Crain's Grand Rapids Business, April 15, 2024

Doctor’s buying spree aims to revive Ludington

Ophthalmologist Andrew Riemer is buying, developing iconic locales

By Abby Poirier

Ophthalmologist turned restaurateur Dr. Andrew Riemer has taken the revival of his northern Michigan hometown of Ludington into his own hands.

Industrial real estate market ranked as tightest in nation

CoStar report

nds region’s

vacancy rate is less than half of national average

By Kate Carlson

A national real estate research rm recently reported that the Grand Rapids region has the lowest industrial vacancy rate among the 50 largest industrial markets in the country, validating brokers’ and builders’ experience in the extremely tight market.

CoStar Group Inc. last month published the report, which states the region’s 2.5% industrial vacancy rate across 192 million square feet of inventory is the lowest among the 50 largest industrial markets in the U.S., and less than half the national average of 5.7%. e report covered properties across metro Grand Rapids and included all or parts of Barry, Kent, Montcalm and Ottawa counties. Miami, Fla., had the second-lowest industrial vacancy rate, followed by Detroit at just under 4%.

“My goal really is to uplift and revitalize

In addition to operating three full-service Riemer Eye Center locations in Ludington, Manistee and Cadillac, Riemer has turned his attention to reinvigorating the dining and bar scene in his lakeshore hometown, in the last four years scooping up four area businesses plus other prime commercial real estate. By breathing new life into the local establishments, Riemer believes he is saving them for another generation to enjoy.

Cost-cutting strategy has seen it of oad hospitals across the country

By Dustin Walsh and Mark Sanchez

Ascension Health is unloading its Michigan operations. e St. Louis-based system said Midland-based MyMichigan Health would take over its three Northern hospitals only a few months after it announced Henry Ford Health would assume ownership of its eight Southeast Michigan hospitals.

When those deals close, only four Ascension hospitals will remain in the state — all in Southwest Michigan.

It’s clear the Catholic system is looking to exit the state as part of its overall cost-cutting strategy that’s seen it o oad hospitals in New York, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Alabama and Wisconsin.

e asset ditching is in response to massive nancial bloodletting.

Ascension reported a $3 billion loss in its scal 2023. Experts believe the large-scale investments by its secular competitors is driving down margins and forcing a competitive consolidation market.

It’s likely Ascension is shopping the four remaining hospitals — Ascension Borgess Allegan Hospital, the 372-bed Ascension

According to CoStar, the Grand Rapids region’s inventory has grown by more than 10 million square feet, or 5%, since 2019. at 192 million-square-foot inventory is larger than markets in San Antonio, Texas, and Las Vegas, according to CoStar, which tracked industrial building and leasing activity in greater Grand Rapids and the lakeshore from Holland to Muskegon.

Grand Rapids’ industrial vacancy rate has hovered around 3% for the past few years, continually outpacing other parts of the commercial real estate market. In their most recent market reports for the fourth quarter of 2023, local brokerages reported similar vacancy rates as CoStar across metro Grand Rapids to the lakeshore, from Holland to Muskegon. Net absorption also

Ascension’s exit driven by secular competition, investments

MANUFACTURING

Return-to-of ce trends have furniture makers optimistic

Stix features an outdoor beer garden and dining, along with a concert venue. | COURTESY PHOTO

Recognize a construction or commercial real estate leader who has worked on significant projects.

Family doctor shortage is worsening across nation

More investment in education could help change that, advocates say

By Mark Sanchez

The percentage of medical students opting for primary care medicine declined again this year, raising further concerns about the ability to provide frontline care for patients in a worsening national physician shortage.

While the number of medical students seeking a residency position in family medicine and the number of positions filled both increased nationally, the percentage of unfilled slots in primary care also grew.

Of the record 5,213 residency slots in family medicine at 796 programs across this country, 636 (13.8%) went unfilled, according to the National Resident Matching Program.

That compares with 12.7% of 5,088 open family medicine residency positions that went unfilled in 2023 and represents a sizable rise from 2020, when 8% percent of positions were left unfilled.

The data point to demand outpacing supply and a worsening

shortage of new family medicine doctors entering the field.

“We are facing a shortage of family medicine physicians that is going to affect the health of Michigan,” said Dr. Kristi VanDerKolk, program director for the family medicine residency program at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine in Kalamazoo, also known as WMed.

VanDerKolk spoke in a recent

Wake boat legislation is divisive among water lovers

proposed restrictions pit business groups against environmentalists

By Rachel Watson

The state’s boating industry is mobilizing against proposed new legislation that would limit extreme water sports in Michigan, saying it will dampen tourism spending in lake towns.

State Rep. Julie Rogers, D-Kalamazoo, on Feb. 28 introduced House Bill 5532, which would limit the use of wake boats in the state.

Wake boats are power boats designed to displace more water than ski boats to create bigger waves for wakeboarders and wake surfers. The bill would pro-

hibit them from being used in waters less than 20 feet deep and within 500 feet of shore, a raft or another vessel.

Similar legislation has been proposed in states like Oregon, Idaho, New Hampshire, Maine, Wisconsin and Minnesota with mixed success.

“Residents who live on small, inland lakes in our state approached me about increased issues with wake boats,” Rogers said in a statement to Crain’s Grand Rapids Business about her reasons for

Whitmer signs bill to increase lodging tax

Kent County voters could decide as soon as August on new revenue

for amphitheater, soccer stadium

By Rachel Watson

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed a bill allowing Kent County and the city of Grand Rapids to potentially generate millions of dollars in public funding for major economic development projects, including the proposed Acrisure Amphitheater and soccer stadium.

Whitmer on April 2 signed House Bill 5048, which passed in November with bipartisan support and backing from local business leaders. It will allow the city of Grand Rapids to seek voter approval for a 2% excise tax on hotel and motel stays to pay for various entertainment and convention facilities.

Also under the legislation, Kent County and the seven other counties that levy a 5% hotel/ motel excise tax could seek voter approval to grow that up to 8% in support of such venues.

“Today’s bipartisan legislation will ensure Kent County and the City of Grand Rapids can continue to grow and thrive,” Whitmer said in a statement. “Grand Rapids is one of the fastest-growing cities in Michigan and with more tools in their toolkit, they can finish two significant projects — a stadium and an amphitheater — to make their community a better place to live, work, and play.

We must collaborate on commonsense, bipartisan economic development legislation that supports local small businesses and shows young people that Michigan is the best place for them to build their lives.”

Last month, Whitmer had asked House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit, to hold off on sending her the bill to sign while she continued to push for separate economic development legislation that did not move in the fall, Crain’s Detroit Business reported. The Senate passed those bills in a marathon session March 19, and the hotel tax bill was formally sent to her desk on March 20.

Now, county officials would need to approve placing a question on ballots to raise the hotel tax. City officials would need to do the same to create a 2% hotel tax.

Kent County officials previously told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business they plan to act fast to potentially put the question on the ballot as soon as the Aug. 6 primary.

If approved by voters, a new city tax and increased county tax could potentially generate more than $10 million in new revenue in the first year, according to past media reports. Grand Rapids

A rendering of Grand Action 2.0’s soccer stadium, looking northwest from the intersection of Pearl and Mount Vernon. prOGrESSiVE COMpANiES

The Regal LS4 is a 24-foot watersports boat built for wake surfing while also having the functionality of a regular bowrider when cruising at faster speeds. WAlSTrOM MAriNE

Meticulously renovated home on Spring Lake offers views, privacy

By Rachel Watson

The caretakers of an extensively restored vintage waterfront cottage on Spring Lake never planned to list the home they bought in 2021 until receiving unsolicited interest from prospective buyers.

Brian Bauer and George Jasinski put their six-bedroom, 3.5-bath home known as The Stuga on the market for $2.25 million on March 20 through Realtor Traci Gresham, of Five Star Real Estate in Holland.

The one-story brick residence built in 1946 boasts 4,000 square feet of living space, including a finished basement and a great room that was added in 1964. The home sits on a 1-acre parcel with a heated in-ground pool, tennis court and 200 feet of Spring Lake frontage.

The Chicago-area couple bought the house in 2021 from the estate of the late Duane Quigg for just over $1.1 million, according to property records.

Quigg owned the house for decades before his death in 2017 at age 92, according to Bauer’s interviews with neighbors.

When Bauer and Jasinski discovered the home’s listing online during the pandemic, Quigg’s heirs were marketing it as a tear-down project based on its condition. But the couple saw it had good bones and decided to restore it.

“We enjoy projects, and we enjoy taking older homes and both preserving them, but also trying to breathe new life into them,” Bauer said. “We did some gut rehab work on our space here in Chicago, and we have a couple of rental buildings that we’ve done some work on.”

Bauer is a small business adviser with Chicago-based 100Waters Group who works remotely and recently made the lake house his primary residence. His partner, Jasinski, is a senior product manager at Google who lives mainly in Chicago while commuting to Spring Lake.

A broader legacy

Bauer said he and Jasinski named The Stuga after the Swedish word for “cottage” in homage to two family memories. The first was Bauer’s mother’s family’s cottage on Lake Geneva in southeastern Wisconsin, and the other was a tiny cottage-like house that was on the Christmas tree farm Bauer’s great aunt and uncle owned in Rockford, Ill.

“(The Spring Lake cottage) is an ode to some childhood memories that I have,” Bauer said. “(The Rockford house) was (on) a 25-acre Christmas tree farm that was magical to me as a kid. I didn’t realize at the time that not everybody had

their own Christmas tree farm.”

Bauer said they were not looking to sell The Stuga until recently.

“The intention wasn’t to sell … but we have had some unsolicited interest in The Stuga and decided to more formally explore that,” he said. “… We’ve certainly loved it and are looking forward to finding somebody who loves it equally.”

Bauer said he appreciates that The Stuga is part of a history-rich area of the lake that was settled in the late 19th century.

As Crain’s Grand Rapids Business previously reported, the home just west of The Stuga was built in 1890 and later became known as the “bootlegger house” because it was supposedly a stop on Al Capone’s bootlegger circuit from Canada to Chicago during Prohibition in the 1920s and ’30s.

Bauer said he was delighted to learn that the former owners of The Stuga and the bootlegger house shared a special connection.

“The owners of the bootlegger house and the owners of our house were friends for many years, and if you go back and look at photos, the color schemes of the two houses are almost identical. They look like they’re paired houses,” Bauer said. “And both sets of owners … would oftentimes spend the afternoons playing tennis on our tennis court.”

Bringing it back to life

Bauer said he and Jasinski’s path to owning The Stuga was somewhat unexpected. They had planned to buy a vacation house with Bauer’s parents in Racine, Wis., but it fell through. Bauer then wracked his brain for a backup plan.

“Sort of in desperation, I said to George, ‘You know, there’s this place that I’ve been watching for a year that only has exterior photos, and it was marketed as a teardown,’” he said.

He found a Realtor on Yelp, set up a Zoom showing, and found himself intrigued enough to visit Spring Lake.

Because the home hadn’t been occupied for a few years, it “looked terrible,” Bauer said.

The sellers had removed the furniture and high-value items but left behind piles of paperwork, clothing and linens. At some point, the heating had failed, and a pipe burst, causing so much water damage that the original wood flooring in the basement was ruined. The roof also needed replacing, and the landscaping was in sad condition.

“But fundamentally, underneath that, the house was unbelievably sound,” Bauer said. “There were no structural issues. It was all sort of

cosmetic in nature.”

Bauer, Jasinski and Bauer’s parents invested long hours bringing the house back to life after the couple bought it.

“The first summer, my parents were very involved in the process,” Bauer said. “They’re in their late 70s, early 80s, and they spent a good portion of the summer up there helping us get the house stabilized.”

The family hired contractors to rip up carpets, replace the floors, redo the roof and demolish walls on the main floor to open up the kitchen, which they then modernized. They also redid 2.5 of the 3.5 bathrooms.

The home originally had wood paneling throughout, which they ripped out of the main floor while preserving only the paneling in the great room addition and the basement, which lends a rustic feel to both areas. They painted the rest of the house in light neutrals.

Outside, they cleaned out and power-washed the pool, redid the landscaping and added a new 7,000-pound boat lift. They also installed an indoor/outdoor sound system and a whole-house backup generator.

The best features

The lower level features two sitting areas, a large billiard room with an original wood burning fireplace, an adjacent walkout screened porch, four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a laundry room, storage and a wine cellar.

The original part of the main floor has a living room with a gas fireplace, dining room, kitchen,

one bathroom and two bedrooms.

In the 1960s, The Stuga’s second owner, Donald Bolling, added a huge great room, bathroom and closet to the west side of the house, bringing a midcentury vibe to the place. That’s according to an interview Bauer conducted with Bolling’s son, Rick Bolling.

“Purists would come in and see that on the inside — in the original living room, kitchen and the bedrooms — you have more of like the 1930s, 1940s rounded corners, plaster walls … that sort of vintage, interior architecture, with tall, 9-foot, 10-foot ceilings, as opposed to when you move into the great room, now you’ve got a vaulted, exposed ceiling with woodworking that is reminiscent of the midcentury modern (period),” Bauer said.

Bauer and Jasinski left the best original features intact upstairs, including the fireplace, curved arches, the built-in wood buffet between the kitchen and dining area — and a vintage technology not seen in houses today.

“They had installed a wholehouse radio/intercom system, and while all of the individual speakers in the rooms have been removed, the main console in the kitchen is still there, with the kids’ names on it based on who was in which room,” Bauer said. “It’s really cool.”

In tribute to the home’s eclectic architecture, Bauer curated a mixture of vintage and new pieces, largely but not exclusively in the midcentury style.

In the basement is an antique 1912 billiard table made by a Minneapolis manufacturer.

Upstairs, he placed a Brunswick

bowling alley circular banquette in the dining area that he found on Facebook Marketplace from a dealer in Paw Paw. There’s also a valuable 20-foot, 1948 Rock-Ola shuffleboard table in the great room.

And there’s a set of two modular cube-shaped living room couches and an end table designed by William Andrus for Steelcase.

While the furniture is not included in the list price, Bauer said he’s open to selling it at an additional, negotiated cost.

About the price

Gresham, Bauer and Jasinski’s agent, said when setting the price of $563 per square foot, she took into consideration the couple’s indepth restoration project. But she also said it’s highly location-driven.

“People who are looking for a place on Spring Lake, oftentimes, they’re not only looking for beautiful views, but privacy, and that’s very difficult to come by. (Many) lots have been split up to offer just 75 feet, 100 feet of frontage, and there’s not necessarily mature trees still left on the property; there’s just a general lack of privacy,” she said.

“In the few days we’ve been on the market, we’ve had a lot of interest from people who are extremely attracted to the idea of not only being on the lake, but having a very private lot with a full acre.”

Gresham also looked at comparable recent sales, including one house that sold recently across the lake for just under $2.5 million.

“It’s also just considering the lack of inventory and the uniqueness of the property,” she said.

This sprawling vintage brick ranch on Spring Lake is listed for $2.25 million after an extensive renovation. TRACI GRESHAM, FIVE STAR REAlTORS HOllAND

Return-to-office trends have furniture makers optimistic

By Kayleigh Van Wyk

West Michigan furniture manufacturing executives describe themselves as optimistic, but perhaps not yet confident, that return-to-office mandates will improve their bottom line after years of disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The improving short-term outlook comes as Grand Rapids-based Steelcase Inc. (NYSE: SCS) and Zeeland-based MillerKnoll (Nasdaq: MLKN) report improving margins in the face of inflationary pressure and high interest rates over the past year.

For its part, Steelcase reported that its recently completed fiscal year 2024 was the company’s best year for earnings since the onset of the pandemic. The ongoing transition to in-person work is helping to generate optimism after multiple years of the companies grappling with work-from-home, which had dragged down earnings in the 2023 fiscal year.

“I wouldn’t call us bullish, but certainly optimistic,” Steelcase CEO Sara Armbruster said during a recent earnings call with analysts to discuss the company’s latest financial performance.

The company in late March reported $3.2 billion in revenue for the full year, steady from $3.2 billion in revenue in the prior 2023 fiscal year. Net income increased from $35.3 million for the previous year to $81.1 million in the recent year, and gross margin improved by 360 basis points during the full

fiscal year. Earnings per share more than doubled at $0.68 for fiscal year 2024 compared to $0.30 for 2023.

Meanwhile, orders grew 4% in the company’s recent fourth quarter, including 8% growth for Steelcase’s Americas segment while international orders declined 6%.

Company officials say the order growth for the Americas was driven by large corporate customers investing in updated workspaces to help attract workers and engage their teams.

“Customers tell us they need our help to create spaces that will attract new talent and engage and retain employees and help teams and individuals perform,” Armbruster said. “They know their spaces must do more and they must be designed to support a range of needs, such as providing places to focus, collaborate, build social connections and foster well-being.”

While order growth boosted Steelcase’s Americas segment, company executives noted that supply chain disruptions and extended delivery times are still affecting the company’s backlog heading into the new quarter.

Steelcase CFO Dave Sylvester said earnings for the full 2024 fiscal year marked the company’s strongest performance since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and onset of inflation spikes and supply chain disruptions of recent years.

“As we begin fiscal year 2025, we remain optimistic about the growing number of companies in the

United States that are emphasizing physical presence in their offices for a minimum number of days per week, and we believe this trend positively impacted our fiscal 2024 order levels,” Sylvester told analysts.

Executives at the privately owned, Holland-based Haworth Inc. in February reported growth in sales in 2023 over 2022, as leaders expressed a chance to jump on new opportunities as the office market evolves.

For MillerKnoll, the recently reported third quarter results for its 2024 fiscal year also reflect ongoing challenges with high interest rates and inflation as the company moves to cut costs through “targeted” layoffs and retail changes.

While net sales for the quarter were $872.3 million, down 11.4%

compared to the same quarter last year and softer than expected, MillerKnoll’s gross margin was 450 basis points higher year over year and marked the fifth consecutive quarter of improvement.

The company’s diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $0.30 compared to $0.01 for the same quarter of the 2023 fiscal year.

MillerKnoll’s earnings also indicate a 9% decline for its Americas segment this quarter, which executives say was driven by persisting inflation and high interest rates.

“Existing demand pressures including the elevated cost of capital here in North America are affecting the housing and office space market and slowing the decisions related to capital expenditures,” MillerKnoll CEO Andi Owen said during a recent earnings call with analysts.

“This is taking a toll on the shortterm results of our business.”

During the call, Owen and CFO Jeff Stutz pointed to recent actions to improve profitability, including “a targeted reduction” of the company’s management workforce.

“We took further steps this quarter aimed at improving the efficiency of our selling, general and administrative functions. This resulted in a targeted reduction of our management workforce,” Stutz said.

As well, MillerKnoll has started consolidating its showrooms into fewer but more robust locations in most markets, which is already underway in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. These actions are expected to deliver annualized cost reductions between $14 million and $16 million, according to Stutz.

“We’re bringing our brands together so that customers and design partners can experience the full breadth of our offering in one location. To this end, we will combine our showrooms in most markets, and we will also invest more heavily in dealer showrooms and dealer programs, especially in markets without a corporate showroom presence,” Owen said.

Like Steelcase, MillerKnoll executives also indicated a sense of optimism for easing inflation and lowered interest rates that will benefit the industry.

The company’s guidance for the next quarter includes anticipated net sales between $880 million and $920 million.

Cannabis project developers work through early setbacks

By Kate Carlson

A mixed-use cannabis development in Muskegon has faced construction delays and setbacks since it was first announced in 2022, but developers say the challenges could open up more opportunities for the project.

Although little construction work has taken place so far on the Fields Cannary project, the developers have secured the major permits from the city and state for the dispensary, restaurant and bar, cannabis consumption lounge, processing center and grow facility planned on site.

In fact, the liquor license approval for the bar and restaurant portion of the project was probably “a bit shocking” for some in the cannabis industry, said Edgar Ramon, one of the owners of the project.

“We hope it helps normalize cannabis use and other people see it the same way as a 21 and older product,” Ramon said. “Unlike the typical retail experience today where you go to your provisioning center, make your purchase and leave, we’re looking forward to people spending as much time on site as possible and making it a destination spot.”

There was $3.06 billion in cannabis sales that took place across the

state last year, making Michigan the No. 1 market in the country on a per-capita basis. Even with the market going through maturation and putting pressure on some operators, Ramon doesn’t see cannabis going anywhere. And if Michigan embraces unique concepts like Fields Cannary, the market could grow much larger than it already is, he added.

Only two consumption establishment licenses were active in Michigan as of Feb. 29, according to the most recent monthly report from the Cannabis Regulatory Agency.

“Those that have been able to withstand those challenges will come out on the other end just fine and new entries like us in the industry need to find our niche,” Ramon said.

The 4-acre project site at 420 S. Harvey St. aims to normalize cannabis use by creating a similar experience to a vineyard or brewery tour. Ramon and his wife, Joanne Ramon, are from Chicago but recently moved to Muskegon and are the co-owners of the project along with Muskegon native Cory Roberts.

In addition to the restaurant and bar, consumption lounge, and grow and processing facility, the developers also plan to include an outdoor event venue for live music

and other performances. As well, the owners want to make the space available for rent for private parties such as weddings or corporate gatherings.

“We had a ton of people reach out during the holidays looking for cannabis-friendly venues for their guests,” Ramon said. “I think we’re really adding to what Muskegon is already all about with live events but also catering to the cannabis consumer.”

The restaurant is the “main driver” behind the business model, with plans to source ingredients from local farmers to create a seasonal rotating menu, as well as feature a limited outdoor kitchen and menu, Ramon said.

Because of federal regulations, the restaurant is unable to serve any cannabis-infused food that is prepared in the restaurant’s kitchen, but they are considering selling pre-packaged desserts and condiments at the onsite dispensary that customers can take to the restaurant and consume, Ramon said.

Fields Cannary changed general contractors for the project from Illinois-based Grow America Builders LLC to Muskegon-based District 1 LLC.

The project was initially slated to open last year, but the timeline was delayed after a roof caved in during demolition work earlier this year. The project also ran into challenges with contractors’ limited schedules

given the large amount of projects taking place in the area.

Local construction companies are being pulled to many large-scale projectds, especially on the lakeshore in Muskegon with Adelaide Pointe, Harbor 31 and the renovation of the Shaw Walker building proposing to add a collective total of about 700 housing units.

“We were certainly planning on being much further down the road than we are now,” Ramon said.

“There are a ton of projects happening throughout Muskegon, making it difficult to lock down contractors. It’s also exciting to be part of the growth spurt Muskegon is going through.”

As well, an 18-inch snowfall in February during the otherwise mild winter resulted in ice weighing down and caving in the ceiling of the existing building on site. The initial plans called for the 11,000-square-foot former Sons of Norway Lodge to be renovated into the restaurant and bar, dispensary and consumption lounge for the project, but developers now are considering demolishing most or all of the structure and building new, according to Ramon.

He said fortunately, no workers were in the space when the roof collapsed and no significant renovations had started on the space.

Steelcase’s award-winning Ocular table on display at NeoCon last year. | JACK GriEVE

Rendering of the Fields Cannary project in Muskegon. | COUrTESY OF F ElDS CANNArY

M&A DEALS AND DEALMAKERS AWARDS

Crain’s M&A Deals and Dealmakers Awards drew more than 160 people to the JW Marriott on March 28 to celebrate 2023’s biggest transactions in West Michigan and the people responsible for them

Downtown’s Reserve to close for renovations, will offer new concept

By Abby Poirier

Reserve Wine and Food, an upscale downtown Grand Rapids wine bar and restaurant, is closing its doors on May 2 with plans to reopen in the fall with a new name, concept and menu.

Owned by Windquest Group, the family office for Dick and Betsy DeVos, the restaurant has operated for 14 years at 201 Monroe Ave. NW. It boasts 102 wines on tap and a full menu.

“We’re laying Reserve to rest, so to speak,” said Luke VerHulst, executive chef and general manager for the restaurant. “When we opened, we had the goal of really trying to innovate and push the dining scene forward in Grand Rapids, and I think we’ve accomplished that. The town is catching up with what we’re doing. Now it’s time for us to kind of reinvent and innovate again.”

According to VerHulst, the restaurant will close to update the space to match the new concept, while improving functionality.

The restaurant’s last day of service will be May 2. Renovations to the space will begin before July.

The owners planned for the renovation project to occur over the summer to coincide with the development of Lyon Square, situated between the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel and DeVos Place, which will temporarily close the street and restrict access to the restaurant. The project will create a pedestrian-focused riverfront park and plaza.

“Hopefully, it’s just going to be bringing more foot traffic to downtown to provide people things to do that’s not just dining,” VerHulst said of the project. “We’re hoping to really capture some of that.”

Over the next month, Reserve will feature special menus while service winds down. The business will spend the summer months reconceptualizing the restaurant, with a goal to reopen in October under a new name.

VerHulst said while the menu is still being developed, the new concept will retain the current focus on local, seasonal prod-

ucts. The restaurant will announce its new concept sometime this summer, with plans to reopen before the end of 2024.

“I’m going to try to tie in humble food, familiar food done in a modern way,” VerHulst said. “We’re still going to stick true to our farm-to-table format. The relationships that we’ve built with all of our purveyors around the area are still of utmost importance to me.”

VerHulst added that the new menu will “probably focus quite a bit” on seafood.

The change in concept comes as Reserve’s alcohol sales declined in both 2022 and 2023, when sales were off nearly 28% compared to 2021, according to Michigan Liquor Control Commission data.

VerHulst said the sales decline will be taken into consideration while redeveloping the concept for the restaurant. While the wine bar will still be an “integral part” of the new restaurant, VerHulst said it won’t be the focus. “(Non-alcoholic beverages are) probably the fastest growing sector in the beverage market right now,” he said. “Millennials and Gen Z are really focusing on health and quality of life, so we definitely want to factor that into our new concepts and breathe new life into it. Wine is always going to be there, but we’ll definitely have NA pairings available, for sure.”

The restaurant will be parting ways with its 34 employees during the closure, but VerHulst remains hopeful they will rejoin the concept when it reopens.

“In fine dining, I think restaurants kind of run a course within a 10-year period, where there needs to be time for innovation and reinvention,” he said. “I think we’ve just naturally hit that timeline.”

Windquest Group also owns the CraftCo portfolio of spirits, which includes Coppercraft Distillery in Holland and a tasting room in Saugatuck. Windquest also owns several whiskey brands, including Jos. A. Magnus Co., Fox & Oden and Flying Ace Spirits, as well as Thatcher’s Organic Artisan Spirits, a producer of vodka and liqueurs.

The owners planned for the renovation project to occur over the summer to coincide with the development of Lyon Square. | COURTESY PHOTO

Photography by Seth Thompson

Hospital argues it owns disputed architectural plans

By Mark Sanchez

Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital and the current architectural firm involved in a proposed $60 million pediatric hospital say a previous firm’s claims of copyright violations involving the project belong in arbitration, not in federal court.

Language in the original contract states that Mary Free Bed “owns all original copyrighted subject matter authored by” SmithGroup Inc., according to court filings. The federal lawsuit that SmithGroup filed on March 11 claiming that Mary Free and Pure Architects violated federal copyright protections should first go to arbitration to decide if a breach of contract occurred, attorneys argued in court documents.

SmithGroup partly based its claims on Mary Free Bed’s refusal to pay a licensing fee after terminating its contract on Sept. 8, 2023.

In its first response to the federal lawsuit, lawyers from Dickinson Wright PLLC’s Detroit office who represent Mary Free Bed argue that an arbitrator first needs to decide if their contract was actually breached and whether it owes the licensing and termination fees to SmithGroup before a federal court can hear the lawsuit.

In a court motion filed March 28, Mary Free Bed’s attorneys asked Judge Robert Jonker to either dismiss the case — which has the potential to delay the project — or at least refer the matter to arbitration in accordance with language in their contract.

The contract “requires that all claims and causes of action arising out of or related to the agreement shall be commenced in arbitration, and if a party’s claim is not commenced in accordance with the agreement, the party waives that claim,” attorneys at Dickinson Wright wrote in the motion. “Because Plaintiff did not commence its copyright claim in accordance with the agreement, it is waived and should be dismissed … for failure to state a claim.”

The filing offered the first legal response in the case from Mary Free Bed and Pure Architects and focuses for now on a narrow aspect in the lawsuit that SmithGroup initiated in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan in Grand Rapids.

“We continue to believe the SmithGroup claim is without merit and have filed a motion to dismiss,” the hospital said in a statement emailed to Crain’s Grand Rapids Business. “Mary Free Bed and Pure Architects are making significant progress in creating our nation’s new children’s rehabilitation hospital. This state-of-the-art facility will bring hope and healing to the children and families who seek care here. We are grateful to our community for its ongoing support as we work to make a meaningful difference in the lives of those we serve.”

SmithGroup Inc. alleges in the lawsuit that the design for the Joan Secchia Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital is protected by federal

copyright and was improperly copied and reproduced by Grand Rapids-based Pure Architects, which took over the design and engineering work on the Mary Free Bed project last September. The firm contends that Pure Architects’ design for the pediatric hospital is “substantially similar” to what it did.

SmithGroup, which has offices in Detroit and Ann Arbor, seeks a temporary injunction that directs Mary Free Bed “to cease and desist from any and all continued infringement of SmithGroup’s copyrighted architectural works, including but not limited to the copying, distribution,

and publication of SmithGroup’s original works of authorship or derivative works thereof, and from the construction of any structures including SmithGroup’s copyrighted subject matter.”

SmithGroup claims it was due a licensing fee and 8% of its total fee after Mary Free Bed terminated its contract. The hospital has since declined to pay and argues in the March 28 court filing that the issue comes down to whether a breach of contract occurred, a question that should get settled through arbitration, according to Mary Free Bed’s court filing.

Seamless All-In-One Solutions

Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital’s plans for a pediatric care facility.

COUrTESY OF MArY FrEE BED

Riverfront office building sells for below asking price

By Kate Carlson

An affiliate of The Christman Co. has sold a five-story office building along the Grand River for $10.8 million, more than $1.5 million below asking price.

Doing business as Front Street Property LLC, The Christman Co. President and CEO Steven Roznowski sold the property to 634 Riverfront LLC, which is registered to John Keller, a local neurosurgeon.

The buyer financed the purchase with a $7.5 million loan from Grand Rapids-based Lake Michigan Credit Union, according to county records.

The Christman Co. built the 43,000-square-foot building at 634 Front Ave. NW in 2008.

The building, which is fully occupied by accounting firm Plante Moran, has been for sale since August 2023. The property sale closed March 15, according to property records. The sale was below the listing price of $12.5 million.

“We got very light interest from national buyers, which was more of an indication of turning a nose up at urban office buildings,” said Scott Morgan, senior vice president at Colliers International’s West Michigan office, which had the listing. “We also ended up selling it for less but the buyer was a local investor, so more bullish on West Michigan.”

Plans mostly call for maintaining the status quo at the building, which is fully occupied on floors three, four and five by Plante Mo-

ran for the accounting firm’s offices. The first two floors are a 161-space parking ramp.

“The best part of the building was that Plante Moran recently remodeled part of the building and built all new tenant space,” Morgan said. “It’s very modern and beautiful and one of the best office spaces you’ll find in Grand Rapids.”

Plante Moran turned down the first right of refusal to buy the property, Morgan said. The company has a nine-year lease at the building.

Plante Moran formerly shared the building with The Christman Co.’s offices before the construction firm outgrew the space. The Christman Co.’s West Michigan offices are now located at 801 Broadway Ave. NW in the American Seating

office park.

The property deal comes as West Michigan’s office market maintains sub-10% vacancy rates.

The vacancy rate for the West Michigan office market decreased to 7.7% in the fourth quarter of 2023, down from 8.4% in the previous quarter, according to Colliers’ most recent West Michigan office report. During the same time period, the office vacancy rate in Grand Rapids’ central business district was 10.5%, down from 11.3% from the previous quarter.

Leasing activity softened in the fourth quarter, but the West Michigan market had “robust net absorption” that totaled 306,461 square feet for the fourth quarter, according to Colliers.

Women-owned, majority Native law firm opens

By Kayleigh Van Wyk

Tanya Gibbs, a local attorney who represents tribally owned companies involved in various businesses, is departing from majority Native-owned law firm Rosette LLP to establish her own firm based in Grand Rapids.

Mshkawzi Law LLP officially opened April 1 with Gibbs as majority owner and managing partner.

of Toronto.

“Starting a new firm with this team will provide the best environment to do the very best work for our clients,” Gibbs said.

In the coming months, the firm will focus on ensuring a seamless transition for clients while also setting the stage for future growth.

The name of the firm means “strong” in the Anishinaabemowin language, a meaning that Gibbs said signifies the experience and dedication the attorneys are bringing to the Mshkawzi Law.

The firm will exclusively represent tribes in the U.S. and First Nations in Canada as well as their wholly owned business enterprises. Practice areas will include complex litigation, gaming, non-gaming economic development, health care, employment and labor, government-to-government negotiations, regulatory and compliance and internal tribal governance.

Gibbs, a citizen of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, joined Tempe, Ariz.-based Rosette LLP in November 2013 and became a partner in 2018, working out of the firm’s Grand Rapids office.

Gibbs said the decision to launch her own law firm came as “a natural progression” to continue her work, which has primarily focused on non-gaming economic development.

“We still have an entrepreneurial spirit and love for economic development (at Mshkawzi Law),”

Gibbs told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business. “We see that as a really important area for Indian Country to continue to exercise their sovereignty and generate revenue for future generations.”

Gibbs said her goal always has been to provide the best possible legal services to tribes and tribal businesses, whether that be practiced at a firm, in-house or on her own.

Joining Gibbs at Mshkawzi Law are partners Nicole St. Germain and Saba Bazzazieh, who are based out of California and Washington, D.C., respectively. The firm also will employ attorneys Justin Gray and Kathryn Petersen and paralegal Scott Funke in Grand Rapids; attorney Jen Saeckl will work for the firm out

“For us, we wanted a name that signified the power that we bring to the practice and that we’re a group the clients can really lean on,” she said. “We can negotiate really strongly in their favor — we can advocate for their interest.”

The launch of a woman- and Native-owned law firm in Grand Rapids comes at perhaps a critical time considering the demographics of most major law firms in the U.S.

“It comes in line with another trend we’re starting to see more nationally, even outside of Indian Country, which is that there are more and more women becoming lawyers,” said Matthew Fletcher, a citizen of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and law professor at the University of Michigan.

Fletcher also serves as chief justice of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.

“I think that with the rise of tribal governments and tribal justice systems, there is more intention towards moving away from — to be frank — a misogynist legal system,” he said.

In its 2023 report on diversity in the legal industry, the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) indicated that across 178 major law firms in the U.S., women made up the majority of associates in 2023 for the first time ever at slightly more than 50%. Women also experienced record annual growth at the partnership level, although still comprising just 27.76% of all partners.

Tanya Gibbs is launching Mshkawzi Law LLP in Grand Rapids. The new women-owned and majority Native law firm will represent American Indian tribes and Canadian First Nations. | SETH THOMPSON

A local investor scooped up the Plante Moran office building in Grand Rapids for $10.8 million. | KATE CARlSON

URBAN FLOODING

FLOOD FIGHT

July 2, 2023, was a wet one in Chicago. What the National Weather Service called “multiple nearly stationary bands of showers and thunderstorms” dumped up to 9.1 inches of rain in some parts of the metro area. No injuries were reported, but flash floods inundated roadways, more than 10,000 homes reported flood-related damage, and preliminary estimates of losses totaled a half-billion dollars. A federal disaster was declared. Chicago wasn’t alone in its misery. A few weeks later and a few hundred miles to the east, the city of Cleveland saw its own deluge on Aug. 23. Cleveland’s west side saw so many vital underpasses flooded that the neighborhood was virtually cut off for hours. And Detroiters often deal with periodic heavy rains and power outages, with specific neighborhoods feeling the brunt during individual storms. The last wide-

spread, catastrophic event, in June 2021, inundated parts of the Grosse Pointes, Detroit’s east side and Dearborn.

It’s a situation that is likely to intensify in Illinois, Michigan and Ohio, creating recurring threats to property, health and finances — for residents, and for cities and states.

With chronic deluges occurring far more often than decades ago, there’s no escaping today’s reality: Climate changes and their effects mean that flooding in urban centers can no longer be ignored as rare acts of nature. Indeed, the Chicago area saw a virtual repeat of July 2’s flooding just weeks later in mid-September.

Images of torrential rainfall that flooded New York City streets and subway lines last September also increase awareness of how widespread urban flooding has become.

The question for cities now is what to do about it.

According to the Fifth National Climate

As storms surge in the Midwest, cities struggle to contain all that water

By John Gallagher

Assessment, the U.S. government’s report on climate change, heavy storms became 45% more frequent in the Midwest from 1958 to 2021. Aaron Wilson, Ohio’s state hydrologist, said Cleveland Hopkins International Airport got more than 3 inches of rain in a day just four times in the 55 years from 1950 through 2004; that more than doubled to nine times in just the next 19 years.

In and around Grand Rapids, rain has increased more than 18% over the last 100 years, with nearly 25% more falling in areas just north and east of the city, some of the biggest precipitation increases in the state of Michigan, according to precipitation data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“We’re getting much heavier rain, and the intensity of the rain is incredible,” Candice Miller, public works commissioner for Macomb County outside Detroit, told Crain’s.

“We’re struggling with it just like everybody else. We have to think how we can position ourselves for the future.”

Predicting such events with precision is difficult because, as the weather service notes, the most extreme rainfall is often quite isolated. The difference of a few miles can mean rain falling harmlessly or devastating flooding, and that devastation has real consequences.

Brian Kazy, a Cleveland Ward 16 city councilman, told News 5 Cleveland after the August 2023 storm: “I was out last night until after 2 a.m., and I saw the look in people’s eyes who couldn’t get home and (were) trying to get out, and it was scary,” he said. “We just got to come up with something, and we’ve got to do it quickly; this has just become too often a problem.”

Continued on next page

June 25-27, 2021: A low pressure system produced 3-5 inches of rain across a wide swath of Metro Detroit, while some localized areas saw 6-8 inches. | Ap MAGES

From previous page

URBAN FLOODING

Accurately de ne the issues

Flooding certainly can involve a river over owing its banks, but urban ooding often stems from other causes and requires other solutions. As a 2019 report by the Natural Resources Defense Council put it, “Urban ooding has little to do with bodies of water.” Rather, says Anna Weber, an NRDC senior policy analyst, urban ooding results from excessive rainfall and the inability of the existing capacity in our stormwater systems — gray infrastructure — to deal with it.

For example, in the 2021 event in Detroit, the failure of electric power to a key pumping station on the city’s east side contributed to massive back ow of rainwater into streets and basements in the Grosse Pointes. But even if the power hadn’t failed, so much rain fell that the existing pipes and pumps couldn’t have handled it all.

Flooding was inevitable, o cials said later.

What makes the problem worse is that in many older cities, the underground drains, pipes and pumps that carry away rainwater is the same setup that deals with sewage. Newer suburban communities often separate the stormwater and sewer systems. But in older neighborhoods, heavy rain mixes with sewage and sometimes backs up into basements, streets and nearby waterways.

Whether combined or separated, these urban water and sewer systems are vastly complex networks that carry freshwater into homes and businesses and carry away waste as well as rain runo and snowmelt. Across Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland, millions of homes and businesses connect to these underground networks. ese systems were built over many decades and are hugely expensive to maintain and upgrade. And here’s the rub: e cities designed and built their underground infrastructure for the kind of rainstorms they saw 50 or a 100 years ago, not for today’s increasingly more severe storms. When the rain comes tumbling down, it often has no place to ow except where it hurts humans the most: streets and basements.

Protect the most vulnerable

Losses from urban ooding can run into the billions of dollars in property damage. Beyond that, urban ooding can also create health concerns ranging from stress to asthma stemming from mold exposure. Actual losses may be even greater than o cial estimates of property damage once health impacts and loss of gross domestic product are considered.

In the Midwest, the impact of excessive rain — urban ooding — often hurts poorer neighborhoods of color the most.

One study conducted by the nonpro t Center for Neighborhood Technology found that just 13 ZIP codes on Chicago’s South and West sides accounted for nearly 75% of ood damage claims in the

Yearly U.S. precipitation vs. average annual precipitation

The number of inches above or below average

U.S. land experiencing extreme single-day precipitation

The percentage land area where a much greater than normal portion of total annual precipitation has come from single-day events

scheme to support low-income communities on the maintenance piece,” Alias said.

Finally, urban ooding is often too localized to draw in state or federal aid. As the 2019 NRDC report put it, “ is limits the public assistance available to victims, who are then left on their own to deal with the aftermath, over and over again.”

Such complaints are heard in many cities. Residents of the Delray neighborhood in southwest Detroit have long complained about bearing the brunt of heavy industry and the problems it brings. Expansion, growth and development upstream can often cause oods downstream. As Ohio hydrologist Wilson said, “More vulnerable, poor communities tend to be in the lowerlying areas.”

Improve the infrastructure

Attempts to build out of the ooding problem with expanded systems are chasing the increasing impacts of climate change. Who is to say the 9 inches of rain Chicago received last summer will be the peak — is it just a harbinger of even worse to come?

But while the cities are working, often with federal relief dollars, to upgrade their stormwater systems, installing bigger pipes and more efcient pumps, Weber of the NRDC contends that these “gray infrastructure” projects, while necessary, are insu cient to deal with today’s urban ooding.

Change in U.S. precipitation, 1901-2021

Precipitation changes by U.S. climate divisions, as de ned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Note: All data is for the contiguous 48 states. The map was last updated in 2022. The yearly precipitation data is from 2022 and “0” equals the average precipitation from 1901 to 2000. The single day data is from 2021 and is a nine-year moving average.

2007-16 period. In those areas, more than 90% of residents were people of color.

Cyatharine Alias, a senior manager for community infrastructure and resilience with Chicago’s CNT, said many things explain the racial disparities. Among them: poorer Black neighborhoods tend to be in

more natural ood plains, a legacy of where people of color were allowed to live during the “Great Migration” of the 20th century. Poorer communities of color are also less likely to be covered by ood insurance, as another report by the Natural Resources Defense Council makes clear.

en, too, economically poorer areas often are locales of more heavy industry, paved over with asphalt and with fewer natural greenspaces to absorb heavy rains. And low-income areas tend to see fewer upgrades and less reinvestment in infrastructure. “ ere really hasn’t been a funding

at’s because many of the biggest problems stem from heavy rainfall exacerbating other issues — inadequate housing, poverty, health risks, lack of green spaces and underlying contamination from prior industrial uses.

“None of these questions exist in a silo,” Weber said. “When you’re talking about ooding, you can’t be just talking about ooding. Flooding a ects everything in a community, so you need to be thinking about these holistic solutions. We need to look at solutions that have multiple bene ts.”

Every region’s long-term goal is to better maintain the existing infrastructure and improve it as necessary.

e Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District has overseen $9 billion in improvements since its start in 1972, and its leaders expect to spend another $6 billion. ey intend their current and future tunnels to hold back 98% of the combined sewer over ow from a twoyear storm until there’s room at treatment plants downstream. ey say bigger tunnels would cost too much. As it is, the district has reduced untreated over ows from about 9 billion gallons per year to 4.5 billion, and it aims for 494 million by 2036.

In Southeast Michigan, the Michigan Department of Transportation has been installing new electric generators at each of its 144 pumping stations along Detroit-area freeways to help remove water from roadways.

Since the 2021 ooding in Detroit, the Great Lakes Water Authority, or GLWA, has mapped out hundreds of millions of dollars of upgrades to

York

Note: Data is from 2022 for the contiguous 48 states. 0 equals the average temperature from 1901 to 2000.

its stormwater system, many of them already underway. Among the steps: Upgrading the electric power supply to pumping stations like the one at Conner Street and East Jefferson Avenue, where power failures in 2021 contributed to the disastrous flooding on the east side. New pipes and pumping upgrades are underway elsewhere along the system as well. And officials say communication lines with suburban systems have improved so that storm flows may be diverted from one part of the system to where more capacity is available. Sometimes it’s just a matter of keeping water out of underground systems by forging alternatives. Consider the new Gordie Howe International Bridge now under construction over the Detroit River to Canada, along with a 167acre Port of Entry inspection complex in southwest Detroit. Initially, GLWA CEO Suzanne Coffey says, bridge planners had expected to direct stormwater runoff from the facility into the underground pipes that the authority operates. But GLWA planners persuaded the bridge builders to direct heavy rain from the site into the river itself, sparing the underground system that extra burden.Still, as Coffey notes, the regional stormwater system was designed to handle about 3.3 inches of rain a day, not the 7 to 8 inches of rain at a time that sometimes deluges Detroit as it did in 2021. But the upgrades and better planning are paying off in greater resiliency.

“If we get 10 inches of rain, would we have flooding? Yes,” she says. “Are we much better prepared? You bet.”

In Detroit itself, the water department operates a machine known as a “nutcracker” to break up concrete that construction crews have dumped down drains at the end of a job to get rid of it. Blockages like that clog the stormwater system and can lead to backups and flooding.

In Macomb County outside Detroit, Public Works Commissioner Miller has been working to have hundreds of stormwater drains cleared of sediment, debris and junk.

“You can’t believe what you can find when you start inspecting,” Miller said. “We have 500 drains, big drains, some enclosed, some not inspected since the 1960s. You have to spend money on inspecting old, enclosed drains and cleaning them out. Make sure all the assets you have are operating optimally.”

Encourage individuals to do their part

But upgraded and cleaned out pipes and greener rainwater basins aren’t enough, Weber argues. There also needs to be a social component to any efforts to reduce the damage from urban flooding.

Residents of poorer districts should be able to get relocation aid so they can move to safer districts. Underlying problems like ground contamination from long-ago industrial uses must be addressed.

And disclosure of flood risks during property transactions can help, too.

“For people signing a lease for an apartment, someone should tell them that neighborhood floods every time it rains, right?” Weber says. “Really, really simple solutions like that can have a big impact.”

Some of those solutions are being funded, in part, in Chicago by the city’s Climate Infrastructure Fund, which provides grants of $50,000 to $250,000 to nonprofit organizations and small businesses for climaterelated capital projects in priority areas such as green infrastructure.

If the big solutions cost billions of dollars and require government action, individual homeowners can take steps, too, to protect themselves.

Homeowners can install backup protection valves that prevent sewer overflows from backing up into a basement. The city of Detroit, for example, publishes a handbook that offers tips on maintenance and explains how residents of 11 Detroit neighborhoods prone to flooding are eligible for a program that includes services that help mitigate damages.

Then, too, homeowners can regrade their yards so that rainwater flows away from the foundation, lessening basement flooding. Gutter downspouts can be disconnected from the sewer system and repositioned to flow rainwater into a nearby rainwater garden where plants can absorb the overflow.

Some communities let residents replace grass with native ground cover or vegetation. “To my way of thinking, it’s more attractive,” says Mayor William Tomko of Northeast Ohio’s Chagrin Falls. And homeowners can plant trees where roots will suck up excess groundwater.

One more thing officials encourage: The next time a millage proposal shows up on the ballot to support stormwater system upgrades, vote “yes.”

With such a complex problem, the solutions have to come from many different quarters — government and business and nonprofits and individuals. “We can’t be operating in silos,” Weber of the NRDC said. “Everybody has a role to play in these solutions and we all have to be learning from each other. Otherwise, we just keep reinventing the wheel.”

As Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells, who leads the Cleveland-area’s Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, says, “We got here by a thousand cuts. We’re only going to get out of here by a thousand steps.”

Some of those solutions may be hugely expensive, but Macomb County’s Miller says people can’t be discouraged.

“We have been behind the eight ball by not investing enough in our infrastructure. Everybody knows that,” she said, but added, “You can’t look at anything that way. You have to think about incremental changes and doing a better job, what you can afford, and think creatively and utilize value engineering in any way you can. Like an elephant — one bite at a time.”

Cleveland reporter Grant Segall contributed to this story.

The role builders, residents and developers play in flood diversion

Green infrastructure plays big role in diverting Midwest flooding

By John Gallagher

Spending billions on new underground pipes and pumps is only part of the game plan for dealing with urban flooding. Increasingly, municipalities are implementing green infrastructure measures to complement the gray infrastructure of pipes, drains and processing facilities.

What it is

Green infrastructure refers to any intervention that attempts to restore part of the natural landscape to absorb, store, filter, reuse or evaporate stormwater to reduce the burden on drains and collection systems.

“Our streams are nature’s stormwater system,” says Derek Schafer, head of Northeast Ohio’s West Creek Conservancy.

Green infrastructure can include something as simple as open fields graded to capture water runoff from nearby paved surfaces. It can also include permeable surfaces that allow rainwater to seep down into the ground through holes in the hard surface. Channels that divert rainwater from paved areas to green areas can also be part of a greener system, as can rainwater gardens planted with water-absorbing plants in yards and around buildings and parking lots.

Often these green solutions are designed to absorb just enough rainwater to reduce the load on the underground pipes and pumps. In this way, both gray and green infrastructure work together to reduce urban flooding.

How it’s being used

In Macomb County outside Detroit, new stormwater standards now require developers of any new project to reduce the amount of impervious surface — paved areas — so that rainwater can soak naturally into the ground.

“As you might imagine we had a lot of developers say, ‘Oh, my gosh, we can’t do that, it’s going to be too expensive,’” said Candice Miller, public works commissioner for the county. “That was a couple years ago. The conversations have pretty much stopped now. Nobody can argue with the fact of what is happening with the weather here.”

A trimmed lawn compacted over time won’t absorb much. Topsoil and aeration help. Lawns must still be mowed. Cleveland and Akron limit the grass’s height to 8 inches and many communities set that at 6. Last year, Cleveland Heights joined an international movement called “No Mow May,” suspending the limit, but some locals complained about scraggly lawns. At last report, the suburb had not announced plans for this May.

The city of Chicago Climate Infrastructure Fund helps fund green infrastructure projects. A $200,000 grant went to Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago’s Far South Side to create a permeable parking lot to reduce stormwater runoff. And thanks to a $250,000 grant, the Garfield Park Community Council was to construct a new nature play area that promotes healthy child development and physical activ-

ity, while also addressing flooding in the area.

In Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District operates a program called Greenseams that buys and then permanently protects key lands containing water-absorbing soils in areas likely to see urban sprawl, especially along streams, shorelines and wetlands. To date, the Greenseams program has protected 149 properties, preserved more than 5,000 acres of land and planted nearly 120,000 trees.

The Milwaukee sewer district also advises homeowners on how they can contribute to the solution by, say, getting a rain barrel that captures water from downspouts and gutters. The homeowner can use this water for gardening while capturing stormwater that otherwise could burden the city’s sewers.

In the Cleveland area, the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, or NEORSD, has had multiple projects completed or in the works to enhance the landscape’s ability to adsorb heavy rains. In the Fleet Avenue project in the city of Cleveland, a green infrastructure project was landscaped to allow 4.8 million gallons of stormwater per year to soak into soils. In another project with the community development corporation Burten, Bell, Carr Development Inc., a greening project was designed to absorb an estimated 12.4 million gallons of rain in a typical year.

The NEORSD gives credits to customers for sizable reductions in runoff.

Grant Segall contributed.

Natural yards, like that of Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District CEO Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells, help absorb more water. | KYlE DrEYFUSS-WEllS

Stormwater management must be a priority

Few people in southeast Michigan will forget the flooding that resulted from the intense, heavy rainstorm of Aug. 11, 2014.

More than 4 inches of rain — up to 6 inches of some areas — turned freeways into rivers dotted by abandoned vehicles. Major roads and neighborhood streets were impacted as well.

Homeowners, businesses and governments suffered extensive property damages. Equipment, furniture, cherished family heirlooms and other personal property ruined by flood water and sanitary sewage were piled at curbs as homeowners and businesses dealt with the cleanup for weeks.

In Michigan, much is said of the condition of many roads and bridges and subdivision streets, and the need for repairs — and rightly so. However, just because our underground infrastructure is out of sight, it cannot be out of mind.

No stormwater system is capable of fully handling the torrential rain like that seen in

2014 or 2021. A rainstorm of 4 inches — let alone 6-12 inches — in a short period of time will overwhelm major interceptor pipes, pump stations, basins and more.

Locally and regionally, much work needs to be done if we want to reduce urban flooding. That means investment — whether it be construction of more retention basins, daylighting of enclosed drains, green infrastructure and better stormwater management standards.

In just the past few years, the Macomb County Public Works Office has designed and started more than $183 million in stormwater management projects, including efforts to dramatically reduce — and hopefully eliminate — combined sewer overflow discharges into Lake St. Clair. These projects will be transformative. They will better position Macomb County to deal with heavy rain events while keeping our environment clean and improving water quality.

Beyond the impact to buildings and property, flooding also impacts our rivers and lakes. In Macomb County, it’s our mission to improve quality of life by improving water quality. Our office has jurisdiction over 475 drains. Within 330 miles of enclosed drains, we inspect the pipes and partner with our local municipalities to share the cost to

Green Market Report

WOMEN IN CANNABIS AWARDS

maintain, rehabilitate and remove sediment from the sewers, especially in the older, more densely populated areas where open drains were enclosed 50 or more years ago for new development. The same cost-sharing arrangement is used to pay for maintenance in our 400 miles of open channels by removing logjams, debris and reestablishing the banks to reduce erosion and improve stormwater drainage.

We’ve won awards for some of our major “green infrastructure” projects, like the Sterling Relief Drain, a 5-mile-long, very wide drain that drains almost 25% of Sterling Heights. We removed the old, corrugated metal pipes, allowing Mother Nature to act as a natural sponge, removing thousands of pounds of nitrogen and phosphorus and

sedimentation from entering our waterways. We planted thousands of trees, shrubs and native grasses, creating a 3-mile-long butterfly flyway for our pollinator friends.

Something is definitely happening with our weather patterns and the frequency and intensity of heavy rainstorms appear to be a new normal. Improvement and investment in our underground infrastructure requires not only discussion, but actual commitment and action.After all, it’s not a question of “if” such heavy, intense storms will occur, but “when.”

Miller previously held other elected posts, including as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and Michigan secretary of state.

Candice S. Miller is the Macomb County Public Works commissioner.

Water always wins, so let’s get behind it, lest we get run over...

Many years ago now, my daughter introduced me to her first grade class as “a scientist that plays with mud and water.” This is not too far off the mark. For many years, I’ve studied urbanized landscapes, their soils and how water moves — or doesn’t move — through our built environment. I came to Wayne State to continue an urban-serving mission after 18 years with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where I worked to address stormwater and wastewater, codeveloping solutions with communities across our nation.

types, flooding is traumatic, and hits us where it hurts, in our homes and businesses, and in a larger sense, our habitat.

The catastrophic flooding in the summer of 2021 was an equal-opportunity destroyer of health, wealth and property, creating denial of services that we’re still reeling from. These tragic events showed that rainfall storm events were not like they used to be, and that many of us live in high wastewater traffic areas. We have very little functional redundancy in our current system. Wastewater flows from the north, the west, and gathers steam and volume along the coastal east side as it barrels toward our sole wastewater treatment plant located Downriver.

If you are like me, and thousands of other Detroiters, we’ve each been affected by flooding of one type or another.

Flooding can be visited upon us by way of a sewer backup, groundwater seep into basement or other sub-grade structures, surface runoff from hard surfaces that builds up in our streets and finds its way into our houses and businesses through cracks and openings; and then river inundation. Whether one, some or all of these

When there is not enough room for water, it makes room by flooding. We’re all in a sort of sandwich generation for aging infrastructure and a changing climate. Remote sensing, digital models and real-time control are parts of the solution, but until we have good basic data to give these models some guardrails, we’re flying blind with no clear storm event or realistic constraints to design against.

We need data equity. How does water actually move around Detroit, and where do the different types of flooding occur?

We know the least about the areas that have the highest vulnerability to flooding insults. We need to understand the full water cycle from rainfall going in, to the hard

A stretch of I-94 was under several feet of water following heavy rains which flooded parts of Detroit in June 2021. |

surfaces that turn rain into runoff, the sewer plumbing, how our groundwater table can move up or down.

I’ve spent the majority of my career mak-

ing measurements and figuring out how to keep stormwater out of our over-taxed sewer systems. Green infrastructure has been touted as a magic bullet of sorts; yet, my extensive study on the subject indicates that we need to think through the placement of rain gardens and bioswales. This involves straightforward site assessments that give the data needed to tune the design of green stormwater infrastructure, and let it become more a natural part of its setting, move in sync with the landscape and the seasons, and so it can do its job.

I know we can close these data gaps, because I’ve worked with cities, state agencies and federal partners to gather and apply this data.

Hope springs eternal, but residents are also ratepayers and demand effective action toward reducing vulnerability to flooding, and that have tangible outcomes. For example, DWSD is innovating on these problems. Their program to protect from basement sewer backups and explore the repair of sewer laterals are a visionary step in the right direction and needs to be expanded.

We can endlessly relitigate the effects of a broken infrastructure and who loses or wins, but the fact is, without comprehensive, resident-engaged redress, we all lose. If we are in front of water, we’re always looking backwards, and we’ll continue to be run over.

Congratulations, Tracy Larsen

Recognized by Global M&A Network

As a Top 50: Americas M&A Lawyer 2023

Tracy has led nearly 1,000 M&A transactions across the country and around the world.

Bill Shuster is chair of the civil and environmental engineering department at Wayne State University.

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Urban flooding is the new norm; we need to rethink how we protect ourselves

Recurring, disruptive urban flooding is the new norm in Great Lakes cities. Multiple “500-year” rains have hit the Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago metros in the last decade, with Detroit getting socked twice in 2014 and 2021. Last September, 9 inches of rain fell in three hours around Chicago. A beleaguered engineer declared, “Nothing could be designed for that.”

And yet, because these events are no longer anomalies, we have to design our cities for that kind of storm. Another problem? The impacts of these events don’t fall evenly, with formerly redlined neighborhoods being among the hardest hit. The Joyce Foundation funded a 2019 analysis by the Center for Neighborhood Technology, which found that 87% of flood damage claims in Chicago were paid in communities of color.

What are some good next steps to protect residents and businesses from its devastating effects?

Public- and private-sector leaders must plan for urban flooding the same way we’ve long planned for snowstorms. Consistent investment in human, gray and natural infrastructure is key. And the sooner we act, the more we’ll be shielded from the worst of these storms and the millions lost from their impact.

The good news is that we’re not starting from ground zero. Promising approaches to engineering, community engagement and design to address urban flooding are being deployed throughout the Great Lakes region. We need to scale, systematize and in-

vest in them. No small task. But with significant new federal dollars available for water infrastructure, climate-ready planning and training for workers, we can reduce our vulnerability to these storms. Now is the time to ramp up this work.

Cleveland, Chicago and Detroit all have snow emergency plans that include provisions for notifying residents, getting plows on the streets and storing snow on vacant land. Comprehensive, public-facing, proactive plans to deal with severe rainstorms are just as important. For example, we need more efficient ways to notify residents and to have a workforce ready to fan out to clear storm drains to help reduce impacts on people and property. Building on successful community engagement programs like the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District’s Good Neighbor Ambassador program could be a place to start.

It’s also a mistake to leave local businesses and homeowners to fend for themselves in seeking federal assistance. Cities could help residents successfully access relief funds (with less stress), by having staff ready to provide application support. Expanding the capacity of existing entities, like already-staffed Community Action Agencies, would help.

Effective flood resiliency requires both conventional ‘gray’ infrastructure and naturebased green infrastructure that soaks up rain where it falls. Pairing coordinated action on public and private property at the neighborhood level is also needed. Chicago has some promising examples, including Space to Grow, which transforms Chicago schoolyards to soak up the rain from storms and provide better places for kids to play and learn. The Center for Neighborhood Technology’s “RainReady” initiative works directly with homeowners and businesses to develop plans and site-specific interventions to reduce flooding.

This approach has been so effective that Cook County invested $6 million in RainReady in 2023.

Finally, better infrastructure, like smarter, modern sewers, is essential. South Bend, Indiana, installed sensors and other upgrades to divert water from one part of the system into another during heavy rains. Sensors not only reduce overflows (keeping sewage out of basements and waterways), but also help reduce costs. South Bend

saved more than $400 million in sewer upgrades because the sensors allow better water storage capacity.

We’ve figured out how to manage for big snowstorms — residents, businesses and government all play a part. More torrential rain is coming. We can choose to strand fewer drivers and flood fewer basements. We just have to fully deploy the smart strategies we already have tested in our region. Let’s not wait until the next 500-year storm to get going.

Flood-affected neighborhoods should contribute to solution

When I talk about flooding to residents from Robbins, a Chicago suburb, they want solutions that fix flooding AND catalyze multi-generational leadership, create economic opportunities, address food injustice and much more to create a thriving community.

That’s because urban flooding is a quality-oflife issue resulting from land-use decisions rooted in racist practices and grounded in capitalism. Putting in new pipes alone won’t undo these problems.

Cyatharine

Alias is senior manager for community infrastructure and resilience at Chicago’s Center for Neighborhood Technology.

Increased development (i.e., more pavement) and intensified storms because of climate change contribute to increased flooding. Communities of color face worse impacts. And they’re best positioned to design the solutions.   Marginalized communities face more

damage because redlining forced them to live in the region’s lowest point, which were previously wetlands. Naturally, stormwater pools there. This, coupled with delayed sewer system maintenance and undersized pipes, lead to worse flooding.

Analysis of flood damage payouts by the Center for Neighborhood Technology from 2007 to 2016, show that 87% of flood claim payouts went to communities of color in Chicago.

The deluge in the city in 2023 led to the Federal Emergency Management Agency setting up recovery centers throughout the South and West sides and in the west and south suburbs, because those areas suffered huge losses and are still recovering.

Flooding impacts don’t happen in a vacuum. Regional leaders designed these communities using development strategies motivated by racially biased economic benefits, such as tax incentives for corporations, the privatization of social safety measures and a polluting, industrial mono-economy. Because of this, when residents spend money, very little is recirculated to support community wealth building.

People lost financial security when

deindustrialization led to job loss. So, when they experience flooding — which occurs frequently because of those landuse decisions — residents have fewer finances to recover. Instead, the industrial legacy of pollution led to worse health outcomes, further degrading their financial resiliency. These cumulative impacts reduce people’s quality of life.

How do we address these quality-of-life issues? Community organizing.

Residents collectively amplify their ideas to government leaders. Decisionmakers listen and redirect funding to technical firms that are committed to working WITH resident leadership to solve flooding AND other cumulative impacts. In Chicago’s south suburbs, for example, CNT collaborated with residents to create the Urban Flooding Baseline tool, which mapped flooding risks and impacts with community knowledge at its center. They also participated in our Civic Innovation Hub leadership development program. Programs like these build community power in Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit and elsewhere.

Residents advocate that government

leaders should invest in gray stormwater infrastructure that builds community wealth: through local procurement and entrepreneurship opportunities. Investors can fund training programs with directhire pipelines by firms for gainful employment. Firms can work with community members and municipal staff to locate, design, install and maintain public sites for green stormwater infrastructure.  For example, at schools, students can participate in rain garden designs. In Robbins, residents noted that local youth could maintain sites and sell vegetables to fill grocery stores and the youth programming gap. Investors and government programs can finance local organizations to administer these programs.

To be sure, government leaders face many real conditions that seem to limit the holistic solutions, such as zoning specifications, funding limitations or legal barriers. But those are human-built problems. With community organizing, proper investment and technical expertise together, these challenges can be undone and overcome to better serve communities.

Elizabeth Cisar is the Joyce Foundation’s Environment Program director.

Lori Wainwright walks through the flooded basement of a friend’s home after almost 9 inches of rain fell within three hours last September in Calumet City, Illinois. GETTY iMAGES

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MICHIGAN'S LARGEST EMPLOYERS CRAIN’S LIST

ResearchedbySonyaD.Hill:shill@crain.com|ThislistofMichiganemployersencompassescompanieswithheadquartersinthestate.Numberoffull-timeemployeesmayincludefull-timeequivalents. Itisnotacompletelistingbutthemostcomprehensiveavailable.Crain'sestimatesarebasedonindustryanalysesandbenchmarks,newsreportsandawiderangeofothersources.Unlessotherwise noted,informationwasprovidedbythecompanies.NA=notavailable. e. Crain'sestimate. 1. BeaumontHealthandSpectrumHealthmergedasanintegratedhealthsystemwiththetemporaryname, BHSHHealthonFeb.1,2022.RebrandedasCorewellHealthinOctober2022. 2. Includeshospitalsystem. 3. Includesapproximately16,600in-statepart-timeemployees. 4. AsofOctober2023. 5. As of December 2022. 6. As of January 2023. 7. Estimate from MWPVL International Inc. 8. Fall 2022 counts. Employee counts as of Oct. 1, 2022. 9. From From 10-K ending in Dec. 31, 2022.

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LARGEST EMPLOYERS IN WEST MICHIGAN CRAIN’S LIST

Researched by Danielle Nelson: dnelson@crain.com |Crain's Grand Rapids Business defines "West Michigan" as Kent, Ottawa, Kalamazoo, Muskegon and Allegan counties. NA = not available. 1. BeaumontHealthandSpectrumHealthmergedasanintegratedhealthsystemwiththetemporaryname,BHSHHealthonFeb.1,2022.RebrandedasCorewellHealthinOctober2022. 2. Formerly MercyHealthSaintMary's 3. Source:TheRightPlace 4. SucceededFrankSardoneasCEOinMarch2020.SardoneretiredinDecember2019. 5. FormerlyHermanMillerInc.HermanMilleracquired KnollInc.onJuly19,2021.ThecombinedcompanywasnamedMillerKnoll. 6. NamedthenewpresidentinSeptemberafterPeterHahnresigned. 7. EstimatefromMWPVLInternationalInc. 8. AsofJuly 2023. 9. Merger with Huntington Bank closed in June 2021. TCF to be rebranded as Huntington Bancshares. 10. Source: Western Michigan University's 2023-24 Budget Summary

Low-income housing projects land $8.2M in tax credits

By Rachel Watson

A half dozen projects that could add or preserve more than 300 housing units across West Michigan have landed a total of $8.2 million from the state’s latest round of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits.

The Michigan State Housing Development Authority awarded more than $25 million for the spring 2024 round of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, according to a statement from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office.

Of that total, six West Michigan projects were awarded just more than $8.2 million for developments that will add 337 units of affordable housing in Muskegon, Wyoming, Whitehall, Battle Creek and Kalamazoo.

Overall, 22 new-construction and rehabilitation housing projects in 14 communities across the state were awarded LIHTC credits. Together the investment will support 1,117 new rental homes, 1,056 of which will be affordable, Whitmer’s office said.

“Housing is about so much more than a roof over your head — it’s the foundation for success at school, work, and in the communi-

ty,” Whitmer said in a statement. “These investments will create more than a thousand new homes, expanding supply and driving down costs for working class Michiganders.”

Low Income Housing Tax Credits are a federal program administered through MSHDA following a competitive application process. Developers who receive LIHTC awards can claim credit against their tax liability annually for up to 10 years.

This 9% LIHTC round will have a total value over the next 10 years of about $250 million, according to a statement. The 22 projects could create 100 permanent jobs, support 1,473 temporary jobs and generate a total development investment of over $300 million, Whitmer’s office said.

“We will continue moving quickly with solutions, but we can’t do it alone,” Tony Lentych, MSHDA’s chief housing investment officer, said in a statement. “We’re grateful to our partners in development and construction for making these deals happen, helping build communities our neighbors are proud to call home.”

Here are the West Michigan re-

cipients:

Shea Ravines, Wyoming, $1.65 million: Columbus, Ohio-based Woda Cooper Development Inc. and Cherry Health will build 56 units of affordable housing at 2929 Burlingame Ave. SW in Wyoming. Twenty of these units will be set aside for supportive housing with vouchers from the Grand Rapids Housing Commission, and 15% of the units will carry a preference for households with tenant-based rental assistance.

Allen Crossing, Muskegon, $1.46 million: Columbus, Ohio-based Spire Development Inc., the Muskegon Housing Commission and Manistee-based Little River Development LLC will add 45 units of affordable housing at 148 Allen Ave. in Muskegon for older adults. Eight of the units will carry project-based rental assistance from the Muskegon Housing Commission, and 15% will carry a preference for older adult households with tenant-based rental assistance.

Lofts of Muskegon, Muskegon, $1.65 million: West Chester, Ohiobased Pivotal Development LLC, the Muskegon Housing Commission and Little River Development

LLC will build 46 units of affordable housing in Muskegon in a project formerly called Harbor View Lofts but since renamed. Eight of the units will receive project-based rental assistance from the Muskegon Housing Commission, and 15% of them will carry a preference for households with tenant-based rental assistance.

West Shore Apartments, Whitehall, $559,409: Dwelling Place of Grand Rapids and Little River Development LLC will rehabilitate 48 units of affordable housing at 1201 E. Colby St. in Whitehall. Forty-two of the units will receive project-based rental assistance, with some units carrying a preference for households with tenant-based rental assistance.

Blue Light, Battle Creek, $1.65 million: This project at 200 Capital Ave. SW at a former Kmart in Battle Creek is being developed by Ka-

lamazoo-based Edison Community Partners LLC and will create 48 affordable and 48 market-rate units. A minimum of 15% of the units will be reserved for households that receive tenant-based rental assistance.

Kal Recovery, Kalamazoo, $1.21 million: Edison Community Partners LLC plans to build 46 units of affordable housing adjacent to 333 E. Alcott St. in Kalamazoo’s Edison Neighborhood. All 46 affordable units are designated as supportive housing with vouchers from MSHDA. An additional two units will be built for on-site support staff. The supportive housing will be set aside as recovery housing, taking tenant referrals from Michigan’s problem-solving court system, which provides alternatives to imprisonment for nonviolent criminal offenders with substance use disorders and mental illnesses.

Customizing the Health Care Experience with Blue Cross Coordinated Care

By Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan

When Ricardo from White Lake was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, he knew he needed to make a health change. He had become increasingly overweight due to stress and poor eating habits, which led to a decline in his sleep and overall mood. As a Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan member with diabetes, Ricardo found he was eligible to participate in the Blue Cross Coordinated Care program at no additional cost and called the customer service number on the back of his member ID card to get started.

Blue Cross Coordinated Care offers comprehensive and personalized support from a nurse-led care team that helps members better navigate their health care. The innovative program offers several levels of support which include tailored features that best fit the needs of a diverse workforce. Blue Cross Nurse Care Managers guide members in organizing and accessing medical, behavioral, pharmacy and social

services according to each member’s unique needs.

Ricardo’s care manager, Amber, saw that he was struggling, and encouraged him to take charge of his health by connecting him with a registered dietitian to get his diet under control. Through the process, Ricardo learned how to better manage his diabetes by tracking his carbohydrate intake and overall calories, as well as increasing his exercise and daily steps. He’s now exercising two to three days per week and completing around 10,000 steps per day. Fitness classes and meal planning with his wife have become weekly activities now, too.

Almost a year later, Ricardo has lost over 85 pounds and reduced his body mass index and blood glucose levels. He credits the Blue Cross Coordinated Care program with providing him the momentum he needed to make a sustainable change in his health that has helped him maintain a healthy weight with good nutrition and activity.

Blue Cross Coordinated Care guides participants through every step of their health care experience, from the doctor’s office to the pharmacy, to specialized treatment centers and community resources. Since the program was first introduced in 2020, it has led to improved health outcomes driving savings that often exceed $3,100 per person.

and increased productivity in the workplace.

Well-being is also closely linked to physical and mental health, as well as productivity. Research shows workplace wellness programs and care management resources can increase overall employee well-being, which results in reduced absenteeism

For more information on how the Blue Cross Coordinated Care portfolio can help meet the unique needs of any company and deliver a simplified and personalized care experience for employees and their families, visit www.bcbsm.com/ care-management.

Ricardo, left, and his Blue Cross Coordinated Care care manager, Amber

The Lofts of Muskegon project, formerly known as Harbor View Lofts, calls for 46 units of affordable housing in Muskegon. | piVOTAl DEVElOpMENT llC

Tribe secures $4M federal grant to grow electric vehicle fleet

By Kayleigh Van Wyk

The Match-E-Be-Nash-SheWish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, or Gun Lake Tribe, plans to use more than $4 million in federal grant funding to purchase electric vehicles, install a solar energy project and improve water conservation.

The Gun Lake Tribe recently was awarded two separate grants from the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Branch of Tribal Climate Resilience aimed at supporting programs created between tribes and the federal government to address climate change.

The bulk of the funding comes from a $4 million grant that will help the tribe buy electric fleet vehicles and charging infrastructure to replace gasoline-powered models, according to a news release. A tribal spokesperson was not immediately available to comment on how many vehicles would be purchased.

The grant also will allow the tribe to install an onsite solar array to provide the Gun Lake Tribal Government with renewable energy.

An additional grant of $189,844 will help fund planning for a greywater reuse project to reduce water taken out of the tribe’s aquifer. The tribe will work with a consultant to develop a specific water reuse plan and outline of the permitting process. Budget estimates and timeframes for the project will come at a later date.

“We applaud the federal government for collaborating with our Tribe to create programs like these to reverse the negative impacts of climate change,” Tribal Chairman Bob Peters said in a statement. “I thank our government staff who effectively shared our vision with the BIA to support climate initiatives and water conservation right here in Allegan County.”

The tribe said the climate-related projects are in line with its mission to “maintain our elders’ vision, integrity, spirituality, culture, and economic self-sufficiency by protecting our sovereignty, treaty rights, traditions, land and natural resources for our future generations.”

The recent federal grants are part of 146 total awards amounting to more than $120 million for tribal projects across the U.S. from the Tribal Climate Resilience branch’s

annual awards program.

The latest awards for fiscal year 2023 will fund projects focused on habitat restoration, carbon emissions management, riparian planting, relocation and site expansion plans, and other tribal goals aimed at combating climate change.

According to the BIA, the FY 2023 awards saw the largest combined award total in the program’s history because of funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, in addition to annual appropriations to the Tribal Climate Resilience (TCR) branch.

Other recent federal funds secured by the Gun Lake Tribe include a $56 million loan for water infrastructure upgrades in late 2023 and a $5.1 million grant in 2022 for infrastructure improvements to support economic growth.

New nonprofit supports caregivers for people with dementia

By Mark Sanchez

A new Grand Rapids-based nonprofit organization wants to provide assistance to spouses, families and friends caring for a loved one with dementia.

The Dementia Institute launched in March after piloting programs since last fall to teach caregivers ways to better provide care and support the estimated 50,000 people in West Michigan living with dementia.

The organization focuses on education, care and research.

Services include training for caregivers and a simulation of how a person’s dementia may progress and what a caregiver and families can expect in the months and years ahead. The organization also offers support groups, care navigation and respite care.

“The need is becoming more and more obvious,” Gritters said. “The community has needed this for decades.”

The Dementia Institute initially focuses on Kent and Ottawa counties and hopes to extend to Ionia, Allegan and Muskegon counties, said Gritters, a registered nurse who previously served as vice president of development at Holland Home, a Grand Rapids-based senior living and care provider.

Better equipping caregivers can enable dementia patients to reside in their homes longer, thereby delaying their transition to a costly nursing home or center that specializes in dementia care.

Founders who created the Dementia Institute are “on a mission to serve the community with love, compassion and excellence,” Director Curtis Gritters said. The organization’s staff has 30-plus years in dementia care “and really wanted to start converting that into care and resources for the community,” he said.

“Rather than exclusively focus the benefits of that inside a single senior living community, we wanted to turn that into support for all of West Michigan,” Gritters told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business. “The expertise and experience that we have in the Dementia Institute can come alongside a loved one who may be experiencing this with a family member for the first time and be able to help them navigate.”

Often associated with Alzheimer’s disease, dementia involves problems with memory, attention, communication, reasoning, judgment and problem solving.

The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that 6.7 million people nationwide as of 2022 were living with Alzheimer’s disease, the seventh-leading cause of death in America, and related dementias. About 5.6 million of them are 65 years and older.

As the population ages, the incidence rate for Alzheimer’s disease is projected to increase to an estimated 13.8 million people by 2060.

“If we can take some of this expertise and really empower the community to care for their loved one who has dementia, we think that there are tools and resources out there to be able to maintain those relationships and prolong independence,” Gritters said.

“There are skills and techniques to be able to engage with somebody who might be living temporarily in a shell so that you can still maintain that relationship, still connect with them in a loving family kind of way. They don’t need to just have to go to the nursing home,” he said. “There may come points in somebody’s dementia journey that they need that level of care. When they do, there’s phenomenal assisted living and skilled nursing facilities available in West Michigan. But there is also often of a mind of, ‘If I can stay in my home as long as possible, I would like that.’ If we can offer resources, classes and support to allow them to prolong that independence, we’d love to help.”

The Dementia Institute started in fall of 2023 to support caregivers with classes, support groups, consultations and other services. The initial work provided a proof of concept for the Dementia Institute’s role, and to “make sure that it’ll all work out” before publicly launching last month.

The organization has since connected with several health care providers, first responders, clergy, universities and health-related organizations.

Curtis Gritters, director of Dementia Institute in Grand Rapids. | MARK SANCHEZ

The Gun Lake Tribe plans to use federal funds to purchase electric fleet vehicles. | UNSplASH

Kraft Heinz plant slated for $13M clean energy upgrades

By Kayleigh Van Wyk

Kraft Heinz Co.’s longtime production facility in Holland is up for about $13 million in federal clean energy funding as the food and beverage company plans renewable energy and electrification upgrades.

The U.S. Department of Energy funds are part of a total $170 million package currently in negotiations for Kraft Heinz as the company plans to install various renewable energy technologies at several plants in the U.S.

The upgrades will support Kraft Heinz’s decarbonization plan to reach net-zero greenhouse emissions by 2050.

A company spokesperson said that while award negotiations with the DOE are still in process, Kraft Heinz plans to add heat pumps, electric heaters, electric boilers, anaerobic digesters, biogas-powered boilers, solar installations, and energy storage technologies in Holland as well as nine other plants.

The company expects the upgrades will reduce annual emissions by more than 99% across the 10 plants compared to levels in 2022.

“This investment will give us critical resources to make necessary improvements in our plants to help increase their energy efficiency and reduce emissions,” Marcos Eloi Lima, chief procurement and sustainability officer at Kraft Heinz, said in a statement. “This investment recognizes our continued efforts to reduce our environmental footprint, and we’re eager to get started.”

Jennifer Owens, president of Lakeshore Advantage, said in an emailed statement that the organization will “celebrate Kraft Heinz’s win for their sustainability initiatives.”

“This funding will provide vital resources to help them invest in reducing their emissions and becoming a leader in environmental sustainability,” Owens said. “This grant is a great example of the type of public-private partnership that will allow our region to continue to thrive in the future.”

The Holland Kraft Heinz plant at 431 W. 16th St. opened in 1897 and is one of the area’s oldest factories still in operation. The plant produces varieties of mustard, barbeque sauces, pickles, relishes and vinegars.

In 2016, Kraft Heinz announced plans to invest $17 million to consolidate production of its Grey Poupon mustard brand and most yellow mustard production to Holland after shuttering its Lehigh Valley plant in Upper Macungie Township, Pa.

Company officials at the time said expanded mustard production in Holland would add 50 jobs as Kraft Heinz started eliminating roughly 2,600 jobs elsewhere through a company-wide consolidation strategy.

The Michigan Economic Development Corp. awarded Kraft Heinz a $500,000 performance-based grant in 2016 to help offset costs

and support the expansion.

In addition to the Holland plant, the other sites slated for investments with the recent DOE funding are located in Champaign, Ill.; Columbia, Mo.; Fremont, Ohio; Kendallville, Ind.; Lowville, N.Y.; Mason City, Iowa; Muscatine, Iowa; New Ulm, Minn.; and Winchester, Va.

The company anticipates 500 construction jobs will support the upgrades at the sites.

Kraft Heinz was formed in 2015 through the merger of Kraft Foods Group Inc. and H.J. Heinz Company.

The company’s brands also include Oscar Meyer, Jell-O, Lunchables, Philadelphia, Velveeta, Maxwell House and Kool-Aid, among others.

In its latest financial results, Kraft Heinz reported a 0.6% increase in net sales to $26.6 billion for the full 2023 fiscal year. Net sales decreased 7.1% in the fourth quarter of 2023. While the company’s net income dipped 14.6% in the fourth quarter, 2023 full-year net income grew 20.2% from nearly $2.4 billion in 2022 to $2.8 billion.

“For 2024, we expect continued growth for Kraft Heinz,” CEO Car-

los Abrams-Rivera said in a statement. “We’ll keep a strong focus on execution against our strategy,

by investments we’re making in our brands and our people.”

22 LOCATIONS AND GROWING

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Kraft Heinz Co.’s Holland factory dates back to the late 1800s. | COUrTESY pHOTO

Why quality journalism is worth paying for

If you’re reading this, chances are good that you or someone you know paid for a subscription to Crain’s. Thank you.

I would like to take a moment to state why I believe it was money well spent.

First, our goal is to serve you. Our reporters and editors at Crain’s are deeply committed to providing you with accurate, fair and contextual stories and information every day that, we hope, will help you make better decisions and stay more connected.

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Truly, without our credibility, we have nothing. If you don’t believe us, we’re done. That’s why we aim to shoot straight, every time, with every story.

You’re smart. You don’t need us to tell you what to think. We need to tell you what we know. Accurately. Fairly. With context.

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As with most media outlets, subscriptions don’t cover all of our costs. We have other revenue streams, such as advertising, to help offset the difference. But subscriptions are a vital financial support and, I’d argue, they make an important statement about our relationship with you, our readers.

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CTA is costly, complicated and unconstitutional

The so-called Corporate Transparency Act is an obnoxiously vague and overly complex law that treats millions of law-abiding small business owners like criminals.

The Small Business Association of Michigan, together with the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce, filed a lawsuit this month against the federal government to protect entrepreneurs. A big step, but a necessary one to protect hundreds of thousands of small businesses across Michigan from extensive overreach by a federal entity known as FinCEN: the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, situated within the U.S. Department of Treasury.

also goes on to include “important decision makers” and anyone with “substantial control” as “beneficial owners.” At what point does authority exercised by non-owner management become “substantial control”? Who knows?

But you better get it right because failure to comply comes with heavy financial penalties and is a two-year felony.

corner grocer, veterinarians, brewers, farmers. Even the guy renting paddle boards at the beach must report to FinCEN annually. Is this really necessary under threat of prison time?

Beginning on Jan. 1, 2024, most small businesses in the U.S. must report sensitive and private information about their “beneficial owners.” True to form, the feds are defining “beneficial owner” in an overly complex, yet vague way. Only in federal law could you be considered a “beneficial owner” without having any ownership interests at all.

How’s that? Under this unconstitutional law, non-owner employees with certain titles are considered “beneficial owners.” It

Once you figure out who is subject to the law, then you must file sensitive information such as their Social Security number, driver’s license, passport number and address annually with FinCEN. And you must file a new report within 30 days of any change. So, if an employee moves, retires or is promoted to a position featuring “substantial control,” a new reporting requirement is triggered.

They say that this law was created to make it harder for bad actors to hide. But invading privacy and treating small business owners and their employees like suspects is not a reasonable way to root out financial crimes.

Whether you are a small business owner or not, take a moment to think who small business owners are. Yoga studios, the

Want to study up on what you need to do to comply? No worries. Start with the 47page guide on the FinCEN website consisting of six chapters, seven charts, and more than 25 checklists. The density of this federal legalese may surprise small businesses expecting FinCEN to “minimize burdens on reporting companies associated with the collection of beneficial ownership information” as set forth in the “Sense of Congress” when enacting the CTA.

Congress lacked authority to pass this law within its enumerated powers. It issued an injunction barring enforcement of the CTA, but only for the parties named in the lawsuit. Until Congress walks back the CTA, or unless our lawsuit is successful, those who own and operate small businesses in Michigan still have the burden of full compliance.

Under this unconstitutional law, nonowner employees with certain titles are considered “beneficial owners.”

In exasperation and a desire to protect themselves from fines and prison time, most small business owners will likely pay attorneys thousands of dollars to file and amend reports each and every year. FinCEN’s own estimate of the aggregate cost of this law over the next 10 years is $55.7 billion to $64.8 billion. All so that they can make sure that small businesses like your local bowling alley aren’t financing a terrorist plot.

A lawsuit filed in Alabama by the National Small Business Association was successful, with the court finding that

Like the NSBA, we are arguing that Congress lacked the authority to pass this law, but additionally, we believe there are very serious violations of our Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights.

If the goal of this law is to have a chilling effect on the smallest, most-loved businesses that employ millions of Michiganders, Congress has succeeded. It is unreasonable and insulting to treat small businesses and their employees this way. Moreover, it isn’t constitutional to require private citizens to disclose highly personal information to federal government entities without the slightest presumption of wrongdoing.

Brian Calley is president and CEO of the Small Business Association of Michigan and former lieutenant governor of Michigan.

Mickey Ciokajlo is executive editor of Crain’s Detroit Business and Crain’s Grand Rapids Business.

INDUSTRIAL

turned positive at the end of 2023 after a downward slump in the third quarter of 2023. While headwinds include higher interest rates and building costs, the West Michigan region in general has taken a conservative approach to avoid overbuilding, according to brokers.

Tim Van Noord, principal and senior vice president at Grand Rapids-based Advantage Commercial Real Estate, said it can take “several months, if not years” to find industrial space for prospective tenants.

“It was surprising to me at first from a larger contextual standpoint, but not from the perspective of working in the market every day,” Van Noord said of the CoStar findings ranking West Michigan with the tightest industrial market in the country. “Having done some deals across the country this year for companies outside of the market looking to do a deal in West Michigan, they are all very surprised at how limited our inventory is right now.”

That Grand Rapids has a lower industrial vacancy rate than Los Angeles, Calif., is especially noteworthy given L.A.’s status as a major port city and one of the most populous places in the country, Van Noord said.

However, large markets have

real estate construction lenders that fund projects across the U.S. tend to focus on the nation’s largest or fastest-growing population centers, which rightly or wrongly, they perceive as less risky.”

As well, a lack of developable land for industrial projects is contributing to the low vacancy rate, coupled with an “immense need in this area of the state” for companies wanting to expand, Brent Gibson, president of Construction Simplified, recently told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business.

The Grand Rapids-based construction firm is in the process of assembling industrial land to build up its industrial project pipeline, and is hooking up utilities, securing proper zoning and incentives on several parcels, Gibson said.

“I don’t think we’re unique in getting property ready for industrial (projects),” Gibson said. “There is so little of it, because when something comes up it gets snapped up right away.”

While several new industrial build-outs are occurring throughout West Michigan, Van Noord doesn’t expect those to make much of a dent given the extremely limited supply.

The total square footage of industrial properties in Grand Rapids, on a percentage basis, has only grown at about half the pace of U.S. industrial space as a whole over the past five years, Ponsen said.

“Vacancy rates dipped below 3% in some major cities in 2021-22, but in many markets the rates have since risen back to the 3.5-5% range.”

Adrian Ponsen, director of U.S. industrial analytics at CoStar

historically attracted more attention from institutional capital and investment committees that aren’t always familiar with Grand Rapids, Van Noord said. This has led some of the bigger cities to overbuild in recent years, Van Noord added.

“Combine that with the historically Dutch mindset of a low appetite for risk and developers not wanting to build something on spec without a tenant in play,” Van Noord said.

Adrian Ponsen, director of U.S. industrial analytics at CoStar, largely shared Van Noord’s sentiments on larger cities overbuilding.

“Sub-3% vacancy rates are very rare across U.S. markets today,” Ponsen told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business via email.

Vacancy rates dipped below 3% in some major cities in 2021-22, but in many markets the rates have since risen back to the 3.5-5% range, Ponsen said.

“In theory, developers should be building more industrial projects in West Michigan,” Ponsen said. “But commercial

ARCHITECTURE

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REAL ESTATE

ReSIDE

Several developers in West Michigan have taken on quasi-speculative industrial projects over the years amid low supply and high demand, but many also have backed off spec projects as interest rates and construction prices have made projects harder to pencil out.

One exception is Vision Real Estate Investment, which currently has the largest industrial spec project under construction in the region at 9765 Division Ave. SW in Byron Center. The 126,000-square-foot Bridge Business Center is still under construction and has garnered “a lot of interest, and quite a bit of showings,” said Leigha Keating, development coordinator at Vision Real Estate.

“Patience and persistence” will be key for companies looking to come to the area, Van Noord said. For companies leasing spaces, Van Noord advised looking far ahead and starting lease renewal conversations in advance, or to start looking for new spaces early in the process.

“We don’t see our market conditions really changing this year. We think it will remain tight despite the global uncertainty in the economy,” Van Noord said. “We think Grand Rapids is relatively insulated, so we don’t expect much change there.”

TRAVEL & TOURISM

6PM Hospitality

West Michigan real estate broker and retired professional basketball player, Kyle Visser, announces the launch of his independent brokerage, “ReSIDE,” aimed to bring a renewed vision to the industry. Consistently receiving the title of the top agent in the greater Grand Rapids area, Visser and his team of four other licensed professionals will continue to operate from their unique and centrally located Eastown presence at 1460 Lake Drive SE.

TRAVEL & TOURISM

6PM Hospitality

Samantha Stone was named General Manager of the Avid Hotel in Zeeland. 6PM Hospitality acquired the hotel in late 2023 and operates the property. Stone is experienced in team management in the hospitality industry and has worked for several prestigious hotels that consistently ranked in the top 5% in their respective brands.

TRAVEL & TOURISM

6PM Hospitality

Katie Van Zalen has been named the Human Resources Generalist for 6PM Hospitality. She will be based in Zeeland but oversee HR for 6PM properties from Manistee to Battle Creek. Van Zalen is a Holland native with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Hope College, a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Cornerstone University, and a background in human resources in the banking industry.

TRAVEL & TOURISM

6PM Hospitality

Stacey Hackney has been named Director of Sales for the Doubletree Hotel in Battle Creek. The hotel is operated by 6PM Hospitality. In this role she will oversee all bookings and events for the hotel. Hackney previously worked in various hospitality venues in Michigan and Chicago, including golf clubs, arenas, convention centers and hotels. Most recently she oversaw the opening of the Sheraton Grand Rapids where she was director of sales and marketing.

TRAVEL &

TOURISM

6PM Hospitality

Daniel Weiskopf was named Director of Food and Beverage for 6PM Hospitality. He will oversee food service and restaurants at all 6PM properties. Weiskopf previously worked as a chef in New York restaurants, gained experience in the culinary world of France, and owned several of his own restaurants and catering businesses.

TRAVEL & TOURISM

West Michigan Sports Commission

Vivek Travedi has been named General Manager of the Doubletree Hotel in Battle Creek. The hotel is operated by 6Pm Hospitality of Zeeland, Michigan. Travedi has spent the last 39 years in the hospitality industry with a focus on Operations and Food & Beverage. He worked with Hyatt Hotels and Sheraton in Chicago and at the Le Meridien New Delhi ve diamond downtown hotel in India. He has spent more than 10 years working for Aimbridge Hospitality in the capacity of Director Food & Beverage and General Manager.

The West Michigan Sports Commission hired Barbara Benda as Director of Development to support the $11 million Meijer Sports Complex expansion and overall development. Bringing 25 years of fundraising experience, Benda was executive director of leadership giving and relationships at Ferris State University and associate director at Ferris Foundation. As a Certi ed Fund Raising Executive (CFRE), her work includes Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital Foundation and Habitat for Humanity of Kent County.

ASCENSION

From Page 1

Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo, Ascension Borgess-Lee Hospital in Dowagiac and Ascension Borgess-Pipp Hospital in Plainwell.

“A pattern is emerging between the divestitures in Southeast Michigan to Henry Ford and to MyMichigan,” said Rex Burgdorfer, a partner at Juniper Advisory in Chicago that specializes in health care mergers and acquisitions. “One could question whether the western Michigan hospitals might be next, and I’d be surprised if Ascension was not doing what most of their peers do of actively reviewing their portfolio and looking at the performance, and the growth prospects and their competitive position.”

However, the question remains: Is there a suitor?

“Ascension Michigan, as with most health care systems, continually evaluates potential partnerships, collaborations and strategic business decisions that allow us to best serve our communities,” Ascension said in a statement. “The recent announcements, whether joint venture or divestiture, have been purposeful, are in alignment with our strategic plan, and will help ensure continued access to quality health care across the state.”

LUDINGTON

From Page 1

Ludington,” Riemer told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business. “It’s a small town. It’s three blocks, and that’s all you’ve got downtown, but you want to make it beautiful and attractive to many.

“And it’s also selfish in a way — I live here.”

While Riemer has been active in investing in local residential real estate and has operated his ophthalmology practice for the last 30 years, his first foray into the restaurant and bar industry came in 2020 with the purchase of Stix, a decades-old, locally beloved bowling alley located on M-116 just north of the city in Hamlin Township, near the entrance to Ludington State Park. Riemer razed the former structure and built in its place a new two-story, 55,000-square-foot restaurant, bowling alley, concert venue and beer garden.

“That was my first venture, but it was just really out of interest to support the community and see something not dilapidated (in the space),” Riemer said.

TAX

From Page 3

leaders say the amphitheater and soccer stadium could generate a combined $1.28 billion in net new economic impact once completed. Developers hope to break ground on both projects yet this year.

Corewell Health makes the most sense to take on those three rural systems alongside a Kalamazoo flagship, said Kelly Arduino, health care industry leader and partner at Milwaukee-based consulting firm Wipfli LLP. But that assertion is not without caveats.

“Ascension Borgess holds value, but how much is up for debate,” Arduino said. “Kalamazoo is a bigger population than many other hospitals, but it’s got competition in Bronson. Kalamazoo is sort of a one-and-a-half hospital town with two hospitals. Corewell could lock up the market, but that would depend on how wrapped up they are being Corewell right now. They’ve got a lot on their plate.”

Corewell was formed in 2022 when Grand Rapids-based Spectrum Health acquired Beaumont Health. While the company continues to grow — it recorded $992.8 million in total net income last year, mostly from $822 million in investment income — it continues its massive consolidation of Beaumont.

And it’s also busy investing $60 million-plus in acquiring properties in Grand Rapids to expand its flagship campus.

In other words, it may not have the capacity to turn around Ascension’s Southwest Michigan hospitals, Arduino said.

Most recently in March, he purchased Doc’s Sauble River Inn, a bar and restaurant on U.S. 31 near Free Soil, about halfway between Ludington and Manistee, which followed a deal last year for Chuck Wagon Pizza, an iconic pizza joint just outside the Ludington city limits.

Other prior transactions included buying Michael’s Bar and Grill and the former Ludington State Bank building in downtown Ludington.

According to a member of the Ludington Downtown Development Authority, Riemer’s self-funded projects amount to one of the largest investments in the area in recent years.

Representatives for the city of Ludington, who work closely with Riemer on his developments, see the projects as a step forward for the city.

“For many generations, people have known Ludington as Stearns Park beach, they know Ludington for the S.S. Badger. (In) more recent generations, it’s Jamesport Brewing Company, it’s House of Flavors,” Ludington City Manager Mitch Foster told Crain’s. “As a community, you have to evolve over time or die. I

Sponsored by state Rep. John Fitzgerald, D-Wyoming, H.B. 5048 has been a top priority for the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce.

Besides Kent County, the seven other counties that have a local lodging tax under a 1974 law are Calhoun, Genesee, Ingham, Kalamazoo, Muskegon, Saginaw and Washtenaw.

In written testimony, administrators from several of those counties told the Legislature last fall that the 5% lodging tax helped support several “transformational projects” in their communities and leverage private investment.

Kent County’s 5% room tax has

Representatives from Corewell did not respond to inquiries on whether it was courting or being courted for those hospitals.

Bronson is the largest health care operator in the Southwest Michigan region with four hospitals and a medical group and rehabilitation center. But it remains a bit player compared to Corewell and others. For example, Corewell has roughly 60,000 employees compared to Bronson’s 9,000.

It’s unlikely it has capacity to add an additional four hospitals, three of which are rural.

Instead, Arduino believes an out-of-state system or a private equity owner would be more likely to take over Ascension Borgess in Kalamazoo and maybe the remaining rural hospitals.

“There are a few private equity players that have come into the market, especially in rural communities,” Arduino said. “Would they pick up some of those small ones? Maybe. If not, I think Ascension lets them die on the vine.”

Though those deals, so far, have mostly involved physician and surgical practices in the state. For example, Florida-based Solaris Health, backed by New York-based Lee Equity Partners, acquired the 15-location Michigan Institute of Urology in 2021.

Other options include South

think that Dr. Riemer is building the next generation of destinations.”

However, Riemer’s projects have stirred controversy among longtime residents and neighbors, who have spoken out against the influx of activity and, in some cases, characterized his attempts to create an Up North “Riemerville.”

For his part, Riemer said his revitalization efforts are fueled, in part, by his years growing up in Ludington and a desire to preserve the vibrancy of the community.

“The older you get, the more nostalgic you get,” Riemer said. “You get all nostalgic about these businesses (and) you just want to make them successful again. It’s kind of a rescue, but it also just revitalizes the community and it keeps people employed.”

Helping out

Riemer reportedly invested millions into the project at Stix, which now features a state-of-the-art bowling and entertainment center and often hosts live music shows in its 2-acre outdoor beer garden. The venue is kicking into gear this year, with a full slate of concerts planned

gone toward paying off the debt on the construction of Van Andel Arena and the DeVos Place Convention Center. A share of the taxes also funds the destination marketing efforts of Experience Grand Rapids, Kent County’s convention and visitors bureau.

If city of Grand Rapids voters approve a 2% excise tax, the revenues could go toward paying off the $20.5 million in capital improvement bonds that the Grand Rapids City Commission approved March 19 to support con-

Bend, Ind.-based Beacon Health System and Toledo-based ProMedica.

Both already operate in the state. Beacon acquired the formerly independent Three Rivers Health in 2021.

ProMedica operates hospitals in Adrian and Coldwater, though it is seeking to sell its Coldwater hospital to California-based American Healthcare Services Inc. for $8.5 million. It also sold off its Tecumseh hospital last year and sold its nine rehabilitation centers in the state to Optalis Healthcare in 2022.

MyMichigan Health is working to acquire several Northern Michigan hospitals and health centers from Ascension, including Ascension St. Joseph in Tawas, Ascension St. Mary’s of Standish, Ascension St. Mary’s Towne Center in Saginaw and Ascension St. Mary’s Towne Center in Saginaw.

In Southwest Michigan, a “good outcome would be if Borgess were to join one of the well-capitalized, high-quality systems in that part of Michigan,” Burgdorfer said.

Burgdorfer also suggests that an Indiana health system could cross state lines and look at Borgess. That’s if Ascension seeks a transaction in what he considers a competitive market where Borgess competes with cross-town rival Bronson Healthcare and has

for the warmer months, including shows by the likes of up-and-coming country rocker Myron Elkins, former Kid Rock sidekick Uncle Kracker, indie folk act Dawes, new wave band A Flock of Seagulls, and classic rock favorites The Guess Who, not to mention numerous tribute acts.

“There is an entertainment aspect to (his developments) and that’s something that we don’t have downtown now,” said Heather Tykoski, director of community development for the city of Ludington. “It’s something different, something new, that hopefully will bring more people down for that element.”

Stix proved to be only the start for Riemer’s commercial investments. He’s currently building out AndyS, a multi-level sports bar downtown on Ludington Avenue, where Michael’s Bar and Grill once stood, which he bought for $220,000 in 2021. He later purchased the historic former Ludington State Bank building on James Street for $300,000, which he has yet to redevelop.

Riemer said the self-funded purchases were fueled by a desire to

struction of the $184 million Acrisure Amphitheater.

Debt service payments for the bonds will be reimbursed to the city by the Downtown Development Authority. The DDA approved the reimbursement agreement to contribute payments over the next 20 years at its Feb. 14 meeting.

Rick Winn, who chairs the DDA, previously testified in support of the hotel tax bill, as it would help provide a guaranteed revenue stream to back the DDA’s bond payments for the project.

Corewell Health less than an hour to the west down I-94 in Berrien County.

“Certainly, one could look at a map and think some of the Indiana-based systems would be interested,” he said.

Ascension’s exit from Michigan shows how academic-based systems are dominating in the highstakes investments now required to compete in the health care arena, leaving many Catholic-based systems like Ascension in the lurch, Burgdorfer said.

Ascension’s two prior transactions in Michigan “are representative of what’s going on nationally, which is the power of academic medical centers that are driving innovation, technology and leading-edge care that as a grouping faith-based systems have been behind on making those sorts of investments,” Burgdorfer said.

“Systems like Ascension are recognizing there are other areas within their companies where margins are better and they are less capital intensive,” he said. “As a category, systems like Ascension are less and less interested in owning and operating large acutecare, inpatient hospitals, and stepping into that void is a new type of acquirer in academic medical centers that are now seeking growth.”

preserve businesses that had fallen into disrepair and maintain dining and entertainment options for the Lake Michigan port city of 7,700 people.

For example, the owner of Chuck Wagon Pizza passed away in 2020, leaving his wife to operate the restaurant. When she indicated she was no longer interested in managing the business, a representative approached Riemer about buying it, ultimately leading to the deal.

“We didn’t want to see this iconic pizza place fade away or be closed,” Riemer said.

Suzanne DeMott, Riemer’s personal assistant and project manager, said the recent purchase of Doc’s Sauble River Inn came as a similar situation. After the restaurant’s closure in February, Riemer’s team contacted the owner “to see if we could help out” and ended up purchasing the inn, she said.

“Doc’s has a community following, just as Chuck Wagon,” DeMott said. “We felt the need to preserve it for loyal customers.”

Riemer also plans to renovate and update the location, with plans to reopen it in May, DeMott said.

If new or increased hotel excise taxes are approved by voters, sports complexes and aquariums would also be eligible for funding, potentially aiding in the development of the proposed soccer stadium and aquarium being considered for West Michigan.

“This is a significant milestone — a win for our communities, residents and our goal of making Kent County a leading destination for travel, entertainment, and business in the Midwest,” Fitzgerald said in a statement.

DOCTORS

media briefing hosted by the Michigan Academy of Family Physicians, which represents more than 4,300 family physicians, family medicine residents and medical students statewide. She and others advocated for increased spending to support medical education and students who decide to pursue primary care as a specialty.

“The question really, I think, is how to do better, and one place to start with that is to invest in primary care,” VanDerKolk said. “We need increased investment by the federal government, state government as well as payers to be able to improve and increase the number of physicians that are working in primary care in Michigan and beyond.”

In the annual national Match Day on March 15, where medical students learn where they will serve their residency, four of the 75 students at the Kalamazoo-based WMed were placed in family medicine slots. Two of them were placed in positions at University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago and University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor. The other two will go to

BOATING

introducing the bill. “We crafted the legislation with the intent to protect the ecology and environmental quality of our inland lakes.”

The bill has been referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, Environment, Tourism and Outdoor Recreation, where it awaits further study before a vote on the House floor.

Groups including the Michigan Waterfront Alliance and the Michigan Lakes and Streams Association Inc. support the legislation, citing the damaging effects wake boats can have on lake bottoms and shorelines, including the disruption of wildlife habitats, shoreline erosion and risk of transporting invasive species among waterways.

“There’s a myriad of issues when you are churning the lake and bringing in these artificially created waves,” said Melissa DeSimone, executive director of the Michigan Lakes and Streams Association Inc.

Boat dealers and groups like the Michigan Boating Industries Association and the national Water Sports Industry Association say the proposed legislation, if passed, will lead to decreased boat sales and less revenue for businesses that rely on tourism spending from water sports enthusiasts.

“It would have a significant impact on the economy, and certainly, it’ll cost jobs,” said Tom Ervin, president of Harbor Springs-based Walstrom Marine and its sister dealership, Grand Bay Marine in Traverse City and Charlevoix. “We’re talking about the impact not just to the manufacturers and the boat dealers, but to all the surrounding businesses, restaurants, hotels that count on boaters for business.”

University of Utah Health and UP Health System in Marquette in the Upper Peninsula.

VanDerKolk cites how just one-quarter of the medical students enrolled at Michigan universities plan to go into primary care. That compares to one-third nationally.

Fewer medical students are pursuing primary care because of administrative burdens, inadequate insurance reimbursement, a preference among many for a more limited scope of practice, and an “underappreciation of family physicians,” said Dr. Beena Nagappala, president of the Michigan Academy of Family Physicians and a family doctor in Clinton Township.

“More investment will go a long way to address this crisis, leading us toward a better health care future,” she said. “And we want to continue to strengthen and expand access to care, which becomes difficult with less of us in the field.”

As debt-ridden medical students weigh which specialty to enter, their financial situation and potential earning power often can weigh heavily on the decision, said Dr. Aron Sousa, dean of the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine.

Ervin thinks the legislation also is “redundant,” as he believes most of the industry and individual boaters follow Michigan boating rules and regulations to protect people and the environment from excessive wakes. The industry also “adopted and embraced” additional guidelines from the Water Sports Industry Association that recommend 200-foot setbacks from docks, beaches and other boats. He said the 200-foot rule has long been considered sufficient.

The Orlando, Fla.-based Water Sports Industry Association recommended the 200-foot buffer as a best practice after it commissioned a 2015 study that found when wake surf boats are operated 200 feet from shore, the effect on shorelines and man-made structures is less than that of naturally occurring waves generated by 10 mph winds.

A separate 2022 peer-reviewed study commissioned by the National Marine Manufacturers Association found “minimal” environmental effects if wake surf boats are operated 200 feet from shore and in at least 10 feet of water.

But the Michigan Lakes and Streams Association, Michigan Waterfront Alliance and the bill sponsors dispute those conclusions, citing a July 2023 report by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Division that reviewed all the existing literature and came to a different conclusion.

The DNR report found that propeller-generated turbulence is enough to disturb bottom sediments in 33-foot-deep waters, and the use of ballast tanks to lower the stern of boats dramatically increases the risk of transporting mussels and other invasive species and pathogens among water bodies.

The report recommended boats operating in wake sports mode re-

Nationally, primary care physicians in 2022 earned a median $300,000 in total compensation, versus more than $500,000 for surgical specialists and more than $400,000 for non-surgical specialists, according to the most recent compensation report from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA).

Signing and starting bonuses for primary care physicians also were smaller at a median of $20,000 in 2022. That compares to $25,000 for nonsurgical specialists, and a $25,000 signing bonus and $30,000 starting bonus for surgical specialists, according to the MGMA.

“One of the things that you see nationally is that primary care is not paid the way other parts of medicine are, and as students have large amounts of debt, it’s reasonable for them to think about their ability to pay off that debt in the future,” Sousa told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business.

Last year, 48% of MSU College of Human Medicine graduates chose a residency in primary care, which includes family and internal medicine and pediatrics. That was up from 42% in 2020, although the percentage declined to 37% for 2024.

Nationally, 46.8% of medical

main at least 500 feet from docks and shorelines and in water at least 15 feet deep. It also said ballast tanks should be completely drained and disinfected prior to transporting the watercraft over land.

Michigan Lakes and Streams Association’s DeSimone said she feels the wake boat legislation would give teeth to the DNR recommendations.

“The DNR, they care a lot about the resource, but they also want people to be able to use it,” she said. “We really feel like the 500 feet is a reasonable expectation to help to preserve the resource, but then also still allow it to be used recreationally.”

In addition to the DNR study, DeSimone said the association also fielded a flood of phone calls and emails from waterfront property owners saying they have been experiencing increased erosion on their shorelines due to excessive use of wake boats.

As a result, she said those property owners have been turning to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy with permit requests to build sea walls. However, sea walls have unwanted side effects on waterways, DeSimone said.

“Using the armored shorelines to stop the erosion is really bad for the lake because it reduces the habitat and there’s a lot of runoff that can go into the lake if you’ve got something sheer there that’s right at the edge,” she said. “(Without natural beach shoreline) there’s nothing stopping the unfiltered water from coming into the lake from yard runoff.”

DeSimone added that once the association started looking into shore erosion, it also discovered increased instances of “scouring of the bottom land” of waterways.

“You’re disrupting fish habitat,

students sought residencies in family or internal medicine or pediatrics, according to the National Resident Matching Program.

MSU’s medical school graduates about 190 students annually and has always placed an emphasis on primary care during clinical training, according to Sousa.

“We work hard at it,” he said.

“We are a community-based medical school, so they get a powerful experience in community with family physicians who are taking care of people in every part of life and are a key part of the health care system in their community. We’ve been intentional about this since founding in the 1960s. It’s a part and parcel of our culture and how we think of ourselves as a part of providing the workforce for the state of Michigan.”

At 17.2%, family medicine in 2024 ranked as the top area that MSU medical students chose for their residencies, followed by emergency medicine at 15.6% and internal medicine at 12.2%.

The Michigan Academy of Family Physicians advocates for continued or higher funding for MIDOCS as one solution to get more medical students to go into primary care. Short for Michigan Doctors Improving Access to

so nothing can grow … and you’re churning up phosphorus and other things that have just settled down in the bottom, and that can cause regular algae blooms and then also the cyanobacteria, the harmful algal blooms,” she said.

Nicki Polan, executive director of the Michigan Boating Industries Association, said her group opposes the legislation because it disputes the science and it thinks it offers a one-size-fits-all solution to an issue that may be a problem in some lakes and rivers but not all.

Her group advocates instead for “educating boaters and working out a plan at the local level, without blanketing the entire state with something so severe,” she said.

Polan said enacting a 500-foot rule for wake boats on many smaller lakes would increase congestion around the edges of the lake, increasing the likelihood of crashes or injuries.

She also said it singles out one type of boat for alleged detrimental environmental effects, which she said could be a “slippery slope” to banning all boat types.

“Wake boaters or power boaters could say, ‘Fishermen are in the way, fishermen are polluting our lakes, they’re losing their fishing lines and their plastic lures.’ Or it’s ‘Kayakers are in the way, they move

Care, MIDOCS is an initiative the state and four medical schools — WMed, MSU, Central Michigan University and Wayne State University — started five years ago to steer graduates to serve a residency and then work in an underserved market for two years. In exchange, they receive a $75,000 grant to use to pay medical school debt.

Since 2019, MIDOCS has helped to fill 124 new primary care slots around the state.

In the current fiscal year, state legislators appropriated $6.4 million to MIDOCS. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s budget proposal for the 2025 fiscal year would again allocate $6.4 million.

The Michigan Academy of Family Physicians advocates raising the MIDOCS appropriation to $10.9 million, plus a $3.6 million one-time investment to increase loan repayments for existing medical residents.

“It’s important that we have funding for this program because we see these people that need care,” said Dr. Fermin Rankin, a family physician who graduated last year with the inaugural class for the Central Michigan University College of Medicine and works at Great Lakes Bay Health Centers in Bad Axe.

too slowly.’ It’s one group of people who don’t like one boat type, and (they’d be) better served to collaborate with all boat users to put together a plan,” she said.

Polan said she’s also heard anecdotally that prospective boat buyers are holding off on purchasing decisions while they wait to see the outcome of the legislation. People who already own boats and lake houses are now worried about their property values, she added.

“The home value potentially could go down if you no longer live on an all sports lake,” Polan said. “(And) when sales drop, businesses let people go and that economic impact filters through to lost jobs, fewer taxes paid and (less) fuel consumption. There’s an entire ripple effect.”

DeSimone counters that there’s more of a potential for detrimental economic effects over time if the lakes are damaged by excessive wake boating.

“The only reason that people can use the lakes is because they are in the condition that they’re in,” she said. “If we are not first prioritizing protecting those lakes … property values will decrease because those lakes will not be in pristine condition … (with) the beautiful, natural features that have drawn people to the lakes in the first place.”

Housing donation part of musician’s broader ‘dream’ for local giving: ‘I just want to help out’

Grammy Award-winning bluegrass artist Billy Strings said his recent donations to a Grand Rapids housing nonprofit were the first but likely not the last major charitable contributions he will make in West Michigan. The Ionia County native who now lives in Nashville recently contributed $75,000 across two donations to Grand Rapids-based Well House in support of the nonprofit’s plan to build eight new rental housing units at three sites in southeast Grand Rapids. Strings, born William Apostol, was raised in Muir about 40 miles east of downtown Grand Rapids. After personal and family-related challenges in his youth, Strings has climbed the ranks as a renowned recording artist and live performer, working with legends including Willie Nelson and Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead. In 2021, he earned a Grammy for best bluegrass album for his album “Home.” Strings, who also faced housing insecurity as a youth, has given to numerous causes over the years. He said one of his favorite charities is the Nashville Rescue Mission, which helps individuals experiencing homelessness and addiction. In an interview with Crain’s Grand Rapids Business about the donation to Well House, Strings said this was his first major donation to a West Michigan cause — but he hopes it won’t be his last. This interview has been edited and condensed. | By Rachel Watson

How did you become aware of Well House and connected to them?

Each year, throughout the year, we make several donations to different organizations, and my business manager presents me with a couple options. I told her to look around my hometown, and she found Well House, and it just resonated with me. I grew up around there, and I’ve seen the homeless population in downtown Grand Rapids. Whenever I (was) down there, I tried to give a few bucks to somebody here and there. … That was just back when I was growing up, skateboarding and such and hanging out around town. But now that I’m grown up, it feels nice to give back to the community.

Why was this cause important to you?

I grew up, just over in Ionia (County), and I knew a lot of people that were really close to me that struggled with substance abuse, and I saw a lot of that. It just feels good to try to give back a little bit, and I like what (Well House) is doing, because they’re trying to help … put roofs over people’s heads and get them into houses and out of the cold, and it’s just a really awesome organization. I’m honored to have helped out with whatever we can.

… I’m just doing it because I care about people, and you know, I’ve couch-surfed and been homeless myself a little bit, when I was younger — not like, “living on the street” homeless, but not really knowing where I was going to stay. Now that I’ve made it out of that, of course I want to help people that are stuck there, because (of) the nuanced situations that all of these humans are going through. There’s an entire spectrum of things that can happen that can lead somebody to become homeless, and I have a lot of sympathy for that.

Why Grand Rapids?

I just want to give back to the community that raised me. I don’t need any more than I have. I’ve got a roof over my head, my family’s happy, and we’ve got food in our cupboards. Now, it’s (about how) I can help out.

I love Grand Rapids, I just love the area. I grew up (near) there, and like I said, I just want to help out. Have you donated to any other type of housing causes in Michigan before this? Or was this your first foray into that nonprofit area?

I think this is our first housing project that we’ve donated to. A lot of times, we (work with) the Nashville Rescue Mission —

we’ve done things in the past where we’ve had fundraiser concerts and then had a coat and food and socks drive, things like that. And we’ve donated to the Salvation Army and things like that.

What other causes are you considering?

I have dreams of opening up a

rehab facility, either in Grand Rapids or Ionia. That’s one of my biggest goals is something like that, to help the community. My dream is either building a rehab facility or a cool skate park for the kids. Because there’s nothing to do for the kids in Muir and Ionia, and when I was a kid, skateboarding was a really awesome thing for me.

Thinking about the geographical areas of where I’m donating, I just want to give back to the community that raised me. I don’t need any more than I have. I’ve got a roof over my head, my family’s happy, and we’ve got food in our cupboards. Now, it’s (about how) I can help out.

Musician and Ionia County native Billy Strings envisions more philanthropic opportunities in West Michigan: “I grew up there, I just want to help out.”

Making tomorrow safer.

Tomorrow is on.

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