loonie takes flight - crain's detroit businessgolden life locals remember music producer ed...

Goldenlife

Locals remembermusic producer

Ed WingateBY BRENT SNAVELY

CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

The death of Detroitmusic entrepreneur andbusinessman EdWingate on May 5 wasa source of both sad-ness and happymemories last weekfor many local mu-sicians who re-memberWingate’s Gold-en World record

label and hisbroad businessactivities.

With a rosterof artists that in-cluded, at onetime or another,Edwin Starr, TheParliaments,Fantastic Four,J.J. Barnes, Lau-ra Lee, The Re-flections andGino Washing-ton, Wingatebuilt a musicalpowerhouse thatmany viewed asa threat to BerryGordy’s MotownRecords.

Wingate, who was living in Las Ve-gas, was 86. Laura Lee, in an onlineguestbook attached to Wingate’s deathnotice on the Web sites of the DetroitFree Press and Detroit News, wrote, “Ihave Ed Wingate to thank for givingme my first hit record ‘To Win YourHeart.’ He will be truly missed.”

“Wingate told me before he passedsomething I never thought I’d hearhim say. He told me how much heloved me,” said Don Davis, chairmanof First Independence Bank in Detroit.“He told me he loved me like a son andI told him I loved him like a father.”

In the 1960s Davis was a producer,songwriter and a publisher and someof his groups, including the Dramat-ics, recorded music on Wingate’srecord labels.

WINGATE’S HITSSongs fromWingate’s labelsincluded:■ “Just LikeRomeo & Juliet,”The Reflections.■ “Oh, HowHappy,” TheShades of Blue.■ “Agent Double-O-Soul,” and “StopHer on Sight,”both by EdwinStarr.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com Vol. 22, No. 20 M A Y 1 5 – 2 1 , 2 0 0 6 $1.50 a copy; $59 a year

THIS JUST INTHIS JUST INOCC board to vote on $15M in renovations

The Oakland CommunityCollege board of trustees isexpected to vote tonight on$15 million in renovationand construction projectsat its Auburn Hills cam-pus.

The proposals underconsideration would reno-vate the existing studentcenter at that campus tohouse relocated informa-tion-technology staff andconstruct a new studentcenter closer to the centerof campus.

The projects would allowthe college’s adminis-trative staff to moveinto the rentedRochester Hillsbuilding that previ-ously housed informa-tion-technology staff,while $2.4 million worthof heating and cooling up-grades at the central officein Bloomfield Hills, ap-proved by the board inMarch, are completed.

— Sherri Begin

NE

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PA

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©Entire contents copyright 2006 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved

Largest computer serviceproviders, Page 20

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CRAIN’S LISTCRAIN’S LIST

Mall titan to developsite near fairgrounds

SEEKING HEALTH

CARE HEROESCrain’s Detroit Business isseeking nominations for HealthCare Heroes, a special sectionSept 4. Winners will be namedin the following categories:■ Corporate achievement inhealth care: Honors a companythat has created an innovativehealth benefits plan or that hassolved a problem in health careadministration.■ Advancements in healthcare: Honors a company orindividual responsible for adiscovery or for development ofa new procedure, device orservice that can save lives orimprove quality of life.■ Physician: Honors aphysician whose performance isconsidered exemplary.■ Allied health: Honors anindividual from nursing or alliedhealth fields deemed exemplaryby patients and peers.A panel of health care judgeswill choose the winners.Nomination forms are availableat www.crainsdetroit.com. Click“Health Care Heroes” underCrain Events. The deadline isJune 21.

BY SHEENA HARRISONCRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Chicago-based General GrowthProperties Inc., the nation’s second-largest retail real estate investmenttrust, has agreed to develop, leaseand manage a 325,000-square-footretail center near the Michigan StateFairgrounds in Detroit, according toan investor, a local retail consultantand an architect.

Jim Ryan, chairman of Farming-ton Hills-based JPRA Architects, saidhis firm and several others wereasked by General Growth to sub-mit requests for proposals for thesite two weeks ago.

A brochure prepared for in-vestor Bernard Schrott said theShoppes at Gateway would include a125,000-square-foot big-box store,four large retailers such as a book-store or electronics store, up tofour full-service restaurants andmore than 40,000 square feet ofspace for small retailers. The pro-ject would be at the southeast cor-ner of Eight Mile Road and Wood-ward Avenue.

A partnership of six Detroit areabusinessmen, including Schrottand theater owner and developerJoseph Nederlander, has sought todevelop the 34-acre area since at

See Gateway, Page 32

See Wingate, Page 31

The value of theCanadian dollar — the‘loonie’— has risen incomparison to the U.S.dollar.

THE DEVELOPERGeneral Growth PropertiesInc., a Chicago-based realestate investment trust. It’sthe second-largest retailREIT in the nation.

THE PLANTo develop, lease andmanage the Shoppes atGateway, a 325,000-square-foot retail center, toinclude a big-box retailer,restaurants and other smalland large retailers.

March 2003: 1 loonie = 65 cents

May 12, 2006: 1 loonie = 91 cents

General Growth plots Shoppes at Gateway

Michigan gets a second lookfrom national venturecapitalists, 1

See Loonie, Page 33

Rising Canadian dollar could boost

state’s tourism, manufacturing

Loonie takesflight

May 2, 2006: 1 loonie = 90 cents

BY JENNETTE SMITH AND TOM HENDERSONCRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Larry Hundt remembers the “insanely busy” days of the early 1990s whenthe Canadian tour operator had customers clamoring for more shopping toursinto Michigan and New York.

Those days are back.The rising value of the Canadian dollar could be a boost to Michigan on

tourism, retail and manufacturing fronts. The exchange rate means Canadianshave greater purchasing power in the U.S. In turn, it is expected to stop theshift of new manufacturing business to Canada that has occurred in recentyears because of cheaper costs there.

DETROIT BUSINESS MAIN 05-15-06 A 1 CDB 5/12/2006 7:23 PM Page 1

Macomb Twp. center soldA Macomb Township shopping

center was sold. The new ownersplan to expand it.

Landus Development, T.H. MarshConstruction Co. and Redico L.L.C.purchased the 60,000-square-footcenter at M-59 and Romeo PlankRoad and plan a 19,000-square-footexpansion next door. Construc-tion on the new Romeo Commonsdevelopment should start thissummer with a lifestyle center de-sign, said Cary Gitre, principal ofAuburn Hills-based Landus. Thepartners are seeking tenants suchas national specialty retailers and“fast casual” restaurants, Gitresaid. Long-term, they also plan toupgrade the existing center.

The asking price on the shop-ping center on a 9-acre site an-chored by Manhattan Market was$8.4 million, said Joseph Sower-by, partner at Anton, Zorn & Sower-by Inc. in Mt. Clemens and the bro-ker on the deal. Total investmentin the project is expected to beabout $14 million. The seller wasSouthfield-based RPP Associates.

— Jennette Smith

Jacoby’s building soldThe building housing Jacoby’s

German Biergarten at 642 Brush St.

in Detroit was sold April 7 to aninvestor group led by WallyWolff, an investor from Chicagowho also is a co-owner of Detroitrestaurant Small Plates, said for-mer co-owner Dick Bell. Thegroup has a purchase agreementto buy the restaurant pending thetransfer of the liquor license.

Jacoby’s Bistro To-Go, in the FirstNational Building, has not beensold and is not for sale, Bell said.For now, Bell is continuing tomanage Jacoby’s until the liquorlicense is transfered, Wolff said.

Bell said the restaurant sold forless than the initial $1.3 millionasking price. Wolff could not bereached for comment Friday.

— Brent Snavely

State ups Detroit crime effortsResponding to Mayor Kwame

Kilpatrick’s request in his stateof the city message in March,Gov. Jennifer Granholm lastweek announced she was order-ing Michigan State Police and theMichigan Department of Correctionsto put added resources into north-west Detroit and three other “hotspots” of violent crime in the city.

The program targets guncrime, especially parolees illegal-ly involved with weapons, offi-cials said.

The state police and parole offi-cers will work with the city of De-troit, the Wayne County Prosecu-tor’s Office, the Wayne County

Sheriff’s Office, and the U.S. Attor-ney’s Office to arrest bond jumpersand parole violators.

She said the state also is send-ing $1 million to fund overtimefor Detroit police officers andWayne County deputy sheriffs.

— Robert Ankeny

Arbor enters VC agreementArbor Partners L.L.C., an Ann Ar-

bor-based venture-capital compa-ny, has entered into an agree-ment to help find Michiganinvestments for Blue Chip VentureCo. of Cincinnati, one of the Mid-west’s largest VC firms with $600million under management.

Arbor has more than $38 mil-lion under management, includ-ing $32 million in a tech fund itraised in 1999. According to man-aging director Don Walker, thereis some money left in that fund toinvest, but all of it will go to cur-rent portfolio companies.

Blue Chip has opened an officeat Arbor Partners’ downtown AnnArbor headquarters. Walker andfellow managing director Dick Eidswick have each added the ti-tle of Blue Chip venture partner.

— Tom Henderson

Plante & Moran lands Web redesign for auto show

Southfield-based Plante &Moran P.L.L.C. has been awardedthe Web site redesign project for

the 2007 North American Internation-al Auto Show. The site is expectedto be up and running by early fall.

A major factor in the awardwas that the Web site will allowstaff members of the sponsoringDetroit Auto Dealers Association toupdate content easily and withoutany programming experience.

In addition to content andnews, the site will integrate the is-suing of credentials and the sell-ing of tickets and merchandise.

— Tom Henderson

Masco board OKs buybackMasco Corp.’s board of directors

has authorized a buyback of up to50 million common shares, ac-cording to a company statementlast week.

The new repurchase authoriza-tion replaces an existing stockbuyback program, under whichabout 34 million of 50 million au-thorized shares had been repur-chased. Taylor-based Masco(NYSE: MAS) reported about 397million outstanding common

shares as of May 1.— Sheena Harrison

Suicide-prevention foundation to open local office

The Hendersonville, Tenn.-based Jason Foundation in earlyJune plans to open an office atHavenwyck Hospital in AuburnHills.

The foundation, which is affili-ated with Psychiatric Solutions Inc.,the Franklin, Tenn.-based parentcompany of Havenwyck, pro-vides suicide-prevention pro-grams for students in grades 7-12,teachers and parents.

Jason Foundation currently of-fers its programs in a handful ofMichigan schools. But it wouldlike to increase its presence, giventhat the percentage of teens in thestate who attempted suicide in thepast 12 months is 2 percentagepoints higher than the national av-erage of 8.5 percent, Director ofOperations Jason Strickland said.

— Sherri Begin

THIS JUST INTHIS JUST IN

CORRECTIONS■ An incorrect name was given for Kitch Drutchas Wagner Valitutti &Sherbrook P.C. in a story and chart on Page 11 in the May 8 issue. Inaddition, the figures in the table showing the percentage of womenoverall reflect partners and associates, not just partners.■ A story on Page 3 of the May 8 issue misstated the cost of convert-ing an existing printing business into an AlphaGraphics franchise.The correct cost for a conversion is $105,000 to $503,000.

■ From Page 1

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May 15, 2006CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS


CRAIN’SINDEX

CRAIN’SINDEX

BANKRUPTCIES . . . . . . . . . 6BRIEFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23BUSINESS DIARY . . . . . . . 19CALENDAR . . . . . . . . . . . . 28CAPITOL BRIEFINGS . . . . . . 6CHRISTOPHER CRAIN . . . . . 8CLASSIFIED ADS. . . . . . . . 26DIVIDENDS. . . . . . . . . . . . 22EARNINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . 22LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8OPINION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8OTHER VOICES . . . . . . . . . . 9PEOPLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10RUMBLINGS . . . . . . . . . . . 34SMALL BIZ SOLUTIONS . . . 24WEEK IN REVIEW . . . . . . . 34

These organizations appear in thisweek’s Crain’s Detroit Business:

Accuri Instruments Inc. . . . . . . . . . 16Active Aero Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Alcos Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Amber Properties Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Ann Arbor Angels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Arboretum Ventures . . . . . . . . . . . . 13ArborText Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Asterand plc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Automotive Components Holdings . . 6Avidimer Therapeutics Inc. . . . . . . . 11Berry Moorman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Bieri Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Blue Cross Blue Shield . . . . . . . . . 24BlueGill Technologies . . . . . . . . . . 13Camelot Ventures L.L.C. . . . . . . . . 18Cleantech Venture Network L.L.C. . 14CMS Energy Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Comerica Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Comshare Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Deloitte & Touche . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Delphi Technology Inc. . . . . . . . . . . 30Detroit Economic Growth Corp. . . . . 3Detroit Regional Chamber . . . . . . . 33Dickinson Wright P.L.L.C. . . . . . . . . 21DMCVB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Downtown Detroit Partnership . . . . . 3DTE Energy Ventures . . . . . . . . . . . 14EDF Ventures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Endurance Ventures L.L.C. . . . . . . . 12Energy Conversion Devices . . . . . . . 14Ensure Technologies Inc. . . . . . . . . 15ePrize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Esperion Therapeutics . . . . . . . . . . 11Flagship Ventures . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Ford Motor Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Fourth Wave Technologies Inc. . . . . 16Friedman Real Estate Group . . . . . 32Game Change Fund . . . . . . . . . . . . 12General Growth Properties Inc. . . . . 1Great Lakes Angels Inc. . . . . . . . . . 16Great Lakes Crossing . . . . . . . . . . . 33Halo Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24HandyLab Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Hendricks & Partners . . . . . . . . . . 32Jonathan Witz & Associates . . . . . . . 3JPRA Architects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Lear Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Lormax Stern Development Co. . . . . 32Lorro Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29MEDC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Michigan State University . . . . . . . . 3Miller, Canfield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Motown Winter Blast . . . . . . . . . . . . 3NextEnergy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14OESA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Plymouth Management Co. . . . 12, 13Quicken Loans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18RPM Ventures L.L.C. . . . . . . . . 12, 13Rubicon Genomics Inc. . . . . . . . . . 15SBAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Self-Guided Systems Inc. . . . . . . . . 16Sensicore Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Somanetics Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16SpaceForm Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Spirit Shop Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17STM Power Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Sun Communities Inc. . . . . . . . . . . 18SupplyOn North America Inc. . . . . . 11TechTown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30University of Michigan . . . . . . . . . . 11Village Green Management Co. . . . 32Wayne State University . . . . . . 16, 30Windward Associates L.L.C. . . . . . . 16

May 15, 2006 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

MSU sets sights on $150MBY TOM HENDERSONCRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

A Michigan State University profes-sor hopes to use the American Com-petitiveness Initiative that Presi-dent Bush announced in his State ofthe Union message in January tofund a five-year, $150 million job-re-training program that would targetbusiness opportunities and partner-ships in Russia and former Soviet-

bloc countries.The president has asked Congress

to approve $5.9 billion in funding forthe initiative in the 2007 federal fis-cal year that begins Oct. 1, and for$136 billion over 10 years.

“That’s a huge amount of money.We just want to make sure Michigangets its fair share,” said ThomasMaleck, associate professor of civilengineering, of the new program,called the Michigan Economic Engi-

neering and Education Gateway.Gov. Jennifer Granholm endorsed

the program in a release Thursday,saying: “(It) is indicative of thestate’s willingness to be an aggres-sive player in the global economy. Itagain signals to the rest of the worldthat we have the business and intel-lectual know-how to compete andcontribute around the world.”

Maleck said the program has nostate funding, yet. He said if the ini-

tiative is approved by Congress andrules for applying are announced, hewants to have done the homeworknecessary to seek out federal fundingas quickly as possible.

“We’re trying to get in position totake advantage of it,” he said.

Maleck said the program is de-signed to help shift Michigan from amanufacturing-based economy to aknowledge-based economy, by re-training white-collar and technicalworkers who have been laid off orterminated. “Most of the attention

DON KUREK

Exposed ductwork inside the new Amber Oak Townhomes lends a loft-like feel tothe units. The $10.5 million project in Royal Oak is the latest venture for brothersAllen (left) and Jerry Amber, whose father co-founded Amber Properties Co.

Amber’s lofty goals

Push is on to continue Motown Winter BlastBY ROBERT ANKENYCRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Motown Winter Blast, a success during Super BowlXL, could become an annual event for downtownDetroit.

With widespread support for continuing thedowntown carnival that had its tryout in 2005,what remains is getting money and coordination,said George Jackson, president of the Detroit Eco-nomic Growth Corp.

“We have the best guy around to lead this inJonathan Witz,” Jackson said.

Witz, president of Pontiac-based Jonathan Witz &Associates Inc., which produced the first two Win-ter Blasts, hopes to repeat the successes.

Witz, also producer of theArts, Beats and Eats Labor Dayfestival in Pontiac, hopes towork with the Downtown DetroitPartnership and gain broad pri-vate and public support for theevent.

“We have officially signed itover to (Witz),” said Susan Sher-er, former executive director ofthe Super Bowl XL Host

Committee, now working as a consultant. “I thinkhe has every intention to keep it going. Even inthe worst weather conditions, there was a realhunger. Sponsors saw that, too.”

Witz, interviewed by phone last week whiletraveling in Ireland, said that working with theDowntown Partnership is an important step be-cause it will help establish a bond with downtownbusinesses and major companies.

“We think we can create a magical event that isa continuation of the excitement, with a slightlysmaller footprint and smaller budget,” he said.The 2005 event operated with a $1.8 million budget,while the 2006 Super Bowl version spent $3 mil-lion, he said. City officials have estimated that $1.5million is needed to do it again.

“I think it’s important that Motown WinterBlast find a way to create excitement outside of

$10.5M project adds to company’s growthBY ANJALI FLUKER


Brothers George and Paul Ambercreated a niche by designing, building,acquiring and managing apartmentswithin a small radius of their Clawsonheadquarters from 1960 through the1980s.

The late George Amber’s sons, Jerryand Allen Amber, are carrying on hislegacy by adding the latest trend inrental housing — multistory unitswith exposed ductwork, steel stairsand other loft-like features.

Amber Properties Co. specializes inapartment and townhouse rental unitsin Berkley, Clawson, Royal Oak andTroy. And the company expects to seegrowth of at least $1 million this year,thanks in part to an improving rentalmarket and a $10.5 million townhouseproject now under construction in Roy-al Oak.

The first phase of the project, whichincludes 36 units, is expected to becompleted by the end of the month, and27 units are rented, Amber said. The

entire project is expected to be com-pleted within the year, he said.

“There are folks that have job trans-fers, or may only be in town for a cou-ple years, and folks out of college thatare just starting out who want new loft-style living in an urban area,” Ambersaid. “We wanted to have a product forthem. There really is no other loft-stylerental in the area in a price range thatwe think is quite competitive.”

The company began with two em-ployees — the elder Ambers — and asingle complex, the Amber Oak Apart-ments in Royal Oak. It has since grownthrough acquisitions and developmentto include 23 properties at 16 locations,

See Amber, Page 32

Program targets opportunities in Eastern Europe

See MSU, Page 33

AMBER PROPERTIESHeadquarters: Clawson.2005 sales: $5 million.Owners: Jerry and Allen Amber.Number of properties: 23.Locations: Royal Oak (11), Clawson(10), Berkley (1), Troy (1).

Witz

See Winter Blast, Page 30

New leaf: Upturn inMichigan allows CMS tocut trees and noncoreassets. Page 4.

Small Biz Solutions:Benefits can makedifference in recruitingbest talent. Page 24.


TAKING STOCK

BY AMY LANECAPITOL CORRESPONDENT

LANSING — A turn of tide inMichigan’s electric-choice pro-gram is giving Consumers EnergyCo. a side benefit: more money totrim trees.

Thanks in part to revenue fromcustomers who have returned to itselectric service from alternativesuppliers, the Jackson-based utilityis doubling,from $20 millionto $40.3 million,its spending toupgrade distrib-ution, cleartrees and con-trol vegetationaround its pow-er lines.

“We’vestepped up ourtree-trimming investments thisyear to improve our service,” saidDave Joos, president and CEO ofConsumers Energy’s parent CMSEnergy Corp. (NYSE: CMS). “Trees,and tree branches in interferencewith our lines, are by far the high-est contributor to customer out-ages in the state.”

Funded by $28.3 million in a re-cent rate increase and $12 millionfrom returning-customer revenuegains, the aggressive line clear-ance is one of CMS’ priorities thisyear as it continues to focus on itscore electric and natural-gas utili-ty businesses and shed nonstrate-gic assets.

Joos will take that familiar mes-sage to shareholders on Friday atCMS’ annual meeting. “Largely,it’ll be that we continue to imple-ment the (back-to-basics) plan thatwe laid out several years ago.”

The company plans this year tosell about $150 million in interna-tional assets, adding to a tally ofmore than $4.26 billion in assetsales since 2001. Joos wouldn’tspecify pending 2006 deals, but po-tential sales include a power plantin India, distribution companiesin Venezuela and Brazil, and pow-er-plant and gas-pipeline assets inArgentina.

Word of the first 2006 sale camelast week, when Home Depot Inc.announced it was buying CMSlending subsidiary EnerBank USA.The 37-employee operation, basedin Salt Lake City, provides home-improvement loans that remodel-ing and trade contractors can offerto their customers.

Neither CMS nor Atlanta-basedHome Depot (NYSE: HD) disclosedterms of the transaction. But Ener-Bank isn’t a major CMS piece.Some who follow the companyweren’t even aware it existed, andEnerBank represents less than 1percent of CMS’ total revenue,which was nearly $6.3 billion in2005.

Catherine Shin, analyst at NewYork-based CreditSights Inc., saidCMS is “headed in the right direc-tion” and has “eliminated a lot of

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Upturn in Michigan lets CMS cuttrees — and noncore assets

their noncore international assets.”Most unregulated ventures that re-main in CMS’ portfolio are stable,cash-flow-generating projects, shesaid. For example, CMS’ large JorfLasfar power plant in Morocco gen-erates more than half of Morocco’selectricity supply under a 30-yearpower-purchase contract.

Shin said it’s in CMS’ favor tohave businesses independent ofMichigan’s economy. And CMS iscontinuing to target debt reduction,with a goal of reducing parent-com-pany and nonutility debt from thecurrent $2.5 billion to $1.5 billion bythe end of 2008. CMS’ total debt, in-cluding utility operations, is $7.4billion and the company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 71 percent.

Challenges include the highprice of natural gas, which hasstressed not only Consumers Ener-gy customers but the utility’s cashflow. “We have to generate morefrom the business, or borrowings… to pay for that gas,” Joos said.

Sustained high natural-gasprices are also affecting the futureprofitability of CMS’ Midland Co-generation Venture investment, forwhich CMS took a $385 million,$1.75-a-share noncash after-taxcharge last fall.

CMS has a 49 percent interest inthe partnership that leases and op-erates the natural-gas-fired plant,which produces electricity andsteam. Consumers Energy isMCV’s main electricity customer.Under a 35-year contract that be-gan in 1990, the plant sells electric-ity to Consumers and supplieselectricity and steam to Dow Chemi-cal Co.

The partnership that owns MCVin November said it expects to in-

cur losses because its power-sup-ply contract doesn’t allow for thefull recovery of its natural-gas fuelcosts at current and forecastprices. The partnership wrotedown $1.2 billion of MCV property,plant and equipment; CMS’ shareof that charge, after tax, was $385million.

Charles Fishman, analyst withA.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. in St.Louis, said the Midland venture“used to be one of the most effi-cient plants around,” but it hasaged and now with high natural-gas prices is losing money. He saidhe thinks the venture could file forbankruptcy, an event that he saidwould not have a material finan-cial impact on CMS but could gen-erate news headlines that couldhurt its stock price.

In an interview last week, Joossaid the MCV’s “economics be-come marginal with the type ofnatural gas prices that we’re see-ing today.” He has said that the vi-ability of MCV is continuously ex-amined.

Another item analysts arewatching is the pending sale ofConsumers’ west Michigan nu-clear power plant. CMS is takingbids for Palisades plant and hopesto complete a sale in 2007.

Joos said CMS expects the bookvalue of the plant at the time thesale closes to be a little more than$300 million.

A condition of the sale is that thebuyer offer a 10-year-to-15-yearagreement “that we find attractivefor our customers,” for the utilityto continue purchasing the plant’spower, Joos said.

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

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STREET TALKTHIS WEEK’S STOCK TOTALS: 22 GAINERS, 51 LOSERS, 8 UNCHANGED

General Motors Corp. $26.09 $23.18 12.55Detrex Corp. 8.40 8.00 5.00Covansys Corp. 14.06 13.44 4.61TRW Automotive Holdings Corp. 28.03 26.85 4.40Ford Motor Co. 7.11 6.93 2.60Catuity Inc. 6.44 6.30 2.22Michigan Heritage Bancorp Inc. 12.50 12.25 2.04Community Central Bank Corp. 11.80 11.58 1.93TechTeam Global Inc. 10.50 10.38 1.16American Axle & Manufacturing 17.78 17.60 1.02

North Pointe Holdings Corp. $11.45 $13.19 -13.19Somanetics Corp. 16.12 18.14 -11.14Rockwell Medical Technologies Inc. 6.98 7.77 -10.17Champion Enterprises Inc. 14.63 16.28 -10.14Rofin-Sinar Technologies Inc. 56.45 62.71 -9.98Visteon Corp. 7.34 7.93 -7.44Pulte Homes Inc. 34.42 37.05 -7.10Caraco Pharmaceutical Labs Ltd. 12.00 12.90 -6.98ProQuest Co. 10.66 11.45 -6.90ArvinMeritor Inc. 16.19 17.29 -6.36

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.

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BANKRUPTCIESBANKRUPTCIESThe following businesses filed forChapter 7 or 11 protection in U.S.Bankruptcy Court in Detroit May 5-11.Under Chapter 11, a company files areorganization plan that the courtmust approve. Chapter 7 involves to-tal liquidation.Schaefer Collision Inc., 7109 Rosedale,Allen Park, voluntary Chapter 7. As-sets and liabilities not available.Cottage Inn Pizza-Taylor Inc., 7486Meadow Lane, Ypsilanti, voluntaryChapter 7. Assets: $12,000; liabilities:$120,697.32.Innovative Group Global Inc., akaRichardson Sales and Consulting, akaRichardson Development Company,aka Refabco Screw Products, aka Re-fabco, aka Beaver Industries, 37900Mound Road, Sterling Heights, volun-tary Chapter 11. Assets and liabilitiesnot available.Alcar Electric Inc., 24401 MaplehurstDrive, Clinton Township, voluntaryChapter 11. Assets and liabilities notavailable.

— Compiled by Laura Bommarito

Incentives sought for ex-Visteon plantsLANSING — Ford Motor

Co. is lobbying for legisla-tion that could help itbring new jobs and invest-ment to Michigan and at-tract buyers for former Vis-teon Corp. plants.

Two bills, passed by aHouse committee lastweek and on a fast trackthrough the Legislature,would expand the MichiganEconomic Growth Authorityprogram and allow newtypes of projects to qualify for theMEGA single-business-tax credits.

The bills could help retain and

expand Ford’s SoutheastMichigan proving groundsand also are seen as key toturning plants formerlyowned by Visteon over tonew owners who will con-tinue the operations.

“Given the current eco-nomic conditions and thechallenges of the auto in-dustry, we would be hope-ful that these would moveforward quickly,” saidCharlie Pryde, Ford’s gov-

ernmental-relations manager.A Ford-operated business entity,

Automotive Components Holdings

L.L.C., last year acquired 17 Visteonplants, and six offices and ware-houses in the U.S. and Mexico. Formost of the sites, including plantsin Saline, Plymouth Township, Uti-ca, Milan and Monroe, AutomotiveComponents seeks buyers that willcontinue to supply Ford with auto-motive components and systems.

But in selling the plants, Automo-tive Components expects the hourlyworkers may stay with the compa-ny as employees who could beleased to the new plant owner. Thatwould mean the new owner couldnot count the jobs as its own to meetMEGA employment requirements.

House Bill 6035, sponsored byRick Baxter, R-Hanover, wouldamend the MEGA law’s definitionof a full-time job to apply to suchemployees when plants are bought.

“This is a way that you’re nottechnically creating jobs, but youare retaining jobs,” Baxter said.

The bill does not automaticallygrant MEGA tax credits. Projectswould still have to go through theusual review and approval process.

But Della DiPietro, AutomotiveComponents’ director of public af-fairs, said the availability of thecredits is an important “sweetener”to selling the plants.

House Bill 6034, sponsored by BillHuizenga, R-Zeeland, redefinesqualified high-technology business-es that can receive MEGA credits toinclude one or more sites at whichthe business or a subsidiary main-tains jobs. That could let Ford applyfor a high-tech MEGA credit to keepits proving grounds in Michigan.

Pryde said the company is look-ing at consolidating its Michiganand Arizona proving grounds. Ifthey are consolidated in Michigan,it could mean up to $40 million innew investment and up to 100 newjobs, as well as retaining the 200jobs currently at the WashingtonTownship site, he said.

The bills’ supporters includeGeneral Motors Corp., Daimler-Chrysler Corp. and the Michigan Eco-nomic Development Corp.

Wellness bills get Senate OKHealth insurers could offer well-

ness coverage and rebates to em-ployers whose workers participatein wellness programs, under billspassed last week by the Senate.

Senate Bills 848 and 849, spon-sored by Tom George, R-Portage,could promote healthy behavior andencourage employers to providesuch programs, supporters say.

“We definitely think it’s a goodidea,” said Wendy Hofmeyer, direc-tor of health policy and human re-sources for the Michigan Chamber ofCommerce. “Right now, in the small-group market, employers don’t seeany sort of return on their dollar forimplementing wellness programs.”

Under the bills, rebates could beup to 10 percent of paid premiums.

Comings & goings■■ Daniel DeGraaf has been named

executive director and CEO of theMichigan Concrete Paving Association.He replaces Robert Risser, who hasbecome executive director of theConcrete Reinforcing Steel Institute.

■■ Tadarial Sturdivant is resigningas director of the Michigan State Po-lice, to become deputy director forthe Wayne County Department of Chil-dren & Family Services.

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

CAPITOL BRIEFINGSAmy Lane


May 15, 2006 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Raymond & Prokop law firm to close this summerBY ROBERT ANKENYCRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Southfield-based business lawfirm Raymond & Prokop P.C. will endoperations soon, managing part-ner Eric Nemeth said.

“June 30 is at least a tentativedate,” Nemeth said, “but we’ll

know a lot morenext week. Weare still in somedetailed discus-sions, andthings are a lit-tle sketchy.

“We’re work-ing real hard tofind the best fitsand opportuni-ties for a lot of

very good people,” he said. “But Ican’t comment on any of those un-til things are signed and ap-proved.”

Collapse of the 60-year-old lawfirm has more than 30 lawyers anddozens of secretaries, paralegalsand other support staff seekingnew jobs.

Karen Yancura, the firm admin-istrator, on Thursday sent a masse-mail to members of the Associa-tion of Legal Administrators Metro De-troit Chapter.

Her e-mail asked her peers atother law firms for help in placingthe soon-to-be unemployed staffers.The missive said, in part:

“Raymond & Prokop has decid-ed to discontinue the entity. Wehave a really great, knowledgeableand enthusiastic crew of people,”she wrote, detailing positions andskills of secretaries, paralegalsand accountants. “Last but notleast, one firm administrator andone human resources/facilities

manager.”The demise of the firm reflects

difficulties faced today, by profes-sional firms as well as manufac-turers, in keeping a nimble busi-ness plan to adjust to changingmarket conditions.

Nemeth said the firm had been inmerger talks recently but “the dealdid not materialize.” He declined toidentify the other firm or firms.

Robert Forrest, a former Ray-mond & Prokop equity partner,left last October after 23 years withthe firm to join Detroit-based KerrRussell and Weber plc.

He said the most recent merger

talks had involved Detroit-basedClark Hill plc. Maureen Conway,Clark Hill marketing manager,said the firm does not comment onwhether there have been mergertalks with other firms.

Nemeth said, “We are starting toget some departures, and we’restill assessing how to proceed.” Hesaid some lawyers are finding indi-vidual spots while others may relo-cate in “subsets,” but declined todiscuss specifics.

Nemeth said the dissolution ofthe firm was caused by “a combi-nation of events, and is a reflectionon the marketplace today. We

reached a business decision andfollowed through on it.”

One possible factor is the 10-yearlease through March 2010 on itsquarters in Oxford Pointe OfficeCenter at 26300 Northwestern Hwy.

According to CoStar, a real estateinformation database, Raymond &Prokop has 39,000 square feetleased. Space in the building cur-rently leases at $20 a square foot.

When Oxford Pointe was built inApril 2000, rental rates for newlyconstructed office space were $23to $24 a square foot, said SteveMorris, principal at GVA Strategisin Southfield.

Morris said today’s soft officemarket poses a challenge to thebuilding, but it is in a good loca-tion and has a good design.

Nemeth called the offices “a pre-mier location and a great build-ing,” and said the firm is currentlyin discussions with the landlord,Troy-based Kirco. “I can’t commentat this point, because a number ofthings are in flux,” Nemeth said.

Kirco could not be reached forcomment on Friday.

Jennette Smith also contributedto this report.

Robert Ankeny: (313) 446-0404,[email protected]

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS

WORKSHOP SET FOR MAY 23“Is Your Business Bird-FluPrepared?” is the question askedby the ESD: The Engineering Societyof Detroit’s May 23 EmergencyPreparedness Workshop inPontiac.As the government and the healthcare industry prepare for apossible flu pandemic, thefollowing professionals will helpbusinesses prepare their ownemergency response plan if the fluor another disaster strikes: GaryMach, associate, qualityadministrator, Harley EllisDeveraux; Mike Loper, emergencymanagement specialist, OaklandCounty Emergency Response &Preparedness; James Buford,director of Homeland Security,Wayne County; and Lynne Osborne,manager of health & safetyworkplace programs, American RedCross, Southeastern Michigan.Crain’s Detroit Business is aworkshop sponsor.The workshop is 7 a.m.-noon at theMarriott Centerpoint in Pontiac.Cost is $75 for ESD members,$95 for others, or $142 fornonmembers to join the societyand attend the workshop.For more information and toregister, visit www.esd.org, or callNancy Strodl, (248) 353-0735,Ext. 4152, or [email protected].

— Joanne Scharich

Nemeth


Editor:In regard to your April 17 arti-

cle, “Retailers leery of state com-puter buying plan,” the state ofMichigan should consider the fol-lowing. According to the state’sreasoning, employees need com-puter skills to get a job in the fu-ture, and one way to improve theseskills is to have the state become,in effect, a computer dealer.

If this is true, I contend that thesesame employees will also need carsto get to those jobs. Why doesn’t thestate of Michigan put out a contractto purchase 100,000 cars and trucksfrom Ford or GM, and then sell themto all comers (businesses or individ-uals) so that we are all guaranteedlower-cost transportation? Of coursethe actual contracts to deliver thesevehicles will likely go to the largercar dealers, leaving the rest of thedealers to wonder where their cus-tomers went. I would bet most cardealers would cry foul at such a plan.

And while we’re at it, all thoseemployees need food as well. Why

doesn’t the state get into the fooddistribution business? We all knowthat without a full belly, employeeswill not perform at their best. Andof course we all need gasoline. Whydoesn’t the state contract to pur-chase several hundred million gal-lons of low-price gasoline and thendistribute that through hand-picked retailers?

My company sells computer net-work systems and services tosmall and medium-size businessesso we are unlikely to be seriously

affected. However, the mom-and-pop computer dealers, of whichthere are hundreds in this state,are likely to be devastated.

While studies have shown thatmost new jobs are being created bysmall businesses, this poorly con-ceived plan shows once again whyit is so hard to be a successfulsmall business in our fine state.Combined with higher minimumwages, and the onerous SBT tax, itis no wonder why Michigan hasone of the highest unemploymentrates in the country.

Terrence WeadockPresident

Dominant Systems Corp.Ann Arbor

U.S. myopic about oilEditor:

I applaud Keith Crain’s May 1column, “They are nothing morethan alibis.” (May 1) The Crain’sstaff should e-mail it 10 times toevery congressman, government

OPINION

New video rulesmust protect public

obbying is fast and furious over rules that could changethe way Michigan regulates companies selling video ser-vices to consumers.

The battle pits local governments and cable TV companies(which already sell Internet-based phone services) againstAT&T, which wants to start selling video services withouthaving to jump through the legal hoop of negotiating withevery municipality in Michigan to do so.

The state Legislature is considering legislation that basi-cally supports AT&T’s quest. AT&T hopes to bundle all ser-vices — phone, Internet, video and more — just as Comcastdoes (Comcast’s first-quarter net income tripled this year inlarge part because of the increase in bundled-service revenue).Clearly, for these telecom heavyweights, much is at stake.

Michigan simply could punt this to the feds; Congress isconsidering its own version of video-franchise legislation. Butif a state law is passed, these provisions should be included:

■ First, public-access cable stations are one of the greatpublic benefits of requiring cable companies to negotiate fran-chises with individual local governments. From televised localgovernment meetings to oddball programming, public-accesschannels have served an important public purpose. Theirfunding should continue. So should some version of “franchisefees” based on the provider’s gross revenues. That’s the quidpro quo for access to public rights-of-way.

■ Second, legislation should offer an overall template for aprotocol for access to those rights-of-way. It makes no sense to-day to require AT&T — or any other company — to deal withhundreds of local government units one by one. On the otherhand, if AT&T or any other company violates that template,there should be stiff penalties that would go directly to the lo-cal government unit. Cable providers say a master statewidefranchise is unfair because they went through the ordeal offranchising one city at a time. The only way to void those pactswould be an act of Congress, so that’s another reason to seek afederal solution in the first place.

■ Third, any company that seeks public right-of-way accessto deliver a service should be required to offer products thatgive comparable service to all potential customers at roughlythe same price. In other words, if AT&T doesn’t offer a fibernetwork to reach all households, it should offer other options— satellite or wireless — to offer the same service.

■ Fourth, if the Michigan market is so lucrative, why notuse this fight as a platform to encourage investment not just inbuilding a new network but adding high-tech research, designand engineering jobs to support future technical developmenthere? After all, we’ve got a few engineers in the job market.

So why computers, exactly?LETTERS

OPINION

LETTERS

Sooner or later, we’re all goingto find ourselves or a loved one ina local hospital. Perhaps it’s thebirth of a child or an unfortunateturn of fate, but we will all come todepend on and appreciate the pro-fessional nurses who provide somuch of health care.

But there is a problem: Our hos-pitals don’t have enough of them.Detroit area hospitals employ morethan 4,000 Canadian nurses whotravel each day from Windsor. Andwe may be importing more talent inthe future. State lawmakers, incommittee, are debating legislation

that would let out-of-state nurses work inMichigan without aMichigan license.

Perhaps these are nec-essary short-term mea-sures needed to solve thecurrent problem. How-ever, the shortage of reg-istered nurses in Michi-gan alone is predicted toreach 18,000 by 2015. Per-haps this is as much anopportunity as it is a crisis.

The Michigan economy isfoundering, the auto industry’s

troubles are forcingcompanies to cut thou-sands of jobs as they tryto reduce costs and re-store profits. The statehas lost 20,000 manufac-turing jobs in the pastyear, and unemploy-ment is 6.6 percentstatewide and evenhigher in Detroit.

So here’s the discon-nect: We have an unem-

ployed but technically skilled work-force available. And we have anumber of nursing jobs available in

what will soon become the state’slargest industry — health care. Howhave we failed to connect the two?

“While the nursing shortage isreal and extremely critical, the goodnews is that it’s an easy problem tofix,” says Barbara Redman, dean ofthe College of Nursing at WayneState University. “It just takes mon-ey: money to recruit, retain and ex-pand the number of faculty, whichin turn increases the number ofqualified students who can be ac-cepted into nursing programs.”

Retraining qualified candidatesfor nursing is far preferable to im-

porting more talent from outsidethe state.

Lack of state funds has forcedsome nursing programs to come upwith creative solutions to addressthe shortage. Those have includedmoving some academic programsinto hospital settings to take advan-tage of senior nurses as faculty.Other partnerships have healthcare systems paying tuition forprospective nurses and forgivingthe student loans for those whoagree to work in that health system.

Creative solutions like this are ef-fective, but we need more of them.

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

CHRISTOPHER CRAIN:CHRISTOPHER CRAIN: Turn laid-off workers into nurses

L


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May 15, 2006 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS Page 29

Birmingham to look at more liquor licensesBY BRENT SNAVELY


The Birmingham City Commissionvoted 5-2 last Monday to direct thecity staff to draft legislation thatwould relax the city’s existingliquor license policy, City Attor-ney Timothy Currier said.

Proponents argue that changesare necessary because the city islosing retailers while full-servicerestaurants are eager to enter butcannot because there are only 17liquor licenses permitted in thecity and none are for sale.

The staff now is drafting twopotential ordinances, Currier

said, and may introduce them byJune. The first would allow theowner of a liquor license for theoperation of a restaurant any-where in Oakland County totransfer that license into Birm-ingham as long as the owneragrees to operate as a bistro.

An early version of the propos-al defined bistros as restaurantswith 65 seats or less that encour-age outdoor dining and serve al-cohol at tables, as opposed tobars, but the exact requirementscould change.

The second would allow an op-erator to transfer a liquor licenseinto the city if the operator also

commits to a substantial econom-ic development initiative.

A pending request to transfer aresort license into Birminghamfor a Hilton Hotel is one example ofa project that would fall under theeconomic development ordi-nance, Currier said.

A resort license is designed to at-tract and serve tourists and othervisitors. However, Currier said theeconomic development ordinancecould apply to Class C restaurantliquor licenses as long as a sub-stantial economic developmentcomponent is part of the plan.

Brent Snavely: (313) 446-0405,[email protected]

Lorro being liquidated

Wayne County opens One-StopBusiness Resource Center

Wayne County has established aOne-Stop Business Resource Center,where county businesses can re-ceive assistance with WayneCounty programs and servicesplus help and advice with businessdevelopment, growth, expansionand attraction issues.

The center is in the MetropolitanCenter for High Technology Buildingat 2727 Second Ave., Suite 120, inDetroit, just south of the MasonicTemple.

Operated by the Greater WayneCounty Economic Development Corp.,the center has support from theMichigan Small Business Develop-ment & Technology Center and theMichigan Economic DevelopmentCorp.

Staff includes Lawrence Jack-son, executive director; Terry Wil-son, intake coordinator; and twoWayne State University financestudents. A deputy director is to behired soon.

The office includes worksta-tions, a computer lab and libraryand will operate between 9 a.m.and 4 p.m. Monday through Fri-day. Special consultations can bemade by appointment.

The phone number is (866) 56-1-STOP (7687). The Web site iswww.waynecounty.com/onestop.

— Robert Ankeny

BY ROBERT SHEREFKINCRAIN NEWS SERVICE

Robert Llorens is liquidating hisautomotive supply company, LorroInc., according to documents filedin U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Detroit.

A plant guard at the Lorro head-quarters told Automotive News theDetroit operations ceased businesslast month. The company was aminority-owned supplier of ener-gy-absorbing plastic foam prod-ucts for automotive bumpers.

Llorens, who is CEO, and hisstaff did not return numerouscalls, nor did his attorney, Ran-dolph Wright, a partner with theDetroit firm Berry Moorman P.C.

Lorro filed for Chapter 7 liquida-tion April 27.

Lorro supplied General MotorsCorp., Ford Motor Co. and theChrysler group.

Lorro, which billed itself as theworld’s largest supplier of energy-

absorbing foam, sold nearly all ofits manufacturing assets and alarge ownership stake in the com-pany in 1998 to Allen Park-basedMeridian Automotive Systems Inc.Meridian in April 2005 soughtChapter 11 creditor protection inBankruptcy Court in Wilmington,Del.

Meridian CEO Richard Newsteddid not return calls.

The company estimated its cred-itors at more than 200, accordingto court documents. Assets wereestimated at between $10 millionand $50 million, as were debts.

From Automotive News

Beaumont opens learning centerWilliam Beaumont Hospitals has

opened a $4.5 million surgicallearning center at its Royal Oakcampus.

The hospital says the center,which includes technology to trainsurgeons on patient simulators, isthe first of its kind in the world.

The center, named for ArborDrugs Inc. founder Eugene Apple-baum and his wife, Marcia, wasfunded in part by a $2.5 million giftfrom the couple.

— Sherri Begin


EVER STOP TO THINK?With all the talent in Detroit,

isn’t it time we got it together?

A CreateDetroit Eventfor Creative Professionals

Special Guest:Bill Ludwig, Chief Creative Officer, Campbell-Ewald

Tickets are $20 and are available at CreateDetroit.com or at the door

Thursday, May 25, 2006 - 6 to 9pmThe Hub

1344 Broadway, Downtown Detroit

Sponsored by:

May 15, 2006CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESSPage 30

Winter Blast: Push is on to make event happen annually■ From Page 3

festival boundaries,” he said.Witz said he intends to invite

Olympia Entertainment and Ford Fieldofficials to plan and schedule sportsand concert events to take place atthe same time as Winter Blast.

“To make this into a true region-al winter carnival” that can ap-proach the impact it had duringthe Super Bowl, Witz said, “we

can’t just do it outside.”Witz said he has had “good con-

versations with some potentialsponsors.” He wants to garner sup-port from outside traditional cor-porate donors.

“We want some help from theDEGC, the Detroit Metro Convention& Visitors Bureau and the MichiganEconomic Development Corp. There

will be enough going on to justifytheir support.”

Witz said he’ll be approachingmore members of the corporatecommunity in the weeks ahead.

“It’s a difficult time, but we canmake a great case that the WinterBlast can be really important as anongoing economic impact to down-town, and achieve an ongoing posi-tive image, showcasing the contin-ued improvements,” he said.

“It is so impactful to draw a half-million visitors in the middle ofwinter, showing that Detroit hasyear-round potential. It supports aquality of life throughout the en-tire region; people throughout thetri-county will get benefits.”

According to the Super Bowl XLHost Committee, attendance for

the 2005 event was more than275,000. This year’s event drewmore than 1 million.

Included, he said, will be “atremendous amount of free, fami-ly-oriented activities.”

Witz said that Mayor KwameKilpatrick has given his “100 per-cent backing and support” for con-tinuing the project.

“Motown Winter Blast was anoverwhelming success during Su-per Bowl, and I wholeheartedlyembrace the idea of our city onceagain hosting the winter celebra-tion,” Kilpatrick said in a state-ment to Crain’s. “I look forward tomeeting with Jonathan and histeam to discuss their plan.”

Ann Lang, president of theDowntown Partnership, said the

event should be resurrected.“George Jackson has hit the nail

on the head,” she said. “We’ll needthe sponsor-ships to take itto the right lev-el.”

She said theevent would notbe on quite thesame scale as itwas for SuperBowl XL. “Thereare a lot of peo-ple who want to

see this continue; it’s a great timeof year for that kind of event.”

Reporter Jennette Smith con-tributed to this report.

Robert Ankeny: (313) 446-0404,[email protected]

Delphi spinout to receive technology awardBY TOM HENDERSONCRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

SpaceForm Inc., a Delphi Technolo-gy Inc. spinout that has been atTechTown, the Wayne State Universi-ty-affiliated research and technolo-gy park, since September, will benamed Wednesday night as win-ner of the Corporate PartnershipAward at the Michigan Technolo-gy Leaders 2006 symposium at theRoyal Park Hotel in Rochester.

“We’re working to free up tech-nology and put it in an entrepre-neurial environment to create newjobs. And SpaceForm is the posterchild,” said Jayson Pankin, thenew-venture creation specialist atDTI.

DTI is a wholly owned sub-sidiary of Delphi Corp. that helpscommercialize its technologiesand intellectual property.

The symposium, which runsTuesday through Thursday, issponsored in part by Automation Al-ley, Wayne State and Walsh College.

SpaceForm’s niche is deforma-tion resistance welding, a newprocess that joins metals of differ-ent thicknesses and grades and al-lows metal tubes to be joined toeach other or to solids and sheetsof metal.

Traditionally, such welding, de-pending on what needs to be at-tached to what, is difficult, unreli-able or impossible.

SpaceForm is funded by DTI, theMichigan Technology Tri-Corridor, Au-tomation Alley, Wayne State andgrants by NASA’s Man on the Moonand Man to Mars projects. DelphiCorp. has received nearly $2.2 mil-lion in grants from NASA to devel-op the welding process, which itshares with SpaceForm.

NASA hopes that by allowinghollow tubes to be welded, vehiclesfor future moon and Mars mis-sions can be made much lighter.Earthbound applications includelighter cars, trucks and wheel-chairs.

Pankin said SpaceForm hopes togenerate revenue through federaland state grants, joint ventureswith other manufacturers, licens-ing its technology and researchprojects for manufacturing cus-tomers.

SpaceForm has a marketing spe-

cialist, Alain Tiette, on loan fromWSU as part of an $87,000 grant. Itwill begin hiring employees later

this year, said Pankin.Tom Henderson: (313) 446-0337,

[email protected]

Lang


BY LINDSAY CHAPPELLCRAIN NEWS SERVICE

Take it as a small ray of sunlighton a cloudy Detroit day: Sales andprofits of North American-basedsuppliers improved in the firstquarter compared with the samequarter last year.

An Automotive News survey of 16suppliers that have reported first-quarter results showed combinednet earnings improved 100.9 per-cent to $552.3 million. Combinedrevenue for those companies im-proved 0.5 percent to $34.36 billion.

But the results require a lot offootnotes.

Only one company operating un-der Chapter 11 protection, Federal-Mogul Corp., has reported its results.Other companies in Chapter 11 pro-ceedings — Delphi Corp., Collins &Aikman Corp., Dana Corp. and TowerAutomotive Inc. — have not yet dis-closed first-quarter results.

But for most suppliers not inChapter 11, the first quarterlooked better.

“The first quarter, by and large,hasn’t been too bad,” said MarkHogan, president of Magna Interna-tional Inc., which is poised to be-

come North America’s largest sup-plier this year.

In an interview last week,Hogan said projections for 16.8million to 17 million U.S. light-ve-hicle sales in 2006 should hold.

“Barring unforeseen forces, po-litical or economic, I think we’ll beOK,” he said, speaking about theindustry in general.

Visteon Corp., now grindingthrough layoffs and plant closings,reported a first-quarter net profitafter five years of losses. It postedearnings of $3 million for the quar-ter, compared with a loss of $163million in the first quarter of 2005.

TRW Automotive Holdings Corp. sur-prised analysts with what wouldhave been an increase of more than100 percent in first-quarter earn-ings, if a one-time expense for bondredemption were excluded.

Lear Corp., ArvinMeritor Inc. andGentex Corp. also reported im-proved quarters.

Supplier stocks have risen thisyear. Among the 16 suppliers sur-veyed through May 11, the averagestock price has risen 7.8 percentsince the beginning of the year and12.2 percent since April 1. By com-parison, the Dow Jones Industrial

Average has risen 6.4 percentsince Jan. 1, and the Standard &Poor’s 500 Index is up 3.7 percent.

Asked whether the improvedsupplier news is a light at the endof a tunnel, CreditSights Ltd. analystGlenn Reynolds concluded: “Wesee it as a light. The market hascalmed down quite a bit.”

Others remained wary. DavidLeiker, an auto analyst with RobertW. Baird & Co., acknowledged brightspots but advised investors: “Main-tain neutral stance on the group,with cautious outlook.”

Reynolds said the parts segmentnow appears to be gaining strength,although many of the companies’bonds have junk-status ratings.Several major North American au-tomotive companies — includingAmerican Axle & Manufacturing Hold-ings Inc., Visteon, ArvinMeritor,Dura Automotive and Lear — nowhave credit ratings considered be-low investment grade.

“The main myth that’s been dis-pelled is that these companiescan’t operate as noninvestment-grade companies,” Reynolds said.“They can.”

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Wingate: Producer was ‘go-to guy’■ From Page 1

According to Davis, Wingate’sbusiness interests extended intoreal estate, hotels and a taxi cabcompany, including Twenty GrandMotel on West Warren near RosaParks, by the late 1960s and 1970s.

“I wanted to do a book on Ed andI begged him for a couple of years,”Davis said. “About five days beforehe passed he called me.”

Davis said he wanted to write abook that would illustrate howmany black entrepreneurs werementored, helped and influencedby Wingate.

“He was the go-to guy to get any-thing done of any magnitude if youwere black,” Davis said, “the guywho held the community together.”

Efforts to reach Wingate’s wife,Joanne Jackson, in Las Vegas andthrough the funeral home han-dling Wingate’s services were un-successful on Friday. Wingate’s fu-neral was to be held at New BethelBaptist Church on Saturday.

In the world of music Wingatewas a formidable competitor forGordy, said session guitarist DennisCoffey.

“Ed Wingate was doing the samekind of thing as Motown but on asmaller level,” Coffey said. “Hewas making some noise and he wasgetting the sound, because he hadsome of the Motown guys there.”

Coffey said he remembers goingover to Wingate’s home for eggs

and country ham for breakfast be-fore recording sessions.

“Ed was always a nice guy. He al-ways treated me right. I always feltthat he really loved the music,” Cof-fey said. “He was like a hands-onperson. He was there all of thetime.”

Coffey said Wingate was a largeman who loved to eat peanuts. Hisfamily of entertainment venturesincluded Golden World Studios, theGolden World record label and arecord label called Ric Tic.

Gordy wanted to purchase Gold-en World in order to eliminate thecompetition, according to informa-tion on the SoulfulDetroit.com mu-sic forum.

Wingate sold Golden World toGordy in 1968.

“Ed Wingate is a legendary fig-ure in Detroit music history,” saidMike Novak, a Detroit area enter-tainment attorney. “He made Ed-win Starr.”

Starr recorded a hit called“Agent Double-O Soul,” in the1960s, and wrote “Oh How Happy”for The Shades of Blue in 1966. Lat-er, after Gordy purchased GoldenWorld, Starr recorded the power-ful anthem “War,” which was re-leased in 1970.

Ron Murphy, a sound engineer,said Wingate had a recording stu-dio on West Davison Avenue thatran 24 hours a day, in part so thatsession musicians, including theFunk Brothers, who were alsorecording during the day for Mo-town, could surreptitiously recordat night at Wingate’s studio.

“They got fined if they gotcaught, but Ed Wingate would paythe fines,” Murphy said. “He wasthe primary competition. Therewas no question about that.”

Brent Snavely: (313) 446-0405;[email protected]

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Gateway:Mall planned near fairgrounds■ From Page 1

least 2000. General Growth Proper-ties would not comment on its in-volvement in the project toCrain’s. Schrott and Jim Bieri, re-tail consultant and president of De-troit-based Bieri Co., said they ex-pect the company will promote theGateway project to prospectivetenants during the InternationalCouncil of Shopping Centers springconvention May 21-24 in Las Ve-gas.

Schrott said negotiations withGeneral Growth Properties tookplace for about four months, andthe company agreed to work on theproject about two months ago.

“They’re going to be the operat-ing partner, the managing partnerand the day-to-day go-to people,”said Schrott, who estimates the pro-ject’s cost at about $50 million. “Wehave been reduced to investors.”

General Growth Propertiesowns or manages more than 200 re-gional malls nationwide and 12 inMichigan, including Lakeside Mallin Sterling Heights and SouthlandMall in Taylor. Tenants at thosemalls include anchors such asJCPenney, Lord and Taylor, Best Buyand Borders, and such smallershops as Banana Republic, Ann TaylorLoft and Swedish clothing retailerH&M, which is scheduled to open astore at Lakeside June 2.

Having General Growth Proper-ties on board means the Detroit re-tail center would have access to asimilar lineup of national tenants,Schrott said.

“There’s not a tenant of signifi-cance that isn’t in one of theirmalls,” he said. “They have real es-tate clout.”

Bieri said General Growth Prop-erties has “committed wholeheart-edly” to developing the site.

“What they’vecommitted to dois spend theirmoney and usetheir expertiseon developingthis,” Bieri said.“For a companylike this to takeon such a pro-ject is a big deal,and an impor-

tant opportunity for retailers toreach an untapped market in thecity.”

General Growth Propertiesmanages a mall in Grand Rapidsowned by West Bloomfield Town-ship-based Lormax Stern Develop-ment Co. Partner Daniel Stern de-scribed the company as a“first-class organization that hastremendous strength in its rela-tionship with retailers.”

“They’re very well-managed, ex-tremely organized, and in theshopping center industry, they’revery powerful,” Stern said.

George Jackson Jr., presidentand CEO of the Detroit EconomicGrowth Corp., did not confirm theinvolvement of the city or GeneralGrowth Properties in the project.But he said the company has spo-ken with his staff throughout thepast year and as recently as twoweeks ago.

Jackson said retailers havegained interest in Detroit as moremarket-rate housing continues tobe developed in the city. The Gate-way area also is attractive because

it sits near affluent Detroit neigh-borhoods, including SherwoodForest, Palmer Woods and GreenAcres, and is a short drive fromsuburbs such as Ferndale and Roy-al Oak, Jackson said.

Ideas for a project at Eight Mileand Woodward have taken severalincarnations since 2000, includinga proposed auto racetrack, an out-door amphitheater, a saltwateraquarium and an outlet mall.

Schrott and Nederlander had re-tained JPRA in 2004 to do architec-tural planning for a retail center atthe site. Ryan said plans for the pro-ject were submitted to the city, butnothing moved forward after that.

However, Ryan said his compa-ny would submit an RFP andwould recommit to the project ifselected by General Growth.

In November, Schrott and Ned-erlander attempted to persuadethe Detroit City Council to urgeDetroit’s three casinos to move tothe State Fairgrounds. Schrott toldCrain’s then that the casinos,along with the inclusion of a newconvention center, would make iteasier to attract top-flight retailersto the proposed shopping mall.

To the project’s benefit, the De-troit City Planning Commission votedto rezone the project area to makeway for a mall in May 2004. TheGeneral Retirement System of the Cityof Detroit also approved a $10.5 mil-lion loan last July to aid the pro-ject’s development. That loan willbe used to build infrastructure,Schrott said.

Sheena Harrison: (313) 446-0325,[email protected]

Amber: New projects fuel growth■ From Page 3

more than 700 units and about 25employees. Revenue has beensteady at about $5 million for thepast several years, Jerry Ambersaid.

The townhouse project is thecompany’s third new developmentsince 1984; the first two, with a to-tal of 15 units, were built in Claw-son in 2002 and 2003. But the com-pany did make some acquisitionsalong the way.

Jerry and Allen Amber beganrunning the company in 1989 afterthe elder Ambers retired. Beforethat, they had been acquiringproperties since the late 1970s andmerging them into Amber Proper-ties. The company also does man-agement, maintenance, house-keeping, rental sales and showingsfrom its Clawson office. It does notuse property managers.

Amber properties have a vacan-cy rate of about 2.5 percent. Rentranges from $548 for a studio to$1,495 for a large townhouse.

Hendricks & Partners, a nationalapartment sales and research firmwith local offices in Birmingham,estimated metro Detroit’s overallaverage apartment vacancy rate at7.5 percent in the last quarter of2005, according to the company’s2005 Apartment Update report on-line. That was up from 7 percent ayear earlier, but Hendricks & Part-ners also said in the report that va-

cancy rates should stabilize in 2006before “beginning a gradual im-provement trend” in 2007. The aver-age rent rose to $807 in 2005, up from$801 a year earlier, the report said.

Jack Dent, president of Farming-ton Hills-basedVillage Green Man-agement Co., saidthe rental indus-try has improvedsignificantly inthe past year, al-lowing mostlandlords to ta-per off incentivesthey used lastspring to attract

tenants. Dent said Village Green hasan 8 percent vacancy rate.

“Because of the economy, thehome-buying market dried up,”Dent said. “Renters … are not mov-ing out as much to buy a home.We’re losing less from a turnoverstandpoint, and we’re still rentingto new people.

“It appears people are staying inapartments because that’s the safething to do,” he said.

Amber Properties, meanwhile,is seeking approval for a proposed$3 million redevelopment of theClawson Masonic Hall into the three-story, 44-unit Amber Abodements,which would be similar to the Roy-al Oak project, Amber said.

Howard Perlman, senior vice

president in the brokerage divisionat Farmington Hills-based FriedmanReal Estate Group, said he believesAmber Properties’ concept will besuccessful, mostly because it caneasily convert to condos, if needed.

“Anybody who is buildingrentals, they’rebuilding withthe intent or atleast the abilityto be able to con-vert them intocondominiumsin the future,”Perlman said.“That’s one ofthe concepts the

Ambers are utilizing in their cur-rent development scheme. Not thatthey intend to convert, but it’s goodin terms of market value if it’s read-ily convertible.”

Jerry Amber said there are noplans to shift from rentals.

Instead, since the communitieswhere the company locates its prop-erties are mostly built-out, Ambersaid he expects the same work tocontinue through redevelopment.Amber said he hopes to use his ex-pertise as a former environmental-assessment expert — he is a formervice president of Ford Motor Land De-velopment Corp. — in redevelopingbrownfield sites.

Anjali Fluker: (313) 446-6796,[email protected]

Bieri

DentPerlman



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Last Tuesday, the Canadian dollar’s valuesurpassed 91 cents U.S. It has remained above90 cents since May 2. That was the first time ithad crossed the 90-cent milestone since Febru-ary 1978. The value was as low as 65 cents as re-cently as March 2003.

“We used to do an awful lot of shop-and-showtrips where we would combine entertainmentand shopping,” said Hundt, managing directorand co-owner of Kitchener, Ontario-based GreatCanadian Holidays Inc. “I can see the potentialnow being tremendous.”

Renee Monforton, director of communica-tions for the Detroit Metro Convention & VisitorsBureau, said the bureau will promote the favor-able exchange rate to Canadians in televisioncommercials that air in parts of Canada withina three- or four-hour drive of Detroit.

“This is really good for us,” she said. MetroDetroit shopping, Detroit Tigers games and at-tractions are all draws as well, she said. In addi-tion, the bureau plans to talk to the Windsorconvention bureau about resurrecting a two-nation vacation-marketing program that pro-moted destinations on both sides of the border.

Cheaper prices on U.S. goods will “make iteasier to attract Canadians here, and it will dis-courage people here from going to Canada. Ithas to help tourism. It just has to,” said DanaJohnson, chief economist at Comerica Bank.

While the strength of the Canadian economyis causing the world to sit up and take notice, itposes a big challenge to Canadian exporters tothe U.S., said John Bufton, a trade commissionerwith the Canadian Consulate General in Detroit.

“Canadians recognize it as a two-way street,”he said.

More tier-one and tier-two auto suppliersthat have been shipping parts to Canada formachining or buying parts from Canadian sup-pliers are moving that business elsewhere.

Logistics and transportation costs more thanoffset the small difference between the U.S. andCanadian currencies, analysts say. Companiesweighing whether to build an operation in Cana-da may back off as well.

Bob McCabe, managing di-rector of Southfield-based BBKLtd., said one of his clients, aWindsor-based tier-two autosupplier, recently studied op-tions for expanding. Based inpart on the stronger Canadiandollar, the company decidedto buy an existing facility inOhio rather than expand inCanada.

Clients of Plante & MoranP.L.L.C. are also affected. Jeff Moyer, vice presi-dent of global services for Southfield-basedPlante & Moran, said a tier-one supplier that cur-rently ships parts to two Canadian suppliers formachining plans to discontinue that practice.

“To ship the parts over and pay for packagingand bring them back — now that the exchange

rate is up, it makes local ma-chining sources look muchmore favorable,” said Moyer.“Why go through all the logis-tics for 8 or 9 cents on the dol-lar? You’ll lose that in trans-portation.”

The other client is a mi-nority supplier Moyer de-clined to name who is goingafter new business.

Chris Johnsen, a partner inthe Toronto office of Deloitte & Touche L.L.P. whoheads up its auto practice, said the mood wasgloomy Wednesday and Thursday at the annualmeeting of the Canadian Automotive Parts Manu-facturers Association in Hamilton, Ontario.

He said the APMA estimates that “above 87cents, it becomes very difficult for Canadianauto suppliers to be competitive in the U.S.”And projections by the APMA are that theCanadian dollar is expected to rise to the 97- to98-cent range and remain high at least through2007.

Johnsen said one upside for Canadian com-panies is that they may be able to afford to buyU.S. technology and equipment from U.S. sup-pliers that are trying to sell relatively newequipment as they downsize.

Michigan’s manufacturing industry may ben-efit from the currency trend, but exchange ratesare only one of many factors companies evaluateas part of the cost of doing business, said JohnCarroll, senior vice president of business devel-opment at the Detroit Regional Chamber.

Carroll, also executive director of the cham-ber’s Detroit Regional Economic Partnership,pointed to health care costs as one example. A2006 analysis of international business costs byKPMG found that Canada retains a cost advan-tage among G7 countries butthe size of the cost advantagehas been reduced by the ap-preciation of the Canadiandollar. The study looked atfactors such as labor costs,utility costs, taxes and trans-portation expenses.

“Anybody thinking aboutrelocating a manufacturingplant to Canada is probablyrethinking their plans,” saidComerica’s Johnson. “If they were thinkingabout taking advantage of cheaper Canadian la-bor, they probably aren’t now.”

Moyer said that U.S. manufacturers maylook to Mexico and China to source smallerparts, but the cost of shipping castings andlarge components will mean replacing Canadi-an suppliers with U.S. suppliers.

“I know our members are getting opportuni-

ties to quote in Europe because of the euro-dol-lar relationship,” said Neil De Koker, presidentof the Troy-based Original Equipment Suppliers As-sociation. “I suspect the same thing will happenin Canada, though I haven’t heard any specificexamples, yet.”

McCabe said U.S. manufacturers won’t be thesole beneficiaries from currency trends. “Mexi-co starts to look like a better alternative, andGM has been the most vocal of the auto compa-nies — but the other have been pushing, too —to get their suppliers to look to the Far East.This might help.”

The Canadian perspective varies byprovince, said Greg Block, a first vice presidentin Comerica’s Toronto offices.

“The biggest winners are the resource-dri-ven exporters in the West, and the biggestlosers are the Toronto-based manufacturingsector. A lot of companies are restructuring.Everyone is scrambling to right-size their for-eign exposure,” said Block, who predicted goodnews for American manufacturers. “The flowof manufactured goods from the U.S. to Canadawill begin to increase.”

“Alberta is flush with cash. The tar-sandfields were almost mothballed for 20 years,” hesaid. “Now, the reserves are flowing, and itmakes economic sense to begin extracting oil.”

In general, though, “the word on the streethere is it’s gone too far,” Block said. “When itcomes to their vacations, Canadians love it, buteveryone here is feeling the pinch. Ontario hasbeen hit disproportionately.”

Melissa Morange, marketing and sponsorshipdirector for Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills,said the mall has always had Canadian shoppersbut has noticed more in recent months as theirpurchasing power has increased. A Windsor TVstation was out recently for a news segment. Themall markets to Canadiansthrough radio advertisingthat spills over into Windsorand Sarnia and its visitor sav-ings pass for shoppers thatdrive more than 50 miles.

Comerica’s Johnson saidthe rising Canadian dollar isan example of the market atwork, which is what the U.S.government has been pres-suring the Chinese govern-ment to do, to allow the yuan to float based onmarket dictates.

“It’s in our interest to have an appropriatelypriced dollar,” he said. “We face a huge tradedeficit in this country, and we need to see thedollar trading lower relative to other curren-cies. As it gets lower, it lowers the imbalance.”

Jennette Smith: (313) 446-0414, [email protected]

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

Loonie: Rising Canadian dollar boosts hopes■ From Page 1

goes to India and China, but wethink Russia and Eastern Europeis the next emerging market.”

He said tentative plans call forspending between $50,000 and$60,000 per worker, through aplanned partnership with thestate’s junior and community col-leges, to immerse participants inEastern European languages andcultures for six months, then totrain them abroad for a year.

A poll commissioned by MSU inconjunction with the program’slaunch, is scheduled to be releasedtoday. It was conducted byEPIC/MRA, which contacted 700small- and medium-size businessesin the state May 1-8.

It showed that while they were

well-aware of the global economy,they by and large had no idea howto go about entering it.

For example, 42 percent of re-spondents believed they couldcompete internationally and 22percent believed they were readyto do so, but only 8 percent wereactually involved in cross-bordertransactions.

That lack of involvement mayhave led to survey results thatshowed 76 percent of respondentschose “not really interested at all”when asked how interested theywere in establishing links or part-nerships in emerging countries.

But when asked if they would beinterested in participating in a fed-erally funded program to boost in-

ternational business links, only 31percent responded the same way.

“The results of our poll provethat not only does Michigan busi-ness have little or no plans for itsfuture development in the globaleconomy, they haven’t even put alot of thought into it,” said EPICPresident Ed Sarpolus. “I have tosay the results of this poll arewholly disappointing and point tothe need for programs like (this).”

Maleck said the gateway pro-gram grew out of a program the en-gineering department started in1998 with 18 students traveling toRussia. This week he and 72 stu-dents travel to Russia for a seven-week immersion course in Russ-

ian history, culture and civil engi-neering.

“Eurasia is an emerging mar-ket, but it’s very difficult to getinto,” he said. “We anticipate ouraudience is the small business whocan’t do it by themselves.”

The gateway program will trainemployees for Michigan business-es, and seek out prospective East-ern European partners for jointventures with American firms.

For more information on thegateway program, call the MSU De-partment of Civil and Environmen-tal Engineering at (517) 355-5107 ore-mail [email protected].

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

MSU: Seeks $150M for foreign partnerships■ From Page 3

McCabe

Moyer

Johnson

Morang



WEEK IN REVIEWRUMBLINGS

Penske newchair ofdowntownpartnership

oger Penske was elect-ed chairman of theDowntown Detroit Part-

nership Monday morningand announced he will seekprivate-sector funding for adowntown cleanup initia-tive to be led by him andMayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

Called Next Detroit: CleanDowntown, the campaignhas a budget of $1.2 millionfor the rest of this year and$1.5 million for next year,said Penske, chairman ofthe host committee for Su-per Bowl XL. He said all ofthe money will come fromprivate donations.

Kilpatrick said a secondcampaign will be launchedsoon to clean up city neigh-borhoods. It is expectedthat Dave Bing, former De-troit Piston and chairmanof The Bing Group, will leadthat campaign.

Crain’s reported bothPenske’s selection andBing’s upcoming selectionin the May 8 issue.

Penske said the clean-downtown project will serveas a bridge until the city cancreate a Business Improve-ment District. BIDs usemoney that property ownersassess themselves for land-scape maintenance, light-ing, security patrols and lit-ter and graffiti removal.

ITC Holdings to pay $866M for transmission firm

Novi-based ITC HoldingsCorp. is acquiring Michi-gan’s other major electrici-ty-transmission company,Michigan Electric Transmis-sion Co. L.L.C., in an $866million deal.

The acquisition will giveITC, whose 150-employeesubsidiary ITCTransmissionoperates Southeast Michi-gan’s system, ownership ofMETC’s electricity-trans-mission system in the west-ern Lower Peninsula. AnnArbor-based METC em-ploys more than 90 people.

METC’s selling share-holders, Trans-Elect Inc., af-filiates of Evercore CapitalPartners, Macquarie EssentialAssets Partnership and otherprivate investors, will re-ceive $486 million in cashand about $70 million inshares of ITC commonstock. ITC Holdings willalso assume or refinanceabout $311 million in METCdebt.

The transaction requiresapprovals that include the

Federal Energy RegulatoryCommission and antitrustreview. ITC expects to closethe acquisition in the sec-ond half of this year.

ON THE MOVE■ Andrew Camden to the

new position of managingdirector and head of Detroitbusiness, JPMorgan PrivateBank, Grosse Pointe, fromsenior vice president in JP-Morgan’s Private ClientServices, Grosse Pointe.

■ Lorna Utley, president ofthe GM Foundation, left theautomaker last month, saidHillary Spittle, director ofcommunications for corpo-rate responsibility and phil-anthropy. The companydoes not plan to replace her;the responsibilities havebeen consolidated underRod Gillum, the foundation’schairman and GM’s vicepresident of corporate re-sponsibility and diversity.

■ Former Kelly ServicesInc. Chairman and CEO Ter-ence Adderley has returnedfrom an illness to assumethe title of nonexecutivechairman, the company an-nounced. Verne Istock, whowas named nonexecutivechairman in late February,becomes lead director. CarlCamden will remain presi-dent and CEO.

BRIEFLY■ Swedish clothing re-

tailer H&M opened its firstMichigan store Friday, an11,000-square-foot locationat Briarwood Mall in AnnArbor. It plans to open a17,000-square-foot locationat Lakeside Mall in SterlingHeights on June 2.

■ CMS Energy Corp. is sell-ing its EnerBank USA sub-sidiary, a 37-employee oper-ation in Salt Lake City thatprovides home-improve-ment loans that remodelingand trade contractors canoffer to their customers, toHome Depot, subject to reg-ulatory approvals in Utahand with the Federal DepositInsurance Corp.

■ TechTeam Global Inc. onMonday said it has agreedto reimburse Brookline,Mass.-based hedge fundCosta Brava Partnership IIIL.P. up to $700,000 for docu-mented expenses related toa Costa Brava lawsuit in aDelaware court and thehedge fund’s attempt atnominating a new slate ofdirectors for TechTeam.

■ Former Detroit DistrictCourt Chief Judge AdamShakoor will mediate a dis-pute over the estate of civil-rights leader Rosa Parks, theDetroit Free Press reported.

■ State regulators ap-proved an immediate $18.4million natural-gas rate in-crease for Consumers EnergyCo., an interim adjustmentwhile a full rate case pro-

ceeds. The increase ap-proved by the Michigan Pub-lic Service Commission is 75percent below the $75 mil-lion interim increase thatConsumers sought. Overall,the utility seeks a $132 mil-lion increase in the rates itcharges customers to dis-tribute natural gas.

■ Whisper Wave Technolo-gies Inc. of Sylvan Lake an-nounced that it has woncontracts from the twolargest commercial ports inthe U.S., the Port of Los An-geles and the Port of LongBeach, to install its floatingsmall-craft-intrusion barri-ers. The agreements total$2.9 million and will be thelargest installations thecompany has made.

■ The Kresge Foundationhas awarded the Wayne StateUniversity School of Medicine a$3 million challenge grantfor construction of a medicaleducation building. Themedical school will receivethe money if it can raise anadditional $20 million tofund the Richard J. MazurekM.D. Medical EducationCommons by July 1, 2007.

■ Detroit casinos reportedalmost $106 million in rev-enue for April, putting themat $434 million for the year, 4percent ahead of 2005. MGMGrand Detroit L.L.C. leadswith $162.9 million for theyear, after hitting its sec-ond highest take ever at$41.5 million last month.MotorCity Casino L.L.C. re-ported $36.8 million forApril 2006, down 4 percentfrom April 2005 and at justunder $153.5 million year-to-date; while GreektownCasino L.L.C., with $27.6 mil-lion in revenue last month,was up 0.2 percent overApril 2005, reporting a totalof $117.6 million so far thisyear.

OBITUARIES■ Frank Boos III, owner of

the Frank H. Boos Gallery inTroy, died of complicationsfrom vascular disease May9. He was 70.

■ John Burrows, formerchair of the oncology de-partment at St. John Hospitalin Detroit and ex-presidentof the Michigan Society ofHematology and Oncology,died of complications fromnon-Hodgkin’s lymphomaApril 28. He was 73.

■ Andrew Perdue, an attor-ney who ran a private prac-tice in Detroit, died of con-gestive heart failure May 5.He was 85.

■ Dave Shafer, longtimeDetroit radio personalityand broadcast manager,died of complications fromsurgery May 7. He was 73.

■ Sarkes Sam Tootalian,former managing partnerof Bloomfield Hills account-ing firm Purdy, Donovan &Beal, died of multiplemyeloma May 7. He was 77.

hen Warren-basedAsset AcceptanceCorp. (Nasdaq:

AACC) announced its first-quarter earnings last week,net income had slipped from$15.15 million a year ago to$12.59 million. A big reason:Spending on salaries andbenefits was up by 25 per-cent, or nearly $5 million, to$23.33 million.

And why would thecompany boost itsspending on salary andbenefits so dramatical-ly? Apparently, even ina down economy, it has-n’t been that much funworking at a companythat collects charged-offconsumer debt.

The first quarter of2005, the company-wideemployee turnover ratewas at an annual rate of61.2 percent, and it was84.2 percent among ac-count reps. The spend-ing is paying off, thecompany said. In thefirst quarter of 2006,turn-over was down to anannual rate of 45.5 percent,and among account reps itwas down to 61.5 percent.

Lebanese American chamber makes honors

The newly establishedLebanese American Chamber ofCommerce on Friday plans tolaunch its first membershipdrive at a sold-out debutevent honoring LebaneseAmericans in the U.S.

The chamber, foundedlast fall in FarmingtonHills, expects up to 300 forits Golden Cedar Awards,said John Akouri, chamberchairman and CEO.

Local award winnerswere Hayat “Heidi” Ghafari-

Stein, founder of the Heidi’sSalon chain; James LaHood-Sarkis, owner and operatorof the Barrister House Ban-quet Center and Barrister Gar-dens Banquet Center in St.Clair Shores; and the Michi-gan Food and Beverage Asso-ciation and sister organiza-tion, the Michigan Businessand Professional Association.

50 years on the EdgePete Ebbing, chairman and

CEO of Detroit-based DetroitEdge Tool Co., is retiring Fri-day after 50 years with thecompany his grandfather ac-quired in the 1920s. He willcontinue to serve as a boardmember and consultant.

Detroit Edge Tool wasfounded in 1885 as a manu-facturer of knives for thelumber and woodworkingindustries and expandedlater to serve metalwork-ing. Today the companymakes machine industrialknives — some as long as 20feet — for cutting metal,plastic, wood, textile, andpaper, and employs 68 inDetroit and Roseville. JohnEbbing along with brotherand President Ray Ebbingand vice president of salesJerry Madynski now managethe business.

BITS AND PIECES■ Two Wayne State Univer-

sity Law School graduatesare squaring off in the Na-tional Basketball Associationplayoffs this year, not onthe court but in the owners’lounges. Bill Davidson, classof ’49, has been majorityowner of the Detroit Pistonssince 1974, and Dan Gilbert,class of ’87, bought majoritycontrol of the Cleveland Cav-aliers in 2005.

■■ Women in Communica-tions of Detroit has honoredthe following women fortheir achievements in thecommunications field: KimWalsh, director of Detroit Ra-dio Information Services; Cyn-thia Price, women diversitysales and marketing man-ager for General MotorsCorp.; and Fara Warner, au-thor and freelance writer.

RUMBLINGS WEEK IN REVIEW

Asset Acceptanceslip in net incomelinked to pay

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 Y 6 - 1 2

W R

You’ve got the next big thing. It’s outof your head, on paper and ready tobe pitched. (And you’ve read thestories about venture capital andother investing in the special sectionstarting on Page 11.) What next?Surf, surf and surf some more. Whether you’re looking for venturecapital, an angel investor or youjust want to know what kinds ofprojects said funding is going to,vfinance.com has your answer. Thesite provides custom search areasto find capital by state, type ofinvestment needed and also offersnumerous detailed reports — some of

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WEB WORLDDaniel Eizans

Find funds, inspiration

CALLING ALL BLOGGERSCrain’s Detroit Business islooking for opinionatedbusinesspeople to writeblogs during the DetroitRegional Chamber’sMackinac Policy ConferenceMay 31-June 3.Leading our team arecelebrity bloggers MarcieBrogan, CEO of Brogan &

PartnersConvergenceMarketing inBirmingham,and Craig Ruff,senior policyfellow of PublicSectorConsultants inLansing — bothknown for theirwitty andinsightfulcommentary.Qualificationsare:■ Being willingto write entriesat least twice aday. You’ll bewriting for adiversebusiness

audience, most of whomwill not be at theconference.■ Being irreverent or funnyhelps, but it’s mostimportant to be observant.Did you hear a good idea?Meet an interesting person?Learn something you didn’tknow? If so, those could begood blog topics. ■ No blogging for politicalpurposes, please. Crain’s will choose a cross-section of bloggers fromthose who volunteer. Ifyou’re interested, send an e-mail to Executive EditorCindy Goodaker,[email protected] your contactinformation and a sentenceor two about why you’d liketo be a blogger.

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Ruff


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