Crain's Grand Rapids Business, Feb 5, 2024

CRAINSGRANDRAPIDS.COM I FEBRUARY 5, 2024

Priority Health case sparks dispute over high-cost therapies Law from 1989 requires insurers to cover cost of cancer drugs, but treatments have changed

By Mark Sanchez

Kent County is building a new administration building on Grand Rapids’ northeast side, relocating roughly 180 workers from its current facility downtown. | KATE CARLSON

Kent County moving 180 downtown workers New administration building on northeast side would be part of 72-acre Fuller Campus

By Kate Carlson

Kent County is putting in motion a major relocation plan that would move nearly 200 workers out of downtown Grand Rapids into new county facilities proposed for the city’s northeast side.

The centerpiece of the strategy involves a new $60 million administration building on county-owned land near Fuller Avenue NE and I-196 that would demolish an existing structure that formerly housed a Michigan State Police laboratory.

The administration building would be part of a 72-acre Fuller Campus that already includes various county services, including the Sheriff ’s Office and Kent County jail.

The county’s current administration building at 300 Monroe

Ave., on shared property with Grand Rapids City Hall and Calder Plaza, would then be remodeled and provide flex space and offices for prosecutor’s office employees who are based at a nearby downtown building at 82 Ionia Ave. NW, according to the county’s plan. The county would then sell 82 Ionia, a four-story, 108,000-square-foot building in the heart of downtown.

Meanwhile, the county also plans to demolish the sprawling former Kent Community Hospital, which at one point employed more than 600 workers, on the Fuller campus that is currently leased to Corewell Health. The health system’s lease expires in October and demolition would follow shortly thereafter, according to county planning documents.

VOL. 41, NO. 3 l COPYRIGHT 2024 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. l ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

P001_CGR_20240205.indd 1

County officials say the new administration building and broader campus would benefit employees and residents by creating a centralized location for various services, ranging from registering to vote and obtaining a birth certificate to law enforcement operations.

“Part of what we hope to accomplish at Fuller is having heavy customer service areas all on the ground floor so people can park for free and walk into a door where they can be served,” Kent County Administrator Al Vanderberg told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business. “It’s really confusing to get around this building (downtown), and if you’re elderly or if you have a disability, it just doesn’t serve the public very well from a customer service standpoint.”

As well, the county believes the relocation project will help See RELOCATION on Page 28

The bulletin followed a November report from ProPublica The industry trade associa- that detailed how Priority tion for health plans in Michi- Health denied coverage to a Grand Rapids-area gan wants greater clariman who had an agty on how exactly state gressive form of lymregulators view highphoma. Forrest VanPatcost gene and cell therten died Feb. 17, 2020 at apies and their manthe age of 50 while dated coverage. awaiting a response In a response to a from an independent regulatory bulletin last medical reviewer on an month saying they appeal of Priority must cover expensive Health’s denial, accordgene and cell therapies, Dominick Pallone, ing to the report. the Michigan Associa- Michigan “It is the opinion of tion of Health Plans Association of MAHP that gene theranotes that when the Health Plans. pies could not have state Legislature enactbeen intended to be ined a law in 1989 that requires health insurers to cover cluded by the Legislature (in the cancer drugs, the new genera- state law) because gene tion of gene and cell therapies had not yet been developed.

See INSURANCE on Page 29

Details emerge on $300M event center Developers hope to break ground this year on the Kalamazoo project

By Rachel Watson

The wealthy visionary behind a downtown Kalamazoo sports and entertainment arena 27 years in the making recently shared previously unreleased details on the project.

Greenleaf Companies founder and chair William Johnston said the schematic design phase is now complete on the proposed $300 million, 320,000-square-foot Kalamazoo Event Center. His

company’s real estate development arm, Catalyst Development Co. LLC, hopes to break ground on the project in November.

Johnston, who is married to Stryker Corp. scion Ronda Stryker, shared a project update and newly completed renderings from Kalamazoo-based TowerPinkster and Detroit-based Rossetti as part of Southwest Michigan First’s State of Economic Development outlook event on Jan. 25. The organization held this year’s inaugural event at the Radisson Plaza Hotel in downtown Kalamazoo, a property Catalyst Development owns.

See EVENT CENTER on Page 29

REAL ESTATE Reenders family lists French country-style lakeshore mansion for $8.1 million

NEWSMAKERS Meet the finalists in each of the 15 categories for Crain’s Grand Rapids’ Newsmakers of the Year

FORUM For downtowns large and small, new reality is taking shape

PAGE 3

PAGES 7-20

PAGES 21-25

1/31/24 11:47 AM

Reenders family lists French country-style lakeshore mansion for $8.1 million List price among highest ever in Grand Haven

By Rachel Watson

The third generation of a prominent real estate family in the Grand Haven area is selling their late parents’ 8,000-square-foot mansion built in the French country style with antiques and materials sourced from their global travels.

The children of the late Howard and Barbara Reenders on Jan. 11 listed the couple’s seven-bedroom, seven-bathroom home tucked away on a private drive in Grand Haven Township for $8.1 million.

Sandi Gentry, of The Sandi Gentry Team of Re/Max Lakeshore, is their broker.

Howard Reenders, who died Nov. 7 following his wife’s death in 2019, was the second-generation leader of a Grand Haven-based real estate development business founded in 1946 by his father, Arthur Reenders. Over time, the business grew to include Heritage Senior Communities, which has 18 senior and assisted-living communities in Michigan and Indiana, as well as the construction and real estate development firm Reenders Inc. and Heritage Property Management.

The Reenders bought the property in 1972. It included a 1940s-era cottage that the couple eventually tore down. They built the current mansion in 1998 to accommodate their ever-growing family of children, grandchildren and now great-grandchildren.

Scott Reenders, one of the Reenders’ six children who is president of Heritage Property Management, told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business the home has been wonderful for family gatherings over the years but the next generation is ready to part with it.

“Everybody’s settled into their

own lives and their own homes, and that’s really why we’re selling the property, even though it’s spectacular,” he said.

A well-appointed, yearround home The 8,042-square-foot house, which was built to be lived in yearround, includes a secluded 5.3 acres and 330 feet of private beachfront, a three-stall garage connected to the east end of the house via a porte-cochère, and a fourth stall attached to the north side of the house.

The mansion has four outdoor terraces, French-style landscaping and a family-oriented basement with concrete floors for sandy beach-day feet and two changing rooms.

The house boasts two kitchens, two laundry rooms, a kitchen dinette area and a formal dining room that flows into a large openplan living room with a fireplace, a den with a fireplace, a main-floor primary suite, and six more bedrooms upstairs, four of which have attached full bathrooms.

Scott Reenders said he and his siblings are selling the home unfurnished but would entertain offers on certain pieces that don’t have sentimental value.

An American-French pastiche Howard Reenders was a builder, and Barbara Reenders was an interior designer in the family business, and they took their style inspiration from traveling all over the world.

According to Scott Reenders, the home and its gardens were patterned after “fine French homes” they saw while traveling through the south of France, as well as a trip

The Reenders family of Grand Haven built this 8,000-square-foot French country-style home on Lake Michigan in 1998 and are now selling it for $8.1 million. | THE SANDI GENTRY TEAM OF RE/MAX LAKESHORE

to the historic Doheny Greystone Estate in Beverly Hills, Calif.

They hired French architect and family friend Ralph Fournier, more commonly known for his mid-century designs in St. Louis, to design this house in 1997. Fournier also designed their other French Provincial-style home where the Reenders raised their children in Grand Haven in 1965.

Dennis Reenders, president of Reenders Inc., oversaw the team that built this house. For the exterior, they used rubble limestone mined in the Upper Peninsula, brick, and limestone balustrades, as well as a slate roof and zinc-coated copper gutters and downspouts.

Barbara Reenders did the interior design, collecting special architectural pieces in her travels across the country over a period of several years to complete the look, Scott Reenders said.

They salvaged the 3,000-pound bronze front door from one of the Dodge estates in the Detroit area when it was torn down. The fireplace mantel in the den was salvaged from a chateau in France and purchased in Atlanta.

Barbara Reenders also transferred over some of the 1960s and ’70s light fixtures from their first French-inspired home to this house, including the Tiffany-style hanging fixture in the dinette and the French art glass in the primary bedroom.

They also purchased antique fixtures for many rooms in the house.

The living room has a limestone fireplace mantel, and the lower-level family room mantel is supported by two lion heads salvaged from a

building in the Chicago area.

“They sourced stuff from really all over the country, because that was kind of their hobby,” Scott Reenders said.

The couple also supported local craftsmen in their design. All interior doors of the home were built at a Zeeland millwork company, and the cabinetry was custom built and finished locally.

Modern amenities The home is heated and cooled with a geothermal system, thanks to freon lines buried in the yard, Scott Reenders said. He called it a “sophisticated” system that was ahead of its time.

Also ahead of its time was the large kitchen, which is equipped with a Sub-Zero refrigerator, a large range with double ovens, two dishwashers, an expansive island with bar stools and an open-plan layout that flows into the dinette, which overlooks a shady covered terrace.

Scott Reenders said the kitchen/ dinette/terrace trio remains one of his favorite spots in the house.

“My mom was a good cook, and they also liked to entertain, so we spent a lot of time sitting around the kitchen table,” he said. “And also, the terrace off the kitchen was a gorgeous little covered area that you could enjoy seven months out of the year because it was out of the elements.”

His other favorite spot, and one of the most-used by the family, was the den, with its large French mantel and gas-starter fireplace that burns wood, like all the home’s fireplaces.

“It’s just a really cozy, warm room,” he said.

The family used the main living room and formal dining room for entertaining large groups of friends, while the basement — with its space for several long, informal tables — was typically the center of extended family gatherings.

Scott Reenders said the couple designed their home with aging in place in mind, as all the doors are extra wide, and the primary bedroom suite is on the main floor.

He added that the primary suite was built as a “sanctuary overlooking Lake Michigan.”

“It’s quite amazing that you can lie in bed and look at the lake,” he said.

The suite features a jacuzzi bath, large 5-foot-by-7-foot shower, massive walk-in closet/dressing room with custom-built drawers and shelving, and heated floors.

A door off the bedroom leads to a “secret garden” for enjoying morning coffee, and it is secured with a gate from the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Fla.

The price point Gentry, who specializes in highend real estate, said this is her highest-priced residential listing ever, and only one other home in Grand Haven Township has sold for more.

It was a 20-acre property with 800 feet of beachfront that another broker closed at $9 million in 2016.

“That (listing) kind of proves my number a little bit,” she said.

Gentry said she took into consideration all of the factors that go into making this a “one-of-a-kind” property when setting the list price, including the quality and that “no expense was spared.”

“They believe in quality and that is something they do not jeopardize,” she said. “(Howard Reenders) just went above and beyond with what he did. He found the perfect piece of property, carved out where he wanted the house to be (and) made sure it was very private. It’s just one of a kind.”

Scott Reenders said although the house hasn’t been substantially updated since it was built, everything is still in excellent condition.

“My parents were meticulous about taking care of everything, and it still looks practically brandnew,” he said. “And of course, for the most part, only two people lived in the house.”

133-year-old church begins journey into housing development Messiah Baptist lands initial funding from city’s Brownfield Revolving Fund

By Rachel Watson

Grand Rapids’ oldest Black Baptist church is making a new push into housing development with newly available city funding that could help it convert a former Black-owned funeral home into for-sale and rental housing.

Messiah Baptist Church of Grand Rapids on Jan. 24 received approval from the Grand Rapids Brownfield Redevelopment Authority for a $19,900 Emerging Developer Grant from the city’s Local

Brownfield Revolving Fund for the church’s project.

The grant pays for predevelopment consulting services on the church’s early-stage plan to convert the former Ivy K. Gillespie Memorial Chapel at 1865 Eastern Ave. SE into a for-sale and rental housing project called MVillage.

MVillage Project Manager Debra Cross told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business that the grant would help the organization hire a consultant to “further assess the property” and “better understand the possi-

bilities” for the development on the city’s southeast side.

“We are excited to be embarked on what we feel is a much-needed journey to help transform the lives of vulnerable families in Grand Rapids,” Cross said.

Jono Klooster, the city’s interim economic development director, recommended approval of the LBRF grant for the MVillage project. He said in a project memo that the church meets the definition of See HOUSING on Page 28

Messiah Baptist Church of Grand Rapids is in the early stages of a plan to convert the former Ivy K. Gillespie Memorial Chapel shown here near Eastern Avenue and Burton Street SE on the city’s southeast side into a market-rate and affordable housing project called MVillage. | RACHEL WATSON February 5, 2024 | CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS | 3

P003_CGR_20240205.indd 3

1/31/24 11:56 AM

Business groups cry foul over independent contractor rules

By Mark Sanchez

The effect that new federal rules over independent contractors have on employers could hinge on how stringently they are interpreted and enforced.

The final rules that the U.S. Department of Labor issued Jan. 10 and that take effect March 11 essentially return to what was in effect for years through President Barack Obama’s administration.

They rescind and replace what was put in place during President Donald Trump’s administration.

The new regulation is more restrictive than the previous “employer-friendly guidance” that’s been in effect since January 2021 and “made it easier to define a worker as an independent contractor,” attorneys for Varnum LLP wrote in a recent legal briefing to clients.

“The (Department of Labor) has now pivoted and returned to previous guidance that made it more difficult for a worker to qualify as an independent contractor,” they wrote. “It is expected that fewer workers will qualify as independent contractors than under the prior rule.”

Under the new rules, “the emphasis is on whether the worker is ‘economically dependent on the potential employer for work’ or ‘in business for themselves,’” Varnum’s attorneys wrote.

The Department of Labor rules established a six-part test to determine whether a worker qualifies as an independent contractor or a payroll employee.

Brian Calley, CEO of the Small Business Association of Michigan, sees the new rule as more subjective to interpretation by regulators

in the Biden administration than what’s been in effect for a few years.

“These are literally different people, different regulators. Are they going to read the subjective standards and apply them across the economy more like before, or is it going to be more aggressive than before? We really don’t know,” Calley said in a recent online briefing for SBAM members. “All of these are very, very subjective (of) where you fall on the line, and so this, I think, will be a bit of a frustrating transition, even though it is accurate to say that these rules look and sound a lot like the Obama administration rules.

“The people that are enforcing them today are not required, are not under an obligation whatsoever, to enforce (the rules) how they did in the previous administration.

We can’t really fall back on that and say, ‘Oh, well, the way this provision was interpreted back in 2012 was like this, therefore we’re good now.’ Just because it was interpreted (one way) in 2012 doesn’t mean it will be today.”

Among the tests to determine if somebody qualifies as an indepen-

The U.S. Department of Labor offices at the Francis Perkins building in Washington, D.C. | GETTY IMAGES

Calley cites that provision as an example of the new rules’ subjectiveness.

“Why would you hire somebody to do work that is not an integral part of your business?

How integral? It’s very, very subjective. It’s difficult to say, in this current environment of the regulatory systems, what does that really mean?” he said. “So, if I do work that is really super-important to my customers as an independent contractor, that counts against me somehow on this in terms of my independence from the employer.”

Another provision in the test states that if the worker is “eco-

“The (Department of Labor) has now pivoted and returned to previous guidance that made it more difficult for a worker to qualify as an independent contractor.” dent contractor is the extent to which the person’s work is an integral part of the employer’s business.

nomically dependent” on one company, then they are not considered an independent contractor, according to attorney Steve Palazzolo, senior counsel at Warner Norcross + Judd LLP in Grand Rapids.

In a recent video briefing posted on the law firm’s website, Palazzolo said that if a person works full time as an independent contractor for one employer, “you’re probably not an independent contractor because you’re economically dependent on that single employer.”

Under the new rule, which received more than 55,000 comments during a public-comment period, “we’ve gone back to where we were for about 40 years before the Trump administration changed the rule” in 2021, Palazzolo said.

Other provisions include the de-

gree of permanence in the working relationship between a company and contracted employee, the degree of control an employer holds over the work, the use of a contracted worker’s “skill and initiative,” and the “financial stake and nature of any resources a worker has invested in the work,” according to the Department of Labor.

Workers who prefer to work as independent contractors are unable to voluntarily waive the right to become classified as an employee under the Federal Labor Standards Act, Palazzolo said.

“Misclassifying employees as independent contractors is a serious issue that deprives workers of basic rights and protections,” Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su said in a statement announcing the final rules. “This rule will help protect workers, especially those facing the greatest risk of exploitation, by making sure they are classified properly and that they receive the wages they’ve earned.”

Business groups nationally, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Federation of Independent Businesses and the National Small Business Association, criticized the new rules.

The rules threaten the “flexibility of individuals to work when and how they want and could have significant negative impacts on our economy. Making matters worse, the rule is completely unnecessary, as the Department continues to report success in cracking down on bad actors that are misclassifying workers,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce Vice President of Workplace Policy Marc Freedman said in a statement. “The U.S. Chamber will carefully evaluate our options going forward, including litigation.”

$2M grant will add 350 jobs at Kentwood freight company

By Kayleigh Van Wyk

A Kentwood-based logistics and transportation provider has secured a $2 million state grant to build a new headquarters and create more than 350 jobs in West Michigan.

The Michigan Strategic Fund Board on Jan. 23 approved a request from B&L Systems LLC, doing business as Fifth Wheel Freight, for a $2 million perfor-

the expansion is located.

Founded in Lansing in 2012, Fifth Wheel Freight has been based in the Grand Rapids area since 2017 and has about 157 fulltime employees.

As the company prepared to expand, Fifth Wheel Freight’s current location on 44th Street SE offered limited opportunities for future growth, according to a Michigan Economic Development Corp. briefing memo on the incentives.

Fifth Wheel Freight was weighing options of creating a larger flagship headquarters or opening several new satellite offices throughout the Midwest and South, or both.

“This grant helps us remain here and continue to impact (the region) as much as we can,” CEO Brian Bennett told the Michigan Strategic Fund board. “We have a great team here, we’ve got a great nucleus here, and we look forward to continue to impact West Michigan.”

Erik Wilford, strategic project

“This grant helps us remain here and continue to impact (the region) as much as we can.”

— Brian Bennett, Fifth Wheel Freight CEO mance-based grant that will support the company’s plan for a new headquarters in the region.

A specific location for the headquarters has not yet been identified, and total project investment could range from $1.5 million to $40 million, depending on where

The state funding is designed to keep Fifth Wheel Freight’s proposed headquarters in West Michigan. | UNSPLASH

adviser at MEDC, said Michigan was competing with other states to win the company’s investment.

“The company has been looking at sites throughout the Midwest, as well as a bunch in Michigan,” Wilford said. “The idea with this incentive is to lock them into stopping focusing on the Midwest and some of the southern cities

they have been looking at as well.”

With the expansion, the company expects to create up to 352 new full-time positions over an initial three-year period. The long-term vision for a new flagship headquarters could include more than 1,000 full-time employees in the future.

As a third-party logistics and

transportation provider, the company offers less than truckload (LTL) and full truckload (TL) ground/air freight services across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

The company relocated to Grand Rapids in 2017 to accommodate growth and moved into its current location in Kentwood in 2018.

In 2023, Fifth Wheel Freight announced it would take on a buy/ sell business model to act as an intermediary between shippers and carriers. Company executives said last year that the move would position the company for future growth.

Rob Llanes, senior vice president of business development at The Right Place Inc., called Fifth Wheel Freight an “important part of our business community” since the company relocated from Lansing to Grand Rapids, noting that the company for seven years has been named to the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S. Crain’s Grand Rapids Business Reporter Mark Sanchez contributed reporting to this story.

4 | CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS | February 5, 2024

P004_CGR_20240205.indd 4

1/31/24 2:58 PM

Furniture maker acquires former American Seating campus Bush said.

Bergsma said that MiEN Co. is weighing whether to convert some of the surface parking on the American Seating site into apartments, after the company’s need for logistics and warehouse space is satisfied.

“I foresee (the site) in the future to definitely be housing — especially if it’s true that Grand Valley wants to expand (in) Grand Rapids,” he said. “Then I’m totally interested. … There’s a lot of excess room there to do all kinds of things.”

The American Seating site MiEN Co. now owns is about 1.2 miles north of Grand Valley State University’s downtown Pew Campus. GVSU announced a plan last spring to expand the Pew Campus to bring about 2,400 more students downtown by 2025.

MiEN Co. also is in the process of relocating its administrative headquarters from Walker to the Monroe Avenue site on the east bank of the Grand River in a project Bergsma refers to as the “experience center.” The site sits about a mile and a half northeast of the American Seating property.

The company plans to break ground in April on the headquarters project and conclude con-

By Rachel Watson

where it moved after outgrowing its former footprint in Walker.

“We can use 250,000 square feet An education-focused furniture manufacturer has acquired of warehousing, and obviously the American Seating Co. factory right now, it’s not easy finding on the west side of Grand Rapids. (that) in the city,” said Remco BergAn affiliate of MiEN Co. closed sma, founder, president and CEO Jan. 15 on the purchase of the ap- of the 12-year-old company. “Evproximately 17 acres of property erything grew a little faster than we in the West Grand neighborhood thought with our company.”

Bergsma said MiEN Co. plans from American Seating for an undisclosed amount. The transac- to begin using about half of the tion included three parcels at 901 American Seating space in March and 940 Broadway Ave. NW and and expects to occupy the other half by this summer, after Ameri564 11th St. NW. The company will use the more can Seating fully completes the than 240,000-square-foot indus- move of its manufacturing and administrative operations to a former Steelcase property at 1040 40th St. SE in Grand Rapids.

American Seating President and CEO Thomas Bush said in a — Remco Bergsma, founder, president and CEO, MiEN Co. statement to Crain’s Grand Rapids Business that the sale of the trial building on the site to ex- manufacturing campus will enpand its logistics, assembly and able the company to “fully focus” warehousing operation. MiEN on the move to its new location.

“Our new headquarters and has already outgrown the approximately 150,000 square feet of in- manufacturing plant is an imdustrial space the company re- portant and significant commitcently renovated at the former ment to our employees, our comBaker Furniture site at 1661 Mon- munity, our customers and the roe Ave. NW in Grand Rapids, transportation-seating industry,”

“We can use 250,000 square feet of warehousing, and obviously right now, it’s not easy finding (that) in the city.”

American Seating Co.’s manufacturing facility at 901 Broadway Ave. NW spans more than 240,000 square feet. | KATE CARLSON

struction by 2026, Bergsma said.

When the project is finished, MiEN Co. will occupy about 60,000 square feet of an existing building on the site.

Meanwhile, Bergsma’s real estate development firm Remco Realty LLC is considering dedicating at least part of the 170,500-square-foot south building on the Monroe property for hundreds of units of housing, he said.

The firm listed that part of the property for $10.9 million in late 2022 but has not yet received an offer from a housing developer that aligned with its vision for the site, Bergsma said. He said he is

not ruling out developing it himself, but first he wants assurances that the city of Grand Rapids will move forward with its GR Forward and River for All plans to develop the surrounding north riverfront into trails and more mixed-use residential.

“We’re not going to be the first ones going and building there.

We want to make sure that the city is also committing and doing their part,” he said. “There’s no interest in the middle of nowhere to have a building like that to be the starting point. We want to see that there’s really development going on around it. It’s all about timing.”

Do You Have What It Takes to be a Best and Brightest?

Nominate a Company Today!

The Best and Brightest is a powerful community of the nation’s elite leaders.

Visit our website at

thebestandbrightest.com for nomination details, or call 866-321-1822 A Program of:

Igniting Greatness in Companies and Their People February 5, 2024 | CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS | 5

P005_CGR_20240205.indd 5

1/31/24 1:16 PM

Law firms embrace flexible, modern office designs with shift to hybrid work

By Kayleigh Van Wyk

The legal profession’s embrace of hybrid work in recent years comes as office design and real estate experts see an era of new priorities for the traditionally demanding industry.

According to a 2023 report, 64% of 246 law firms that responded to a Thomson Reuters Corp. survey said their teams had adopted a hybrid work model.

This transition from fully in-person to hybrid or even remote work models is a trend that Grand Rapids-based furniture manufacturer Steelcase Inc. highlighted in a recent study. Particularly, the embrace of hybrid work models has created a shift in the way physical office spaces are designed.

“For decades, law offices looked the same. Stately private offices, palatial conference rooms and imposing lobbies were the norm, designed primarily as a tool to demonstrate status and prestige for clients,” Keith Bujak, principal researcher at Steelcase WorkSpace Futures, said in a report on the study. “Firms are now being more responsive to employees’ needs, using a more human-centered approach.”

Steelcase identified three main drivers of workplace design within the legal industry: inclusion, meaning all employees lend a say to the design process; flexibility, which includes new work schedules and adapting to new technology; and well-being, ensuring work environments nurture employees’ overall welfare.

“It’s no longer enough to just have an impressive office for clients,” Bujak said. “Law firms need to create nurturing experiences for people that feel more human.”

Specific emerging design choices include “community hub” spaces for working, meeting or hosting, which Steelcase noted is a new choice for most law firms. The prevalence of hybrid work has led to private offices and conference spaces to now need more technology that supports multiple work modes or even virtual courtroom settings.

Leveling the playing field Apart from upgraded office designs, benefits of hybrid work also include a better work-life balance for attorneys in an industry where 80-hour work weeks can be the norm.

Opening the door to remote work also gives firms the ability to attract new talent and establish a presence in other cities.

This can be beneficial for smaller law firms in particular, according to Jesse Barrett, partner at Indiana-based SouthBank Legal, which recently opened a downtown Grand Rapids office.

The proposal includes paving over green space for 620 parking spaces to meet increased demand. | CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS FILE PHOTO

County begrudgingly approves zoo’s parking expansion

By Kate Carlson A growing number of law firms are adopting hybrid work schedules, reducing the need for “palatial conference rooms.” | COURTESY OF STEELCASE

A shared, private law office concept that helps support more hybrid work schedules. | COURTESY OF STEELCASE

Barrett said in a recent interview that the shift away from fully in-person work has “leveled the playing field” for smaller firms when competing for clients.

“It really has opened up a lot of new opportunities, I think, in the legal profession,” Barrett said. “We don’t want to abandon (brick and mortar offices) … but the ability to hire people in different locations to work on cases is really a boon to a smaller firm like ours looking to grow in that way.”

The firm is starting with a small footprint in Grand Rapids as litigation attorney Conor Dugan handles cases with the support of other SouthBank attorneys as needed.

This type of structure has become more prevalent across the industry, Barrett said. While physical offices are unlikely to phase out, as in-person interaction helps build a certain level of trust from clients, more lawyers and clients have become comfortable with remote case work.

“The doors that opened in terms of clients and lawyers being comfortable with working with attorneys who aren’t physically on-site has really opened up lots of new opportunities,” Barrett said.

‘Vision of a hybrid office’ Other recent real estate activity in downtown Grand Rapids signals a shift in law firm workplace models and priorities.

In 2023, Detroit-based corporate law firm Honigman LLP relocated and renovated its downtown Grand Rapids office to accommodate more growth and provide flexibility.

The firm’s first Grand Rapids location opened in 2016, and now 30 attorneys make up a staff of about 40 total people.

Honigman Partner Tracy Larsen in June said the new office was designed with input from the team and shies away from historically large individual offices designed inefficiently. The new space includes large well-lit hallways, natural lighting, new technology and a space for a cafe that will serve employees and allow the firm to host business clients.

The new office also accommodates Honigman’s “vision of a hybrid office,” Larsen said. The design features a combination of office plans fit for different workstyles.

Honigman’s policy expects employees to work in the office three days a week.

“There are some advantages to working in person for particularly our younger people to develop mentorships and relationships,” Larsen previously told Crain’s Grand Rapids. “(The policy) is not rigidly enforced, but we’re getting pretty good buy-in from folks, and I think once they see this new space, it will further throw people into the downtown office space.”

The Kent County Board of Commissioners approved John Ball Zoo’s proposal to alter its surface-parking expansion plans amid opposition from some elected officials and nearby residents.

The board voted 11-6 on Jan. 25 to approve the parking amendment, with two commissioners abstaining because of conflicts of interest. Several commissioners voiced frustration about the lack of decision-making power elected officials have under an operating agreement between the county and the zoo.

The zoo’s parking amendment involves paving over adjacent park space to add an additional 620 paved parking spaces, which is slightly less than the 670 spaces proposed in its 2015 master plan. The parking expansion is needed to accommodate an increase in visitors, zoo officials have said.

Construction on the first half of the parking expansion will begin this year, zoo CEO Peter D’Arienzo told Crain’s Grand Rapids. The construction timeline is dependent on the zoo’s fundraising efforts, though enough funding has been se-

county’s corporate counsel, said during the meeting.

Commissioner Stephen Wooden voted to approve the amendment, although he admitted that he wished the county had more power to approve a different parking solution at the zoo that had broader support from the neighbors.

“The interaction with how (the zoo) functions with greenspace seems like the most important policy discussion that should require our involvement,” Wooden said before the vote. “While I’ll be voting for this amendment, I’m frustrated by the limits we have as a body.”

Eleven people spoke against the zoo’s parking amendment during the public comment portion of the meeting. Most neighbors disagree with any parking expansion plans that involve paving over green space at the park.

The Save John Ball Park group is working with the county to form a liaison group to foster better communication with zoo officials, in which D’Arienzo said the zoo would fully participate.

“We were hoping for something that would be truly collaborative and creative and there just wasn’t room for that between everyone involved,” Amy Hinman, one of the leaders of the Save John Ball Park group, told Crain’s Grand Rapids after the vote.

“It’s just sad to see something that’s been such an important resource go down like this.”

Meanwhile, several members of the Save John Ball Park group are seeking a historic district designation from the city of Grand Rapids for John Ball Zoo as a way to preserve greenspace at the park, MLive reported.

The city of Grand Rapids Historic Preservation Committee voted on Jan. 17 to approve neighbors’ request to form a study committee to kick off the process, which will also require approval from the Grand Rapids City Commission. The city commission is expected to consider approval of the research committee this month, Hinman said.

The board voted 11-6 on Jan. 25 to approve the parking amendment, with two commissioners abstaining because of conflicts of interest. cured to complete about half of the plans this year, he said.

Kent County owns both the John Ball park and zoo properties. The zoo is required to secure approval from the county board on a master plan update every 10 years. The zoo’s current master plan was adopted in 2015.

County commissioners could submit and seek approval of alternative plans from the zoo’s board, but there is “nothing we can do to change the 2015 (zoo) master plan,” Linda Howell, the

6 | CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS | February 5, 2024

P006_CGR_20240205.indd 6

1/31/24 3:01 PM

With our journalism, Crain’s Grand Rapids Business strives to move the story forward, helping our readers advance their knowledge and understanding of complex topics and the news of the day. But at the beginning of every year, our team of local journalists also takes time to reflect on the major stories of the last 12 months and, just as importantly, the people behind them. Below, you’ll find our top three Newsmaker finalists in each of 15 major West Michigan industries. To see our top picks from 2023 and find out who we determined was the Newsmaker of the Year, join us at 8 a.m., Tuesday, Feb. 27 at Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park for the reveal.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Charles Burke, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park

Dale Robertson, Grand Rapids Public Museum

Catlin Whitington, ArtPrize

Charles Burke joined Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in February as its new president and CEO. The appointment came on the heels of a major $115 million expansion project that added a new welcome Burke center and several renovations to the popular cultural institution.

Burke, who succeeded longtime Meijer Gardens President and CEO David Hooker, came to the organization with prior leadership experience at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the War Memorial Association at Grosse Pointe Farms. “I am eager to work with the talented team at Meijer Gardens, as together we continue to provide world-class experiences and advance the mission of the organization. The future is bright for Meijer Gardens,” Burke said in a statement at the time.

The organization also grew its executive ranks this year with the addition of Carol Kendra as chief operating officer, a new position for Meijer Gardens.

Kendra formerly served as vice president of business development, strategic growth and engagement at the Henry Ford Museum. At Meijer Gardens, she hopes to help the organization grow its audience locally and globally. “This step comes at a pivotal moment, as we experience growth in visitor numbers and the scale of our programs, exhibitions and collection,” Burke said of the “significant” addition of Kendra’s position.

“The COO will play a crucial role in steering our operational capabilities to new heights, ensuring that we not only meet but exceed the expectations of our diverse — Abby Poirier and growing audience.”

The Grand Rapids Public Museum broke ground in October 2023 on a multi-year $75 million expansion project with the goal of improving accessibility for school groups, updating the museum grounds and activating space along the Robertson Grand River.

This major expansion project, slated to wrap up in 2026, will be the museum’s first significant update since 2016, when it added new exhibit, office and school group space to the second and fourth floors.

New updates this time will include renovations to the main Van Andel Museum Center and a 9,000-square-foot addition as well as a public park with outdoor seating, dining space and a cafe window to the museum campus.

The project also calls for a new south tower for additional learning spaces and artifact laboratories as well as detaching the historic Cook Carousel Pavilion from the museum’s main facility.

The latter is already underway, with the carousel closing temporarily beginning Jan. 9, 2024 for riverfront construction and access updates. Construction on the museum grounds began in fall 2023 and will be focused on outdoor updates along the Grand River throughout 2024, including building a new stair and ramp systems to improve accessibility to the riverfront.

The museum will fund its expansion in part with an $11 million earmark in the 2023 state budget. Kent County also designated $1 million to the museum from its American Rescue Plan Act allocation in December, while The Right Place Inc. in September allocated an $800,000 ARPA — Abby Poirier placemaking grant to the museum.

ArtPrize emerged from a late-2022 upheaval with the creation of the new ArtPrize 2.0, a partnership of Downtown Grand Rapids Inc., the city of Grand Rapids and Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University.

Whitington The organizations had partnered with ArtPrize since the competition launched in 2009. The new ArtPrize 2.0 is led by an nine-person board of directors: Rick Winn, president of AHC Hospitality; Tara McCrackin, president of Kendall College of Art and Design; Natalie Stewart, vice president of government and public affairs at Switch; Mark Washington, Grand Rapids city manager; Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalyn Bliss; David Leonard, chief legal officer at Corewell Health; and Michael Verhulst, executive vice president of strategic growth at Acrisure Benefits Group.

“Thinking about the future of ArtPrize, I’m really excited about this evolution, (which) in my opinion, is a great public-private partnership which our city is known for, and it sets the stage for the next decade of ArtPrize,” Bliss said during of the new ArtPrize format during a public city meeting held at the time.

The 2023 competition was held from Sept. 14-Oct. 1 and reportedly drew more than 1 million visitors to the city. The competition featured 950 artists from 30 U.S. states and 12 different countries.

Visitors cast more than 50,000 votes in the public portion of the competition, which awarded Grand Rapids native Abdoulaye Conde the $125,000 first place honors. Conde’s winning outdoor mural, “Raining Wisdom,” is still on display at 45 Ottawa Ave. NW. The competition’s 2024 dates are — Abby Poirier set for Sept. 13-28.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Doug DeKock, Chuck Geenen, Geenen DeKock Properties Major downtown Holland landlord, developer and construction company, Geenen DeKock Properties Group LLC (GDK), cleared an important hurdle to carry out its planned redevelopment of waterfront property in 2023.

DeKock A crucial public vote in 2023 gave the city of Holland approval to sell its 20 acres of lakefront property to GDK to set a redevelopment plan in motion.

City officials have been discussing ways to redevelop the city-owned waterfront property for decades, and launched a more focused initiative about five years ago to redevelop the former James De Young coal power plant site Geenen and open the waterfront to more public uses while connecting downtown to the water. This led to a request for proposals, which produced just one plan submitted in 2022 by Holland-based GDK. Voter approval was the first step in GDK’s proposed land swap: GDK would acquire the former coal plant site and Verplank Dock Co.’s operations would move to the defunct power plant property, making way for redevelopment opportunities on the current Verplank Dock site and adjacent city-owned land along the lake.

GDK’s conceptual site plan calls for the construction of residential buildings, a hotel, restaurant, marina, ice cream shop, docking areas for cruise ships like the Holland Princess and Pearl Mist, and open green space that would include a kayak launch and boardwalk plaza for boat watching.

As well, GDK is working to add 48 residential units to a former industrial building in downtown Zeeland, which is — Kate Carlson expected to be completed in 2024.

Dennis Griffin, Scott Magaluk, Ben Smith, Heritage Development Partners The $147 million Factory Yards project will transform 15.5 acres of former industrial property on Grand Rapids’ southwest side into a major mixed-use development.

The project at 655 Godfrey Ave. SW is Griffin expected to breathe new life into the Roosevelt Park and Black Hills neighborhoods with 467 apartment units — one of the largest housing developments the city has seen in recent years. As well, about 94 of the apartment units are slated to be rented out at below-market rates.

Factory Yards became the first project in Grand Rapids and the fourth development in the state last year to receive Transformational Brownfield Plan support Magaluk totaling $103 million worth of incentives from the rarely used program.

Plans call for redeveloping three existing buildings on site as well as a boiler room, and constructing two new commercial buildings and a new residential apartment building. The project is also set to include 31,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space, a 22,000-square-foot Smith food hall, and 30,000 square feet of commercial office space. Nearly 30,000 square feet of fitness and recreation facilities would also be onsite, as well as a 50,000-square-foot self-storage facility, a half-acre courtyard and 825 parking spaces.

The metro Detroit-based developer of the project, Heritage Development Partners, aims to bring in a mix of local vendors to the food hall, in addition to a brewery and — Kate Carlson event space.

Chuck Thelen, Gotion Inc. Gotion Inc.’s planned $2.4 billion electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant is set to change the fabric of Mecosta County with a promise to bring 2,350 new jobs to the rural community.

The factory’s huge footprint, massive anticipated economic spinoff and Thelen pushback from local residents in Big Rapids and Green townships around the project site kept it in the headlines this past year.

A vocal group of local residents have criticized the project based on the development’s potentially negative environmental effects and for Gotion’s parent company’s ties to the Chinese government. This caused voters in Green Township to recall their entire township board in the November 2023 election. Voters in Big Rapids Township also voted in November to recall the township supervisor, Bill Stanek, who supported the project.

Despite pushback, the project made big strides in 2023 by acquiring 270 acres of land in Green Township and beginning the hiring process for the future plant. The project also received $175 million from a state economic development fund.

Gotion is still working to finalize its overall site plan for the project. The latest estimate for when the project will be completed is December 2031.

Local civic leaders anticipate the project will have generational benefits for residents in the area and throughout the region, and spur job creation in other industries.

The Right Place Inc. president and CEO Randy Thelen previously called the project a “once-in-a-century” opportunity based on the additional jobs and making the — Kate Carlson region a hub for EV manufacturing.

February 5, 2024 | CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS | 7

P007_P008_CGR_20240205.indd 7

1/31/24 12:02 PM

NEWSMAKERS OF THE YEAR

EDUCATION Wiebe Boer, Calvin University Calvin University made a series of moves last year aimed at strengthening recruitment of students, including a tuition freeze for the 2023-24 school year.

The university said in February 2023 it would not raise tuition for the 2023-24 Boer academic year for all degree-seeking undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in up to 18 credit hours per semester.

The “Freeze in ‘23,” as it was dubbed, was effective for fall 2023, spring 2024 and summer 2024 as the school looked to stem a nearly decade-long enrollment decline.

The tuition freeze came on the heels of another move the school hoped would boost its prospects: the hiring of Trent Figg as head coach for its inaugural football program. The football team hosted regular practices and scrimmages throughout 2023 and plans its first season this year.

The university did not disclose the size of the investment to launch a football program, but Director of Athletics Jim Timmer last year called it an “investment” that would benefit the “student experience” at Calvin.

Included in the investment is a football stadium, which will be located on the northwest corner of campus and is expected to open by 2025.

In the spring, Calvin also hired its first-ever vice president of marketing and communications, La’Leatha Spillers. The VP role is a cabinet position that President Wiebe Boer said would help Calvin “elevate” its storytelling about the programs and experiences the school offers.

Last summer, Calvin also acquired the faith-based Compass College of Film to enhance its film and media — Rachel Watson education.

Philomena Mantella, Grand Valley State University

Julie Parks, Grand Rapids Community College

Grand Valley State University in 2023 unveiled a new master plan for its Robert C. Pew campus that will include multiple large projects aimed at bringing thousands more students downtown.

The university wants to double the Mantella number of student housing units downtown in the coming years, build a new student center and develop a $140 million Blue Dot Lab for tech innovation in the existing Eberhard Center.

The lab, which received $30 million in state funding in December, will house computer science, data science, and transdisciplinary degree programs in business, computing and the humanities. The university said it will determine a construction timeline for the project during the second quarter of 2024.

GVSU President Philomena Mantella said last spring that the projects will help the university and city of Grand Rapid reach their untapped potential.

“Where we’re going next is to allow students to have a fully urban experience if they choose it,” she said. “Also, Grand Rapids is the home to our professional programs, and it has the closest connection with business and industry in the region, so I think it’s really important to build out those partnerships to create synergy and value for the businesses, as well as vibrance for the community.”

In 2023, GVSU also announced a partnership with Acrisure, Amway, Cascade Engineering, Corewell Health and Michigan Software Labs. Called the Laker Accelerated Talent Link, it pairs students with the companies to provide a better co-op experience for students and a talent pipeline for the employers.

Mantella said LATL will enhance the university’s role as a talent producer in the region. GVSU has more than 100,000 alumni in Michigan, 90% of whom have stayed in — Rachel Watson West Michigan.

Grand Rapids Community College last year began building a first-of-its-kind automation and robotics manufacturing training center in West Michigan with help from a federal grant.

GRCC unveiled plans in February 2023 for the $1.5 million Center for Auto- Parks mation, supported by a $998,000 U.S. Department of Education grant that U.S. Sen. Gary Peters helped secure in 2022. A U.S. Department of Labor grant makes up the rest of the project budget.

The center is being built at GRCC’s Leslie E. Tassel M-TEC in Grand Rapids and will serve as a training hub for students pursuing careers in advanced manufacturing and automation. The M-TEC already had a metal forming and welding training facility and some robotic equipment, but the Center for Automation is adding more.

Julie Parks, GRCC’s executive director of workforce training, said on Jan. 3, 2024 that the center’s artificial intelligence incubator and upgrades to the mechatronics and electrical labs are completed, and the automation/AI lab is underway.

“The lab should be 100% ready by the summer,” she said.

This is the first facility of its kind in West Michigan, and it will allow nearly 700 people to obtain credentials including certificates and apprenticeships in the first two years, according to GRCC. Parks said it will give a much-needed boost to the region’s manufacturing workforce.

“It’s really been driven by what employers are telling us they want us to have,” she said. “There will be thousands — Rachel Watson of people who are impacted by this.”

Ollie Howie, New Community Transformation Fund

Tim Streit, Grand Ventures

FINANCE Paul D’Amato, Dale Grogan, Jody Vanderwel, Michigan Capital Network Grand Rapids-based Michigan Capital Network closed on one successful fundraising in 2023 and by year’s end was actively raising capital for another.

The investment firm in early January closed on $37.5 million for a fourth venture D’Amato capital fund, and in November began raising $10 million for the new, targeted Michigan Capital Network Opportunity Fund LP to make follow-on investment in existing portfolio companies.

The $37.5 million Michigan Capital Network Venture Fund IV LP will have the ability to “write larger checks” in Series A and early Series B rounds that will come Vanderwel with greater involvement in portfolio companies, perhaps through a board seat, said Managing Partner Dale Grogan.

In raising capital for its fourth fund, Michigan Capital Network drew support from a broader spectrum of funders, including public- and private-sector institutional investors who invested along with individuals and family offices, Grogan said. The institutional investors “came in with significantly larger checks,” he said. Grogan Michigan Capital Network manages four venture capital funds and five angel investor groups: Grand Angels in Grand Rapids, Ka-zoo Angels in Kalamazoo, Woodward Angels in Detroit, Flint Angels and BlueWater Angels in Midland.

In November, Michigan Capital Network began seeking investors for the new $10 million Michigan Capital Network Opportunity Fund that will make Series B and C investments in portfolio companies, Grogan said. A dozen to 16 of the more than 40 companies in which the firm holds positions would benefit from investments via the Michigan Capital Network Opportunity Fund, Grogan said.

— Mark Sanchez

A series of investments received in 2023 lifted the New Community Transformation Fund higher with additional capital to invest.

The Steelcase Foundation and Novibased electric transmission company ITC Holdings Corp. each invested $500,000 Howie last fall in the venture capital fund that invests in businesses owned by people of color. Their investments were soon followed by $100,000 from the City of Grand Rapids. The New Community Transformation Fund in March received a $500,000 investment from the Frey Foundation of Grand Rapids.

The investments raised the New Community Transformation Fund to nearly $12 million toward an eventual $25 million target.

“The new partners in our fund added greatly to our investment capabilities. Now with new dry powder, I am focused on investing in groundbreaking companies that are creating wealth and opportunity. I am extremely grateful to all of our investors who are catalyzing new investment in innovation. The community impact from our investments has been remarkable, and we think this is only the start,” Ollie Howie, managing director for the New Community Transformation Fund, wrote in an email to Crain’s Grand Rapids Business. “We look forward to having more like-minded investors join us in the journey, and we are thankful for our investors, who have shown that diversity and innovation is a priority for them.”

The New Community Transformation Fund invests $500,000 to $1.5 million in mid-stage businesses owned and operated by people or color or companies transitioning to new owners that are involved in financial technology, health care, advanced manufacturing and information technology.

Companies receiving investments must relocate to West Michigan or already have their home base here.

“Those were all great indicators of an engagement by those companies and institutions and organizations that they believe in the goal of the fund and that it is a necessary thing,” said co-founder and Executive Chair Birgit — Mark Sanchez Klohs.

Grand Ventures contrasted the national venture capital market in 2023 by raising $50 million for a new fund.

The Grand Rapids-based Grand Ventures closed in September on fundraising for Grand Ventures Fund II that will invest in early-stage companies involved in financial technology, software Streit development and supply chains. The fundraising involved many of Grand Ventures’ existing investors and added new limited partners that included individuals and family offices, according to co-founder and General Partner Tim Streit.

Grand Ventures raised the $50 million as fundraising for venture capital nationally declined sharply in 2023, when 474 venture capital funds collectively raised $66.9 billion.

That compares to $172.8 billion that 1,340 VC funds raised in 2022.

He credits the successful fundraising capital for Fund II to Grand Ventures’ existing portfolio companies and the performance of a prior fund.

The firm’s first venture capital fund is “performing as well or better than we could have hoped, which made the fund raise a lot easier and investors believing in us and wanting to be involved” in Fund II, Streit said.

“They really made this fund raise possible,” he said.

“They’re performing well, so the Fund I investors are really pleased with the results to date, and we had a lot of support from existing investors.”

Streit manages Fund II along with General Partners — Mark Sanchez Camila Noordeloos and Nathan Owen.

8 | CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS | February 5, 2024

P007_P008_CGR_20240205.indd 8

1/31/24 1:38 PM

Congratulations to our President & CEO, Charles Burke, on being nominated as a 2023 Newsmaker of the Year. Thank you for your leadership in making Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park a place .

ART. CULTURE. NATURE. MeijerGardens.org | #MeijerGardens

Top left: Joseph Kinkel. Fred and Lena Meijer, 2004. Bronze. Gift of Fred and Lena Meijer. Middle left: Nina Akamu. The American Horse, 1999. Bronze.

Nic Sagodic.

NEWSMAKERS OF THE YEAR

FOOD & BEVERAGE John Behrens, Megan Odegaard, Farmhaus Cider

Andy Havemeier, Wealthy Street Bakery

Steve Vander Pol, Brandon Voorhees, Eastern Kille Distillery

Hudsonville-based Farmhaus Cider Co. expanded in September with the purchase of 116-year-old Moelker Orchards, with plans to use the space to expand its production and grow apples for cidermaking.

Behrens Moelker Orchards, which opened in 1907, grows 30 acres of apples, peaches, pears, plums and cherries. It also includes a farm market that offers fresh fruit and u-pick options throughout the summer, and sells baked goods.

John Behrens and Megan Odegaard, the husband-and–wife duo behind Farmhaus Cider, purchased the orchard to preserve the farmland and give their Odegaard cidery room to grow.

“I feel like we’re best positioned for anyone that’s not a developer, in terms of having a business depending on apples. Let’s give it our all and see what happens,” Behrens told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business at the time.

The buyers renamed the orchard as Farmhaus Farms and intend to use it as the source for up to 70% of the apples for the cidery, which they hope will also bolster the quality of their beverages.

“We (will) know any (pesticide) spray records, we know exactly when blossom happened and at what point it was picked,” Behrens said. “We really stress the quality of our cider. I think this helps us take that to the next level.”

They also plan to keep the u-pick stand and bakery open to create a family-friendly farm experience encouraging people to connect to the land. — Abby Poirier

Wealthy Street Bakery and Hall Street Bakery changed hands last year as longtime general manager Andrew Havemeier partnered with a local investor group to take the reins of the popular Grand Rapids eateries.

Havemeier For Havemeier, the move came after four years of working for the company and marked much more than a professional milestone.

After battling with alcohol use disorder that cost him a series of jobs and left him homeless, Havemeier initially took the job at Wealthy Street Bakery during a stay at a sober living program at Guiding Light, a local rehabilitation and recovery center.

The owners of the popular bakeries, Jim and Barb McClurg, took a chance on him, hiring him as a front of house/operations manager, supporting him as he completed the alcohol addiction program at Guiding Light. Within nine months, the McClurgs promoted Havemeier to general manager at both Wealthy Street and Hall Street locations, a position he held for three years.

At around the same time, the McClurgs began to discuss stepping away from the business that they co-founded in 2002. Given his experience and family background, Havemaier expressed interest, leading to years of training with the owners to learn how to manage the bakeries.

In 2023, Havemeier worked with a group of local investors to purchase the business that helped him get his life back.

“It’s been a pretty wild four years,” Havemeier told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business. “To go from homeless to this in four years, it’s something. … God worked in — Abby Poirier mysterious ways.”

In 2023, Eastern Kille Distillery broke ground on, built and opened a $4.2 million distillery and restaurant in Plainfield Township just outside of Rockford.

The project cleared the way for the Vander Pol distillery to relocate from their former space at 700 Ottawa Ave. NW, which owners Brandon Voorhees and Steve Vander Pol sold to the predecessor of Corewell Health to make way for its expansion in the Monroe North neighborhood of Grand Rapids.

Eastern Kille’s new mid-century modern-inspired facility, which includes a restaurant, an approximately Voorhees 8,000-square-foot distillery and production space and an outdoor cocktail garden, broke ground in January 2023 at 7755 Childsdale Ave. NE and opened in late December.

With approximately 4,000 square feet of dining space, the restaurant offers a simple menu of small plates, appetizers and pizza. Patrons can enjoy a view of the distillery’s 16 acres of fields and forest adjoining the White Pine Trail out of a 32-foot wall of windows.

The restaurant can seat approximately 100 customers, and Eastern Kille plans to add outdoor dining options as the weather warms that could seat an additional 100 people. The company also plans to add fire pits so that diners can explore and enjoy the distillery grounds at their leisure.

“We’re hoping to create a really cool destination in Childsdale,” Voorhees told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business. “I think people are really going to love (the space.) It’s unique, it feels a little bit different and being there in the woods, you can have an indoor/outdoor — Abby Poirier experience surrounded by nature.”

Patrick Lockwood-Taylor, Perrigo

Kent Riddle, Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital

HEALTH CARE Mark Eastburg, Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services expects to begin construction in March on an $86 million pediatric center.

Developed through a partnership with Corewell Health’s Helen DeVos Eastburg Children’s Hospital, the 134,840-square-foot Pediatric Behavioral Health Center on Pine Rest’s Cutlerville campus should open in 2026. The two-story center will include an inpatient treatment facility for children and adolescents, psychiatric urgent care, a crisis stabilization unit, and specialty outpatient clinics to prevent mental health crises for conditions such as depression, anxiety and eating disorders.

Pine Rest secured state regulatory approval in July when the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services issued a certificate of need for 40 new licensed child and adolescent inpatient beds that will expand the number of licensed child and adolescent inpatient beds at Pine Rest from 36 to 76.

In publicly announcing the project in 2022, Pine Rest CEO Mark Eastburg cited a “crushing need” for mental health treatment among children and adolescents. The pediatric center will “dramatically expand and add new behavioral health services to kids in Michigan, our children and grandchildren,” Eastburg said at the time.

“Simply put, we do not have enough behavioral health care providers in Michigan to care for Michigan kids,” he said. “For too long, we have lived without enough mental health care for kids in Michigan. That begins to change right now.”

The state committed $36 million toward the project with a one-time budget allocation and Pine Rest looks to raise up to $50 million through an ongoing capital campaign.

— Mark Sanchez

Pharmaceutical company Perrigo Co. plc secured approval in July 2023 for what executives expect to become the company’s biggest product introductions ever.

Opill, the first oral birth control pill approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Lockwood-Taylor Administration for use without a doctor’s prescription, should come to market early this year. Perrigo President and CEO Patrick Lockwood-Taylor told attendees at a MorganStanley investor conference in December that Perrigo views Opill as becoming a “mega brand” within the women’s health division that the company seeks to build as a strategic growth pillar.

Opill gives Perrigo a new product in women’s health care “in a meaningful, expansive way,” Lockwood-Taylor said.

“This does create access to daily oral contraception for about 75 million American women, which is important and a huge audience, in a highly convenient, value-attractive way,” he said. “We see very good growth potential from it, of course.”

In an investor presentation last February, Perrigo estimated the U.S. market for daily oral contraceptives at $3.7 billion.

Lockwood-Taylor became CEO at Perrigo on June 30 following Murray Kessler’s retirement. Since receiving FDA approval, Perrigo has been working to launch Opill, which “will be the most unique product launch in the history of Perrigo forming an entirely new U.S. OTC category,” Lockwood-Taylor said in a November conference call with brokerage analysts to discuss quarterly results.

“This launch requires an innovative approach to accelerate brand awareness and consumer conversion,” Lockwood-Taylor said. “To maximize long-term potential in this category, we will look to extend investment beyond the Opill brand with a franchise of women’s health — Mark Sanchez products.”

A new pediatric care center begins rising in Grand Rapids this coming spring when Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital starts construction on the $60 million Joan Secchia Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital.

Riddle The three-story facility will become the first rehabilitation hospital in Michigan dedicated to treating pediatric patients who suffered traumatic illness and injury. Mary Free Bed named the pediatric rehab center after Joan Secchia in recognition of her family’s contribution to the project.

“It’s important to me for Grand Rapids and for the children of our community, and for our state,” Secchia, a one-time rehab patient at Mary Free Bed 15 years ago after she was injured in a car crash, told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business.

The naming “celebrates the enduring legacy of one of our community’s most devoted philanthropists,” according to an October announcement from Mary Free Bed. “Joan has always believed in the power of community and the importance of giving back,” said Mary Free Bed CEO Kent Riddle. “Her philanthropic efforts have impacted countless lives, and this naming serves as both a tribute to her commitment and a promise of the high-quality care we aim to provide.”

Mary Free Bed unveiled plans in 2022 for the new facility that would double pediatric inpatient capacity to 24 beds and include extensive outpatient space. The project also will serve children born with malformations and defects, as well as children recovering from diseases, chronic pain, or traumatic injuries.

Mary Free Bed has been working to raise $30 million through private philanthropy to support the project, which is a joint venture with Corewell Health’s Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital. The rehab hospital targets completion — Mark Sanchez of the project in 2026.

10 | CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS | February 5, 2024

P010_P012_CGR_20240205.indd 10

1/31/24 12:10 PM

EMPOWERED EDUCATION, INSPIRED LEADERSHIP

Congratulations to President Philomena V. Mantella for again being one of West Michigan’s Most Influential Leaders.

Philly’s leadership and dedication to students, faculty, staff, and communities continue to bring innovation and vitality to Michigan’s flagship university of the future.

gvsu.edu

NEWSMAKERS OF THE YEAR

HOSPITALITY & TOURISM Mark Barker, Interlake Steamship Co.

Mike Guswiler, West Michigan Sports Commission

Brad Veneklase, The Blue Jay Hotel

The company that operates Ludington’s Lake Michigan Carferry rolled with the punches last year as an unexpected incident ended its sailing season two months early.

Mark Barker, president of Middleburg Barker Heights, Ohio-based Interlake Steamship Co., which owns the Lake Michigan Carferry and the S.S. Badger, said in August the company would cancel the remainder of the Badger’s season as it worked to fix its docking infrastructure after an aging counterweight tower collapsed and the ramp system failed.

Interlake responded quickly to the incident, ushering passengers and vehicles safely off the ferry and bringing in experts to assess the damage and clear away the broken tower so it could be replaced.

“No one was injured, nor was the vessel damaged, but our team noticed something was going a little weird and then isolated the area and made sure everyone was safe,” Barker said at the time.

The incident closed out the Badger’s 70th season, which began May 18 and had been scheduled to run through Oct. 9. Barker told Crain’s in May he was optimistic for the season, which would include twice-daily trips from Ludington to Manitowoc, Wis. The company offered celebratory specials including a $70 mini cruise that took riders across the lake, sans car, for an overnight in either Ludington or Manitowoc, as well as held a joint celebration with the city of Ludington, which also marked its milestone 150th birthday last year.

Interlake said in January it plans to resume the ferry — Rachel Watson service in spring 2024.

The West Michigan Sports Commission took a big stride forward in its plan to expand the Meijer Sports Complex when it secured a $1 million lead gift from Meijer in 2023.

Meijer’s donation in early August Guswiler brought the Winning Streak for West Michigan capital campaign up to $5.8 million, or 53% of its $11 million goal, by allowing the WMSC to leverage the gift to secure other pledges. As of Jan. 2, 2024, the organization had raised a total of $6.3 million for the campaign.

The funds will go toward expanding the sports complex at 3300 10 Mile Road NE in Plainfield Township, near Rockford, which draws youth, amateur and collegiate athletics to the region.

The facility opened in 2014 and has eight baseball and softball fields, a championship baseball field and the Nate Hurwitz Miracle League Field.

The expansion will include a new championship softball field for youth, amateur and collegiate athletes. The project also calls for three diamond fields for youth and amateur baseball and softball and collegiate softball, 20 pickleball courts, a new concession building, new restrooms and expanded storage, a new playground area, canopies over all the bleachers, synthetic turf, resurfacing the Miracle Field, and 300 more parking spaces.

“The Meijer Sports Complex fills a critical need for championship-caliber infrastructure for sports like baseball and softball in West Michigan, and the demand for this kind of space that also offers gender parity with softball diamond fields has only increased,” WMSC President Mike Guswiler said last year. “We’re excited to — Rachel Watson take the complex to the next level.”

An up-and-coming developer is expanding his boutique lodging portfolio with a new property on a major west side Grand Rapids corridor.

Developer Brad Veneklase opened The Blue Jay, a five-room hotel at 644 Bridge St. NW in Grand Rapids, in Veneklase January 2024. The property includes a shared lounge and bar area as well as an outdoor courtyard with fire pits and lawn games for guests, who also have the option to hire catering and bar staff at the hotel.

Veneklase purchased the 87-year-old building in January 2022. Because of inflation, the cost of redeveloping the vacant 3,600-square-foot building ballooned to about $1.3 million, including the cost of the land, said Veneklase, who also works as an associate broker at Urban Soil Realty. A longer-than-expected permit approval process also contributed to the project cost.

Veneklase received several incentives for the development, including a nearly $28,000 West Side Corridor Improvement Authority grant and a 10-year Obsolete Property Rehabilitation (OPRA) Exemption Certificate.

This is his second hotel project. The other was The Finnley, which he opened in 2021 in the former Michigan National Bank building at 65 Monroe Center St. NW downtown.

“I start with a good real estate purchase, buying a building I feel has a good value to it and find its highest and best use,” Veneklase said.

He said he expects rooms at The Finnley and The Blue Jay will increase in demand after Grand Action 2.0 develops the proposed Acrisure Amphitheater and soccer stadium projects adjacent to downtown. — Rachel Watson

Teresa Hendricks, Migrant Legal Aid

Madelaine Lane, Warner Norcross + Judd

Tracy Larsen, Honigman LLP

Migrant Legal Aid, which helps secure proper housing, fair wages and safe working conditions for migrant workers in Michigan, celebrated 50 years of advocacy in 2023.

The nonprofit organization has several initiatives to support migrant workers, Hendricks including visiting worker housing sites and its Fair Foods Project, which has rallied more than 420 organizations to sign a pledge to treat workers and their families humanely and ethically.

The nonprofit’s mission is to “protect the health, dignity and livelihood of the farm workers.”

This past year, Executive Director Teresa Hendricks put those goals into practice by leading local advocacy after reports surfaced in early 2023 about widespread child labor violations at Hearthside Food Solutions, a Grand Rapids-based food manufacturer.

An explosive New York Times report about Hearthside’s employment of child laborers received national attention and sparked reactions ranging from outrage to grief, leading the Biden administration to create an inter-agency task force to address child labor violations.

Hendricks said she hopes to see more accountability and reform.

“When I see a report like this and I see the reaction to it, I can’t help but think, ‘Spare me the outrage and show me some reform,’ because we’ve been sounding the alarm on this for decades, me personally for 30 years. We’ve been advocating for economic and immigrant immigration reform,” Hendricks told Crain’s Grand Rapids last year.

In the past decade alone, Migrant Legal Aid reports that it has recovered around $2.6 million in compensation and — Kayleigh Van Wyk penalties for farmworkers.

Thanks to the work of Madelaine Lane, partner at Warner Norcross + Judd LLP, Leslie King received what is believed to be Michigan’s first gubernatorial pardon of a survivor of human trafficking.

Lane and a pro bono team of the Lane firm’s attorneys worked in partnership with Michigan nonprofit The Joseph Project to secure a pardon for King from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

The pardon was secured in December 2022 and reported in early 2023.

King, a Grand Rapids native, founded and leads Sacred Beginnings, a peer-mentored program in Grand Rapids for people who have been sexually exploited/trafficked.

King herself was coerced into prostitution at age 15.

Her criminal record — which included sentences for shoplifting, larceny, assault, prostitution, narcotics possession and other crimes committed while she was trafficked — was expunged.

Thanks to the pardon, King became free to begin pursuing a master’s degree and become a licensed social worker.

“We are incredibly grateful to Gov. Whitmer for supporting the recommendation of the Michigan Parole Board and granting Leslie a pardon,” Lane said in a statement last year. “This decision gives her the clean slate she needs to pursue her Master of Social Work degree so she can even better serve those still being victimized by human and sex trafficking in West Michigan.”

In 2023, it was reported that the Sacred Beginnings team had reached more than 20,000 people with weekly street outreach since 2005, and served more than 2,300 — Kayleigh Van Wyk people in its transitional homes.

Honigman LLP relocated to a new downtown Grand Rapids office in 2023, a move intended to modernize the growing firm’s workspace.

Seven years after opening its Grand Rapids office at 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, the corporate law firm signed a 10-year Larsen lease in 2023 to relocate to the seventh floor of 200 Ottawa Ave. NW. The move took place in October.

The new space spans 3,000 square feet more than the firm’s original offices and features upgraded lighting, flooring and paint as well as improvements to the lobby, boardroom, café area and offices.

For the new location, the firm opted to remain in the heart of the downtown business community as a convenient location for employees and clients.

Tracy Larsen, managing partner at the firm, told Crain’s Grand Rapids in June that the design of the new location reflects a more modern workspace.

The move also gives the firm the ability to accommodate additional attorneys it plans to hire.

Honigman included the Grand Rapids team in the design process to ensure the best fit and feel for the modernized space.

In 2023, Honigman — which was founded in Detroit in 1948 — celebrated 75 years of service and honored the passing of co-founder Alan Schwartz in July. The firm also achieved Mansfield 6.0 Certification this past year.

Honigman has 350 attorneys across its locations in Grand Rapids, Lansing, Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor, Detroit, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and its newest office in Israel, which is operated by Honigman’s wholly owned — Kayleigh Van Wyk subsidiary, Honigman Law Israel.

LAW

12 | CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS | February 5, 2024

P010_P012_CGR_20240205.indd 12

1/31/24 12:08 PM

Acrisure Crain's AD 2024.indd 1

1/25/24 1:07 PM

NEWSMAKERS OF THE YEAR

MANUFACTURING Thomas Bush, American Seating

Steve Downing, Gentex

Charles Hyun, LG Energy Solution

Longtime furniture manufacturer American Seating Co. made headlines in 2023 for its plan to leave its 19th-century headquarters on Grand Rapids’ west side to another location in the city limits.

The company’s offices and sprawling manufacturing plant had been located Bush along Broadway Ave. NW in Grand Rapids since the company was founded in 1886.

The company now is relocating to a 210,000-squarefoot former Steelcase facility at 1040 40th St. SE on the far south side of the city. The company intends to combine office and manufacturing operations under one roof at the new location.

For American Seating, the relocation is part of a continued effort for the company to bolster its transportation seating operations, which has remained the primary focus of the business after a series of divestitures in recent years.

— Kayleigh Van Wyk

Zeeland-based Gentex Corp. announced multiple investments in the city of Grand Rapids in 2023, the latest moves in the company’s multi-pronged effort to attract and retain talent.

Ottawa County’s largest employer shared plans early last year to open a satellite production facility at 355 Cottage Downing Grove St. SE, in Grand Rapids’ Madison Square neighborhood, to essentially position Gentex closer to available talent.

The facility, which produces sub-assembly components for Gentex’s HomeLink product, opened in May and brought 50 new jobs to the area. In September, Gentex also announced a second expansion into Grand Rapids with a technology hub based downtown.

The company said it planned to fill more than half of the space at 25 Ottawa Ave. SW with new recruits specializing in software and engineering.

— Kayleigh Van Wyk

For LG Energy Solution Michigan Inc., 2023 was a year of progress as well as new sizable investments in Holland.

The subsidiary of South Korea-based LG Energy Solution unveiled construction updates last year on its $1.7 billion expansion in Holland that will boost production of lithium-ion polymer battery Hyun cells and packs. The addition consists of a new main facility plus several other buildings totaling 1.7 million square feet. The initial plans for the project were made public in early 2022.

In October of last year, LG Energy Solution also announced it will invest an additional $3 billion in the Holland expansion as part of a deal to supply Toyota Motor North America Inc. with battery modules for electric vehicles.

The company said it will install new production lines for battery cells and modules dedicated to the automaker beginning in 2025.

— Kayleigh Van Wyk

UN IQ UE Your one-of-a-kind life, our one-of-a-kind guidance.

At Greenleaf Trust, we are committed to providing exceptional solutions for your one-of-a-kind needs. Our team is exclusively dedicated to providing the highest level of comprehensive wealth management services, trust administration, and retirement plan services. Client relationships begin at $2 million.

GRAND RAPIDS

Financial security from generation to generation.

14 | CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS | February 5, 2024

P014_CGR_20240205.indd 14

1/31/24 12:14 PM

NONPROFITS & PHILANTHROPY Guillermo Cisneros, West Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

Adrienne Goodstal, Mel Trotter Ministries

The West Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce made plans last year to use a historic $5 million state budget allocation to acquire and renovate a 17,000-square-foot former industrial building on Grand Rapids’ southwest Cisneros side for its new headquarters.

The overall $9.5 million project, unveiled in August, will allow the chamber to relocate to 1111 Godfrey Ave. SW and expand its services, potentially with a new business incubator.

The organization is working to acquire the building from a metro Detroit-based developer, and it aims to present a site plan to the city in the coming months.

The remaining funds for the project will be raised with a capital campaign, which is in its quiet phase and will go public soon. Concept design will start soon, and construction is expected to wrap in spring or summer 2025.

Chamber President and CEO Guillermo Cisneros said he is “thrilled” about the project.

“We continue to work on several details to make this happen, but we look forward to seeing many other partners and local stakeholders support us as we move forward with our capital campaign,” he said.

Plans for the new headquarters call for the full renovation of the building and converting it into a community space with conference rooms and gathering space for 200 people, offices for their growing staff and a commercial kitchen.

The 200-space parking lot outside of the building also could be used for events, festivals and career fairs to “bring business partners together in the Latino — Rachel Watson community,” Cisneros said.

Mel Trotter Ministries leveraged a federal grant last year to support a workforce development partnership with minority-owned metal stamping manufacturer Jireh Metal Products Inc. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services granted Grand Rapids- Goodstal based Mel Trotter Ministries $800,000 to hire 32 full-time workers and add new metal fabrication equipment at a 15,000-square-foot manufacturing training facility that the nonprofit and its subsidiary, Next Step of West Michigan, completed in December at 130 Garden St. SE. “It’s really important to highlight the impact that we can have when we come together with nonprofits, businesses and government to make the community thrive,” Mel Trotter President Adrienne Goodstal said. “We’re excited about this because it is going to bring economic stability and growth in the 49507 ZIP code.”

Grandville-based Jireh Metal Products is leasing a portion of the building for its assembly work and partnering with Mel Trotter to provide manufacturing job training opportunities.

Jireh President and CEO Michael Davenport said he is pleased to partner with Mel Trotter.

“You think about a lot of the nonprofits out there that are solving problems, and you got business folks — we’re solving problems as well,” Davenport said. “I think sometimes, if we come together, we can solve them in a — Rachel Watson better way.”

Greg Williams, Acrisure LLC Acrisure LLC made a big splash in September when it secured the naming rights to the planned Grand Rapids riverfront amphitheater with a $30 million donation.

The global insurance brokerage and fintech’s gift will ensure that the 12,000Williams seat outdoor downtown venue that’s proposed for 201 Market Ave. SW bears the name Acrisure Amphitheater in perpetuity.

“As you look at the things the community has in terms of momentum and the projects and collaborative spirit in terms of economic development, this is an unusual place,” Acrisure Chairman and CEO Greg Williams said last year.

“The economic development and tenacity and collaborative spirit that exists in this community is unique and different and special. From that standpoint, we wanted to take a lead and make a statement. Given our size and scale of the company, we’ve got a responsibility to give back.”

The fundraising and development leader on the project, Grand Action 2.0, expects to break ground this year on the amphitheater.

“Today is a great day to celebrate our lead donor for this project and build the momentum to continue the fundraising effort that’s needed to complete the project,” Grand Action 2.0 Executive Director Kara Wood said in September.

Acrisure’s $30 million donation to the $184 million project, along with other commitments, put the project’s fundraising campaign past the halfway mark of its $70 million goal for private donations in September. The private portion of the campaign was 83% funded as of — Rachel Watson Jan. 10, with $57.8 million raised.

Congratulations to all the Newsmakers of the Year,

including West Michigan Sports Commission President Mike Guswiler!

2023 Youth and Amateur Sports Tourism in Kent County

$87.9 million

estimated economic impact

121

events

277,980 athletes

43,775

hotel room nights

February 5, 2024 | CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS | 15

P015_CGR_20240205.indd 15

1/31/24 12:19 PM

NEWSMAKERS OF THE YEAR

REAL ESTATE & DEVELOPMENT Brad Laackman, Victory Development Group Victory Development Group snagged the last developable property in Grand Rapids’ Celebration Village in June 2023, with a groundbreaking for a planned $50 million mixed-use project expected to take place this year.

The development is set to include 240 Laackman apartments that will contain a mix of studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom units, as well as 10,000 square feet of retail at 2160 Celebration Drive NE. The three-acre site is anchored by Celebration Cinema GR North movie theater.

The Knapp’s Corner area is a walkable community that is primed for housing development, said Brad Laackman, a partner at Grand Rapids-based Victory Development and CEO of Honor Construction. Knapp’s Corner contains several major retailers and chain restaurants including a Meijer Inc. store, Melting Pot, HopCat, IHOP, Panera Bread and ALDI. “We find it’s a five-minute, walkable neighborhood that really has everything besides the housing aspect, including grocery stores, retail and the movie theater,” Laackman previously told Crain’s Grand Rapids. “This development will really be the anchor that finishes the idea of Celebration Village.”

Plans also call for onsite bike parking as well as an 85-space covered parking area and 39 new street parking spaces.

The developer also just wrapped up the 120-unit Victory on Leonard housing project at the end of January 2024. The project, along with the Celebration Village project, will help Victory Development reach its goal of developing 1,000 rental units by the end of 2027.

— Kate Carlson

SP

Jon Rooks, Parkland Properties

Don Shoemaker, Franklin Partners

Parkland Properties unveiled plans in 2023 for two massive projects that would redevelop long-vacant, heavily contaminated sites at the former Sappi Paper Mill site and the Shaw Walker building in Muskegon.

The Muskegon-based developer’s Rooks Windward Pointe plan calls for turning the 122-acre former paper mill site on Muskegon Lake into a mixed-use development with public amenities. The project still needs various environmental approvals to clean up and develop the site.

Windward Pointe could include up to 2,314 residential units including single family houses, large apartment and condominium buildings with 48 units each, and apartments above storefronts and 11 luxury waterfront homes. Plans also call for a marina with 252 private boat slips, 1,400 linear feet of transient spaces, as well as 42,780 square feet of retail/office space.

Meanwhile, the $220 million redevelopment of the former Shaw Walker Furniture Co. building in Muskegon would turn the 15-acre site into a mixed-use space with 450 to 550 residential units and a range of amenities, as well as office and retail space.

“We are fortunate to be able to focus on projects that we believe will have profound, positive impacts on communities. We felt the former Sappi Paper Mill (Windward Pointe) and Shaw Walker Furniture Company sites provided opportunities to really make a lasting difference on Muskegon and the West Michigan community,” Parkland Properties President Jon Rooks previously told Crain’s Grand Rapids.

Parkland Properties’ other projects across West Michigan include the Boardwalk Condominiums, Union Square Condominiums, Cityview Condominiums and Monroe Terrace Condominiums in Grand Rapids; and Highpoint Flats apartments and Terrace Point Landing in — Kate Carlson Muskegon.

Franklin Partners LLC plans to demolish the 104-year-old Display Pack Inc. building in Grand Rapids’ Creston neighborhood and replace it with a mixed-use development containing 526 apartment units.

Plans for the RiverNorth project were Shoemaker announced in May 2023. The approximately $80 million first phase of the project is set to be complete in 2025 and would contain 260 apartments and 1,818 square feet of retail on the north end of the site.

As well, the first phase of the development was approved for a nearly $21.6 million brownfield plan last year. The project is the largest among several housing projects planned in the city’s Creston neighborhood.

“We think this is a great opportunity to turn an empty lot into a vibrant community that’s going to add residents to the Creston neighborhood and help support the businesses there,” Don Shoemaker, principal at Franklin Partners, previously told Crain’s Grand Rapids about the project.

Franklin Partners initially planned an office redevelopment on the site in 2015, but switched up plans based on changes in the market caused by the pandemic.

The proposed site plan calls for demolishing the three existing buildings at 1340 Monroe Ave. NW and constructing two separate, four-story structures on the north and south end of the site. Plans also call for a parking deck in the middle of the property between the two apartment buildings.

Wolverine Building Group is the general contractor for the project and Ghafari Associates is the architect.

The second phase calls for a similarly designed building with about the same number of apartment units on the south end of the site. The developer plans to apply for a brownfield amendment for the second phase of the — Kate Carlson project.

Javier Olvera, Supermercado Mexico

Aaron Zeigler, Zeigler Automotive Group

Locally-owned and operated grocery store Supermercado Mexico pushed forward with plans for a $4.1 million renovation project that calls for repurposing a vacant building into a new grocery store and corporate office.

Olvera The project, which Supermercado co-owner Javier Olvera said will kick off this spring at the corner of Cesar Chavez and Caulfield avenues on Grand Rapids southwest side, is expected to create 55 jobs in the Roosevelt Park area. He expects the build-out, which will be handled by general contractor Freedom Construction, will take around 10 months.

Plans, which the Grand Rapids City Planning Commission approved last year, call for the renovation of an existing 33,419-square-foot, two-story building and adding about 5,400 square feet of space as well as a rooftop deck. The project also includes an upgraded parking lot with 66 spaces and new storefront windows.

“One of the main reasons we purchased this is we saw the potential,” Olvera told Crain’s Grand Rapids. “We knew that with the growth of Grand Rapids, this would be a good remodeling project and investment.”

Olvera said he is “very excited” to see the long-term project begin to take shape as he wraps up plans and permits for the renovation and prepares to begin construction.

“We are trying to have as many minority companies as we can for the construction; that’s one of our biggest focuses,” Olvera told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business. “We want to get as many minority contractors (as we can).”

Olvera hopes the supermarket, which will be his fourth Supermercado Mexico location, to open by the end of this — Abby Poirier year.

Zeigler Automotive Group acquired six new locations in 2023, scooping up four Holland dealerships and two in Indiana.

In July, the Kalamazoo-based automotive group purchased a series of Zeigler stores from Elhart Automotive in Holland.

Former owner Jeff Elhart sold the dealerships as he was looking to retire. The four stores were renamed as Zeigler GMC of Holland, Zeigler Nissan of Holland, Zeigler Hyundai of Holland and Zeigler Kia of Holland.

Zeigler Automotive Group President Aaron Zeigler told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business that he planned to invest in a new store for the Hyundai franchise, upgrading the dealership from a showroom to a complete service and sales center. The build-out is slated to be completed in 2024.

Then in August, the company added new out-of-state locations in Indiana in a two-store deal with Rohrman Automotive Group.

The acquisitions included Lafayette, Ind.-based Bob Rohrman Subaru and Bob Rohrman Subaru of Fort Wayne, which were renamed Zeigler Subaru of Lafayette and Zeigler Subaru of Fort Wayne, respectively.

Like the Holland acquisition, Zeigler plans to invest in “dramatic upgrades” at the Fort Wayne location in the next year. Early plans call for expanding the dealership’s 14,000-square-foot facility by about 10,000 square feet and bringing it up to brand design standards, Zeigler told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business at the time.

“We’re going to add on to both service and sales,” he said.

With these acquisitions, Zeigler Automotive Group owns 82 franchises across 41 locations in Wisconsin, — Abby Poirier Illinois, Michigan and Indiana.

RETAIL Diana Maher, Fox Motors Grand Rapids-based Fox Motor Group LLC kept up its acquisition streak in 2023, expanding its footprint with five new acquisitions under the leadership of President and COO Diane Maher.

In March, the dealer acquired three Maher dealerships and a collision center in metro Detroit from Sellers Auto Group, marking Fox’s third acquisition in the area since 2021. With the acquisition, Fox increased its representation in Southeast Michigan to eight new and used automotive dealerships and three collision centers.

The company followed the deal with a Grand Rapidsarea acquisition, purchasing Kia of Grand Rapids North from Alabama-based Leichty Auto Group and renaming it as Fox Kia North in August. The Kia dealership, located on Plainfield Avenue, is Fox Motors’ second West Michigan Kia store, joining a Fox Kia location on 28th Street in Kentwood.

The group’s powersports division, Fox Powersports, also grew its holdings with the purchase of Peacock Limited, a powersports dealership located in Lake County near the Manistee National Forest. The acquisition also added two new brands, Polaris and KTM, to Fox Motors’ portfolio, while helping extend the firm’s footprint to the north.

Now named Fox Powersports Peacock, the dealership sits on more than 13 acres of land near the Lake County trail system with more than 35,000 square feet of storage, service and showroom space.

With these acquisitions, Fox now owns 45 locations in Michigan and Illinois, selling 49 vehicle and powersports — Abby Poirier brands.

16 | CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS | February 5, 2024

P016_P017_CGR_20240205.indd 16

1/31/24 12:25 PM

Joe Wh

O Whi yea LMC W five Det hom goa ball Mot mas T faci Upg bas play train refu whi com acc T star will stad con law and D Erha Plai with

eet

y lot to

n e

ans mic. e

e

or

ding

SPORTS & RECREATION Joe Chamberlin, West Michigan Whitecaps

Tim Hileman, Special Olympics Michigan

Opening day for the West Michigan Whitecaps will look a little different this year as renovation work continues at the LMCU Ballpark.

Whitecaps executives announced a five-year, two-phase plan to upgrade the Chamberlin Detroit Tigers’ High-A affiliate team’s home field at the beginning of 2023. The goal is to enhance the fan experience at games with the ballpark upgrades and increase attendance at games.

Motorists on US-131 can currently see structural steel and masonry walls up at LMCU Ballpark on the third base line.

The first phase of renovation work includes playerfacing upgrades and group hospitality improvements.

Upgrades to the future visitors clubhouse along the first base line are nearly complete, and will include larger player and coaching facilities, a kitchen, dining room and training room. The Whitecaps will use the newly refurbished clubhouse for the first portion of the season while the new home clubhouse on the third base line is completed, during which visiting teams will be accommodated with temporary facilities.

The second phase of construction at the ballpark will start as soon as the last game is completed in 2024, and will include resurfacing the playing field; renovating the stadium entrance, grounds, ticketing; expanding the concourse around the venue; reconfiguring some of the lawn seats; and adding event space for game day use and non-sporting uses for other events in the community.

Detroit-based Rossetti is the architect, Ada-based Erhardt Construction is the general contractor, and Plainfield Township-based Progressive AE is assisting — Kate Carlson with several aspects of the project.

The second phase of construction on the largest Special Olympics training and sports center in the world broke ground in 2023 at the former South Christian High School in Byron Township, and is set to be completed in August this year.

Hileman Construction work wrapped up last year to transform the 127,000-square-foot building at 160 68th St. SW into Special Olympics Michigan Inc. (SOMI) offices, spaces for other local nonprofits, health services space and indoor athletic facilities. The building serves as a nonprofit hub for 10 organizations that serve people with physical and intellectual disabilities, as well as other mental health needs.

The second phase of construction calls for various outdoor sports facilities, including track and field improvements and renovating outdoor field space into an eight-lane running track, synthetic turf soccer and football fields, 10 bocce ball courts and a chipping green.

“One of the things we’re really going to be proud of is when it’s completed and people come to this outdoor sports complex,” Tim Hileman, president and CEO for SOMI previously told Crain’s Grand Rapids. “It’s going to be as nice or nicer than any other place for our community. Our athletes deserve it and they are champions and we want to put out the best competition venues for them.”

The third phase of the project begins in February 2024 and will include infrastructure upgrades, adding accessible restrooms for the outdoor complex, building a Life Skills Center, Athlete Hub and wayfinding. Work on the third phase is set to wrap up in August this year.

— Kate Carlson

Paul Soltysiak, Fans of Valley Field Construction began in 2023 on $4.25 million worth of renovations at Sullivan Field to return the neighborhood ballpark to its former glory, when the likes of Satchel Paige and Detroit Tigers legends Al Kaline, Mickey Stanley, Kirk Gibson and Dave Rozema played there.

Soltysiak Fans of Valley Field is a group of determined volunteers that have been fundraising for the project for the past few years by hosting community events at the city-owned park. Their goal is to activate Sullivan Field and once again make it a major gathering spot for Grand Rapids’ west side for a wide range of events, and to get more baseball teams regularly using the field.

The first phase of construction began in the fall and is well underway with the installation of a new roof. New doors and windows are set to be installed soon. As well, the iconic green grandstands are set to be updated and renovated so they are more accessible, and restrooms on site will be improved. Future phases of renovation work also are underway to include a walk-through museum with historic photos and display boxes highlighting the field’s significance in baseball history.

Rockford Construction Co. is the construction manager and Integrated Architecture is designing the project.

Local businesses, families and foundations have shown strong support for the project, and it has almost reached its fundraising goal after receiving a $350,000 donation from Bissell Inc. last year, as well as $1.2 million from a 2019 parks millage from the city of Grand Rapids, $680,000 in state funding through the Michigan Economic Development Corp., and a $1.05 million allocation from — Kate Carlson the latest state budget.

a

lson

an of

ld st e d n

e

Together, we create successful outcomes Our strategic employee benefits planning process targets and delivers outcomes that are tailored to each client’s needs and goals.

We help employers move from where they are today to where they want to be.

te

n

’s t old

e

About Lighthouse Lighthouse is a full-service insurance agency supporting clients with their personal, commercial, and health insurance needs nationwide. By working collaboratively across our Alera Group footprint, we provide creative, competitive services that help ensure our clients’ business and personal success. For more information, visit lighthouse.aleragroup.com.

irier February 5, 2024 | CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS | 17

P016_P017_CGR_20240205.indd 17

1/31/24 12:25 PM

NEWSMAKERS OF THE YEAR

STARTUPS & INNOVATION

TE

Rob Ball, Shoulder Innovations Inc.

Kyle McGregor, Spartan Innovations

Grand Rapids-based medical device company Shoulder Innovations Inc. closed on two significant financings in 2023.

Last summer, the company closed on a $45 million debt offering to further scale the business.

The debt financing with Trinity Capital, Ball a Phoenix, Ariz.-based publicly traded finance company, followed a $42 million Series D equity financing round that Shoulder Innovations closed months earlier that was led by Netherlands-based Gilde Healthcare Partners.

The combined funding will accelerate commercialization of orthopedic shoulder implant products for people with traumatic shoulder injuries. Shoulder Innovations introduced the InSet Shoulder Replacement in 2016 and has since developed and brought to market a full suite of products and components for the platform, most recently in 2022.

Until 2023, the company had “been keeping our foot lightly on the brake from a commercialization standpoint, knowing that it was going to require that full suite of products in order to be successful and fully commercialize all of the products together,” said Shoulder Innovations CEO Rob Ball.

“This now represents resources for us to fully commercialize and or fully scale as a commercial organization and take those products to market in a kind of exciting way,” Ball said.

A portfolio company of Grand Rapids-based Genesis Innovation Group, Shoulder Innovations produces the shoulder implant products through a contract manufacturer in Indiana.

Michigan-based investors in Shoulder Innovations include Genesis Innovation Group’s Cultivate(MD) investment arm, the DeVos family’s Grand Rapids-based Wakestream Ventures, Western Michigan University’s Biosciences Research and Commercialization Center in Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor-based Michigan Angel Fund, and — Mark Sanchez Detroit-based Invest Michigan.

Spartan Innovations raised its presence in Grand Rapids in 2023 with two partnerships.

A subsidiary of the Michigan State University Research Foundation, Spartan Innovations in March opened the business incubator known as The Bridge McGregor in the Doug Meijer Medical Innovation Building on the school’s research campus in downtown Grand Rapids. Spartan Innovations opened The Bridge with Health Innovation Partners, a joint venture that developed the Meijer Medical Innovation Building.

The incubator offers low-cost space and a “one-stop shop” for budding entrepreneurs to work on their ideas and access support services, said Kyle McGregor, director of health innovations at Spartan Innovations. Services include business coaching and education, networking with seasoned entrepreneurs and prospective capital investors, including MSU Research Foundation’s Red Cedar Ventures and Michigan Rise funds.

“We have kind of a white-glove service here: If you come up with an idea, if you have some kind of innovation that fits into that tech category, we have the skills to take you from the back of a napkin to (a) Series A and being part of that funding round,” McGregor said.

Spartan Innovations later formed a partnership with digital consulting firm Twisthink LLC to lend engineering and development support to startups. Twisthink in 2022 relocated from Holland to the Meijer Medical Innovation Building, a move that led to the partnership with Spartan Innovations.

“For any entrepreneur who’s going to figure out how to solve a real problem, you’re almost going to have to rely on some outside parties,” McGregor said. “Sometimes getting out of your own way and actually reading things as they are written in black and white as opposed to how you want to interpret them is really challenging. That’s why a third party often is helpful, and Twisthink has been able to — Mark Sanchez lean into that role.”

Jennifer Owens, Lakeshore Advantage

Jam

The $15.3 million Next Center under construction on the north side of downtown Holland will provide a home for innovative, high-tech business startups that have the potential for high growth.

Owens The three-story, 20,000-square-foot incubator and innovation center also will offer space for second-stage companies and serve as the headquarters for Lakeshore Advantage, the economic development organization for Ottawa and Allegan counties. Lakeshore Advantage will own and operate the Next Center as part of the Holland SmartZone.

Through the Next Center, which is targeted to open in November, Lakeshore Advantage wants to elevate and support innovation and entrepreneurism, and to further cultivate a startup culture locally that builds on the deep legacy of manufacturing and other industries that have provided the base to the Holland area’s economy for generations.

“We want this whole building to be kind of this innovation center,” said Lakeshore Advantage President Jennifer Owens.

The Next Center, at College Avenue and Seventh Street, is an “incredibly important” project for Lakeshore Advantage and will become part of an entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Holland area that is “alive, well, and growing,” Owens said.

“We create things and we make things here, and this community isn’t afraid of evolving,” she said. “What we make has changed significantly over time, but our community is always evolving. So, when I look for the future for us, what I see is continuing a strong future of product manufacturing, automation and innovation.”

Several Holland-area companies have contributed to the Next Center’s development. They include MillerKnoll Inc., Gentex Corp., Haworth Inc., Trans-Matic Mfg. Co. Inc., JR Automation Technologies, EV Construction, Koops Automation Systems, Fairlife, Pandos Iron & Metal, Shape — Mark Sanchez Corp., and Lakewood Construction.

CONGRATULATIONS! The GRPM congratulates all of the finalists being nominated for CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS NEWSMAKER OF THE YEAR

Tom

U pas tech U Hav Ang 202 a $2 will com com T app hea T grea “ma Cra In R. F Tec T dev airp

Tho

C effo cap T star fund cap dou its i T intro to c Min In help frau witn invo to is O ente insu In whe issu Rap

Dale Robertson – Newsmaker of the Year Finalist We are grateful for your visionary leadership and enduring dedication to cultivating lifelong learners within our West Michigan community.

grpm.org 18 | CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS | February 5, 2024

P018_P019_CGR_20240205.indd 18

T Tec prep lear in w In cyb Car edu opp T focu with The alig sea A indi thos S mon whi T $11 said

1/31/24 12:30 PM

he

he

n

p

t

eet,

he ., JR

pe chez

TECHNOLOGY Jamon Alexander, WMCAT The West Michigan Center for Arts and Technology in 2023 demonstrated success and prepared growth plans for a new tech-focused learning program that’s already placing graduates in well-paying jobs.

In 2022, the nonprofit launched a new cybersecurity-focused pathway as part of its Adult Alexander Career Training Program, providing tuition-free education and advancing employment opportunities for under- and unemployed adults.

The new cybersecurity pathway debuted with learning tracks focused on governance, risk and compliance (GRC) in partnership with national provider GRC for Intelligent Ecosystems, or GRCIE. The pathway offers virtual reality-based technical training, industryaligned certifications, employer apprenticeship connections and job search assistance for graduates.

After a record-setting recruitment process for WMCAT, 12 individuals joined the inaugural cybersecurity cohort, with 11 of those students graduating in summer 2023.

Six graduates became employed as GRC analysts within two months, either at local companies or doing work on a national scale while working remotely from West Michigan.

The annual salaries of those graduates range from $60,000 to $115,000, which WMCAT President and CEO Jamon Alexander has said are “game-changing wages” for those local families.

— Kayleigh Van Wyk

west michigan WHITECAPS

congratulations congratulations

Investing in the next generation of fun and community experiences at LMCU Ballpark!

Plan your 2024 Group Outing here!

Tom Byrne, UV Angel UV Angel will use the capital it raised over the past year to keep advancing its health-focused technology.

UV Partners, the parent company of Grand Haven-based disinfection technology company UV Angel, pursued a Series A preferred capital raise in 2023 that netted $15 million by mid-October out of Byrne a $25 million goal, which company executives say will help scale operations and growth. The company raised $20 million as of mid-January and expects to complete the round by the end of February.

The company’s ultraviolet light technology is used in various applications to combat bacteria, viruses and mold and create healthier indoor spaces.

The capital round comes during what CEO Tom Byrne calls a greater “focus on true building health” following the pandemic and a “massive transformation” in managing indoor air quality, he told Crain’s Grand Rapids in October.

In 2023, UV Angel also received grant funding through the Gerald R. Ford International Airport’s Ford Launchpad for Innovative Technologies and Entrepreneurship (FLITE) program.

The unique airport-based initiative provides funding to boost the development and pilot testing of new products and services in a live — Kayleigh Van Wyk airport environment.

group tickets now on sale!

Thomas Cronkright, CertifID CertifID is bolstering its wire fraud prevention efforts thanks to $20 million raised in venture capital funding in 2023.

The Grand Rapids- and Austin, Texas-based startup was founded in 2017 to protect electronic fund transfers in real estate transactions. The latest capital raise announced in September more than Cronkright doubles the amount that CertifID has raised since its inception.

The funding will be used to help the company grow and potentially introduce its fraud prevention platform in new industries, according to company executives. The capital raise was led by Minneapolis, Minn.-based Arthur Ventures.

In 2023, CertifID also launched a new identity verification solution to help title agencies and real estate firms combat seller impersonation fraud. The new service was made available in response to the startup witnessing a significant increase in seller impersonation scams involving vacant land. CertifID partnered with federal law enforcement to issue an advisory on this scam early in 2023.

Over the past year, the company also forged significant new enterprise partnerships, including with Grand Rapids-based insurance brokerage and fintech Acrisure.

In 2024, CertifID plans to retain a focus on the real estate sector where “we’re just so embedded and intently focused to solve this issue,” Executive Chairman Thomas Cronkright told Crain’s Grand — Kayleigh Van Wyk Rapids last year.

MeijerGardens.org | #MeijerGardens

February 5, 2024 | CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS | 19

P018_P019_CGR_20240205.indd 19

1/31/24 12:31 PM

NOTABLE LEADERS Each year, Crain’s Grand Rapids Business recognizes leaders at their companies, in their industries and in their communities. These individuals manage, mentor, innovate and give back. Help us recognize Notable Leaders in 2024 by nominating today.

Visit CrainsGrandRapids.com/NotableNoms for more information and to nominate.

Notable Program

Nomination Deadline

Publication Date

Commercial Real Estate Leaders

May 10

Jul. 8

Black Leaders

Jul. 19

Sept. 16

Leaders in Health Care

Aug. 30

Oct. 28

Nonprofit Board Leaders

Sept. 27

Nov. 25

Know a Detroit-area Notable Leader? Check out CrainsDetroit.com/NotableNoms for more information or to nominate them.

FUTURE OF DOWNTOWNS

Just days before the COVID-19 pandemic forced dramatic changes to doing business in 2020, Alley Cat Café owner Danny Martinez had expanded his Pontiac coffee shop into a restaurant and event space. Many cities are trying, post-pandemic, to build back momentum for their downtowns by encouraging a series of events and activities. | NIC ANTAYA

For downtowns large and small, a new reality is taking shape

By Kirk Pinho

Things were turning a corner for Danny Martinez. It was early March 2020.

A small coffee shop he started in the basement of a charming, historic downtown Pontiac building — three stories with a turret at North Saginaw as Lawrence Street slopes up to the east — had done well enough in its few years in business.

So with the business equivalent of baling wire and duct tape — liquor license grants, façade grants, sweat equity and lots of patience — he opened a restaurant on the main level, serving food and alco-

hol, offering banquet and event space.

“There was always just little fun events and we were starting to develop a schedule of things like most downtowns try to do so there were activities throughout the warm weather,” said Martinez, who is also a member of the Main Street Pontiac board.

But the momentum Martinez built with Alley Cat Café, which he credited in part with drawing patrons from that string of smaller events like the Pontiac Arts Crawl and others, came to a halt within 48 hours of opening when his was one of thousands of Michigan restaurants and bars whose dining rooms

and rails were ordered closed to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Cities across the board saw something like an 80% drop in trips early in the pandemic, according to one study.

Today, while COVID-19 may be a reduced concern compared to three and four years ago, its tentacles are long, their grip persistent.

Some consumers remain wary of large downtowns and big crowds.

Central business districts of all sizes continue to contend with the reality of the office market and the reduced daytime activity more workers at home brings.

See DOWNTOWNS on Page 22

Traverse City’s men’s shopping night | PROVIDED PHOTO

SPONSORS

February 5, 2024 | CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS | 21

FUTURE OF DOWNTOWNS

DOWNTOWNS From Page 21

With feet on the streets still struggling to return to pre-pandemic levels in some areas, downtowns are amping up efforts to bring in other foot traffic. But not just visitors for visitors’ sake, experts in downtowns and outside observers said.

It’s more small-scale programming that downtowns are eyeing to help attract more people more often.

“With big events, you get people to come once,” said Tim Kelly, president and CEO of Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. “If you get people to come back continuously, they’re exploring more of the neighborhood and maybe down the road thinking about moving, working or investing there.”

In short: Think less NFL Draft, more yoga in the park.

In So were socia sell a cups com

Aiming for steady traffic While big events — think the annual Arts, Beats & Eats festival in Royal Oak in summer’s waning days, or the aforementioned NFL Draft in downtown Detroit this spring — certainly can bring a major economic jolt, there are tradeoffs: Reduced business at downtown shops from regular customers looking to avoid the chaos.

Difficulty finding parking. Big event attendees don’t tend to purchase retail goods (although they do eat and drink in large numbers).

General commotion. All those can be big turnoffs for downtown businesses, experts said.

“The art fair day is the worst day for business for retailers,” said Robert Gibbs, an urban planning expert who is founder of Birmingham-based Gibbs Planning Group and has taught an urban retail course at Harvard University for years.

But with more targeted events and experiences — a group dog walk along the river, a small pottery demonstration, a reading in a park, a free trolley in the winter — central business districts large and small lure visitors who not only make downtowns more vibrant, but contribute to their economic viability.

“We can’t expect people to just come and shop,” said Angela Thomas, a cofounder of AERES Real Estate, a brokerage firm focusing on retail and office space in downtowns, including Birmingham and Detroit.

“You have to give them a reason to, and these communities are really trying,” Thomas said.

Making them destinations not just for visitors, but also new residents, office users and other businesses is key to their success moving forward, said Chris Jackson, a longtime Detroit developer who served as chair of the Neighborhood Advisory Council for the District Detroit area, where the Ilitch family and billionaire developer Stephen Ross are proposing more than $1.5 billion in new construction and renovated buildings.

“They have to be places where people live, work and play,” Jack-

Grand Rapids’ Return to the River is an annual art and music festival on the Grand River. | BRYAN ESLER PHOTO

Las Canchas are Grand Rapids’ community futsal courts that opened in fall 2022 — they are open to the public and host various events, leagues and pick-up games. | SHAFI SUBHAN/AVES FILMS

Oxford Township and Lake Orion offer a free trolley Fridays and Saturdays. | PROVIDED PHOTOS

son said. “You don’t leave. That’s anywhere in the country — that’s L.A., that’s New York. If people are commuting out and leaving after their 9-5 and you’re not retaining them to use the nightlife or live, work there or play there ... then the downtowns won’t survive.”

Sharing innovative ideas So downtowns are getting creative, collaborating and putting together new initiatives aimed at bringing more people.

For example in Oxford Township, its Downtown Development Authority and the Lake Orion DDA to the south have teamed up to bring a free trolley on Fridays and Saturdays connecting the two central business districts, which are separated by about 3 ½ miles of heavily traveled state highway. Although it stopped running in late

22 | CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS | February 5, 2024

Traverse City’s Men’s Night | PROVIDED PHOTO

December for repairs and a brief respite, it will return in February.

Kelly Westbrook, executive director of the Oxford DDA, said businesses in the two downtowns are following the DDA leads. “Now they’re starting to do it (collaborate) with other businesses, whether next door or across the district, so we’ve seen retail partnering with restaurants,” on various initiatives,

Westbrook said.

In Traverse City, there are dedicated “ladies’ night” and “men’s night” events in December encouraging women and men to shop at Front Street and other downtown businesses in advance of the holiday season. Want to get a little boozy while shopping for stockings? Bring your IDs and you can at various businesses like the M22 ap-

parel store and Cherry Republic.

In Grosse Pointe, one Thursday a month, businesses all stay open a little later than usual, said Cindy Wilcock, executive director of Main Street Grosse Pointe.

Over the course of the pandemic, businesses in that downtown became more collaborative, working together on partnerships and building relationships more robustly, and that’s been a benefit, Wilcock said.

“They uniquely felt how each other felt,” Wilcock said of small business owners downtown. “They were in the same boat and they understood it in a way that I think opened them up to looking beyond their front doors. … That’s one of the bright things that happened with the pandemic. It allowed a little bit of that time (for business owners) to get to interact and have those conversations.”

Social districts — locally designated areas allowed under state law where alcoholic beverages can be consumed outdoors — have be-

com in th gan and cord Lyo cen car, G cou socc trad — a stea “Th pick also pres Gra star nua whi dem S Fern gift part CBD 202 “W bols nes ple the take spa wor card exec DD

Ap

M easi can as th mer cord pan mod S ing line pile Res B at th with billi

S

ts,

c. ay a en a ndy Main

mic, beking and roefit,

ach mall They unhink ond e of ned a litness have

sigtate can be-

FUTURE OF DOWNTOWNS

In South Lyon in summer 2023, businesses were invited to apply to be part of the social district the Sidecar, where they can sell alcoholic beverages in special branded cups for patrons to enjoy outside in the common area. | PROVIDED PHOTOS

come popular, with more than 30 in the five-county Southeast Michigan region, eight in Kent County and over 110 across the state, according to a December tally. South Lyon became one of the most recent to adopt one, called The Sidecar, last fall.

Grand Rapids has added several courts for “futsal” — think indoor soccer with smaller teams than a traditional soccer 11-person squad — after the game began gaining steam.

“They’ve been a huge draw, for pickup games and leagues have also sprung up,” said Tim Kelly, president and CEO of Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. DGRI has also started “leaning in” more to its annual World of Winter festival, which has grown during the pandemic.

Several, such as Royal Oak and Ferndale, have downtown-specific gift cards that are good for use at participating businesses in their CBDs. Royal Oak’s came about in 2020 in response to the pandemic.

“What started out as a way to bolster the bottom line for businesses has turned into kind of a staple of the programs we do, offering the ability for these businesses to take part in a collaborative gift card space where they don’t have to worry about getting their own gift card system,” said Daniel Solomon, executive director of the Royal Oak DDA.

A place to experience Making downtown shopping easier and more experience-based can help retailers draw customers as they compete against the e-commerce headwind that rose to record spending levels early in the pandemic, although has since moderated.

Shoppers continue to prefer buying goods in person (45%) over online (31%), according to data compiled by Capital One Shopping Research.

But e-commerce continues to nip at the heels of in-person shopping, with e-commerce sales of $284.1 billion representing an estimated See DOWNTOWNS on Page 24

Grand Rapids’ Relax at Rosa (above) is a free weekly lunchtime series at Rosa Parks Circle featuring live music and food trucks. An outdoor summer concert in downtown Oxford (below, from left), Birmingham’s outdoor movie night, downtown Ferndale and The Ferndale Patio Zone social district. | PHOTOS BY BRYAN ESLER PHOTO, CHRIS COOK OR PROVIDED

4 ways cities are striving for something new After the COVID pandemic drastically altered business models, plans, patronage and health, cities large and small — and downtown districts in particular — are carving their way in the new reality. That path includes some creativity, a lot of collaboration and a bit of risk. | By Kirk Pinho

1

2

3

4

Large events can bring lots of foot traffic to downtowns, but they can be a big hassle for longtime ground-floor businesses as well as residents and regulars.

Therefore, it’s the meat-and-potatoes type of programming and events — yoga in the park, a small 5K, a coordinated group dog walk, as examples — that are in their sights.

The increase in underutilized and vacant office buildings in downtowns has led to additional efforts to turn some of them into other uses, such as apartments, condominiums, hotels or other types of space. Federal COVID-19 relief dollars, through the state, have been doled out for some of those projects, and federal legislation has been introduced to provide added incentive. However, redevelopment is a long process and not many conversions have been completed locally so far.

Making a shopping experience more convenient is never a bad thing. Downtowns like Royal Oak and Ferndale have started programs for gift cards that are valid at a variety of downtown businesses. They also spare individual businesses the hassle of running their own gift card systems.

A 2020 state law allows people to drink alcohol outdoors in designated areas of a given city, and more than 110 communities in Michigan have taken advantage of that so far, by designating so-called “social districts.” More than 30 have been instituted in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw and Livingston counties in southeast Michigan, and Kent County encompassing Grand Rapids has eight participating communities.

DOWNTOWN EXPERIENCES

150,000 Cities with 150,000 or fewer workers have largely returned to where they were in terms of foot traffic prior to the pandemic, according to research from Georgetown University and University of Chicago economists.

OFFICE TO . . .

SOMETHING ELSE

6% Downtown Birmingham has been an office anomaly of the pandemic, with its vacancy rate falling from 10.4% in the first quarter of 2020 at the start of the pandemic to just 6% as of second-quarter 2023.

DOWNTOWN GIFT CARDS

SOCIAL DISTRICTS

15.6% Brick-and-mortar retailers like those in central business districts continue to grapple with e-commerce spending, which in the third quarter last year represented 15.6% of the $1.82 trillion in retail sales during that time period, up from 14.8% in third-quarter 2022, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

$8,000 Downtown Ann Arbor parking meter revenue in April 2020, down from more than $500,000 two months prior.

February 5, 2024 | CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS | 23

FUTURE OF DOWNTOWNS | COMMENTARY

Downtown centers can find renewal by looking to the past

D I

A

become bustling downtown shops suburban shopping centers ping districts that reflect the recent continue losing consumers urban retail movement. due to internet shopping Birmingham’s 300 upscale speand changing lifestyle preferences, cialty stores, restaurants, offices a generational opportunity for new and luxury hotels, combined with retail is emerging for towns and cittheir dozens of blue chip national ies. Millennials, families and sebrands, has established itself as niors are seeking to live, work and one of the country’s most sought shop in walkable urban centers. after downtowns. The city’s proFor those who seek more social gressive policies and its Shopping experiences as opposed to the enclosed mall experience of their Robert Gibbs District’s initiatives are largely responsible for making Birmingham youth, Main Street experiences in is president of their towns and cities are the per- Gibbs Planning a top destination for dining, fashion and home furnishings. fect fit for their way of life. While Group in Birmingham’s retailers are rethe larger portion of their income Birmingham. portedly among their chain’s most will go to experiences such as travel or outdoor adventures, closer to home visits successful. Top national brands including to a local brewpub or coffee shop in their Allen Edmonds, Anthropologie, Crate & Barrel, Elm Street, Ethan Allen and Lulutown center makes perfect sense.

Medium-sized cities such as Ann Arbor, lemon line its downtown streets, with WarGrand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Marquette and by Parker and RH home and others opening Traverse City are especially growing from soon. These brand retailers attract thouthis trend. Detroit’s 2000s shopping resur- sands of shoppers and complement Birgence with Nike, H&M, Shinola, Whole mingham’s many fine specialty shops and Foods and others was a pioneering urban restaurants such as Petite Cabane, Caruso bellwether. East Lansing’s small newer Tar- Caruso, Dick O’Dow’s, Roots, Sundance, get store serves as a prototype for the return Tender and Streetside.

Birmingham’s approach to welcoming of downtown department stores.

Resort towns such as Harbor Springs, Pe- popular brands is unique. When a national toskey and Saugatuck are booming while store brand relocates from a shopping censmall walkable towns and cities with ter to downtown, it may initially receive a well-managed business districts, conve- cold shoulder from city leaders and the nient parking and architectural design stan- community, who fear popular brands will dards, such as Brighton, Birmingham, end up ruining their beloved Main Street’s Grosse Pointe, Holland and Northville, have unique charm. Unfortunately, many cities

The Birmingham Shopping District | CHRIS COOK

artificially suppress their demand for name brand stores, turning their main streets into recreational theme parks and driving retail spending to shopping malls.

Looking back at history, though, this thinking is misguided.

During the peak commercial era of American cities, commonly acknowledged as the 1950s and 1960s, banks, cinemas, department stores, supermarkets and even automobile dealerships thrived as anchors in central business districts with national chains such as JC Penney, SS Kresge, Sears and Woolworth filling downtowns.

The luxury store Sak’s Fifth Avenue even once had boutique stores in Ann Arbor and Petoskey. For scale, Detroit’s beloved 10-story historic JL Hudson department store would equate to 10 modern Walmart superstores.

City halls, courthouses, libraries and post offices served as noncommercial anchors for communities, bringing considerable pedestrian and vehicular traffic downtown.

Public and private anchors continue to be as essential to urban shopping districts as they are to new mixed-use centers.

DOWNTOWNS From Page 23

15.6% of $1.82 trillion in retail sales in the third quarter, up from 14.8% in the third quarter 2022. That was on $264.1 billion in online sales vs. $1.79 billion in total retail sales, U.S. Census data show.

Data from the National Retail Federation compiled by Capital One shows that millennials and Gen Z are much less wedded to in-person shopping, with Gen Z (37%) and millennials (38%) saying in-person shopping is their preferred method, compared to 51% for Gen X and 60% for Baby Boomers. The two younger generations are more likely to prefer a blend of in-person and e-commerce, at 36% (Gen X) and 30% (millennials).

“What’s really struggled in downtowns is the goods side of it,” said Luke Bonner, CEO of Ann Arbor-based Bonner Advisory Group who is also an intermittent lecturer of urban and regional planning at the University of Michigan as well as senior economic development adviser to the city of Sterling Heights.

But there is cause for optimism, said Gibbs, the Birmingham urban planning expert. Downtowns are

Steven Childs, president of the board for Main Street Pontiac, says that even before the pandemic hit, Pontiac’s downtown area struggled. | NIC ANTAYA

not malls.

“There’s still resistance to the experience of being in a shopping center vs. being in a real place,” Gibbs said.

Making up ground Central business districts, in many cases, have rebounded from the early days of the pandemic — but it varies. Roundly, however, they were all in a bad place early.

In April 2020, for example, average daily visitors in downtown Detroit was 7% of what it was the year

24 | CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS | February 5, 2024

prior, while average daily workers was 14%. In Grand Rapids, there was a 48% decrease in foot traffic and hotel occupancy plunged by 79%. In downtown Ann Arbor, parking meter revenue was just $8,000 in April 2020, compared to north of $500,000 just two months prior.

Today, however, American cities where the central business district houses at least 1.5 million workers — think New York City, Chicago, San Francisco — have stabilized at 60% of downtown trips compared to pre-pandemic levels, while those cities with 150,000 or fewer workers

During the most successful commercial period for cities, people were drawn downtown for a variety of reasons, such as to pick up packages at the post office and then purchase groceries for the evening. Churches, courthouses and government office buildings created a demand for retailers, offices and hotels.

As an alternative to downtowns, new town centers are opening as walkable mixed-use communities. These new towns cluster residential, office, civic, restaurants and stores around new main streets and parks. The Village of Rochester, built on the site of a former shopping mall, was Michigan’s first new main street. The city of Warren is designing a new town center near city hall and others are planned in Novi and Commerce.

As we look to the future, all signs point to the re-emergence of Main Street as the place people will want to do their retail shopping and dining. For local and regional sustainability, downtowns should offer the brands, goods and services both desired and needed by their communities.

Downtown shopping is back.

have largely returned to where they were in 2019.

That’s according to research by Georgetown University economists Ferdinando Monte and Charly Porcher and Esteban Rossi-Hansberg of the University of Chicago published in July by the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Mass.

Not all downtowns have seen the large drop off in office usage like others have. For example, Kelly of Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. said the daily workforce is back to about 85% of what is was pre-pandemic.

“Each downtown has its own challenges,” said Erica Dunlap, a cofounder along with Thomas, of AERES Real Estate.

And of course, long-struggling downtowns like Pontiac continued to struggle.

“It was a bunch of storefronts that were staged to look like something,” said Martinez, the Alley Cat owner, of the years leading up to the pandemic. “It was like one of those Western movie sets they built to make a movie. It looks like there’s a bunch of businesses but there wasn’t anything.”

“The pandemic hit, we were already kind of in a bad place,” said Steven Childs, president of the board of Main Street Pontiac, a

n o t dist thei resp leng E — tow hyb nua ada nee 1 tow regi type Plym (e.g Ann face por pan 2 tow offic thei sect reta hav 3 Wh maj wea ope 4 Con tow clea loca and

member of the Main Street Oakland County program.

But what about offices?

Existential questions remain.

In particular, what to do with the troves of underutilized or vacant office buildings in city centers that have long depended on the workers they bring to bolster ground-level stores and restaurants.

Smaller downtowns like Royal Oak and Birmingham, for example, have peeled off some office users from other communities with the draw of things like coffee shops, restaurants for lunch, bars for after-hours socializing. But there just aren’t enough tenants to fill up the millions of square feet of empty space, so building owners need to determine how best to repurpose it. In particular, what to do with the troves of underutilized or vacant office buildings in city centers that have long depended on the workers they bring to bolster ground-level stores and restaurants.

One key target has been multifamily housing, although not every vacant office tower can be converted into much-needed apartments.

Leaders in Detroit have pushed for 10,000 units, nearly double the current 5,700 or so.

St

T

M clas “do ter C scri hub the hea Th and bec com wha tow com Th of h and ic. Th opm

cial wnpick purhes, ildffices

new able wns ants and the chiWarcity and

nt to the etail onal the ired

COMMENTARY | FUTURE OF DOWNTOWNS

residents keep these communities n the ever-evolving landscape fresh and unique. of metropolitan Detroit, down5. Hybrid downtowns’ resiltown areas are experiencing ience: Hybrid downtowns, exemdistinct trajectories shaped by plified by Ann Arbor, Royal Oak their unique characteristics and and Birmingham, showcase resilresponses to post-COVID chalience through a robust local job lenges. base and strong resident support. A Examining the three archetypes combination of workforce in— bedroom community downcomes, resident incomes, and towns, industry-centric hubs and Luke Bonner strong day and night populations hybrid counterparts — reveals a is CEO of the support these communities from nuanced narrative of resilience, Bonner adaptation and the imperative Advisory Group morning to night. The student population in Ann Arbor is an outlier to need for sustained creativity. in Ann Arbor. its success compared to other simi1. The dichotomy of downtowns: Downtowns in the metro Detroit lar downtowns.

6. Business-friendly practices and region can be classified into three archetypes — the bedroom community (e.g., post-COVID strategies: At the onset of Plymouth, Northville), the industry hub the pandemic, proactive measures by local (e.g., Detroit) and the hybrid model (e.g., governments, downtown development auAnn Arbor, Birmingham, Royal Oak). Each thorities, and associations played a pivotal faces a different set of challenges and op- role in supporting local businesses. Examportunities in the wake of the COVID-19 ining the impact of these practices, such as street closures for outdoor seating and expandemic.

2. Struggles of office-reliant down- tended business hours, is important for towns: Downtowns heavily dependent on communities to extend these practices.

7. Challenges in sustaining creative office workers have witnessed setbacks in their hard goods and consumer goods retail solutions: Despite successful initiatives, sectors. A prime example is Detroit, where challenges arise when enforcement disconretail closures and project cancellations tinues business-friendly practices due to concerns about public safety. Closing have been notable.

3. Nightlife and service sector woes: streets for extended outdoor seating opWhile nightlife remains resilient, hinging on tions, pick-up only parking spaces for curbmajor events, the service sector workforce’s side delivery and extended hours are all weakened state has impacted restaurant wildly successful and incredibly popular; however, certain communities have abanoperations, leading to limited hours.

4. Bedroom communities’ triumph: doned these policies.

8. The crucial role of downtown supContrastingly, bedroom community downtowns thrive on high-income residents, port organizations: A strong commitment cleanliness, and easy accessibility. A strong from downtown business support organizalocal income base, high education levels, tions remains paramount. Exploring the and desire for opening businesses by local role of these organizations in fostering cre-

oyal ple, sers the ops, afjust the mpty d to ose the cant that orklev-

ultivery ertnts. d for cur-

ativity, conducting regular meetings with businesses, and adapting strategies in response to red flags or opportunities is essential.

9. The ever-changing real estate landscape: Downtown real estate, subject to market trends, has undergone significant transformations from dormancy in the 1970s to a resurgence in the late 1990s. Examining historical trends, market conditions and recent developments can provide insights into the evolving real estate landscape and help predict future trends and proactive approaches to maintaining vitality.

10. Residential imperative for economic growth: Residential living emerges as a linchpin for long-term economic growth and resilience. To support local business incomes and population are essential. Today communities are juxtaposing rental residential real estate with owner-oc-

cupied residential real estate. There is a demand for both, but certain communities still view rentals as a bad word and are creating major roadblocks for their approval.

Without a mixture of incomes and demographics the downtown retail business mix can become stagnant.

11. Tailoring solutions to community needs: Recognizing the diversity among communities, it is crucial to tailor downtown development strategies according to their unique preferences and outlooks. Understanding the factors influencing these preferences requires on-going community surveys, interviews, and dialogues with residents and business alike. The post-COVID era challenges downtowns to navigate a complex web of factors. Analyzing specific data points and delving into the intricacies of each archetype can offer a road map for revitalization, ensuring downtowns not only survive but thrive in the years to come.

Policy and culture changes can attract tenants, boost profits COSTAR GROUP

Oak-

the cant that orklev-

DOUG ZUBA/UNSPLASH

Downtowns of the future have several options I

Stretch the definition of ‘downtown’

T

residential elements. There are he definition of “Downtown many opportunities to re-develDetroit” needs to be redeop other iconic assets downtown fined. that will continue to add more Many international cities don’t density, which will encourage classify a portion of the city as more retail. “downtown.” “City Core” or “CenSuccess is also seen in our new ter City” are more appropriate demixed-use residential developscriptions of an area that is the ment. Woodward West proves that hub for arts and entertainment, there is a lot of excitement from the seat of government and the people who want to live in the City heart of commerce.

Core. Living in the City Core proThe Cass Corridor, Brush Park Christopher vides you a unique experience. and Corktown neighborhoods have Jackson is a The lifestyle is not monolithic. become vibrant and distinctive partner at City Core living gives you access communities and an extension of Queen Lillian to houses of faith, arts and culture, what we traditionally called “down- Development varieties of cuisine options, and town.” The Detroit City Core has be- in Detroit. the most vibrant nightlife in the come a place to live, work and play.

The Book Building is a perfect example state all nestled in one neighborhood. I see of how a city can take existing inventory a continuation of the trend of people movand repurpose it for a modern day dynam- ing from the more expensive coasts, West ic. The Book Building is a historic redevel- and East, to the Detroit City Core continuopment that includes commercial and ing to expand.

P

more green space, a olicy, culture and sports court or recrethe bottom line: ational areas, outdoor How can all three patios, etc., encouragof these concepts iming employees to get pact real estate develoutside? Implementing opment? that as part of building Real estate developdesign is increasingly ers and owners are becoming a priority. looking to better posiZoning guidelines are tion their assets by atin place to account for a tracting the right tenwell-planned developants. They do so by Angela Thomas and Erica cultivating a positive Dunlap are co-founders of AERES ment landscape, but at times any deviation culture, which ultimate- Real Estate, specializing in from the code can lead ly leads to profitability. commercial spaces. to a cumbersome proAs companies are looking to relocate or downsize, they are cess. Policies should be in place to attract brainstorming how to bring employees sophisticated tenants that will lead to back to the office. Factors such as ameni- rent growth. The more “friendly” the govties, walkability and social experiences all erning policies and the incentives for both use/zoning changes and redevelopfactor into locational decisions.

Policy: Many of these concepts require ment, the better the climate is for landmunicipal input or approval. For exam- lords to invest more capital into their ple, how do we repurpose an enormous properties, thus the more tenants will pay parking lot servicing office tenants into a to be there. This will lead to bettering the hybrid work structure attracting retail de- culture for the building and the people at velopment which will bring people to the the property, and ultimately the commuarea and obtain more density? There are nity at large.

Bottom line: The municipalities that parking ratios and development guidelines in place that at times dictate wheth- are proactive with policy change, enabling positive development, will be the er this is feasible.

Culture: Similarly, how can we repur- most prosperous and have the best botpose existing site areas to account for tom line for everyone involved.

February 5, 2024 | CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS | 25

COMMENTARY

Five education issues to watch in Michigan this year

ED

From

F

or too long, Michigan has trailed leading education states, and the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated our inequities in education. Yet 2023 brought hope for the future as policymakers increasingly demonstrated their commitment to improving teaching and learning, including through Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Growing Michigan Together Council, which in December made key recommendations to strengthen Michigan’s public education system and ensure the state has a thriving workforce for decades to come.

The year ahead is critical for addressing Michigan’s most pressing education challengAmber es. These are key issues Arellano is to prioritize in 2024. executive director at The Education Educational Trust-Midwest. recovery must be

dist dep por igan tori esp perc grea sage dex stat mea first tion whi fun com nee tun forw tain tinu stat

The pandemic brought devastating challenges for students across the nation, particularly from low-income, rural and urban backgrounds, Black and Latino stuJeff Cobb is dents, English Learners director of and students with disgovernment abilities. Progress on the affairs at The most recent state assessEducation Trust-Midwest. ments show students are still behind pre-pandemic levels, with some students losing over a year of learning.

Indeed, recent M-STEP scores showed our students remain behind pre-pandemic levels in grades 3-7 in English Language Arts. And as The Education Trust-Midwest

GETTY IMAGES

top priority

reported last year, Michigan fell from 32nd in 2019 to 43rd in 4th grade reading — an important predictor of a child’s future academic success and life outcomes — on the 2022 National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP). For students from low-income backgrounds, Michigan ranked as the 11th worst state in 4th grade reading, falling far below the national average. For Black student performance, Michigan dropped into the bottom 5 for 4th grade reading in 2022, down from previously being ranked in the bottom 10 in 2019.

Learning recovery isn’t over. Indeed, it is just beginning. Michigan policymakers

and practitioners should prioritize and invest with urgency in educational recovery and evaluate programs for their effectiveness in closing gaps.

Preparations for a looming federal funding cliff 2024 marks the final year in which districts can spend the federal relief funding that was earmarked to help students recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. In September, the end of this needed funding will leave many districts in a precarious place. State and national data show educators continue to face multiple post-pan-

demic crises, including in raising student achievement, student attendance and mental health.

In fact, without additional state investments, district budgets could be slashed by an average of $1,200 per student in the 2024-25 school year through a combination of declining enrollment and the end of the Elementary and Secondary Emergency School Relief (ESSER) funds, according to a recent brief by The Education Trust.

That loss of funding will be felt most acutely in Michigan’s higher-poverty See EDUCATION on Page 27

COMMENTARY

Let’s grow Michigan and ensure disability inclusion

M

population and economic growth ichigan is facing enorwithout disability and disability mous challenges. Our inclusion within all recommenpopulation is aging and dations. not growing. Businesses have While it might be implied that hundreds of thousands of jobs people with disabilities are inthat that cannot be filled. And, as cluded in all of the problem analwe look to grow and diversify our ysis and proposals, it is not clear. economy, the stark reality is our As a state, we need to be clear, K-12 educational outcomes are in the bottom third of the country.

Dave Meador explicit and intentional in our recommendations. This will There is a lot of sincere work on is retired vice demonstrate an understanding of strategies to remedy the situa- chairman of tion. It is very complex.

DTE Energy Co. the unique needs of this populaHowever, the discussions leave and co-founder tion and will evidence equity and inclusion. out an important part of Michi- of the Autism As we look to remedy Michigan and our economy, our peo- Alliance of gan’s growth challenges let’s be ple with disabilities and autism Michigan. transparent. For adult popula(representing more than 14% of all Michigan residents). There can be no tions with disabilities, including autism,

unemployment levels are as high as 90%.

After high school, this means isolation at home for their entire adult life.

While Michigan businesses need to be more inclusive and create demand for hiring people with disabilities and autism, there is a significant foundational problem. Michigan’s special education outcomes rank in the bottom 10% of the country. This means 50% of special education students leave high school without a diploma and with deep academic deficits. This makes employment and a life of independence near impossible.

With so many recommendations on how to fix Michigan, children with disabilities are lost in the process. We can no lon-

ger treat this population as forgotten. Revamping Michigan’s special education to being the best in the country will produce outcomes that put this very important population on a path to employment, independence and full inclusion.

There can be no population and economic growth without disability and disability inclusion within all recommendations.

As our public officials consider specific growth proposals they should specifically say, “this includes children and adults with disabilities and autism.”

Sound off: Send a column for the Opinion page to tim.gortsema@crain.com. Please include a phone number for verification purposes, and limit submissions to 500 words or fewer. Please include a headshot, title and organization name with the submission.

26 | CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS | February 5, 2024

P026_P027_CGR_20240205.indd 26

1/31/24 1:21 PM

Be in ma ac stu

whi with far b key In and sch Cur is a shri 47% with pov mit We mit the men cil, for ing nee

Str and

A lars hav tran for stud side that gan syst tend der thei Mic now C por new nia fun

From Page 26

GETTY IMAGES

districts, many of which have been depending on the funding to support critical needs. Last year Michigan policymakers made an historic step that will help districts, especially those who serve higher percentages of students with the greatest needs, through the passage of the state’s Opportunity Index. This historic change in the state’s school funding formula means that Michigan will for the first time consider for concentration of poverty in school districts, which will help drive additional funding to students from low-income backgrounds to meet their needs. The creation of the Opportunity Index is a significant step forward for Michigan, but it’s certainly not enough. The state continues to trail leading education states such as Massachusetts,

t d

d e d n

t y

7

o e t -

c y s

increase investments in education but did not put appropriate systems in place to track whether dollars were being spent on students with high needs. Tragically, auditors have found that on average only 55 cents of every dollar earmarked for students with the greatest needs was actually reaching their schools.

Michigan can learn from those lessons before it’s too late. Putting new systems of accountability and transparency in place for school funding should be a priority for our state leaders in the coming year.

Improving early literacy should be a priority Being successful in reading in the early grades is a major predictor for academic success for students later in school, and yet too many of our students struggle to read. Indeed, Michigan was facing an early reading crisis even before COVID-19, with early literacy rates that were lower than they were almost 20 years ago, according to the national assessment.

Our state has a tremendous opportunity to change this trajectory. We can start by passing bipartisan legislation to screen for dyslexia, one of the most common barriers to early reading success.

Senate Bills 567 and 568 would strengthen the state’s Read by Grade Three Law by improving how schools screen and identify students that need support.

Among other improvements, these bills would require schools to use valid and reliable screening assessments to identify and monitor early elementary students who struggle with decoding and word recognition and use a multi-tiered system of support, which may include in targeted small groups to receive more intensive support or receive personalized instruction, to help students who display the characteristics of dyslexia. These are evidence-based strategies that our policymakers can support now to address one of Michigan’s greatest education challenges and dramatically improve outcomes for thousands of children.

Being successful in reading in the early grades is a major predictor for academic success for students later in school. which invests far more in students with the greatest needs — and has far better student outcomes across key measures.

Indeed, only transformational and historic changes in how schools are funded will fill the gap.

Currently, the Opportunity Index is a weighted funding formula enshrined in law that invests up to 47% more for students in districts with the highest concentrations of poverty, but the state has not committed to fully fund that amount.

We should change that. Let’s commit to protecting and fully funding the Opportunity Index, as recommended by the Governor’s Council, while also increasing funding for English Learners and providing full funding to support the needs of students with disabilities.

Strong fiscal transparency and accountability needed As important as the ESSER dollars have been, many stakeholders have been frustrated by a lack of transparency and accountability for this crucial spending to help students catch up. Along with considering a school funding formula that is far more equitable, Michigan policymakers should design systems to ensure that dollars intended for students who are underserved actually reach them in their schools and classrooms.

Michigan lacks such a system now.

California demonstrates the importance of and need for such a new system. A decade ago, California laudably changed its school funding formula to dramatically

Addressing teacher recruitment and shortages Effective teachers are the single most important school-based factor to improving student outcomes, which is why Michigan’s increasingly acute teacher shortage is so concerning. Recent reports have continued to document a shortage of substitute teachers, inadequate levels of certified staff and concerning rates of mobility among teachers in some schools, especially in rural and urban districts.

Yet, we really don’t even know how serious the problem is because Michigan lacks strong systems to track educator vacancies.

As with any ailment, it’s impossi-

ble to prescribe a solution without being able to diagnose the problem. That’s why Michigan should start by requiring that districts collect and publicly report teacher vacancy data.

At the same time, Michigan policymakers have a great opportunity to invest in our students by investing in their teachers. The statewide Michigan Partnership for Equity and Opportunity coalition is championing efforts to close the salary

gap by raising the salary floor for teachers. This will help to recruit teachers to Michigan, as well as to hard-to-staff districts. Defraying or eliminating the costs associated with teacher licensing exams is another strategy other states are using to eliminate one of the barriers to teacher recruitment.

As our state and nation emerge from the devastating learning and other losses wrought by COVID-19, state and local leaders should re-

double efforts to ensure Michigan students not only catch up but accelerate their learning. Becoming a Top 10 state for education has long been a goal of our organization and our diverse, bipartisan statewide coalition. Now, as leaders from across both sides of the aisle have signaled their commitment, let’s work together to address these issues and place our state on the path toward educational excellence for every child.

Advertising Section

COMPANIES / PEOPLE ON THE MOVE To place your listing, visit https://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/people-on-the-move/ or, for more information, contact Debora Stein at 917.226.5470 / dstein@crain.com ADVERTISING, MARKETING & PR

CONSTRUCTION

HEALTH CARE

Revel

Wolverine Building Group

Health Alliance Plan

Revel has named Danielle Webb its chief operating officer (COO), effective January 1, 2024.

Webb joined Revel in 2011 as an art director. In 2017, she became Revel’s production manager, eventually leading to her role as COO. Webb continues doing creative work with a portion of her time, keeping up-to-date on industry trends. She holds a BFA in graphic design from Western Michigan University. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Spring Lake.

Kaylee Dillard, Project Manager for Wolverine Building Group has been appointed to the City of Grand Rapids’ Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (BRA). She is honored to have the opportunity to serve with the BRA and help make a positive impact on the City of Grand Rapids. “Going behind the scenes and immersing myself in the brownfield process is going to be exciting,” said Dillard. “I know that redevelopment is essential to a vibrant city, and I can’t wait to watch my hometown grow.”

Jamie Garlock has been named as Special Projects Supervisor, leading the expanding Building Services and Facilities Maintenance team at Wolverine Building Group. The team has encountered rapid growth since 2020, more than doubling their workload in 2023.

HAP (Health Alliance Plan), a Michiganbased nonprofit health plan, adds Gwen MacKenzie and Christopher Stanley, M.D. as director to the HAP board and non-director, Clinical and Service Quality Committee board member, respectively.

MacKenzie, a CEO with experience leading complex healthcare organizations, currently serves as a senior advisor in McKinsey and Company’s Global Healthcare Practice.

Dr. Stanley has more than 30 years’ experience as a clinician and healthcare leader with a passion for improving equity in cost and quality of care. He currently serves as President, Healthy Populations for Henry Ford Health (HFH) where he created a wholly owned, independent population health services organization.

ADVERTISING, MARKETING & PR

Williams Group Williams Group, a womenowned strategic communications agency, is now a Certified B Corporation™. The Grand Rapids-based firm joins an international movement of purpose-led companies using business as a force for good.

Williams Group received high scores for its equitable business practices and community contributions. Wg has done significant pro bono work with many West Michigan nonprofits, and donates at least 10% of its profits each year to charitable causes.

ENGINEERING

OHM Advisors Jim Woods was recently named partner at architecture, engineering, planning firm OHM Advisors.

After over 25 years with the Michigan Department of Transportation, he joined the community advancement firm in 2019 to lead its Kalamazoo office.

As a project manager and construction engineer, he provides construction engineering experience and technical construction management insight on large multidisciplinary projects. Jim is a graduate of Ferris State University and Michigan Tech University.

NEW GIG? Preserve your career change for years to come.

Plaques • Crystal keepsakes Frames • Other Promotional Items

C O N TA C T

EDUCATION

Laura Picariello Reprints Sales Manager lpicariello@crain.com (732) 723-0569

February 5, 2024 | CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS | 27

P026_P027_CGR_20240205.indd 27

1/31/24 11:54 AM

RELOCATION

EV

address some ongoing complaints about the accessibility of its operations in the city’s core business district.

“We’ve continued to get feedback from our customers and our own employees that parking downtown continues to be a big challenge and complaint, especially from those doing business with the county,” said Tim Bradshaw, Kent County facilities management director. “We have the opportunity to have better parking (at the Fuller location) and our building at Monroe is continuing to show its age.”

However, the plan has faced pushback from some elected officials on the county commission who say it hasn’t been thoroughly vetted and debated in public. Others also have raised concerns about the consequences of moving 180 office workers from downtown and losing the benefits of operating near other vital services.

“I simply believe that keeping our administration (services) in our downtown has a true added benefit — from being centrally located, which could be adaptable to any changes to transportation infrastructure — to being in close proximity to the other major regional players in our community,” County Commissioner Stephen Wooden said during a Nov. 30, 2023, meeting that discussed funding the project.

Wooden, whose district spans the northeast side and includes the proposed campus on Fuller, was among five commissioners who voted against the plan.

The county’s relocation plan is

Th hos cert eve the Mic team ketb azo team Jo be c 42 t 202 “I goin ales ball be will brin 700 S whi and pro with

From Page 1

HOUSING From Page 3

an emerging developer as a party with “limited experience in the development or redevelopment of real estate who may be supported by a network of more experienced development professionals.”

“We believe this is a good investment because it can set this church up for success in the future,” Klooster said in an interview. “To move a project from one phase to the next, in order to be prepared to submit an application for funding in the future, you need to have your plans developed far enough to be competitive for some funding opportunities.”

Amendments to the state’s Brownfield Redevelopment Financing Act signed into law in 2023 made it possible for any local Brownfield Redevelopment Authority in Michigan to use local taxes to fund grants or loans for housing development activities without a brownfield plan amendment. Grand Rapids’ Brownfield Redevelopment Authority board in October then adopted a policy to designate financial support to emerging developers as a high-priority use of its LBRF dollars.

Founded in 1890 as Messiah

From

County officials plan to vacate 82 Ionia Ave. NW and potentially list the property for sale.

A county-owned building at 320 Ottawa Ave. NW houses I.T. and data center operations.

| KATE CARLSON

| KATE CARLSON

well underway. Officials recently filed for a permit with the city of Grand Rapids to demolish the existing building at 720 Fuller Ave. NE, which formerly housed a Michigan State Police forensics laboratory. The state transferred the property to the county for $1 and it has sat vacant for more than a year, Bradshaw said.

The abatement process at the building is nearly complete, and county officials expect to secure a demolition permit and begin tearing down the building soon, Bradshaw said.

Conceptual plans call for a roughly 110,000-square-foot new administration building, with enough parking spaces for the approximately 180 employees who would be relocated from 300 Monroe, Bradshaw said. The number of floors and layout of the building and parking lot will be determined during the design process, Bradshaw said. The county hopes to move into the new administration building in 2026.

Once the new administration

building is constructed, the county plans to remodel the 300 Monroe building so the prosecutor’s office can move in and continue to stay in close proximity to the circuit courthouse at 180 Ottawa Ave. NW. The prosecutor team currently works from another county-owned downtown office at 82 Ionia Ave. Once the staff moves to 300 Monroe, the 82 Ionia building would be vacant, and the county intends to sell the building.

Proceeds from the 82 Ionia sale would help fund the construction of new administration offices on the Fuller Campus, Vanderberg has said. He noted that the current administration building would still be used, and that the building at 82 Ionia “will go back on the tax roll.”

“We don’t view this as a negative impact on the downtown at all. I think this is the right plan for the future and will still maintain flexibility because we’ll still own substantial facilities on Ottawa and Monroe,” Vanderberg said.

The Kent County Board of Commissioners voted 13-5 on Nov. 30

on a notice of intent to issue $70 million in bonds to pay for work at 300 Monroe Ave., a small building at 320 Ottawa Ave. and the Fuller campus. As well, the board voted to transfer $8 million from the Strategic Capital fund for the design work associated with making improvements at its facilities. It is standard practice to bond for more than the expected project cost, which is still anticipated to be $60 million, Vanderberg said.

County Commissioners Wooden, Michelle McCloud, Carol Hennessy, Melissa LaGrand and Ivan Diaz voted against the funding resolution at the November meeting.

In addition to Wooden’s opposition, Hennessy also raised concerns during the late November meeting about a lack of public input over the county’s overall plan.

Hennessy disagreed with the county spending $8 million on designing new county facilities before the time period was up for people to give public input on the county’s intent to bond for the

project.

Commissioner Katie DeBoer, who supports the relocation plan, countered that moving from downtown is better for constituents because they will no longer have to deal with the difficulty of driving and finding parking downtown.

“This is more accessible for people who don’t live right downtown, as parking is an issue,” DeBoer said.

Richard Winn, chairperson of the Grand Rapids Downtown Development Authority and Grand Rapids-Kent County Convention/ Arena Authority, views the county’s plan as “a good thing.”

“Any time you lose office workers, that is certainly not the goal or intent, but it’s great for future expansion and opens up some possibilities,” Winn told Crain’s Grand Rapids. “Any time any government body is consolidating and becoming more efficient, that’s a good thing. I applaud the county for finding unique ways of becoming more efficient and in the short and long term that’s only good for the citizens that are contributing.”

Missionary Baptist Church, Messiah Baptist is the oldest Black Baptist congregation in Grand Rapids. Located at 513 Henry Ave. SE in the Madison Area neighborhood, the church is led by the Rev. Daniel Smith, who succeeded longtime pastor Clifton Rhodes Jr. upon his retirement in 2017 after 45 years at the helm.

Cross said the church began creating its vision to develop housing and other supportive services for the community in early 2023.

“Messiah Baptist Church, throughout its 133-year history, has always served as a place of refuge and restoration for families in need,” she said. “Housing assistance has long been a priority for MBC and in early 2023, MVillage was created in response to the escalating number of requests for housing and rental assistance due to skyrocketing rents and inequities within the limited housing supply.”

Sherman Gillespie, the funeral home’s founder and longtime owner who died in 2019, was at one point a member of Messiah Baptist Church, according to his obituary. The Gillespie family listed their funeral home for sale in late 2022, and the church acquired the 2.8-acre property in March 2023 for $1.3 million, according to city property tax records.

In July 2023, Messiah Baptist formed the nonprofit MVillage to help enact a redevelopment plan for the funeral home and other housing and service endeavors.

So far, MVillage has taken ownership and management of three residential units on the city’s

with the latter reserved for those making 60% to 80% of area median income. That is about $45,480 to $60,600 for a two-person household in the Grand Rapids area as of 2023 guidelines from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The organization also would like to include amenities such as a community garden or gathering space, coffee shop and onsite child care facility. It also hopes to include onsite community services such as financial planning and educational and mental health services.

Messiah Baptist plans to maintain ownership of the part of the site not dedicated to homeownership and would consider a Community Land Trust model for the homeownership portion, according to Cross’ application.

Cross said MVillage hopes to partner with an established real estate developer on the funeral home conversion project.

Other next steps for the church include additional neighborhood engagement on the project, site analysis, cost estimating and the conceptual design phase.

“Once (predevelopment work is) completed, we will actively engage and partner with our neighbors and broader community to fully communicate and share the

deliverables from our site assessments … and get their input and ensure that we have their support for any plans (moving) forward,” Cross said.

Klooster said the grant agreement will spell out that the consultant will be reimbursed for services rendered. There also will be a deadline by which the consultant must complete the work, he said, though that timeline is as yet unspecified.

He added that this early investment “is intended to move the project forward” and prepare the church for permits and debt financing, but there is no requirement that the project be completed.

Klooster said the grant’s goals are to “support access” for groups taking “proactive steps” to meet housing needs.

“I don’t have expectations that Messiah Baptist Church is going to become one of Grand Rapids’ next large development organizations, but I think they are new to this, and this is a significant undertaking for them,” he said.

“If we can provide this early-stage support to local individuals and organizations that are making investments in the community that will be designed to meet the needs of the community, I think that’s something that I’m happy to recommend the board invest in.”

“We believe this is a good investment because it can set this church up for success in the future.”

— Jono Klooster, Grand Rapids’ interim economic development director southeast side, including a transitional home called The Yellow House, according to Cross’ application to the city.

The church also owns property at 500 Henry St. SE, next to the church, on which MVillage plans to build a two-family home that will be called Cliff’s Corner, in honor of Rhodes, Cross said.

Instead of tearing down the former funeral home, the church would like to preserve the building at 1865 Eastern in homage to the Black-owned business that occupied the site for 37 years, Cross said in her application.

The MVillage adaptive reuse project would include market-rate and affordable units,

28 | CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS | February 5, 2024

P028_P029_CGR_20240205.indd 28

1/31/24 1:25 PM

IN

From

ther Leg asso Dom ter tor of I vice “W how apie fit m to w wha can told nes Th spo tin ing law can app Dru sure gen ther stat tin.

D

Prior

s.

oer, lan, wnbee to ving . peown, aid. of Deand on/ nty’s

orkal or exossiand ment omood for ming and the

essand port rd,”

reeonserl be sul, he yet

inove pare debt rebe

EVENT CENTER From Page 1

The event center is expected to host nearly 240 events, shows, concerts and community sporting events per year and is slated to be the future home of the Western Michigan University men’s hockey team and men’s and women’s basketball teams, as well as the Kalamazoo Wings professional hockey team.

Johnston expects construction to be completed on the facility within 42 to 48 months, in time for the 2027-28 hockey season.

“It’s going to be a facility that’s going to activate, it’s going to coalesce,” Johnston told the sold-out ballroom. “This event center … will be literally used 365 days a year, will host close to 240 events, and bring to downtown Kalamazoo 700,000 to 800,000 people a year.”

Southfield-based Barton Malow, which specializes in building NHL and NBA facilities, will serve as the project’s construction manager, with an assist from Kalama-

INSURANCE From Page 1

therapies did not exist when the Legislature enacted its statute,” association Executive Director Dominick Pallone wrote in a letter this week to Anita Fox, director of the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services.

“We need to better understand how gene therapies and cell therapies fit within the existing benefit mandate and what we can do to work with the department on what the intention is so that we can remain compliant,” Pallone told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business.

The MAHP’s Jan. 24 letter responded to the regulatory bulletin that Fox issued Jan. 8 reminding health insurers of the state law that requires coverage for cancer therapies that have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Health insurers may not deny coverage for genetic therapies or immunotherapies that meet criteria in the state law, Fox wrote in the bulletin.

DIFS rejects “any assertion that

Renderings show the southeast perspective of the proposed Kalamazoo Event Center. | TOWERPINKSTER AND ROSSETTI

zoo-based CSM Group, which has managed construction for other Catalyst Development Co. projects, including for Greenleaf Trust.

Johnston said over the last six months, the project design team toured an unspecified list of “some of the best facilities in the country” to learn from their mistakes and missed opportunities, so that Kalamazoo could build a facility that will “stand the test of time.”

“They were pretty nice, but the overwhelming feeling we got when

we toured the facilities is, ‘We can do better,’” he said. “We want to design for the future. We’ve got that 100-year vision.”

He said quality was the overriding “nonnegotiable” in the design process, with a hospitality-centric guiding principle that is focused on anticipating visitors’ “wants, needs and desires.”

Johnston said the design “will have very much a Western Michigan University brand and a Kalamazoo identity.”

insurers are only required to cover medical treatments that existed before specific provisions in the law were enacted” and “is reviewing industry questions and will provide additional guidance to insurers as necessary,” according to a department spokesperson.

The 34-year-old state law requires coverage for cancer drugs if a patient’s doctor orders an approved therapy and if current “medical literature substantiates its efficacy and recognized oncology organizations generally accept the treatment,” according to the DIFS bulletin. That includes CAR-T, an expensive form of cell therapy used to treat cancer.

“The Department of Insurance and Financial Services will disapprove any health insurance policy form that limits or restricts coverage for cancer therapies, including genetic therapies or immunotherapies, including but not limited to CAR-T,” and that meet the state law’s criteria, Fox wrote in the bulletin.

“The Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services is committed to protecting Michiganders by ensuring that health insurers are following all state

and federal laws and regulations,” Fox said in a statement emailed to Crain’s Grand Rapids Business.

In responding to the bulletin, and as with any issue involving health care, the MAHP seeks to “position ourselves at the table” for a discussion on how the state insurance code treats costly gene and cell therapies, as well as other costly medical advances and their affordability, Pallone said.

Pallone considers the issue an example in which state law and regulation have not kept up with medical advances. That’s why the MAHP generally opposes writing specific medical treatments into state law.

“We always encourage the conversation on any piece of our insurance code. Is it up to date? Is it the right language reflecting modern medicine, modern times?” Pallone told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business. “When you codify medicine, and medicine changes, then it needs frequent updates. So, we tend to default to ‘don’t codify medicine’ because we know it’s going to change. There’s going to be some new breakthrough. There’s going to be something that somebody never envisioned.

“It’s really hard to codify that in a static piece of statute and expect that it’s still relevant.”

The MAHP also asked whether the state regulatory agency requires health plans “who are selling full-risk commercial products that must be approved by DIFS before they can be sold, to cover all oncology drugs, and cellular and gene therapies without regard to FDA safety guidance so long as the aforementioned conditions are met?”

ProPublica’s story in November reported that Priority Health questioned the effectiveness of CAR-T and claimed that the cell therapy is not a drug, meaning the health plan technically did not have to include it in coverage under the state law.

In a statement to Crain’s Grand

oals ups meet

hat oing ids’ aninew ant aid. earvidare omd to unihat the Priority Health’s headquarters in Grand Rapids. | COURTESY

“TowerPinkster did a wonderful job of capturing the history of Kalamazoo in terms of materials in our historical past, and that really defined how the exterior of this was going to look. We didn’t want to have this big, 380,000-squarefoot blob, this monolithic (structure).”

Johnston said the design team wanted the facility to feel “alive” 24 hours a day, with lighting and bronze and metal materials that “all (work) together in this dynamic shape and form that speaks to our past, as well as the present and the future.”

In his presentation, Johnston addressed fears from the community that the facility will have a negative effect on its neighbors.

“We are committed to making sure that this center activates, amplifies everything about our community, everything about downtown Kalamazoo,” he said. “Some people have some fears about these kinds of large facilities, that they don’t play well with their neighbors. We’re committed to playing well with our neighbors.

We’re committed to making sure that this is an amplification for everybody.”

In addition to the community benefits agreement signed as part of the land purchase for the arena site, the facility also will take a “holistic” approach to developing the student athletes of WMU, Johnston said.

The facility will include a nutrition center and an academic career counseling center, and WMU athletes will be able to receive coaching and mentoring from the 75 community leaders on the board of Southwest Michigan First, of which Johnston is one.

“Successful companies hire athletes for a reason, and we want to make sure we make that connection,” he said.

Now that schematic facility design is completed, Johnston said the team is focused on design development to build-out every single detail, down to where the power outlets are placed. Following that, construction documents will be completed, and the construction team will seek city permits.

Rapids Business, a Priority Health spokesperson wrote that “after ongoing clinical evaluations, the medical community demonstrated continued clinical improvements from the treatment, and we began covering CAR-T Cell therapy several years ago.”

The spokesperson did not respond to questions about when exactly it started that coverage.

“The health and safety of our members is always our top priority,” the spokesperson for Priority Health said. “The constant progression and accumulation of scientific evidence is part of our process. We are committed to finding new ways to make medical innovations more affordable and accessible as quickly as possible.”

Hutchinson Antivibration Systems, Inc. in Grand Rapids, MI seeks Lead Molding Supervisor that works cross functionally across the organization, and with the Plant Manager to develop Action Plan to improve productivity and efficiency within the Molding department. Requires Bachelor’s degree in Thermal Engineering or related engineering field and 4 years of experience. Technical skills required. To apply please submit resumes to john.meyne@hutchinson.com.

February 5, 2024 | CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS | 29

P028_P029_CGR_20240205.indd 29

1/31/24 1:26 PM

THE CONVERSATION

Leader of new Kent County housing nonprofit brings firsthand experience to the role A strategist working to build change in Kent County’s housing system has firsthand experience being shut out of the housing market. Eureka People is a native of Fort Worth, Texas, who most recently lived in Indianapolis before being tapped to lead the newly established nonprofit Housing Kent. The group serves as a backbone organization convening several agencies in the county to develop a system for increasing affordable housing, dissolving homelessness and eliminating racial disparities in the housing system. People’s call to serve as Housing Kent’s first president after its formation in 2021 came as a result of her consulting work with KConnect’s Housing Stability Alliance, a group of 130 public and private sector groups that examined the homelessness crisis over a three-year period, culminating in a roadmap published in November 2020. She spoke with Crain’s Grand Rapids Business about housing availability and affordability in Kent County. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. | By Rachel Watson You were president of Housing Kent starting in February 2022, but you lived in Indianapolis until August 2023. Why? I was unable to get housing that I wanted. I am a case (study) for a number of challenges in the renters’ market that are probably hidden from a lot of people. The challenges were pretty tough, as I didn’t want to buy right away because I was unfamiliar with the area. With the renters’ market, a unit might become available, but I’m one of those people who needs to see something and feel it before I can move into it. But if I didn’t take an apartment almost immediately, it would be gone. So essentially, unless you could afford to pay rent in two places, or unless you spent a time living either in a hotel or without housing, you couldn’t get a unit.

It was crazy.

What is Kent County’s housing situation like compared to Indianapolis or Fort Worth?

They’re all midsize cities, and they all have in common that they are experiencing rapid growth. A lot of the suburban areas that 10 years before had no housing developments now are (full of ) housing developments.

And housing prices have been escalating everywhere. The difference between Indiana, where I grew up in Texas, and Grand Rapids, is the housing stock in Kent County is much older.

What insights are you bringing from outside the market that can be useful at Housing Kent?

There are commonalities with all communities. I kept hearing this saying ‘West Michigan nice,’ as if it was unique from any other culture outside West Michigan.

But some of those similar behaviors exist in other cultures; they just don’t call it ‘West Michigan nice.’ Overall, there are a lot of similarities and some differences that require unique design strategies.

What does your work at Housing Kent entail?

The community entrusts us to enact this vision to transform the housing system, so that

everyone can get into housing where they fit in. It’s nonpartisan, and it allows for people to work in the areas of housing that they’re really interested in. We still need to figure out how best to implement that framework.

Eureka People is the first president of Housing Kent.

everyone in Kent County has access to high-quality, affordable housing in areas that they would choose to live in. We do this by operationalizing the community plan that was developed by the Housing Stability Alliance, with a particular focus on families with children.

How does the day-to-day work play out?

We’re like the conductor of an orchestra in that we don’t necessarily play an instrument, which would be akin to running a program or servicing the populations with needs. The main individuals that we work with are the subject matter experts, which could include individuals that are impacted by housing stability, but mainly it’s the businesses, the organizations, the nonprofits, philanthropy, the public sector and the municipalities.

We harness the beauty and the expertise of all of these stakeholders toward a common set of goals, then coordinate and implement activities. Our dayto-day consists of, one, how do we bring good research and data for the groups that we hold the

space to convene to make better decisions than what they were making yesterday, so that we can essentially avert the housing crisis that we’re currently experiencing?

We also seek to elevate the public will building related to the outcomes that our collaboratives want to achieve. We believe that housing affects everyone, and therefore everyone has the opportunity to effect change in housing. We invite people into the space to figure out what their role is going to be.

The third thing that we’re working to achieve is to figure out the right configuration of public policies that can collectively be enacted in our community to be able to guide and sustain action over time.

What type of public policies?

Right now, our policy framework is nascent. This is work that we’ll be doing over the next couple of years, because we need to make sure that we have core quality and valid data to build a public policy platform off and begin to build the public will. Essentially, that framework covers achieving the mission, which is that

You were appointed to serve on the Kent County affordable housing revolving loan fund committee after serving on the advisory committee. How has that experience been?

I look at it as a responsibility to contribute my best thought work and partnership to be able to provide collective guidance to the loan fund, which is being led by IFF. The loan fund is the vehicle for investing in affordable housing projects in Kent County.

The first deal was ($8.5 million for) Dwelling Place’s 42 for-sale unit housing development. A few of those houses are already up and ready for purchase by homeowners. Since it’s on that community land trust model, it allows affordability to be preserved over the life of the house.

I’m also excited about the loan fund for some of the behind-thescenes conversations I’ve had with IFF, understanding that it is an opportunity to create accessibility for small developers in rural areas, as well as for minority developers to gain access to participate in projects and capital that they otherwise would not have. It is going to be an outstanding vehicle for change.

How long is your term on the committee?

One year. We met at the end of last year and elected officers (and the Kent County Board of Commissioners approved those selections Jan. 11). The goal is to grow the initial ARPA investment of $17.5 million to an initial goal of (over) $50 million by identifying potential investors.

What do you think success will look like for the committee?

I believe success does look like hitting that target, which I think would be remarkable.

Beyond that, it’s the impact in the community and the ability to deliver on affordable housing, which is a great need on the supply side.

CrainsGrandRapids.com President and CEO KC Crain Group publisher Jim Kirk, (312) 397-5503 or jkirk@crain.com Executive editor Mickey Ciokajlo, mickey.ciokajlo@crain.com Editor Joe Boomgaard, joe.boomgaard@crain.com Managing editor Andy Balaskovitz, andy.balaskovitz@crain.com Special projects editor Tim Gortsema, tim.gortsema@crain.com Director of audience and engagement Elizabeth Couch, elizabeth.couch@crain.com Audience engagement editor Matthew Pollock, matthew.pollock@crain.com Director of Visual Media Stephanie Swearngin Creative director Thomas J. Linden, tlinden@crain.com Associate creative director Karen Freese Zane Digital design editor Jason McGregor Art directors Kayla Byler, Carolyn McClain, Joanna Metzger Notables coordinator Ashley Maahs REPORTERS Kate Carlson, real estate, kate.carlson@crain.com Jack Grieve, audience engagement, jack.grieve@crain.com Abby Poirier, restaurants, retail and agribusiness, abigail.poirier@crain.com Mark Sanchez, health care and finance, mark.sanchez@crain.com Kayleigh Van Wyk, manufacturing, technology and law, kayleigh.vanwyk@crain.com Rachel Watson, residential real estate, insurance and tourism, rachel.watson@crain.com Danielle Nelson, research and data, danielle.nelson@crain.com ADVERTISING Senior vice president of sales Susan Jacobs, susan.jacobs@crain.com Advertising & event sales director Jill May, jill.may@crain.com Account executives Shelly Keel, shelly.keel@crain.com Jennifer Maksimowski, jennifer.maksimowski@crain.com Michigan events director Samantha Flowers, samantha.flowers@crain.com Events Planner Tressa Brondyke, tressa.brondyke@crain.com People on the Move manager Debora Stein, dstein@crain.com Classified sales Suzanne Janik, sjanik@crain.com Sales assistant Rachel Smith CRAIN’S CONTENT STUDIO Senior director of Crain’s Content Studio Kristin Bull, kbull@crain.com Crain’s Content Studio manager Clare Pfeiffer Content marketing specialist Allie Jacobs PRODUCTION Vice president, product Kevin Skaggs Product manager Tim Simpson Prepress/production director Simone Pryce CUSTOMER SERVICE (833) 830-7446 toll free (845) 267-3031 local line (for any foreign calls) customerservice@crainsgrandrapids.com

Crain’s Grand Rapids Business is published by Crain Communications Inc. Chairman Keith E. Crain Vice chairman Mary Kay Crain President and CEO KC Crain Senior executive VP Chris Crain Chief Financial Officer Robert Recchia G.D. Crain Jr. Founder (1885-1973) Mrs. G.D. Crain Jr. Chairman (1911-1996) Editorial & Business Offices 1155 Gratiot Ave., Detroit MI 48207-2732; (313) 446-6000 Volume 41, Number 3 Crain’s Grand Rapids Business (ISSN 2836-7723) is published biweekly, with an extra issue in April and September, by Crain Communications Inc. at 1155 Gratiot Ave., Detroit, MI 48207-2732. Periodical postage paid at Grand Rapids, Michigan. © Entire contents copyright 2024 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial content in any manner without permission is prohibited.

Subscriptions: $59 per year. Advertising rates and specifications at www.crainsgrandrapids.com or by request.

Crain’s Grand Rapids Business does not accept unsolicited contributions.

Postmaster: Send address changes to Crain’s Grand Rapids Business, 1155 Gratiot Ave., Detroit, MI 48207-2732.

30 | CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS | FEBRUARY 5, 2024

P030_CGR_20240205.indd 30

1/31/24 4:36 PM

CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS

NEWSMAKERS

OF THE YEAR