Economic Development

Coverage of projects, big and small, and the people who create them, which promote the economic health of a community, including manufacturing, retail, office, and hospitality developments.

Novi’s Nutriinfo.com leverages tech for wellness

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Arts & Culture

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February 4, 2010

Mia Jang doesn't believe that weight loss and living an overall healthy lifestyle has to be as hard as it's made out to be. It's why she started Nutriinfo.com.The Novi-based firm specializes in putting people onto the road to wellness with minimal sidetracks. Jang, who has a PhD in nutrition, was inspired to keep it simple after trying to navigate the websites of some of the famous weight-loss programs."They weren't very user friendly," says Jang, the CEO and founder of Nutriinfo.com. "It was too much information so you get lost as you go through the program."The two-year-old start-up, which is working with Ann Arbor SPARK, has worked a prototype of its product with a local company and is planning to sign up a few new firms in 2010. She hopes to transform her first few clients into a few new hires for a company with four independent contractors and the occasional intern."We have a lot of potential," Jang says.Source: Mia Jang, the CEO and founder of Nutriinfo.comWriter: Jon Zemke

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Royal Oak’s 400 Parent Avenue Lofts wins awards for innovation and reuse

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February 4, 2010

The 400 Parent Avenue Lofts are garnering a little more excitement for Royal Oak, taking in two awards highlighting a creative and innovative reuse of an existing building.The loft project is located in Royal Oak's Warehouse District, just south of downtown. The developer took an old lumber warehouse and turned it into eight residential lofts. Such adaptive reuse allowed the building, designed by Michael Poris and John Skok of Birmingham-based McIntosh Poris Associates, to be named "Best Loft Building" by Detroit Home magazine. It received a 2009 Honor Award from the Detroit Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. The award notes that the developer took "a building that appears to have no redeeming value and gives it life with minimum of means.""Giving new life to a building with a different use is exciting," Michael Poris said in a prepared statement. "This was a small lumber warehouse, built in the 1960s, set on the edge of a neighborhood. As Parent Ave. Lofts, it becomes part of the neighborhood, transitioning what was once an industrial outskirt into an extension of the community. We were able to take something that had outlived its purpose and make it useful."The current 14,500-square-foot building features two-story units that come with many of the true loft amenities, such as exposed ductwork, 21-foot-high ceilings, metal roof trusses, cement flooring on the ground level, and open, flexible spaces. They also have some sustainable features, like tankless water heaters and pyramidal skylights.The developer also removed the original front of the building because it lacked windows and replaced it with private entry doors and bay windows for each unit. It combined the building's industrial heritage with its current modern residential use. The interior also features other post-industrial/residential touches like custom concrete countertops and metal-and-wood staircases.Source: Laura Grover, spokeswoman for 400 Parent Avenue LoftsWriter: Jon Zemke

Plex Systems adds 10 jobs in Auburn Hills

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February 4, 2010

Mark Symonds thinks manufacturing in Metro Detroit gets a bum rap. To him there is more to it than a dying industry laying off under-educated workers. It's why his firm, Plex Systems, is bucking that trend by hiring and sponsoring some cutting-edge education.The Auburn Hills-based firm creates the software that helps maximize manufacturing efficiency. It's a business plan that has allowed the firm to grow 14 percent and hire 10 people into its growing staff of 140 employees and a handful of co-op students. The company is aiming for 30 percent growth next year and even more staff expansion.Plex Systems streamlined its software product so it is delivered through the Internet on a subscription basis. The idea is to make it cost-effective for its customers to adopt to Plex Systems' latest offerings."You don't have to lay out a bunch of cash up front to have a world-class system," says Symonds, the CEO of Plex Systems.Plex Systems also took the step of sponsoring the Rochester Adams/Stoney Creek High School Robotics Team's participation in the 2010 season FIRST robotics competitions. Symonds says the sponsorship is about supporting the pipeline of talent that supplies Plex Systems with so many of its employees."Many of our employees are engineers and geeks," Symonds says. "Now their children are in these programs. We want to encourage that."Source: Mark Symonds, the CEO of Plex SystemsWriter: Jon Zemke

The pros and cons to a downtown Ann Arbor hotel

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Economic Development

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February 4, 2010

Is a hotel the best thing that can be built above downtown Ann Arbor's Library Lot? Some influential voices in building up the city voice some pros and cons to such pursuing such a development.Excerpt:Now that is appears a hotel/conference center is destined for the Library Lot in downtown Ann Arbor, local residents are going to have to weigh the pros and cons of such a development.City officials have narrowed the field of six projects to two. The others have been put on hold, meaning they haven't been dismissed but don't hold your breath waiting for them to see the light of day. The leading projects come from Valiant Partners and Acquest Realty Advisors, which call for thousands of square feet of conference center, commercial space and hotels between 8-15 stories built over the underground parking garage currently being constructed next to the Ann Arbor District Library's downtown branch (the 300 block of South Fifth Avenue).Susan Pollay, executive director of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority, points out that a new hotel hasn't been built downtown in 40 years. Such an asset would provide a busy neighbor to complement the library, nearby business district, and the University of Michigan."Hospitality and tourism is a growing industry," Pollay says. "The growth Ann Arbor has seen is at the highway edges. We have not had one [new hotel] in our energetic, vibrant city center."Read the rest of the story here.

It’s a cockfight in Dearborn

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Community Development

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February 4, 2010

One hundred years ago, chickens in Dearborn may have been a common sight. But now? The ordinance in the charter still allow chickens, and some people still have them. Yet the city is pushing back. It could be a cockfight in Dearborn 'cause the residents want to keep their chickens.Excerpt:Akbari is not alone in her love of fresh eggs from backyard pet poultry. Hens are popping up in the yards of urban homes in Michigan cities and across our country. Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti allow them. Lansing recently approved the same, allowing up to five hens in the city, and even Royal Oak permits residents to have backyard poultry.Having hens has become the ultimate symbol in being "green" these days. Hens produce eggs, take care of kitchen leftovers and add manure to compost piles. Poultry also are great at controlling cockroaches, grubs, tomato horn worms or just about any other pest you don't want in your yard or garden, according to poultry experts.An article last fall in the Washington Post said this about urban residents and fowl: "raising backyard poultry has suddenly become as chic as growing your own vegetables. It's all part of the back-to-the-land movement whose proponents want to save on grocery bills, take control of their food supply and reduce the carbon footprint of industrial agriculture."Read the entire article here.

Vanir Entertainment to build film studio in Clinton Twp

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February 4, 2010

Another movie studio is coming to Metro Detroit, and this one is heading to Macomb County. Vanir Entertainment plans to build a $20 million film studio on 26 acres just south of Hall Road near Groesbeck Highway in Clinton Township. The project is expected to build the base for 80-200 new jobs when all said is done. The company plans to begin work on the facility this spring/summer and finish construction within 18-24 months.The heart of the studio will be the sound stages. There will be two smaller ones, measuring out to 5,000 and 10,000 square feet each. The big kahuna is the 20,000-square-foot green screen, which promises to attract the most attention from filmmakers."The specialty of the facility is the green screen," says Alex Greene, executive producer of Vanir Entertainment. "That's basically like an upside down fishbowl."The facility will also feature a recording studio, editing suites, a cafeteria, and a couple of production studios. Vanir is also teaming up with Baker College to use the university's students in an intern capacity so they can learn the ins and outs of film production."The good thing is they will be able to get a job anywhere in the world," Greene says. "Their only limitation is their own."Source: Alex Greene, executive producer of Vanir EntertainmentWriter: Jon Zemke

From Chrysler to a Chinese tea shop

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February 4, 2010

The Girlings went from automotive employees at Chrysler to entrepreneurial tea hounds, and all it took was a trip to Beijing. A story other Michiganders might take solace in. The Girlings made the transition to what Michigan was to what Michigan could be, maybe. No, not tea-slingers, small business owners. Excerpt: Chrysler has greatly affected life in the Detroit area over the decades, and now it has brought the Motor City a Chinese teashop—albeit indirectly.Janice and Jim Girling, founders of Goldfish Tea, were both working for the automaker when they were offered the opportunity to go to China for two years to help build an assembly plant outside of Beijing."We were living in Beijing and on weekends we just liked to go out exploring," Janice says.While on an exploration one day, a dragon-embossed tea set caught the couple's attention. "We went to look at it inside what turned out to be a wholesale tea market," Janice says. "Two Chinese ladies motioned for us to sit down at the tea bar and we stayed for three hours sampling tea."Read the entire article here.

Dearborn, Birmingham stations win federal funds

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February 4, 2010

Dearborn and Birmingham are the big winners when it comes to acquiring federal funds for mass transit projects.The two Metro Detroit suburbs and Battle Creek will split $40 million in federal stimulus funds to build or improve their train stations along the Detroit-Chicago railroad line, commonly known as the Wolverine Line. How that money will be split has not been determined yet."We're hopeful we'll get the full amount," says Barry Murrary, economic and community development director for the city of Dearborn.Dearborn is planning to invest $28 million to move its Amtrak station closer to a new building near The Henry Ford. That facility would facilitate both trains, buses, cars, bicyclists and pedestrians. It is also seen as a key stop in the Detroit-Ann Arbor commuter rail line.Birmingham also has similar designs for a new multi-modal transit station. That $7 million project would build a station that can also facilitate train, bus, car, bicycle and pedestrian traffic. It is planned to go up in Birmingham's Rail District, an area that borders Troy and would serve as a stop on the planned northern expansion of the Detroit-Ann Arbor commuter rail line into Oakland County.Source: Barry Murrary, economic and community development director for the city of DearbornWriter: Jon Zemke

Super green, mixed-use rehab underway at 71 E. Garfield

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February 4, 2010

More and more projects based around green building and historic preservation are coming to fruition in Detroit's Midtown (Cass Corridor) neighborhood. Think turning the some of the worst blight into sparkling examples of why it makes sense to invest in the Motor City.Excerpt:A significant historic preservation project is nearing completion in Midtown's Sugar Hill district, which is bounded by E. Forest, John R, E. Garfield and Woodward. The building, at 71 E. Garfield, was once a hotel and was recently ravaged by fire. It is currently under construction and is poised to literally emerge from the ashes as a super-green mixed-use complex of 22 live/work spaces geared towards artists and eight art studio/retail spaces. The grand opening is slated for April 2010.The building is on track for Energy Star rating and to accomplish energy reduction below 50% of current ASHRAE standards. Solar power will offset 20 percent of the building's energy load and a geothermal system will provide heating and cooling. All appliances and windows are Energy Star, it is highly insulated and employs a white roof, which has proven to aid efficiency more than darker flat roofs. A 3,000 gallon cistern will collect water on the roof, recycled materials were used for flooring and reclaimed doors were used when possible.Read the rest of the story here and about more ultra-green historic restorations in Midtown here.

GreenPath plans to build new HQ in Farmington Hills

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February 4, 2010

GreenPath Debt Solutions is building a new headquarters in Farmington Hills not far from its existing headquarters on 12 Mile Road.The non-profit that specializes in financial counseling (think dealing with bankruptcy or foreclosure) plans to build the new structure so it can house the company's 400 employees. That's enough room to accommodate the organization's expected growth for the foreseeable future.The 4-story building will be 125,000 square feet and sit on a 10.5-acre plot just east of Halstead on the south side of 12 Mile Road. It will house both the non-profit's headquarters and call center, and will come complete with high ceilings to deaden noise and lots of natural light. GreenPath plans to go for LEED certification. Among the green features is the preservation of a two-acre wetland on the property. GreenPath has contracted Harley Ellis Devereaux to design the building and is in discussions with Steelcase to provide furnishings. Construction is set to begin in March and to take one year to complete.Source: Andrew K Johnson, communications and public relations manager for GreenPath Debt SolutionsWriter: Jon Zemke