Music. Movies. Alcohol. It's the holy trinity of entertainment under one roof. Ferndale's The Magic Bag is a one-stop shop for nightlife, offering local and touring bands, cheap flicks and a scene every night of the week. Better yet, it's independently owned and operated. After all, buying local ain't just for foodies.
The new Pontiac Transportation Center, which will be home to both a Greyhound bus and Amtrak train stop, will break ground in about two weeks.A groundbreaking ceremony was held last week for the new station, which is expected to be completed by next summer. The state is funding the entire $1.4 million cost, says Janet Foran, spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Transportation.The building will have several green features, including a white roof to reflect the sun, and bioswales, natural collection points for rainwater, which then filter it through native plants instead of draining it into the sewer. Lighting will also include compact florescent bulbs.The actual work is expected to begin in about two weeks. "We hope to have a ribbon cutting next summer," Foran says.The facility will be at 51000 Woodward Ave. and serve as a hub for mass transit, including Amtrak's Wolverine service to Chicago and Greyhound's eight daily routes through Pontiac. There is also a SMART bus stop within sight of the new facility.During the construction, passengers for a train or bus will either have to go online or to another facility to buy tickets. The previous transportation center was demolished in 2008.Source: Janet Foran, spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of TransportationWriter: Kristin Lukowski
Oakland University will soon be setting up shop in downtown Mount Clemens after it received a donation of a building for classes.The Towne Square Building, 20 South Main Street, was recently given to the university by developers Gebran S. Anton and Stuart Frankel. The building, valued at about $2 million, was built in 1984. It's two stories, 25,422 square feet, and constructed of brick and glass.Mary Otto, Oakland University's vice president for outreach, said the university hasn't yet nailed down which programs will be offered there, but both criminal justice and social work have been considered. While some university programs can be completed in Macomb County, others require going to the main campus for at least part of the time."One of our goals right now is to increase the number of programs that Macomb County students can complete in Macomb County," she says. "This will give us the opportunity to expand to yet another (area), in Mount Clemens."Another boon to the donation is that the site is located right on Gratiot, on a public transportation line. "It's very exciting that we will be able to offer course work and programs to a broader audience," she says.The building itself is in good shape, as it used to hold offices, but it still needs to be remodeled into classrooms. Otto hopes to be in early enough to offer classes by January, but would be happy if it could be open by next summer.Faculty and staff enjoyed a recent tour of the building. "It's small enough that they could easily navigate it, but it's big enough that there's a lot going on, and it's right downtown," she says. "We've had extraordinary response from students who think it'll be a great place to go."Source: Mary Otto, vice president for outreach, Oakland UniversityWriter: Kristin Lukowski
The village of Oxford will be converting 83 existing streetlights in its downtown to energy-efficient LED globe fixtures from Relume Technologies. The project is partially funded by a Michigan Economic Development Corporation Downtown Urban Revitalization Grant.The bulbs are expected to save about $8,000 annually in energy and maintenance costs. The outdoor LED lights use less than half of the energy of a conventional streetlight and can last up to six times longer, which leads to an average payback on the investment in less than four years.Madonna Van Fossen, director of the Oxford Downtown Development Authority, explains that the close proximity of Relume's headquarters drove the village's decision to secure LED lighting. "That's one of the goals in Oxford: to be a totally green community," she says.The LED lights will be radio controlled, the first in the world with that technology, she says. "Since Relume is right here, it’s going to be huge for Oxford, the exposure that we're going to get."Van Fossen says the lights should be in place by the end of the month. "The goal is to have the whole DDA district lit with LED lighting," she says.In Macomb County, a warehouse on Hall Road has had 180 high-intensity discharge lighting fixtures replaced with energy-efficient fixtures from Alumalight. Also, occupancy sensors were installed to turn the lights off in an area that is not in use.That lighting upgrade is expected to reduce energy usage and cost by half, saving more than $9,000 annually. It was funded in part by a $14,000 rebate from DTE.Source: Macomb County and Madonna Van Fossen, director of the Oxford Downtown Development AuthorityWriter: Kristin Lukowski
Creative Breakthroughs is enjoying a, well, you know, breakthrough, these days now that it has received a hefty state tax break to make an even bigger investment in its Troy office that should lead to dozens of new hires.The IT firm plans to invest $780,000 to expand its headquarters by 3,000 square feet to 7,500 square feet. That should allow the company of 30 people to continue to add more staff, thanks to a $1 million state tax break over five years and a similar tax abatement from the city of Troy. The company expects to hire 100 people over that time, including 20 in the next year."We have added regional sales reps to different territories in the country," says Amy White, marketing manager with Creative Breakthroughs. "We are continuing to hire."Creative Breakthroughs specializes in network security, integration, and management. Put more simply, the firm's technology allows its customers to more effectively manage their IT infrastructure with custom applications. The 20-year-old firm's customers are rooted in the public, non-profit, healthcare, legal, banking, financial services, manufacturing, education, government and retail sectors. Some of its more prominent clients include Home Depot, Cardinal Health, GE, Baxter, Wells Fargo, Symantec's, Ford, and Citigroup.Creative Breakthroughs was also considering a competing site in Texas before deciding to expand at home.Source: Amy White, marketing manager with Creative BreakthroughsWriter: Jon Zemke
PixoFactor Entertainment sees video games and animation, rather than film production, as having a more positive permanent impact on the economy. Xconomy's Detroit bureau is the latest to recognize the entertainment firm's strategy for success.Excerpt:Michigan's highest-in-the-nation 42 percent tax credit for filmmakers is often called the "film incentive," but if you ask the folks at PixoFactor Entertainment in Royal Oak, MI, the bigger beneficiaries are those who work on videogame and animation productions. Plus, they argue, those jobs are longer-lasting and more local than movie production.That's why Sean Hurwitz, PixoFactor's president, is in the business. "We feel like the digital side of this incentive has greater potential to create jobs and economy—or, Xconomy [Hurwitz motions over to me, and smiles]—here in Michigan." A Hollywood film crew comes in for a short time with their own directors and actors, "underpays a lot of interns and a lot of local crews," he says, shoots the film and then leaves. But it takes nine months to a year to produce a videogame, with local animators and programmers working the entire time.Read the rest of the story here.
New York-based Genesis10 was looking for a place where it could get its projects done, and the technology firm found that location in Metro Detroit.The 11-year-old company is opening a new development center in Troy this summer. It's a move that promises $2.2 million worth of investment and 296 new jobs over the next five years. Of those jobs, 82 are expected to be created within the first year. Hiring is expected to begin in August when the government paperwork is finalized. Genesis10 choose Michigan over another site in Missouri partly because of the state's deep pool of talented project managers."The world-recognized companies that are in the area are strong in project management," says Stephanie Schreurs, marketing director for Genesis10. "All of the things our clients expect from us we know we can find in Michigan."The new office will specialize in domestic project delivery. That means that most of the positions at Genesis10's Troy office will be for project managers, software engineers, data experts, and other technology professionals. To ensure closure of the deal, the Michigan Economic Development Corp awarded the firm a $2.1 million tax credit over the next five years. Source: Stephanie Schreurs, marketing director for Genesis10Writer: Jon Zemke
Human resources workers are usually the people who have to deliver the bad news of layoffs, but a number of them have been receiving similar news over the last couple of years as the economy grapples to regain its footing. Part of the conventional wisdom is that HR employees don't create revenue, so are therefore more expendable.That has turned into good news for YourSource, an Auburn Hills-based firm that focuses on handling human resource work for companies both big and small. The 11-year-old firm has been experiencing quite the growth spurt in recent years, expanding to 15 staffers. It has hired 3-4 people over the last year."In the last three years we have doubled in size," says Todd Lancaster, CEO of YourSource. "We're looking to do that again in the next few years."It's the main reason why the Michigan Economic Development Corp brokered a sizeable tax credit to make sure YourSource keeps that growth in the Great Lakes State, giving the company a $206,943 tax credit over five years in exchange for the HR outsourcing firm's promise of investing $1.5 million and creating 27 new jobs in that time. YourSource plans to keep growing organically to accomplish those goals."We have grown organically just from providing HR without the overhead," Lancaster says.YourSource was also considering consolidating its operations in Tennessee. The city of Auburn Hills is also debating giving the IT firm a tax abatement.Source: Todd Lancaster, CEO of YourSourceWriter: Jon Zemke
Leaders from both the private and public realms talk about the virtues of local manufacturers diversifying their work to stay afloat. Royal Oak Industries is actually walking that walk.The automotive supplier has also done work in the agricultural and marine sectors. Now it is moving into the medical device industry with a little help from a $195,181 tax break over five years from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. The end result should be 26 new jobs in Oxford. Six of those hires are expected within the first year.Royal Oak Industries plans to invest $2.6 million into its Oxford manufacturing facility. That investment will allow it to design, manufacture, and distribute medical devices. The company was also looking at making this investment in other locations on the west coast and southeast U.S.Source: Royal Oak IndustriesWriter: Jon Zemke
SiteFog is an example of entrepreneurial exercise that appears to be happening more and more these days.The four-person start-up got going last May at Detroit Start-up Weekend where the young co-founders met and started pitching ideas back and forth. They decided to give Kyle Mulka's cloud computing concept a go, powering up their laptops from across Metro Detroit, which most of them call home."We're kinda spread around Michigan," Mulka says.SiteFog focuses on using new lines of Javascript to make cloud computing more affordable. It is also creating a way for websites to monetize their products more efficiently, such as charging a few pennies to read a story online. The team is still working on its technology and making the rounds at local entrepreneurial events, such as a recent A2NewTech meet up. And its also looking to create a revenue source or two."Our biggest challenge is finding customers," Mulka says.Source: Kyle Mulka, CTO of SiteFogWriter: Jon Zemke
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