Virchow Krause & Co. L.L.P. plansto announce a merger today withthe Farmington Hills accountingfirm Kleiman, Carney & GreenbaumP.C., making it one of the 10largest accounting firms inSoutheast Michigan based onemployees and the 13th-largestin the U.S. based on revenue.
The firms will combine theirthree local offices into OneTowne Square in Southfield, tak-
ing more than 50,000 square feeton the fifth and sixth floors of the19-story building, which alsohouses Morton’s, The Steakhouse.
Madison, Wis.-based VirchowKrause has offices in the Bing-ham Farms Office Park and onCentral Park Boulevard inSouthfield. Kleiman, Carney isin the Ramco-Gershenson Proper-ties Trust building on Northwest-ern Highway.
Virchow Krause will get itsname atop the building. Key-
http://www.crainsdetroit.com Vol. 22, No. 14 A P R I L 3 – 9 , 2 0 0 6 $1.50 a copy; $59 a year
THIS JUST INTHIS JUST INDelphi’s move sets offfirestorm on labor sites
Delphi Corp.’s request to aU.S. Bankruptcy Court judgeto void its labor contracts
blog site www.futureofthe-union.com posted severalstories about Delphi’s re-quests and provided de-tailed employee reactionsFriday. The group also post-ed announcements callingfor a protest against DelphiCEO Steve Miller’s speechbefore the Detroit EconomicClub at Detroit’s MasonicTemple this afternoon.Miller is speaking as part ofthe Society of Automotive En-gineers conference.
The club has hired extrasecurity for inside Masonicand Detroit police will bestationed outside, said Jes-sica Wayland, marketingand communications coor-dinator.
Other bloggers have cre-ated forums for autowork-ers to anonymously weighin on the announcementsand several have createdgroups targeting single is-sues.
Other sites, such aswww.workers.org, have orga-nized a collection of audiofiles and Podcasts concern-ing the announcementsand are requesting workersto submit files of their own.
Other groups and sites,including www.soldiersofsolidarity.com, maintainedby workers like GreggShotwell, a UAW-represent-ed machinist at a Delphiplant in Coopersville, N.Y.,are planning unauthorizedstrikes and work slow-downs.
“We’re just going to haveto take them to the mat,”Shotwell told the BuffaloNews. “There’s no reasonto take concessions. Itdoesn’t save jobs.”
CRAIN’S LISTCRAIN’S LISTEXECUTIVE LIFEEXECUTIVE LIFE
Virchow Krause,Kleiman to mergeMove planned to One Towne Square
JOHN F. MARTIN
Tyler Smith tries to nurture the feeling of a small store online.
BoutiqueblueprintLow-key biz wins with
small Web sitesBY ANDREW DIETDERICH
CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS
Tucked at the end of a dead-endstreet in Sylvan Lake, Tyler Smith isbuilding a small fortune selling every-thing from jogging strollers to French-made chairs and radar detectors.
The location of Niche Retail L.L.C. is aslow-key as Smith, president of the four-year-old company that had 2005 rev-enue of $11.5 million selling specialtyitems on the Internet.
Staying low-key is exactly how thecompany likes it, too.
“We’re not trying to be the next Ama-zon.com or Drugstore.com,” Smithsaid. “We really just want to buildthese small boutique-type sites whereyou come in and have that traditionalsmall-store feel online.”
Niche Retail is privately owned by
See Niche, Page 31
Survey: Paybased onperformancegains ground
BY ANDREW DIETDERICHCRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS
Management at Troy-based Al-tair Engineering Inc. wants to reen-ergize the entrepreneurial spiritthat helped the company grow
from a three-person start-up in 1985 to a $97 million
company lastyear.
And theyplan to do sousing a combi-nation ofbonuses and
profit shar-ing, said
Michael Kid-der, corporatemarketing di-rector.
Details stillare fluid andsubject tochange, Kiddersaid, but theidea is not.
“We wantemployees tounderstandclearly thattheir compen-sation is im-pacted by whatthey do,” Kid-der said. “Thehope is thatemployeesview this as anupside forthem; that theyhave the op-portunity toimpact howwell the com-pany does and
see how it translates to how wellthey do.”
Altair isn’t alone in the trendgaining momentum.
Variable compensation in South-east Michigan — such as bonusesand profit sharing — hit their high-est level since 2001 last year. It’s ex-pected to continue in 2006.
A salary survey conducted bySouthfield-based ASE found that 35
See Salary, Page 32
See Virchow Krause, Page 33
VIRCHOW, KRAUSE & CO. L.L.P.■ 117 employees in Southfield andBingham Farms■ Crain’s rank: No. 11■ Local 2005 revenue: $12.4 million.
MORE DELPHISupplierdemands priceincreases fromGM, Page 4.
MORE
ON PAY FOR
PERFORMANCE
The percentageof total cashcompensationcomposed ofvariable pay.
The percentageof white-collaremployeesexpected toreceive variablepay this year.
The percentageof companieswho offer someform of variablepay to white-collaremployees.
8.4%
39%
79%
DETROIT BUSINESS MAIN 04-03-06 A 1 CDB 3/31/2006 7:09 PM Page 1
Developer announces $200M plan for York Twp.
Ann Arbor-based MAV Develop-ment has proposed a $200 millionmixed-use project in York Town-ship.
President Rob Aldrich said thecompany is seeking rezoning toallow for a development of retail,office and residential at U.S. 23and Willis. The project would in-clude about 250 condominiums,500,000 square feet of retail and250,000 square feet of office.
MAV plans to sell sites or se-cure partners since it is mainlyan office developer, Aldrich said.If approved, construction on theYorktown Commons projectcould begin by next spring.
— Jennette Smith
Gail Duncan files lawsuit against Ford, Ford Credit
Former Ford dealer Gail Dun-can filed a lawsuit Wednesdayagainst Ford Motor Credit Co. andFord Motor Co. alleging both con-spired to eliminate Jerome DuncanFord as a competitor in metro De-troit after purchasing severalarea dealerships.
The lawsuit was filed in Oak-land County Circuit Court, and its al-legations are also included indocuments filed last Monday inU.S. Bankruptcy Court in Detroit.
Duncan’s plan of reorganiza-tion proposes to use any moneygained from a successful lawsuit
to pay off creditors. The reorgani-zation plan does not attempt to re-verse the February sale of thedealership to Troy-based Subur-ban Collection, which operates itas Suburban Ford of SterlingHeights.
Ford Motor Credit, in a state-ment e-mailed to Crain’s, said:“We have not yet examined thereorganization plan in detail, butwe can already say that, at facevalue, the allegations against usare ludicrous.”
— Brent Snavely
DMC extends contract withWSU physician group
Wayne State University PhysicianGroup and the Detroit Medical Cen-ter late last week agreed to extendtheir current contract throughthe end of the year.
The physician group’s primaryclinical partner has been theDMC, while it’s had educationaland research partnerships withnine other community hospitals.
“We both need to be able tolook at opportunities to partnerwith other systems,” said RobertMentzer Jr., dean of the WayneState University school of medi-cine and a senior advisor to Pres-ident Reid for medical affairs.
“While we perform theseanalyses, it was elected to simplyextend the existing contract.”
— Sherri Begin
Trans-Industries to deregister Auburn Hills-based Trans-Indus-
tries Inc. has filed for deregistra-tion from the U.S. Securities andExchange Commission, according
to a company statement Friday.Trans-Industries was delisted
from the Nasdaq Stock Market onDec. 15 because its equity fell be-low Nasdaq’s minimum require-ment of $2.5 million. The compa-ny’s stock had since been tradingthrough Pink Sheets.
— Sheena Harrison
New VP at RenaissanceSabrina Keeley, president of
the Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Com-merce, is resigning to become vicepresident of Detroit RenaissanceInc.
Keeley’s last day at the cham-ber will be May 30, and she willstart at Detroit Renaissance inmid-June. The vice president po-sition was created for Keeley,who will help create a regionaleconomic transformation planthat Detroit Renaissance is devel-oping, said Anne Masterson, di-rector of communications at De-troit Renaissance.
— Sheena Harrison
UM gets $500K donationPhil Power, a former regent at
the University of Michigan who waseditorial director of the school’snewspaper, The Michigan Daily,in 1960, has donated $500,000 to-ward a project to renovate theschool’s Stanford Lipsey StudentPublications Building, whichhouses the Daily, the school year-book, the student directory andthe Gargoyle, a humor magazine.
Power founded the HomeTownCommunications Network in 1965,which grew to 65 communitynewspapers, including the Observ-er Newspapers and the Eccentric
Newspapers. The chain was sold toGannett Co. Inc. last year.
— Tom Henderson
Hella to hire engineersHella North America said last
week that it plans to hire morethan 50 lighting and electronicsengineers this year for its Ply-mouth headquarters where itcurrently employs about 120.
The company is looking forboth experienced engineers andgraduate students, Human Re-sources Manager Steve Williamssaid in a statement.
The company said it has re-cently received new businessfrom General Motors Corp. and alsohas been chosen by Ford Motor Co.as a supplier for exterior lighting.
— Brent Snavely
Diversity conference set The fourth annual Leveraging
Diversity for Business Successconference is scheduled for April
12 at the Troy Hilton.The keynote speaker is Luke
Visconti, partner and co-founderof DiversityInc. He will discusspractices in diversity and pro-vide tips for diversity recruit-ment, retention and promotion.
Organized by the Detroit Region-al Chamber, the National Confer-ence for Community & Justice ofMichigan and the Oakland CountyEmployment Diversity Council, theconference’s goal is to providebusinesses with the fundamen-tals of a diversity initiative forprofitability and success.
Sponsors include Kelly ServicesInc., Oakland County Workforce De-velopment Board and Crain’s DetroitBusiness.
The conference is from 7:15a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tickets are$195 for one; $160 each for threeor more; $125 for small busi-ness and nonprofits; and $50for students. For more infor-mation, call (313) 567-6225 orvisit www.detroitchamber.com/events.
THIS JUST INTHIS JUST IN
CORRECTIONS■ In an article on Page 6 of the March 27 issue, the Downtown Citi-zens’ District Council should have been capitalized.■ On the March 27 list of largest foreign-owned divisions, two com-panies had incorrect top executives listed. The top executive forNo. 4 Robert Bosch Corp. should have been Peter Marks, chairman,president and CEO, and for No. 18 Inergy Automotive Systems, MarkSullivan, president and CEO.■ A table on Page 12 of the March 27 issue understated the 2003compensation of Richard Holthaus, president and CEO of the Na-tional Association of Investors Corp. An amendment filed to the non-profit’s 990 IRS filing showed Holthaus received a $40,000 bonus inaddition to his $286,000 base pay. The table and a box on the samepage should have indicated a resulting 8.8 percent increase inHolthaus’ salary the following year, rather than the 24 percentCrain’s reported.
Page 2 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS April 3, 2006
■ From Page 1
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DETROIT BUSINESS MAIN 04-03-06 A 2 CDB 3/31/2006 6:17 PM Page 1
BY BRENT SNAVELYCRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS
Over the past two years at least 26 newrestaurants have opened in or near downtownDetroit. Is the city’s restaurant market strongenough to support all the newcomers?
Detroit’s new restaurants span the culinaryspectrum from Cuban to Irish to barbecue andbreakfast. (See list, Page 32.)
Some, such as Sel-dom Blues, havecaptured ac-claim and lots ofmedia attention
while others, such as Louie’s Ham & Corned BeefRestaurant on Mack Avenue near Eastern Mar-ket, have flown below the media radar but do abooming lunch business throughout the week.
Detroit’s restaurant growth was fueled byoptimism generated by the run-up to the SuperBowl, new downtown developments such asCampus Maritus and Ford Field, and favorablelease deals.
However, the influx of new competition andthe shaky economy pose daunting challengesto a market that continues to struggle to at-tract a consistent dinner business throughoutthe week.
HUNGRY TO KNOW MORE?There are at least 26 newrestaurants in Detroit, including
the Hunter House, known forthe sliders shown here
but also featuring fineAmerican cuisine. See
list, Page 32. Seewww.crainsdetroit.com for a
map of the newrestaurants.
The Troy Marriott is slated to get a lobbyrenovation in 2007.
MARRIOTT IN METRO DETROIT
Hotels: 44.Rooms: 7,800.New hotels in past 10 years: 17.
CRAIN’SINDEX
Next hot spot? Influx ofbusinesses has Clawsonhoping. Page 11.
First-quarter stocks:Rockwell Medical topsgainers. Page 4.
Land bank debate:Panelists say control isthe issue. Page 6.
Cadence Innovation L.L.C. will be relying on Jerry Mosingoand his team to lead the former Venture Holdings.
Cadence’sconductor
$30M in upgrades,with more on the way
BY JENNETTE SMITHCRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS
Metro Detroit’s Marriott-branded hotels receivedabout $30 million in upgrades last year and are in storefor a similar level of investment this year and next.
The hotels include the Troy Marriott, Detroit Mar-riott at the Renaissance Center and The DearbornInn; the upgrades are part of a strategy to keep guestrooms and public areas in top shape in a competitivehospitality market.
Everything from higher thread-count sheets to lob-bies with a coffee-shop feel are part of the capital im-provement plans.
Marriott has 44 hotels with 7,800 rooms in metro De-troit. In the past 10 years, 17 hotels were added throughconstruction or conversion from another brand.
“When we convert a property or buy a property weinsist on having a profit-improvement plan,” said BobFarmery, Bingham Farms-based vice president andmarket manager for Marriott International Inc. “Brandrepresentatives will walk the property and markdown things that need to be accomplished before theproperty can have a Marriott sign.”
Farmery said Marriott’s Detroit suburban proper-ties ran at an average occupancy of 70 percent lastyear. The largest local property, the 1,300-room De-troit Marriott at the Renaissance Center had occupan-cy of about 54 percent, up slightly from 51.6 percent
BY RHODA MIELCRAIN NEWS SERVICE
Each day on the job, Jerry Mosingo faces a part of hispast.
Directly across the street from the CEO’s digs at thenew Cadence Innovation L.L.C. in Sterling Heights is theinjection-molding plant Mosingo helped transform froma shuttered shell to a facility for Collins & Aikman Corp.
Now, more than two years af-ter he left the president’s job atCollins & Aikman, Mosingo saidhe can see that plant as a symbolof what his team has accom-plished in the past and where itcan take Cadence.
“It’s very odd to look across thestreet and see it, but I rememberwhen we launched that facilitywith one-piece flow. It was verti-cally integrated. It was an excel-
lent facility,” Mosingo said during an interview at hisoffice.
“When I look across the street, it’s another learningcurve. We now have the management team (at Ca-dence) that put that plant into place. We have thatmanagement team doing the next step in our evolutionto be vertically integrated manufacturers. It reallyhelps to look across the street and say, ‘OK. Now whatdid I learn from that?’ ”
Cadence will be relying on Mosingo and hisgroup’s ability to transform operations. Thecompany was created in May when privateinvestors led by New York City-based Har-binger Capital Partners bought the facilitiesand business of the former Venture HoldingsCo. L.L.C. out of bankruptcy.
The firm was born with about $1 billion
C&A vet hopes experiencepays off at former Venture
See Cadence, Page 33
Will the tables turn?Boom in downtown dining has
some waiting for shakeout
See Marriott, Page 30
JERRY MOSINGOAge: 54Job: CEO, CadenceInnovation L.L.C.Previous jobs:COO, ASC Inc.;CEO, Collins &Aikman Inc.
See Restaurants, Page 32
DETROIT BUSINESS MAIN 04-03-06 A 3 CDB 3/31/2006 6:18 PM Page 1
TAKING STOCK
BY DAVID BARKHOLZAND PHILIP NUSSEL
CRAIN NEWS SERVICE
As General Motors Corp. bails outDelphi Corp., its former parts opera-tions, the automaker is harvestingsome bitter fruit that it has sowed.
Troy-based Delphi was driveninto Chapter 11 bankruptcy protec-tion in large part because of itshuge losses on the sale of compo-nents to its former parent.
In documents filed in U.S. Bank-ruptcy Court in New York City onFriday, Delphi revealed shockinglosses on thousands of GM con-tracts. Delphi seeks permission tovoid the contracts and renegotiatethem at higher prices from a cus-tomer that has forced prices downaggressively.
The filing came as Delphi re-vealed its long-anticipated restruc-turing plan that would slash laborcosts by voiding union contracts,close or sell all but eight U.S. facto-ries and eliminate 25 percent of allwhite-collar jobs.
The documents list 21 U.S. Delphiplants that suffered big losses onGM business. Those plants lost acombined $1.47 billion in operatinglosses last year. In a sign of why Del-phi CEO Steve Miller felt compelledto file for Chapter 11 protection, thelosses at those plants are expected toswell to $2.1 billion this year.
The figures are contained in thereorganization plan.
Now GM will have to pay thepiper. Last week, Miller demandedthat GM agree to pay higher pricesfor a wide range of products. “Wesimply cannot continue to sellproducts at a loss,” Miller bluntlywarned in a press release.
On Friday, Delphi asked thebankruptcy court for permissionto break 5,472 GM contracts andrenegotiate more favorable prices.Delphi also wants to renegotiate400 GM contracts that have lapsed.The supplier has continued to sup-ply components specified in thosecontracts on an interim basis.
Moreover, Delphi demands as-surances that GM will not awardDelphi contracts to rival suppliers.
GM has been Delphi’s biggestcustomer since 1999, when the sup-plier was spun off from GM. Sincethen, Delphi has worked hard todiversify by lining up more non-GM customers.
Indeed, Delphi’s worldwide salesto GM last year totaled $12.8 billion,down from $22.3 billion in 1999.
The company says it is losingmoney largely because it inheritedan overpaid hourly work force. Anaverage Delphi worker earns $54an hour in wages and benefits. Ri-val U.S. suppliers generally payworkers half as much.
Delphi expects the court to hearits motion to cancel the GM con-tracts on May 12.
The court is scheduled to hearDelphi’s request to cancel unioncontracts on May 9 and 10. Delphi’s
TAKING STOCKNEWS ABOUT DETROIT AREA PUBLIC COMPANIES
Delphi asks court to let it redothousands of contracts with GM
unions have threatened strikes ifthe judge approves the pay cuts.
Miller’s take-no-prisoners ap-proach triggered a muted responsefrom GM, which has been in nego-tiations with Delphi and the UAW.
“We disagree with Delphi’s ap-proach (to canceling GM con-tracts), but we anticipated thatthis step might be taken,” GM CEORick Wagoner said in a statement.“GM expects Delphi to honor itspublic commitments to avoid anydisruption to GM operations.”
When Delphi emerges from bank-ruptcy it will have to sell its parts tosomeone, noted GM spokesman Jer-
ry Dubrowski. “General Motors is apretty big customer of Delphi, so it’sin a mutual interest to reach a con-sensus,” he said.
Delphi’s 345-page petition of-fered an unusually detailedglimpse of the financial bind thatled to bankruptcy court. Money-losing products include commodi-ty components such as brakes, bat-teries, oil filters, spark plugs,generators, hoses and moldings.
Ironically, Delphi plans to keepfour of its most unprofitable plants:Lockport, N.Y.; Kokomo, Ind.;Rochester, N.Y.; and Grand Rapids.
From Automotive News
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FIRST-QUARTER STOCK RESULTS
THIS QUARTER’S STOCK TOTALS: 47 GAINERS, 32 LOSERS, 2 UNCHANGED
Rockwell Medical Technologies $8.30 $4.47 85.68Detrex Corp. 7.40 4.55 62.64Credit Acceptance Corp. 23.50 16.10 45.96Caraco Pharmaceutical Labs Ltd. 13.00 8.98 44.77Amerigon Inc. 7.77 5.84 33.05Covansys Corp. 17.19 13.61 26.30Kaydon Corp. 40.36 32.14 25.58Rofin-Sinar Technologies Inc. 54.13 43.47 24.52Noble International Ltd. 16.93 13.89 21.86Energy Conversion Devices Inc. 49.18 40.75 20.69
Source: Bloomberg News. From a list of publicly owned companies with headquartersin Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw or Livingston counties. Note: Stocks tradingat less than $5 are not included.
CDB’S TOP PERFORMERS
CDB’S LOW PERFORMERS
3/31 12/31 PERCENTCLOSE CLOSE CHANGE
3/31 12/31 PERCENTCLOSE CLOSE CHANGE
1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.
10.
1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.
10.
Page 4 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS April 3, 2006
For complete first-quarter results for local companies seewww.crainsdetroit.com.
Delphi Corp. is about to hold thenation’s biggest garage sale. On Friday, March 31, Delphiannounced plans to shrink its U.S.manufacturing empire from 44plants to just eight.The old Delphi — a manufacturerthat bends, stamps and moldscommodity parts — woulddisappear. The new Delphi wouldfocus on electronics, just likethriving rivals such as Bosch,Denso and Siemens.To achieve that goal, Delphi mustclose or sell all those plants thatproduce noncore products. Thoseplants generate $5 billion inrevenue.In a statement issued Friday, COORodney O’Neal said Delphi’s corebusinesses are in productsegments in which it can capitalizeon its technical strength. Thoseinclude electronics and electrical
wiring; audio, navigation andtelematics; powertrain electronics;safety components; and climatecontrol and engine cooling.Expendable products includebrakes, chassis systems,instrument panels, catalysts, doormodules, latches, steeringcomponents and wheel bearings.“We believe many of these productlines have the potential tocompete successfully under newownership,” O’Neal said.Delphi has announced thecorporate equivalent of a garagesale to unload unwanted assets.Now Delphi’s rivals can goshopping for bargains. Those whostand to benefit include DuraAutomotive Systems Inc., JohnsonControls Inc., Magna InternationalInc., Lear Corp. and TRWAutomotive Inc.
— From Automotive News
IT’S GARAGE SALE TIME AT DELPHI
DETROIT BUSINESS MAIN 04-03-06 A 4 CDB 3/31/2006 7:05 PM Page 1
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Panelists: Governance holds up creation of Detroit land bankBY JENNETTE SMITHCRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS
Debate over governance is thesticking point in creating a landbank in Detroit or Wayne County,a program that would amass va-cant and abandoned real estateand promote reinvestment.
That was one of the key pointsfrom panelists in a Thursday ses-sion on land banks sponsored byCrain’s Detroit Business and LaSalleBank. The program provided infor-mation on how land banks workand success stories from the Gene-see County Land Bank, Michigan’s
first such bank.A land-bank authority takes
control of tax-foreclosed proper-ties, then clears titles and holdsthe sites. It also can receive landthrough donations or purchaseson the private market.
All transfers are voluntary. Theland bank then negotiates a sale toparties that bring the best redevel-opment ideas or, in some cases, re-mains an equity partner. Sites arebrownfield-eligible and are held astax-exempt while in the land bank.
Mulu Birru, CEO of the GreaterWayne County Economic DevelopmentCorp. and director, Wayne County
Economic Devel-opment Depart-ment, said landbanks could cre-ate opportuni-ties in Detroitand inner-ringsuburbs.
Birru said theprocess of creat-ing a Wayne
County land bank has been held upover disagreement about whowould govern the county land-bankauthority. There also continues tobe misperceptions about the powerof a land bank; the land-bank au-
thority would not override publicbodies such as local municipalplanning commissions, he said.
Wayne County Executive RobertFicano, who was in the audience atthe Detroit Athletic Club event,said land banks are a good mecha-nism for clearing title and he be-lieves there’s enough support onthe Wayne County Commission forthe creation of one. He urged sup-porters to contact commissionersto get the issue out of the economicdevelopment committee.
Committee Chairman JosephPalamara, D-Grosse Ile, said he’soptimistic the committee will make
progress this spring. Last time itwas up for a vote, it was tabled dueto votes from four Detroit-basedcommissioners, he said.
Palamara said some commis-sioners are concerned about gover-nance while others want to see ifDetroit proceeds on its own landbank. Palamara said he was eagerto resolve concerns, agree on aplan and move forward.
“To me, it makes sense that weshould do this,” he said.
Commission Chairwoman JewelWare said in an e-mailed state-ment that governance is a crucialissue. A proposed structure thatcalled for Ficano to make three ap-pointments, the county treasurerto make one and the commissionto make one did not ensure Detroi-ters would be well-represented onthe authority, she said. That’s im-portant because a majority of theland in the land bank would be inDetroit, she said.
Dan Kildee, treasurer of Gene-see County and chairman of theMichigan Land Bank Fast Track Au-thority, said during the Thursdaysession that land banks help en-sure that sites have the bestchance for redevelopment intoprojects that help communities in-stead of ending up in the hands ofreal estate speculators. The Gene-see County Land Bank has 4,400properties and 8 percent of theparcels in the city of Flint.
Sometimes the best solution fora foreclosed site is to clean it upand keep it maintained until mar-ket demand appears, Kildee said.But the land bank ensures thatlawns get mowed and trash getspicked up.
In Flint, the Hughes & Hatcherdepartment store building — a sitethat had an unclear title — was ac-quired by the land bank and rede-veloped into a $4.2 million project ofretail, lofts and Genesee CountyLand Bank offices, said Amy Hov-ey, founder of The Protogenia Group, aconsultant that works with non-profits. Also in Flint, the BerridgeHotel is in the midst of a $5 millioncondominium redevelopment pro-ject. Both projects also had a combi-nation of grants, tax credits and oth-er funding sources behind them.
Kildee said each land bank devel-ops its own unique configurationfor its leadership, but laws governhow they operate and they are sub-ject to public scrutiny just like anyother such entity. Michigan shouldhave eight county land banks bythe end of the year, he said.
Once a land bank is set up, theproperties that are in the most de-mand are sites with usable struc-tures on them and cleaner vacantland, Kildee said.
The Coalition for a Detroit LandBank supports the creation of landbanks by the city and county. Itmakes sense to have two land banksgiven political friction and a differ-ent inventory of real estate, saidKaty Locker, director of the coali-tion, which was formed by six orga-nizations that support land banks.
The county land bank would getmost of its inventory from new taxforeclosures while the city couldanticipate an inventory of morethan 25,000 parcels it has held forseveral years, Locker said.
DETROIT BUSINESS MAIN 04-03-06 A 6 CDB 3/31/2006 3:29 PM Page 1
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Editor:This governor, Senate and House
are hell-bent on taking Michiganfurther down the tubes than it al-ready is by even considering an in-crease in the minimum wage. In-creasing the minimum is not goingto save Michigan from doom andfurther distances the state fromcompeting with other states.
Businesses have to be able tocompete globally.
The state should concentratemore on getting taxes down oreliminating them altogether forbusinesses. The SBT and personalproperty tax should be eliminated.
The state should step back andstay away from telling entrepre-neurs how to run their businessesand what to pay employees.
Michael R. PowellPresident/CEO
Redall Industries Inc., Redall Industries de MexicoYale
Wage hike overdueEditor:
I am writing in response to youropinion “Minimum-wage hike a
hit that will hurt,” March 13th.My company employs more than
100 people, most of them in simplejobs such as sorting or manual la-bor. None are currently paid any-where near minimum wage. Onceupon a time they may have beenpaid minimum wage, but we havealways recognized that, in busi-ness, we need to be accustomed toprices rising over time.
Suppliers of every good and ser-vice we use raise prices as needed,and we pay those prices becausewe value those goods and servicesand want them to remain available
and of good quality. Labor is no dif-ferent. The only difference is thatwe, as the employer, set the prices.Every year that an employee re-ceives a raise smaller than the in-creased cost of living, they experi-ence a reduction in pay relative totheir living expenses. The fact thatthey are unable to set their ownprices is no excuse for makingthem the only “supplier” not re-ceiving an increase over time.
While I agree the hit came sud-denly, it was long overdue. The factthat this action was delinquent isnot a reason to delay it further. Thesmall percentage of workers affect-ed makes it even less of a blow tothe employers. This should not beseen as a sudden increase but anend to a period in which rate in-creases were due but not given.
Sandy RosenCEO
Great Lakes Recycling
DeVos wrong on adsEditor:
Laudable efforts by DTE Energy
OPINION
Stop playing politicsand create land bank
enesee County created the state’s first land bank in2002, and it has become a national model. In four years,that county’s land bank has taken title to more than
4,400 parcels of land (the majority of them in Flint), rehabili-tated 51 homes for new owner-occupied housing, redeveloped a30,000-square-foot building in downtown Flint and sold 300 va-cant lots to owners next door.
Detroit may be short on cash, but it’s the largest landowneron record because of foreclosures due to unpaid taxes. A landbank would clear titles more quickly for property sales, workwith developers and prospective home owners and eliminatethe destructive and automatic auction sales of foreclosed prop-erties to speculators who have no incentive to put the proper-ties to greater use.
“Flint is the Peoria of land banks,” says bank founder andGenesee County Treasurer Dan Kildee, who spoke at a Crain’s-sponsored meeting on land banks last week. (See story, Page 6.)“If we can do it in Flint, it can be done anywhere.”
Except, perhaps, in Detroit and Wayne County. DetroitCity Council rejected plans for a land bank largely because itwanted council to control the land-bank board. Similarly, afterWayne County Executive Robert Ficano proposed a countyland bank that also could help Detroit, county commissionerssplit over who should control the board. Detroit commission-ers want the city to have clout on the board.
So once again, arguments over control are getting in theway of the big picture. As Kildee said, once the bank is operat-ing, people forget who appointed whom. It’s time to stop play-ing politics. Let’s get the land bank running.
Mayor’s got the right viewIn the standoff between Delphi Corp. and organized labor,
you can’t help but feel the rancor in the rhetoric. It’s ugly.So the media coverage of General Motors’ layoffs of engi-
neers last week was surprising. Some sample quotes from out-going workers: “GM has been very good to me.” “I wish themthe best.” “I understand why it’s happening.”
With that stark contrast top of mind, we listened to DetroitMayor Kwame Kilpatrick and Oakland County Executive L.Brooks Patterson at the Michigan Chronicle’s “Pancakes andPolitics” breakfast last Friday.
Though Patterson is known for his quips, Kilpatrick mayhave offered the most profound summation when he comparedGM’s problems on pensions, benefits and retiree costs to thecity’s high-cost workforce. Negotiating with 48 separate bar-gaining units is tough, he said, but the message is: “You can’thave it all, but you can have all of nothing.”
Don’t raise minimum wageLETTERS
OPINION
LETTERS
Page 8 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS April 3, 2006
Michigan is suffering from a sin-gle-state recession.
Whether we like it or not, ourentire state is a victim of the tra-vails of General Motors and Ford.
If you happen to travel outsideMichigan, often even SoutheastMichigan, you realize the rest ofthe economy in the United Statesis pretty healthy. Except forLouisiana, hard hit by Katrina,we’re the only state in the unionlooking at negative growth.
And before anyone startsscreaming about politics andpoliticians, it should seem fairly
obvious that this is notabout politics.
The lousy economythat we have in Michi-gan is almost complete-ly auto-related. Betweenthose two manufactur-ers and all the Michigansuppliers in our com-munity, they are feelingthe pain. There is plentyof pain for everyone.
There was a timewhen they used to say if the auto-mobile industry was in trouble, thecountry was in trouble as well.
What’s good for thecountry is good for Gen-eral Motors and vice ver-sa.
That’s not true anymore. GM, along withFord, can be havingsome real problems andit doesn’t seem to im-pact our country or evenautomobile sales, whichare bouncing around 16million to 17 million
units a year. That’s a lot of cars andtrucks. And many of them are builtin the United States by BMW, Mer-
cedes, Toyota, Honda, Nissan andother foreign-owned competition inplants in right-to-work states likeTexas, Alabama and Mississippi.Many of those plants are actuallygrowing as sales continue to climb.
But the companies in SoutheastMichigan — automakers and sup-pliers — are hurting. Unfortunate-ly, there’s a ripple effect. Only ahandful of suppliers are doing wellin this environment; many morehave filed for bankruptcy protec-tion. Automakers and suppliersare laying off workers or strug-gling to reach labor agreements
they can afford.When you eliminate tens of thou-
sands of jobs, with a great many inSoutheast Michigan, the entirecommunity suffers right alongwith those displaced workers.
Let’s hope that General Motorsand Ford get it right and that they’llbecome healthy sometime soon.But right now we’re going to hun-ker down and look for other indus-tries that can help our economy.
It’s a tough time for all of Michi-gan, whether or not you’re in theauto industry. We are all feeling thelocal industry’s pain.
Crain’s Detroit Businesswelcomes letters to the editor.All letters will be considered forpublication, provided they aresigned and do not defameindividuals or organizations.Write: Editor, Crain’s DetroitBusiness, 1155 Gratiot Ave.,Detroit, MI 48207-2997.E-mail: [email protected] boards: Share yourviews in our online community.forums.crainsdetroit.com.
See Letters, Page 9
G
KEITH CRAIN:KEITH CRAIN: Our economy is hurting, and we’re all alone
DETROIT BUSINESS MAIN 04-03-06 A 8 CDB 3/31/2006 5:28 PM Page 1
April 3, 2006 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS Page 29
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Crain’s Detroit Business and theMichigan Chronicle haveannounced an agreement that willallow the Chronicle to publishCrain’s stories about Detroitdevelopment, African-Americanbusinesspeople and other news ofinterest to the Chronicle’sreadership.Crain’s also will promote and co-
sponsor theChronicle’s“Pancakes &Politics”breakfast forumseries. WWJ950 andCBS/UPNDetroit are thebroadcastsponsors for theseries.“This agreement
is an example of the kind ofpartnerships we need to create tobetter our communities and ourregion,” said Sam Logan, publisherof the Michigan Chronicle.“Communication is key to anyprogress, and I’m confident this dealbetween the Michigan Chronicle andCrain’s will be extremely beneficial tobreaking through the numerousracial, economic and political barriersthat prohibit our regional growth.”“We’re very excited about this
relationship,” Crain’s PublisherMary Kramer said. “Manybusinesspeople, regardless of coloror gender, detect an anti-businessbias in the city of Detroit. You see itplay out again and again in publicforums. We hope that broadeningthe audience for our stories aboutbusiness issues and successfulbusinesspeople will help generate
an appreciationfor whatbusinessesneed in thisregion in orderto becompetitive, besuccessful andadd more jobs.”Kramer said sheand Loganbegandiscussing an
arrangement last year “when Crain’sreported on Sam’s controversialChronicle column about theimplications of what we consider ananti-business attitude in the city.” The discussions led to the formalagreement to provide content to theChronicle. “Crain’s has broad reachin the business community,including among many African-American business owners andexecutives,” she said. “We hopethis develops as two-waycommunication and information.”
Kilpatrick: Penske will be back to help business in cityBY TOM HENDERSONCRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kil-patrick said Friday that he will un-veil a major, aggressive business-attraction plan soon after his April12 budget address and that itwould involve the architect of Su-per Bowl XL.
“Roger Penske is coming back tothe table,” he said.
Kilpatrickmade the state-ment to an audi-ence attendingthe first of a se-ries of “Pan-cakes and Poli-tics” breakfastsat the DetroitAthletic Club,hosted by theMichigan Chroni-
cle and sponsored in part by Crain’sDetroit Business.
Kilpatrick shared the podiumwith Oakland County Executive L.Brooks Patter-son.
Kilpatrick didnot give detailsof the plan, butsaid it was timefor Detroit to be-come as aggres-sive as OaklandCounty in woo-ing business.
Both Patterson and Kilpatricksaid area leaders need to find anew project now that the SuperBowl has come and gone.
“We need a new focus,” said Kil-patrick. “What is the next thing weare all going to work on? Holdinghands and singing ‘Kumbaya’ isn’tgoing to cut it.”
Other news from the breakfastincluded:
■ Kilpatrick said he, Pattersonand Wayne County Executive
Robert Ficano have been meetingto work out a plan to woo either theDemocratic or Republican nationalconvention to Detroit in 2008 andthat he and Patterson “work togeth-er every day. The language of ourconstituencies often fuels the per-ception of a fight between Brooksand I that doesn’t exist.”
■ Patterson referred to the lackof regional transportation as “thereal open wound we ought to fix.”Kilpatrick said a new bill on tran-sit legislation in Lansing was on aback burner during his re-electioncampaign but now will be one ofhis priorities.
■ Kilpatrick said he wanted toreduce Detroit income and proper-ty taxes “so we’ll be more competi-tive.” He also said he could support elimination of the single-business tax in theory, “but I’mjust real leery of this Legislaturecoming up with a replacement.”He said prior to term-limits, legis-lators learned to work together forthe common good, noting it tookfive months in the Proposal A erafor the Legislature to replace theschool tax. “People had genuine re-lationships,” he said.
■ Patterson said he was angryOakland County didn’t get a
chance to put together a proposalto try to get a new United Solar Ovon-ic factory. It was announced in lateMarch that the subsidiary of Ener-gy Conversion Devices Inc., whichmakes thin-film solar energy mate-rials at its plant in Auburn Hills,would build a new $129 millionplant in Greenville that would em-ploy 200.
“We didn’t find out about it untila Super Bowl party,” he said. “Weweren’t in the bidding process. Wenever got a chance to put a pack-age together. We were told, ‘Youhave enough jobs in OaklandCounty.’ You tell that to the peopleof Pontiac.”
■ Kilpatrick said the Detroitschool system will never run effi-ciently “without involvement
from the city of Detroit. But it’s tooearly, now, to have that conversa-tion. ... I’m very, very, very disap-pointed in the leadership of theschools. They want to be an islandunto themselves. If they want to se-cede from the union, they’re goingto sink.”
■ After hearing references to atrade mission Ficano made to Chi-na, and trade missions Pattersonmade to China and Ireland, Kil-patrick said the reaction over hisrecent fact-finding trip to Africawas racist. “They go to China, noone sticks a microphone in theirface and asks who’s paying for it?It’s a plantation mentality. Theycan go on trade missions. I can’t.I’ve got to hop around in a circle inDetroit.”
Africa is where Detroit shouldbe focusing its trade efforts, saidthe mayor. “You go to China, now,you’re late. I think we should lookto Africa. That’s the next market.”
■ Kilpatrick denied rumors ofimpending payless paydays forcity workers. “I don’t know wherethat stuff comes from. It’s not go-ing to happen.”
In addition to Crain’s, Friday’sevent was sponsored by Daimler-Chrysler, LISC Detroit; WWJ 950 andCBS/UPN.
The next Pancakes and PoliticsBreakfast will feature Gov. Jen-nifer Granholm at the Detroit Ath-letic Club on April 26.
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Page 30 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS April 3, 2006
BANKRUPTCIESBANKRUPTCIESThe following businesses filed forChapter 7 or 11 protection in U.S.Bankruptcy Court in Detroit March 23-30. Under Chapter 11, a company filesa reorganization plan that the courtmust approve. Chapter 7 involves to-tal liquidation.Trailer Depot, 3645 Highland Road,Waterford Township, voluntary Chap-ter 7. Assets: $333,984.52; liabilities:$1,839,854.60.Tags L.L.C., dba Millennium RealtyEast, 24742 Gratiot Ave., Eastpointe,voluntary Chapter 7. Assets: $300; lia-bilities: $13,854.49.5955 Inc., dba Allen Park Bar, 5955 Al-lan Road, Allen Park, voluntary Chap-ter 11. Assets: $13,150; liabilities:$285,000.Mio’s St. George Fruit Market Inc.,48876 Van Dyke Ave., Shelby Town-ship, voluntary Chapter 11. Assets andliabilities not available.Highland Food Inc., dba Subway, 14329W. Warren, No. 200, Dearborn, volun-tary Chapter 11. Assets and liabilitiesnot available.
— Compiled by Laura Bommarito
Marriott: $30M in room improvements planned for properties■ From Page 3
the previous year. That hotel hascompleted more than $100 millionin upgrades over the past severalyears, and more are planned.
According to Hendersonville,Tenn.-based Smith Travel Research,metro Detroit’s hotel occupancyaveraged 57.1 percent in 2005, upfrom 56.1 percent in 2004. Roomrates are up slightly as well.
Michael O’Callaghan executivevice president and COO of the De-troit Metro Convention and Visitors Bu-reau, said hotels with a reinvest-ment plan have an advantage. The774-room Hyatt Regency in Dear-born is another example of a large
hotel that has made major up-grades.
“The strong will survive,”O’Callaghan said. “The propertiesthat have some money behindthem and are able to reinvest capi-tal dollars stay competitive.”The region is actually losing about1 percent of inventory annually, inmany cases properties where localowners have not been able to af-ford renovations, he said.
At the Troy Marriott, a 2007 lobbyrenovation project is planned. Inaddition, owner Sunstone Hotel In-vestors purchased adjacent land thatwas once home to the design studios
of architect Minoru Yamasaki andplans to add rooms and meetingspace. Farmery said negotiationswere under way with the city on thedetails; Troy officials have indicat-ed the project could double the sizeof the 345-room hotel. Constructionis not likely to start until the end ofthe year at the earliest.
At The Dearborn Inn, an approx-imately $4.5 million plan to up-grade rooms is in the design phasewith a goal to be complete earlynext year, Farmery said.
Two sample rooms will be donein June and then the hotel will eval-uate guest feedback to finalize
plans and begin renovations in Jan-uary, said Stefanie Denby, market-ing and communications managerfor hotel owner Ford Land.
Most Marriott hotels are fran-chises; the local hotels are held byabout 20 owners such as Etkin Equi-ties L.L.C., Sarofim Realty Advisors,General Motors Corp. and Ford Land.The upgrades are paid for throughescrow accounts funded on a per-centage of sales. The Detroit Mar-riott at the Renaissance Center isowned two-thirds by GM and one-third by Marriott International.
Conrad Schwartz, director of as-set management for the Renais-
sance Center, said GM is pleasedwith the relationship. “Profitabili-ty is up, guest satisfaction is up,”he said. GM awarded Marriott thecontract to manage the hotel in1998; it was previously a Westin.
The hotel is scheduled for an $8million to $10 million ballroom andmeeting-space project comprising42,200 square feet, also in 2007.
The lobby also is expected to bepart of a Marriott test concept to beredesigned for better use as a place“where you can relax and work, eatand drink,” Farmery said. Design-ers and market research teams inWashington are working on theconcept, which seeks to make lob-bies more like coffee shops.
In addition, most of the localCourtyard by Marriott hotels havereceived or are in store for up-grades. In December, Marriott com-pleted a $4.3 million renovation ofthe Courtyard by Marriott Detroit Down-town, including remodeling of allguest rooms and hallways. Most lo-cal Courtyards are receiving $1.5million to $2.5 million in upgrades,Farmery said. Hotels on the agendafor this year include locations inWarren, Auburn Hills, and Novi.
Other sites with renovations instore: the Ypsilanti Marriott at EagleCrest, which recently changedowners, Residence Inn locations inWarren and Southfield, and theNovi TownePlace Suites. The Ritz-Carl-ton, Dearborn, will make about $6million in upgrades to ballroomand meeting space this year. Ritz-Carlton is part of Marriott.
Typically, Farmery said, publicareas receive a facelift every sevento 10 years while guest room up-grades are more frequent.
“All of our bedding is new withinthe last two years,” Farmery said.
While public space investment isimportant, comfortable rooms maymake a bigger impression, saidRon Wilson, president of Troy-based Hotel Investment Services Inc.
“If you stay in a wonderful hoteland you can’t sleep because the airconditioner is too loud or the mat-tress is lumpy, the lobby isn’t asimportant anymore,” he said.
DETROIT BUSINESS MAIN 04-03-06 A 30 CDB 3/31/2006 6:20 PM Page 1
April 3, 2006 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS Page 31
Niche: Low-key business gets big results with small Web sites■ From Page 1
Smith, Brad Sorock and Jeff We-dren. It was self-funded and hasbeen profitable since inception in2001. The company has about 50employees with most working inthe Sylvan Lake headquarters.
The company runs 16 Web sitesthat sell specific products. Its Websites include JoggingStroller.com,ChildCarriers.com, HighChairs.com, SuuntoWatches.com and VictoryWatches.com. It also con-trols another roughly 200 Web ad-dresses that it doesn’t actively use,but they have such good namesthat Niche Retail paid to obtainand control them.
Each site it operates now carriesproducts made by manufacturerssuch as Minneapolis-based GracoInc. (NYSE: GGG) or Beaverton,Ore.-based Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE).Niche Retail buys the productsfrom the manufacturer and marksup the cost. The margin of returnranges from 35 percent to 50 per-cent, Smith said.
Smith said the company decideswhat products to sell using a for-mula that considers market satu-ration, product demand and poten-tial return on investment, amongother things.
Niche Retail sells between 1,200and 1,400 items a week and fieldsabout that many calls from cus-tomers and potential customers.
In 2005, Niche Retail movedfrom Troy to Sylvan Lake, where itoperates out of an 80,000-square-foot warehouse it owns. It alsoowns an adjacent 20,000-square-foot building that it could use foreventual expansion, Smith said.
Niche Retail also turned to AnnArbor-based Fry Inc. last year tohelp develop a system that will al-low it to process and manage or-ders from between $10 million and$100 million.
But the company’s key to suc-cess, Smith said, is its approach toselling that starts with providinginformation and then the opportu-nity to buy instead of carrying asmany products as they can andhoping for the best.
Niche Retail sites have reviewsof products — good and bad — frompeople who have used the items.
It’s an approach that dates backto the company’s first Web site,TelemarkSki.com. Sorock, work-ing in a small specialty sportsstore in Crested Butte, Colo., no-ticed the lack of specialty retailsites online. Sorock, along withWedren, reviewed skis for Couloirmagazine and developed TelemarkSki.com to provide real reviews ofskis, as opposed to informationfrom the manufacturer. The com-pany’s successes lead it to try anddiscover other niche markets.
“We always write negativesabout the products we sell. Itmight be great for A, but it’s notgoing to be great for someonewho’s looking for B,” Smith said.“Originally, the manufacturerswere really upset with us for actu-ally testing and writing about theproducts instead of just republish-ing what they had to say, but in thelong run it’s really worked out. It’sreally appreciated by the end usersand generates a lot of traffic.”
With the success of Telemark-Skis.com, Sorock and Wedrenhired Smith, who had been work-ing with another Web company in
the Detroit area. Smith wanted tostay in the area, so shipping wasmoved to his garage before growthnecessitated moving to a 15,000-square-foot building in Troy.
Justin Gottlieb, director of salesand marketing for Richmond, Va.-based Baby Jogger Co., said NicheRetail is one of the company’slargest clients.
About 50 percent of Baby Jog-ger’s sales come from online withthe rest in traditional retail. BabyJogger has worked with Niche Re-tail for about three years.
“They do a very good job mar-keting and representing the prod-uct,” Gottlieb said. “They really
present a high-end type feeling andthat makes for a really nice shop-ping experience.”
Gottlieb said Niche Retail sets it-self apart by asking customerswhat they want instead of just of-fering various models.
Call-center employees have ac-cess to each model of stroller sold,allowing them to answer customerinquiries, such as how long astroller is or how much it weighs.
With calls averaging 14 minutes,customers frequently are askingthose questions, Smith said.
Smith and Sorock also give em-ployees a sense of ownership in thecompany. A big board outside the
warehouse shows exactly what thecompany’s budget is for the week,month and year to date. It includesforecasts and actual numbers suchas sales and cost of inventory.
But there are challenges. People have been slow to warm
up to buying online, despite ad-vances in security and there are alot more online retailers thanwhen Niche Retail launched.
Brad Frederick, president andCEO of Madison Heights-based Me-dia Genesis Inc., said he isn’t sur-prised that Niche Retail has beensuccessful.
Part of Media Genesis’ businessis developing specific Web sites,
such as Travelsite.com. “It’s hard to compete in areas
that are hot, such as books, CDs orDVDs,” Frederick said. “But whenyou have a well-defined niche,you’re easier to find on the Weband you’re going to be better off.”
“Consumers used to go onlineand research big-ticket items,”Frederick said. “Now they’re go-ing online to do research and actu-ally buying. Having a strategy thattailors to one specific product thatpeople are looking for is muchmore effective than trying to beeverything to everyone.”
DETROIT BUSINESS MAIN 04-03-06 A 31 CDB 3/31/2006 5:30 PM Page 1
Plus, about half of U.S. restau-rants fail in their first year of busi-ness, said restaurant consultantGregg Thomas, principal of CFOPartners Inc. in Rochester, andbusiness conditions in Detroit aremore challenging than the nation-al average.
Restaurants that survive in De-troit, Thomas said, tend to do a lotof corporate catering or host nu-merous special events.
“They are more than just arestaurant,” Thomas said.
That’s partly because the table-turn rate in Detroit — the numberof times a restaurant fills and emp-ties its dining room during a day— remains about one to one-and-a-half during the week and two onFriday and Saturday nights, saidJerry McVety, president of McVety& Associates Inc., a Farmington-based food-service and hospitalityconsulting firm. In contrast, thetable-turn rate in thriving suburbssuch as Birmingham, Royal Oak orTroy is about two or more per day.
While the number of turns atSeldom Blues varies a lot accord-ing to downtown events, co-ownerFrank Taylor said Seldom Bluestypically completes about one turnper day early in the week and twoturns on Fridays and Saturdays.
Taylor said the restaurant is ex-ceeding the $6 million a year thathe originally said it would take toprofitably operate the 16,000-square-foot, 311-seat restaurant.
“I think if the concept is differ-ent and if it’s a different theme,then you are going to see a re-sponse and support for that restau-rant,” Taylor said.
Taylor is president and CEO ofSouthern Hospitality RestaurantGroup, which owns or operates fiverestaurants, four of which haveopened in the last two years.
Originality is one factor behindthe success of Slows Bar BQ, a smallbarbecue restaurant that openedlast fall on Michigan Avenue inCorktown. On Fridays and Satur-days the restaurant typically hasan hour-long wait and it remainsbusy on other weeknights.
But many downtown restau-rants struggle to attract a strongdinner business, said Mark Papaz-ian, owner of Hunter House, arestaurant in the Hilton Garden Innin Harmonie Park, and co-ownerof the hotel.
“We’re doing just fine,” Papaz-
ian said. “But I will qualify that bysaying our hotel is doing very welland because of that we are gettingmany of the overnight guests eat-ing in our restaurant.”
Papazian said sales at HunterHouse were up 12.5 percent in 2005over 2004, mostly due to an in-crease in guests at the hotel.
Papazian said Hunter Housedoes about one turn per day Mon-day through Wednesday, less thanone on Thursday, and then re-bounds to about two turns on Fri-
days and Saturdays.Papazian said some of the new
restaurants signed leases with rentrequirements that are too high andsaid they will struggle the most.
“I have a feeling that there is go-ing to be a little bit of a fallout thisyear,” Papazian said.
There have been some notableclosures. Duet, a fine-diningrestaurant that was in OrchestraHall, closed in May 2003 and Inter-mezzo, an Italian restaurant inHarmonie Park owned by Nick
Apone, closed in June 2004.Matt Prentice, CEO of Bingham
Farms-based Matt Prentice Restau-rant Group, which owned Duet, an-nounced plans for Coach Insigniaabout four months after Duetclosed.
Coach Insignia, which replacedThe Summit atop the RenaissanceCenter, opened in August 2004 andwill exceed $4 million in sales thisyear and made a profit last year,Prentice said.
“It’s still a tough market. And ifanybody tells you that it is not,then they are not telling you thetruth,” Prentice said. “I think thata lot of the new restaurants are go-ing to do well, but in order foreverybody to continue to do well,there is going to need more of aninflux of businesses and visitorsinto the city.”
Prentice acknowledged that ittook a special lease arrangementwith his landlord, General MotorsCorp., to make Coach Insignia vi-able. That’s partly because therestaurant has a small kitchen andits preparation and pastry kitchenis on the Renaissance Center’sfirst level, nearly 800 feet below therestaurant. Prentice said his rentis set as a percentage of sales.
CFO Partners’ Thomas said thathe hasn’t seen a restaurant boomlike the past two years in Detroitsince the early 1990s, which is ex-actly why he’s troubled.
In the early 1990s a restaurantboom in Detroit was followed bythe closure of several restaurants,including the venerable LondonChop House and Money Tree Café.
Nationally, the restaurant in-dustry has grown from $185.1 bil-lion in 1986 to a projected $511 bil-lion in 2006, according toWashington-based National Restau-rant Association.
Still, Thomas believes the hypeleading up to both the All-StarGame and the Super Bowl createdoptimism among entrepreneursthat led them to take greater risksthan they should have.
His proof: Aside from Hard RockCafé, few national chains have de-cided to take a risk in Detroit.Chains, Thomas said, are more aptto make a decision based on num-bers and market studies than inde-pendent restaurateurs.
Hard Rock Café, which has bat-tled rumors about its future in De-troit, continues to say it is pleased
with its sales.“From our standpoint the Com-
puware building has turned out tobe a great location for us,” saidJohn Gogarty, vice president ofCoin Public Relations andspokesman for Orlando, Fla.-basedHard Rock International. Hard Rockopened here in November, 2003.
Thomas says several downtownDetroit restaurants were givengenerous lease deals and doubtsthere would be so many newrestaurants otherwise.
Prentice agrees.“I don’t think that there are any
deals being done in the city thatare not special landlord deals,”Prentice said.
Paul Grosz, chef and owner ofCuisine in Detroit’s New Center,has operated his restaurant forjust under five years and is opti-mistic about the future of Detroit’srestaurant scene even though hepredicts there will be some whodon’t survive.
“The better restaurants are go-ing to stay open in the long run,”Grosz said. “You have to be asmart business owner. Last yearwe didn’t do so well. But we’vebeen better this year.”
Grosz, who declined to disclosesales, also said events such as theAll-Star Game and the Super Bowlhave served to familiarize morepeople with downtown Detroit.
“People are coming downtownmore frequently and they feelmore comfortable,” Grosz said.
Tanya Heidelberg-Yopp, co-own-er of Lola’s in Harmonie Park, saidbusiness at her restaurant is at itsslowest on Mondays and thenbuilds through the week.
Yopp, who opened Lola’s lastSeptember, says downtown restau-rants ought to think about eithercreating a downtown Detroitrestaurant association or to work-ing together to create joint eventsand to market themselves.
“What we’ve got to deal with isjust the sort of lack of foot traffic atthe beginning of the week,” Yoppsaid. “I really think we just need todo a better job of how unique andfun it is to come downtown, I don’tknow that everyone knows thatand gets it.”
Restaurants: Openings add 3,500 seats to downtown Detroit■ From Page 3
Salary: Performance incentives, profit-sharing more common■ From Page 1
TABLE FOR TWO?At least 26 restaurants have opened in downtown Detroit or near downtownin areas such as Corktown and New Center, adding more than 3,500 seatsto the Detroit restaurant scene since 2004. They are:
2004 Restaurant Seats
1. Sweet Lorraine’s, Courtyard by Marriott 2602. Oslo, 1456 Woodward Ave. 503. Hunter House/The American Grill 120
351 Gratiot Ave., Hilton Garden Inn4. Seldom Blues*, Renaissance Center 3115. The Rhino @ Harmonie Park, 1407 Randolph St. 90 (est.)6. Louie’s Ham & Corned Beef Restaurant, 3570 Riopelle 1207. Coach Insignia, Renaissance Center 2708. Andiamo Riverfront, Renaissance Center 2389. Au Bon Pain, Campus Martius 30
2005 Restaurant Seats10. Baile Corcaigh, 1426 Bagley Ave. 6011. Vicente’s Cuban Cuisine, 1250 Library St. 15012. The Vu Restaurant-Lounge, Cobo Center 15013. Centaur, nightclub and restaurant, 2233 Park Ave. 22014. Mosaic, 401 Monroe St., Greektown 12015. Slows Bar BQ, 2138 Michigan Ave. 7516. Lola’s, 1427 Randolph St. 6517. Detroit’s Breakfast House & Grill*, 1241 Woodward Ave. 110
2006 Restaurant Seats18. Twingo’s Euro Café, 4710 Cass Ave. 7819. Grand City Grille L.L.C.*, Fisher Building 25020. Currents, 673 Franklin St. 25021. Proof, cocktail lounge and tapas restaurant, 75
2001 Woodward Ave., in the former Sibleys Shoes.22. The Woodward*, 1456 Woodward Ave. 9023. Karmic Café, Guardian Building, 500 Griswold None
(Seats are available in common area of the building.)24. Cheli’s Chili Bar, 47 E. Adams St. 20025. Signature Grille**, Riverfront Towers 8226. Buzz Bar, 546 Larned 70 daytime
150 evening*Restaurants owned or managed by Southern Hospitality Restaurant Group.
**Opening scheduled for April
percent of white collar workers re-ceived some form of variable com-pensation last year. That’s up fromabout 31 percent in 2003.
In 2005, variable compensationaccounted for about 7.9 percent ofthe total compensation for employ-ees exempt from overtime pay, em-ployees classified as white collarworkers by Sal LoCicero, a consul-tant to ASE.
That number is expected to in-crease to 8.4 percent this year, ac-cording to survey results.
LoCicero said the message isclear and that how hard peoplework is having a direct effect onhow much they take home; gone
are the days of the late 1990s whenincome such as signing bonuseswere common.
“More and more companies aretaking a look at offering perfor-mance-based systems that allowpeople to be more productive,work harder and share in any ad-ditional gain,” LoCicero said.
In ASE’s survey, 326 companiesparticipated.
Of those companies, 79 percentoffered some form of variable payto white collar employees in 2005.
About 67 percent of the compa-nies offered annual bonuses, 29percent profit sharing, and 30 per-cent individual incentives.
Mike Lowry, CEO of Brighton-based Lowry Computer Products Inc.,said the performance-driven mod-el of pay has played an increasing-ly important role at his companysince 2001. The model is based onachieving certain revenue bench-marks. In 2004, Lowry Computerhad revenue of about $46.5 millionand about 200 employees.
“If you’re at the top of yourgame, you should be paid thatway,” Lowry said.
Keeping top performers is cru-cial, despite the fact that salarieshave come back to earth after thelate 1990s.
“Nobody wants to lose their ea-
gles,” Lowry said. “But obviouslyno one will work for you if you paylow wages. So the idea is to pay me-dian wages and give employees theopportunity to earn high wages.”
Salary increases were lacklusterin 2005, hovering at about 3.5 per-cent — about the same as 2004 —while inflation rose about the sameamount, according to the survey.
The U.S. Department of Com-merce’s Bureau of Economic Analy-sis said Tuesday that personal in-come rose 3.4 percent in Michiganlast year, one of the lowest percent-ages in the nation. The top spot washeld by Nevada, where personal in-come grew 9.9 percent.
That’s why David Sowerby,portfolio manager and chief mar-ket analyst for Bloomfield Hills-based Loomis Sayles & Co. L.P., saidto keep the variable compensationnews in check.
“Commensurate with the rest ofthe nation, we’re still not there,”Sowerby said.
For 2006, however, Sowerby saidhe sees employment beginning toaccelerate; a trend he expects tocontinue and, “probably lead topersonal income growth.” Still, hesaid not to expect an increase ofmore than 4 percent for the year.
DETROIT BUSINESS MAIN 04-03-06 A 32 CDB 3/31/2006 6:21 PM Page 1
April 3, 2006 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS Page 33
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Bank’s name will come down, al-though it will retain the branch itoperates there.
Barry Allen, regional managingpartner for metro Detroit, said Vir-chow Krause hopes to have its em-ployees moved in by mid-May,with Kleiman employees movingin by early July.
Kleiman had revenue in 2005 of$7.5 million, said Holly Shier, Vir-chow Krause’s Detroit marketingmanager. She said Virchow’s localoperations had revenue of $12.4million. The merger will push Vir-chow’s firm-wide revenue to about$175 million for the fiscal year end-ing May 31, with projections of$200 million for next year.
Kleiman has eight partners and53 employees. When the mergergoes into effect June 1, VirchowKrause will have 170 employees lo-cally, and 151 partners and morethan 1,200 employees nationally.
At the end of 2005, VirchowKrause was ranked by Crain’s asthe 11th-largest accounting firm lo-cally, with 103 employees. Kleimanwas ranked 15th with 57. JeffersonWells International of Southfield wasranked No. 8 with 169.
Last August, Public Accounting,a newsletter for the accounting in-
dustry, ranked Virchow Krause asthe 15th-largest accounting firm inthe U.S., based on revenue of $150.4million for the year ending in May.Revenue of $175 million wouldhave put the firm at No. 13.
KeyBank’s name had gone up atOne Towne Square when it ac-quired Sterling Bank in 2004.Michael Sherman, KeyBank’s vicepresident for public relations, saidthe bank knew it would lose nam-ing rights as soon as a larger tenantwas signed by owner Redico L.L.C.
Virchow Krause, which also hasoffices in Minneapolis, Milwaukeeand Chicago, entered the Detroitmarket in November 2003 througha merger with Bingham Farms-based Nemes Allen & Co. Last Janu-
ary, it mergedwith Southfield-based Zalenko &Associates P.C.
At the time ofthe Zalenkomerger, Vir-chow KrauseCEO Tim Chris-ten said the firmwanted to ex-pand locally to
about 200 employees by 2007. Hesaid Friday that he is still targeting
that figure, but through hiring, notmergers.
“We’re not in discussions withanyone else in Detroit. You neversay never, but going forward, a lotof our growth will be organic. We’llbe hiring people for new servicelines,” including, he said, an invest-ment-banking practice that willbroker mergers and acquisitions.
“We do investment banking in asignificant way in our other mar-kets, and we want to expand ithere,” he said.
Christen said he began mergertalks with Robert Kleiman,Kleiman’s CEO, at a conference inChicago last fall.
“The word ‘specialty’ is a hugedriver for us,” said Christen. “Iwas especially attracted to theirreal estate expertise. They have anoutstanding real estate clientele.”
Christen said Virchow Krausewill continue to serve what it callsmiddle-market firms, those smallenough to generally not be of inter-est to the Big Four of Deloitte &Touche USA L.L.P., Ernst & Young L.L.P.,PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P. andKPMG L.L.P., particularly in light ofthe demands of auditing compli-ance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
“Firms with revenue of $25 mil-
lion to $250 million — that’s oursweet spot,” said Christen. Thecompany represents both publicand private companies.
Randy Paschke, chairman of thedepartment of accounting in theschool of business administrationat Wayne State University and an ex-partner in the defunct accountingfirm Arthur Andersen, said the merg-er reflects a national trend of small-er firms combining forces as theytake aim at former Big Four clients.
“With the passage of Sarbanes-Oxley, the big accounting firmshad to focus their business on bigaccounts, and they increased theirfees. Middle-market companieswere priced out,” Paschke said.“The big firms weren’t interestedin discounting their fees to keepthem because all of their peoplewere working.
“Middle-market companiesaren’t small. They need accountingfirms with a diversified skill base,and small auditing firms don’t havethat. Mergers give them criticalmass. As they get larger, they aremuch more appealing to middle-market firms. They don’t feel likethey’re going to a small shop.”
in business still being producedfrom facilities in Michigan, Indi-ana, France and the Czech Repub-lic, with a focus on door modules,instrument panels, exterior trimand cargo management. But at thesame time, the company had no in-dependent track record.
In September, the backersbrought in Mosingo, relying on hisexperience in manufacturing andhis ability to pull together a man-agement team that could both car-ry out their long-term plans for thecompany and help convince au-tomakers they were serious aboutmaking Cadence a real competitor.
Mosingo has a strong reputationin operations, gained as part of Tex-tron Automotive Co.’s trim unit,overseeing its injection-moldingbusiness. When Troy-basedCollins & Aikman bought out Tex-tron’s trim unit in 2001, he movedto Collins & Aikman. He wasnamed president and CEO the nextyear, but he was out in 2003 whenDavid Stockman — the financierwho had led the financial backersof Collins & Aikman — took over.
Stockman left in 2005, shortlybefore C&A entered Chapter 11with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
Mosingo was COO at auto exteri-or specialist ASC Inc. when Harbin-ger and Cadence wooed him away.At Cadence, he is teamed withKirk Aubry, a former Textron ex-ecutive who is now COO.
Many of Mosingo’s former man-agement team members followedhim to Cadence, including EricWhite, who oversaw two separateplants that were named as topmanufacturing sites by IndustryWeek magazine, and Colin Bain,who helped create instrument pan-el skins when he was at Textron.
Mosingo’s management team
will be a key to getting automakersto trust Cadence, said Jeff Mengel,a partner with consulting groupPlante & Moran P.L.L.C. The peoplemoving into offices at Cadence fa-cilities are familiar to key decisionmakers at the auto plants — bothas individuals and a team.
“They have a good reputation inthe industry that says, ‘We can dothis,’ ” Mengel said. “They haveworked together in the past, whichgoes toward the idea that theyknow how to change the culturewhere it needs to be changed at Ca-dence. This is better than trying toassemble piecemeal a team thathas not worked together before.”
At the shop-floor level, themanagementteam has beenbusy bringing innew lean-manu-facturingprocesses andreassuringworkers whohave spent the
past few years wondering just howmuch longer their jobs would last,Mosingo said.
“They’re starting to get excitedabout what’s been going on,” hesaid. “They needed stability justlike everybody else. They get myhighest praise. They kept with thecompany through all the turmoil.You’re talking about a companythat has gone through some toughtimes, but the hourly folks werejust magnificent.”
But ensuring long-term survivalat Cadence will take far more thannew upper management and a hap-py workforce.
Two years of bankruptcy, andthe turmoil that preceded it, left
the company without regular in-vestments in new technology.Bain, now senior vice president ofresearch, design and engineering,has been scouring the former Ven-ture to find what Cadence has onhand now so it can offer customerssomething unique, even while itinvests in creating new products.
“The toughest part of the compa-ny to get moving at the pace you’dlike is the technology development,because of what the company wasgoing through — that was the firstthing that they shuttered,” Mosin-go said. “We are behind on newtechnology development, so our fo-cus has been on what technology isout there that is either developedor in the development stages thatfits within our core competencies.”
One proprietary manufacturingsystem — called Sandwiform — al-ready in-house and being market-ed to customers offers up a light-weight thermoplastic cargo-management system for the floorsin minivans and SUVs.
Cadence has its own in-housemodeling capability that hasturned out prototypes of interiorsand exteriors and production ca-pacity that is turning out 1,300cockpits per day.
Because of the entrepreneurialsetup of the Venture operationsunder founder Larry Winget,though, few people knew what thecompany possessed. Each facilityacted independently, and even sis-ter operations had no idea whatwent on elsewhere, Mosingo said.
“It was a global company, butthey all acted separately,” he said.“There was no global sharing ofbest practices, no global sharing of
commercial ideas or mining of newbusiness. Nothing was shared.”
Now Cadence is trying to uniteall those operations under one cen-tral operating system, even as itconvinces automakers to believein its ability to deliver.
Cadence emerged with no debt,and under Mosingo the firm be-lieves it offers stability, eventhough it has little history underits own name.
Mengel agreed that conditionselsewhere in the industry todaywill give Cadence an opportunity itmight not have had a few years ago.
“There are very few other com-panies with this size and scopewho have expressed an interest inbeing in (these manufacturing)programs. Most of the others wantout of the interior-trim business,”he said. “You’ve got Cadence,you’ve got Plastech (EngineeredProducts Inc.) and then you godown to a lot of companies withmaybe $100 million or $200 millionin business — which isn’t bad, butit certainly isn’t the scale the in-dustry needs.”
The company got its first shot ofconfidence in late 2005 when Daim-lerChrysler Corp. awarded it a multi-year contract to make hard plastictrim for the Pacifica crossover ve-hicle. Other contracts for futurebusiness are in the works.
“There’s so much turmoil now,”Mosingo said. “Everybody’s ask-ing what’s going to happen. Every-body needs to settle down, andthey need somebody they can set-tle on. Everybody needs somebodythey can believe in. I think that’swhat we offer.”
From Plastics News
Virchow Krause: Merger creates 10th-largest firm■ From Page 1
Cadence: CEO looks at past to guide future■ From Page 3
Christen
Mengel
DETROIT BUSINESS MAIN 04-03-06 A 33 CDB 3/31/2006 5:30 PM Page 1
WEEK IN REVIEWRUMBLINGS
GM cutshundreds ofwhite-collarpositions
eneral Motors Corp.cut several hundredwhite collar jobs on
Tuesday, Automotive Newsreported, mainly at its engi-neering center in Warren,its proving grounds in Mil-ford and at its Detroit head-quarters.
The job cuts were thefirst of those announcedlast November, when thestruggling automaker saidit would let go of 7 percentof its 36,000 white-collarU.S. employees this year.That works out to about2,500 jobs.
Fewer than 500 jobs werecut Tuesday, a GMspokesman told the Associ-ated Press.
Lear will turn over Europeinteriors to Ross venture
Southfield-based LearCorp. (NYSE: LEA) saidWednesday that it hasreached an agreement withlenders for $800 million insecured term loans, a tenta-tive pact to contribute mostof its European interiorproducts business to a jointventure with WL Ross & Co.L.L.C. and suspended its divi-dend program.
Lear said it has receivedcommitments from four ofits largest global lenders —JP Morgan Chase & Co., Bankof America N.A., Citibank N.A.and Deutsche Bank AG — toprovide $800 million in se-cured term loans.
Lear first announced itsintent last fall to explore ajoint venture with fi-nancier Wilbur Ross andsaid again Wednesday thatLear and Ross are interest-ed in acquiring Collins & Aik-man Corp., which filed forChapter 11 last year.
On Wednesday, Lear saidit has agreed to contributeoperations that representabout $750 million in annu-al sales from its Europeaninterior business to Interna-tional Automotive Compo-nents Group, Lear’s jointventure with Ross, in ex-change for 34 percent own-ership of the joint venture.Lear said it expects thatdeal will close by June 30.
ON THE MOVE■ Gill West to interim
CEO and Jeff Mihalic to in-terim president of IntermetCorp. Both were with Q In-vestments, a Fort Worth,Texas, investment firm andan investor in Intermet.
They replace Gary Ruff,who has left the company.
■ Mark Limback to presi-dent, Universal Am-Can Ltd.,Warren, from vice presi-dent. He replaces DonCochran, who remainspresident and CEO of par-ent company UniversalTruckload Services Inc.
■ W. Kim Heron to editor,Metro Times, Detroit, frominterim editor. He replacesRic Bohy, who resigned.
■ Curt Brown to seniorvice president, ComericaBank, Detroit, remainingoutstate Michigan marketmanager.
■ Massimo Fariello to thenew position of vice presi-dent, advanced technologyat Altair Engineering, Inc. Hehad been managing direc-tor of Altair Italy.
■ Donald Walkowicz to ex-ecutive director, UnitedStates Council for AutomotiveResearch, Southfield, fromindependent automotivemanagement consultant.
BRIEFLY
■ Comerica Bank is sched-uled to receive the 2006Small Business Bank of theYear Award from the Ex-port-Import Bank of the U.S.,an independently run gov-ernment-agency bank thathelps finance U.S.-basedbusinesses that exportgoods, April 6.
■ The Hudson-WebberFoundation has granted theDetroit Historical Society$100,000 to help transitionthe Detroit HistoricalMuseum’s management andoperations to the society aswell as support its “Historyis Forever” funding cam-paign.
■ Energy Conversion De-vices Inc. said Monday thatsubsidiary Ovonic BatteryCo. Inc. has entered into apatent agreement with Chi-na-based Zhejiang Kan Bat-tery Co. Ltd. to allow theoverseas company the rightto make, use and sell pro-prietary nickel metal hy-dride batteries. It also saidon Wednesday that it hadagreed to a similar dealwith Hunan Corun Hi-Tech Co.Ltd.
■ The Abraham Group, theWashington-based consult-ing firm of former U.S. Sen.Spencer Abraham, will pro-vide services to PepperHamilton L.L.P. and itsclients on international ex-pansion, energy-relatedmatters and other mattersunder an arrangement an-nounced last week.Philadelphia-based PepperHamilton has a Detroit of-fice with 29 attorneys.
■ Gov. JenniferGranholm on Tuesdaysigned legislation to in-crease the state minimumwage from $5.15 to $6.95 anhour effective Oct. 1, $7.15an hour in July 2007 and
$7.40 an hour in July 2008.Also, the state House vot-
ed Thursday to eliminatethe single-business tax atthe end of 2007. Gov.Granholm has said shewould veto the legislation,which had already passedthe Senate.
■ Northwest Airlines Inc.intends to start its com-muter subsidiary CompassAirlines Inc. in June, the De-troit Free Press reported.
■ Ikea announced itsCanton Township store willopen June 7.
■ New Jersey-based Jour-nal Register Co. announcedthe purchase Wednesday ofthe Suburban Lifestyles Com-munity Newspapers ofRochester Hills. SuburbanLifestyles publishes eightweeklies that are distrib-uted to 170,000 homes andbusinesses in Oakland andMacomb counties.
■ Wayne County and cityof Trenton officials an-nounced plans Thursday toissue a request for propos-als to allow concessionairesto create project ideas forthe 162-acre island ElizabethPark. Wayne County ownsand operates the park.
■ Shareholders of AnnArbor-based Pelican Finan-cial Inc. (Amex: PFI), theholding company for Peli-can National Bank, have ap-proved its sale to SBG II Ltd.,a subsidiary of Iowa-basedStark Bank Group Ltd.
■ Beaumont Hospitals saysit will eliminate 170 posi-tions at its Royal Oak hos-pital to cope with a drop inemergency-room and in-pa-tient admissions; 110 areheld by employees and 60are currently vacant.
■ Champion EnterprisesInc. said Friday it boughtMinnesota-based HighlandManufacturing Co. L.L.C. in adebt-free transaction val-ued at $23 million in cash.
OBITUARIES
■ George Furton, presi-dent of Chesterfield Town-ship-based Furton & Associ-ates Realty and formerdirector of the Michigan As-sociation of Realtors, died ofprostate cancer March 22.He was 82.
■ Edward C. Neubacher Jr.,who had been president ofModern Studio of Interiors inTroy and Birmingham,died of cancer March 26. Hewas 74.
■ Phyllis Sancho, formerco-owner of the Chic Afriquerestaurant in Detroit, diedof a cerebral aneurysmMarch 21. She was 51.
■ John Thompson, whofounded the John R. Thomp-son Co., a communicationsand marketing servicescompany in FarmingtonHills, died of emphysemaand pulmonary heart dis-ease March 21. He was 71.
he premiere of “ThePassenger,” a filmstarring Michigan
actors and filmed in De-troit, will be at 7 p.m.Tuesday at the Main ArtTheatre in Royal Oak.
The movie was di-rected by DetroiterJamie Sonderman andproduced by ThoughtCollide Productions. Lo-cations included Agaveand John King Books.
The synopsis? Jon istrapped in a corporatejob. One night he ven-tures into the Detroitunderground, where,in the words of thepress release, “He isseduced by an alter-nate paradigm of liv-ing, one that lasts allnight.”
Tickets will be $10 atthe box office the day of theshowing.
For sale: Building with niceview of college kids
Comerica Inc. has put upfor sale a rarity in the AnnArbor real estate market —a building and propertythat fronts the Diag, themuch-crossed plot ofground on the University ofMichigan campus.
The two-story, 13,000-square-foot bank branchhas an assessed value of$905,200 but comes with aprice tag of $2.9 million, ac-cording to the bank’s realestate marketing group.
The building, built in1971 at the corner of N. Uni-versity and Thayer, comeswith a restriction — buyerscannot use it to conduct anyadult entertainment.
Dennis Archer Jr., Denise Ilitch team for new mag
There’s a new glossylifestyle magazine, Ambas-sador Magazine, coming totown, jointly published andowned by Denise Ilitch andDennis Archer Jr.
It will launch May 1, withsubsequent issues sched-uled for September and No-vember. The managing edi-tor is Ivana Kalafatic, who isalso managing editor ofRoyal Oak-based Clear Mag-azine, though the two maga-zines are not related.
Ambassador is scheduled
to have an initial press runof 20,000 and will be circu-lated throughout Southeast
Michigan andWindsor. Thebusiness plancalls for 20 per-cent to be soldon newsstandsat the coverprice of $4.95, 35percent deliv-ered by sub-scription tohouses valuedat $300,000 ormore, 20 per-cent dropped atupscale restau-rants and sa-lons, 15 percentpassed out atspecial eventsand promotionsand 10 percentplaced in hotel
rooms and on airlines.The magazine will have a
10-inch-by-12-inch format.The first issue is set for 96pages.
Tell United Way what SE Michigan needs
United Way for Southeast-ern Michigan is asking resi-
dents of Macomb, Oaklandand Wayne counties to helpit determine the most press-ing human-service issuesfacing the region.
The agency has beenmoving toward fundingfewer nonprofits while pro-viding more support to spe-cific organizations with thegoal of making measurableprogress on specific issues.
The United Way plans touse community feedback tohelp it identify the issueson which it will focus itsfunding and support.
To participate in the sur-vey, visit www.uwsem.orgor call United Way’s 2-1-1hotline or (800) 552-1183 byApril 7.
BITS & PIECES
■ Dick Kernen, vice presi-dent of industry relationsfor the Specs Howard Schoolof Broadcast Arts in South-field, is the first male to beelected to the nationalboard of directors for theAmerican Women in Radio andTelevision. A press releasesaid Kernen has been activein fostering women’s broad-cast careers for 35 yearsand, while at WRIF in 1969,was among the first radioexecutives to hire womenfor full-time news directorand on-air positions.
■ Sol Cogan, chiropractorfor the Detroit Lions, hasbeen elected vice presidentof the Professional FootballChiropractic Society. Cogan isfounder of HealthQuest, anetwork of chiropracticclinics in Michigan.
RUMBLINGS WEEK IN REVIEW
Detroit rocks,rolls all night in new movie
F 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 M A R C H 2 5 - 3 1
T G
Page 34 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS April 3, 2006
When I worked at TheMuskegon Chronicle inthe early 1990s, oneday I stumbled acrossa file in the computersystem that didn’t lookanything like a story.It was a golfing log.Specifically, someeditors were keepingtrack of their scoresduring weeklymatches.So, yes, Iunderstand the ratherstrange allure of golf.Which is why I would not besurprised to hear that thisweek’s Executive Life golfguide caused a number of youto get out the sticks and hitthe links. And before long,you’ll be able to partake inany number of charity golfevents throughout the monthsto come.And there will be plenty. In fact,I sometimes get the feelingthat there are almost as manycharity golf events as there areactual golfers. (Which is a goodthing … I think.)If your organization is planninga charity golf event this year,we’d be happy to post it on our
Web site. In years past,you’ve been able tosubmit your eventthrough an online form
under the Resourcessection of ourhome page, where
it says “Guides anddirectories.” Thisyear, however, we’remaking somechanges to our Website that will meanthat form will be
unavailable for a while. Sohere is what you can do in themeantime to ensure yourevent will be listed.To submit your charity golfevent, e-mail the followinginformation to us [email protected]:contact name (not forpublication), contact e-mail(not for publication), eventname, event description,charity, name of course andcity, time, date, fees andcontact information.OK, now you can work on yourshort game.— Bob Allen’s BusinessCasual column arrivesMonday through Wednesdayin the Crain’s DetroitBusiness e-mail alert.
Web of words
Bob AllenWeb General Manager
Golf for charity? Tell everyone about it
Archer
Ilitch
DETROIT BUSINESS MAIN 04-03-06 A 34 CDB 3/31/2006 6:34 PM Page 1
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