Crain's Grand Rapids Business, May 27, 2024

Area employers shun child care initiative

between parents, employers and the state.

Racial disparities worsening in homeownership

Fair Housing Center report nds racial gap has more than doubled

By Rachel Watson

A new study shows widening racial gaps in homeownership attainment among Kent County residents based on lending disparities that create lower homeownership rates and higher rates of loan denials for people of color.

By Rachel Watson

ree years after Michigan launched a program to make child care more a ordable by sharing costs between parents, the state and employers, very few companies in West Michigan are participating.

at’s according to the results of a recent local survey of 140 companies collectively employing 40,000 people in the region that gauged child care needs as well as employers’ willingness to actively participate in solutions. e survey polled employers in Kent, Barry, Ionia, Mecosta and Montcalm counties.

Grand Rapids-based Vibrant

Futures, a regional child care planning and advocacy organization, unveiled the results of the employer survey May 13 at a private event held at Kentwood-based Autocam Medical.

Vibrant Futures’ survey found that while 100% of employers polled supported state action on the child care crisis, only 80% were open to partnering with the state on solutions.

However, the survey found that only 5% of employers surveyed are currently participating in the MI Tri-Share program. Companies that o er other forms of assistance included contributions to exible spending accounts (41%) and vouchers (10%).

$2.88B Estimated lost annual economic activity from the ongoing child care shortage.

Source: U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation

Of that same set of employers, 63% said they were open to the idea of the state-supported MI Tri-Share Program established in 2021, which splits the cost of child care

Of those surveyed, 58% said they were actively considering contributing to TriShare, while 51% were considering o ering vouchers, and 39% were considering contributing to FSAs.

During a panel discussion at the event, Cascade Engineering CEO Christina

e Fair Housing Center of West Michigan’s 52-page report released last month is the nonpro t’s rst-ever study specically focused on Kent County lending disparities, though it’s done smaller internal analyses for the Muskegon area and Ottawa County.

RELATED STORY: PAGE 23

e report found that since 1970, the gap between white and Black homeownership in Kent County has more than doubled, and Black homeownership has declined by 12% since 2010.

Med contractor invests $100M near Grand Rapids

Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing adding 150,000 square feet in Caledonia

By Mark Sanchez

A new production facility under construction near Grand Rapids will boost Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing Inc.’s capacity to accommodate the company’s

continued high growth rate. e 150,000-square-foot facility rising just north of GRAM’s existing location on Patterson Avenue near 68th Street in Caledonia Township will ll syringes and cartridges for biotech and pharmaceutical companies that produce injectable drugs. e company is investing in excess of $100 million for the facility and equipment, which will give

RELATED STORY: PAGE 7 See GRAM on Page 25

Land ll solar project could power Grand Rapids steam utility

FORUM

Can Michigan devise a better strategy to get projects and jobs?

PAGES 9-15

Homes on Grand Rapids’ southwest side.

| KATE CARLSON

Renderings show the proposed 150,000-square-foot facility Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing is building in Caledonia Township. COURTESY IMAGE

INDUSTRY 4.0: Manufacturing Automation

The manufacturing industry is moving at a breakneck pace. Artificial intelligence, Industry 4.0 principles, electric vehicles, 3D printing and robotics are just some of the subjects leaders are dealing with on a daily basis. Join Crain’s Grand Rapids on June 20 to hear how experts in the field are addressing these topics and many more during a discussion about all things manufacturing.

Federal judge sends copyright dispute to arbitration

Former architect accuses Mary Free Bed of infringement

By Mark Sanchez

A federal judge sided with Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital and moved a copyright infringement dispute to arbitration.

Judge Robert Jonker said SmithGroup Inc.’s claim that Mary Free Bed improperly passed on designs for a new pediatric hospital to Pure Architects first needs to go to arbitration to resolve, as outlined in the original contract between the hospital and SmithGroup.

“The Court need not decide any

merits-based arguments, including waiver. The Court determines this matter must be arbitrated,”

Jonker wrote in his May 8 order remanding the case to arbitration “to the extent that this matter must be arbitrated.”

Jonker also rejected SmithGroup’s request for a preliminary injunction preventing Mary Free Bed from using its previous design work for the pediatric hospital “as moot and without prejudice to whatever injunctive relief it might seek in arbitration.”

The judge ordered the parties in the case to provide a status on the arbitration proceedings every 90 days. “Failure to keep the Court apprised of the status of the case on this schedule may lead to dismissal of this action for lack of progress,” he wrote.

The move “administratively close(s) this case subject to the participation of the parties in arbitration.” Either party can move to reopen the case once arbitration is

See INFRINGEMENT on Page 23

Landfill solar project could power Grand Rapids steam utility

City officials are reconfiguring plans for the Butterworth solar project to power Vicinity Energy’s new electric boilers | Andy Balaskovitz

The city of Grand Rapids is reconfiguring plans for a large solar project on a former landfill to potentially provide renewable energy to the utility that generates heat for dozens of public and private facilities downtown.

City officials are working with Vicinity Energy and Consumers Energy to design the long-planned Butterworth solar project in a way that could provide power directly to the district energy plant at the corner of Fulton Street and Ottawa Avenue, across the street from Van Andel Arena.

Details of the plan are still being worked out, but the move coincides with Vicinity’s long-term carbon-emission reduction goals. In Grand Rapids, that decarbonization strate-

gy involves phasing out its natural gas-powered boilers at the downtown plant in favor of electric-powered models.

A direct connection from Grand Rapids’ solar project to the district energy plant could help lower the carbon footprint of the steam utility, which provides heat to roughly 120 downtown buildings spanning 10 million square feet of space. The electric boilers, to be phased in over several years, also would rely on the broader electric grid for power, while the gas-powered boilers would remain as a backup.

Roughly a year ago, the city started conversations with Vicinity about the company

Popular Eastown restaurant files for Ch. 11 bankruptcy

By Mark Sanchez

A popular Grand Rapids diner aims to continue operating and reorganize financially through federal bankruptcy after incurring debt and experiencing a decline in business from the pandemic. Matchbox Business LLC, doing business as Matchbox Diner & Drinks at 1345 Lake Drive in the city’s Eastown neighborhood, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on May 9. The company filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Michigan under Subchapter V of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, which helps small businesses file more efficiently by reducing time and costs. In a court document that accompanies the bankruptcy filing, Matchbox manager Nathan Orange wrote that the business never fully recovered for the shutdowns implemented four years ago in the pandemic and incurred

Vicinity Energy’s Jesse Douglas near the steam plant’s water purification area. aNDy BaLaSKOVITZ

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

| COURTESy OF MaRy FREE BED

Mayor prioritizes hotel tax, homelessness to finish term

By Kate Carlson

Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalynn Bliss plans to use her last seven months in office to rally voters behind a countywide lodging tax increase and house 100 people who have been chronically homeless.

Bliss, who has served as mayor for more than eight years but became term-limited after a successful 2014 ballot initiative, gave her final state of the city address May 16 at the Fulton Street Market.

Bliss used the event as a farewell address to both highlight major projects during her time as mayor as well as outstanding goals.

Those goals include helping convince Kent County voters to pass a proposal to increase the county’s lodging tax in the August primary, which would generate new revenue for major entertainment projects such as the Acrisure Amphitheater, a professional soccer stadium and a potential aquarium.

If passed by voters, the county Board of Commissioners would be able to consider amending its lodging ordinance and raising the tax beyond 5% up to 8%, which could go into effect Jan. 1, 2025.

“Our modest existing tax on those hotel and motel stays is a critical piece of the funding dedicated to building and supporting destination assets like the arena and convention center,” Bliss said. “In other words, tourism helps pay for Grand Rapids and Kent County. Our guests come and go. But their money stays here, providing significant benefits to Grand Rapids’ residents and helps to support our community’s high quality of life.”

The city of Grand Rapids sees more than 9 million overnight visitors every year, which stimulates the local economy to the tune of more than $82 million annually,

Bliss said. This contributes to local jobs and business revenues and is coming from visitors who are mostly from outside of Kent County, Bliss added.

“I hope you all will join me in voting yes for visitor funded community assets that will benefit our community far into the future,” Bliss said.

The tax hike could be used to

cer stadium project could break ground before the end of this year.

“Both of these projects — just as the arena and convention center did 20 years ago — will catalyze valuable investment in new housing, new business prospects and other opportunities that pay dividends for decades to come,” Bliss said. “And while both of these projects are happening in our city,

“Our modest existing tax on those hotel and motel stays is a critical piece of the funding dedicated to building and supporting destination assets like the arena and convention center.”

Rosalynn Bliss, Grand Rapids Mayor

fund two new assets for downtown Grand Rapids: Acrisure Amphitheater and the soccer stadium, which are both being developed by Grand Action 2.0. Construction on the amphitheater was set to break ground earlier this month at 201 Market Ave. SW while the soc-

they will undoubtedly deliver county-wide benefits and positive regional impact.”

Housing focus

As the city helps develop important assets like the amphitheater and

soccer stadium, it is also important to keep investing in its people, said Bliss, whose position presides over city commission meetings and serves as a seventh vote.

“One of the ongoing critical and challenging issues is ensuring people have access to safe and stable housing,” Bliss said. “During my remaining days in office, I will continue to focus my time on improving and growing our efforts to address homelessness.”

The city has made progress in addressing homelessness by elevating its partnership with Community Rebuilders, Bliss said. As well, local nonprofits have launched new resources for the city’s homeless population in recent years, including the Behavioral Health Crisis Center that Kent County and Trinity Health opened this month, with more underway. Later this year, Community Rebuilders and Eenhorn Investors plan to open the Nexus Initiative, a supportive bridge housing facility for people experiencing chronic homelessness, Bliss added.

“These are exceptional efforts that are critical to building a more comprehensive housing system, particularly for those who are most vulnerable,” Bliss said. “But we have more work to do. I refuse to accept that it is inevitable that some people fall through the cracks. If there is any city that can end chronic homelessness, it is Grand Rapids.”

The City Commission last year passed a pair of divisive ordinances that aim to forbid aggressive panhandling, limit the amount of personal property allowed in public places, and tighten local regulations on public nuisances and disorderly conduct. A group of business owners downtown pushed for the ordinances, while

some housing advocacy groups decried the ordinances as a way of criminalizing homelessness.

Bliss pledged to join partners across the community to set a goal of housing 100 people who have been chronically homeless before the end of this year.

“The changes we have talked about for years need to be put into action,” Bliss said. “We need greater alignment among our service providers.”

Reaching the goal of housing 100 people who have been chronically homeless will also require an effective, coordinated entry system to match vulnerable residents with housing resources to ensure people remain housed long-term, Bliss said. She also called out a need to identify where the gaps in services are, as well as a homelessness impact dashboard to ensure transparency and accountability.

“The same public-private partnerships and collaborative spirit that we’ve used to solve other challenges can help drive success here too,” Bliss said. “We can make significant strides toward a future where homelessness in our city is not just managed but substantially reduced.”

Bliss is the first woman to serve as the mayor of Grand Rapids in the city’s 174-year history. Before she became mayor, Bliss served as a second ward city commissioner for 10 years.

Bliss is term-limited in her role at the end of this year. Four people have filed to run for the mayor seat in this year’s election: former state Rep. David LaGrand, former City Commissioner Senita Lenear, Steve Owens and Haily Lynch-Bastion.

Bliss said in an interview that she is endorsing LaGrand in this year’s election.

City submits revised river rapids plan for state approval

By Kate Carlson

The city of Grand Rapids, in conjunction with Grand Rapids Whitewater, submitted a permit application with the state to carry out a revised version of the Grand River restoration project after the first iteration was denied more than a year ago.

The filing of the application kicks off the formal review process by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE).

If the plans receive the necessary state and federal approvals in the coming months, construction on the river project is expected to begin in 2025, said Grand Rapids Deputy City Manager Kate Berens. While the new plan still seeks to remove dams throughout the downtown stretch of the Grand River, it no longer proposes recreational waves — or whitewater rapids — along the river, which

had been the thrust of the initiative more than a decade in the making. However, the elimination of dams still aims to increase public access to the river and recreation such as canoeing or kayaking, and elevation changes will create some rapids features, officials recently told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business.

The city and Grand Rapids Whitewater spent the past year designing the new proposal. During that time, state agencies weighed in to provide feedback on the new proposal. Prior concerns from state and federal regulators involved the previous plans’ public safety and environmental damage to the river.

The city is confident that with the collaboration from state agencies, backers will successfully secure permits for the project this round, Berens said.

“We’re optimistic that this new iteration of the Grand River restoration project allows us to achieve the shared goals we outlined to-

gether last March, including improved fish passage and habitat,” Berens said in a statement.

The plan, which is estimated to cost $20 million to $23 million, covers the lower reach of the Grand River through downtown from just north of Bridge Street to Fulton Street to the south. The application proposes removing four low head dams and installing tons of natural rock and boulders

in the river. Four boulder arch structures are proposed to create rapids and provide a passage for fish.

Other work proposed in the plan to revitalize the river includes:

w Adding three boulder vane structures for greater access along the riverbank.

w Installing approximately 125 scattered habitat boulders to help

restore the river’s historical flow and river-bottom diversity and create resting areas for fish.

w Placing nearly 5,000 tons of boulders and 15,000 tons of small, rounded rocks in the river.

The Grand Rapids City Commission recently approved a $7 million grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. for mussel relocation, the removal of dams and installation of rock substrate for the project.

City commissioners also approved agreements with BioSurvey Group LLC for $1.26 million for mussel relocation services, and Dunn Ecological Services LLC for $132,080 for construction services, with a total amount not to exceed $1.55 million.

“The project is substantially the old one, minus the waves,” Grand Rapids Whitewater President and CEO Steve Heacock said in a recent interview. “Even though we do not have those recreational waves, the project was worth doing, and very much worth doing.”

City officials along with Grand Rapids Whitewater have submitted revised plans to the state to remove dams and create natural features in the Grand River. | MARK SANCHEZ

Mayor Rosalynn Bliss speaks at Fulton Street Market during her last State of the City address before she is term-limited out of office. | KATE CARLSON

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Riverfront development trades office space for housing

By Kate Carlson

A Grand Rapids-based developer is shifting course with a mixeduse project planned along the Grand River, now envisioning nearly three times as many housing units to replace some office space.

Pinnacle Construction Group Inc.’s latest version of a plan to convert historic industrial buildings along the west side of the river calls for 35 apartments, up from 12 in an earlier proposal. The higher number of housing units means downsizing the office footprint with the project.

The approximately $10 million project at 974 Front Ave. NW has been a couple of years in the making. The project timeline has been set back by delays at the State Historic Preservation Office, which reviews amendments to historic projects, and construction is now expected to begin this summer, said James Lewis, Pinnacle Construction development director.

Pinnacle’s plans call for renovating three buildings into 35 market rate apartment units and converting the remaining 17,000 square feet into office space.

Places.

The development team expects to secure $1.4 million in historic tax credits for the project.

“It’s a significant resource and it’s important to the success of the project and many other projects across the state, and the review time is concerning right now,” Lewis said.

“I think (the project) will bring a lot of life and vitality to this section of Front Avenue and help with the revitalization (of) the riverfront.”

James Lewis, Pinnacle Construction development director

“We’re still planning on having office space, but haven’t figured that out quite yet in terms of who will move in there,” Lewis said. “We’re just focused on the buildout of the residential areas right now.”

The three-building complex on Front Avenue, four parcels south of Leonard Street, contains 41,240 square feet across one- and two-story buildings that were originally constructed between 1912 and 1917 for the Clipper Belt Lacer Co. The site in 2023 was listed on the National Register of Historic

The project has already gone through the historic approval process multiple times, and Pinnacle is waiting on approval for another amendment related to restoring the windows in the nearly 110-yearold building, Lewis said.

The additional details and approval for restoring the windows that was requested by the State Historic Preservation Office could “certainly delay the timeline” of the project, Lewis said, but he is hoping to find a way to get through the process a little faster.

A State Historic Preservation Office representative could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, the Michigan Historic Preservation Network is coming on board as a co-owner and co-developer with Pinnacle Construction for the project, Lewis said. The change to the development team requires additional ap-

Workplace harassment guidance updated to include sexuality, gender identity

By Mark Sanchez

proval from the Grand Rapids City Commission because of a $1.8 million Michigan Economic Development Corp. revitalization and placemaking (RAP) grant the project received through the city.

Lewis expects the city commission to consider the change in the project’s development team related to the grant funding at a meeting in the near future.

“It’s a complicated project with the historic tax credits involved and the RAP grant,” Lewis said. “We talked with different people on different ways to structure the deal, and it was suggested a partnership (with the Michigan Historic Preservation Network) might make sense for the project. We spent pretty much the last year working through the details to get them involved in the project.”

The development was originally proposed as a 12-unit apartment project, with rents priced in the 60% to 80% range of the area median income, while the rest of the buildings would be converted for office space. The unit makeup now calls for two studios, six two-bedrooms and 27 one-bedrooms.

Pinnacle’s proposed project is also within a roughly 30-acre area on the west side of the Grand River that the City Commission rezoned earlier this year to promote future development, including housing.

“I think (the project) will bring a lot of life and vitality to this section of Front Avenue and help with the revitalization (of) the riverfront,” Lewis said. “We’re hoping this will start to generate more interesting redevelopment, especially considering the recent zoning changes that allow for much bigger buildings along the river here.”

The apartments will have high ceilings, large windows and the majority will be lofted, giving the feel of an almost two-story apartment, Lewis said.

“They are really interesting apartments,” Lewis said. “They will be very unique and I can’t think of another example of a project like this in the city. You don’t see buildings built like this today.”

New federal guidance on workplace harassment incorporates a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision that extends legal protections against discrimination to sexuality and gender identity.

The guidance provides the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission field offices with direction on enforcing anti-discrimination laws and handling complaints alleging workplace harassment or discrimination, including behavior that occurs online.

The guidance replaces, consolidates and updates five prior documents the EEOC issued between 1987 and 1999 that predate the Supreme Court decision in a Georgia case that stated the U.S. Civil Rights Act protects workers from discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

“This new guidance takes on that issue very directly, and also takes into account that many of us now live in a ‘Zoom world’ where harassment or discrimination can take place online rather than face to face,” said Mark Smith, a human resource and employment law attorney at Grand Rapids-based Rhoades McKee P.C.

“It really does change things to some degree,” Smith said. “What they’re saying is that the expansion by the Supreme Court of gender identity rights goes pretty deep into the workplace and they’re going to enforce the law to prevent people from within the LBGTQ+ community from the types of harassment that particularly impact them.”

The parts of the guidance related to transgender employees have become the subject of a lawsuit that 18 state attorneys general filed in Tennessee to block enforcement. In the case, they claim the EEOC update extends beyond the scope of the Supreme Court decision that ruled that discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity is unlawful.

“Ultimately, this is going to be an issue that the courts are going to have to work out as to whether the EEOC can issue guidance that addresses these sorts of issues that are common in the work-

place and that we are definitely seeing become an emerging trend,” said DeAndre’ Harris, a labor and employment law attorney at Grand Rapids-based Warner Norcross + Judd LLP.

Under the updated EEOC guidance, intrusive questions about somebody’s sexual orientation or gender identify or transition could trigger a violation of the Civil Rights Act, Smith said. The guidance also states that outing or repeatedly misgendering a coworker “can also run afoul of the federal statute,” as can denying somebody access to a bathroom or other workplace facility based on their gender identity, he said.

The guidance provides direction on how the EEOC may handle formal complaints against employers, as well as offers “an idea on what (employers’) obligations are concerning harassment in the workplace,” Harris said.

“It provides the legal landscape or provides the employer with an idea of what principles the agency will consider in making that determination on whether there’s reasonable cause to believe that employers should be held liable for harassing conduct that takes place in the workplace,” he said.

Employers should update their workplace policies, training and employee handbooks accordingly based on the EEOC guidance, according sources contacted for this report.

“The guidance could be used as a ‘north star’ of sorts when it comes to reviewing those workplace policies concerning anti-harassment,” Harris said.

Updating workplace policies should “be pretty easy to implement,” Smith said.

“They need to add to their training some sensitivity to the fact that conduct based on someone’s gender identity is just as offensive and just as actionable as conduct based on age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion or handicap” he said. “You just have to add a few more sentences to your training and you’ll be doing all of your employees a favor — those that might be subject to harassment and those that could be accused of it. They’ll all know about it and will incorporate it in the way they act.”

Pinnacle Construction Group plans to convert historic industrial buildings at 974 Front Ave. NW into housing and office space. | KATE CARLSON

Business groups decry proposed child care budgets

By Rachel Watson and David Eggert

GOP lawmakers and business leaders say elements of the proposed House and Senate budgets for pre-K programming would potentially push providers out of the market amid an already critical shortage of child care slots in Michigan.

Specifically, critics of Democrats’ proposed early childhood budgets are raising concerns about forcing salary raises for private child care providers without additional public funding, as well as striking a requirement that public education systems allot a certain amount of funding for private care providers.

Kevin Stotts, president of TalentFirst, a coalition of more than 100 CEOs from across West Michigan that has an early childhood working group, said the proposed changes would be “devastating to the early childhood development system in Michigan.”

The state Senate on May 15 passed its fiscal year 2024-25 school aid budget plan after the House approved its own version on May 8.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer proposed a $106.2 million, or 19.5%, increase up from $543.3 million last year in Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP) funding as part of her budget proposal. Whereas the House passed a $96 million, or 17.7%, boost in its school aid budget, and the Senate approved a $136 million, or 25%, increase.

GSRP is Michigan’s subsidized pre-K program for 4-year-olds that is free to low-income families. Funding goes to intermediate school districts, which can either run their own programs or designate subrecipients, including traditional K-12 school districts, charter schools and community-based providers.

‘I don’t understand this’

While the Legislature’s proposed funding levels are roughly in line

with the governor’s, critics are pointing to some of the finer details that they contend would raise the cost of care and potentially drive private providers out of business.

The Senate’s plan calls for requiring private community-based GSRP providers to raise teacher salaries in fiscal year 2024-25.

Marcus Keech, director of government affairs for the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce, said requiring community-based child care providers — such as nonprofits, faith-based organizations or privately owned small businesses — to raise their salaries so suddenly without public funding support would be “incredibly alarming.”

“(Under the proposal), a private company is being mandated what their pay is, and obviously schools have different forms of finances coming in to help contribute to what they can pay their teachers, and providers don’t have that,” he said. “To cover those costs, they’re going to have to increase the rates. We already see child care in some parts of Kent County (costing) upwards of $20,000 a year for a kid. By increasing their rates now, you can only guess what (costs) will become.”

Before passing the Senate school

aid budget, majority Democrats amended the bill to soften the proposed salary requirement. The bill initially would have mandated that teachers make no less than the average salary earned by teachers in the surrounding K-12 district. It was changed to equal the average GSRP teacher salary, adjusted for years of service, in the surrounding prosperity region.

“One of the things that we have been prioritizing in this process is paying preschool teachers more,” said Sen. Darrin Camilleri, D-Trenton, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Pre-K-12 Subcommittee. “That’s something that is so important, as we’re thinking about those who are taking care of our students, that they have an ability to take care of their families as well. We adopted an amendment that is helping to massage that language to ensure that it is something that makes sense in all regions across the state, so that when we’re talking about salaries for preschool teachers, they are able to be implemented whether you’re at a school district level or at a community-based organization.”

Republicans tried to remove the salary provision altogether. Sen. Jonathan Lindsey, of the village of

Allen in Hillsdale County, said the proposal would “absolutely destroy” many preschool programs by increasing costs by up to $200 million.

“Some of that could be a burden borne by the state, but most of it would have to be borne by local providers,” he said. “The net impact is a lot of them — next year, people who are right now providing preschool in our communities, if this budget passes the way it is in front of us — would close their doors. I don’t understand this.”

The Democratic amendment, he said, “would still potentially have a really negative impact and could still end up closing some of these programs down.”

‘Devastating’ small providers

The House version of the school aid budget plan also is generating vocal opposition from business groups.

The proposal would strike a requirement for ISDs to dedicate 30% of their total allocation of GSRP slots to private community-based providers. That requirement has been in place for more than a decade.

The House budget plan also proposes to direct all $20 million of the startup/expansion grant appropriations for GSRP providers to classrooms directly operated by the ISD or school districts, prohibiting classrooms operated by private providers from accessing that funding.

The Grand Rapids Chamber said these components of the House proposal undercut the vision of Whitmer’s Pre-K for All Roadmap that was created in partnership with Michigan families, ISDs, educators, providers and businesses from across the state.

Keech, at the chamber, said one of the goals of the roadmap was to provide a runway of support to help get private providers GSRP-certified to bring more providers — and more child care slots — into the market.

“But by removing this 30% re-

quirement of GSRP (providers) and putting all the dollars only to ISDs and their constituent school districts, you’re pretty much telling these providers … you have the process to become GSRP (certified), but you have no help in getting there, and that’s not something that providers really have the ability to do, in many cases, without that assistance,” Keech said.

Stotts added that private community-based organizations are helping to fill crucial, and sometimes large, child care gaps in some communities. TalentFirst signed a joint agreement led by the Early Childhood Investment Corporation opposing the House school aid budget proposal when it was first announced last month.

“If you look at the percentages of GSRP slots that are utilized by community-based organizations … it ranges from 20% to as high as 50%, 60% or 70% of spots in different ISDs that go to community-based organizations,” he said. “They fill a gap. They’re closer to the needs of families, they have more flexibility in terms of where they’re located and flexibility in meeting the needs of working parents, and so they play a really unique role.”

Stotts said the community-based organizations, including YWCA or YMCA daycares, faith-based providers, community centers or home-based child care operators, currently use a blend of GSRP students and families paying for daycare to make their bottom lines pencil out.

“You take out that (30%) requirement, and you really decimate the economics for these organizations,” he said.

Other signatories to the joint statement opposing the House plan said it would cause irreparable harm to small businesses and organizations that are often operated by women, especially women of color.

The Senate, House and governor are expected to iron out differences and enact the next state budget by July 1.

Southeast Michigan publisher buys local newspaper group

By Mark Sanchez

A chain of local weekly newspapers in West Michigan has sold, adding to the new owner’s roster of publications across the state.

Lapeer-based View Newspaper Group acquired the publishing operations of J-Ad Graphics Inc., the Hastings Township-based publisher of the Hastings Banner, Hastings Reminder, Lowell Ledger, Lowell Buyers Guide, Battle Creek Shopper News, Marshall Advisor & Chronicle and Sun & News in Middleville and Caledonia.

View Newspaper Group bought the publications from the Jacobs family, who had owned them for nearly 80 years.

“When the family decided it was time for them to sell their papers, they sought us out knowing of our success in the community newspa-

per business and our reputation for treating stakeholders — readers, advertisers, vendors and employees — with fairness and respect,” View Newspaper Group owner and President Rick Burrough said in an announcement.

The deal did not include Printing Plus near Hastings, Lowell Lithograph and Charlotte Lithograph, which the Jacobs family will continue to operate. Jacobs also retained the real estate for J-Ad Graphics’ locations in Hastings, Marshall and Lowell, according to a report.

Burrough formed View Newspaper Group in 2003. The J-Ad acquisition gives the company 21 newspapers with a combined weekly circulation of about 335,000 in Lapeer, Oakland, Genesee, Livingston, Sanilac, Huron, Saginaw, Shiawassee, Montcalm, Ionia, Barry, Cal-

houn and Kent counties.

Adding the J-Ad Graphics’ chain of weekly newspapers “fits well with our existing publications, bridging the geographical gap between our newspapers in east-Michigan regions and the Daily News in Greenville on the west side of the state,” View Newspaper Group Publisher Wes Smith said in a statement. “Helping local businesses grow and thrive has always been an important part of our mis-

sion. Having the J-Ad newspapers join our family will offer our advertisers the opportunity to reach readers across the state.”

The deal was View Newspaper Group’s largest since it acquired Lapeer-based The County Press in 2009, according to the company.

Previously, View Newspaper Group in 2019 acquired Stafford Media Inc., the former publisher of The Greenville Daily News. The acquisition included Stafford’s News

Web commercial printing operations.

The Stafford printing plant in Greenville will print J-Ad division newspapers and J-Ad commercial work. Through the J-Ad acquisition, View Newspaper Group picked up about 20 commercial printing clients.

The J-Ad newspapers will continue to operate from their current offices in Hastings, Lowell, Battle Creek and Marshall.

In the announcement on the transaction, J-Ad owner and Publisher Fred Jacobs said that as he examined potential buyers and settled on View Newspaper Group, “it came down to the only one that understood the importance of keeping as many employees as possible, putting out great products and having the financial ability to continue for years to come.”

J-Ad Graphics’ headquarters at 1351 N. M-43 in Hastings Township. GOOGLE STREETVIEW

A recent report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation found that the state government misses an estimated $576 million annually in tax revenues because of child care issues, while employers lose out on $2.3 billion from child care-related employee turnover and absenteeism. | FILE PHOTO COURTESy OF FIRST STEPS KENT

Businesses making move to Creston neighborhood

By Rachel Watson

A local veteran-owned construction management firm has opened a new workspace for itself and several partner businesses in Grand Rapids’ Creston neighborhood.

Honor Construction Inc. recently signed a three-year lease for the entire 6,000-square-foot second floor of Sun Title Agency’s main office at 385 Leonard St. NE in Grand Rapids.

Founded in 2009 and led by U.S. Navy veteran and CEO Brad Laackman, Honor Construction offers construction project management services in the beverage, hospitality, housing, industrial, medical and office sectors.

The company completed the move into its new location on April 27.

“What made it so appealing for us … was that it was ready to go and fully furnished and everything,” Laackman said. “We haven’t had to do anything to it yet, other than lipstick and makeup — just some aesthetic stuff to make it our own.”

Laackman said his company, which now numbers 15 employees, moved from its previous headquarters at 280 Ann St. NW because it outgrew that leased space.

“(The new place) gives us room to expand,” Laackman said. “It was just a really nice fit for us … and it’s

been such a good move for us, just from a productivity and positive energy standpoint.”

Sun Title co-founder and President Lawrence Duthler said he and co-founder and CEO Thomas Cronkright originally intended to leave the second floor open for their own use. But they’ve since made plans to add two new branches that will accommodate the 19-year-old firm’s future growth. Duthler said he’s not quite ready to disclose the new branch locations.

“It turns out we’ve got capacity at these other branch offices where we’re placing people, so we have enough (room) on the first floor,” he said.

Laackman also secured permission from Duthler and Cronkright to sublease parts of the second floor to other “complementary” companies that Honor works with on a regular basis.

These include minority-owned construction management company Isle Construction, co-founded by Laackman and Jamiel Robinson and his cousin, Will Robinson. Like Honor, Isle was also previously based at 280 Ann St. NW.

Other confirmed tenants are Tact Marketing Strategy, owned by Chelsie Wyse, and Steve Steketee’s ShutterWerks Media videography company. Steketee and Laackman will use part of their offices as a

place to record their longtime business/comedy podcast, Absolute B.S. with Brad and Steve.

Duthler said it has worked out well to have Honor in the building, as the firm has long been a client of Sun Title’s. They’ve also used Steketee’s videography services.

“We’ve known Brad for a while now, and it’s just a great fit, even from a culture perspective, with his outlook on how he builds and manages teams and how he conducts business,” Duthler said.

The “vibe” that Laackman is trying to create on the second floor is “relaxed business” with an emphasis on friendly collaboration, he said.

“It makes for just a nice energy and a nice corporate culture,” he said.

Laackman decided on a “pop art” theme for the decor, which includes the Kava House sign from the coffee shop formerly located at 1445 Lake Drive SE in Eastown.

The Kava House closed in 2015, and the building now houses That Early Bird cafe.

“I spent more time there than I did in high school, I’m pretty sure, so when they closed, the owner … gifted me one of the signs,” Laackman said, laughing.

He said he is in talks with other prospective tenants to fill out the remaining second-floor office space at 385 Leonard, which can comfortably accommodate about 25 to 30 workers.

All tenants of the building, in-

cluding Sun Title and the YWCA commercial kitchen on the first floor, have access to the shared ground-floor amenities, including an indoor basketball court and gymnasium and an outdoor courtyard and parking lot.

“The access is great here, and the parking, and it’s (near) downtown but it’s not downtown,” Laackman said.

He added that though his team is not involved with the project, he is also excited for Sun Title’s planned 180-unit apartment project next door to the office.

“We’ve got a lot of other fish to fry (with) our stuff, but it’s going to be really exciting for Tom and Lawrence to have that addition, and it’s fulfilling the huge Grand Rapids need … for attainable housing. Anything to help out with that, we’re excited for it,” he said.

Duthler said it’s rewarding to witness the growing “vibrancy” of the Creston neighborhood, with developments such as the Lofts on Grove and The Current apartment projects springing up just down the street on Plainfield Avenue, and the increasingly diverse mix of office and business tenants.

“Anytime we can bring people into this neighborhood that are doing great work, and bring in folks into the community, it’s advantageous,” he said. “It’s a great place to do business.”

City forwards plan for more than 180 apartments on vacant site

By Rachel Watson

A Grand Rapids board has recommended approving a developer’s plan to add up to 186 units of housing next to a title company’s office campus on the city’s northeast side.

The Grand Rapids City Planning Commission on May 9 voted unanimously to recommend approval of Pinnacle Construction Group and Sun Title Agency’s rezoning request for 385 and 301 Leonard St. NE from Neighborhood Office Service to Planned Redevelopment District.

The rezoning, which next will move to the city commission for approval, would support construction of a five-story mixed-use residential project on the 3.4-acre site at Leonard Street and Lafayette Avenue NE. Sun Title acquired the property in 2022 for its corporate headquarters.

The board also approved a parking waiver for the project, which includes a reduction of vehicle spaces from the required 283 down to 78, and 56 covered bike storage spaces instead of the requisite 103. The board granted the waiver largely because the project is on two bus lines and has nearby onstreet parking.

“Our commitment to the Creston area continues, and we’re excited about this site,” Lawrence Duthler, president and co-founder of Sun Title, said at the meeting, noting the site was originally purchased with

such future development in mind.

Planning Commissioner Laurel Joseph said she was happy to see the project come up on the agenda because she frequently drives past this lot and has often thought it should be developed.

“I think it’s appropriate in this location,” she said. “This is a main street with access to good transit, and I think it is completely appropriate for this level of density.”

The east side of the property would continue to house Sun Title’s office, along with a commercial kitchen that the YMCA leases.

Grand Rapids-based Pinnacle Construction would then build a separate mixed-use building on the western 2 acres, which is currently vacant.

Pinnacle serves as the architect and construction manager on the

project and will share ownership of the development with Sun Title.

Plans call for 181 to 186 units of affordable and market-rate housing, a first-floor parking structure and ground-floor commercial space facing Leonard Street. The development would have a central courtyard with green space and landscape buffers on the perimeter.

The site has a significant gradient, rising about 24 feet moving east along Leonard Street, including about 12 feet of change that the developers plan to use for the proposed building.

The project team addressed the gradient by building the structure into the hill, giving it the appearance of four or five stories depending on frontage. It also will have a parking structure on the base level,

built into the hill and accessible from Lafayette.

“The site’s challenging, there’s no doubt about it,” Duthler said. “But we’re also excited about just how it’s been designed. … This project is going to make things far more open feeling, especially on that corner as you’re coming around Lafayette.”

The planning commission approved the plan with a condition to enhance the pedestrian experience from the street-facing side on Lafayette Avenue, either by changing the architectural treatment of the parking garage to break up the facade or by planting mature landscaping that will better screen the parking deck from view.

Commissioners also added a condition that the project will allow for office or residential uses on the ground floor facing Leonard Street, in case the retail component fails to materialize.

Although the developer’s application states the request is to permit up to 186 units “to allow for flexibility to meet financing needs,” the current floor plan has 181 units, including 86 studio apartments of around 400 square feet each, 91 one-bedrooms ranging from 520 to 650 square feet, and four two-bedroom units of about 900 square feet apiece. Most of the units would have a balcony or porch.

Additional amenities include a fourth-floor lounge with city views, access to a gym at the existing Sun Title office, and other recreation opportunities within the courtyard.

Pinnacle Director of Development James Lewis said during the meeting the project team plans to apply to the city for Neighborhood Enterprise Zone incentives and brownfield tax increment financing reimbursements.

To qualify for the latter, the project would need to set aside 20% of the units (37 total) as affordable for people making up to 120% of area median income, he said. That’s about $84,600 for a single person and $96,720 for a two-person household in Kent County, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2024 guidelines.

Rents for the remaining units would be about $1,300 for a studio, $1,575 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,850 for a two-bedroom unit, Lewis previously told Crain’s.

The Creston Neighborhood Association supports the project with the condition that at least 10 apartments would be reserved for affordable housing and that the developer will work with The Rapid to add shelters to the bus stops closest to the development.

“The project, as presented to our Land Use Committee on Wednesday, March 6th, promises to be a multifaceted development, offering crucial residential space while emphasizing accessibility and community integration,” Creston Neighborhood Association Executive Director Gregg Hampshire wrote in the letter.

Honor Construction Inc. has relocated its office to the second floor of Sun Title Agency’s office at 385 Leonard St. NE. COURTESy

Can Michigan devise a better strategy to get projects and jobs?

By David Eggert

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and her allies stood on the porch of the Grand Hotel at the state’s preeminent business summit and outlined Make It in Michigan, a broad-strokes, three-pronged economic development vision.

One pillar? Winning more projects — investment and jobs from companies choosing to expand in or locate to Michigan. “We’re on the same page about economic development,” the Democratic governor said at the Mackinac Policy Conference, less than two months after she signed a law solidifying the state’s na-

scent, marquee business attraction fund with up to $1.5 billion over three fiscal years.

A year later, however, the strategy is unsettled and in legislative limbo. Lawmakers are debating the worthiness and size of existing incentives used to keep and lure companies — and whether new ones, such as a tax incentive for job creation, should be added to the mix.

Such wrangling over business subsidies is not new, given Michigan’s political pendulum and shifting economic fortunes over the decades. But several factors are putting economic development under the microscope to a

degree perhaps not seen before in the Capitol, where Whitmer and the Democratic-led Legislature may forge a plan in the next month after talks stalled last year.

Potential changes

The governor wants new, enduring incentives to keep the state competitive and to provide a predictable economic development policy. The push comes amid the auto industry’s budding electric vehicle realignment, a massive federal push to lure manufacturing jobs back “onshore” and sobering population projections that threaten Michi-

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gan’s long-term prosperity.

Lawmakers are on board with two proposals, a research and development tax credit and more flexibility to create tax-free Renaissance Zones. They are split or noncommittal on two others, to again let certain companies capture income taxes for new jobs — Michigan had such an incentive from 2017 to 2019 — and to create an innovation fund to invest in early-stage startups.

The biggest fight, though, is over something Whitmer is not spearheading — an overhaul of the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve Fund, the closing fund she and legislators cre-

ated 2 ½ years ago in response to Ford Motor Co.’s bombshell move to put new EV battery and assembly plants in Tennessee and Kentucky.

Senate-passed bills would dedicate half of the fund’s money, up to $500 million of the maximum $1 billion earmarked over this budget year and next, to a new initiative called Michigan 360. It would support funding for things like regional transit, affordable housing, the redevelopment of demolished or vacant properties, infrastructure, child care and job training.

See BUSINESS on Page 14

A year ago at the Mackinac Policy Conference, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist (left) and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Make It in Michigan, a strategy of investment and incentives to bring more projects, jobs and quality-of-life improvements to the state. The program is now in legislative limbo and may undergo some changes in the near future. | STaTE OF MICHIGaN

BUSINESS ATTRACTION

Draft shows possibilities with proactive strategy

All of America witnessed through the record-setting NFL Draft in Detroit: When we work together toward the common good, Michiganders outshine and outdo everyone.

The Michigan Economic Development Corp. is proud to have played a role in a successful Draft weekend; however, the success was thanks to a collaborative, multiyear, multi-faceted effort to ensure Detroit and Michigan displayed for the world the hard work over the last decade that has revitalized the city.

Quentin L. Messer Jr. is the CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

As the Lions have demonstrated, transformative hard work takes an entire team working toward a common goal. We are grateful for our team on this goal: Mayor Mike Duggan and his staff, Visit Detroit, Downtown Detroit Partnership, small businesses that sold out of their products, Detroiters who helped tourists find their way, residents of neighboring communities who opened their homes and hotels, developers who invested in real estate and commercial opportunities in and around the city, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the state Legislature for all their support.

The NFL Draft was a microcosm of economic development as a whole: Leveraging the opportunity to change perceptions makes it easier to attract people, revitalize places and compete for projects to grow prosperity. If not for the infusion of state dollars into many Detroit-area placemaking

projects, for instance, we would not have had the requisite amenities (hotels, restaurants, infrastructure) demanded by the NFL.

Just as the city of Detroit and neighboring communities rose to the challenge when the NFL invited them to host the Draft, Team Michigan must seize this broader moment by committing to an intentional, long-term economic development strategy that exemplifies how more individuals and businesses can ‘Make it in Michigan.’

Given the positive impact legislation has on accelerating prosperity, we fully support the governor and Legislature’s work to pass an economic development package that includes a research and development tax incentive, Renaissance Zone modifications, and High-wage Incentive for Regional Employment or HIRE bills. Each of these bills is connected to a component of the ‘Make it in Michigan’ economic development strategy: Projects, places and people, respectively.

Michigan is the only state in the Midwest without an R&D tax incentive, meaning the life-changing work and products emerging from the mobility, university, health and materials sectors are less likely to be developed in the state where they were created originally.

Renaissance Zones — mechanisms that drive investment in often overlooked communities — have not adjusted to meet the

accelerating need for affordable housing, placemaking and commercial investments. The growth of knowledge economy jobs by employers willing to pay higher wages has grown across the state — yet we can accelerate that if the sensible “pay as you create jobs and payroll” HIRE bill is enacted.

As the Lions have demonstrated through assembling several successful draft classes, successful teams in any industry possess the right set of tools to strengthen every “position” on the field. Federal industrial policy is affording every state the chance to bring supply chains back to the United States to lessen disruptions to businesses, reduce cost to consumers and increase national security. However, few states can match Michigan’s demonstrated ability to make things at scale, deliver a skilled and innovative workforce, and nurture robust ecosystems — all while also hosting large

global events, delivering meals in James Beard-recognized restaurants, and treating visitors to genuine hospitality and care within a car ride from most of the nation’s population.

With teammates living and working in communities in every region across state, the MEDC team is working in partnership with local officials, planners, businesses and developers to identify investments in the people, places and projects that continue to highlight the Michigan story of resiliency, grit and reinvention that the Draft catapulted into national headlines.

Just as the special event fund set the policy framework that enabled the Draft to happen in Detroit, passing an economic development package will set a similar stage for accelerated success in attracting people, revitalizing places and winning projects across our state.

Improve Michigan’s business subsidy transparency

Lawmakers have authorized $4.4 billion in selective business subsidies this legislative session and billions more are making their way through the legislative process. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer made road funding a major campaign plank, but roads are a lower spending priority than writing big checks to big companies.

Some have wondered whether there ought to be more transparency and accountability with taxpayer funding.

Of course.

James Hohman is the director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a free-market research and educational institute in Midland.

While administrators compile huge reports on the state’s economic development programs, they are still unable to answer basic questions about them. It shouldn’t be difficult to tell residents how much of their money went to businesses and how many jobs that spending created.  Yet here we are.

The biggest offenders are the rules guiding the state’s selective refundable tax credit programs. The state made deals to give a few companies billions of taxpayer dollars. The credits give the company other people’s money but lack the transparency strings that apply to expenditures.

Administrators continue to claim that all the money collected by companies constitutes confidential taxpayer information. We wouldn’t want a person’s tax returns to be public, supporters note. But we also don’t give billions to normal taxpayers through

refundable tax credits.

While legislation can provide a solution, it shouldn’t be required. The state constitution mandates that expenditures of public money are public records, and that ought to apply here.

There are other basic problems that should be fixed. Lawmakers and administrators are good at talking about these deals when they are announced. They are terrible at telling people what happens later. Whether companies actually create jobs is something lawmakers should want to know. They announce subsidies with press releases and news briefs, and the deals get enthusiastic headlines. Yet there is a big difference between job announcements and actual jobs.

Take a recent example. Whitmer announced that supply chain manager NorthGate would get $1 million from the state to open a location in Burton that would create 374 jobs. The company already operated at a number of different locations in the state, and nowhere did administrators mention whether the company was moving people from one site to another. The automotive industry, after all, isn’t employing more people — especially in Michigan. Nor was the $1 million required to sway the company to locate in Burton instead of somewhere else. They’re eligible for state money regardless.

When the state ended its deal with the company without making payments, there

were no headlines. Just a statement that the company was “unable to meet job creation requirements,” in a report published long after the state ended its agreement.

People are paying for jobs, not the appearance of jobs. They deserve more skeptical administrators and better reporting.

Getting better administrators is tough. They serve elected officials who want business subsidy deals to be positive and to minimize bad news. Better reporting is possible. The state could be required to keep a site detailing the current status of projects that received assistance. It could also be required to report when companies fail to meet their requirements.

That will at least let people know what happens after deals are announced, giving

them a chance to hold their representatives accountable for their job boasts. People should be more skeptical of lawmakers when they hand out taxpayer money to select companies. Corporate welfare tends to be ineffective at creating jobs, unfair to the businesses that don’t get subsidies and expensive to the state budget. It’s worse when lawmakers fail to provide the basic transparency and accountability that people deserve. Administrators refuse to tell people how much of their money companies get. And they still can’t provide an adequate accounting of where their money goes or what they get in return.

If lawmakers want to continue corporate giveaways, there are many basic improvements to be made.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and lawmakers want to attract more companies to do business in Michigan and hire more people. A website that details the current status of projects that received assistance and when companies fail to meet their requirements would increase transparency for all. | DALE G. yOUNG

The draft helped change perceptions of Detroit, which may make it easier to attract people to the area. | NIC ANTAyA

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Six ideas to help lure more businesses, jobs to Michigan

By David Eggert

How can Michigan attract more businesses and jobs?

Those who work in the economic development field, and others, have ideas beyond alterations to the closing fund for large-scale business projects or creating a tax capture program for job creation.

Some suggestions:

Consistency

Economic development leaders want the state to pick a strategy and stick with it for a while.

It offered Michigan Economic Growth Authority tax credits in the 1990s and 2000s. Those went away in 2011 as part of a business tax cut, though automakers are still redeeming old ones into the next decade.

MEGA was replaced primarily by the Michigan Business Development Program, which remains in place. The state added Good Jobs for Michigan, a tax capture incentive, in 2017. Lawmakers allowed it to lapse in 2019 and have debated bringing back something like it ever since.

The Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve was created in 2021 to subsidize large-scale projects and help prepare sites for development. It is up for a possible revamp and its future funding is uncertain.

“Ideally, Michigan can find an incentive strategy that we can stick to for the long term so that companies and developers and communities can all learn how to best utilize these tools,” said Randy Thelen, president and CEO of The Right Place economic development organization in Grand Rapids.

“We’ve been changing them at such a frequency. … We’ve stopped them before companies understand them. We’ve stopped them before we know if there’s really true economic impact. We start over, and it’s these fits and starts that create confusion. When there’s confusion, companies tend to go where there’s more certainty.”

Regionalism

Economic developers and legislators are advocating for increased attention on regional economies.

competing against other regions in the state, she said, but rather Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Atlanta and others.

Indiana has committed $1 billion to the Regional Acceleration and Development Initiative, with an additional $250 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. Each of the state’s regions collaborates to submit proposals for funding to boost the quality of life, place and opportunity.

“When there’s confusion, companies tend to go where there’s more certainty.”

Randy Thelen, The Right Place

“Our regions are quite different, and we need to be more focused on that, on what are the strengths of our regions. It’s not a one-sizefits-all solution,” said Maureen Donohue Krauss, president and CEO of the Detroit Regional Partnership. The Detroit region is not

In Michigan, Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who chairs the Senate Economic and Community Development Committee, is urging that the state create a 10-year economic development strategy in the wake of a report issued by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s population growth council. She is starting to do roundtable discussions in the Michigan Economic Development Corp.’s 10 prosperity regions so “the state’s strategy really supports each region.”

She has gotten feedback, especially outside metro Detroit, that

there is too much focus at the state level on the auto industry and not enough emphasis on places like the Thumb and Northern Michigan.

“When people are looking to move, they’re not looking to move to a state, they’re looking to move to a city. … Once we get into that mindset of recognizing that metro Detroit and Grand Rapids and the Thumb and the Keweenaw (Peninsula) are all very different places but if we agree that our goal is the same, that every region wants to grow young, educated talent to build a workforce, what’s the answer to how to get there for each region and then support that with resources from the MEDC to be that connector?”

R&D credit

At least 36 states offer a tax credit for research and development. Michigan does not, though it once did before a business tax was scrapped and replaced, effective in 2012.

Both the House and Senate have approved bills to create an R&D credit, but they are on hold amid negotiations over other business attraction incentives.

“Ohio has it, and Indiana has it. Minnesota has it. We’re the only one in the Midwest that doesn’t have it,” said Paul Krutko, president and CEO of the Ann Arbor Spark economic development organization.

“It puts us at a competitive disadvantage when a company says, ‘Hey, we’d like to make an investment here of high-wage, knowledge jobs’ — which are supposed-

ly the direction the state wants to go in — but they decide to place research and development activity in another state because they can book that work there and take advantage of the credit.”

Reverse scholarships

One recommendation in the population report is to pilot financial incentives for people to live and work in Michigan. It briefly mentions, for instance, “reverse scholarships” — assistance with student loan debt — but does not delve deeper.

Bob Trezise, president and CEO of the Lansing Economic Area Partnership, said the state should make an offer to people in or outside Michigan: stay or move here for five straight years and get reimbursed 20% of their tuition, room and board fees each year until reaching 100%. That would cost a lot, but he said the population projections are “very disturbing.”

“I’ll put any bet that anyone who remains here for five years falls in love and never leaves,” Trezise said, also calling for increased state spending on the startup ecosystem, neighborhood development, main streets, arts, culture, universities and wastewater treatment capacity. He said he is not naïve about the budgetary implications, “but you have to spend money to make money.”

Innovation fund

Whitmer and others want to bolster the funding of early-stage startups and entrepreneurs by re-

directing proceeds from Venture Michigan Funds to a new Michigan Innovation Fund. It would enable a handful of nonprofit “evergreen” funds to continuously invest in early companies as opposed to having to wait because they have reinvested their returns and need another return before investing in the next business, Krutko said.

“If we don’t have any resources, they’re going to look someplace else,” he said. “We don’t want to be the garden for the rest of the country. Other states come in and harvest our early-stage companies and say, ‘We can help you grow even further if you move to Ohio or you move to Texas or California or Massachusetts.”

‘Right to work’

Democrats last year voted to repeal a “right-to-work” law, letting private-sector unions again negotiate contracts that require union-represented workers to join or financially support a union. Republicans and business groups say restoring that law would boost economic development efforts because some businesses refuse to expand into non“right-to-work” states. The law harms Michigan’s ability to compete for investment and jobs, they say.

Critics of the law, which was in effect for 11 years, say it undermined workers’ ability to negotiate for better pay and benefits. The repeal will remain in place unless Republicans regain control of both the Legislature and governor’s office.

Two projects received state incentives, the Mack plant in Detroit (above) and KLA in Ann Arbor (left), under an older incentives program, Good Jobs for Michigan. That program could be revived and renamed. | STELLANTIS AND KLA

COMMENTARY

Economic strategy needs long-term planning

Much has been written about Michigan’s population, an intractable challenge that has lingered over numerous decades and administrations. Since 1980, Michigan has grown just 8.8%, compared to 46.3% across the United States. While our population has ticked up recently thanks to immigration and the attractiveness of our strong colleges and universities to talented international students, our state’s population on the whole is largely stagnant and aging, with fewer young workers coming into the workforce than those looking to retire.

struggling to maintain our infrastructure, and our state is 49th out of 50 in population growth since 2000 (Citizens Research Council of Michigan).”

At the same time, Michigan’s chief growth officer Hilary Doe led a three-month statewide public engagement effort, surveying 2,700 young people from 15 metropolitan areas nationally, 11,000 Michiganders in-state — and holding 70 events with over 3,000 participants statewide.

The Council issued three broad recommendations in December 2023:

This challenge is not unique to Michigan. There are simply fewer people in Gen Z than there are baby boomers, meaning there’s about to be a steep economic crunch as one generation reaches retirement age and the other enters the workforce. Nationwide, the birth rate has slowed and the United States’ population is growing at its “slowest rate since the founding of the nation,” according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

This means it’s time for a complete rethink on economic development and our metrics for success. After all, measuring success in “jobs created” means very little if your state currently has more job openings than people to fill them.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the Growing Michigan Together Council in 2022 in order to tackle this issue head on.

“Despite our incredible people, natural advantages, industrial might, and relatively low taxes — Michigan ranks 46 out of 50 in combined state and local tax burden as a percentage of personal income…on too many measures Michigan has fallen behind the rest of the nation,” reads the Growing Michigan Together final report. “Our students are less prepared, our median incomes are lagging, we’re

Now how do we get there?

Across the country, states have begun creating long-term, comprehensive economic development strategies as a tool to free them from the rat race of competing with every state for every project. Instead, they do the hard work to figure out who they really are as a state and their unique value proposition to companies and talent, and focus their economic development efforts only on what fits their plan.

Pennsylvania released its first-ever longterm economic development strategy this year, acknowledging previous efforts “have lacked coordination and focus, and economic conditions have varied widely.” The 10-year plan creates a narrow lens to maximize efforts without spreading limited resources too thin.

Massachusetts’ plan promises a publicly available dashboard to track success metrics including housing, transit/infrastructure, population, employment and income — acknowledging that success in economic development must be measured in terms of prosperity for residents, not merely in jobs created.  Virginia’s plan refines its focus to “elevate industries where Virginia has competitive advantages,” and includes a specific focus on

How to increase the benefits of

As Michigan policymakers consider reforms to the state’s economic development policies, they should keep in mind two principles.

First, the benefits of job creation are far greater if the jobs are targeted at the unemployed.

Second, although business tax incentives can create jobs, costs per job created are lower for investments in business infrastructure or customized business services.

Regarding the first principle, when job creation increases the share of the population that is employed, it directly increases average earnings of Michigan residents, and it helps lift inflation-adjusted wages. A healthier state labor market has enormous social benefits, lowering substance abuse and crime and reducing family breakups.

A greater share of the population employed also may generate fiscal benefits. Tax revenue tends to increase with employment, and public service costs tend to increase with population. Therefore, higher employment rates will increase tax revenue by more than public service costs. Jobs can be targeted at the unemployed by

attracting headquarters in the growing service and knowledge economy, concentrating its efforts and resources on securing a company’s anchor (and thereby, its supporting ecosystem).

What’s most notable about Virginia’s plan is how it was created. Under Democratic governor Terry McAuliffe, the Virginia legislature passed sweeping reform of the state’s economic development arm in 2017. This compelled the creation of a long-term comprehensive economic development plan now being executed under Republican governor Glenn Youngkin.

One common complaint I’ve heard from business leaders throughout my six years in the Legislature is that when it comes to Michigan, lack of consistency is our biggest Achilles’ heel. As we begin to look toward 2026 and the election of the next governor, there has never been a better time for Michigan to create a 10-year comprehensive economic development strategy that will outlive any one

administration and achieve that elusive consistency in our approach.

As chair of the Senate Economic & Community Development Committee, I’ll host roundtable discussions with local business leaders, economic developers, residents, education and community leaders about what they’d like to see in a 10-year economic development plan. We’re starting this month in Traverse City with my colleague from Northern Michigan, Sen. John Damoose. We’ll leave partisanship at the door and hear directly from local leaders what they need from the state to help their region thrive. From there, we’ll travel to Southwest Michigan and Southeast Michigan, and use our findings to influence legislation to compel the creation of Michigan’s own 10-year comprehensive economic development strategy. After all, it’s hard to know where you’re going — or how to best utilize your resources — without a plan to show you the way. Let’s create ours.

economic development policies

focusing economic development policies toward economically distressed communities. In these distressed areas, additional jobs increase earnings per capita at least three times as much as they do in a booming local labor market.

Jobs can further be targeted at the unemployed by encouraging assisted businesses to work closely with local workforce programs to fill job vacancies. Such cooperation could include helping businesses through customized job training programs, which provide trained workers that match an employer’s skill needs.

Regarding the second principle, business tax incentives can occasionally sway business location decisions, but the true cost per job created is often higher than advertised. For a typically sized incentive package, only one-quarter of the location decisions would not have been chosen “but for” the incentive provision.

Business location decisions are more affected by economic fundamentals: access to markets, quality of local workers, availability of business sites with good infrastructure, and services available to businesses.

Consequently, state policymakers can create jobs at lower costs if they look past tax incentives to consider investing in business infrastructure and business services. Providing roads and utilities for business sites, providing business advice (e.g., manufacturing extension services that work with smaller manufacturers), or providing customized job training can create jobs at less than half the cost of business tax incentives.

When jobs are targeted at the unemployed, the benefits per created job can exceed a present value of a half million dollars. Therefore, the benefits of targeted business tax incentives can exceed their costs. But first, policymakers should make sure they maximize bang for their buck by fully funding high-quality business infrastructure, business advice and customized training. The most cost-effective economic development policies should come first.

By keeping in mind these two principles, Michigan policymakers can make the state’s economic development policies more effective. Targeting jobs toward the unemployed boosts the benefits per created job. Prioritizing infrastructure and business services lowers the cost per created job. Implementing both would increase economic development efficiency and conserve budget resources for other state priorities.

Timothy J. Bartik is a senior economist at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in Kalamazoo.

State Sen. Mallory McMorrow is chair of the Michigan Senate’s Economic & Community Development Committee.

Researchers work in the VanCamp Incubator facility in East Lansing. One goal set by a task force looking to grow jobs and attract people is to establish Michigan as the Innovation Hub of the Midwest. | 517 VISUaLS

“It’s a more effective way to do economic development now that has a higher return on investment,” said a leading sponsor, Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak.

The legislation is modeled on how Virginia secured Amazon’s additional headquarters in 2018 with, yes, cash grants but also investments in education and transportation infrastructure that comprised a majority of the offer, she said.

“Fundamentally, I think Michigan has to evolve,” she said. “We have to evolve to be less reactive and more proactive.”

Ways to spur growth

Incentives, McMorrow said, too often are “the first tool instead of the last one.” The goal should be to get to a point where a community or region’s workforce and assets are so attractive that they are not needed, but it would be “pretty naïve to think we can just cut them off in one fell swoop,” she said.

“There’s sort of the existential question of whether or not you should do (economic development) because there’s people who say, ‘Well, the state is picking winners and losers. It shouldn’t be in that business.’ I think we should be, but we should use it in a way that gets us on the trajectory of where we want to go as a state,” McMorrow said.

SOAR, which could soon be renamed the Make It in Michigan Fund, has helped land large, “transformational” manufacturing projects that remain important in an industrial state that is home to nearly 20% of all U.S. auto production. They include new auto, EV battery and solar plants that have committed a combined $15 billion in investment and more than 14,400 new jobs.

Without the account, proponents say, Michigan risks losing out at a time it can ill afford to amid electrification and fierce interstate competition for investment being spurred by federal climate and clean energy tax credits.

“The federal dollars say, ‘Hey, come to the U.S.’ That doesn’t say, ‘Come necessarily to Michigan,’” said Quentin Messer Jr., CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and chair of the Michigan Strategic Fund.

While SOAR was a response to Ford’s decision, he said, the state also is trying to “match the moment” of U.S. industrial policy, when billions of funding in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act is on the table.

He pointed to competition not only with 49 other states but also places like Canada, where the provinces of Ontario and Quebec and the national government are “very aggressive.”

“We are in a global competition for capital that’s even more mobile, especially in those sectors in

which Michigan excels … the hard tech, deep tech, manufacturing, advanced manufacturing at scale, which are heavily capital intensive before they ever create a dime of revenue let alone profit.”

SOAR, however, is under scrutiny on both sides of the aisle. It gets more attention than other subsidies due to its size, newness and a requirement that legislative budget committees review and OK disbursements. Lawmakers have leverage to push for changes because it has no ongoing source of revenue — currently corporate income taxes — beyond the 2024-25 budget year.

Criticism of the fund runs the gamut: “Corporate welfare” does not work and comes at the expense of smaller businesses and startups. The incentives are expensive — nearly $2 billion to date. The promised factory jobs will not pay enough and more should be done to boost prosperity by preparing, retaining and attracting young professionals. Some of the battery factories being built have ties to China. The EV transition is slower than anticipated and has led Ford, for instance, to scale back its battery plant in Marshall.

“We didn’t used to write $100 million to checks to land factories here in the state of Michigan or around the country. And over the past 30 years, that has changed. And that has changed for the worse, and it has changed in a way that I think is inappropriate,” said James Hohman, fiscal policy director for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Midland, a critic of incentives generally.

Key factor: Implementation

Legislators and Whitmer are talking about extending SOAR another 10 years but directing a smaller amount to it annually and ensuring a percentage goes to community investments. Diminishing the pot for critical industry and site readiness grants and inserting new criteria the state would consider before awarding incentives has drawn concern from business groups, economic development officials and the governor.

“I agree with the approach. I disagree with the source of funding,” said Bob Trezise, president and CEO of the Lansing Economic Area Partnership, whose region is benefiting from the construction of a $2.5 billion, 1,700-job EV battery plant in Delta Township to be operated by Ultium Cells LLC, a joint venture between General Motors Co. and LG Energy Solution Ltd. It is part of the first-ever SOAR projects, a $666 million deal, that also included the $4 billion expansion and conversion of GM’s Orion Township assembly plant to make EV trucks, creating 2,300 jobs.

“I think we need every penny of the $500 million of SOAR money for the businesses. I’d like to see $500 million for SOAR and $250 million for community benefit,” said Trezise, who said the package

SOAR FUNDING

Michigan created the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve Fund in December 2021 to help support large-scale business attraction deals. Critical industry program grants go directly to companies. Strategic site readiness program grants support land purchases, infrastructure upgrades and other work needed to facilitate projects. Here is how the state has allotted funds:

January 2022: $666.1 million to support plans by General Motors Co. and Ultium Cells LLC to spend $6.5 billion and hire 4,000 people across two projects: converting GM’s Orion Township assembly plant in Oakland County to make electric pickup trucks and building an EV battery factory in Delta Township near Lansing.

June 2022: $100.8 million to support Ford Motor Co.’s $1.16 billion plan to add 3,030 jobs across four plants and a new packaging facility, around two-thirds of it related to EV production. The facilities are Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, the Rawsonville Components Plant in ypsilanti Township, the Livonia Transmission Plant and the Monroe Packaging Center.

October 2022: $200 million to support Our Next Energy Inc.’s establishment of a $1.6 billion, 2,112-job EV battery factory in Wayne County’s Van Buren Township. $175 million to support Gotion Inc.’s plan to build a $2.36 billion, 2,350-job EV battery components factory near Big Rapids. $60 million to support five agricultural processing companies’ $187 million worth of investments and 145 new jobs by upgrading a wastewater system in Muskegon County. The businesses are Fairlife, Continental Dairy, DeVries Meats, Applegate Dairy and Swanson Pickle.

February and March 2023: $330.3 million* to support Ford’s $2.2 billion, 1,700-job EV battery plant in Marshall. (* $330.3M incentive will be scaled back because Ford initially planned a larger investment and more jobs.)

January 2024:

$87.5 million to make 18 sites statewide ready for development. The sites are:

w Hancock Business & Technology Park, city of Hancock: $969,352

w Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airport Authority Small/Medium Hangar Infrastructure, Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airport Authority: $500,000

w Muskegon Heights Industrial Parks-West & East, Muskegon Area First (brownfield site): $121,200

w Covenant Business Park, Lowell Township, The Right Place: $17.5 million

w Three Mile and Wilder Road, along I-75 in Monitor Township, Bay Future (brownfield site): $4.2 million

w Flint Commerce Center, Buick City site, Flint Genesee Economic Alliance (brownfield site): $5.9 million

w Parmenter Road in Corunna, Shiawassee Economic Development Partnership: $435,000

w Lansing RACER Trust Plant 6 Site, city of Lansing (brownfield site): $19 million

w Delhi College Road Site, Lansing Economic Area Partnership (brownfield site): $6.5 million

February 2024: $97 million to support Corning Inc.’s new $900 million, 1,151job solar components facility in Saginaw County’s Richland Township.

w Southwest Michigan Commerce Park in Comstock Township-Kalamazoo, Southwest Michigan First (brownfield site): $2.1 million

w Hartford Industrial Site in Hartford, Market Van Buren (brownfield site): $467,250

w Benton Harbor Data and Tech Park, a partnership between Cornerstone Alliance and developer Franklin Partners (brownfield site): $3.6 million

w AICP Lot 14, city of Saline: $15,350

w LAC Site, Monroe County Business Alliance: $82,310

w Latson Innovation Interchange Technology & Industrial Park in Genoa Township, Ann Arbor Spark: $6.5 million

w Pleasant Valley Development in Brighton Township, Ann Arbor Spark (brownfield site): $604,000

w 440 acres in Van Buren Township (Ecorse and Belleville Roads), Detroit Aerotropolis: $18.6 million

w DET Crosswind Runway, Coleman A. young Municipal Airport, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (brownfield site): $510,000

MICKE y CIOKAJLO

May 2024: $250 million to the Flint and Genesee Group Foundation to support land acquisition and infrastructure activities at a 1,300-acre megasite in Genesee County’s Mundy Township.

in hindsight “would have been even more perfect” with extra funding for housing, transit and child care.

He said there is no doubt in his mind that the factory, now about three-quarters done, would be in a nearby state without SOAR. Roughly 2,000, mostly union-trained construction workers are working at the site over a 2 ½-year period.

“That’s not talked about at all,” he said. “But that’s a long time to have a very steady, good income. And that’s a lot of people, too, in our community.”

Tim Bartik, a senior economist at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in Kalamazoo, studied Ford’s $2.2 billion, 1,700-job project in Marshall and concluded, to his surprise, that the benefits are significantly greater than the incentive costs. That is because of a higher multiplier — related supplier and retail jobs — its location in a county that needs jobs and the incentives not coming from revenue that funds schools.

Bartik generally thinks cash incentives are overused and should be reformed. He supports the approach of shifting dollars to community infrastructure and services but said the “devil’s in the details.”

“If the state’s handing out these grants for efforts to strengthen job

training services and child care services in the neighborhood and other things like helping people get transportation access, etc., that program could be poorly run or run great,” he said. “When you talk about any kind of policy, implementation’s absolutely key.”

The SOAR debate is linked to another contentious incentives topic — restoring and changing the Good Jobs for Michigan program that lawmakers let lapse in 2019. The largest withholding tax capture incentive, $99 million, was awarded to Stellantis NV as part of its plan to spend $2.5 billion and add 4,950 jobs in Detroit.

That included opening the city’s first new assembly factory in decades, Mack, and expanding the Jefferson facility.

Good Jobs would be renamed the High-wage Incentive for Regional Employment, or HIRE, program. The state could lure businesses by letting them capture up to 100% of income taxes from new jobs — at least 25 jobs paying 175% of the regional median or a minimum 250 jobs equal to 150% of the regional median. The overall cost would be limited to $125 million a year. The previous incentive was “absolutely important” when Califor-

nia-based KLA Corp., a semiconductor company, decided in 2018 to locate its second headquarters in Ann Arbor, said Paul Krutko, president and CEO of Ann Arbor Spark, the area’s economic development organization.

“Without that tool, they would likely be in Toronto today because at the end of the day, that’s who we ended up competing with,” he said, calling KLA the successful “poster child” because it hired more than 500 engineers and other employees it promised in exchange for a $16 million grant.

HIRE would be effective in securing high-paying jobs at companies that add positions but do not plan major capital expenditures like those that have gotten SOAR funds, Messer said.

“It helps companies of all sizes, companies that are I would say in the more knowledge, less physical product development, product manufacturing,” he said. “We can attract those R&D centers, those design centers that could potentially allow us to also land ultimately a manufacturer. It just allows us to have a broader set of tools to compete for a broader set of opportunities.”

HIRE’s fate appears to be inextricably linked to SOAR changes. In the House, where Democrats have a razor-thin 56-54 edge, Re-

publican Minority Leader Matt Hall said reforms must start with the entire Legislature voting on SOAR transfers to back specific deals — not just the appropriations panels.

Lawmakers also may insist that SOAR projects pay better wages and that businesses getting a SOAR grant do not also receive a HIRE incentive or vice versa.

“I think we need to make sure it doesn’t all go to electric battery plants, that it’s spread out more diversely,” Hall said.

The path ahead is uncertain. SOAR was created when Michigan enjoyed large influxes of state tax revenues from federal pandemicrelated stimulus efforts. Those surpluses are over.

“Our policymakers have a pie, and they have to decide what is the best mix. It shouldn’t be one or the other,” said Maureen Donohue Krauss, president and CEO of the Detroit Regional Partnership, which focuses on economic development in Southeast Michigan. Things like child care, job training and transportation are critical to ensuring that residents have job opportunities, businesses have trained workers and communities attract outside talent, she said.

“It’s hard. I mean, that’s what policymakers get paid to do is figure out how cut up the pie.”

Ultium Cells LLC, a joint venture between General Motors Co. and LG Energy Solution Ltd., is part of the first-ever SOAR projects, a $666 million deal. Bob Trezise, president and CEO of the Lansing Economic Area Partnership, believes the factory, now about three-quarters done, would have gone to another state without the SOAR money. | DaLE G. yOUNG

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molding, plating, painting and assembly

Hispanic Chamber lands $850K for new headquarters

By Kate Carlson

The West Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce received an $850,000 federal grant in support of the organization’s new Grand Rapids headquarters, which is expected to break ground this fall.

U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten announced the funding during a May 10 press conference at 1101 Godfrey Ave. SW, the site of the chamber’s new location it is in the process of acquiring for the project. The federal investment is on top of $5 million that was allocated in the 2023-24 state budget for the project.

The construction budget for the project, known as the Center for Latino Economic and Talent Advancement, is expected to be $6.5 million to $7 million. The Hispanic Chamber is also working to fundraise for a $2.5 million endowment fund to cover building maintenance, said Guillermo Cisneros, president and CEO of the chamber.

“This announcement marks a historic investment from our federal government that comes directly to the Latino community,” Cisneros said.

The project aims to transform the chamber’s infrastructure around economic and talent development to bring more resources to communities of color in West Michigan, Cisneros said.

Around six years ago, the chamber identified a need for more room to grow the organization, which is currently located at a 2,500-square-foot space on the upper level of 2007 S. Division Ave.

“Today, we see the fruits of all of the work, tireless hours here with our board of directors, staff and several stakeholders throughout the community and government officials to make sure that we are going to be able to move forward,” Cisneros said.

“This announcement marks the future.”

The new headquarters would have conference rooms, classrooms, event space, a coffee shop, offices for staff, space for children and a commercial

kitchen to incubate restaurants.

The design process for constructing the chamber’s new headquarters is expected to be completed in the next six weeks, with a groundbreaking set to take place at the end of October, Cisneros said. The buildings on site will be demolished and the Center for Latino Economic and Talent Advancement will be new construction, with a goal of opening in May or June of 2025, Cisneros said.

Honor Construction is the owner’s representative for the project, Erhardt Construction is the construction manager, and Rossetti serves as the architect.

Cisneros also said the project could serve as a sort of anchor tenant in the area and spur development by Latino-owned businesses at surrounding buildings.

The Hispanic Chamber will also be collecting feedback from the community to see what they want in the space, Cisneros said.

“We want a dignified space, but we want a space where everyone feels welcome,” Cisneros said.

In meeting with small business owners throughout the region, Scholten said there are far too many barriers for them in today’s economic environment.

“Whether it’s a lack of access to capital, lack of resources or professional development opportunities that stand in the way of entrepreneurs getting their ideas off the ground,” Scholten said. “And this is especially true for West Michigan’s growing Hispanic population.”

When Scholten was looking at projects for the federal Community Project Funding grants, it became “abundantly clear” that more resources were needed at the Hispanic Chamber, she said.

“West Michigan has seen some incredible growth over the years, but it has not always been equal across the board,” Scholten said. “Our minority small businesses are some of the No. 1 small business creators, economic generators in the entire state, but they haven’t always gotten the attention and support that they deserve.”

The West Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce aims to break ground this fall on its new Center for Latino Economic and Talent Advancement. | COURTESy PHOTO

MICHIGAN

Congrats

Bar owner shifts to Bridge Street location

By Kate Carlson

A Jenison restaurateur is pivoting from plans of opening a bar in downtown Grand Rapids and instead turning his attention to developing a new bar on Bridge Street.

Robert Wahl, co-owner of The Win Tavern 33 in Jenison, expects city officials to consider his special land use application this month for Bridge St. Bar at 600 Bridge St. NW.

Plans for Bridge St. Bar call for blending elements from Grand Rapids and Detroit — two cities Wahl has called home — into the bar’s drink selection, menu and art. As well, Wahl said he plans to bring in a local artist to graffiti the inside of the bar with skylines and sports teams from both cities.

Wahl opted to pursue Bridge St.

Rapids and when (the location) became available, I knew I had to jump on it.”

Doing business as 600 Bridge LLC, Wahl purchased the property in December 2023 for $675,000 from JGR Holdings LLC, which is registered to Julie Grevengoed, founder and owner of Clarity Realty. The property previously housed offices for the real estate firm, which now lists a business address in Walker.

Wahl hopes to have his special land use and liquor license secured through the city in the next two months, and expects the build-out of the space to take about two months.

“I have wanted a place on Bridge Street — that was my goal way before the soccer stadium was a concept.”

Robert Wahl, co-owner of The Win Tavern 33

Bar on his own after walking away from plans for Firebird Bar GR, which he proposed with business partner, Tad Feutz, who also coowns The Win Tavern 33. Last year, the city approved plans for the restaurant and bar at a vacant downtown building at 59 Commerce Ave. SW. However, Wahl said construction stopped in January 2024 on the project.

“I would love to go forward with the project, I just really think that unfortunately the majority percentage of this is probably going toward selling the building off and cutting our losses,” Wahl said.

Wahl has lived in Jenison near Win Tavern for about the past five years, but he is from Pontiac and also lived and worked in the restaurant industry in West Michigan for the past 25 years. With Bridge St. Bar, Wahl is “not trying to reinvent the wheel,” and wants to add another good bar that also serves food to the burgeoning west side business corridor.

“It’s just hopping there,” Wahl said. “There is a lot of stuff going on. It’s my favorite area in Grand

Clarity Realty’s remodel of the approximately 2,500-square-foot building about five years ago will speed up the process, he said. Wahl anticipates an aggressive opening timeline this year, with the possibility of adding a patio to the business next year. Plans call for a takeout window on Seward Avenue. The bar’s menu will be from-scratch pub fare with a chili dog mimicking the Lafayette Coney Island hot dog in Detroit and a variety of other options that will likely include a smash burger and handdredged chicken. The drink menu also will feature brands from both Grand Rapids and Detroit, Wahl said.

If approved, the bar will be located a few blocks northwest of where Grand Action 2.0 plans to construct an 8,500-seat soccer stadium, which is anticipated to be the home of a professional soccer team. That project is expected to break ground this year.

“I have wanted a place on Bridge Street — that was my goal way before the soccer stadium was a concept,” Wahl said. “There are some places in Grand Rapids like SpeakEZ Lounge and Garage Bar that are places you can watch soccer, and I definitely would welcome being that spot on Bridge Street.”

Wahl has been working with Walker-based Merchandise Equipment & Supply to source equipment for the bar, and Lott3Metz Crutcher Architecture.

Robert Wahl plans to open Bridge St. Bar at 600 Bridge St. NW. | KATE CARLSON

For ‘Team Michigan,’ electricity transmission company ITC is a key player

Michigan ranks second nationwide for clean energy investments, with $20 billion in investments since August 2022 spanning clean energy, battery, and electric vehicle manufacturing, according to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). Many projects the state is pursuing have greater electrical needs than existing manufacturing operations. ITC, the largest independent electricity transmission company in the United States, is working closely with the state, other utility providers and the MEDC to attract and retain new business to help grow our economic base and increase job opportunities in the state. Simon Whitelocke, the president of ITC Michigan and vice president of ITC Holdings Corp., and Michigan Economic Development Corporation CEO Quentin L. Messer, Jr. discuss how ITC and the MEDC are working to grow the state’s economic opportunities.

How do electricity transmission provider ITC and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation work together to attract and retain business investment in Michigan?

Q.M.: The MEDC takes a “Team Michigan” approach to economic development, and ITC is an integral part of that team. ITC ensures that not only are we connected energywise, but also as a Michigan-based company, we’re connected with answers to the challenges that businesses might face as they locate and grow here.

How big of a role does ITC play in economic development opportunities for the state of Michigan?

Q.M.: The electrical grid is an important part of our ‘Make It In Michigan’ economic development strategy focused on People, Places and Projects as we’re competing for and winning projects. We are seeing projects that have greater power needs, frequently requiring the development of substations, bringing power across greater distances, and doing it in a way that’s renewable. ITC is important to this process because power generation is only as effective as the ability to reliably and safely transmit it.

S.W.: Electric transmission and infrastructure have taken on a more prominent role in economic development in recent years. We’re seeing a lot of large manufacturing facilities — for example, those manufacturing semiconductors and EV batteries — that require more electricity than other manufacturing processes use. So, electricity is just that much more important in the decision-making process. We have a best-in-class high-voltage transmission grid here in Michigan, which is a key driver when it comes to attracting businesses.

How does ITC partner with the state of Michigan on economic growth strategies and projects?

S.W.: Over the last few years, we have increased our involvement in the process. If there’s a large project coming up, MEDC engages us and the other utilities,

QUENTIN L. MESSER, JR. CEO, Michigan Economic Development Corporation

and we work on it with a team approach. We work with the local utility to determine what the power needs are for that prospective company and come up with a solution from a transmission perspective. We work together to gure out how to do this as ef ciently, and quickly, as possible.

What are businesses looking for from the state’s grid and how are the state of Michigan and ITC poised to deliver that?

Q.M.: Among other things, businesses are seeking reliability and predictability. We are seeing projects with intensive energy needs. ITC is a critically important partner because you can have the right power generation, but if you don’t have the right transmission, you’re not going to be successful. Having ITC at the table early in the process as a core part of our project team has been vital for any success we’ve had as a state.

S.W.: We’ve invested over $7 billion in capital projects and maintenance of the transmission grid since 2003 when we rst started the business. We’ve been making a lot of improvements here to the point where, today, we’re as good as it gets. The transmission system in Michigan is a tremendous asset for the state in that it provides us with a competitive advantage to offer prospective companies.

On a recent economic development trip to Taiwan and South Korea, Gov. Whitmer announced the opening of the Michigan Taiwan Of ce, focusing on securing investments in industries including automotive,

SIMON WHITELOCKE

Vice President, ITC Holdings Corp. and President, ITC Michigan

semiconductors, renewable energy and advanced manufacturing. How can ITC partner with the state to attract these kinds of businesses?

S.W.: Companies with advanced manufacturing processes have high expectations when it comes to electricity, and their processes are very electrically sensitive. They require continuous, uninterrupted, clean, pure power. Our grid is certainly one that can handle it and deliver what they need.

What were some of MEDC’s key takeaways from the trip to Taiwan?

Q.M.: There’s a long history of Taiwanese students attending the University of Michigan and Michigan State University. Consequently, there are very strong alumni networks for both institutions in Taiwan. There’s a rich connectivity that’s always existed between Michigan and Taiwan.

Now, with the Michigan Taiwan Of ce staffed by KC Kong, who is a two-time University of Michigan alum, we are institutionalizing in an intentional way, alumni connectivity, to attract more foreign direct investment and Michigan business exports to Taiwan. KC is working to ensure that that MEDC and the entirety of Team Michigan are developing greater connectivity between Taiwan and our state. The of ce allows us to connect with Taiwan more intentionally on a daily basis, rather than relying on once a year or biannual meetings.

Last fall, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation that

set ambitious targets for clean energy and renewables, leading to 2040, when Michigan will produce all its energy from clean sources. How will this boost the state’s economy?

Q.M.: The governor’s aggressive goals signal to companies that they will have a partner in government. Our ‘Make It In Michigan’ economic development strategy focused on People, Places and Projects is undergirded by a commitment to demonstrate that pro table business growth will occur when we are climate responsible and leverage our deep tech expertise to reduce carbon emissions. Among the industries attracted to Michigan because of our lean-in on clean energy are cleantech, hydrogenbased companies in the infrastructure and propulsion sectors. We’re creating policies that will support their success. That’s vitally important as we

continue attracting and retaining companies at the forefront of this work.

What is ITC’s role in ensuring a cleaner energy future for Michigan?

S.W.: We’re working to accommodate the growing demand for electricity by making sure a mix of generation sources, including renewables, are interconnected to the transmission system. We’re not just planning the grid for short-term needs, rather we are looking 10-20 years ahead to determine energy needs to make sure we have an ongoing source of safe, secure, reliable power. Our continued investments in capital and maintenance of the transmission grid earns us top quartile reliability performance, something very attractive to prospects looking to do business in Michigan.

POWERING MICHIGAN FORWARD

COMMENTARY

Suzanne Shank is ready to build bridges at Mackinac

Before she carved her trailblazing path in the world of finance, Suzanne Shank was a civil engineer, which taught her a thing or two about bridges, construction and the importance of laying a solid foundation.

When she was tapped to chair this year’s Mackinac Policy Conference, Shank embraced the theme of “Bridging the Future Together,” not only for her personal connection but what it means for Michigan today.

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

“The only way we’re going to accomplish our goals of elevating this state is by doing so together,” Shank told me. “And so I love the theme of ‘Bridging the Future Together’ because as a former civil engineer, I understand the foundation upon which progress happens is by having bridges. And I think innovation and results happen by us all coming together.”

I interviewed Shank recently for our Crain’s podcast that we will produce at the Mackinac Policy Conference, which runs from May 28-31 this year. As part of our coverage, our team will interview business and political leaders who will be on the island.

I won’t be attending this year (my daughter’s high school graduation is that week) and so I met with Shank early to

COMMENTARY

hear her thoughts on this year’s program.

In addition to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Shank immediately cited as anticipated speakers U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Alto Pharmacy CEO Alicia Boler Davis, and businessman Dan Gilbert. She noted a panel of Gen Z citizens will share their perspectives as well.

“We need to hear from young people about what they need to stay in the state and thrive,” Shank said.

It’s an election year, of course, and Shank sees the bridge theme as an im-

portant message during politically divisive times. One session of the conference will put the top three Democrats and top three Republicans who are vying for retiring U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s seat on stage together.

“Whether they’re Democrat or Republican, they need to speak to voters and business leaders, and we want them to respond to all of our issues, so we didn’t want to separate them,” Shank said.

Shank noted that 40% of the speakers will be women, and she cited as another highlight a CEO roundtable conversation

that will feature all women CEOs. While she’s not on that panel, as a woman CEO (and co-founder and president of Siebert Williams and Shank LLC) she knows her counterparts will offer valuable insights.

“I’ve spent my whole career in male-dominated fields, and we have great women leaders in our state,” Shank said. “When we put together our CEO panel, we decided we wanted women leaders showcased. These women leaders are doing great things — they’re innovative, they’re cutting-edge. And we just want everybody in the state to hear from them.”

Many of the sessions will be livestreamed, and Crain’s will cover news as it develops. Our editorial team on the island will be led by Crain’s Detroit Managing Editor Michael Lee and Crain’s Grand Rapids Managing Editor Andy Balaskovitz.

Crain Communications leadership, led by President and CEO KC Crain, will also be well-represented. (Crain Communications is a sponsor of the conference, which is run by the Detroit Regional Chamber).

As conference chair, Shank will get some time of her own on center stage, and she plans to use it to build on the theme and challenge attendees to be collaborative and open-minded, and seek conversations with people from different backgrounds.

“My hope is that people will meet someone that they have not met before,” Shank said. “And, you know, really figure out a way to gain some understanding that we really have more we agree upon than upon which we differ.”

Small businesses deserve support, not roadblocks

Ilove being a small business owner, but I’m tired. Like, really, really tired. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find a business owner who gets a full night of sleep. Between employees, administrative tasks (HR, accounting, invoicing), and managing, you must also be cognizant of all government mandates or new policies. We are not experts, but we’re expected to be. It feels like we are constantly navigating ourselves around “gotcha” moments.

When you think you’re on top of compliance, the government comes out of left field with a new unfunded mandate, reminding you how little control you really have over your own success.

According to Congress, the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) was designed to identify those who set up a small business for nefarious (fun word) purposes, such as the trafficking of drugs or money laundering. These do not make up the practices of most small businesses. We’re just over

here doing PR and marketing. Most entrepreneurial pursuits, whether in the form of an LLC, a sole proprietorship, or an S corp., are owned and operated by people like me who had a dream and have busted their butt every single day to make it a reality. Every small business in the nation is now required to file our most highly personal information with the federal government for anyone who has “beneficial ownership”: Social Security numbers, addresses, driver’s licenses, passport numbers, and other identifying info. Failing to accurately report this information each year or forgetting to change something as simple as an address is punishable by thousands of dollars in fines and up to two years in federal prison. These punishments can be enacted despite zero criminal activity whatsoever. I can’t even wrap my head around this.

Sweeping every small company in the country into this demanding, unfunded

mandate has severe consequences for hardworking individuals who may not even know they must comply. Often, when the government decides on new government mandates, they exempt small businesses. Why? Because the costs of compliance are far more punitive on small businesses than they are on corporations. Small businesses have far greater everyday obstacles they battle to turn a profit and stay in business than corporations do. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 45% of small businesses fail within the first five years, and 65% fail within the first 10 years. Safety in longevity is a farce; every day, we are out here trying to support our employees, give back to our community, and provide for our families — knowing failure is right around the corner. Mandates like the CTA are only going to contribute to the failure of small businesses and that percentage is going to continue to tick up.

Ironically, the same site also warns of several scams already being perpetuated trying to steal identities and money from small business owners when they file. How many small businesses know they have to do this? I would’ve had no idea if it wasn’t for the Small Business Association of Michigan. I’ve already talked with many who don’t know about the CTA. Communication from the feds has been lackluster. Shocking, right?

45% of small businesses fail within the first five years, and 65% fail within the first 10 years.

The guide on the federal website that tells us how to file our information, and who needs to file, and when, is extensive.

Government advocacy is an optional part of serving on the SBAM Board. For me, it’s the reason I serve. We all must use our voices and ask Congress to repeal or at least revise the CTA. In the meantime, we’ll be fighting it out in the court system. We need to support small businesses, not contribute to their demise.

After all, everyone knows small businesses are the backbone of our economy.

Kim Bode is the owner of 8THIRTYFOUR, an integrated communications company in downtown Grand Rapids. She serves on the board of directors of the Small Business Association of Michigan.

Shank

Where high-income, investor buyers are scooping up homes

By Rachel Watson

A new report puts a spotlight on Grand Rapids neighborhoods where affluent and investor buyers are displacing lower-income residents of color.

The Fair Housing Center of West Michigan, working with an outside consultant, drew on publicly available datasets from 2007 to 2021 to paint a picture of the lending and homeownership landscape by demographic and location. Key sources included Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) filings and U.S. Census Bureau, Zillow and geographic information systems data.

That examination of neighborhood-level data detected persistent lending inequities that ultimately have led to gentrification in formerly redlined areas, researchers say.

According to the report, the city has eight lower-income neighborhoods where 46% to 95% of residents today are people of color. They are: Black Hills, Roosevelt Park, South East Community, Madison Area, Baxter, Oakdale-Fuller Avenue, Garfield Park and West Millbrook.

In 2021, Black Hills, South East Community, Madison Area, Baxter and Belknap Lookout all had more than 70% of their mortgage originations from higher-income, white

homebuyers.

From 2018 to 2021, about $470 million worth of mortgage originations occurred in neighborhoods of color described in the report, compared to $9 billion in mortgage loans originated in predominantly white, non-Hispanic areas.

Of the $470 million in mortgage loans granted in neighborhoods of color, $239 million went to white, non-Hispanic borrowers, while $58 million went to Black borrowers, $57 million went to Hispanic borrowers, $25 million went to Asian borrowers, and $90 million went to borrowers whose race or ethnicity was unknown.

Historic neighborhoods of color like Baxter, Madison Area, Oakdale-Fuller Avenue and South East Community all had three to five times more lending activity to white, non-Hispanic borrowers compared to Black borrowers during that four-year period.

Neighborhoods with large Hispanic populations like Black Hills and Roosevelt Park each had around $9 million in lending activity from 2018-21, with less than a third going to Hispanic borrowers, despite that group representing more than 65% of the population.

Nancy Haynes, executive director of the Fair Housing Center of West Michigan, said it’s important for banks to design targeted programs that will specifically benefit

lower-income Black and Hispanic homebuyers. She said well-meaning programs designed to help first-time homebuyers often have ended up disproportionately benefiting white entry-level buyers.

“(Banks) have got to really look at the data, do something and then test it, and say, ‘OK, now let’s look and see the impact.’ And if the impact isn’t big enough or exactly what we wanted, then we tinker with it,” she said.

A trend of gentrification

With more mortgage originations going to white and higher-income borrowers, and more competition for homes during the pandemic, housing costs soared in traditionally lower-income neighborhoods of color, researchers found.

The estimated average increase in home values in the eight predominant neighborhoods of color was 47% from January 2020 to December 2022, while the increase in predominantly white neighborhoods was 36%.

The report found that mortgage lending disparities played a critical role in gentrifying neighborhoods because of skyrocketing home prices, an influx of affluent, mostly white homebuyers, and increasing investor purchases.

From 2018 to 2021, for example, Black Hills, South East Community, Madison Area, Baxter and Belknap Lookout had 60% to 85% of all mortgages going to borrowers making at least 120% of the neighborhood median income.

In the John Ball Park and SWAN neighborhoods, 18% to 35% of all mortgages went to investors from 2018-21. Of all mortgages during that period, 5% to 18% went to investor buyers in Black Hills, Roosevelt Park, South East Community, Madison Area, Baxter, Heritage Hill-South Hill, East Hills, Midtown, Belknap Lookout and West Grand.

Reggie Smith, board president of the Roosevelt Park Neighborhood Association who has lived in that corner of Grand Rapids’ southwest side for more than 30 years, said Roosevelt Park is one of the last remaining neighborhoods in Grand

INFRINGEMENT

From Page 3

concluded, according to the order.

A Mary Free Bed representative said in a statement to Crain’s Grand Rapids Business that the hospital is “pleased with the court’s decision.”

“We’ve always maintained SmithGroup’s lawsuit against us was without merit, and this decision allows us to continue to focus on our mission to build Michigan’s first freestanding children’s rehabilitation hospital,” the statement adds. “Building a children’s reha-

bilitation hospital is more than just a brick-and-mortar project — we’re building hope. Our state-ofthe-art facility will be a beacon of healing for children and families facing unimaginable challenges. We’re grateful for our community’s unwavering support as we work with Pure Architects to turn our vision into reality and make a life-changing difference for those we serve.”

Mary Free Bed expects to begin construction in the fall.

The federal lawsuit that SmithGroup filed March 11 claims that Mary Free and Pure Architects violated federal copyright protec-

Rapids with available cheap properties that investors are targeting.

“There are people from the outside — Chicago, Detroit, young families — who come in because they can buy up a unit or family home because they can afford it,” he said. “But that has a domino effect of raising property (values) and (pushing) those families out, and then we end up losing the character of Roosevelt Park.”

While outside investment may sometimes appear to be improving neighborhoods, the report contends that the practice is displacing historically disadvantaged groups. For example, the study found that from 2010 to 2020, the Black population in the South East Community, Madison Area and Baxter neighborhoods declined from 1% to 4% while white populations in those same neighborhoods grew from 61% to 93% during that period.

Possible solutions

Haynes said fair housing advocates agree that there’s nothing inherently wrong with white and higher-income borrowers buying homes in historic neighborhoods of color, because the “best, most sustainable long-term neighborhoods are diverse.”

But she said there has to be an element of housing choice for everyone. That includes not just adding affordable rentals, but also increasing homeownership.

To achieve that, banks will need to look at lending practices, while the region will need to take an “and, and, and” approach to housing development, Haynes said.

tions.

The Detroit-based SmithGroup claims that the design work it performed on the $60 million Joan Secchia Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital is protected by copyright and was improperly copied and reproduced by Pure Architects, which took over the design and engineering work on the Mary Free Bed project last September.

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

In response, lawyers from Dickinson Wright PLLC who represent Mary Free Bed argued that an ar-

bitrator first needs to decide if the contract was actually breached and whether the hospital owes the licensing and termination fees to SmithGroup before a federal court can hear the lawsuit.

Jonker wrote in his 14-page opinion that there “is no dispute here that there was a valid agreement to arbitrate between SmithGroup and Mary Free Bed. But as SmithGroup points out, Pure Architecture is not a party to that agreement.” Citing case precedent, Jonker ruled that SmithGroup’s assertion that the arbitration requirement does not apply to Pure Architects “lacks merit.”

She noted that could include government-backed, nonprofit or business-based solutions to housing development that would specifically benefit historically disadvantaged populations.

“(Community Land Trusts) are great, and Habitat for Humanity is great, and tiny homes are great, and special purpose credits (i.e. revised credit standards for underserved individuals) are great,” Haynes said. “It’s a huge problem, and we didn’t get here overnight. It’s going to take a great deal of intent and resources to move us forward.”

Smith said he’d like to see banks put less emphasis on criteria like assets, credit scores and availability of a co-signer when considering mortgage applications.

“I wish I could see some, I wouldn’t say relaxing, of some of the requirements but rather streamlining some of the ways in which we can account for steady wealth or having a steady job,” he said.

He added that banks could take a page from models forged by local nonprofits like ICCF Community Homes and Habitat for Humanity, which share information with each other about people who may not fit into one homebuying program but may qualify for another.

Haynes said it ultimately makes good business sense for banks to increase lending in communities of color.

“Who’s against growing your market share?” she said. “If banks could tap into this unserved minority of potential borrowers, that’s where the real growth potential is.”

“As a threshold matter, the Court observes this is not a case where a party is using an arbitration agreement as a sword against a non-signatory because SmithGroup is a party to the arbitration agreement,” Jonker wrote. “There is no dispute then, that SmithGroup consented to arbitration. Even though SmithGroup says it did not agree to arbitration with this defendant, the undisputed fact that SmithGroup signed the agreement effectively eliminates any consent or due process concerns regarding Pure Architecture’s use of the agreement as a shield against litigation.”

This 966-square-foot house in Grand Rapids’ Oakdale neighborhood sold for $224,000 last month, up 307% from the previous sale price of $55,000 in 2013. Oakdale is one of the neighborhoods where Black and Hispanic homeownership is decreasing as lending to higher-income white borrowers outpaces lending to people of color. RaCHEL WaTSON

This house in the South East End neighborhood sold for $319,900 in March after an investor bought it five months earlier for $150,000 and flipped it. South East End saw an average increase in home values of more than 40% between 2020 and 2022, according to Zillow and Home Mortgage Disclosure Act filings. | RaCHEL WaTSON

CHILD CARE

Page 1

Keller said her company has found participating in MI Tri-Share to be an incredibly effective retention tool that has paid for itself.

“The benefits of Tri-Share have far exceeded the cost of the program,” she said. “One of our employees said they would never leave Cascade because of the program. … They were paying $900 a month in child care, and we implemented Tri-Share and they were able to cut that bill (by) two-thirds.”

The employer survey comes as the child care availability crisis shows no signs of letting up.

Of those polled, 98% said child care is a concern for their workforce, 86% said a lack of child care is affecting their employee recruitment and retention, and 61% said the child care gap is negatively affecting their business.

According to the report, the five-county region currently has sufficient child care capacity for only about 61% of children under age 5.

“There is widespread systemic

RACIAL GAP

From Page 1

It also found only a 51% homeownership rate within the Hispanic community, compared to a 70% homeownership rate overall in the county, and significant disparities in loan rejections based on race and ethnicity.

Nancy Haynes, executive director of the Fair Housing Center of West Michigan, said she hopes the report will be a wake-up call for mortgage lenders, as well as civic, business and nonprofit leaders, to address systemic inequities in the local housing system.

“Hopefully, this will light a fire and have them look at (unfair practices) with a deeper scrutiny,” she said. “We’re all guilty of this, but you can look at the house and say, ‘I’ve got to clean those bathrooms this weekend,’ but unless you’re having company over, (you don’t). Hopefully this report is like, ‘Company’s coming over. It’s time to clean up our house.’”

Working with an outside consultant, the nonprofit drew on publicly available datasets from 2007 to 2021 to paint a picture of the lending and homeownership landscape by demographic and location. Key sources included Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) filings and U.S. Census Bureau, Zillow and geographic information systems data.

The report primarily focused on disparities among white, Black and Hispanic residents as the largest demographic groups in Kent County, Haynes said. She added that smaller demographic groups such as Native Americans could be more closely examined in “future investigations.”

Mortgage attainment

Analysts used HMDA filings to review mortgage applications, denials and originations in Kent

lack of affordable child care and it’s having dire effects on families … and a negative effect on (companies),” Chana Edmond-Verley, CEO of Vibrant Futures, said at the event.

Edmond-Verley estimates that West Michigan accounts for $279 million of Michigan’s $2.88 billion in lost annual economic activity from the ongoing child care shortage. The statewide estimate comes from a report the U.S. Chamber of

and expenses, including financial support with care expenses (52%), emergency or backup care (37%), flexible or remote work options (33%), other financial supports (22%) and onsite child care (21%).

Randy Thelen, president and CEO of The Right Place, said during a presentation at the event that economic developers used to think of infrastructure in terms of utilities, railroads and bridges, but now the definition includes people.

“There is widespread systemic lack of affordable child care and it’s having dire effects on families … and a negative effect on (companies).”

Chana Edmond-Verley, CEO of Vibrant Futures

Commerce Foundation released last year.

Meanwhile, in a separate poll, families expressed strong preferences for employers that offer assistance with child care availability

County.

Elizabeth Vezino Stoddard, deputy director of the Fair Housing Center of West Michigan, said analysts chose 2007-2021 based in part on available data as well as significant shifts that took place in the housing sector.

The nonprofit sought to ensure “that it was a time frame that took into account some of the market changes over the past years, particularly with the foreclosure crisis in 2007,” and the heating up of the housing market during the pandemic, she said.

Overall, significant disparities emerged between white residents and residents of color in becoming homeowners.

“These systemic issues would be really difficult for an individual to identify based on their own personal circumstance,” Stoddard said. “You really have to look at trends over time, you have to be able to analyze that data from different lenses and drill down in different areas … and have that comparative experience that we’re able to do with the data.”

From 2018 to 2021, Kent County was the fourth-largest county in Michigan for mortgage originations, granting more than 40,000 first-lien, home-purchase loans.

Despite representing 10.7% of the county’s population, Black borrowers accounted for only 4.4% of mortgage originations during that four-year period. While Hispanic individuals represent 11.3% of the population, Hispanic borrowers accounted for 5.8% of mortgage loans.

The study found that while Black and Hispanic home-seekers are underrepresented in Kent County’s mortgage application pipeline because of a lack of marketing and banking in certain communities, denial rates further inhibit households of color from becoming homeowners.

The report found that of the top 25 lenders in Kent County from

“Today, one element of critical infrastructure that’s missing is child care,” he said.

On a recent tour of an undisclosed West Michigan manufacturer, Thelen said he was shown a whiteboard tracking absenteeism, and only about 270 people per day were showing up to work out of the 296 employees needed to run full production.

One of the top drivers of their absenteeism was lack of adequate child care, he said.

“There’s a company that is not performing at an optimal level because they’re impacted by the

2018-21, Mercantile Bank of Michigan, Quicken Loans (now Rocket Mortgage) and JPMorgan Chase Bank had the highest mortgage denial rates for Black applicants, at 31%, 20.5% and 17.2%, respectively. Meanwhile, Hispanic applicants were denied the most at Chemical Bank, now part of Huntington Bank (28%), Quicken Loans (21%) and JPMorgan Chase Bank (13%).

Among the top 25 lenders in Kent County, Ark-La-Tex Financial Services, Success Mortgage Partners and United Wholesale Mortgage each had a zero-percent denial rate for Black borrowers, while Churchill Mortgage Corporation and Mortgage 1 Inc. had zero-percent denial rates for Hispanic borrowers.

Of those who did obtain mortgages, Black and Hispanic borrowers were found to have mortgages with interest rates nearly double those of white, non-Hispanic borrowers.

In fact, as the income level for Black borrowers in Kent County increased, so did the average interest rate, according to the study.

Reggie Smith, board president of the Roosevelt Park Neighborhood Association on Grand Rapids’ southwest side, said the report quantifies the trends he’s witnessed for 30 years in his neighborhood.

“Homeownership continues to be the No. 1 issue,” he said. “A lot of that has to do with several factors,” including lack of generational assets, poor credit history — and in the case of the neighborhood’s large Hispanic population, sometimes lack of citizenship documentation, he said.

Smith said he’d like to see more philanthropic and government partners pushing for affordable housing, including homeownership. He appreciates groups like ICCF Community Homes, Habitat for Humanity of Kent County and the developers behind Factory Yards — which is planned in Roos-

availability of child care,” he said.

The report also showed that while all employers surveyed recognized that unmet child care needs can lead to turnover and absenteeism, most were concerned that providing child care benefits to workers with families can lead to equity concerns for workers who don’t have children.

“Funding is always an issue, as is fairness across the labor force,” wrote one Ionia County survey respondent from the agricultural sector.

The cost of providing child care remained the top concern (92%) that employers cited as a barrier to supporting employees’ child care needs, followed by equity (81%), the regulatory burden of offering on- or near-site care (77%), inability to offer flexible work (74%), liability concerns about employer-sponsored care (65%), lack of operational knowledge about supporting child care (64%), and lack of data about employee needs (53%).

The survey found that while most employers surveyed indicated a willingness to invest in solutions, less than one-third (31%) would consider hosting on-site child care.

evelt Park — prioritizing affordability.

“We really need the philanthropic community and other private organizations to really see that as (a priority),” he said.

Banks’ responses

Haynes said the issues driving mortgage denials and higher interest rates are complex, but banks “have got to figure it out.”

“We’re not going to get out of this without a great deal of intention,” she said. “These disparities are growing, so we can’t just continue to do what we’ve been doing.”

Sonali Allen, senior vice president and chief compliance and community development officer at Mercantile Bank, said there’s no question that Mercantile Bank and other lenders have a historical equity problem.

“Let’s be honest, there were historical discrimination factors that have created inequities in our systems that I give credit to the Fair Housing Center for raising,” she said.

However, Allen says the bank has made strides in working to address its equity problem. She said the bank’s denial rate of 31% from 2018-21 for Black residents compared to its denial rate of 6.7% for white residents was largely because the pool of white applicants tended to be mostly higher-income buyers, while the pool of Black applicants were lower income and had worse credit and debt-to-income scores.

She said Mercantile is working to address underlying factors driving the denial rates for Black residents. Those efforts include marketing home-buying opportunities more heavily to Black communities, offering down payment and closing cost assistance programs, and partnering with various local housing nonprofits to offer budgeting, credit and homebuyer education classes to prospective bor-

Edmond-Verley wrote in the report that she believes the challenges are not insurmountable “in a region well known for its creative and collaborative spirit.”

She is hopeful solutions will emerge from a new cross-sector collaboration of public and private partners, the Coalition to Expand Child Care Supply in Western Michigan. The group is exploring policy recommendations such as expanding cost-sharing options like Tri-Share, using smart technology to improve the flow of data, adding tax incentive and grant opportunities, building the talent and education pipeline to address the worker shortage, and investing in universal early childhood education options.

Michael Davenport, president and CEO of Jireh Metal Products, said in a presentation at the event that the responsibility can’t just lie with parents or the state to figure out a solution.

“We have great programs, we have great thought leaders,” he said. “But it’s also going to come down to, ‘What are you going to do within your organization, within your four walls?’”

rowers so they can improve eligibility factors.

Allen added that the bank also reviews all denials to make sure that Black borrowers were not denied at higher rates than their white counterparts with the same financial profiles.

Some of the larger banks that do business in the region also have recently begun addressing mortgage lending gaps among communities of color with targeted programs.

In 2022, PNC Bank launched an $88 billion, four-year community benefits plan aimed at increasing homeownership for low- to moderate-income individuals, people of color and other underserved populations through an expanded first-time homebuyer grant program, dedicated credit assistance and residential mortgage and equity loans in the markets it serves.

JP Morgan Chase in 2020 announced a $30 billion racial equity and wealth creation commitment, of which one aspect was improving housing affordability and stability for Black, Hispanic and Latino communities through grants, equity and loans.

Huntington Bank incorporated diversity, equity and inclusion-focused mortgage lending in its fiveyear, $40 billion community investment plan in 2021. One of its programs is the Home for Good mortgage assistance initiative that is available to first-time, income-qualified homebuyers in Grand Rapids, as Crain’s Grand Rapids Business previously reported.

Although Mercantile Bank’s loan denial rate still goes “up and down,” Allen said the bank is on the right track in terms of getting more Black applicants.

“Our focus has been: How do we create wealth? And you create wealth by getting people into homeownership,” she said. “The biggest challenge in getting people into homeownership is at the lower end of the income spectrum.”

potentially being an offtaker from Butterworth, which includes two other components to supply the city power as well as subscriptions that the public could buy to offset their utility bills.

Such a deal with Vicinity makes sense for a couple of reasons. One is that a major demand on the city’s primary circuit is for street lighting, which isn’t needed when the sun is shining, and Vicinity provides an essential product for dozens of public and private facilities downtown. The solar generation could potentially have a broader reach if Vicinity uses it to generate steam.

“The city said: Could you potentially take the solar energy generated at Butterworth and generate steam with it? The answer is yes,” said Jesse Douglas, vice president and general manager of Vicinity’s Grand Rapids plant.

Vicinity’s purchase of the first electric boiler “started to solidify opportunities to partner together to move forward,” said Alison

GRAM

From Page 1

GRAM the capacity to fill more than 100 million syringes and cartridges annually at a time when the global market for injectable drugs is growing rapidly.

“It’s a significant investment for us,” GRAM President and CEO Tom Ross told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business. “We’re continuing to grow, and we are consistently building our business.”

A research report that Chicago-based MarketsandMarkets Inc. issued this month estimates that the global injectable drug market

MATCHBOX

From Page 3

“significantly” higher operating costs in the time since.

A financial analysis and projections indicate that Matchbox “can successfully reorganize by significantly reducing its debt burden,” which includes two Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) from the U.S. Small Business Administration totaling $1.25 million. The bankruptcy petition seeks to have the SBA loans discharged, along with debt held by a Florida-based lender.

“We’re planning on being able to reorganize the company. Matchbox is open, it’s running and, other than these old loans, is successful,” said Steve Bylenga, a bankruptcy attorney with CBH Attorneys & Counselors PLLC in Grand Rapids who represents Matchbox Business. “By the time we’re done with this, it should be around for a long time.”

In his accompanying filing, Orange states that Matchbox was “generally profitable” from when the company started in January 2016 until the pandemic hit in early 2020. The diner closed during the state-imposed restrictions in 2020

Waske Sutter, sustainability and performance management officer in the city’s Office of Sustainability.

Vicinity received the first electric boiler in November, which is currently being assembled on the ground floor of the steam plant. Douglas said Vicinity could add at least one more electric boiler in the coming years.

The Jackson-based Consumers Energy also plays a key role as the city’s and Vicinity’s electricity provider and the owner of two key substations, one at the former Butterworth landfill and another adjacent to the steam plant.

“We have a very direct pathway of getting solar-produced electricity from the landfill to the steam plant,” Waske Sutter said.

Boston, Mass.-based Vicinity, which spun off from Veolia North America about four years ago, is the largest district energy owner and operator in the U.S, with 19 systems in a dozen cities. Veolia had acquired the Fulton Street steam plant from Kent County in 2008. The facility dates back to 1888 as a power plant and steam provider.

Vicinity has set a company-wide

will grow from $754.5 billion this year to $1.11 trillion by 2029.

Currently, the injectable drugs market “is just under capacity on a global basis, and that’s related to demand for pre-filled syringes and cartridges,” Ross said.

“Demand for high-quality syringe and cartridge filling has never been greater,” he said. “The global demand for our services in exceptionally high, and we’re excited and thrilled to be part of the solution, and to do that all here based in Grand Rapids is something we’re proud of.”

Grand Rapids-based Visser Brothers Construction is serving as the contractor on the construction

and after re-opening, “did not immediately rebound to pre-pandemic levels while consumers adjusted to post-pandemic eating options, including expanded delivery options,” he stated in the filing.

“In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in significantly increased operating costs, including substantial increases in labor costs and inventory,” Orange stated.

Orange wrote that a past partner in the business, Eric Chaitin, in early 2022 authorized Matchbox to take out the EIDL loans. Matchbox then loaned nearly all of the SBA funding to two of Chaitin’s other businesses, Ottawa Beach Business LLC in Holland and Mermaid Business LLC in Saugatuck. Both restaurants “were also suffering financially due to the decreased revenue and increased costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic” and are no longer operating, Orange wrote in the bankruptcy filing.

The $619,432 loan for Ottawa Beach Business, which did business as the Ottawa Beach Inn, and the $432,735 for Mermaid Business, which operated as the Mermaid Bar & Grill, are both listed as accounts receivables on Matchbox’s balance sheet, according to Orange’s declaration filed with the

goal to be carbon neutral by 2050, although that target will vary by city, Douglas said. Grand Rapids’ plant, which pumps out about 30,000 pounds of steam an hour in the summer and about 265,000 pounds per hour on a cold winter day, could be fully carbon neutral by 2035 or 2040, he added.

Roughly every 20 to 30 years, the company’s boilers experience a fuel shift, having moved from coal to oil to natural gas. Douglas said electric-powered boilers are the next step.

Vicinity’s steam customers in Grand Rapids include hospitals, government buildings, entertainment venues and large commercial and residential buildings. Douglas said it’s “distinctly possible,” depending on how an agreement is structured, that those customers could ultimately claim that a certain amount of their building operations are powered by renewable energy.

The city’s plan to develop solar at the former Butterworth landfill has taken several twists and turns over more than a decade, evolving in both design and scale. At this point,

project. An affiliate of the construction firm also owns the 14-acre site. GRAM targets completion of the facility for 2025 and expects operations to begin by the end of 2026.

The new facility is the third in five years for the fast-growing GRAM, which presently has four production locations in Grand Rapids and employs nearly 500 people.

Most recently, GRAM opened 90,000 square feet of production capacity earlier this year at the Caledonia Township finishing and warehouse facility on Patterson Avenue. That facility now has 200,000 square feet of capacity to finish, fill, label and package injectable biologic drugs and vaccines for phar-

bankruptcy petition.

Orange acquired a 50% share of Matchbox Business on June 1, 2022, and took over financial management in the summer of 2023 after learning additional loans had been taken out in the company’s name to fund it and Chaitin’s other businesses, he said in the court filing. Orange Peel Properties LLC, which lists Orange as its registered agent, also owns the Lake Drive property that Matchbox leases.

Creditors Matchbox listed in the bankruptcy petition include AKF Inc., a Miami-based lender that operates as Fundkite. Matchbox’s filing lists a $232,474 merchant cash advance (MCA) loan from Fundkite that’s marked as disputed.

Matchbox also lists among its creditors a $55,552 secured loan from Grandville-based Grand River Bank.

Local unsecured creditors include Wyoming-based Maurers Textile Rental Services ($39,979), a claim that is being disputed; Grand Rapids-based Van Eerden Foodservice Co. ($24,000); and Byron Center-based Nelbud Services ($715).

In 2023, Matchbox generated more than $1 million in receipts and $72,300 in net income, accord-

the city says about 60 acres of the overall 190-acre remediated U.S. EPA Superfund site is suitable for solar development.

As the city seeks development proposals for the Butterworth solar project, officials are simultaneously angling for potentially tens of millions of dollars in state and federal funding to offset the project costs.

The city is pursuing four separate avenues for grant funding, which includes an as-yet unknown portion of $156 million awarded to both Michigan and a Midwest consortium from the federal Solar for All program to expand access to renewable energy for marginalized communities. The city also has applied for $44.2 million in federal climate grant funding, a $5 million congressional budget allocation and $8.4 million from the Michigan Public Service Commission.

Those pots of money could support the three different aspects envisioned for the Butterworth solar project: A 1-2 megawatt project to directly power city operations, a 5 MW section in partnership with Consumers Energy that low-in-

maceutical manufacturers.

The new facility will start with one clean room to fill syringes and cartridges and has space for four clean rooms that GRAM will buildout in the years ahead as demand dictates, Ross said.

Founded in 2010, GRAM presently has six facilities in the Grand Rapids area, two of which are for labs and offices.

Majority owned since 2018 by Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm Arlington Capital Partners, GRAM has been listed for seven straight years on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies in America. The company ranked 1,272nd in 2023 with a 464% three-

ing to Orange. In January, AKF sued Matchbox as a guarantor of the loan. Chaitin disputes pledging Matchbox as a loan guarantor, according to the court filing from Orange.

The financial analysis and projection that Stonehenge Consulting PLC conducted on Matchbox indicates that the company “generates sufficient revenue to operate in the ordinary course of its financial affairs; however, it does not generate sufficient revenue to repay the EIDL loans to the SBA without collecting the receivables from Ottawa or Mermaid,” he stated. “Nor does Matchbox have the financial ability to make payments as a guarantor

come residents could subscribe to and offset their utility bills, and about 8 MW for Vicinity’s steam plant.

Waske Sutter said the “very early preliminary estimate” for the three components adds up to $44.2 million.

“Our goal is to leverage all the available funding currently being offered,” she said. “We think we have some very attractive projects.”

The city issued a request for information/request for qualifications from potential developers in November 2023, and now is in the process of refining a request for proposals to be issued in the coming months. It received 16 responses to the RFI/RFQ, and invited 10 respondents to work on the RFP, Waske Sutter said. Consumers Energy was the only utility that responded, she added, along with others that included both in-state and U.S.-based solar developers. By bringing Vicinity into the fold, the city’s long-delayed solar project could potentially have far-reaching benefits with renewable energy playing a supporting role across downtown.

year growth rate.

Part of the growth has been tied to GRAM previously finishing and filling Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine in the pandemic and its similar work on smallpox and monkeypox vaccines for Danish company Bavarian Nordic. Today, much of the growth comes from a growing roster of pharma and biotech clients that produce biologic drugs, Ross said. Boston-based BCC Research projects the global market for biologic drugs to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 12.7% from 2023 to the end of 2028, when it is expected to reach $823.4 billion.

on any MCA loan.”

The Ottawa and Mermaid loans are “believed to be uncollectable,” Orange stated.

According to a report from WOOD-TV, the property where Mermaid Bar & Grill is located was listed for sale earlier this year. The Ottawa Beach Inn location sold and reopened under new ownership and a new brand earlier this month, as Crain’s Grand Rapids Business previously reported.

“Based on the analysis and projections, I anticipate that Matchbox can successfully reorganize by significantly reducing its debt burden,” Orange wrote in the court filings.

Matt Hall’s goals: Cutting income taxes and becoming the next House speaker

Republicans are in the minority in the Michigan House for the rst time in 14 years. Their leader, Rep. Matt Hall of Kalamazoo County’s Richland Township, wants to make sure Democrats’ power is short-lived. The 40-year-old Rochester Hills native said his “No. 1 hobby” is becoming speaker next year. Though Republicans are outnumbered, 56-54, they have leverage on some key policy issues currently pending in the Capitol — like economic development.

| By David Eggert

Why did you run for of ce?

I didn’t really care for the representative that was in the seat (Republican David Maturen). So I ran against him and beat him by 30 points. It was a wide margin, but it was a lot of work. I didn’t like that he voted against cutting income taxes. One of the things I’ve done as a member is I chaired the Tax Policy Committee, and I passed an income tax cut through the House. Unfortunately, (Gov. Gretchen) Whitmer vetoed it. One of the key pillars of our platform is to cut the income tax because it went up (after a one-year reduction last year). I’ve been true to that. e other thing is the auto no-fault insurance. He voted against that reform. I believe we needed to do that reform. We got it done my rst year in the Legislature. ere’s some changes that we’ll probably have to make over time. But it was still a major leap. A lot more people in Detroit are insured because of it.

What did you do before becoming a lawmaker?

I’m an attorney. I worked for Bill Schuette when he was attorney general. I was the West Michigan liaison. I worked for a combat propulsion systems manufacturer called L-3. I did business development for them. Working in the private sector was good experience and then, working for Bill Schuette, I learned a lot from him about public service and about the issues and Lansing. It really bene ted me in my campaign.

Where did you grow up?

Rochester Hills. I went to Rochester High School. My dad worked for General Dynamics growing up. It was great. I moved to Kalamazoo because I went to Western (Michigan University). When I was at Western, most of my family moved out of state because they’d gone to other jobs and things. I just stayed on the west side.

What prompted you to run for House leadership?

I was fortunate my rst term. ey made me chair of the Oversight Committee. I became chair of the Joint Select Committee on the COVID-19 pandemic. at really put me in the spotlight. We did a really good job of exposing the governor’s lack of proper management in the Unemployment Insurance Agency, the problems in the nursing homes. ere were a lot of those areas where we worked

really hard to point out the problems in her executive orders and show the e ect that it was having on small businesses across our state. I think that really started it. I decided that I was the most quali ed to serve in leadership. My colleagues agreed with that and put me there. I think we’re better o because of it.

I appreciate the work of the population council. I think they did a great job of identifying some of the challenges. What I took from them is we need a coordinated economic growth plan. If you look at the states that are growing across the country, they’re states that are cutting their income tax. We went the wrong way when we raised our income tax. (It temporarily dropped from 4.25% to 4.05% before returning to 4.25%) We’ve got to start moving that income tax back to compete with other states. Regulatory reform is really important. We need to start pushing departments to review their regulations every year, 20% of their regulations annually, and using criteria that is related to job creation and incomes instead of the criteria they’re using, which is often tied to kind of extreme environmental considerations. e second part is performance-based funding for the Michigan Economic Development Corp. ey need to become better at customer service. Restoring right-to-work is

important. at’ll put an “open for business” sign on Michigan. We need to be better at measuring the performance of our workforce development programs. We have to gure out how to get a permanent road funding solution. Our economic development program (should be) better deals. A lot of the money we’re spending on that could be spent on these other things I just talked about. But instead it’s going to big corporations.

Is an income tax cut really the answer? Michigan’s local state and tax burden is fthlowest in the U.S., according to the Tax Foundation. e income tax is one of the main drivers of population. You’re seeing a lot of growth in these 0% tax states like Florida and Texas. e sales tax is taxing activity. But when you’re taxing income, you’re kind of disincentivizing wealth and growing and things like that. It’s a tax that I would say we need to move away from. Moving more toward taxes that are user fees or related to transactions and economic activity is a more fair way to do it. e goal is to get below 4%. (He pointed to state incentives for Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Gotion Inc. to build electric vehicle battery and component plants in Michigan, and up to $500 million going

to the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve Fund annually this scal year and next.) I would rather give that to an income tax cut than to some of those corporations, which then lay people o in other places.

Are you open to automatically depositing more money into the SOAR Fund for years into the future if you get some reforms?

I was never a fan of the automatic funding for SOAR (Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve). e entire Legislature should be voting on these deals. Right now, it’s just the appropriations committees, which the Democrats just stack. Any reform would have to start with the entire Legislature voting on these transfers before they go into e ect. Whether it’s automatic or not, once the deal is presented, the entire Legislature should vote on it and approve it. Anything that extended the funding would have to be tied to that.

What about legislation to restore and change a tax incentive for job creation?

Are you open to the concept of the High-wage Incentive for Regional Employment program?

Before we create HIRE, we have to reform SOAR. We’ve had a year or two of experience with SOAR. We see where it’s working and where it’s not working. Before we create more programs that give large checks to companies, picking winners and losers, we should reform SOAR. I’ve laid out a few of those things. Incomes matter. Clawbacks. I don’t think you should be able to use SOAR and HIRE. We want to spread this out to as many companies as possible. We need to make sure it doesn’t all go to electric battery plants, that it’s spread out more diversely. I need to see those changes and many changes to SOAR that’ll make it work better before our caucus considers creating HIRE.

What do you do in your free time?

My No. 1 thing I like to do is I am laser-focused on winning the House majority back and taking that gavel and becoming the next speaker of the House. e governor asked me that question, and I say, “(I) have no hobbies or interests, other than winning the House back.” at is true.

David Eggert is a reporter for Crain’s Detroit Business.

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