Crain's Detroit Business, March 18, 2024

MENTAL HEALTH AND POLICING

Filling health care gaps with longevity clinics

Tests, treatments tap into culture of wellness

By Dustin Walsh

Cara Hiddings’ grandfather died of a heart attack at 46. Her cousin su ered the same fate at 55.

Mortality is always on the mind of the 46-year-old owner of Beauty Collective Salon, which has four locations in metro Detroit. To quell her fears, Hiddings has regularly seen a cardiologist. But she wanted more.

AVERTING TRAGEDY

How police agencies and behavioral health experts are changing emergency responses | Page 11

“I come from a family history of bad health — cancers, heart failure and other life-threatening illness,” Hiddings said. “I keep up on my health. I eat right, I exercise when I can. But I’ve seen these Facebook ads on longevity and I thought, ‘I would love to do a full body scan and bloodwork testing to see just how healthy I am.’ ”

Hiddings found Synergy Longevity Centers, a new clinic in Novi focused on advanced testing and lifestyle coaching. She ponied up the $7,449 for the centers’ “longevity evaluation,” which includes a full-body MRI, a multi-cancer detection blood

panel, echocardiogram, coronary calcium scan, nutritional testing and more.

Longevity clinics like Synergy are cropping up across the U.S., triggered in part by media-savvy physicians like popular podcaster Dr. Peter Attia who are pushing to transform the traditional health care model of treating the sick to a true system of chronic disease prevention.

See CLINICS on Page 20

Wholesale mortgage lenders are thriving

Growth traced to state of the residential market

By Nick Manes

Amid a housing market that remains largely in the doldrums, homebuyers seeking a mortgage are moving increasingly toward wholesale lenders — welcome news to two of metro Detroit’s largest companies. e push toward wholesale lenders — those that work exclusively with independent mortgage brokers, as opposed to directly

THE CONVERSATION: Midwest Modern’s Josh Lipnik shares his passion for architecture through photos. PAGE 22

The growing impact of the Chaldean community.

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with consumers — has propelled United Wholesale Mortgage in Pontiac to its reign as the largest lender in the country by origination volume. But the trend is also a boon for Rocket Companies Inc., the Detroit-based parent of Rocket Mortgage — long the nation’s largest lender — which sees its wholesale business taking greater market share in the space.

See MORTGAGE on Page 19

REAL ESTATE Skyscraper boom could spell doom for birds.

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Dr. Michael Zielinski (left) and Dr. Anthony Oraha are co-founders of Synergy Longevity Centers in Novi. SYNERGY LONGEVITY CENTERS

Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard says policing in his county has been evolving to meet the needs of residents, in part through efforts of the Oakland Community Health Network and its CEO, Dana Lasenby (right). PHOTOS BY NIC ANTAYA

Members of the Detroit Police Department’s Crisis Intervention Team wear uniforms that don’t look anything like police of cers’ clothing and they drive vehicles with green lights, not red and blue like patrol cars. | DETROIT POLICE DEPARTMENT

Alternatives for Girls’ founding CEO to retire after 37 years

By Sherri Welch

Amy Good, founding CEO of Alternatives for Girls, has announced her plan to retire.

Good, 67, has led the Detroitbased nonpro t since 1987 when it opened as a volunteer-run, vebed emergency shelter operated in a church in Southwest Detroit to ll a gap in services for at-risk girls.

Today, Alternatives for Girls is operating on a budget of nearly $10 million and providing about 2,000 at-risk and homeless girls and young women each year with street-based outreach, emergency shelter, transitional housing and other services. It also provided preventative programs including after-school workshops aimed at helping girls of all ages stay safe and healthy and learn to make positive choices in their lives.

e board has tapped search rm Isaacson, Miller to lead a local and national search and expects to name a new CEO by summer to begin transitioning to new leadership after Labor Day.

“ e board is comprised of leaders who share a long-term

commitment to the organization and its future, and we are seeking a CEO with a demonstrated track record of leadership, compassion, relationship-building and programmatic experience, who is a forward-thinker,” board Chair Rochelle Lento said in a news release. “ e next CEO will share a commitment to developing future leaders in our community.”

AFG’s board is “committed to

helping the next CEO provide the leadership necessary to accomplish the organization’s long-term goals,” including the launch of new programs such as supportive services for a new a ordable housing development on Detroit’s west side, Lento said. AFG started as a neighborhood response in Southwest Detroit. Residents in the area “were noticing there was this dramatic in-

crease in girls and young women who were very much in harm’s way. And there were no resources to address (their) needs,” Good said.

“We saw girls and young women who were victims of sex tra cking (and) elementary school-age girls out of school and just no capacity to address those things. We had to do it ourselves.

“I am most proud of the way AFG has stayed true to its mission by focusing on lling unmet needs as they evolve for vulnerable girls and young women, the unwavering commitment of the organization’s team members and the remarkable courage of the generations of girls and young women AFG has served,” Good said.

AFG was named Crain’s BestManaged Nonpro t in 2017 in part for creating structured reserved funds for speci c purposes. ose reserves, which total about $1.6 million currently, “provide us with a very strong nancial position … the ability to grow and expand and initiate new programs when we need,” Good said.

More recently, AFG teamed with Chicago-based Full Circle Communities, a nonpro t developer, on a $17.3 million supportive a ordable housing development in northwest Detroit. When complete, the project will include 45

units of a ordable and permanent supportive housing for young adults and families experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

Expanding on the referrals and supportive services it provides to at-risk girls and young women, AFG will market the a ordable housing, set to come online this year, screen potential residents and provide on-site supportive services including assessment and referrals for health care, counseling and job training and employment programs.

Alternatives for Girls is in a great position to have a leadership transition, said Good, who plans to leave her CEO role by Oct. 1.

“We’ve been in a long, steady, manageable growth phase for a long time, and we expect to continue that,” she said.

Good said she’ll remain involved with AFG in some way even after she retires and plans to spend more time with her husband and children in Boston and Chicago.

She taught a course at the University of Michigan School of Social Work several years ago and may also look into doing that again there or at another school, she said.

“I will continue to be engaged and busy, but probably (with) a little more opportunity for adequate sleep,” Good said.

Amy Good

Chaldean community sees economic impact jump 65% in 5 years

By Sherri Welch

New data from the Chaldean Community Foundation shows signi cant growth in the Chaldean population in Southeast Michigan and a jump in its economic impact.

e Chaldean population’s economic impact has risen to an estimated $17.6 billion from $3.7 billion in 2008, according to a 2023 study commissioned by the foundation and Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce and conducted by Walsh College in Troy.

In the last ve years, the community’s economic impact rose nearly 65%, according to the study.

“Oftentimes people are trying to gure out are we friends or foe, why we came to this wonderful state,” said Martin Manna, president of the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce and Chaldean Community Foundation. “Once we are given religious and economic freedom, which we didn’t have in Iraq, this community has excelled here.”

e Chaldean people were traditionally a merchant community in Iraq, Manna said, and there’s heavy Chaldean presence in the local retail sector operating convenience stores and gas stations. But the population is more educated, more professional and more diversi ed in the types of businesses owned in Southeast Michigan vs. those in Iraq, he said.

Like other immigrants, the community has formed occupa-

The report is meant to help educate the public on the Chaldean community’s local presence and impact.

tional patterns, Manna said. Chaldeans own a majority of hotels in the state, operating with major ags including Marriott, Hampton Inn and Hilton.

Real estate development is another active area for the community, he said, noting that a majority of the buildings in Birmingham are now owned by Chaldeans. Others have moved into development of retail strip malls, o ce buildings and multi-family apartment buildings.

e new report is meant to help educate the public on the

A dozen Plunkett Cooney attorneys form new rm

By Kurt Nagl

About 30 employees, including 10 partners and two associates, have split o from Bloom eld Hills-based Plunkett Cooney to form a new law rm.

Michael Slater and Kim Seibert are co-managing partners of Slater Seibert pllc, formed Feb. 21, according to state records. eir rst day at the new Troy-based rm was March 8, Slater told Crain’s.

“We just decided that we wanted to start our own rm, structure it the way we felt would be best for each of us, and are looking forward to growing the rm in the years to come,” Slater said.

e Macomb Daily rst reported the move March 10. Slater said that more than 1,000 case les were transferred from Plunkett to the new rm. Slater Seibert’s client list in-

Slater Kim Seibert

cludes large insurance groups including State Farm Insurance, Progressive Corp. and Frankenmuth Insurance.

“ e vast majority of our clients chose to send their work to our new rm,” Slater said.

In a statement to Crain’s, Plunkett President and CEO Je rey Gerish thanked the attorneys for their contributions and wished them “good luck with their new venture in their niche practice.”

See LAW FIRM on Page 21

State eyes tax breaks to lure data centers

By David Eggert

Chaldean community’s local presence and impact, Manna said, and to assist in advocacy e orts to allow more of the Christian Iraqi people who have been targeted by ISIS and other groups to come to the U.S.

“ ere hasn’t been much refugee ow in the last few years. We’re trying to change that,” Manna said.

e foundation also has sta in northern Iraq working with the Chaldean populations still there to gure out long-term solutions for sustaining the remaining community there, he said.

Manna said leaders had the opportunity to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani when he was in New York in September for a United Nations General Assembly meeting.

LANSING — Lawmakers are debating whether to o er new incentives to attract large data centers to Michigan, which advocates say must do more to have any shot at landing the facilities being built by the likes of Microsoft, Meta and Google.

e industry is poised for continued growth, particularly amid the rise in arti cial intelligence.  e state will miss out on billions of dollars in investment if it does not quickly dangle tax breaks o ered elsewhere, including by neighboring states, according to backers. Skeptics, however, question the economic impact of data centers — which do not have many employees — and worry about the amount of electricity and water they use.

e legislative push comes eight years after Michigan enacted sales and use tax exemp-

tions on data center equipment to secure Las Vegas-based Switch Inc.’s facility in Gaines Township near Grand Rapids. at law is geared toward “colocation” data centers that lease space to businesses for server farms and other equipment.  e new bills, House Bills 4905-4906 and Senate Bills 23738, would expand the tax exemptions to “enterprise” data centers — those primarily intended to store and process operators’ own data. To qualify, they would have to make at least $250 million in capital investments and, under the Senate package, create and maintain a minimum of 30 in-state jobs paying more than 120% of the county’s average wage. Half of the hires would need a degree in science, technology, engineering or math or a skilled trade license or certi cate.

An English as Second Language class studies at the Chaldean community center in Sterling Heights. | PHOTOS BY CHALDEAN AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND CHALDEAN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

Michael

Switch Inc. converted Steelcase’s former headquarters near Grand Rapids into a data center after receiving tax breaks on property and a use tax for equipment. | DALE G. YOUNG

A rendering shows the new lobby being added to the former elementary school building that the Chaldean foundation and chamber are converting into a new community center in West Bloom eld.

Skyscraper boom could have consequences for birds

As Detroit’s skyline continues to change — particularly with a new high-rise convention center hotel proposed on the riverfront — the future seems bright for tourism and the broader business community. But for millions of birds that migrate through the city each year, these new developments can be deadly.

e sky-high glass buildings growing in downtown Detroit are ru ing the feathers of the Detroit Bird Alliance, formerly Detroit Audubon until the end of last year.

e nonpro t is especially concerned about how the proposed $396.5 million Hotel at Water Square, being developed by Detroit-based Sterling Group, could end up being particularly deadly for birds.

In particular, the Detroit Bird Alliance says the project, which is seeking $93.7 million in tax incentives, is not using bird-friendly glass. (Nor does its recently completed sister building, e Residences at Water Square, both on the former Joe Louis Arena site along the Detroit River, the nonpro t says).

Bird-friendly glass can take the form of a variety of glazing treatments visible to birds — including frosted or opaque glass, physical grids and UV patterns — as well as exterior screens, permanent stencils or netting. Birds use the light from the stars and moon to guide their annual spring and fall migrations.

I’ve asked Sterling Group, through a spokesperson, to talk about the hotel and apartment developments and any e orts they are making, or have made, to minimize the buildings’ risk to birds. So far, no word from the company, which is run by the children of banking mogul Gary Torgow, with CEO Elie Torgow in the lead. e Detroit Bird Alliance says it has communicated

its concerns with a Sterling Group executive.

e issue has not gone unnoticed: some members of the Detroit City Council have been exploring how to prevent bird deaths.

Peter Rhoades, senior policy analyst and sta attorney for Detroit City Council member Angela Whit eld Calloway, said an e ort the council member made last year to get a bird-friendly construction ordinance on the books was thwarted by state law prevent-

ing such measures.

“You and I as humans don’t notice it at all, but for a bird they see a pixelated window and they recognize it as something solid,” Rhoades said.

Protecting Detroit as a yway

At the proposed Hotel at Water Square, bird activists are not only concerned about the oor-toceiling glass. A glass-adorned pedestrian bridge connecting the

Rochester University changes name after trademark lawsuit

By Sherri Welch

Rochester University has changed its name to Rochester Christian University.

e name change follows a lawsuit led against the Rochester Hills institution last year by the University of Rochester in New York for trademark infringement.

Both institutions sought to resolve the case without lengthy litigation, Rochester Christian University President Brian Stogner said in a release.

“During the discussions in-

volved in coming to this decision, it became clear that this change not only brings a resolution to the University of Rochester’s concerns, but also provides our institution with a wonderful opportunity to clarify and communicate our mission, values and purpose.”

e new name enables the private liberal arts university to better highlight its Christian heritage and identity, he said.

“We’re rooted and grounded in the traditions of Christ, but we are and will be truly inter-denominational,” Stogner said in an address

to the university community posted on Facebook this month.

Founded in 1959 as North Central Christian College, the local institution changed its name to Michigan Christian College in 1978 and Rochester College in 1997.

It changed its name from Rochester College to Rochester University in 2018.

“We realize that our status as a Christian institution is not widely known or well understood. us, we will be publicly expressing this identity by putting the name ‘Christian’ back into our name,” Stogner said.

“We don’t want to be obstructionist at all,” Abrams said. “We just want to say, ‘Hey, we’ve got this amazing opportunity to do it right.’ We have a unique situation around this incredible geographic location, on two major yways. Millions of birds y through our city quite literally along the river every year, twice a year, and we just want to ask the city and developers to do it right.”

ink of yways as northsouth bird freeways that they follow during migration seasons, of which there are four main ones in North America: e Paci c, Central, Mississippi and Atlantic. e avian I-75, I-94, I-96 and Lodge, if you will.  Detroit is a crossing point for the Atlantic and Mississippi yways. Some bird species stick to coastal areas as they travel, while others follow wetlands or other natural features like rivers and mountains.

It’s not just those two Sterling Group buildings that are Detroit Bird Alliance points of concern.

hotel to the Huntington Place convention center across an extended Second Avenue could also be deadly if proper preventative measures aren’t taken, said Meredith Meyer, a Detroit Bird Alliance board member, and Gretchen Abrams, the nonpro t’s executive director.

In addition, landscaped trees around the building are likely to re ect on the hotel glass, creating a tempting illusion of a place for the birds to rest.

“An all-glass building with landscaping around it up to three oors, which is very typical of an urban landscaped area, without any preventative measures, is the worst for window collisions to happen for sure,” Abrams said.

Abrams and Meyer said those features are troubling for birds, whose spring migrations are now underway.

ey hope developers continue to build in Detroit but also consider their projects’ impact on migrating birds, which are killed by the hundreds of millions in birdstrikes.

e Dan Gilbert development on the former J.L. Hudson’s department store building site downtown? Yep.

e Huntington Bank high-rise on Woodward developed by Sterling Group? Yep.

e Little Caesars headquarters with pizza slice-shaped glass that caused months of delays building it? Yep, a concern.

Representatives of these developments did not respond to requests for comment.

And as for the biggest landmark on the riverfront, the Renaissance Center?

Yeah, that one, too. (Tara Stewart Kuhnen, a spokesperson for General Motors, which owns the biggest portion of the RenCen, said in a statement: “In keeping with recommendations from the Michigan Audubon Society, we are asking all occupants and tenants to turn o lights and draw blinds between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. during peak migration season”). at recommendation is to mitigate bird collisions with its buildings.

Rochester University in Rochester Hills has changed its name to Rochester Christian University. | ROCHESTER CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY VIA FACEBOOK

Kirk Pinho

The Detroit city skyline, seen on a recent day in 2024. | PHOTOS BY DEAN STORM/CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS

Left: The skyscraper portion of the Hudson’s site development downtown. Right: A view of downtown Detroit. At right is The Residences at Water Square building, located on the former Joe Louis Arena site along the Detroit River.

Attracting data centers makes sense for Michigan

Apush is on in Lansing to chase the next Next Big ing when it comes to economic development.

New legislation aims to carve out tax breaks for new data centers — the operations that centralize the massive amounts of digital equipment that power cloud computing.

Demand for new data centers is spiking and is going to keep increasing as investment in arti cial intelligence continues to ramp up.

AI and especially the generative AI typi ed by ChatGPT comes with big-time computing requirements. All that computation that generates the text requires mass numbers of processing units that consume lots of electricity and generate lots of heat that needs to be cooled.

ose power requirements could test the electric grid, but they’d also provide impetus and a future revenue stream to support improvements to our electrical system. at’s probably why DTE Energy Co. and Consumers Energy Co. have both gone to bat for the new data-center subsidy program.

Likewise, dissipating the heat generated by intensive computing operations is key, and typically requires lots of water. Michigan has that, and cooling data centers happens to have a use for that water with a low environmental cost.

Data centers sometimes draw criticism as targets for business attraction because

they employ relatively few people compared with, say, a major manufacturing plant. at’s true at its core, but does ignore

spino bene ts from the operations.

Much attention was paid several years ago when Michigan carved out special tax breaks to locate a major data center

owned by Switch Inc. in the “pyramid” building formerly owned by o ce furniture maker Steelcase Inc. near Grand Rapids.

at project has borne fruit — employing 300 directly in addition to contractors who work at the site — and has prompted an expansion.

e push to make Michigan competitive for AI investment makes good sense, and o ers the opportunity to diversify the state’s economy away from its automotive roots.

As with all public subsidies, this program must come with accountability safeguards that ensure projects live up to their promises and are a net gain for the communities that host them. at’s certainly key in this case as well.

But make no mistake, data centers are a growth market. A 2023 McKinsey report pegged annual global investment in data centers at nearly $50 billion, and predicts 10 percent annual growth in that figure by 2030. If AI continues to take off, you can likely consider that estimate conservative.

Recent years have seen a mad dash to win projects tied to the electric vehicle transition — a transition that isn’t going as quickly as some have hoped because of middling consumer demand.

Spreading around the state’s bets on which Next Big ing will pay o is the best bet for Michigan’s future.

Time for the state to take control of its health care marketplace

State lawmakers have the chance to put Michigan — and Michiganders — on a healthier path for years to come. With Senate Bills 633–638, state legislators can establish a StateBased Exchange that would give residents the chance to shop for a ordable health coverage and give Michigan the chance to direct more resources toward lowincome and other underserved residents who lack coverage.

In 2021, 39% of Michiganders — nearly 4 in 10 — were unable to pay for basic necessities like rent, food, and child care, according to a joint report released in 2023 from the Michigan Association of United Ways and United for ALICE. e report also showed that 6.7% of Michiganders did not have health care coverage.

Many Michiganders don’t receive health care coverage through their employers or don’t know they qualify fornancial assistance to purchase it on their own. People who don’t have health insurance have di culty a ording preventative care, following their health care provider’s recommendations, or getting help with a serious medical issue. is lack of

coverage can result in even worse health issues, hospitalization, and high medical bills that can make it even harder to pay for basic necessities. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 16 million people in the U.S. have over $1,000 in medical debt and 3 million owe more than $10,000. Even though this can happen to anyone, low and middle-income Americans are more likely to be exposed to medical debt.

Michigan’s poverty rate in 2022 was 13.4%, higher than the national rate of 11.5%. In addition, the average personal income of $57,038 places Michigan among the lowest of states in the Midwest and far below the national average of $65,470. While the state has over 3.2 million Medicaid enrollees, pandemic-era protections have ended, and ocials are re-determining their eligibility. As of January 2024, 450,000 individuals have already been disenrolled and lost coverage. Michigan lawmakers can help Michiganders access a ordable health care by establishing a state-based exchange under Senate Bills 633–638.

State-based exchanges can play a criti-

cal role in managing the churn between Medicaid and A ordable Care Act health insurance and vice versa. A state-based exchange in Michigan could work closely with Michigan Medicaid to ensure that eligibility determinations are tightly coordinated and streamlined. is can help to reduce the administrative burden on individuals and con rm they are enrolled in the appropriate plan based on their eligibility status, versus facing coverage gaps.

State-based exchanges can also leverage access to state-speci c data to inform those disenrolled from Medicaid, lowincome, and at-risk individuals about the bene ts and costs of each type of plan, eligibility criteria, and enrollment periods. By providing this information, statebased exchanges can reduce confusion and assure individuals that they do, in fact, have a ordable options.

Michigan could also realize operational savings. e state currently operates on HealthCare.gov, also known as the Federally Facilitated Marketplace, and staying on that platform comes at a price. e Department of Health and Human Services charges platform fees that are 2.75% of premiums — a cost that is passed along to Michigan consumers. In 2023 alone, the more than 320,000 enrollees in the state

are expected to pay the federal government close to $46 million in fees as part of their monthly premiums.

A shift to a state-based exchange would lift that consumer burden, since Michigan would be able to charge a lower user fee. ose savings, combined with federal passthrough dollars, could fund a reinsurance pool to further lower premiums for Michiganders. Idaho’s state-based exchange saved residents almost $41 million in assessment fees, and o cials built upon successful outreach e orts to quickly raise awareness about enhanced tax credits and other bene ts to reduce costs for consumers. Pennsylvania’s statebased exchange, Pennie, has led to savings of over $50 million per year and new jobs by setting up state call centers.

e cost savings associated with a statebased exchange are real and ultimately bene t the end consumer. ose savings also underscore the importance of nding comprehensive solutions for the nancial constraints many Michiganders face and ensure that health care remains accessible and a ordable for all. With the passage of Senate Bills 633–638, Michigan can take signi cant steps to make sure struggling individuals and families have access to the a ordable health insurance they need and deserve.

TAYLOR VICK/UNSPLAS H

Heather Korbulic is vice president of policy and communications at GetInsured, a maker of software for public-sector health care.

Building a better tomorrow includes women in operations.

Tomorrow is on.

“I’ve broken through many barriers and proven that safety knows no gender in this industry. Enbridge is a company that celebrates di erent perspectives and empowers women to thrive. They value diversity and inclusion and I’m grateful to be a part of a company that champions women in operations.” Kate H., Operations Manager, Great Lakes Region.

enbridge.com/IWD

VC fund closes $40M round, made 15 investments in 2023

Two years after its founding, Mudita Venture Partners has completed the oversubscribed raise of $40 million that brothers Ethan Linkner, 40, and Josh Linkner, 53, committed to when they started the fund back in 2022.

Mudita, a venture capital fund based in Detroit that focuses on early stage software companies, has also made 15 new investments in 2023 and expanded its geographic footprint to include full-time team members in Detroit, Ann Arbor, Chicago, San Francisco, St. Louis and Seattle.

In an interview with Crain’s, Josh Linkner said going forward, the fund will focus 80% of its capital to external business-tobusiness companies, and 20% will go to deploying a venture studio model through Mudita Studios, which launched in 2023. e studio has launched two companies to date and plans to launch up to 10 new ventures per year.

“We are all entrepreneurs by trade, all my partners, and so the theory was why overpay for somebody else’s idea if we were capable of inventing our own?” Josh Linkner said. “I’ve written four

quarter of 2023. It has invested in edtech, ntech, proptech and AIbased emerging companies, Josh Linkner said. Portfolio companies include K1x, BlastPoint, Amplify Publishing group, Trajektory, Screencastify, HiLink, RiseKit, and Trellis.

books on the topic of innovation and so by applying the same kind of rigor and discipline that I write about and that I advise companies around the world on innovation, we’re applying those same principles ourselves in a pretty disciplined way: building prototypes and testing and then ultimately launching companies.”

Josh Linkner was a co-founder of Detroit Venture Partners with Dan Gilbert and Brian Hermelin in 2010 before stepping down as CEO in 2014 to pursue a career as an author. He also founded Pleasant Ridge-based online promotions company ePrize LLC, which was acquired by a private equity rm in 2012 and was a Crain’s 40 under 40 honoree in 2003.

e Mudita fund reached its $40 million goal in the third

New Jersey-based K1x uses AI to create digital K-1s, a federal tax document used to report a business’s income, losses, and dividends. HomeKey, founded in California, is “like a CarFax for your house,” Josh Linkner said. Trajektory, based in Chicago, is a sports marketing startup that crossanalyzes sponsorship dollars.

“ e word ‘mudita’ means taking joy in other people’s success, it’s a Sanskrit term,” Josh Linkner said. “We were very deliberate. We’re a nancially driven fund, but we wanted to only invest in companies that we thought would also make the world a little bit better. So we have this internal thing, which is not to invest in a company, unless we think that its growth and success will be positive to the world and humanity. And so if it’s a company that’s going to pollute the air or create racial divisiveness, we’re not interested.”

Moosejaw HQ to close next month; 55 laid off

Jay Davis

Madison Heights-based Moosejaw will close its corporate headquarters for good on April 26.

Moosejaw parent company Dick’s Sporting Goods on Feb. 27 led a WARN notice with the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity detailing its plans. e closure of the nearly 90,000-square-foot headquarters at 32200 N. Avis Drive #100 will result in the loss of 55 jobs, including 40 processing positions and four group leads, according to the notice.

Moosejaw in September 2023 announced plans to close all but three of its stores. Dick’s acquired Moosejaw from Walmart Inc. in March 2023. Moosejaw’s only remaining Michigan store is in

FDA fast-track drug approvals are costing Americans

America represents 4% of the world’s population, yet we consume 60% of all prescription drug sales made on Earth. We use prescription drugs more frequently than anyone in the world, yet pay nearly three times more for them than other industrialized countries.

ere are now almost 20,000 Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved prescription drugs on the market in America — more than in any country worldwide. According to a United States Health & Human Services report issued this month, over half of the new drugs in the world are launched rst in the U.S. before being launched in other countries.

e U.S. has become the “pin cushion” for worldwide pharmaceutical experiments because the FDA has recently laid out its welcome mat for new and emerging drugs by creating a “fast-track” accelerated FDA approval process. is “wild, wild west” expedited approval process does not have the same rigorous guidelines that ensure the drug provides clinical bene ts, thus creating uncertainty about long-term e cacy. Instead, the FDA grants conditional approvals based on interim data and requires additional studies to con rm clinical bene ts later. As a result, to date, the FDA has withdrawn approval for roughly 20% of therapies speci c to cancer treatment, which have been subsequently proven to have no clinical bene t.

Drug manufacturers launch new drugs in America because they have greater latitude to set prices here and use those prices to set external referencing points elsewhere.

Furthermore, the fast-track FDA approval process does not undergo a cost-e ective analysis for new drugs. at means the government doesn’t set the price nor analyze whether the drug is worth the price paid. As such, insurers must diligently monitor a drug’s clinical outcomes, value, and costs to our healthcare system.

In recent months, gene modi cation procedures and GLP1 prescription drugs have grabbed national headlines for their potential advancements in treating rare cancer diseases and weight loss. Make no mistake, the promise of these advancements is both life-altering and lifesaving. ese medical advancements hold a lot of promise when used appropriately. However, su cient clinical long-term studies are crucial to minimize reversals that cost money and hurt consumer health.

e FDA approved the rst gene modi cation procedure (CAR-T) in 2017 to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Before this, gene modi cation procedures were only used in experimental clinical trials. e number of applications for new gene modi cation procedures has ooded the FDA in recent years, as more than 2,000 new gene modi cations are already being developed for potential FDA “fast-track” applications. According to e Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, cell and gene modi cation procedures cost between $1 million and $2 million per treatment.

Glucogon-like peptide 1(GLP-1) drugs traditionally used to treat diabetes have been shown to decrease appetite, making their use for weight loss popular. e FDA has approved just two drugs for on-label use for treating weight loss, but there is little doubt that the FDA’s doors will be busted down with countless new weight loss drug applications from drug makers. ese GLP-1 drugs are priced at $1,000 per month and can continue into perpetuity. ese drugs are not a cure for weight loss but rather a supplement used alongside diet and exercise to promote long-term weight loss. Manufacturers

Birmingham at 34288 Woodward Ave. Moosejaw also has one store each in Bentonville, Arkansas, and Salt Lake City, Utah.

Michigan Moosejaw locations that have closed include a Birmingham location on West Maple Road, Ann Arbor, Belmont, downtown Detroit, East Lansing, Grand Rapids and Grosse Pointe.

Dick’s Sporting Goods says in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lings that the average Moosejaw store is 4,000 square feet.

Moosejaw was founded in 1992. Walmart purchased it in 2017 for $51 million.

At the time of the sale to Dick’s, Moosejaw had 240 employees.

e acquisition of Moosejaw was meant to expand Pittsburghbased Dick’s (NYSE: DKS) outdoor portfolio.

of these drugs have attested that people regain two-thirds of the prior weight loss on average a er discontinuing the use of these drugs.

Some insurers are attempting to address the high cost of gene modi cation procedures and GLP-1 drugs through re-insurance programs or via optional riders to policies to be responsive to customer requests. However, these programs o en increase premiums for all customers. At a time when a ordability is nearing a crisis state, we must join hands to drive towards solutions that drive the highest outcomes, quality, and a ordability.

Health insurance providers have a duty to seek out and eliminate waste to keep costs down for those that they insure. With the FDA’s fast-tracked approval process, insurance providers are forced to impose even greater clinical e cacy standards. It is essential that we preserve the ability for health insurance providers to evaluate e cacy and nd a delicate balance between access to lifesaving medical advances and paying for therapies that don’t work. Everyone in health care delivery, from the FDA to the consumer, must be more focused on outcomes, quality and cost bene ts.

SPONSORED

DOMINICK PALLONE Executive Director

Michigan Association of Health Plans

Josh Linkner (left) and his younger brother, Ethan Linkner, are co-founders of Mudita Venture Partners.

Moosejaw will close its Madison Heights-based headquarters on April 26.

Anna Fifelski

We are honored to celebrate our co-founder, Jennifer Gilbert, as 2023 Newsmaker of the Year. Thank you Jennifer for your leadership, passion and dedication to finding a cure for neurofibromatosis (NF) and building opportunity for all Detroiters!

Learn about our work at GilbertFamilyFoundation.org

Butzel scoops up 8 attorneys in latest Michigan expansion

Detroit-based law rm Butzel reached further into Western Michigan with the hiring of eight attorneys and a dozen support sta for new o ces in Niles, South Haven and St. Joseph.

Hiring the attorneys and sta who previously practiced at o ces in the same three markets for Kotz Sangster Wysocki P.C. follows Butzel's entry into the Grand Rapids market in late 2022 when the law rm hired three attorneys from Silver & Van Essen P.C. e move into Southwest Michigan aligns with Butzel’s growth plans to extend across the state. After entering the Grand Rapids market, Southwest Michigan was “just a logical area for us to grow into,” President and CEO Paul Mersino told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business.

the go-to attorney over there. It’s a logical space as we grow outward and go from coast to coast.”

Making the move with Drew to Butzel starting March 18 are:

◗ Kelly Travis and John Colip as shareholders in the Niles o ce;

◗ Andrew Barnes as a shareholder and associate Jordan Florian in South Haven; and

◗ Amber Peters and Matthew Derby as shareholders and William Engeln as counsel in St. Joseph.  e key to moving to Butzel “was the cultural alignment (and) the vision” behind an expanding footprint, Drew said.

“So, it goes coast to coast and we, quite frankly, wanted to be part of that. It wasn’t hard to align in that regard,” Drew said. “ ere is value in scale and that is something that we were certainly impressed with.”

“It was us doubling down on our 170-year commitment to the state of Michigan and to be able to service our clients really from east coast to west coast within the state and everywhere in between, and then coupled with identifying this exceptional talent who ts our culture, who agrees with demanding excellence and providing excellent client service,” Mersino said. “Between those two points, it was, frankly, a no-brainer.”

Having the new Southwest Michigan o ces positions Butzel closer to markets in Chicago and South Bend, Ind. e rm currently is going through a strategic planning process in 2024 that could set the stage for future growth and expansion.

and

Extending into Southwest Michigan “wasn’t necessarily something that we knew was going to arise when we moved into Grand Rapids,” Mersino said. e opportunity to make the move came up when law partners in Grand Rapids introduced Mersino to Mitt Drew III at Kotz Sangster Wysocki. He and Drew “met a couple of times and hit it o pretty quickly and went from there,” Mersino said.

“When we do identify exceptional talent with a proven business model who has similar practice areas as us, we’re going to be aggressive in pursuing that wherever,” he said. “It really made sense when I saw what Mitt Drew has been able to build down there in Southwest Michigan. He’s become

“We are looking for good opportunities, both in the state and outside of the state. We’re not going to grow just for the sake of growing, though. We’re not going to throw a dart at the map and pick the next city we want to be in,” Mersino said. “But where we can nd places that will, No. 1, help our existing clients and help us serve them even better, and then, No. 2, nd excellent talent who ts with us culturally, we’re going to let that guide us.”

Butzel ranked 10th on Crain’s recent list of the largest law rms in Michigan with 116 attorneys at o ces in Detroit, Troy, Ann Arbor, Lansing and Grand Rapids. e addition of the eight former Kotz Sangster attorneys would move Butzel to the eighth-largest law rm in Michigan, tied with Grand Rapids-based Miller, Johnson, Snell & Cummiskey PLC.

Butzel also maintains o ces in Washington, D.C., and New York City.

By Mark Sanchez

Detroit-based Butzel law rm is headquartered in the 150 West Jefferson building. | COSTAR GROUP

Butzel CEO Paul Mersino

MENTAL HEALTH AND POLICING

911 and mental distress: Can more be done to avert tragedy?

Law enforcement and community health organizations are rethinking how to improve outcomes

Just over 15 months ago, the Detroit Police Department launched its rst standalone mental health unit. e new special responder program was a response to public outcry for better policing of those experiencing mental health episodes in the wake of the killing of George Floyd.

For better or worse, police departments are often the rst service provider to interact with a person in severe mental distress.

And it’s largely been a violent failure.

People experiencing a mental health episode are 16 times more

“The best solution for a person in mental distress is getting that person in the proper environment. We don’t want them to automatically be part of the criminal justice system.”

Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard

likely to be killed by police. Nationally, more than 1,400 of the roughly 7,200 police killings between 2017 and 2023 involved a person in a mental health crisis, according to data from e Washington Post’s police killings tracker.

Bluntly, public policy has

failed the growing number of Americans and Michiganders under mental distress.

But there’s movement in the system. While the entire mental health care sector is full of broken links, the rst line responders around Michigan are working to stop the killings, and keep people

out of jail and out of unequipped emergency rooms as the health care industry plays catch-up to the rolling, and growing, mental health crisis in America.

However, a perfect solution for solving policing and mental health isn’t apparent, and departments across the state are

By | Dustin Walsh

trying di erent methods with differing levels of success.

An expanding crisis

Of the 1.24 million emergency response calls made in Michigan last year, nearly 13% of them involved a person experiencing a mental illness or episode. at’s more than 433 calls per day.

For DPD, more than 16,000 calls last year involved someone in mental distress — or more than 43 calls per day.

See DISTRESS on Page 12

Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard says policing in his county has been evolving to meet the needs of residents. A co-responding unit has diverted people from arrest to mental health services. | NIC ANTAYA

DISTRESS

From Page 11

at unit has grown to 22 ocers, three sergeants, a lieutenant and six behavioral health specialists.

Its o cers dress di erently than regular DPD — khaki pants, polo shirts and jackets. e Mental Co-Response Unit police cars have green lights instead of the blaze red and blue. e o cers are out tted with nonlethal weapons, such as pepper ball launchers, a BolaWrap that shoots ropes around a person’s legs to subdue them, and rubber rounds.

“ e goal is always to divert people away from the jail and courts,” said Lt. James Domine, head of the DPD unit. “We’re all trained in de-escalation, and we have the advantage of being able to spend time with people, making sure we can help them in the best way possible.”

e reason is evident: Jails and prisons are not the best place for those su ering from mental illness to receive treatment. Yet one in every ve people in jail or prison su ers from a mental illness. And inpatient hospital treatment isn’t always an option.

“ e best solution for a person in mental distress is getting that person in the proper environment,” said Oakland County Sheri Mike Bouchard. “We don’t want them to automatically be part of the criminal justice system.”

Oakland County launched its own co-responder unit in July last year. Since then, the single unit has responded to calls involving about 900 people, Bouchard said. Of that total, 277 were transferred to a crisis center, such as Common Ground in Pontiac. Only 27 people in those encounters were arrested.

“I view us responding to the needs of the community and of the street,” Bouchard said. “We’re evolving because the world is evolving. e needs of these people are not being met appropriately by the state or federal governments to provide a full continuum of services.”

Nowhere good to go

Besides jail, responding o cers in these specialized units are working to keep those in mental distress away from overburdened emergency departments as well.

An o cer transporting a distressed person to the emergency department in Baraga County in the remote regions of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula likely means an o cer is o the streets.

“When we’ve determined a person is in crisis, we would generally take them to the hospital,” said Baraga County Sheri Joe Brogan. “ at was usually done by force. But if we’ve brought a violent person to the hospital, they are our responsibility. We have to keep an o cer on scene to make sure they don’t hurt themselves or anyone else at the hospital. We might end up sitting an o cer with them for hours or days or weeks. ey are a patient, but now we have to be

Emergency response calls in Michigan

There were 433 behavioral health emergency responses per day in 2023 statewide. Emergency response calls where an ambulance was sent Emergency response by an ambulance that involved a behavioral health-related issue

cy department until a bed is found, said Rob Stowe, CEO of the hospital.

“If we admit them to our hospital, they are removed from the waitlist for a psychiatric bed,” Stowe said. “ ey are only a viable candidate if they remain in our emergency room. In the past three months alone, we’ve had individuals waiting 20-plus days in the ER while we are seeking an inpatient bed for them.”

And if that bed is downstate, it could be a nine- or 10-hour drive each way to transfer them. Baraga County can’t a ord to send an ambulance or sheri ’s deputy downstate in what would amount to an overnight trip, so it has to hire a third-party service to transport the patients, Stowe said, on the hospital’s dime. e transport services aren’t always billable to insurance or Medicaid, Stowe said.

So far in 2024, the hospital, which operates in a county with fewer than 8,300 residents, has had to send ve patients downstate after an excruciating wait.

“It’s just wrong,” Stowe said. “I don’t know the de nitive answer, but there needs to be a di erent way to do this. We’re not an inpatient facility. We need better solutions.”

To prevent patients from waiting in the system’s emergency department, it’s footing the bill, along with a grant from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund, to provide a novel mental health response for all ve police departments in the county.

O cers and sheri ’s deputies are out tted with iPads that connect to a third-party service, Sioux Falls, S.D.-based telemedicine provider Avel eCare.

e service — which connects o cers remotely to mental health professionals from Avel’s nationwide system to provide a mental health evaluation on the spot — is an attempt to keep mentally distressed people out of the local jail and out of Baraga County Memorial’s emergency department.

there, too, and we only have ve deputies on the force. If they are at the hospital, they are not on the street.”

And things don’t get easier for those in Baraga County, or in

hundreds of other rural communities in the state, from there.

If a patient at Baraga County Memorial Hospital, a small critical access hospital in L’Anse Township, is deemed to need inpatient

“If we’ve brought a violent person to the hospital, they are our responsibility. We have to keep an of cer on scene to make sure they don’t hurt themselves or anyone else. We might end up sitting an of cer ... for hours or days or weeks.”

Baraga County Sheriff Joe Brogan

psychiatric care, that person must be moved downstate to a hospital that o ers those services.

But to do so, practitioners at Baraga County Memorial must keep that patient in the emergen-

e system has been used six times since November, Brogan said. Four out of the six people needing mental health assistance were able to stay home, receiving mental health follow-up services from community health professionals. Only twice did the person get referred to the hospital’s ED.

“In the past, we were weeding through who needed to go to the hospital and who doesn’t,” Brogan said. “ at’s not a law enforcement issue, that is medical. So having someone else make that determination is better. ey can talk to a community mental health o cial or a counselor. Right now, this is the most e cient mouse trap. We can meet that need without involving our guys beyond the initial call.”

Who will do the work?

While law enforcement involvement isn’t the perfect solution, it’s better than relying on the “old days” with haphazard institutionalization, said Dr. Vasilis Pozios, chief medical o cer for

Funding to maintain diversion and treatment programs will be a challenge in the years ahead, says Oakland Community Health Network executive director and CEO Dana Lasenby. | NIC ANTAYA

At Baraga County Memorial Hospital in L’Anse Township, transferring patients who need psychiatric care requires signi cant time and expense. | PROVIDED

the Oakland Community Health Network, which provides coresponder programs to Oakland County police departments.

“We’re not returning to the days of the asylums,” Pozios said. “We need to work together with law enforcement and treat people where they live. We have to make sure people are not at the mercy of the criminal justice system.”

Of the 3,000 referrals to the network’s co-responder program — which sends mental health professionals to calls alongside o cers — half of these were able to remain at home and receive follow-up treatments instead of being jailed or hospitalized.

“Jail is the most restrictive outcome,” Pozios said. “But being in a hospital setting on a locked psychiatric oor is restrictive, too. If we can intervene, we have better success for that individual.”

But there remains a critical bottleneck in the overall plan to place mental health professionals alongside police o cers to tackle the state’s mental health epidemic.

Michigan is among the top ve states with a shortage of mental health professionals. Just 36% of mental health needs are being met, according to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

e state has roughly 31,000 licensed social workers, but must add an additional 41,000 through 2032, according to research by the Michigan Health Council.

Social workers and psychologists are master’s degree-level jobs and often co-responder programs, largely funded by grants at this time, can’t a ord to recruit these professionals, said Dana Lasenby, CEO of the Oakland Community Health Network.

bulletproof vest and work with police in potentially dangerous situations. We need people who care and have the heart to do this work and they deserve to be paid a meaningful wage.”

Daicia Price, a clinical associate professor of social work at the University of Michigan, said these community programs simply can’t compete with private practice.

“We were providing training to co-responders, and they went out in the eld and found out it wasn’t suitable,” Price said. “ ey can go into private practice or the private sector and make $30,000 more with half the responsibilities. How do we train behavioral health individuals to be in these settings and make sure they deliver that public service and compensated the way they should when they can sit in an o ce with people with milder disorders and make more money?”

Leonard Swanson, crisis policy manager at the Center for Behavioral Health and Justice at Wayne State University, believes the academic level for a co-responder needs to be adjusted to meet the excessive demand.

“We’re never going to have enough master’s level clinicians to respond to 911 calls,” Swanson said. “We need to completely re-

“We’re never going to have enough master’s level clinicians to respond to 911 calls. We need to completely rethink the certi cation system.”

Leonard Swanson, crisis policy manager at the Center for Behavioral Health and Justice

“ e bulk of our funding goes to providing direct services, but we also have to build in sustainability,” Lasenby said. “How do we nd the money to keep these programs going and be able to recruit and retain talent in the mental health arena? We have to pay these people appropriately. We want to hire more coresponders, but it takes a special person to do that job … to wear a

at Wayne State University

think the certi cation system.

ere are EMTs and paramedics who are not doctors, yet are more than capable of responding to emergency medical situations. We need something like that in the mental health eld. We need someone who cares; they don’t need to diagnose in the moment, and it doesn’t require six years of schooling to do that. We need a new style of responder to ll the need.”

4 ways policing can change to deal with mental health crises

Michigan, like the nation, is in the midst of a mental health crisis.

More than 1.75 million in Michigan su er from a mental health illness. But there’s no clear-cut way to treat those suffering. More than 38% of those with an illness are not receiving care.

e front lines aren’t lled with scrubs and soothing voices, but with guns and badges. Historically, when police dealt with someone experiencing a mental health episode, it was more likely to lead to arrests and, sometimes, to violence and police shootings.

While it’s not ideal for police to respond to calls involving mentally ill Michiganders, training is occurring. e police are partnering with community mental health providers and other nonpro ts to address the troubling issue.

Today, there are dozens of initiatives across the state marrying law enforcement with mental health care professionals, all with the goal of keeping distressed citizens out of the jail system and, if possible, out of the emergency room.  ese are novel programs and the departments and their partners are in only the nascent stages of the undertaking, but the programs are already having an impact. Some examples:

Crisis intervention

e Detroit Police Department launched last year its standalone mental health unit to address the more than 16,000 calls it gets annually involving mental distress.  e o cers in the unit dress di erently than traditional cops and their cars have green lights opposed to blue and red. It's up to 22 o cers and six behavioral health clinicians, along with

command sta . ey carry nonlethal weapons and their goal is de-escalation.

Right now, the teams work only typical day shifts, but the department is looking to expand hours of operation.

Co-responder programs

Oakland County launched a co-responder unit in July and has aided about 900 people, resulting in only 27 arrests but hundreds of transfers to critical crisis centers.

e Oakland Community Health Network has trained more than 1,150 federal and local law enforcement o cers in its crisis intervention methods.

In Washtenaw County, Sheri Jerry Clayton advocates a continuum of care, wellness and coresponse, with ve types of deployment scenarios that depend on the speci c situation: Police-only response: A low-risk situation that requires only ocers at a scene.

◗ Clinician-only response: A situation in which an individual is having a personal crisis. A 24hour, seven days a week team, without a police presence, can respond to get the individual assistance from family or friends, or community resources.

◗ Coordinated response: When a responding o cer determines a situation may escalate or mental health issues are contributing to the emergency, a behavioral health professional may be called in to help deputies.

Co-response unit: e county pairs a deputy with a clinician to work together every day. ey create a plan of action for higher risk situations and, when deployed, they work together to determine who takes the lead to de-escalate an incident.

Unarmed community response: In situations that primarily involve someone with housing,

food or transportation issues, or nuisance issues such as trespassing, noise and juvenile complaints, dispatchers can send a community worker instead of law enforcement.

Virtual assistance

Baraga County in the Upper Peninsula launched a virtual crisis program late last year in which its o cers carry iPads connected 24/7 to mental health crisis counselors across the U.S. to aid in de-escalation and start that individual on a path to treatment.

Baraga County Memorial Hospital is small and serves a rural population. Any individual who requires extensive care or monitoring by a deputy or o cer removes personnel from daily activities, straining law enforcement services. e virtual program, through a South Dakota telemedicine provider, puts individuals in contact with counselors elsewhere in the country whenever intervention is needed.

Certi cation changes

Wayne State University is pushing to create a mental health responder certi cation program intended to increase the number of people with appropriate training who would be available to assist o cers.

ere are not enough mental health professionals to handle the police responses. A certi ed individual, not a master’s level provider, could go a long way toward reaching a solution.

Trauma-informed intervention, suicide risk assessment and harm reduction methods don't need someone with an advanced degree. Proper training and a bachelor's degree-level education could increase the pool of professionals interested in such work and make those workers more a ordable for law enforcement agencies.

A puzzle piece art project that hangs in the Oakland Community Health Network administrative of ce was facilitated by the OCHN’s Begin Ending Stigma Today (BEST) workgroup, which aims to create a stigma-free culture across Oakland County.

Members of the Detroit Police Department’s Crisis Intervention Team wear uniforms that don’t look anything like police of cers’ clothing and they drive vehicles with green lights, not red and blue like patrol cars. DETROIT POLICE DEPARTMENT

Dustin Walsh

Funding is key to continue progress on mental health

While unveiling his ambitious plan for a new community-based, behavioral health care system to Congress, President John F. Kennedy shared these words:

“Most of the major diseases of the body are beginning to give ground in man’s increasing struggle to nd their cause and cure. But the public understanding, treatment and prevention of mental disabilities have not made comparable progress since the earliest days of modern history.”

When this speech was delivered, nearly one million Americans with mental illnesses and intellectual and developmental disabilities lived in institutions, often in deplorable conditions rife with abuse. Families were separated. People su ered. Congress responded to this tragedy by passing Kennedy’s Community Mental Health Act of 1963, forever changing the trajectory of services and supports for persons diagnosed with a mental illness.

Oakland was among the rst counties in Michigan to establish a Community Mental Health agency. Building this new health care delivery system required vision, innovation and collaboration. Institutions closed; in their place was born a new era of mental health care that promotes community inclusion and treats people with dignity and respect.

e promise of deinstitutionalization, however, has yet to be fully realized for people involved in the justice system. It is not a crime to have a mental illness. Yet, people

with mental illnesses continue to be unjustly criminalized. Consequently, jails and prisons have unintentionally replaced the institutions of the past.

Despite recent Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration statistics showing nearly half of jail inmates and more than a third of state and federal prisoners having a mental illness, it is a misconception that people with mental illnesses are inherently violent. Indeed, only 3% to 5% of violent acts are attributed to individuals living with a serious mental illness. Moreover, people with serious mental illnesses are over 10 times more likely to be victims of a violent crime.

For more than a decade, Oakland Community Health Network has met this public health challenge with innovative solutions guided by the Sequential Intercept Model.

e SIM details the “intercepts” where individuals with mental health and substance use disorders intersect with the justice system and provides opportunities for intervention.

OCHN’s Justice Initiatives team is composed of highly quali ed mental health professionals strategically placed in the community at each intercept to provide guidance, resources and supports that address the needs of people prior to, during and after an encounter with the justice system. Sta are embedded with local law enforcement agencies, jail, probate, district and circuit courts, probation and parole to divert people away from the justice system

From August 2021 through December 2023, Oakland Community Health Network’s CoRe program worked with law enforcement on almost 3,000 calls. Voluntary transports to emergency departments were provided to 671 people, and 1,464 individuals were de-escalated. | CAMILIO

and, if appropriate, into treatment.

In 2021, OCHN launched its Community Co-responder or CoRe initiative, a program in which behavioral health clinicians corespond with local law enforcement to calls requiring mental health/substance use support. CoRe helps decriminalize mental illness, while assisting people in navigating the behavioral health system. e program increases access to behavioral health care and o cer safety, and reduces the use of jails, involuntary hospitalizations and time spent by law enforcement on behavioral health-related calls.

e program has been a remarkable success.

From August 2021 through December 2023, OCHN’s CoRe program received 2,935 referrals from law enforcement. Voluntary transports to emergency departments were provided to 671 people, and 1,464 individuals were de-escalated and remained in the community with appropriate resources. Only 75 arrests occurred when CoRe was engaged.

OCHN has also provided Crisis Intervention Team training to more than 1,150 federal and local law enforcement o cers. CIT is an internationally recognized community

program that establishes a strategic partnership between law enforcement and mental health designed to promote positive outcomes during crisis situations that require police assistance.

Justice initiatives, including CoRe, CIT and OCHN’s new Community Behavioral reat Assessment and Management Program — the rst of its kind in the state, developed in collaboration with international experts in the eld — depend upon local, state and federal grants, as well as general funds. Unfortunately, these dollars are term limited. e need for long-term, sustainable funding that is backed by elected o cials is critical to strengthening the communitybased public mental health system, achieving long-term goals and maintaining meaningful partnerships.

e community mental health system was never intended to be stagnant: the plan was always for it to evolve with the needs of the people it serves. I call on our federal, state and local elected o cials to recognize the immediate need to adequately fund and ensure the sustainability of justice initiatives integral to ful lling Kennedy’s vision of a robust community-based behavioral health system for all.

Safe Michigan communities put emphasis on wellness

Extraordinary things rarely happen due to the actions of a single individual or organization. Solving challenges to community wellness and safety is no exception.

Historically, society’s focus on public safety has been misguided. We have focused on solving crimes before they occur. Which, in theory, is a practical approach. However, in reality, many prevention/proactive enforcement strategies are in uenced by implicit biases that have resulted in arrest and incarceration disparities impacting people of color and individuals with lower socioeconomic status.

ate our way to safer communities. e unintended consequences of these policies have been disastrous.

What if we shifted our focus to rst creating community wellness?

Would community safety be a welcomed byproduct?

We have highlighted high case closure rates but failed to invest adequately in wraparound support and services for witnesses and victims. We have de ned success as the number of perpetrators we put in jail. We have tried to solve community problems by investing in a war on drugs. And we have allocated billions of dollars to building jails and prisons in hopes that we can incarcer-

ink about the communities that we consider safe. Aren't they communities where most people are emotionally, psychologically and physically healthy? ese are communities where quality food and housing are a ordable and accessible. Neighborhoods with robust transportation options that get people to the services they need. Districts with quality school systems and places where neighborhood and individual traumas are addressed.

Most communities that t this description are also the communities we consider safe.

Well and healthy communities happen one individual at a time. erefore, every time law enforcement engages someone appropriately and productively, we have an

opportunity to help them address a need that puts them and their communities on the path to wellness.

Appropriate engagement and desired outcomes take all of us working in unity and collaboration. We weaken our e ectiveness each time we exclude a service partner — a mental health provider or a substance use treatment provider.  is is also true when we exclude the police. Some people believe the police should be excluded from the community wellness equation. To them,

I would share that Washtenaw County’s police services providers are committed to a continuum of community responder approach that ultimately positions us to co-create community wellness and safety.

more e ective when we work together.

Washtenaw County’s community responder strategy includes ve paths to a coordinated community response:

1. A police-only response.

2. A mental health clinician-only response.

3. A coordinated response between police and mental health clinicians.

4. A co-response with police and mental health clinicians responding in concert.

5. A human services-only response.

We weaken our effectiveness each time we exclude a service partner. . . . This is also true when we exclude the police.

e continuum is based on two guiding principles:

We must e ectively manage both risk and need when supporting a community member in crisis.

◗ No single entity is equipped to handle every crisis e ectively, so we are better and

Sending the right community responder to the correct location, at the right time and with the right capabilities to manage the crisis is the most appropriate solution to stabilizing a crisis and helping guide individuals onto the path to wellness. Only then can we co-create the community wellness and safety outcomes we all desire.

Vasilis K. Pozios is the chief medical o cer of the Oakland Community Health Network.

Jerry L. Clayton is the sheri in Washtenaw County.

JIMENEZ/UNSPLASH

Crisis responders help keep people safer

Mental illness is not a crime.

Yet, it’s often treated as such in public discourse and when policies are made informing police practices for behavioral health crisis response.

We’ve seen this play out too many times: a person is facing a mental health crisis, and instead of receiving a response from someone who specializes in crisis de-escalation, they encounter an o cer with a rearm. While the response is well-meaning, it can also be triggering and lead to disastrous situations.

Sarah Wurzburg is deputy division director of behavioral health for the Council of State Governments Justice Center.

Fortunately, another option is emerging across the country, supported by people from all walks of life, including law enforcement leaders who note that their departments are ill-equipped to address behavioral health crises. Community responder programs, sta ed by professionals trained in de-escalation, traumainformed care and harm-reduction strategies, o er an expansion to traditional rst responder e orts based on the principles of collaboration, engagement and trust. ese responders have extensive knowledge of their communities, and they work to bridge the gap between public health and public safety systems while helping to rebuild trust in emergency service access.

While these programs have recently grown

Rin popularity, particularly following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, they have their roots in community-driven emergency response e orts decades prior. Many of their practices were rst established in communities such as Pittsburgh, where the Freedom House Ambulance Service — led by Black community members — pioneered emergency and community response in the 1960s, and Eugene, Oregon, where the CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On e Streets) program was established in 1989.

Across Michigan, community leaders have been actively working to establish community responder e orts focused on community violence intervention and improving crisis response. In alignment with these e orts, the Michigan Collaborative to End Mass Incarceration, along with its partners (the Detroit Justice Center, Friends of Restorative Justice, the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion, and Emergent Justice), recently hosted the MI Learning Community: Building Connections to Transform Public Safety and Prevent Incarceration, which included a focus on alternative crisis responses. At the local level, in places like Muskegon County, a team of health care specialists is now deployed to emergency calls for people experiencing a behavioral health crisis.

At the Council of State Governments Justice Center, we are working to assist communities as they enact and grow their own programs, tailoring them to their unique needs. To facilitate this growth, we established the Expanding First Response National Commission last year to identify emerging practices and key strategies for jurisdictions looking to enact their own community responder programs. is commission has brought together advocates, community leaders, law enforcement representatives, emergency responders, behavioral health professionals and people with lived experience to develop guidelines focused on connecting the components of emergency response who are

often siloed from each other and the communities in which they serve.

With support from the Joyce Foundation, we have now extended our support to include the Great Lakes Community Responder Program Learning Community, available to jurisdictions in Michigan and other states in the Great Lakes region looking to establish or expand community responder e orts.

We have already seen how communities across Michigan are leading the way for community responder programs nationwide. Now, it’s time to ensure these e orts are scaled up so they can meaningfully improve outcomes for people in need and increase trust in our communities and with each other.

ere are better ways to respond to mental health crises

eports of people with mental illnesses being killed by police during a mental health crisis are tragically common. Although more likely to be victims of crime than perpetrators, people with mental illness are more likely to have force used against them during encounters with the police.

Further, while o cers rarely get extensive training on mental illness, in many communities they are the only reliable, 24/7 service available to respond to mental health emergencies.

At the Center for Behavioral Health and Justice at the Wayne State University School of Social Work, we have had the opportunity to learn from key stakeholders in crisis response. When we talk to people who have experienced mental health crises, they tell us that police involvement can be traumatic and stigmatizing. Law enforcement o cers tell us that mental health providers are better prepared to respond.

A chief describes law enforcement’s crisis response role as roofers showing up to x a plumbing problem.

Mental health clinicians express concern about safety, particularly when the mobile crisis “team” is one clinician. Further, their clinical training may not have prepared them to feel con dent managing safety. As a result, they may limit response to secure locations (emergency departments, schools or police stations), or request that police respond with them.

reducing the role of law enforcement in crisis response. Unfortunately, the mental health system has a workforce problem.    We simply don’t have enough clinicians to respond to all the crisis calls that police are handling. People with master’s degrees and clinical licenses may not be prepared or want to work the odd hours or varied contexts of a mobile crisis team. Further, the skills of a licensed clinician may not be the primary skills needed for crisis response. Licensed clinicians can diagnose mental illnesses and provide therapy, but those skills may not be needed to support someone in crisis.

Accurate diagnosis is unlikely during a crisis, and it is not the time to address underlying psychological problems. Try to remember the last time you felt overwhelmed; is that when you wanted to talk about your big life questions? Probably not. A lot of people just want the space to be heard and supported. Sometimes that’s as simple as o ering a bottle of water and asking the person what has happened to them, what they need, and listening to what they say. en, we can talk about what to do next. Master’s level clinicians can do this, but their advanced skills might be better reserved for supervision and consultation.

workers need to be able to remain calm under pressure, be comfortable in uncomfortable situations, de-escalate tension and maintain safety, but most of all: listen with compassion.

People in crisis don’t often need an army of police or clinicians; they need someone who will listen and provide support. at doesn’t require a master's or even a bachelor’s degree. Certainly, crisis responders need to be able to assess safety — whether someone is at risk of harming themselves or others. We can train them to conduct simple screenings (something police ocers do regularly) and we can have licensed clinicians on call for more complex cases.

program to prepare bachelor’s level social workers and counselors for crisis work: e skill-based curriculum includes traumainformed intervention, suicide risk assessment, harm reduction, safety and more.

Fortunately, there is broad support for

Clinician training and the mental health treatment system were built for 50 minutes and a fern: We are used to working through problems with therapy in a comfortable o ce. Crisis work is a di erent ballgame. Crisis

is allows us to use our limited resource of licensed clinicians for more specialized situations: We don’t need clinicians on every crisis call, just as we don’t need brain surgeons on every emergency department visit.

In partnership with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Wayne State University’s School of Social Work is preparing a new kind of crisis workforce.

First, we are developing a credentialing

We are also planning an advanced credential to prepare master’s level social workers and counselors for their advanced roles. e Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration recommends that mobile crisis teams include certi ed peer specialists, who are people with lived experience of mental health or substance use conditions that are trained in peer support. MDHHS is developing training for certi ed peer specialists interested in crisis work.

We are also exploring a role for nondegreed professionals trained in crisis response skills, sort of like emergency medical technicians for mental health crises. Combined, these e orts will help us grow the workforce so that mobile crisis response is available 24/7, and law enforcement is only involved when a crime has occurred or when signi cant safety concerns are present.

Muskegon Police Lt. Casey Bringedahl, mental health Of cer Andy McKee and mental health clinician Michelle Pouch. MUSKEGON POLICE DEPARTMENT

Leonard Swanson, Amy Watson and Meghan Taft are involved in crisis policy management at the Wayne State University School of Social Work’s Center for Behavioral Health and Justice.

GETTY IMAGES

CONGRATULATIONS, MATT CULLEN

Co-working space giant IWG expands in Detroit suburbs

square footage. Opening this quarter.

A major co-working space company is expanding its footprint in metro Detroit and around the state.

Switzerland-based IWG plc has rolled out more than half of its planned new locations, opening five so far in Southfield, Clinton Township and Bloomfield Hills plus two in Ann Arbor, with three other locations — two in Lansing and one in Grand Rapids — opening by the third quarter.

Seven of the eight are Regusbranded IWG locations, while the Grand Rapids outpost carries the HQ brand, IWG announced on March 5.

e locations are:

South eld: e Onyx Building, 29777 Telegraph Road, 30,000 square feet. Now open.

◗ Ann Arbor: Atria Park Business Center, 2006 Hogback Road, 12,000 square feet. Now open.  Clinton Township: 22600 Hall Road, 11,000 square feet. Now open.

◗ Bloom eld Hills: Stoneridge III, 40900 Woodward Ave., 12,500 square feet. Now open.

Ann Arbor: Domino’s Farm Ofce Park, 24 Frank Lloyd Wright Drive, 12,000 square feet. Now open.

Grand Rapids: 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, unknown square footage. Opening third quarter.

◗ Lansing: Louis B. Ebaugh Building, 501 S. Capitol Ave., unknown square footage. Opening timeline unclear.

◗ Lansing: Corporate Centre, 5913 Executive Drive, unknown

Crain’s has requested additional details on the planned locations from IWG but has not yet heard back.

e additions bring IWG’s roster of co-working space locations to 25 in Michigan, according to a news release. Four of the locations — South eld, Bloom eld Hills, Shelby Township and the Hogback Road location in Ann Arbor — are franchises by John Schmidt, who has other Regus outposts in the region. IWG also has locations in suburbs including Troy, Birmingham, Royal Oak, Novi and Dearborn, plus downtown Detroit in the Renaissance Center.

IWG says it has about 4,000 locations in more than 120 countries worldwide, adding more than 850 new locations last year. It says it is growing to meet demand for hybrid working space on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to traditional co-working space, IWG brands o er options including private o ces, meeting rooms and creative spaces.

IWG, which stands for International Workplace Group and trades on the London Stock Exchange, recently reported 2023 revenue of $4.26 billion (£3.34 billion), a record high in the company’s 35-year history, although it missed analyst projections and posted another year of pre-tax losses (£189 million, or $240.8 million). In 2022, its pretax losses were £105 million, or $133.8 million.

Photo by Nick Hagen

Regus, a co-working space brand by IWG plc, has opened a new 30,000-square-foot location in the Onyx Building on Telegraph Road in South eld. | COSTAR GROUP

Kirk Pinho

Former WeWork space leased to real estate software rm

By Kirk Pinho

A growing Detroit-based property management software company has taken over a chunk of former WeWork Inc. space in the city’s TechTown area.

Revela Inc. has started moving to 6001 Cass Ave. from its current o ce in the former Ponyride building at 1401 Vermont St. in the city’s Corktown neighborhood. It is leasing nearly 22,000 square feet out of the 91,000-square-foot former WeWork space. e 10-year lease took e ect this month and there is little build-out to do, a company executive said.

Ricky Atkins, director of accounting for Revela, said the company has grown from two or three employees in the fall to about 20 currently, fueled by a round of venture capital funding, with plans to grow to about 30 by the end of the year. e new o ce is nearly 10 times the size of the Ponyride space, which was about 2,300 square feet.

Revela o ers support services for nances and operations in real time to residential landlords and property managers, Crain’s has previously reported.

“We saw what was going on in the o ce market and we thought there was some good value to get space,” Atkins said. “We didn’t

want to keep patch-working small leases here and there and nd ourselves in four to ve years in two di erent buildings. We would rather make the investment, get a high-quality space like the one that we could grow in.”

Late last year, Revela received its rst venture capital raise, totaling $9 million, Crain’s reported at the time. e Series A funding from New York City-based FirstMark Capital and others was for expanding the 10-year-old company’s operations. It was founded by Grant Drzyzga.

FirstMark targets early-stage companies and has invested in companies like Airbnb, Pinterest and Shopify, Crain’s reported. Others participating in the funding round included the Detroit Venture Partners VC rm backed by Dan Gilbert, plus MetaProp and Assurant Ventures.

Revela had about $1.6 million in revenue last year, anticipates $5 million this year and by 2025, to be at $12 million to $15 million, Atkins said.

Detroit-based Iconic Real Estate and the Royal Oak o ce of Chicago-based brokerage house JLL brokered the deal.

WeWork, which led for bankruptcy protection last year, closed the Cass Avenue location — a 1927 former Cadillac LaSalle sales and

service building — in November 2022. e New York City-based co-working giant has maintained its 85,000-square-foot Detroit footprint across two downtown locations in Gilbert-owned buildings.

When WeWork led for bank-

ruptcy, it owed Detroit-based e Platform LLC — the owner of 6001 Cass — $5.1 million in unpaid rent as an unsecured creditor, one of the largest such creditors in the case.

In February, Crain’s reported

that e Platform, founded by Peter Cummings, was handing over management of its large real estate portfolio to South eld-based Redico LLC. Requests for comment were sent to e Platform and Redico.

I’m committed to a brighter, healthier future for our metro Detroit community, and the nation.

Bob Riney has had a storied career at Henry Ford, from starting as a student security guard over 45 years ago to leading one of the nation’s most innovative health systems. The latest chapter? Spearheading a $4.9 billion expansion throughout southeast Michigan to build a premier academic medical center and destination for the most advanced care, research and education.

The 1927 former Cadillac LaSalle sales and service building at 6001 Cass Ave. is getting a large new tenant with Detroit-based Revela Inc., a real estate property management company. | COSTAR

Oakland County mansion back on the market

By Nick Manes

After failing to nd the right buyer in an auction last year, a more than 16,000-square-foot mansion in northern Oakland County is back on the market seeking $7 million.

e “Le Rêve” estate — French for “the dream” — went to auction last fall with bids starting at $2.5 million, down from an asking price of $11.5 million at its peak.

A buyer failed to emerge for the 22-acre property in Oakland Township, but the home had an overall “good response,” according to Vito Pampalona with Rochester-based Vito Anthony Homes, who built the mansion.

Following the auction in October, Pampalona took a break from marketing the property, but opted to put it back on the market for the spring buying season.

en bedrooms and 15 total bathrooms, according to the listing.

“ is home is a showcase in oldworld European craftsmanship and design by architect Dominick Tringali,” reads the listing. “ e Estate is equipped with a live-in suite including full kitchen, two guest homes with additional garages, tennis court, heated conservatory, covered walkway, and immaculate landscaping.”

Pampalona acknowledged that some buyers may see last year’s auction as being done out of “desperation,” but said that wasn’t the issue with this property.

Public records show the home is owned by Mary Nicholson, and Pampalona said the property is held in a trust.

“The Estate is equipped with ... two guest homes with additional garages, tennis court, heated conservatory, covered walkway, and immaculate landscaping.”

“We feel we’re ahead of the curve,” for that period, said Pampalona, noting an early burst of warm weather and lack of snow as factors helping to drive potential tra c from would-be buyers.

e mansion built in 2005 features a total of 118 rooms with sev-

With a current asking price of just under $7 million, the home is among the most expensive properties listed in Oakland County, according to public listings. Only one home sold in Oakland County in the last year — a Bloom eld Hills mansion that fetched $6.85 million last December — has approached a sale price near what’s being sought for the Le Rêve estate, according to a Crain’s analysis of publicly available listing information.

Pampalona acknowledged that the buyer pool for the home is small given the asking price, but said many buyers seeking homes of this scale are likely turned o by the price of new construction for a similar property.

Another car wash chain expands to metro Detroit

By Kirk Pinho

Another private equity-backed car wash chain is expanding in metro Detroit.

Express Wash Concepts, based outside of Columbus in Etna, Ohio, is buying a pair of Roseville Cosmo’s Car Wash development sites as it plans to open 10 locations in the region this year, followed by another four.

e two properties, which will operate under Express Wash Concepts’ Clean Express Auto Wash brand, are the former Christopher Ross Funeral Home & Cremation Service Inc. site at 26429 Gratiot Ave. between Frazho Road and I-696, opening in late April; and a former Hooter’s restaurant at 32976 Gratiot south of 14 Mile Road, opening on this month.

A spokesperson said a sale of the two sites was expected to close this month for an undisclosed price.

Express Wash Concepts, which has nearly 100 car washes in markets like Toledo, Cleveland, Dayton, Columbus and Pittsburgh, was created six years ago as one of two car wash branches of TPG Capital co-founder David Bonderman’s family o ce, New York City-based

Wildcat Capital Management.  e other branch is called Club Car Wash, operating car washes in the Midwest, Mountain West and South.

John Roush, CEO of Express Wash Concepts, described metro Detroit in a press release as “a core

market that is key to our overall strategic expansion.”

Aside from the two Roseville locations, Express Wash Concepts is opening another dozen car washes, with eight to open by the end of this year and others following after, according to the spokesperson. Ten of the 12 additional locations were identi ed:

◗ Warren, 28740 Mound Road south of 12 Mile Road

◗ Waterford Township, 4200 Highland Road at Pontiac Lake Road

◗ South eld, 30233 South eld Road south of 13 Mile Road

◗ Troy, 300 W. 14 Mile Road at the Oakland Mall property

◗ Rochester Hills, 10 E. Auburn Road east of Rochester Road

◗ Livonia, 34835 Plymouth Road east of Wayne Road

◗

◗ Livonia, 20340 Farmington Road south of Eight Mile Road

◗ Lincoln Park, 2360 Fort St. south of South eld Road

◗ St. Clair Shores, 25100 Harper

Private equity continues to ood into the car wash sector — traditionally full of mom-and-pop operations — in an ongoing roll-up of the sector, driven by industry modernization that has included things like monthly subscriptions, creating a more stable revenue model.

Among the companies making moves: Zax Auto Wash, which sold nearly 20 locations, to local private equity; and Miami-based El Car Wash, South eld-based Jax Kar Wash and Holland-based Tommy’s Express have all been expanding. El Car Wash and Jax come with private equity in tow.

at follows similar patterns in industries including self-storage, manufactured housing and marinas, where real estate investment trusts have muscled their way in.

The exterior grounds of Le Rêve estate in Oakland Township include a tennis court, conservatory, gazebo, bowling lawn and formal English boxwood garden. INTERLUXE AUCTIONS

The Le Rêve estate in Oakland Township includes an indoor pool, the living room features vast open spaces and a hand-painted fresco on the ceiling and an of ce space with intricately carved woodwork.

Express Wash Concepts purchased this site at 26429 Gratiot Ave. between Frazho Road and I-696, formerly Christopher Ross Funeral Home & Cremation Service Inc., and will be opening a Clean Express Auto Wash in late April 2024. KIRK PINHO

e wholesale lending space still accounts for by far the smallest share of mortgage loans of the three “channels” for lending: retail, wholesale and correspondent, with the latter being loans originated by one lender and then immediately sold to another.

In 2023, direct-to-consumer retail loans accounted for 55% of all mortgages, correspondent made for 29% and wholesale lending made up just more than 16%, according to data from industry trade publication Inside Mortgage Finance. e increased market share for wholesale lenders — a space dominated by UWM — makes for the largest share such lenders have seen since the Great Recession era, when in 2008 broker-originated loans accounted for more than 21% of mortgages, according to IMF.

e reasons for the growth in wholesale can largely be traced to simple economics and the overall state of the residential real estate market around the country in recent years, which has seen low demand for mortgages since interest rates started rising from rockbottom levels nearly two years ago, noted Guy Cecala, executive chairman of IMF.

With the mortgage market e ectively in a recession, brokers make for a “reasonable alternative” to a traditional bank loan, Cecala said, adding that much of their business comes by way of referrals from real estate agents.

“ e brokers can deliver, and they’ve got good service and they close loans,” Cecala said. “ e banks can still be a little more bureaucratic and not quite as userfriendly just because they don’t have the same motivation the brokers do.”

Early on in the downturn of the current mortgage market, Rocket and UWM took vastly di erent paths to weather the storm. Starting in the summer of 2022 as interest rates were climbing, UWM launched a cut-rate pricing initiative called “Game On” as a way of growing market share, a maneuver that seems to have played in its favor.

MARKET PLACE

Rocket, meanwhile, was more focused on pro tability over volume. Both companies have lower headcount as the market has changed, largely through attrition, but with Rocket also o ering buyouts to certain employees.

For executives at UWM, the growth of the wholesale channel makes for a celebratory a air, as the company maintained its position as the nation’s top overall mortgage lender last year with about $108 billion in closed loan volume and 7.8% overall market share — two full points ahead of its bitter rival, Rocket Mortgage, the nation’s third-largest lender, per IMF data.

Within the wholesale channel, UWM now has nearly 50% of the market share, with Rocket a distant second at less than 12%.

As the market for re nancing homes has e ectively dried up amid higher interest rates over the last two years, more loan o cers

Top 5 mortgage lenders

with retail lenders have moved to become independent mortgage brokers, shopping around loans for clients to various lenders.

UWM executives say that some 20,000 retail loan o cers have made the switch in the last year.

“ e strength of a successful mortgage company is based on the purchase market,” Alex Elezaj, UWM’s chief strategy o cer, said in an interview with Crain’s. “Can you have a … nice, pro table, strong company independent of rates? People are still going to buy homes at 5, 6 or 7 percent … at’s when the broker channel really wins, because the wholesale channel does much better than retail in a purchase market.”

Lasting momentum?

Given that reality, Rocket Mortgage, long known as a major player in the retail space with much of its lending initially coming through a call center-style business and shifting in recent years to online sales, is also seeing signicant growth.

e company’s “partner network” last year accounted for about 44% of its total closed loan volume, roughly on par with its numbers in 2022, according to Rocket earnings reports.

Total lending for Rocket, however, declined more than 40%

from 2022 to 2023.

“Rocket Mortgage is passionate about providing the power of choice to homebuyers, so they have an excellent experience no matter who helps them,” Austin Niemiec, Rocket’s chief revenue o cer, said in a statement provided to Crain’s. “Whether homebuyers come to Rocket Mortgage directly or go to a mortgage broker that is partnered with Rocket Pro TPO, they will have a seamless and delightful experience working with Rocket.”

Rocket’s increasing presence in the wholesale space is a “huge signi cance” for a company built on call centers, which are e ectively built for people just looking to save money, said Cecala with Inside Mortgage Finance.

While the growth of wholesale lending has been clear in recent years given economic conditions, Cecala is far from convinced that trend would continue should the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates in the coming months, as has been expected.

“ at puts someone like Rocket in a good position just because they already have that business,” Cecala said. “And it’s going to put more pressure on someone like United Wholesale.”

Elezaj, the UWM executive, however, contends that his company’s business model is built for

Mortgage originations by production channel

Over

the long term and can withstand a variety of economic conditions.

“When rates drop, brokers are still going to do very well and we’re still going to do very well,” Elezaj said, adding that many lenders, particularly those in the retail space, perform their best during

low rate periods when re nancing spikes.

“But when rates go up, they get crushed,” he said. “So they have the highs of the highs and the lows of the lows, where we have a much more balanced business where we don’t have those really big swings.”

The residential real estate market around the country has seen low demand for mortgages since interest rates started rising from rock-bottom levels nearly two years ago. | BLOOMBERG

From Page 1

e clinics o er tests far beyond the bounds of what the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force deems medically necessary — which means they come at the personal expense of the patient and are not covered by health insurers. eir target demographic is those already engaged in the culture of wellness — diet, exercise, sleep tracking, etc. — who can a ord the concierge services to better understand their own bodies and who seek not only to live longer but stay healthy as long as they can.

Traditional health care providers often sco at these clinics, arguing they are too often selling snake oil without any measurable impact on lifespan and health.

“ ere’s a reason these services are not covered or even recommended — the harms outweigh the bene ts,” said Dr. Matthew Davenport, professor of radiology and urology at the University of Michigan Medical School and radiology service chief at Michigan Medicine. “ ere’s a reason we don’t do colonoscopies on healthy 20-year-olds. Taking a test as sensitive as a whole-body MRI with no particular risk for disease, you’ll nd countless ndings that people don’t know what to do with or how to interpret. People do these tests because they seemingly bring assurance and comfort, but the pragmatic e ect is you increase uncertainty and harm.”

But to supporters, these longevity clinics are pushing the boundaries of what it means to receive health care — and raise the question of the value of the current system.

“Right now, we don’t have health care in this country,” said Roger Jansen, chief innovation and digital health o cer for the academic medical practice MSU Health Care. “We have medical care. ere’s a big di erence. We call hospitals health systems but they are really about the removal of illness and injury. at’s the only codes in the country any of us can get paid for. We now have knowledge of the genome and how lifestyle can extend the best years of your life and we don’t have to wait for someone to get sick or hurt or old or pregnant before we address issues.”

Comfort and care for a cost

Dr. Anthony Oraha, a former attending emergency medicine physician at Corewell Beaumont, cofounded Synergy Longevity Centers with Dr. Michael Zielinski, former

CHALDEAN

From Page 3

“ e focus of our discussions with him was on preserving and protecting Iraq’s Christian or Chaldean community,” he said. “He’s coming to the U.S. in April or May to meet with (President Joe) Biden.

“ ere will de nitely be an additional discussion with him. We’ve invited him to come to Michigan, and that’s under consideration.”

Despite little Chaldean refugee

“There’s a reason these services are not covered or even recommended — the harms outweigh the bene ts. Taking a test as sensitive as a whole-body MRI with no particular risk for disease, you’ll nd countless ndings that people don’t know what to do with or how to interpret.”

Dr. Matthew Davenport, professor of radiology and urology at the University of Michigan

Medical School

“We were in the sick care system and we wanted to turn that page and focus on people’s health when they are healthy and improving their longevity. We feel like insurance is more so a barrier to health care than a promoter of good care.”

Dr. Anthony Oraha, co-founder of Synergy Longevity Centers

owner of Integrative Family Medicine and Urgent Care in Grand Blanc, in September last year.

Oraha said the pair felt they could better serve patients outside the realm of the traditional payor system.

“We were in the sick care system and we wanted to turn that page and focus on people’s health when they are healthy and improving their longevity,” Oraha said. “We feel like insurance is more so a barrier to health care than a promoter of good care.”

Synergy o ers a 15-minute free evaluation with Oraha or Zielinski to determine what tests should be given based on family history and previous medical care.

e cost of testing is at various at rates. ere’s the whole boat of testing at $7,449, which Hiddings did, as well as other individual tests including the full-body MRI at $2,449 to a gut health assessment at $1,799 to the lowest-priced service of a nutritional evaluation at $849.

After the tests, patients receive a summary of the test results and recommendations on what to do next.

Oraha said the clinic prides itself on its ability to get patients in for follow-up testing based on results quickly.

“We have a referral list of doctors that’s extensive,” Oraha said. “If you call a specialist, you’re often looking at four to six months before you can be seen. Our patients aren’t waiting four to six months. ey are usually seen in a week or less.”

While Synergy is a complimentary service to one’s primary care physician, other longevity clinics ll that role as well.

Dr. Ryan Abboud, a functional, preventative physician for Longevity Health Institute, acts as his patients’ primary care physician.

At Longevity Health, which op-

movement into the U.S. over the past 20 years, “we tend to believe there are more Chaldeans now living in Michigan than Iraq,” making it the home base for much of the Chaldean activity globally, Manna said. e most recent survey estimates there are an estimated 183,500 people of Chaldean lineage living in Macomb and Oakland counties.

at’s up from 160,000 in 2018 and 113,000 a decade before that according to earlier studies commissioned by the foundation. e population in Wayne County was not

erates o ces in Bingham Farms and Rochester Hills, patients get a personal care plan that can include controversial treatments such as peptide supplements; intravenous therapy, which involves injecting vitamins directly into your bloodstream; hormone replacement therapy; alternative cancer care that involves chelation and hormonal balancing; and ketamine therapy to treat anxiety and depression.

Many of these tests and treatments are not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. For instance, multi-cancer detection blood tests, while o ered at many health systems and most of the longevity clinics, have not been through FDA approval. In fact, Detroit-based Henry Ford Health was recently awarded a clinical trial to see if they are e ective at improving cancer treatment long term.

“It’s not a regulated market,” Dr. Andrea Maier, founder of Singapore-based longevity clinic Chi Longevity and who is also working to establish medical standards for longevity care, told the Wall Street Journal in a recent article. “Anybody who is treating your toenails can say they’re contributing to longevity.”

Abboud, however, said traditional medicine is failing and pushing the boundaries is more advantageous than not.

“ e FDA is bought, sold and paid for by Big Pharma,” Abboud said. “I think this is the future of health care. Right now, people’s health care is not being decided by their doctor. ey are making decisions based on what they can get paid to do from the insurance company. We don’t do that. ings are changing rapidly and the medical textbooks and payment model haven’t caught up.”

Longevity Health o ers a host of services based on membership fees, ranging from hundreds of dollars to thousands of dollars per

included in the report.

e growth is coming as families have children, Manna said, with Chaldean families, on average, numbering about six people. In the local Chaldean Catholic diocese last year, baptisms outnumbered funerals by about 3.5 to 1.

According to the latest study, the heaviest concentrations of Chaldean populations are in Sterling Heights and West Bloom eld.

e Chaldean chamber and foundation last year acquired a former elementary school at 2075

year. A membership to see Abboud as your primary care doctor is $3,500 per year. at covers all visits, and patients are given Abboud’s cell phone to have direct access to the doctor. Other testing and services cost extra, but there are discounts for those who have a membership, Abboud said.

Longevity Health does accept insurance, but what the insurers will pay for is limited.

Hippocratic or hypocritical?

Longevity clinics operate as an a ront to traditional health care, which is often concerned with over-testing and over-diagnosis that lead to unnecessary costs and procedures.

Davenport pointed to a program in South Korea that showed the true harms of testing.

In 1999, the Korean government funded a national cancer screening program to address the rising incidence of detected thyroid nodules, which can be a harbinger for thyroid cancer.

Over an 11-year period, the program found a 15-fold increase in thyroid cancers. However, the extra tens of thousands of tests and further treatment did nothing to better the mortality rate of the disease.

“When you screen someone that’s low risk for disease, you preferentially detect indolent and lowrisk ndings that would never harm the patient,” Davenport said. “You end up overreacting because it could look ominous. at means more testing, more anxiety. All that downstream is unnecessary care. But it creates the illusion that your life was saved, for both the patients and the doctors.”

For Hiddings, the testing at Synergy Longevity produced a result that her regular cardiologist didn’t detect: a blockage. She took that information and followed up with

Walnut Lake Road near Inkster Road in West Bloom eld as part of a $20 million project to create a second community center and new, larger headquarters for the growing Chaldean chamber. It began work last fall to expand the roughly 40,000-square-foot building by about 2,000 square feet. When complete late this year, it will include a business incubator, workforce training, a radio and podcast studio, a television studio, a 100-seat theater, a community demonstration kitchen to pass on cultural tra-

her cardiologist, who adjusted her statin regimen and is now monitoring the blockage.

Whether discovering that blockage now versus at a later date saves Hiddings from future cardiac issues is unknown. But to Hiddings, the expensive testing was worth it.

“If I didn’t know, I could have dropped dead,” she said. “It’s expensive, but I can a ord it. I mean, think about, God forbid, if something happened if I didn’t catch this. Treatment could put me in hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. But keeping up my health and going to this clinic that cost me $7,000 to get the help … It’s cheaper in the long run.”

Jansen said the rise of these longevity clinics shows how people are prioritizing health and are willing to pay for it.

“People are sending their kids to hockey camps or soccer camps that won’t produce any meaningful result,” Jansen said. “But we’re not spending the same on our own health. e only time we feel we need to take care of ourselves is when people tell us we’re sick. e body has many ways to ght o disease and take care of itself, but we need assistance in optimizing that.”

Jansen points to employers’ embracing of direct care in recent years as an example of how users and payers of health care want to see change in the system, and lower costs for better results.

Many employers, such as General Motors Co. and United Wholesale Mortgage, have directly hired physician groups to work inside their buildings, o ering employees easy and quick access to physicians. e concept is built on the idea that if their employees can access care with fewer hurdles, chronic diseases can be avoided.  Access is a crux in the rise of longevity clinics as well. e average American spends an average of 11 minutes with their primary care physician annually. Longevity clinics, with their expense, are built on a concierge model where direct and prolonged access to your physician is built in.

Jansen said the apprehension from his peers is because the concept of true preventive care is in the nascent stages.

“ e concept is here; we have the information, we have the science and we have the ability to understand things at a level we’ve never had before,” Jansen said. “ e industry is playing catch up. So right now it’s a mixed bag. People are trying to get ahead of something if we can get ahead of it, but we don’t know what we don’t know.”

ditions and a library to preserve historic manuscripts going back to the rst century, Manna said.

e Chaldean Catholic Church’s roots date back to 45 A.D. when St. omas converted the Chaldeans to Christianity, he said.  “We were able to save many of these manuscripts and are digitizing them. e original manuscripts will come to this library,” Manna said.

e Chaldean Cultural Center will also move there from the Shenandoah Country Club in West Bloom eld Township, he said.

LAW FIRM

From Page 3

“ ey wanted to continue primarily handling at fee work for one particular client. To make that feasible nancially required them to form their own niche law rm to focus on those types of assignments,” Gerish said. “We will continue to provide exemplary legal work in all of our many diverse practices, including the transportation area, as we have done for generations.”

Gerish added that the move represents “an opportunity for our rm to expand our existing work in other areas.”

About 15 transportation law attorneys remain at Plunkett Coooney, a spokesperson said. Slater said the break from Plunkett was “amicable” but declined to detail speci c reasons for the split. He said most of Plunkett’s auto in-

TAX BREAKS

From Page 3

e House package does not propose a job threshold but rather a minimum $1 million in annual aggregate compensation to employees by year ve.

e House approved the bills with bipartisan votes in November, and all four are now before the Democratic-led Senate Finance, Insurance and Consumer Protection Committee. e measures also would lengthen the data center tax exemptions through 2050, from 2035 under existing law. Enterprise data centers that locate on a brown eld or a former power plant could claim the breaks through 2065.

Sen. Kevin Hertel, a St. Clair Shores Democrat and sponsor of one bill, told the panel this month that states with similar legislation are “seeing massive investment in data centers.”

“ e reality is these types of investments do not go to states that do not have the correct tax policy, simply because they can be anywhere,” he said. “I think we have potential investments ready to go today here in the state of Michigan if we can get these policies passed.”

surance group left for Slater Seibert but some attorneys in the practice remained.

“Our goal is we wanted to create a law rm based on our personalities and our philosophy on how best to structure an organization which meets the growing demands of our clients,” Slater said. “We have formed a very collaborative structure amongst the lawyers.”

Slater Seibert is based in a 7,000-square-foot leased space at 1500 W. Big Beaver Road. Slater was based in Grand Rapids for Plunkett and will remain so with the new rm.

Gerish ascended to president and CEO of Plunkett at the beginning of the year after being elected by shareholders for a three-year term. At the time, the rm employed 140 attorneys and 300 employees across o ces in Bloom eld Hills and Detroit, as well as Chicago, Indianapolis and Columbus.

place where an unspeci ed data center may locate, according to legislators and the Cornerstone Alliance, an economic development organization in Berrien County that is seeking the project.

Rep. Joey Andrews, a St. Joseph Democrat, said it would double Benton Township’s budget, nearly double the local school district’s budget and potentially provide enough property taxes to back ll the county for taxable value it is about to lose from a re-evaluation of the Cook Nuclear Plant.

“If you look at this from the standpoint of what this can bring to our local communities, it’s a huge windfall,” he said. “ ese don’t have to be sited in the traditional places that usually you’d end up siting like a large factory or something like that. ey don’t demand large amounts of local infrastructure. ey mostly need electricity and access to water.

ankfully, Michigan has an abundance of both at the moment, with more coming online every day on the electricity side.”

Data centers, Andrews said, are an “open door to the knowledge economy” and an option for communities that lost manufacturing jobs and “are trying to gure out what’s next for them.” ey also bring construction jobs, proponents say.

“It’s hard to make a case where one of these large-scale data centers would locate here in the state today if we did not do this simply because there’s so many other opportunities.”

Michigan Sen. Kevin Hertel

e industry, he said, “will grow exponentially in the coming years because of the advent of AI and the amount of data that’s needed to make these very fast computations time and time again across all of our communities and in different businesses.”

He and other supporters said schools and municipalities would bene t from increased property tax revenues when new, football eld-size data centers are built. e Benton Harbor area is one

centers themselves have a “tiny number” of “low-tech, not “hightech,” jobs. Comstock said they typically have 100 to 300 workers. Business, organized labor and economic development interests are backing the bills and point to similar exemptions in Illinois, Ohio and Wisconsin. ey include Net Choice, the trade association for major tech companies like Amazon, Google and Meta; the Detroit Regional Chamber; DTE Energy Co., Consumers Energy Co. and electric transmission company ITC Holdings Corp.; the Michigan Laborers District Council and Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights; the Detroit Regional Partnership and Economic Development Leaders for Michigan; and commercial real estate rms NorthPoint Development and Franklin Partners.

Clean Water Action, an environmental group, opposes the measures. So does the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a think tank that is critical of subsidies for speci c businesses.

Sen. Roger Victory, a Hudsonville Republican who is sponsoring a bill, said data centers could be located throughout Michigan. He pointed to the booming growth of AI and its need for data center capacity.

Sentinum Inc., which has a data center in Dowagiac, last month announced plans to grow the facility to up to 300 megawatts of capacity, a tenfold increase, to focus solely on AI hyperscale development. It is seeking infrastructure nancing and exploring partnerships to fund the expansion.

In the next ve years, consumers and businesses are projected to generate twice as much data as all the data created over the past 10 years. Total storage capacity in data centers and endpoint devices globally is estimated grow 18.5% a year, according to JLL, a commercial real estate and investment management company.

“ is is an opportunity for some of our rural communities that are not always at the plate when we talk about economic development,” Victory said. “ is can ip the script.”

But Sen. Rosemary Bayer, a West Bloom eld Democrat, raised questions about big data centers draining “massive amounts” of water from aquifers for cooling systems and using “super high” amounts of energy.

“We still rely on groundwater to drink. … We might be seen as having this endless supply of water, which we don’t,” she said.

Bayer said the additional tax revenues would help but questioned the broader economic impact of adding data center jobs.

When Barbara Comstock, a former Virginia congresswoman who advises tech industry group Net Choice, told the committee that data centers can foster a larger tech “ecosystem,” Bayer said the

Similar legislation was introduced in the 2019-2020 and 20212022 sessions and stalled amid concerns, though it has advanced farther this time. A company spending $250 million on data center equipment would save $15 million in sales and use taxes — collections that primarily go to the school aid fund.

“It’s hard to make a case where one of these large-scale data centers would locate here in the state today if we did not do this simply because there’s so many other opportunities for them to locate in other places in the country where they will have this exemption,” Hertel said. “I don’t picture it as a (revenue) loss because you wouldn’t get it anyways.”

Switch, which is expanding at its Pyramid site south of Grand Rapids in the former headquarters of Steelcase Inc., has about 300 employees in the Pyramid. Another 500 people work for Switch clients, including some who are based there full time. In addition, about 200 Switch contractors are “badged” to work out of the facility, senior vice president of government and public a airs Natalie Stewart said.

Plunkett Cooney’s of ce on Woodward Avenue in Bloom eld Hills. | COSTAR

Midwest Modern’s Josh Lipnik shares passion for architecture through photos

Josh Lipnik, a metro Detroit native and trained architect, has developed a substantial following traveling the Midwest and posting photos of the region’s unique architecture. Sometimes that’s a modernist-style house in Bloom eld Hills or a downtown Detroit art deco high-rise or a small downtown street in rural Indiana. Doing so has garnered him nearly 120,000 followers on X (formerly Twitter) — his preferred platform — and brought him more public speaking opportunities, such as a recent discussion about the architecture of Ann Arbor. Lipnik spoke with Crain’s about his initial foray into architecture and how that led to photographing Rust Belt cities large and small, as well as the lessons that can be learned by notable preservation projects.

How did you get into architectural photography?

I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit — Farmington, actually — so I was always interested in Detroit as a place and then I went to school for architecture in college at (the University of Michigan). I guess after that, photography kind of just seemed like a good way to bridge the gap of being interested in exploring cities like Detroit and also my interest in architecture. So those things just sort of naturally came together and so I got really into photography after I studied architecture.

Anyone who follows you on social media knows you do lots of your photography around metro Detroit. But you also travel around the Midwest and into Canada at times. What is it about this region that catches your eye?

I’m not super (into) Midwest pride, personally. It’s more just this is the place I live and I like exploring places near me.

I do think that there is — between Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Milwaukee — some type of coherent region, a Rust Belt (thing) going on there. I think just growing up around Detroit and spending a lot of time there, I do have an a nity for that type of Rust Belt city.

What do you see as some of the de ning characteristics of these places that tie them together, beyond just the obvious geography?

I think to me it’s more interesting to look at smaller regions because then you can really see more de ning characteristics.

For example, there’s a lot of parts of Indiana where limestone was the main material so you can really see some connection between all these cities where it’s these gray buildings built of limestone. It’s sort of like this regional identity.

You see something similar in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where there’s a lot of sandstone, so you have … these great red stone buildings that kind of tie the region together. It’s hard for me to talk about something that ties the whole Midwest. To me, it’s more interesting to look at things that are smaller (on a) regional scale.

ere de nitely is something (with) the bigger, major Rust Belt cities where you see the incredible wealth that built up these cities:

By | Nick Manes

big art deco skyscrapers, massive Victorian houses.

If we look around metro Detroit, there are some major differences in architectural styles around the region. For example, thinking about some of the modernist homes in the West Bloom eld area designed by architects such as Irving Tobocman. What stands out to you in the region?

I think Tobocman is a great example of the 1970s and 1980s late modernism that you see a ton of in this area, especially places like West Bloom eld, Birmingham, Bloom eld Hills. Most every city in the country had some level of depopulation over the last century. But in Detroit, it was so thorough and so complete that you just had tons and tons of wealth coming into the suburbs in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.

So you do get some particularly interesting architecture in those areas where people were moving to. I think that’s a big part of the story — especially for Detroit — is just all this wealth leaving the city. And it’s not even just houses. You can see all the commercial buildings, the big towers in South eld.

Another big thing in the Detroit area is the lakes. You have all these small lakes all over the suburbs, so you have some really interesting lake houses all over the area and that’s pretty unique. You had all these architects — Irv Tobocman, Don Paul Young — who had come out of the mid-century modern school of architecture and kind of updated it for the 1970s Detroit area.

Read all the conversations at CrainsDetroit.com/TheConversation

So much of what we think about with the Midwest and the Rust Belt boomed in the late 19th and 20th centuries during a period of industrialization. Much of that economic model that made these areas so unique has now retreated. How do we preserve that legacy and that architectural history as a new economic model comes to bear?

For Detroit speci cally, I think the rst thing is to — at the very least — be a lot more deliberate about what gets demolished.

ere are certain times where not everything can be saved. I’m not a zealot about that. But I think they’ve de nitely leaned towards demolishing too much and being a little too reckless.

I think a big thing is to really try to push the examples of buildings that were reused and saved. I think for a lot of people, the rst step is just seeing that it’s possible. I think a lot of people see a decrepit building and just think, ‘OK, there’s nothing else you can do.’ But surely in Detroit, there’s so many examples that have been brought back from almost nothing left in the building. So I think using those as precedent, and getting people to see the possibilities of reusing some of these buildings is kind of the rst step.

On a different topic, you’ve built up a large following on (X, formerly Twitter), nearly 120,000 accounts who follow your postings and travels around the broader Midwest. What’s made that platform effective for what you do?

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I think a lot of people would think that Instagram is maybe a more obvious outlet for what I do since it’s more speci cally focused on photography. I know that maybe sounds crazy because so much of Twitter — for a lot of people just like ghting and all that — but to me, it’s the best place to get feedback from people and hear stories from other people. And ultimately, that is what I’m interested in. If I share a picture of something and someone has a memory there or some connection to that place, I can sort of get instant feedback and hear that right away.

Are there any places you’ve visited and photographed that might y under the radar but that you’d suggest to people for a visit?

Columbus, Ind., (south of Indianapolis) is sort of one of the hidden gems of the Midwest that I would recommend people check out. It’s sort of this small city that just has a really great collection of modern architecture by some of the great architects of the past century. People like I.M. Pei, Eero Saarinen.

My favorite city that I photographed is probably Cincinnati. Detroit is so at … the landscape can get a little bit boring at times. So it’s a really nice change for me to go to places like Cincinnati or Pittsburgh. ere’s sort of this really interesting topography, you get a little bit older architecture in some of those cities. Detroit sort of boomed a little bit later than some of the bigger cities in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

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Josh Lipnik, photographed recently in Ferndale, is the man behind the Midwest Modern account on X. NICK MANES