PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

ADVERTISING / PR / MARKETING

Truscott Rossman

Truscott Rossman welcomes director of corporate communications, Kate Lauderbaugh. Kate’s passion is captivating storytelling conveyed through print, digital and lens-based media. Her expertise in PR, team leadership, project management, market research and analysis and campaign development complement her skills as a storyteller, producer and branding specialist. She’s a pro at engaging advocates and partners on behalf of her clients. TR: Michigan roots, national reach, winning results.

KLA Laboratories, Inc.

Nick Vettraino has been promoted to Vice President of Operations at KLA Laboratories, Inc. Nick started his career at KLA in 2010 as Warehouse Manager and was promoted to Executive Director of Operations, Planning & Strategy in 2020. In his new role, Nick is responsible for the operational oversight of the company and continued growth and expansion of KLA, including the new of ce in Irvine, California. Nick is part of the 3rd generation of KLA’s ownership family.

Manufacturing

Printwell Acquisitions Company, INC.

Conscientious leadership is a way of life for Mr. Ronjia Williams. He has devoted his personal and professional life to service of others. Most recently, Mr. Williams accepted the Senior Vice President role of Printwell Acquisitions Company, Inc. His responsibilities in include deploying strategies to help achieve nancial and operational goals while increasing ROI. His patentable technique is driving collaboration across the organization to identify opportunities and develop scalable solutions.

Motor City Match since 2015 has distributed $12.9 million in cash grants, with a total leveraged investment of $68 million.

It has awarded aid to close to 1,700 businesses, resulting in 148 new brick-and-mortar businesses currently operating across Detroit. The quarterly grant pool has been increased to $1 million for new businesses and $250,000 to existing businesses operating in the city for at least one year. Nearly 80 businesses that have received aid from Motor City Match are under construction.

Of all the Motor City Match winners, 81 percent of businesses are minority-owned, 70 percent are owned by women and 66 are owned by Detroit residents.

Integrating ARPA funding into the program represents a continuation of the city’s e orts to support businesses in combating the negative economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. e DEGC administered more than $15 million in pandemic relief grants between March 2020 and March 2021 and introduced the Detroit Means Business platform to provide wrap-around services for businesses. ARPA funding distribution, approved last year by Detroit City Council, has allowed Motor City Match and the DEGC to continue those e orts and target support to underserved Detroit entrepreneurs. e city received nearly $827 million in ARPA funds.

Motor City Match Round 24 applications open June 1. Round 23 applications closed April 2.

Contact: jason.davis@crain.com (313) 446-1612; @JayDavis_1981

TECHNOLOGY

Communications Professionals Inc.

Cordell B. Barker has been named Sr. Sales and Business Development Manager for Communications Professionals, Inc. As Sr. Sales and Business Development Manager, Barker is responsible for developing and implementing strategies that use the next generation of Cisco innovations to drive business and IT outcomes for customers. He is currently working with key customer executives and leaders identifying solutions for growth and developing customized solutions that meet their unique needs.

Communications Professionals is a leading Cisco partner and an Acceleration member in Cisco’s African American Cisco Partner Community (AACPC) which is a part of Cisco’s Social Justice initiative.

TECHNOLOGY

Communications Professionals Inc.

Kevin Johnson has been named the Director of Services for Communications Professionals, Inc. CPI is black owned and a proud member of the African American Cisco Partner Community. We specialize in managed services, professional services, and project management. Mr. Johnson will oversee all the integration and support activities. This announcement of Mr. Johnson’s appointment over the services department is recognition of both his leadership and breadth of knowledge in the technology arena.

Preserve your career change for years to come.

Blight

From Page 3 e Packard Plant’s Peru-based owner, Fernando Palazuelo, also faced a court battle with the city over the long-blighted property; some of it is now being demolished. e attorneys are rushing to unmask individuals behind LLCs that own a number of the dilapidated buildings, he said, so suits can be led and the legal process followed before the ARPA money runs out. He called it an opportunity to “really, profoundly, do something about blight.”

Mallett said much of the systemic e ort is a result of federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars, which have allowed him to hire seven attorneys to focus on blight cases in the city.

“We’ve only got three years,” Mallett said. “We’ve got to get this started and done. Lawsuits take a long damn time.”

John Mogk, a distinguished service professor at the Wayne State University Law School, said it’s important that the city target blight to set the stage for redevelopment.

“ e only way to get landowners who hold blighted property to address the nuisance is to bring a lawsuit against them,” he said. “It’s good news that they are becoming aggressive. Blight is a major deterrent to being able to develop the city as a whole.” ose being sued, though, aren’t as fond of the e orts.

Murray Wikol, who was sued in his personal capacity at the concrete crushing site, denounced the “new tactic” to Crain’s, saying, “I feel like we’re being persecuted, and it’s wrong and I don’t like it.”

Pastor Marvin Winans said in an emailed statement in February that he was “shocked and extremely disappointed that the city would take this course of action,” saying the church had been “in constant discussions” with the city about the property.

And Kefallinos, who told Crain’s he’d received notice on only the West Grand River suit, said he was “blown away” by the news of the lings.

Calling the West Grand River property his “favorite building,” Kefallinos said it was purchased in 2019, and is in considerably better condition now than it was at that time. He said he thinks it needs three to four more years of work.

“It’s unique, it’s got a personality, it’s one of a kind,” he said. “It’s like a landmark.” e city has other descriptions. In its suit, it said a demolition deferral had been denied in April 2021 and the vacant building had parts that were likely to fall or become dislodged or detached from the rest of the structure. Additionally, the suit says, the property’s condition “directly threatens the health, safety, and welfare of neighboring residents and those who must pass the property when using public sidewalks and streets.”

“Really, the point we’re making to the judge is these buildings cannot be saved and need to be demolished,” Mallett said. He added if a licensed structural engineer said the buildings were salvageable, the city wasn’t opposed to them being rehabilitated.

“We’re not trying to injure Mr. Kefallinos,” Mallett said. “We want people to treat the city respectfully and to follow the law.”

Mallett said it was a “prayer” of bad corporate citizens that the city would never have the time and money to address issues of blight. But with ARPA, the opportunity is there and Mallett said he was con dent the administration was going to win every lawsuit it led.

“People are going to come at us and ght tooth and nail because they like the status quo,” he said. “It’s not being greeted with ticker-tape parades.”

Kefallinos, who has been buying Detroit real estate for decades, is no stranger to legal proceedings, and he has tussled with the city for years over the condition of his properties and other violations. His buildings, both commercial and residential, have long been concerns for tenants and others.

Detroit evicted all of Kefallinos’ Russell Industrial Center tenants in February 2017 over safety concerns in the 2.2 million-square-foot property (though some were later allowed to return). In June 2021, falling masonry from a building he owns on East Warren Avenue prompted the city to close the road. e Detroit Water and Sewerage Department sued him in 2017 over nearly $400,000 in unpaid bills at his buildings.

He has faced housing discrimination complaints and lawsuits over leasing in his residential buildings when he didn’t have certi cates of occupancy. He’s also been sued over how the dancers are paid at his Bouzouki strip club in the city’s Greektown neighborhood.

Kefallinos said he has plans and permits for commercial development at the Wabash property (two massive sides have been ripped o the building for months), he has cleared out the Civic eater and plans to start exterior restoration in the coming months and the hospital is under contract with a broker for sale. (In May 2021, the city pushed to have the hospital demolished; two months later, Kefallinos put it on the market for $17.5 million.)

He said he understands what the city is doing — “Corktown is a vibrant area and we need to step up” — but that he thinks the buildings can still be redeveloped. None of them are open to trespassers, he said — though the lawsuits counter that claim — and crews patrol to ensure they stay that way.

“For the city to demolish any of these buildings would be erasing parts of Detroit’s rich architectural history,” Kefallinos said in an email.

“It’s important for the city to prioritize saving these buildings instead of demolishing them. ere’s been enough historic landmarks unnecessarily demolished over the years, and we would like to save these from future wrecking balls if possible.”

Kefallinos said he’s getting blight tickets “right and left” on the properties, but doesn’t feel they have a negative e ect on the city. Instead of inspectors looking at him like he’s the enemy, he said, the city could help with the process of saving the buildings. He’s willing to give them up, he said, as long as they remain upright.

But that’s not Mallett’s plan.

“Give us the property so we can knock it down,” he said, adding that if the city demolishes the buildings, it would likely sue to recoup the costs.

Mallett said none of the four buildings are historic.

“Once we knock it down and clear all that crap out of there, who knows what the economic development possibilities are?” Mallett said of the Southwest Hospital property. “It could be transformative.”

Mogk thinks so, too, saying more investors will be attracted to areas once the blight is clear.

“ e more aggressive the city can be, the better for the city as a whole,” he said. “ ey should move as quickly and aggressively as possible.”

Senior reporter Kirk Pinho contributed to this report.

Contact: arielle.kass@crain.com; (313) 446-6774; @ArielleKassCDB

Restrictions should not be relaxed for a company unable to comply with state air regulations, said Andrew Bashi, attorney at the nonpro t Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, which is behind an air permitting complaint against EGLE to the EPA that is still being investigated.

“Stellantis submitted their permit application, and as part of that application, they also inserted this totally unrelated request to increase particulate matter emissions per vehicle,” Bashi said of the automaker’s Detroit plant permit.

Stellantis declined to comment for this story. e automaker has previously said the air around its plants is safe and that it is working with the state on a resolution.

Tanisha Burton, whose backyard abuts the factory on Detroit’s east side, said the noxious paint odors continue to harm the quality of life in the neighborhood. Fumes have been the main subject of violations against Stellantis for the past two years, though it has also been cited numerous times for violating emissions limits in Warren and Detroit, including at Je erson North Assembly Plant in Detroit, adjacent to the Mack plant.

According to Stellantis, the installation of a regenerative thermal oxidizer in June will mitigate the fumes spilling from its Mack paint shop. Burton said she was unaware that within the company’s permit application to install that equipment is the request to release more particulate matter, which is known to cause respiratory problems.