stojic, director of cor-porate affairs for the Blues.

“Piggyback plaintiff lawsuitsare not a surprise or unusual inthese circumstances.”

The Justice Department and at-torney general found that in 2007Blue Cross had threatened to cutpayments up to 16 percent to 45small and rural hospitals if theydid not take most-favored nationcontracts.

Blue Cross made a motion to dis-miss that case, which is up for ahearing before Hood on March 2.Hood also expects to hear a motionto consolidate all the prospectiveclass actions and appoint a leadcounsel later the same day, andplaintiff attorneys said they are inan ongoing dialogue about com-bining their efforts.

Andrew Wachler, president ofWachler & Associates PC in RoyalOak, said the Blues could mountan argument that a dispute overbilling rates belongs before thestate Office of Financial and Insur-ance Regulation, not in court, underthe state Public Act 350 of 1980,which creates a method for admin-istrative appeals.

“If you show that the Blues failedto serve a class or fulfill its dutiesunder (that law), you can file an ad-ministrative appeal to require theBlues to change their policies,” hesaid. “I think you could challengethem there on something like this,but then you wouldn’t make asmuch money as you could by chal-lenging the practice this way.”

Chad Halcom: (313) 446-6796,[email protected]

Judge to consider consolidatinglawsuits over Blues contractsLANSING — Gov. Rick Snyder

today is expected to unveil a sim-plified state balance sheet de-signed to show, in an easily un-derstandable form, Michigan’s

finances.The citizen’s

guide to Michi-gan’s fiscalhealth, a goalof Snyder’ssince his cam-paign for gov-ernor, isplanned aspart of Sny-der’s appear-

ance at a fiscal summit sponsoredby statewide CEO group BusinessLeaders for Michigan.

The Lansing summit will lookin-depth at state and local gov-ernment finances and includediscussions by Snyder, his statetreasurer and budget director,and local and national experts.

Snyder’s new state balancesheet will be about 20 pages and

will simplify what is now thestate’s nearly 300-page Compre-hensive Annual Financial Re-port.

It is an effort to provide greatertransparency for Michigan’s to-tal financial condition — includ-ing the money that’s coming inand going out, fund balances andoutstanding obligations.

The guide is intended “to painta really clear picture of thestate’s fiscal health” and willhelp outline the difficulties fac-ing Michigan and the challengesahead, said Sara Wurfel, Sny-der’s press secretary.

In a fall interview with Crain’s,Snyder said he would like thestate’s plain-language financialstatement to be emulated by localjurisdictions, including munici-palities and school districts.

Information on the summit canbe found at www.businessleader-sformichigan.com/leadership-summit.

— Amy Lane

CEO group gets first look atsimplified state balance sheet

It’s a real chessgame right now, withall of the competing

interests.Gregory Drutchas,

Kitch Drutchas Wagner Valitutti & Sherbrook PC

”

“

Snyder



HAP: Plan explores another run at offering Medicaid HMO■ From Page 3

Agree: Downturn strategy lets firm diversify while it grows■ From Page 1

Michigan’s smallest MedicaidHMOs, which has gone throughownership changes.

Officials of Pro Care did not re-turn several phone calls and e-mails from Crain’s seeking com-ments about a possible sale.

Of the 14 Medicaid HMOs inMichigan, 10 serve SoutheastMichigan. The only Medicaid HMOthat lost money through ninemonths of 2010 ending Sept. 30 wasTotal Health Care, which lost $2.05 million on revenue of $134.5 million, according to the stateOffice of Financial and Insurance Regu-lation.

Several sources have toldCrain’s that for-profit VanguardHealth Systems Inc. and Detroit Med-ical Center also have been express-ing interest in acquiring a Medic-aid HMO, but DMC CEO MikeDuggan has denied those reports.

Vanguard, which took over theDMC on Jan. 1, owns two healthplans in Arizona and operates arisk-bearing provider network inChicago.

“With health care reform com-ing, Medicaid will see a furiouspace (of growth),” Cotton said.“There is not a lot of overhead, be-cause there is a set rate (the statepays Medicaid plans) and peopleare auto-assigned into the healthplans. It is much less costly to runthese plans.”

Susan Schwandt, a HAP spokes-woman, confirmed to Crain’s thatHAP could either purchase an ex-isting Medicaid HMO or wait forthe state to open the biddingprocess for new Medicaid plans.

“The state Medicaid program isan important part of the solution toexpanding access to health servicesfor the growing number of Medic-aid-eligible Michigan residents,”

Schwandt said in a statement.HAP, owned by Henry Ford Health

System, currently offers a commer-cial health plan, a Medicare Ad-vantage managed care plan andseveral other preferred providerorganization products.

In June 2009, HAP applied for aMedicaid HMO license with theMichigan Department of CommunityHealth. It withdrew its application

in October when the state did notgrant it a contract, said JasonMoon, public information officerwith DCH.

Cotton said one reason HAPcould have been turned down isthe large number of MedicaidHMOs already serving WayneCounty and the surrounding mar-ket.

Kelly Neibel, public informationofficer with the state Departmentof Community Health, said thestate will next open the Medicaidbidding process in early 2015 witha contract effective Oct. 1.

“We went through the biddingprocess in 2009,” Schwandt said.“The state opens up the biddingprocess every so many years. Theoption is to buy or wait for the re-bid to open.”

The last time the state licenseda new Medicaid HMO was for Om-nicare Health Plan in 2004, Moonsaid.

“It is possible the state couldopen bids for new Medicaid HMOplans, but historically they havetried to limit the number of plansbecause it costs the state more ad-ministratively to oversee theplans,” Cotton said.

Health Plan earned $4.9 millionfor the first nine months of 2010 onrevenue of $642.1 million, saidOFIR. The most profitable Medic-aid HMO in metro Detroit is East

Lansing-based CareSourceMichigan, which earned $7.8 mil-lion on revenue of $98.9 millionthrough the first nine months of2010, said OFIR. CareSource’s cor-porate office is in Dayton, Ohio.

Pro Care, which is goingthrough ownership changes,earned $57,822 on total revenue of$4.9 million, said OFIR.

In March 2010, former ownerAugustine Kole-James, M.D., died,and his estate became the soleowner of the outstanding shares ofcommon stock of Pro Care, saidOFIR.

On Dec. 7, ownership of ProCare was transferred to the Augus-tine K. Kole-James AdministrativeTrust.

Legal title to the Pro Care sharesnow is held by Robin Cole, a familytrustee of the trust and acting CEOof Pro Care since March 2010, saidOFIR. Cole had been secretary andexecutive director of Pro Caresince 2004.

According to OFIR, Pro Carefiled documents that indicated ithas no plans to “sell Pro Care’s as-sets, merge Pro Care with any per-son or persons, or make any othermaterial change in Pro Care’sbusiness operations.”

However, sources told Crain’sthat Cole “will listen to offers.”

Jay Greene: (313) 446-0325,[email protected]

credit line. Over the past year, it spent close

to $40 million on purchases acrossthe country.

Four generations of real estateWith 79 properties now owned,

Agree Realty has come a long wayfrom the 17 it owned in 1994 whenJoey’s father, Richard, took thecompany public. But it remains

small and nim-ble, with just 12employees in amodest Farming-ton Hills office.

The companydates to 1971,when RichardAgree took overdevelopment ofa Farmer Jack-an-chored shopping

center in Roseville that was beingdeveloped by his grandfather.

A third-generation real estatedeveloper, Richard Agree forgedstrong relationships with KmartCorp. and made a career of develop-ing neighborhood shopping cen-ters anchored by the then-Troy-based retailer.

Through his Kmart relation-ships, Agree developed and pur-chased property leased to BordersGroup; a Kmart acquisition andspinoff.

But building a company basedon a small handful of retail tenantshas its drawbacks. At the start of2010, 29 percent of the rental in-come for the company came fromBorders, putting the company in apossibly dangerous position if a

Borders bankruptcy were to in-volve the termination of leases.

The sale of three stores and thecancellation of a ground leasebrought that exposure down to 20 percent as of last week.

High exposure, low debtEven at a level of 20 percent,

Agree’s exposure to a single clientis far above the average for compa-rable companies, said AndrewDiZio, an analyst with Philadel-

phia-based Janney Capital Marketswho covers Agree.

Typically, it is rare for a compa-ny to have more than 6.5 percent ofits rental income from a single ten-ant.

“Staying at or below 5 percent isadvisable,” he said.

On the debt side, DiZio saidAgree’s level is extremely strongcompared to that of its peers.

Agree’s current debt is 25 percentof the gross value of its assets. In thespecific sector of REITs in whichAgree is included — specializing inthe purchase of standalone build-ings leased to national retailers —the average debt is 43 percent.

With a strong balance sheet,Agree’s biggest foe remains Bor-ders, DiZio said, as investors con-tinue to sell Agree on bad newsfrom Borders.

“They just have to get throughthe Borders situation,” he said.“But their balance sheet is in a po-sition where it won’t ruin them.”

In fact, DiZio wrote in a note toinvestors that a Borders bankrupt-cy filing would provide a “a trad-ing opportunity in ADC, allowinginvestors to capitalize on a nega-tive overreaction to the filing.”

The company’s revenue has in-creased over the past year from

$9.1 million for the quarter endedSept. 30, 2009, to $9.3 million for thesame period in 2010. The compa-ny’s funds from operations, a keymeasure of profitability for REITs,was roughly flat, with $6.016 mil-lion in 2009 compared with $6.019million in 2010.

Buying rather than buildingThe company’s 2010 acquisition

strategy has been hatched and exe-cuted under Joey Agree’s shorttenure as president.

The 32-year-old started workingfor the company full time in 2006,after four years as director of ac-quisitions for Farmington Hills-based Grand Sakwa Properties LLC.

In July 2009, Joey Agree wasnamed president and COO as 67-year-old Richard kept his role aschairman of the board of directors.

Joey said the current lendingenvironment has left private de-velopers across the country strug-gling to pay off construction loansor desperate for cash to completelarger developments; in eithercase being eager to sell.

Making the move from develop-er to investor is much easier thangoing from investor to developer,said Chris Brochert, a partner

with Lormax Stern Development Co.,which has both developed and ac-quired retail properties.

“There’s no question that to be adeveloper, you need a lot of exper-tise in a lot of fields,” he said. “De-veloping is so much more complexthan investing.”

Brochert, who said the Agreefamily has a strong reputation intown, added that while the pub-licly held REITs have funding op-tions that private developers don’thave access to, there is no advan-tage to being public.

“There are lenders out thereright now, and there is financingfor qualified buyers,” Brochertsaid.

‘A lot of extra zeros’To further capitalize on the slow

lending market, Joey Agree plansto start joint-venture deals withdevelopers around the country asa way to offer financing for pro-jects and generate income for thecompany.

But for 2011, Agree sees acquisi-tions slowing as prices rise onhigh-quality buildings leased toFortune 500 companies.

However, he and Richard Agreesay the company’s infrastructure isin place, with retailer relationshipsand a national footprint of holdings.

When asked for a revenue goalfor the near future, Richard saidhe wouldn’t put a specific target onthe company’s earnings.

“But there are a lot of extra ze-ros on what we expect,” he said.

Daniel Duggan: (313) 446-0414,[email protected]

MEDICAID HMO INCOME DOWNMichigan’s Medicaid HMOs saw a dip in income in 2010 after the state cutpayments to help balance its budget. Here’s net income for Medicaid HMOsin Southeast Michigan for the first nine months of 2010, along with themargins for the first nine months of 2009 and 2010:

Medicaid Net MarginHMOs income 2010 2009BlueCaid of Michigan $347,000 0.76% 0.23%Great Lakes Health Plan $587,188 0.09% (1.2%)Health Plan of Michigan $4.84 million 0.75% 2.2%Midwest Health Plan $6.97 million 3.8% 2.3%Molina Healthcare of Michigan $598,889 0.09% 1.0%OmniCare Health Plan $1.8 million 1.3% 0.28%ProCare Health Plan $57,822 1.2% (2%)CareSource $7.8 million 7.9% 13.6%Total Health Care ($2.05 million) (1.52%) 0.45%Priority Health Government $6.9 million 5.1% 5%HealthPlus Partners $7.6 million 4.4% 5%

Totals:2010: $35.4 million net income; 1.4% average margin2009: $40.4 million net income; 1.7% average marginSource: Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation

AGREE REALTY’S MAJOR DEALSAcquired property leased to: � CVS Caremark Corp. inConnecticut, Illinois, Ohio andKansas: $16.8 million� Lowe’s Cos. Inc. in NorthCarolina: $9.9 million� Chase Bank in Illinois: $2.9 million� PNC Financial Services in Illinois:$2.8 million� Kohl’s Corp. in Florida: $2.2 million� Walgreen Co. in Shelby Twp.:$2.2 million� AT&T Inc. in North Carolina: $3.3 million

Sold: � Borders Group Inc. stores inTulsa and Santa Barbara: $16.5 million. Earned anundisclosed payout in thetermination of a ground lease for aBorders store in Aventura, Fla. � Walgreens in Florida: $4.1 million

Raised: � $31 million in a public offeringNote: Deals from 2010 and early 2011

Richard Agree

They just have to get through the Borderssituation. But their balance sheet is in a

position where it won’t ruin them.Andrew DiZio, Janney Capital Markets

”“



BY TOM HENDERSON


Michigan venture capitalistsare returning to the marketplace,and if fundraising goes as planned,2011 will be a record year.

Observers say VC leaders are ontrack to easily surpass the previ-ous record of $277.1 million thatwas raised in 2000.

Just $30 million was raised in2010, according to Thomson Reutersand the National Venture Capital As-sociation.

At least seven state-based VCfirms are either raising new fundsalready or starting soon, with a to-tal target of $435 million. In addi-tion, at least two VC firms that arebased out of state but have local of-fices — and invest in Michigancompanies — are raising morethan $250 million in new funds.

Add to that two other large poolsof money: General Motors VenturesLLC, the $100 million venture armof the automaker, which waslaunched last year and has madeits first investment of $5 million,in Commerce Township-basedPowermat Inc.; and the Jan. 17 cre-ation of the $120 million VentureMichigan Fund II. That makes morethan $900 million in new fundsavailable for the state’s emerginghigh-tech companies.

Area venture capital firmsknown to be raising money in-clude Ann Arbor-based ArboretumVentures LLC, perhaps the most suc-cessful VC firm in the past two orthree years, and Detroit VenturePartners LLC, which was launchedlast year by Quicken Loans Inc.

founder Dan Gilbert, ePrize Inc.founder Josh Linkner and BrianHermelin, co-founder and chair-man of another Gilbert investmentvehicle, Rockbridge Growth EquityLLC, a private equity firm in Livo-nia.

Arboretum, whose recent prof-itable divestitures include the saleof HandyLab Inc. and HealthMediaInc., hopes to raise $125 million.Detroit Venture Partners hasn’tdisclosed its target size because ofU.S. Securities and Exchange prohi-bitions against appearing to pro-

mote a fund during fundraising,but based on its announced invest-ment goals the fund would likelybe at least $100 million and possi-bly much larger.

Linkner told Crain’s in Decemberthat Detroit Venture Partnerswants to do six to eight deals in 2011and 15 to 20 deals every year afterthat. Plans are to make initial in-vestments of between $250,000 and$750,000 in companies, with $2 mil-lion to $3 million reserved for fol-low-on investments.

Ironically, Arboretum has been

helped by ongoing fundraisingwoes by Cincinnati-based TriathlonMedical Ventures LLC, which had re-ceived commitments of up to $20million from two state funds, the$109 million 21st Century InvestmentFund and the $95 million VentureMichigan Fund, buthas been unable toraise enough addi-tional money tolaunch a sec-ond fund.

In December,the MichiganStrategic Fundboard voted toallocate the $10millionTriathlon wasto get from the21st Century In-vestment Fund to Arboretum.VMF is expected to follow suit.

The return to the market by lo-cal venture capital firms follows ascreeching halt to fundraising in2008. By the end of December 2007,at least 11 Michigan VC firms hadannounced plans to raise newfunds totaling at least $700 million,buoyed by what had been severalstrong years.

In September 2008, Ann Arbor-based Ardesta LLC, despite havingcommitments of up to $15 millionfrom the state’s 21st Century In-vestment Fund and the VentureMichigan Fund, pulled the plug ona planned new $100 million fund.Ardesta’s co-founder, Rick Snyder,decided to look for another job.

The plug was pulled on otherfunds around the state that year,as well, including a $75 million

fund by Kalamazoo-based ApjohnVentures; a fund of undisclosed sizeby Ann Arbor-based EDF Ventures,which also had earlier receivedcommitments of up to $15 millionfrom the 21st Century InvestmentFund and Venture Michigan Fund;

a fund of undis-closed size byBirmingham-based Seneca Part-ners Inc.; and a $50million fund byAnn Arbor-basedMacBeedon Part-ners LLC.

“It’s been atough environmentto raise funds. Butwe’ve had a coupleof pretty fabulousexits recently, and

I’d be surprised if (most of) thesecompanies don’t raise their mon-ey,” said Tom Kinnear, executivedirector of the Zell Lurie Institute atthe Ross School of Business at theUniversity of Michigan.

“It’s validation that opportuni-ties do exist in Michigan and thatventure capital here is finally com-ing of age,” said Skip Simms, pres-ident and CEO of Ann Arbor Spark.

“The seeds planted a few yearsago are starting to bear fruit,” hesaid. “People made smart decisionswhen they started things like the21st Century Investment Fund andthe Venture Michigan Fund. It’s agood example of economic develop-ment changing your culture. It does-n’t happen overnight, but it happensif you are patient and do it right.”

Tom Henderson: (313) 446-0337,[email protected]

State’s VC firms on track for record year of fundraising

Venture capitalhere isfinally

coming ofage.Skip Simms,

Ann Arbor Spark

”

“

LOCAL VC FIRMS’ FUNDRAISING PLANS� Ann Arbor-based ArboretumVentures LLC is raising up to $125 million for its third fund.� Detroit Venture Partners LLC israising its first fund, believed to beat least $100 million.� Birmingham-based SenecaPartners Inc. is raising up to $75 million for its second healthcare fund.� Detroit-based RenaissanceVenture Capital Fund, whichfinished raising its first fund ofalmost $50 million last September,has made a flurry of investmentsand is expected to begin raising asecond fund of at least $50 millionthis year. � Ann Arbor-based PlymouthVenture Partners held a first closeof $21 million in December for itssecond fund and hopes to cap it at$50 million.� The Detroit-basediNetworksMichigan Fund LP,affiliated with Pittsburgh-basediNetworks Advisors Inc., originally

targeted a fund of $10 million buthas about $15 million incommitments and is now shootingfor $20 million. It expects to hold aformal close in the first quarter.� Ann Arbor-based Huron RiverVenture Partners, a new firm thatwon a competition last year held bythe Michigan Strategic EconomicInvestment and CommercializationBoard, hopes to have a first close onits fund in February. The stateinvested $6 million, and the firm istargeting a fund of $12 million to$15 million.Fundraising by out-of-state firms withlocal offices include:� Venture Investors of Madison,Wis., which has made fourinvestments in Michigan companiesthrough its Ann Arbor office from the$118 million fund it raised in 2007.It is believed to be targeting a currentfund of $150 million.� Arsenal Ventures Partners ofWinter Park, Fla., is raising a fund ofmore than $100 million.

economic development. “It’s just like any other busi-

ness,” Baruah said. “We’ve got to fo-cus on what’s more important …frankly, all of the functions that wecut last week in those very painfulcuts are all things we would like tocontinue to do, but at end of day wehave to focus on what’s important,and what’s important is to focus oneconomic development.”

The chamber is composed ofthree related entities: the DetroitRegional Chamber, the Detroit Re-gional Chamber Foundation Inc. and afor-profit entity, Detroit RegionalChamber Service Inc. Revenue acrossall three entities was $18.1 millionin fiscal 2010. The budget for fiscal2011 is $15.3 million, CFO Karen Be-lans said last week. According to afederal tax filing, revenue for thechamber proper was $5.8 million infiscal 2009, the most recent yearavailable, compared to $6 millionthe year before. The chamber endedthat year with an excess of $128,676.The foundation ended fiscal 2009with $2.9 million in revenue and anexcess of $5,278, according to the taxdocument.

Registrations for the chamber’ssignature event, the annual Mack-inac Policy Conference, are up 39 percent over this time last year.The 2010 conference had 1,498 at-tendees, and Baruah expects thisyear’s attendance to exceed thatnumber. Baruah said the budget

for this year’s conference is $2 mil-lion, and the chamber expects prof-its of $100,000 or less.

Chamber mem-bership, Baruahsaid, has started torebound after adrop when theeconomycrashed.

“Sales havebeen up sincelate 2009,” hesaid.

The chamberhas about 20,000members, in-cluding affili-ates, or members ofother chamberswith reciprocalmembership in theDetroit Regional Chamber, withjust under 5,000 core members,whose dues are at a higher level.

Revenue from the insurancepackages the chamber offers mem-bers through its for-profit arm hashistorically been more than one-third of its overall revenue. Butthe amount the program brings inis expected to drop from roughly $6 million to $4 million in fiscal2012, Baruah said.

Further, health care reformchanges due in 2014 mean the rele-vance of such a program to thesmall-business market couldchange, he said — some recent sur-

veys have suggested that post-re-form small-business owners maystop offering medical insurance to

employees, di-recting them in-stead to pur-chase insurancethrough the pro-posed statehealth insur-ance exchanges.

“The chamberhas historicallyreceived a major-ity of the biggestsingle chunk ofits revenue fromits affinity pro-grams, particu-larly the BlueCross (Blue Shieldof Michigan) pro-

grams. We’re going to continue todo that, find products that are use-ful to our members, that provide apositive and reasonable return forus, but at the end of the day I can’tcount on any particular product tofund the chamber.”

Barbara Allushuski, chair-woman of the chamber board andpresident of Right Management, saidthe chamber brought Baruah in be-cause of his economic developmentexperience — his résumé includesthe post of U.S. assistant secretaryof commerce, during which time heled the federal government’s Eco-nomic Development Administration.

“This is what we need, to helpbuild the economy, to bring jobsback, and that’s a huge focus forthe chamber,” she said. “There’sno getting around that the healthcare reform means less revenuedollars coming into the chamber.Like other businesses, we areneeding to change our businessmodel. We need to have a strongvalue proposition for members.”

Allushuski said the chamber isfocusing on the value propositionit offers its members, especially itssmall-business members.

“We’re going to have focusgroups to make sure we have theservices small business needs,” shesaid. “I also believe that we need tobe very focused on the state. We’revery excited about the new gover-nor and excited to partner with oth-er chambers around the state.”

Economic development programsBaruah is championing include:

� The reboot of the Detroit Re-gional Economic Partnership, a 10-county public-private partnershipthat works to bring business to thearea, which was started by Baru-ah’s predecessor, Dick Blouse.Baruah said he spent the summerworking with the heads of metroDetroit counties and their econom-ic development staffs to re-createthe regional partnership.

In November, the partnershipand the region’s leading economicdevelopment organizations signed

a letter of intent to work togetheron economic development.

“We went back to our investorgroup in the beginning of Januaryand you are going to see a muchmore energized program” on re-gional economic collaboration.

� The MichAuto program, whichbecame part of the chamber inJuly and is focused on bolsteringthe auto supply chain in the state.

� TranslinkeD, also started byBlouse, a project that would makeDetroit a center for global and re-gional shipping.

“Logistics, the bridge, the ener-gy cluster in Southeast Michiganthat we should rebuild, becauseit’s 70,000 jobs if we do it right,”Baruah said.

A clearly defined mission is theright move for the chamber, saidBeth Chappell, president of the De-troit Economic Club and past chair-woman of the chamber. She cur-rently sits on the chamber board.

“I think Sandy’s doing exactlythe right thing,” she said. “We’reall doing more with less, which ispretty cliché though very true. Outof necessity, we’re having to focuson what our core mission is andnothing else. There’s all these an-cillary things anywhere you go,and we’re at a point in this econo-my where we don’t have luxury ofextra resources.”

Nancy Kaffer: (313) 446-0412,[email protected]

Chamber: Development mission called key to fiscal health■ From Page 1

Like otherbusinesses,

we areneeding tochange our

businessmodel.

Barbara Allushuski, Detroit Regional Chamber

”

“



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Pinnacle: Horse track owners look for investors■ From Page 3

The track had informed thetownship it didn’t need the policeservice and has made a paymentoffer that was ignored, Campbellsaid, adding that the matter wasnow being handled by lawyers.

Township-provided water ser-vice had been cut off to Pinnaclefor a period last winter because ofa then-unpaid water bill. That wa-ter bill was later brought up todate.

DTE Energy Co. had cut electricalservice to the track last year, butthat bill also was brought up todate.

Money troubleThe financial problems stem

from revenue declines that haveplagued the horse racing industrynationwide, but are exacerbated inMichigan by the state’s reductionin live race days — the most lucra-tive gambling revenue.

The state trimmed the racingschedule as a cost-cutting mea-sure.

Campbell said he hasn’t yet

talked to Gov. Rick Snyder aboutthe upcoming horse racing bud-get, but he is confident the AnnArbor Republican will try to workwith the industry to maintainjobs.

The track also has slowed itscapital construction spending be-cause of the tighter credit marketsand reduced racing revenue.

The track and horse ownersjointly spent $5,900 for each day foran additional 41 live race days,which paid for state regulatorypersonnel required to be on site forlive racing. Pinnacle had 361 daysscheduled in 2010 for simulcastracing, which doesn’t require stateemployees present.

The state’s annual report for2010 on Michigan’s horse racingindustry won’t be available untilthe spring, so there’s not yet a cur-rent statistical snapshot of its fi-nancial health.

Those in the business continueto sound dire warnings.

“The horse racing industry inMichigan is in serious decline,”said Daniel Adkins, vice president

of Hazel Park Harness Raceway, in ane-mail to Crain’s. “Without theability to add additional gamingproducts to compete with commer-cial and tribal casinos, Michigan’soldest legalized gaming industrywill disappear.”

According to state records is-sued last summer, Pinnacle col-lected $4.2 million in 2009 and $1.9million in 2008 from on-site wager-ing. It paid $960,823 in 2009 and$342,860 to the state from a 3.5 per-cent tax on simulcast wagers.Money also goes to the township.

There is no tax on live-race wa-gering.

State statistics show that $203.3million was wagered at the state’ssix tracks in 2009, down from $231million in 2008.

Land troubleThere’s one other issue poten-

tially looming for Pinnacle.Former Wayne County District

15 Commissioner Ed Boike, D-Tay-lor, last year questioned the legali-ty of the county’s 2008 transfer of

county-owned land to Pinnacle forthe track, but nothing ever came ofthe issue.

Boike didn’t seek re-election lastyear and was replaced by RayBasham, a Taylor Democrat whowas term-limited out of the stateSenate.

“It is an ongoing issue in the dis-trict that I’m sure the commission-er will be interested in lookinginto,” Basham’s office said in astatement.

Boike specifically had ques-tioned the original deal to sell 320acres for $1 from the Wayne CountyLand Bank Authority in April 2008 toCampbell’s J.L.L.J. Corp. He alsoquestioned the legality of Pinna-cle’s $179,000 sale last year of 7acres of its land to the Sault Ste.Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians forfuture development.

Wayne County Executive RobertFicano’s office has said the thor-oughbred track has met, or ismeeting, all the required condi-tions under its sale agreement.

Bill Shea: (313) 446-1626,[email protected]

Water: Critics say department oversight was lax■ From Page 1

regional authority to govern thesystem while a long-term solutionis developed.

The motion criticizes Lewandand IMG, saying Lewand has beenpaid more than $1.6 million as thecourt’s special master since 2002.IMG was paid $2.2 million between2008 and 2010, according to the mo-tion. Other contractors — includ-ing Timothy O’Brien, chairpersonof the Southeast Michigan Consor-tium for Water Quality, and Lansing-based Public Sector Consultants —have been paid $118,848 and$200,575, respectively, duringthree- and two-year periods, all bythe water department.

Money paid to the consultantsand corruption in contracting di-verted millions from needed up-grades and repairs to the regionalutility, McCulloch said.

“Those were individuals (andorganizations) that were contract-ed by Judge Feikens himself,” Mc-Culloch said. “He established therate of pay and he’s the one whosolely approved payment.”

McCulloch was especially criti-cal of IMG.

“I am just appalled at theamount of money they were paid.I’m not sure who recommended tothe judge to hire this firm, but itwas never made clear what theircontract called for, because thejudge was solely responsible for in-teracting with them.”

Feikens, who was unable to com-ment because he is recuperatingfrom an injury, directed queries toLewand, who did not respond byCrain’s Friday deadline to an e-mailmessage and to phone messages leftat his office, home and with Bod-man’s media relations staff.

The U.S. District Court’s mediacontact directed inquiries aboutthe ongoing status of Lewand, IMGand others to the water depart-ment; representatives from the wa-ter department told Crain’s thatthe court should answer such

questions. Bing’s communicationsteam did not respond by deadlineto inquiries regarding the status ofcontractors.

In a 2006 filing that asked forclarification of Lewand’s role asspecial master, Butzel Long attor-neys Donald Miller and Beth Got-thelf wrote on behalf of the county:“It seems that the court’s role inthis case has evolved from the tra-ditional adjudicative role into alsoa quasi-executive (and, possibly,legislative) role.”

That year, Lewand compiled areport summarizing an investiga-tion of a handful of water depart-ment contracts questioned by thenews media and Oakland County.The report found that the con-tracts were appropriate, but saidIMG had not reviewed the finalcontracts as agreed — but whenprompted by Lewand, agreed theywere appropriate.

Those same contracts resur-faced in January as part of the fed-eral indictments alleging that Kil-patrick and associates such ascontractor Bobby Ferguson rou-tinely inflated the cost of water de-

partment contracts for personalgain.

Those funds, though just a frac-tion of the cost of the water system’smaintenance, would have been bet-ter spent on the aging infrastruc-ture, McCulloch said. “The systemstill needs repairs. Had the appro-priate checks and balances been inplace over five years ago, we mayhave been able to direct those fundsto the appropriate corrections thatneed to be made on the system.”

The water department is stillyears and millions, if not billions, ofdollars away from satisfying theterms of the consent decree that set-tled the federal lawsuit, he added.The costs of remedying Clean WaterAct violations at the wastewatertreatment plant alone are estimatedat $200 million, McCulloch said.

“As far as upgrading the system,we’re talking about several bil-lion,” he said, a cost he said ulti-mately would be borne by the utili-ty’s 4.5 million business andresidential customers because fed-eral dollars once used to expandthe system are no longer available.

McCulloch said the system heproposes is a stop-gap, temporarymeasure while long-term change ingovernance evolves. He also de-scribed as “knee-jerk” a plan byState Rep. Kurt Heise, R-Plymouth,who introduced a bill that wouldmove control of the utility to a nine-member regional authority.

Bing has said he’s opposed totransferring control of the systemoutside of Detroit, but has said he’sopen to suggestions and solutionsfor how to better manage the utility.

“I think it’s ludicrous for Detroitto own the system, have all the debtbut doesn’t have control of manage-ment of the system,” he said at apress conference last week.

“I’m open-minded to sit downwith users and the appropriate lead-ership to see if we can sit down withsomething and make it a win-winfor everyone. … There are a lot of

moving parts, and I don’t think wecan handle everything day to day,but I don’t want everyone thinkingthe city is in a weak position.”

Bing has been supported pub-licly by Macomb County ExecutiveMark Hackel and Wayne CountyExecutive Robert Ficano, whoboth say they want to give themayor time to sort out the system.

Michigan’s constitution bars thesuburban “takeover” of the utilityfeared by many in the city. It ex-plicitly gives communities like De-troit the right to govern and oper-ate their own water systems.

Sharing governance, or trans-ferring control of the system, saidBettie Buss, senior research ana-lyst at the nonpartisan Citizens Re-search Council, holds no politicalbenefit for Detroit.

“That becomes a pure politicalfight — does Detroit have the pow-er to retain the system?” she said.“Does Detroit have the power tostop it?”

In a report last year on the city’sfiscal condition, Buss wrote thatthe water department is the city’smost valuable asset, should thecity’s financial situation deterio-rate to the point where a salewould become desirable.

But it’s hard to put a price tag onthe system, she said. Suburbs buy-ing into the system would likely fi-nance that through bonds thatwould be paid by customersthrough rate increases.

In addition, funds to improvethe system after a theoretical salealso would be paid for with bondproceeds.

“Is either the city’s deficit andcash position so bad, or is theresomething the city wants so desper-ately that it needs to sell this asset,and can suburbanites be convincedthat control of the system is worththe increased cost?” Buss asked.

Nancy Kaffer: (313) 446-0412,[email protected]

CONTRACTORS, CONSULTANTSThe cost of federal oversight to theDetroit water department:� Maryland-based InfrastructureManagement Group, $2.2 millionbetween 2008 and 2010� Thomas Lewand, member ofBodman PLC and the court’sspecial master, $1.6 million from2002 to 2010� Valerie Brader, judicial adjunct,$254,412 from 2007 to 2010 � Lansing-based Public SectorConsultants, $200,575 between2006 and 2008� Timothy O’Brien, chairperson ofthe Southeast Michigan Consortiumfor Water Quality, $118,848between 2007 and 2010� Total: $4.4 millionSource: Oakland County court filings



Canadaclarifies bridgecontribution

he Canadian govern-ment has made it ex-plicitly clear that its

offer of up to $550 million tocover Michigan’s cost ofthe Detroit River InternationalCrossing is not a loan, say-ing it would pay any of thestate’s capital costs not cov-ered by the private sectoror the U.S. government.

Those costs then wouldbe recovered by Canada as-suming Michigan’s share ofbridge toll revenue for aslong as it would take to payoff the capital costs.

ON THE MOVE� Wayne State University

appointed longtime Canadi-an educator Carolyn Shieldsto be dean of the school’sCollege of Education, suc-ceeding interim deanSteven Illmer, effective July1. She had been a professorin the department of educa-tional organization andleadership at the Universityof Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

� Mike Schena, presidentof Detroit-based BetterMade SnackFoods Inc.,has becomeCOO as hepoints to-ward retire-ment. Ex-VicePresident of

Finance Mark Winkelman isnow president.

� Fired University ofMichigan football coach RichRodriguez has been hired tobe a guest analyst for CBSCollege Sports Network’s cov-erage of National SigningDay on Feb. 2, Sports Busi-ness Journal reported.

� Cam McCausland, for-mer manag-ing directorin theSouthfieldoffice of Col-liers Interna-tional, joinsPlante MoranCresa todayto lead itstransaction

management division.

COMPANY NEWS� Northville-based Key

Plastics LLC said it will closeits Hartford City, Ind.,plant and consolidate itsoperations to other NorthAmerican manufacturingsites this year. The compa-ny declined to name thesites. It has plants in How-ell; Grand Rapids; Sault SteMarie; Felton, Pa.; and Chi-

huahua, Mexico.� Borders Group said it re-

ceived a $550 million creditline from GE Capital, a life-line that will help the strug-gling bookseller pay itsvendors and stay afloatwhile it reworks its busi-ness plan, but it indicated itstill may have to considerbankruptcy.

� Quicken Loans Inc. hascompleted the purchase ofthe Madison Theatre build-ing in Detroit to be part of abusiness incubator project.The seller was ClintonTownship-based BroadwayProperty Partners LLC. Thesale price was not dis-closed.

� The business opera-tions of Detroit-basedOlympia Entertainment Inc.and the Detroit Red Wings —both owned by the Ilitchfamily — have been rolledinto a single entity. Themove included the depar-ture of Steve Violetta, theWings’ senior vice presi-dent of business affairs.

The Ilitch-owned DetroitTigers will maintain theirown business functions.

� Warren-based WarriorSports Inc. has revived apatent infringement lawsuitin U.S. District Court in De-troit against Massachusetts-based Reebok InternationalLtd. over protective gloves,lacrosse stick heads andshoulder pads. Warrior fileda previous lawsuit againstReebok in Detroit in 2007but withdrew it in 2008.

HEALTH CARE NEWS� The Detroit Medical Cen-

ter’s Sinai-Grace Hospital haslaid off 20 employees not in-volved in patient care so itcan hire 20 more to takecare of patients, accordingto a statement from hospi-tal CEO Conrad Mallet.

� St. Joseph Mercy Oak-land Hospital in Pontiac saidit has completed work onthe final phase of a $60 mil-lion surgical center.

� Grand Rapids-basedMichigan Health Connect, oneof Michigan’s largest re-gional health informationexchanges, has signed upsix hospitals in SoutheastMichigan that are affiliatedwith Novi-based TrinityHealth. They are St. JosephMercy in Ann Arbor, St.Joseph Mercy Oakland inPontiac, St. Mary Mercy inLivonia, St. Joseph Mercy Liv-ingston in Howell, ChelseaCommunity Hospital and St.Joseph Mercy Saline.

OTHER NEWS� Wayne County Circuit

Court Judge Cynthia GrayHathaway has dismissed em-bezzlement charges againstArthur Blackwell, the formeremergency financial man-ager in Highland Park, theAssociated Press reported.

Wayne County ProsecutorKym Worthy said she’ll ap-peal.

� The Judicial Cross-roads Task Force of theState Bar of Michigan pro-posed a three-year pilotprogram of statewide busi-ness court dockets as partof its effort to streamlinetrial courts, make betteruse of technology and col-laboration and prevent cur-rent problems from wors-ening.

� Jennifer Granholm’s firstforay out of public officewill include teaching at the

University ofCalifornia,Berkeleyand co-writing abook withher hus-band, DanMulhern,about herexperi-

ences governing Michiganand what lessons thatmight hold for the nation.They both will join a speak-ers bureau and plan tolaunch www.granholmmul-hern.com.

� Fitch Ratings Ltd. hasdowngraded about $43 mil-lion worth of bonds fromthe city of Pontiac. Theunion representing thecity’s police officersreached an agreement withcity officials not to have theOakland County Sheriff’s De-partment take over patrolsof the city.

� The focus of the DetroitRegional Chamber’s 2011Mackinac Policy ConferenceJune 1-3 will feature a rosterof speakers and national ex-perts on some of Michigan’smost pressing problems. Toregister and see the list ofspeakers, visit www.mpc.detroitchamber.com.

� New-housing permitsin Southeast Michigan rose82 percent to 2,902 in 2010,said the Southeast MichiganCouncil of Governments.There were 1,598 permits in2009.

� The Detroit City Councilhas approved a nearly $60million plan to convert theformer MGM Grand Casinointo a public safety head-quarters for the police andfire departments, AP re-ported.

OBITUARIES� Gladys Horton, who

helped launch the Mar-velettes, died Jan. 19 after astroke. She was 66.

� Jack Hutson, co-founderof Troy-based law firm Hut-son and Hutson, died of blad-der cancer Jan. 17. He was98.

� Patrick Keating, formerpresident of the State Bar ofMichigan and member ofClark Klein and Beaumont,forerunner of Clark Hill, diedJan. 20. He was 83.

fter he and hisbrother were men-tioned in the State

of the Union address Tues-day, Robert Allen saw the

perfect op-portunity topass outbusinesscards.

In the re-ception lineto meetPresidentBarack Oba-ma, Allen

approached the presidentand offered him a card forhis Rochester Hills-basedsolar roofing business LumaResources LLC.

“I pulled a card out of mypocket and the secret ser-vice was watching me likecrazy,” said Allen. “He tookit, and said, ‘well, now youcan go back home and telleveryone you carded thepresident.’ ”

Allen and his brother Garywere mentioned in the ad-dress for the innovation ittook to change their roofingbusiness into a solar panelinstallation firm, with astimulus grant making theirleap forward a reality.

With mentions by TheWall Street Journal, MSNBC,PBS and numerous othernational media outlets,Allen said the trip earnedhim more attention than hecould have imagined.

Allen traced his involve-ment in the speech to a con-versation he had with astaffer at the National Sci-ence Foundation, suggestinghe would be a good addition

to a State of the Union ad-dress. After Allen told hisbusiness story to the staffer,a letter was written to theU.S. Department of Energy,which then published a sto-ry about Luma in one of itsin-house publications.

One quote Allen gave thewriter was the same quoteused by the president: “Wereinvented ourselves.”

“I guess the key is that Iasked,” Allen said. “If youdon’t ask, you don’t re-ceive.”

Jackets for Jobs founder gets nod from Martha

Detroit’s Alison Vaughn,founder of Jackets for JobsInc., was last week’s “Doerof the Week” on MarthaStewart’s website.

The “Doer of the Week” in-terview celebrates womenwho turn their dreams intocareers they love. It is postedat dreamers.marthastewart.com.

Vaughn left her job as aUnited Airlines Inc. flight at-tendant after Sept. 11, 2001,to start the nonprofit thatprovides employment eti-quette, career skills train-ing and professional clothesto low-income individuals.

More than 10,000 peoplehave been served by Jack-ets for Jobs, which also hasreceived national media at-tention.

Ramps hit HollywoodThe next time you watch

“The Price is Right” and

RUMBLINGS WEEK ON THE WEBF R O M W W W . C R A I N S D E T R O I T . C O M , W E E K O F J A N . 2 2 - 2 8

Suppliers slash capacity

Luma owner slips biz card to ObamaA

T

BEST FROM THE BLOGSR E A D T H E S E P O S T S A N D M O R E A T W W W . C R A I N S D E T R O I T . C O M / B L O G S

The Detroit Pistonsfranchise plunged 25 percent in value to$360 million in the latestannual estimate fromForbes.com. It’s thesecond worst one-yeardecline, from 2009 to2010, in the 30-teamNational BasketballAssociation.

Detroit Pistons value dropsSuppliers slashed

capacity and overheadduring the industry col-lapse and are unwilling toadd capacity this early inthe recovery.”

“

hear host Drew Carey an-nounce the prize is … “anew car,” the vehicle couldbe displayed on a rampmade in metro Detroit.

Commerce Township-based Rampboss-USA Corp.,the maker of custom carramp displays, recently soldone of its products to thegame show.

The ramps have appearedin television commercials,including a Sony 3D spotfeaturing Justin Timberlakeand Peyton Manning, and at acouple of Super Bowls, saidfounder Todd Stoney.

Four ramps were used inthe shooting of “Transform-ers 3.”

The steel and polished-aluminum ramps cost be-tween $4,000 and $5,500.

Detroit’s new fashionista got her start on eBay

While the eBay onlineauction and shopping web-site might be known as acheap place to pick upiPods, collectibles and evencars, it’s also a place whereKristina Kado launched abusiness.

With her Sassy FashionCouture retail store openingin Detroit’s Millender Centerlast week, Kado traces thestart of her business to eBay.

Three years ago, shestarted buying clearanceitems at Marshalls and TJMaxx then selling them oneBay for a profit.

Kado moved on to jewel-ry and gradually built alarger and more diversegroup of suppliers. Shemoved offline two yearsago when she started sell-ing jewelry from a tableonce a week in the Millen-der Center.

Building on all that, onThursday Kado opened her680-square-foot shop. Thestore, she said, offers one-of-a-kind items such as jewel-ry, purses, shoes and cloth-ing.

“This is something weneed in Detroit,” she said.

Allen

Schena

Granholm

McCausland

Reporter Bill Shea’s “Shea’s Stadium” blog on thebusiness of sports can be found at www.crainsdetroit.com/sheasstadium

Reporter Dustin Walsh’s blog on auto suppliers, highereducation and career transition can be found atwww.crainsdetroit.com/section/staffBlogDustinWalsh


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