Wintrust wants to become a ‘formidable competitor’
tion at the beginning of August.
Construction rm relocating to new downtown of ces
O-A-K intends to bring all its employees to the central location on Ottawa Avenue
By Kate Carlson
A 133-year-old Grand Rapids-based construction rm is relocating its downtown corporate headquarters to a former RDV Corp. building the rm purchased earlier this year.
Owen-Ames-Kimball Co. (O-A-K) plans to move its o ces on Aug. 19 to 126 Ottawa Ave. NW, which it bought from the DeVos-owned RDV Corp. for more than $7.1 million in February. e move will coincide with O-A-K selling its current o ces at 300 Ionia Ave. NW, a deal it expected to close on Aug. 15.
By Mark Sanchez
Wintrust Financial Corp. brings Macatawa Bank added “horsepower” to fuel additional growth across West Michigan.
e Rosemont, Ill.-based Wintrust plans to add new nancing options to Macatawa Bank for rms transitioning to employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) and for capital equipment leas-
Despite
By Mark Sanchez
Working conditions for nurses in Michigan improved somewhat in 2023, although troubling issues such as high professional burnout rates and chronic sta ng shortages remain a concern.
Rates for on-the-job abuse or violence also stayed elevated, even with year-to-year reductions in reported incidents, according to survey data from University of Michigan researchers.
ing. Wintrust also plans to add peer-to-peer Zelle services that will allow consumers and businesses to make digital payments to Macatawa’s suite of o erings.
“We’ll bring some technology and some tools that smaller banks just typically can’t a ord,”
Wintrust Financial President and CEO Tim Crane told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business after closing on the $510.3 million acquisi-
“Our intention is to provide the Macatawa team the resources and the horsepower to not only compete in the market but to win in the market,” Crane said. “I think together we’ll be a formidable competitor to the regional banks.”
Under the terms of the deal that close Aug. 1, Macatawa now operates as a separately chartered bank under the ownership of the Wintrust Financial
O-A-K built its current headquarters in 1969 and renovated the 13,776-square-foot facility in 2011. CEO Frank Stanek said the space was built to accommodate 22 o ce workers comfortably, and the rm now has 48 people who should be working out of the space. Because of the space constraints, some employees are working out of O-A-K’s Kalamazoo o ce and its operations center in Caledonia, he said.
“In the last 10 years, we’ve outgrown it, and have had to work in
di erent buildings because we’ve had too many people crammed in there. It just got to the point where we needed to get back under one roof,” Stanek said. “We work better collectively.”
Founded in 1891, O-A-K is one of the oldest construction rms in Grand Rapids and has always been headquartered downtown. Even though the rm’s future
ose are among the key conclusions from the university’s latest survey of registered nurses working in the state in 2023. e report found that many nurses still plan to leave the profession because they feel burned out and are unhappy with working conditions and sta ng levels. Even as results from the 2023 Michigan Nurses’ Study suggest nurses experienced “improved workplace conditions” in 2023 over the prior year, “planned de-
parture rates, abusive or violent events, and unsafe conditions remained high, and understa ng remained a primary concern for most nurses,” UM researchers wrote in a paper on their ndings published July 18 by JAMA Network Open.
e results show that despite e orts coming out of the pandemic to retain and attract nursing professionals, hospitals and
BANKING AND FINANCE
Chicago Fed leader describes West Michigan as ‘bright spot’ PAGE 3
REAL ESTATE
Ottawa County’s most expensive home listing hits market for $12.5M PAGE 8
LAW
Inaugural summit to convene Black legal professionals PAGE 10
Wintrust Financial President and CEO Tim Crane. CREDIT: COURTESY PHOTO
City OKs incentives for office-to-housing project
CWD plans to repurpose the top seven floors of downtown building
By Kate Carlson
A plan for Grand Rapids’ first major downtown office-to-housing conversion took a step forward as city officials approved tax incentives, including a $15.2 million brownfield plan, for a developer’s plan to convert several floors of vacant offices into 140 apartments.
CWD Real Estate Investment LLC — led by Sam Cummings, Dan DeVos and Scott Wierda — plans to invest $30.7 million to repurpose the upper seven floors of the Vandenburg Center building, located at 111 Lyon St. NW. Fifth
Third Bank will remain as the building’s anchor tenant on the ground floor.
“We’re really excited about this project. It’s a triple-win and it works for us. It’s recycling a great old building and reducing the amount of available office space by about 125,000 square feet and bringing mixed and affordable housing to our market,” Cummings told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business.
Of the 140 units, 28 would be rented to households earning at or below 100% of the area median income.
CWD is leveraging changes last year to the state brownfield law that made housing development activities eligible for brownfield capture, which includes reimbursement for potential rent loss specific to the 28 affordable units.
The apartments would be a mix of one- and two-bedroom units.
The 28 apartments set to be rented out at an income-restricted rate would span 21 one-bedroom units and seven two-bedroom units.
The estimated monthly rent for the one-bedroom income-restricted
Chicago Fed leader describes West Michigan as ‘bright spot’
says region has bucked many of the trends afflicting other Midwest cities
By Mark Sanchez
The leader of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago says West Michigan is an economic outlier compared to other states and regions, as population growth and a resilient manufacturing sector keep the region on a solid footing.
Austan Goolsbee, who has served as president of the Chicago Fed since January 2023, visited Grand Rapids this month to meet with local employers and business leaders.
Goolsbee’s visit also came after an underwhelming jobs report and two days of steep stock market declines, and amid questions about whether the Federal Open Market Committee may soon low-
er interest rates.
Despite the disappointing jobs report, Goolsbee cited West Michigan as “a good bright spot in the Midwest” that contrasts trends. For example, Michigan and other Mid-
formed well following the sharp, short recession four years ago that was triggered by the pandemic and resulting shutdowns.
“West Michigan has kind of bucked a lot of the trends of much of the Midwest,” Goolsbee said. “Western Michigan has evaded the down part of that and the population for West Michigan is still growing.”
“Because the market reacted doesn’t mean the Federal Reserve needs to react to that level.”
Austan Goolsbee, president of the Chicago Fed
west states have been dealing with population declines while the region here grows. The region’s manufacturing sector also has per-
Counties say foreclosure ruling causes minimal pain
they have been proactively budgeting for a retroactive supreme Court decision for years
By Rachel Watson
County officials in West Michigan say their budgets and services will be unharmed following a recent Michigan Supreme Court ruling requiring counties statewide to repay past windfalls from the sale of foreclosed properties.
The Michigan Supreme Court on July 29 ruled that its 2020 decision stopping local governments from keeping excess proceeds from tax-foreclosed property sales “must be applied retroactively.” The Michigan Municipal League, which represents local governments and opposed making the 2020 ruling retroactive, said in a court brief that the decision could put counties on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars and potentially limit local government services. However, multiple county officials in West Michigan say they have been proactive in budgeting for claims from property owners seeking the return of excess proceeds, and expect to be able to fulfill those obligations without negative budget implications.
As well, a recent federal class action settlement involving dozens of counties in West and Northern Michigan may further limit counties’ obligations involving past foreclosure proceeds.
Kalamazoo County Treasurer Thomas Whitener said his department is in a “pretty good position” following the Michigan Supreme Court ruling.
“When I took office in 2021, my legal counsel and I … (thought) we should probably be proactive about this and try to take care of it, so we’ve actually already settled with everybody who had excess proceeds in the 2020 foreclosure cycle, and so all of those are closed,” he said. “Those excess proceeds … we put those into a restricted account, we paid those out, and that was done by the end of 2022.”
Whitener said the county’s estimated total remaining liability is around $4 million to $4.5 million, and money has already been set aside to cover that without drawing from the general
More broadly, Goolsbee offered a reminder that Wall Street in recent days was reacting to a snapshot of the economy based on one month’s data. Rather than reacting to stock market fears of an economic slowdown and possible
CWD plans to convert the upper seven floors at 111 Lyon St. from commercial space into 140 residential units. | MARK sANCHEZ
This home in southeast Grand Rapids is one of 13 properties Kent County foreclosed in 2023. | RACHEL WAtsON
Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee (center) tours Steelcase’s Grand Rapids headquarters on Aug. 5. | COuRtEsY PHOtO
What to know about Acrisure ahead of potential IPO
By Rachel Watson
While the timing of global insurance brokerage and fintech company Acrisure LLC’s plan to go public remains unknown, observers say a look at the firm’s history can provide clues about its future.
Grand Rapids-based Acrisure was co-founded in 2005 by chair and CEO Greg Williams and Ricky Norris, a partner who remains a shareholder in the business. The company generated $4.5 billion in sales in 2023, up from $38 million in 2013, and is on track to surpass $5 billion this year. The firm also reached a valuation of nearly $27 billion last year.
Acrisure has made no secret of its plans to become a publicly traded company since Bloomberg reported in June 2023 that the firm was interviewing banks about an initial public offering.
“We’re certainly trending in the right direction, and we’re on the right trajectory,” Williams told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business in May at the Mackinac Policy Conference.
Paul Mudde, an associate professor at Grand Valley State University’s Seidman College of Business who teaches business and corporate strategy, said to make a public play, companies need a strong equity and stock market for IPOs. They also need brand and market recognition to attract institutional investors, product offerings that align with market demand, and stable revenue performance, he said.
Mudde thinks the stars appear aligned for Acrisure at the moment on the first consideration, with the number of U.S. IPOs and proceeds reportedly up year over year by about 27% and 75%, respectively. The 80 or so IPOs filed so far this year in the U.S.
included two companies from southeast Michigan. Birmingham-based OneStream launched on the Nasdaq on July 24, raising about $490 million and achieving a $6 billion valuation after one day. Novi-based Lineage debuted on the Nasdaq the following day, raising $4.4 billion and achieving a $19 billion market valuation on July 25.
Mudde said Acrisure’s performance, market position, branding and offerings also make it seem well-positioned for an IPO.
“They’ve had very steady growth through acquisition, they’ve made themselves into a pretty powerful competitor in the insurance industry, and there doesn’t seem to be any wall that they’re going to hit with their growth,” Mudde said. “For an IPO, that’s really good.”
Going public while remaining headquartered in Grand Rapids could create more local wealth, add jobs and bolster the real estate market as the company continues to expand its headcount,
Mudde added.
“There’s going to be some people who get really rich, and they could put that money to work in the local area,” he said.
As Acrisure continues its aggressive growth plan, here’s a breakdown of how the company got to where it is today.
What does Acrisure do?
Through hundreds of agencies across the U.S. and in 20 other countries, Acrisure sells personal insurance, such as home, auto and life, and business insurance including general, commercial and professional liability, owner’s insurance and employee benefits. The company also has capabilities beyond insurance, including cybersecurity services and mortgage origination.
In 2020, Acrisure began to fasttrack a strategy to leverage artificial intelligence in its sales and marketing, something none of its competitors had done at the time.
It acquired the insurance platform of the AI company Tulco for $400 million that year. Acrisure then brought Tulco’s executive vice president Matt Marolda on board as chief innovation officer. He built an AI team that now numbers hundreds of employees and has exponentially increased web traffic, lead generation and sales conversion.
Acrisure’s approach to using AI to conduct sales is “years ahead” of other companies that consider themselves competitors, Williams told Crain’s in May.
Who leads the company?
Williams is chair, CEO and a minority shareholder. Norris is “involved,” but not on the leadership team anymore, according to Chief Communications Officer Elliott Bundy.
The company recently hired John Tuttle of the New York Stock Exchange as its first president, effective Sept. 1. Just days before that announcement, Acrisure added Aaron Miller, previous head of financial services in the private equities department at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, as CFO. Sozon Vatikiotis is COO and chief administrative officer. Marolda is CIO and chief marketing officer. Former CFO Jason DeYonker will soon transition to chief acquisitions officer, and Ryan Foley is chief legal officer. Additionally, Grahame Millwater is vice chair of international and global markets.
How’d it get to where it is?
Williams characterizes the company as having had at least two distinct growth periods: an “experimental phase” proving its concept from 2005 to 2012, then a
national and international growth phase from 2013 to present. In the latter phase, Acrisure launched an ambitious acquisitions strategy in 2013, developed its AI, and began marketing itself with naming rights deals and digital ad buys in 2022 to prepare for an IPO.
According to annual insurance industry M&A tracking by Optis Partners, Acrisure since 2013 has acquired at least 823 agencies, although Bundy said the actual total is higher because some of the deals weren’t publicly reported. Its peak year for acquisitions, according to Optis, was 2021, with 122 deals that year. In preparation for the IPO, the company pulled back on M&A last year, closing just 36 deals. That was its smallest number of acquisitions closed in a single year since 2014.
GVSU’s Mudde said slowing M&A ahead of going public is not uncommon, as integrations are labor-intensive and generally require the attention of the same finance team that would lead an IPO.
He said going public would fuel the company’s ability to continue acquiring more agencies, as there’s still plenty of opportunity for consolidation in the industry.
When will it go public?
Williams said in May to expect an IPO “sooner as opposed to later,” and that the company is busy laying the groundwork for it. Since then, Bundy and Williams have said a few times that they are not ready to declare a specific timeline. Michigan-based strategists told Crain’s that Acrisure’s hiring of new executives is a good signal the IPO is coming soon. The new CFO and president will come onboard next month.
Designs show reimagined riverfront next to amphitheater
By Kate Carlson
City officials have unveiled new designs for riverfront trails and greenspace to surround the Acrisure Amphitheater in downtown Grand Rapids, which tie in to broader plans for public access along the Grand River.
The proposed $13 million to $17 million improvements call for a half-mile of non-motorized trails along the river’s edge, seating areas overlooking the river, and access for recreational opportunities. The plans also include 4.5 acres of new greenspace, an amphitheater access point and opportunities for public art installations.
The riverfront improvements announced Aug. 2 would span U.S. 131 south to a CSX railroad crossing over the Grand River. Work is expected to begin in spring 2025 and be completed in 2026 depending on weather conditions.
“This is a game-changing community improvement project,” Grand Rapids Deputy City Manag-
er Kate Berens said in a statement.
“This property was used to park garbage trucks, store salt for winter street maintenance, and provided zero access to the river for (the) community. It’s currently completely disconnected from the neighborhoods around it and the people who live there. … This will be a vibrant new hub of community activity and a destination for our region.”
Designers on the project are Kalamazoo-based Viridis Design Group, Fishbeck, Progressive Companies and engineering firm Materials Testing Consultants.
Additional improvements still in the planning process as part of the Grand River Greenway would involve adjacent properties to complete the full riverfront greenway connection from Fulton Street in downtown Grand Rapids, where the riverfront trail currently terminates, south to Wealthy Street.
Waterfront enhancements around the Acrisure Amphitheater
have been part of developer Grand Action 2.0’s plans since the project was first announced several years ago. The $184 million venue broke ground in May this year, and the first concert at the 12,000-capacity venue is expected in May 2026.
Future phases could include redeveloping city-owned property at 509 Wealthy St. SW and the former Charley Crab’s restaurant site. The city’s master plan also includes
proposed trail underpasses beneath the U.S. 131 highway and CSX railway.
The waterfront assets will provide more places for the community to gather and benefit from the Grand River, said Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. President Tim Kelly.
“We envision a first-class riverfront community space next to a first-class outdoor amphitheater,”
Kelly said in a statement. “And we also envision this space as a dynamic hub in a unified Grand River Greenway system that connects residents, neighborhoods and regional communities to recreational and economic opportunities. That’s an exciting prospect for our community and it’s highly encouraging to see the work moving forward.”
A final budget and funding source for the $13 million to $17 million in riverfront improvements is still being finalized, according to DGRI.
Meanwhile, the latest riverfront trail plans tie into enhancements under construction farther north at the Lyon Square riverfront plaza and the Grand Rapids Public Museum.
Municipal leaders across Kent County also are ramping up efforts to grow Grand River Greenway connections through a network of public parks linked together by 50 miles of multi-use trails across the county.
City officials have released designs for public riverfront trails and greenspace next to the Acrisure Amphitheater. | COURtESY OF DGRI
Acrisure LLC’s headquarters in downtown Grand Rapids. | RACHEL WAtSON
Tribe nets $11.9M to preserve 200 acres of Leelanau coastline
By Rachel Watson
A recent federal grant brings a Michigan tribe and a partnering nonprofit one step closer to protecting about 200 acres of ancestral Grand Traverse Bay coastline previously eyed for luxury condos and then a large RV resort.
The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians on July 18 received a three-year, $11.9 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for a pair of ecological preservation projects in their ancestral homeland.
About $6.5 million of the tribe’s NOAA grant will go toward acquiring approximately 187 acres of wetlands and former wetlands in Leelanau Township, which the tribe plans to purchase in partnership with the 2-year-old, Northport-based nonprofit New Community Vision. Attainable housing is also under consideration for a small portion of the 200 acres.
Sandra Witherspoon, tribal chairwoman of the Grand Traverse Band, said the Leelanau Township acreage is part of the tribe’s ancestral homeland dating back 300 years.
“The culturally important land is named ‘Mashkiigaki,’ which means ‘the place of the medicines,’ and it represents the importance of these wetlands as a traditionally significant location for hunting, fishing, gathering and collecting medicines,” Witherspoon said. “It’s one of the last remnants of undeveloped coastline within Grand Traverse Band’s ancestral homelands and historic 1855 reservation … and we would love to see it stay that way.”
The restoration site previously housed the Timber Shores campground from the 1960s until it closed in the late ’80s. Before that, some of it was farmland. As a result of the various uses over the years, some of
the wetlands were filled in and would need to be brought back.
After the campground closed and the property sat vacant for several years, a group of Bloomfield Hills-based investors led by the late Fred Gordon acquired the property in the early 2000s under two affiliated entities, NM Investment Co. LLC and RVTS Acquisition LLC.
Gordon received site plan approval in 2006 from the township for a 400-unit luxury condo development, but that plan fell through amid the Great Recession.
In March 2020, Gordon came back with plans for a sprawling resort with 334 RV sites and 15 tent spots as part of a project called Timber Shores, named in homage to the original campground. However, the plans stalled amid pushback from local officials and residents.
Meanwhile, two years ago, a group of five Leelanau County residents formed New Community Vision with the goal to acquire, preserve and restore the roughly 200 acres encompassing the former Timber Shores property, rather than seeing it turned into an RV park.
New Community Vision approached Gordon last year with its proposal to buy and restore the property. Gordon, who died in March at the age of 87, was unaware of the land’s ecological, cultural and historical significance to the tribe at the time, but the nonprofit’s proposal resonated with him.
That’s according to Rick Cavenaugh, president of Barrington, Ill.-based residential developer Stoneleigh Companies LLC, who was appointed the owners’ representative for the property upon Gordon’s death.
Cavenaugh said Gordon had a “passion for the land” but could see that New Community Vision and the tribe did, too.
“Obviously, Fred had been working on this land for a long time and he wasn’t looking to get rid of it necessarily. But I think the plan that they came up with, their articulated vision, intrigued him to say, ‘That’s another good use of the land, other than what we want to do.’ And he was supportive of that, if they could perform.”
Beth Verhey, who serves as New Community Vision’s vice president, said the nonprofit reached out to the Grand Traverse Band early on in their journey to explore a partnership, given the tribe’s historical role and ongoing conservation interest and expertise in the area.
“As our conversations progressed, we have been grateful to learn more about the special ecological and cultural significance to the (Grand Traverse Band) of the broader creek, wetland, shoreline and surrounding ecosystems and habitats,” Verhey said. “The expertise and leadership of (Grand Traverse Band) in the stewardship of natural habitats is key to not only preserve and restore the property but connecting all people in the community to the wonders of this remarkable natural asset again.”
New Community Vision secured an option in April 2023 to purchase the property from Gordon and his partners. They formed a strategic partnership with the tribe and began working on the NOAA grant application soon after.
The parties have renewed the option agreement a couple of times as New Community Vision works to finish securing funding pledges for the project. With the $6.5 million from NOAA, they have raised about $8 million so far for the effort, but will need to raise about $2 million more toward the $10 million purchase price by the end of 2024.
“We have tremendous momentum right now and are confident
we will reach our fundraising goal,” Verhey said.
Cavenaugh said resuming plans for the RV park could be a potential “fallback” if New Community Vision is unable to close on the land deal by November, though that’s not the priority.
“Right now, our sole focus is working with New Community Vision and getting them to the point to reach their goals and close,” he added.
The land fronts the West Grand Traverse Bay in the northern Leelanau Peninsula, off M-22 between Northport and Omena. The acquisition would set aside the land for preservation and restoration by the tribe, which also would be funded by the NOAA grant.
The other component of New Community Vision’s plan is to set aside about 24 of the more than 200 acres for attainable housing. The nonprofit has signed a memorandum of understanding with Suttons Bay Township-based Peninsula Housing to be the developer for the project, which would be funded and led separately from the tribal preservation effort.
Mawby Vineyards and Winery founder Larry Mawby started Peninsula Housing as a nonprofit community land trust in 2021. The nonprofit has spent the past three years acquiring properties for affordable
and attainable housing. One of its current projects will add 75 units of duplexes and townhomes in Herman Township, just outside Suttons Bay.
Verhey said they are looking forward to leveraging Peninsula’s experience in Leelanau Township. She serves on the board of the Leelanau Township Community Foundation, which surveyed residents and businesses last fall and found that of the 31% of employees of Leelanau Township businesses who tried to find housing in the past two years, 91% were unable to find a home that met their needs based on cost and lack of supply.
A 2023 Leelanau County Housing Needs Assessment found that about 2,335 more units will be needed countywide by 2027, including 382 rental units and 1,953 for-sale units.
Verhey said New Community Vision wanted to be part of helping to fill that gap.
“All along, our vision has been a priority on conservation of the environment, preserving those aspects of the property, and yet also being aware that attainable housing is such an acute community need, and having the sense that there would likely be some upland section of this acreage that would be appropriate for attainable housing,” Verhey said.
Christian Reformed Church acquires East Beltline office
By Kate Carlson
The Christian Reformed Church in North America is significantly downsizing its office space in Grand Rapids, with plans to move into an office building the organization purchased for $3.2 million from Cornerstone University.
CRC staff recently moved out of its headquarters at the corner of 28th Street and Kalamazoo Avenue SE, where the organization had been operating for nearly 70 years. Meijer Inc. now is eyeing the location for a gas station.
The CRC is temporarily working from its building at 4500 60th St. SE until renovations are complete at its recently purchased building at 300 E. Beltline Ave. NE in Grand Rapids Township, said Kristen deRoo Vanderberg, director of communications and marketing for the Christian Reformed Church.
The CRC acquired the East Beltline building from Cornerstone on May 8, according to property records. Cornerstone purchased the property in 2011 for $750,000.
“There was a team of people tasked with looking at properties to build or retrofit for our needs and they toured several locations,” deRoo Vanderberg said. “It’s a good and accessible location for staff and visitors to get to and it’s in good condition. The building we’re getting rid of had a lot of deferred maintenance.”
In addition to the rising cost of maintaining the building on 28th Street, the CRC has cited a need for less office space coming out of the pandemic. The CRC’s new office space, which it is calling its New Ministry Support Center, is about 21,575 square feet, a fraction of the 130,000-square-foot building the organization recently vacated. About
75 people are expected to work from the New Ministry Support Center, deRoo Vanderberg said.
Cornerstone University used the East Beltline building for in-person adult learning night classes prior to the pandemic, said Heidi Cece, Cornerstone’s vice president of enrollment and marketing. Part-time
students now take most of their classes online, Cece said.
“We had no further use of the building,” Cece said in an email.
The Christian Reformed Church put its former office building on the market for $7.35 million in September 2023 and is in the process of selling the property to Meijer Inc.,
as Crain’s previously reported. Meijer plans to demolish the building at 1700 28th St. SE and relocate its nearby Meijer Express gas station to the site. Relocating the gas station would make it more convenient for customers to access the fueling station from both 28th Street and Kalamazoo, a Meijer spokesperson previously said.
CRC staff hosted an open house and farewell service at the 28th Street building on June 27, according to a report from The Banner, a magazine published by the CRC. Plans for the building were first proposed at the 1945 Synod, then known as the Board of Indian and Foreign Missions. The CRC purchased the property in 1953 and the project broke ground in 1955 for what was a $666,500 building, The Banner reported. The building was expanded twice over the years, in 1967 and in the late 1980s.
The Christian Reformed Church in North America will significantly cut its office footprint when it moves into
Roughly 200 acres along the west side of Grand Traverse Bay previously eyed for condos and then an RV resort is now being considered for conservation and environmental restoration. NEW COMMUNItY VISION
Bank passes major milestone as more growth planned
By Mark Sanchez
After recording strong growth rates in recent years and surpassing the $1 billion-asset milestone, West Michigan Community Bank looks to expand in the Grand Rapids and lakeshore markets with two more offices in the next couple of years.
The Hudsonville-based West Michigan Community Bank seeks to add a branch in the Holland area, probably on the south side, plus one in the Grand Rapids area to complement offices in downtown and Cascade and continue “our path of growth,” President Phil Koning said.
“We want to continue to grow (and) continue reasonable growth that’s appropriate and responsible,” Koning said. “We want to get more customers, more clients, but it will be responsible and appropriate.”
West Michigan Community Bank, which is owned by Northstar Financial Group Inc. in Bad Axe in Michigan’s Thumb Area, has seven offices in the region: Two in Holland, one in downtown Grand Rap-
“We want to continue to grow (and) continue reasonable growth that’s appropriate and responsible.”
Phil Koning, President, West Michigan Community Bank
ids and one in Grand Rapids Township, plus locations in Jenison, Zeeland and Hudsonville in Ottawa County.
The bank could announce a location for a new Grand Rapid office yet this year, and a Holland location in 2025, Koning said. The branches would not only add to the bank’s footprint, but also help the bank grow after larger banks have trimmed their branch networks.
“You have to have physical presence to serve the market and to serve clients,” Koning said.
West Michigan Community Bank has been on a growth trajectory for years. When Koning was hired as president 13 years ago after Northstar Financial Group acquired the bank from Fentura Financial Inc. in January 2011, West Michigan Community Bank had about $100 million in assets.
Northstar Financial Group also owns Northstar Bank in Bad Axe, and Mainstreet Community Bank of DeLand, Fla. The three community banks that Northstar Financial Group owns collectively have nearly $3 billion in assets.
West Michigan Community Bank finished the second quarter with slightly more than $1 billion in assets, a nearly 16% increase from the $865.1 million at the end of 2021, according to quarterly financial reports to the FDIC.
Deposits over the same two-anda-half-year period grew 14.5%, or by $11 million, to $865.5 million as of June 30. Net loans increased more than 35% from the end of
2021 to $859.3 million at midyear.
About 90% of the bank’s loans are for commercial lending, reflecting a core strategy that has driven growth over the years, Koning said.
“We have focused on business relationships. While we have a lot of retail customers, most of the growth has come in business relationships, and that’s where we have put our focus and that’s where we’ve seen the growth,” he said.
West Michigan Community Bank recorded $5.7 million in net income at midyear, according to a quarterly financial report filed with
the FDIC.
During Koning’s 13 years as president, West Michigan Community Bank opened offices in Grand Rapids and Zeeland. Koning also credits the bank’s solid growth rates to increased market awareness of the bank and an improved reputation.
Passing the $1 billion-asset threshold represents the “culmination of a lot of work and effort and a lot of new customers have been acquired,” Koning said.
“We’re just happy that we’ve had that level of success over these last years,” he said.
We are thrilled to announce that we have been ranked #1 in Member Satisfaction Among Commercial Health Plans in Michigan and swept all eight dimensions in the 2024 J.D. Power Study. This is a testament to our unwavering commitment to our members and the communities we serve.
We’re ready to help serve our members. bcbsm.com/employers
West Michigan Community Bank’s downtown Grand Rapids office. ANDY BALAsKOVItZ
Ottawa County’s most expensive home listing hits market for $12.5M
By Rachel Watson
A gated estate near Holland has an asking price higher than any residential sale that’s closed in at least 20 years in Ottawa County.
A pair of out-of-state sellers listed their 8,600-square-foot main house and a 3,300-square-foot guest house on a lot next door in Park Township for an eye-popping $12.5 million on Aug. 2. The sellers, who own additional properties in Park Township, asked not to be named for privacy reasons.
Kersh Ruhl and Lauri Sisson, founding Realtors of Michigan Homes and Cottages/Coldwell Banker Woodland Schmidt in Holland, are representing the sellers.
Based on an Aug. 7 search of the multiple listing service, the combined asking price is higher than any residential property sold in the county during the past 20 years.
The closest comparable sale was a five-bed, three-bath home with 825 feet of Lake Michigan frontage on 19.5 acres in Grand Haven Township that sold for $9 million in 2016.
The next highest Ottawa County list price for homes currently on the market is that of the Reenders mansion. The sellers cut the price to $7.85 million in May, down from January’s original list price of $8.1 million.
Sisson said she believes the price for the Park Township estate is justified because it’s a “one-ofa-kind property.”
“To recreate it would be nearly impossible,” Ruhl added, noting double lots are hard to find on Lake Macatawa.
The sellers acquired the properties in 2018, built the guest house from scratch and so extensively remodeled and added onto the main house that it’s unrecognizable from the original structure built in 2007, Ruhl and Sisson said.
The general contractor for both homes, which were completed in 2019, was Holland Township-based BPS Builders LLC.
Outdoor living
Together, the properties comprise about 1.6 acres on Pine Creek Bay, in the coveted Waukazoo Woods neighborhood.
“The location is pretty stunning,” Sisson said.
Ruhl added that Pine Creek Bay is a “calmer” part of Lake Macatawa. “Parking a boat at your dock becomes a whole lot easier in Pine Creek Bay, just due to the protective nature of the bay. So it’s really ideal for boaters,” he said.
The estate includes 215 feet of water frontage and docks with eight slips and lifts for boats, kayaks and dinghies. One of the slips is zero step, allowing wheelchair users to easily access a boat.
The grounds feature impeccable landscaping; a huge patio with an outdoor kitchen, grills, fire rings and a covered lounge for TV watching by the fireplace; an outdoor heated pool and hot tub; pickleball and volleyball courts; a custom playground; a vegetable garden; and an eight-stall garage.
Ruhl said the outdoor pool area is one of his favorites, as the cooking surfaces are equipped with appliances to cook in just about any culinary style or technique, and the pedestals around the gated perimeter have individual speakers instead of a central loudspeaker, for a quieter ambient sound.
“It’s like a resort,” he said.
Indoor luxury
The main house features six beds and eight baths, while the guest house has three beds and four baths. Both the main and guest houses boast panoramic lake views.
The palatial primary residence features a main floor owner’s suite with a large bathroom with double sinks and two closets, and a tub for soaking while watching TV.
Its main floor also includes a vestibule equipped with party refrigerators, ample storage and boat key management; a massive great room with high coffered ceilings and a two-sided stone fireplace; a large open-plan kitchen with top-of-the-line appliances that flows into a spacious dining room; and one of the home’s two offices.
A main-level sunroom is also stacked with amenities, including a refreshment center, ice makers, a glassware dishwasher and a cocktail pantry.
An elevator offers access to all levels. Upstairs are more bedrooms, and a bonus room includes a pool table, game table, home theater and lake views. An upper floor family loft provides a kitchenette, laundry area, play area, bunk rooms, a nursery and bathrooms.
Ruhl described the layout as “thoughtful” in its planning and execution.
“The flow of the house was designed in such a way that it just makes life easier,” he said.
Guest cottage, tech features
The smaller dwelling offers the
same level of luxury as the owner’s residence.
It has a second-story living area that includes an open foyer on the main level, a covered front porch, a primary bedroom with an en suite bathroom, a second bedroom with a cozy sitting area and a dorm room that sleeps six, per the listing.
There’s an upper-level screened deck, as well as a game room with table and arcade games.
The three-stall guest garage is designed with two stalls facing the driveway and one stall facing the lake, which lets occupants store their boat gear and easily access the dock.
The house is equipped with a Control4 home automation system that offers distributed audio and 21 TVs, per the listing.
An advanced home security system has cameras and central station monitoring. Two large generators provide backup power for the complex.
The outdoor spaces have a snowmelt system for the concrete to allow residents to walk to the hot tub in winter without trudging through snow and ice.
For those times when overflow space is needed, the property also features RV parking with hookups for power, water, sewer and cable.
There’s also a dog run with secure gates, a dog door/room, hot and cold water spigot, and a nightly wash-down system.
“It’s a true luxury estate,” Ruhl said. Sisson added: “Every detail is so well thought out.”
A gated compound on Lake Macatawa in Park Township is listed for $12.5 million, the highest-priced home currently on the market in Ottawa County. NEW LIStING MEDIA
The larger house has a five-stall garage, and the guest cottage has a three-car garage. | NEW LIStING MEDIA
The main house has spacious common areas like the vaulted great room and open kitchen. NEW LIStING MEDIA
The sunroom overlooks the lake and shares the double-sided fireplace with the great room on the other side of the wall. | NEW LIStING MEDIA
Bookstores are booming, and sellers are seizing the moment
By Abby Poirier
At least five locally owned as well as national chains have opened or plan new bookstores in greater Grand Rapids, as retailers lean into the area’s younger demographics, social media-driven reading trends, and lingering consumer demand from the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year, two new independent bookstores in Grand Rapids and one in Byron Center opened for the first time. As well, Barnes and Noble has broken ground on a third Grand Rapids-area store, while entrepreneur Liz Harney plans to open romance-themed bookstore Lovebound Books and Gifts in downtown Grand Rapids.
The string of openings are reflective of a national trend, as the pandemic proved to be a catalyst for many readers to reconnect with the hobby.
In 2019, U.S. consumers spent $12 billion on recreational reading, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That number jumped 25% to $15 billion in 2020, and $15.2 in 2021.
“Grand Rapids is a town where people are readers, because they’re always interested in what’s going on in the world,” said Alana Haley, marketing coordinator for Schuler Books, an independent retailer that started in Grand Rapids in 1982 and now also has locations in Ann Arbor, West Bloomfield and Okemos.
However, the industry’s growth goes beyond just West Michigan. Larry Law, executive director of the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association (GLIBA), noted that in 2018, the organization had 130 member stores across six states: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. The association now has more than 350 members, a number he anticipates will grow, although likely not at the same pace as it did during the pandemic.
In addition to communities’ support with small-business grants and initiatives to get new stores started, Law said the success rate for new bookstores is typically high, based in part on owners’ tendency to share practices.
The Grand Rapids area alone is home to at least five recent or forthcoming bookstore openings. Those include:
w Black Dog Books and Records, which opened this April in Grand Rapids’ Midtown neighborhood and focuses on a range of genres, including horror, philosophy, and radical political and historical materials. Owner William Moore said the bookstore has sold more than 6,000 books since opening less than four months ago.
w Also in Midtown, Ada bookstore Plumfield Books LLC in late June opened a second location, Orchard House Books and Cafe, which sells used and new books. Owner Amy Squires said she saw the bookstore’s Michigan Street lo-
cation as an ideal spot, given the growth at nearby hospitals that has drawn young professionals to the area.
w Children’s bookstore Rolling Rabbit Books opened in Byron Center a year ago, according to local media reports. The bookstore sells new and used books exclusively for children, catering to all ages up to 18 years old.
w In May, Grand Rapids developer Lormax Stern confirmed the development of a 15,000-square-foot Barnes and Noble store at the Village at Knapp’s Crossing shopping center. The store, which is slated to open in mid-2025, will be Grand Rapids’ third Barnes and Noble location as the bookseller chain expands more broadly with 50 new stores expected in 2024.
w Lovebound Books and Gifts, a concept started by Liz Harney that focuses on the romance genre. Harney is seeking a brick-andmortar space for her retail concept that she launched in April, and hopes to open a location in downtown Grand Rapids by the end of the year.
“The fact that there’s still room in this market to open new stores and see them succeed just proves that Grand Rapids is a book-buying market,” Haley said.
Moore said that he’s found an inviting community since opening Black Dog Books and Records in April.
“I hear the same comments over and over again that ‘this is just what Grand Rapids needed’ or ‘we’re so glad to have you here, this place is great,’” Moore said. “The neighborhood and the city in general seem to have embraced wholeheartedly the idea that I’ve had stuck in my head for 25 years.”
According to the latest annual report from the American Booksellers Association, 291 bookstores opened in 2023, including 230 retailers with permanent physical locations. This was the third consecutive year when openings numbered more than 200.
The trade group’s membership, which grew by 34% between 2019 and 2022, saw an 11.7% increase in membership last year to 2,433 companies with 2,844 locations.
Led by social media and “BookTok,” a TikTok subcommunity where readers review, promote and discuss books of all genres, reading continues to be a popular pastime, especially among young consumers.
“The advent of ‘BookTok’ is opening up a market to a much younger demographic who are interested in very specific genres,” Haley said. “These people who maybe weren’t excited about reading before, are very excited about reading these books now and being part of what’s happening in the larger culture. It’s basically almost like a social media book club.”
Schuler Books also is benefiting from the industry’s growth by expanding its Ann Arbor location and adding a new store in West
Bloomfield in 2022.
“At a lot of bookstores across the country, growth has been relatively flat over the last couple of years with slight upticks here and there, (but) we have seen steady growth,” Haley said. “We are above the curve in that regard. A lot of it relies on the events that we are able to do and all of those ways that we sell outside our four walls.”
Haley added that a need for connection may also be driving the bookstore renaissance, as younger people who might struggle to find connections can find them in bookstores.
Harney, who is part of that younger generation, is betting that the appeal of reading will help her
romance novel-focused business model succeed in Grand Rapids.
“We’re kind of this generation that grew up as technology grew,” Haney said. “It all happened really, really fast, and all of a sudden we had all this access that we didn’t
have as kids. But I think there is kind of this reclaiming of going back a little bit backwards (and) you’re kind of reconnecting. It’s a little bit meditative to open a book and read a story and get lost, as opposed to doom scrolling.”
When that happens, Mika Meyers steps in with a depth of experience across practice areas. As an organization, we are understanding, relatable, and empathetic. We also know when to be aggressive and turn on the fight—so you can get the best results possible.
Orchard House Books and Cafe opened in late June in Grand Rapids’ Midtown neighborhood. | ABBY POIRIER
Inaugural summit to convene Black legal professionals
By Andy Balaskovitz
A first-of-its-kind event in West Michigan next month will showcase and bring together Black legal professionals, as the biggest law firms in the area continue to sharpen their talent recruitment strategies to attract more diverse employees.
Organizers say the inaugural West Michigan Black Legal Summit could provide a crucial opportunity for Black legal professionals to network and grow as employers address the historical lack of diversity in the field, particularly in West Michigan.
Mandice McAllister, DEI manager at Warner Norcross + Judd LLP and a member of the summit planning committee, said the idea for the event stemmed from discussions about continuing “progress as a place where all legal talent can thrive” as West Michigan continues to grow.
“We thought: Wouldn’t it be great to create a dedicated space where Black attorneys and legal professionals can come together, learn together and brainstorm how to chart that path forward toward representation in our area?” McAllister said.
The Sept. 5 event takes place at Warner Norcross + Judd’s downtown Grand Rapids office, and includes a keynote address from Deesha Dyer, founder and CEO of consulting firm Hook & Fasten
who previously served as the social secretary for President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. Breakout sessions will examine the historical and current representation of Black professionals in the legal sector, the need for self-care and stress management, and actionable ways to grow West Michigan’s Black legal community.
“If we want to build a legal community where diverse attorneys, Black attorneys, women, and attorneys of all backgrounds are able to thrive, we have to be intentional,” McAllister said.
“By coming together as a collective to put on this summit … not only are we strengthening the individual careers of attorneys who will attend, but we’re contributing to the broader movement of equity in our profession.”
According to a 2022 report from the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, a survey of 214 U.S. law firms found that 79% of attorneys were white, followed by attorneys with an Asian background (9%), Hispanic/Latinx (5%) and African American/Black (4.5%). Women also are underrepresented in the industry, accounting for less than 40% of all attorneys. However, representation of women, people of color and LGBTQ attorneys continues to improve. The National Association of
Law Placement found that — for the first time ever — women made up the majority of associates in 2023 and saw record growth at the partner level. As well, associates of color had the largest ever yearover-year gain since the NALP began tracking law firm diversity data in 1991.
Organizers of the Black Legal Summit aim to create actionable strategies that further improve representation in West Michigan.
Michelle Crockett, chief diversity officer and principal at the Detroit office of Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone PLC, which is among six large firms co-sponsoring the event, underscored the importance of “action” coming out of the summit.
“Summits are great, we can talk about things all day long, but we have to put something into action,” Crockett said.
“I think (the event) is particularly important in West Michigan because we’ve historically had some challenges with identifying Black talent in that area of the state and retaining that talent,” Crockett said. “To the extent we can come together, collaborate and hopefully come up with some different initiatives or ideas as to how we can better retain and identify and attract Black talent to the area, I’m all in.”
Gallery owners scoop up downtown Grand Rapids building
By Kate Carlson
A fine art gallery in Douglas is expanding with a second location in downtown Grand Rapids’ Heartside neighborhood.
Joanna and Nick Lewis, the wife-and-husband owners of Water Street Gallery, recently purchased an office building at 300 Ionia Ave. SW for $1.2 million, and plan to renovate part of the space into an art gallery. Doing business as Water Street Holdings LLC, the couple closed on the 12,000-square-foot, two-story building on July 12, according to property records.
The building’s second floor also contains about 10,000 square feet of office space with eight offices, a fireplace, full bar and room for more cubicles that the Lewises plan to rent out.
“We want to be good business owners and expand the business, but also we thought it would help if we’re able to rent out space we’re not using for the gallery,” Nick Lewis, an attorney by trade, told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business.
mid-October. Not much renovation work is needed to open the second gallery location, which is suitable as is for displaying art with some small updates, Lewis said.
“The building is old but it’s really up to date, so it has those old building vibes without the old building problems,” Lewis said.
The building most recently provided office space for a real estate advisory firm, but previously housed apartments and served as a factory for a variety of uses, including making ice cream at one point, Lewis said. Nick and Joanna Lewis live in Grand Rapids’ Eastown neighborhood, which will make for a much more convenient commute to the new gallery, Lewis said. Grand Rapids, where a good portion of Water Street’s customers already come from, is also less of a vacation town than Douglas, which will eliminate the seasonal nature of the business, Lewis added.
Joanna, who works in nonprofit communications, and Nick Lewis just over a year ago bought the Douglas gallery, which was founded in 1983. Water Street Gallery is located at 98 Center St. in downtown Douglas and showcases collections from local and international artists.
Water Street’s Douglas gallery is in a more than 100-year-old former house, which offers a homey environment where buyers can easily envision the displayed artwork in their own homes, Lewis said. The Grand Rapids location is a former factory building with about 15-foot ceilings on the first floor, which makes for a much different gallery space that will allow them to display larger art pieces, Lewis said.
The Lewises hope to start selling art out of the new Grand Rapids gallery within weeks and plan a grand opening in
“It’s a bigger market here, and in our research we’ve seen this trend consistently pop up where more art galleries in the area tends to be a positive feedback loop for the art scene,” Lewis said. “It’s less of a competition thing and more of having more galleries helps everyone sell more art for more people. We really look forward to coming into the community and if we don’t have what people are looking for, sending them to another gallery.”
Water Street Gallery displays a wide range of styles of art from abstract to hyper-realistic, Lewis said. Everything in the gallery is for sale and it will be open to the public.
“One of the things we’d really like to do at our Grand Rapids location especially would be to host low- or no-cost fundraisers for local nonprofits,” Lewis said. “We figure it might be a nice opportunity to host more formal events for charities.”
Water Street Gallery co-owners Joanna and Nick Lewis. COURtESY PHOtO
McAllister
Sparta winery eyes lakeshore expansion with tasting room
By Abby Poirier
Stoney Ridge Winery is expanding to the lakeshore with plans to open a second tasting room and full-service restaurant this fall.
Owners Mary Smearman Flanery and her husband, Dale Flanery, expect the new 1,200-square-foot Stoney Ridge location at 8725 Water St. in Montague to open Sept. 1.
Stoney Ridge Winery started as the couple’s home wine making hobby and grew from there, eventually leading to their purchase in 2012 of an 18-acre vineyard at 2255 Indian Lakes Road, along M-37 in Sparta Township. Since then, the winery has been growing steadily, adding a tasting room on the property in 2020 and a full-service restaurant in 2021.
“What we’ve noticed is that at any business after about three or four years, you reach a plateau,” Smearman Flanery said.
To keep from stagnating, the Flanerys opted to open a second location to expand the market for Stoney Ridge’s wine. Their search for a new space led them to Montague, a small town on White Lake near Whitehall that’s home to the world’s largest weather vane.
“When we looked at Montague we absolutely fell in love with it,” Smearman Flanery said.
The Flanerys purchased the 2,000-square-foot building in Montague for $350,000 in April and are leasing a portion to another tenant, Renew You Fitness Studio & Boutique, which moved into the space in December.
Over the next few weeks, the Flanerys are working to transform the former White Lake Signs space into a working restaurant and tasting room. The project has included a full interior renovation, with the addition of new water lines, bathrooms and a kitchen.
The tasting room, when open, will offer Stoney Ridge Winery’s menu, but will focus a bit less on entrees. Menu highlights will include pizzas, burgers, tacos, salads and a charcuterie board. The wine list will range from classic red and white wines to sangria,
Group aims to bolster tech investing across Great Lakes
By Mark Sanchez
A new industry association wants to bring venture capital firms in the Great Lakes region together to benefit the area and encourage growth.
Partners at five venture capital firms, including Camila Noordeloos at Grand Ventures in Grand Rapids, formed the Great Lakes Venture Capital Association to share ideas, best practices and investment prospects, as well as syndicate deals and address common issues the industry faces.
bubbly, dessert wines and a list of flavored ciders.
In response to customer interest, the Flanerys aim to add beer to the menu within the next year. They’re hoping to work with a local brewer to brew a small amount of beer on-site. While plans are in the early stages,
Smearman Flanery said the couple is “very excited” about the potential of adding a new option for beer drinkers.
The winery’s growth comes amid a surge in wine production in the state over the past decade.
In mid-2024, Michigan had 725 bonded wine producers, according to data from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, an increase of 15 over 2023.
A decade ago, Michigan had 284 bonded wine producers.
Michigan currently ranks sixth in the country for winemaking, with the industry representing close to $6.33 billion in total economic activity in the state, according to a 2022 study by WineAmerica, the National Association of American Wineries.
Smearman Flannery said she attributes Stoney Ridge Winery’s growth to its unique feel and rural location.
“Everyone calls it a hidden gem,” she said, noting that the vineyard “feels like going to Traverse City” while being only about 20 miles from downtown Grand Rapids.
According to Smearman Flanery, what makes the winery work is focusing on the flavors and details of winemaking that got them started in the first place.
“We make (wine) we like and that we want,” she said. “We’re just hoping that other people like it too. We’re looking to get more people in the door and keep growing the business.”
strengthening existing relationships, doing deals together. Really, the line is ‘a rising tide lifts all boats.’”
In addition to Dumot and Grand Ventures’ Noordeloos, founders of the Great Lakes Venture Capital Association include Adrian Fortino at Mercury Fund in Detroit, and partners at Kentucky-based eGateway Capital and Refinery Ventures in Cincinnati, Ohio.
“We want to bring together all of the different venture funds that invest in technology companies right now. A lot of the funds are certainly friendly with one another and a lot of them do deals with one another, but there’s not anything formed to bring everyone together,” said Kaleb Dumot, a founder and the managing partner of Great Lakes Venture Capital Association.
“We just think that collaborating, connecting, building trust (and) building partnerships will just help all the ecosystems and all the technology companies as a whole build that cohesiveness,” said Dumot, a venture capital investor who owns Integrity Power Search, a Cleveland, Ohio-based executive recruiting firm for tech startups and venture capital-backed companies. “It’s all about forging new connections,
Organizers hope to enlist 50 members into the association by the end of this year and eventually grow to 75 to 100 or more members, Dumot said.
Through an association involving firms in the Great Lakes and Midwest states, founders hope to create a cohesiveness among participating venture capital firms to address common challenges “and find solutions together,” including sourcing deal flow and increasing investments in funds by large institutional investors, Noordeloos said. The idea behind the group “has been on people’s minds for a long time,” she said.
“Venture capital is a relationship business; it’s a people business,” Noordeloos said. “It’s really about just forging connections, about strengthening current relationships, expanding the VC community and making it stronger, because relationships are everything. That’s why we wanted to found an organization that brings all these VCs together and we can really
count on each other.”
The association comes together as venture capital investing in the Great Lakes region has grown steadily over the last decade, although investments the last two years declined along with the rest of the U.S. industry.
Venture capital investments in Great Lakes states totaled a collective $4.3 billion in 1,191 deals last year, according to data from PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association. Venture capital investing in the Great Lakes region peaked in 2021 at 1,437 deals valued at $17.2 billion.
As of September 2023, VC firms based in Great Lakes states had $43.3 billion in assets under management, about four times the amount a decade earlier, according to the Michigan Venture Capital Association’s annual research report.
The formation of the Great Lakes Venture Capital Association reflects the growth in VC investing across the region over the last several years and how prospects in the region now draw more attention nationally.
“We have become a lot more mature as far as a region,” Noordeloos said. “We have seen great companies being created in the Midwest and the Great Lakes regions. We think there is still a ton of room to grow and make this region even stronger. There are more and more VCs being created, so we need to continue to build the strength between all of us.”
Stoney Ridge Winery is opening a satellite tasting room at 8725 Water St. in Montague.
Dale Flanery and Mary Smearman Flanery, Stoney Ridge Winery
Noordeloos
Shipping firm lands $1M state grant to move freight
By Rachel Watson
A shipping company has received funding from a new maritime grant program that will ultimately help keep the freight that powers West Michigan’s infrastructure moving smoothly inland.
Verplank Dock Co., a subsidiary of Ferrysburg-based Verplank Family Holding Co., on Aug. 6 landed a $1 million grant from the Michigan Department of Transportation’s 2024 Michigan Maritime and Port Facility Assistance Grant Program.
Verplank will put the grant toward a $3.5 million project at its facility at 705 2nd St. in Ferrysburg in which it will excavate dredged material at its terminal on the north bank of the Grand River, freeing up space on the bank for disposing of future dredged materials to keep the inland harbor open.
The company was one of five recipients across the state to receive a share of a $5 million one-time appropriation for the grant program, which launched this year to “help strengthen the state’s economic competitiveness, reduce the cost of freight transportation, improve reliability, and mitigate the impact of freight movement on the environment,” according to a statement from MDOT.
Ron Matthews, CEO of Verplank Family Holding Co., said this is the first public funding his company has received to help with terminal maintenance, and it will help keep freight running smoothly through the port.
“The port of Ferrysburg/Grand Haven, the materials that we and all the other core users bring in go directly to the infrastructure for West Michigan, from the Indiana border up to Traverse City,” he said.
“The cost of goods coming in by Great Lakes ship — which is, by the way, the cheapest, greenest method of transportation in the world — if you have to do that by truck or by train, it increases the cost for roads, buildings, driveways, houses, everything that stone and concrete go into to create infrastructure. The cost would be exponentially higher if these ports are not kept open.”
Matthews said without removing the sediment that engineers dredge every two to three years to keep the
Ferrysburg/Grand Haven harbor accessible, there would be nowhere to put future dredged materials.
“At some point, if we don’t move this material, they won’t have a spot to put dredging on the inner harbor. The outer harbor, they pump (that dredged material) out into the lake and onto the shore,” he said.
Verplank will mix the excavated materials with other types of soil and leafy compost to produce a topsoil that it will deliver to school yards, farms and other locations in the community in need of nutrient-rich infill, Matthews added.
The grant funding, which leverages $25.3 million in private investment, comes through the new Mar-
itime and Port Facility Assistance Office of MDOT, created in 2022 to support “critical maritime assets.”
“The Great Lakes and the maritime industry are critical assets to Michigan and our nation,” State Transportation Director Bradley Wieferich said in a statement.
“MDOT looks forward to building upon our existing partnerships with the maritime industry by helping support our economy and add new jobs.”
The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway maritime system is a partnership between the public and private sectors.
The federal government generally maintains the infrastructure by way of congressionally authorized navigation channels, aids-to-navi-
gation and other marine services, according to the office. The private sector typically provides the marine terminals, cargo vessels and access channels to reach the public channels.
MDOT maintains a listing of all marine facilities throughout the state and works in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other state agencies on issues affecting maritime navigation.
Michigan’s 3,200 miles of shoreline along four of the five Great Lakes contain 33 active cargo ports that ship or receive 51.7 million tons of cargo valued at $4.1 billion annually, according to MDOT.
The other four maritime grant recipients were:
w Port of Monroe, $1.5 million for construction of a roll-on/roll-off dock capable of accommodating any Seaway-size vessel importing and exporting oversize cargoes.
w Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority, $1.5 million to acquire a marine terminal and develop the Detroit-Wayne Mobility Innovation Terminal to spur zero-carbon intermodal cargo and freight solutions, jobs and economic development.
w City of Cheboygan and U.S. Energy, $500,000 to expand and secure motor fuel supply for Northern Michigan by adding a petroleum storage tank at the Cheboygan marine terminal.
w City of Sault Ste. Marie, $500,000 to improve safety and security of the cargo area and other enhancements at the Carbide Dock in Sault Ste. Marie.
Auxo Investment Partners sells marine transport company
By Mark Sanchez
Grand Rapids-based investment firm Auxo Investment Partners has sold Andrie Inc., a Muskegon-based marine transport company it has owned for more than five years.
Williamsville, N.Y.-based Rand Logistics Inc., a private equity-backed provider of bulk freight shipping in the Great Lakes, acquired Andrie from Auxo Investment Partners, which bought the company in early 2019.
Auxo Investment Partners was not specifically planning to sell Andrie, founder and Managing Partner Jeff Helminski said in an interview with Crain’s Grand Rapids Business.
The two investment firms have known each other since the early days when Auxo first acquired Andrie and “have had a series of ongoing conversations” in the years after the deal, Helminski said.
“We always thought they could be a potential interesting partner or owner of this business one day,” he said. “Recently, they had expressed a level of interest in seeing if there might be a transaction possible, and it very quickly came together and sort of made a match between our needs, their needs, the needs of the leadership team
at Andrie. It was really the outcome of a series of conversations over a long period of time that then accelerated very quickly in recent months.”
Terms of the deal, which closed July 24, were undisclosed.
CEO Sven Christensen and the existing management team will continue to operate Andrie in Muskegon under the present brand as a Rand Logistics business.
“We’re proud of the legacy we’ve built over the last 36 years as one of the premier providers of bulk cargo transportation on the Great Lakes and see incredible growth opportunities for our business as part of the Rand platform,” Christensen said in a statement. “The Rand team shares our focus on safety and customer service, and we look forward to joining forces … to both efficiently and safely deliver for our customers.”
Andrie transports products that include liquid asphalt, cement, refined oil, and calcium chloride throughout the Great Lakes. The company vessels operate in all five Great Lakes and the Illinois River.
Auxo Investments Partners previously sold and exited an investment in M/G Transport Services to Maritime Partners, both based in Louisiana.
The Andrie sale was like the M/G Transport Services deal in that an opportunity arose to exit an investment and sell to a buyer that could grow the business, Helminski said.
“We and the team at Andrie had really maximized the current operations of the business, and as you looked forward and thought about future growth opportunities, in both cases there were potential new owners that were better positioned to leverage the capabilities of the companies for future growth than either of them could do on their own.”
At Andrie, “the professional growth opportunity for them, the
ability to grow the business as part of the broader Rand platform was simply greater than they would ever be able to achieve as a standalone business,” Helminski said.
“This is a terrific outcome for all parties. Rand gets a great business with an outstanding management team. Andrie’s management team gets an excellent new owner who can offer expanded professional growth opportunities — an important consideration for us. And we deliver a strong return for our investors,” he added.
Minneapolis, Minn.-based Northborne Partners LLC served as financial adviser to Andrie, which was represented by Grand
Rapids-based law firm Miller Johnson. BDO USA LLP also advised Andrie.
Rand Logistics operates as a portfolio company of New Yorkbased Duration Capital Partners, a new private equity firm focused on North American transportation infrastructure.
The company operates a fleet of 21 vessels that transport dry commodities such as iron ore, aggregates, grain, metallurgical coal and salt. The addition of Andrie expands Rand’s operations to include the bulk transport of dry and liquid commercial products for clients in the Great Lakes.
“As we continue to thoughtfully grow our platform and service offerings, we are pleased to partner with an industry leader in Andrie that brings together complementary cultures and capabilities, while expanding our presence in the Great Lakes region,” Rand Logistics CEO David Foster said in a statement. “Andrie’s exceptional reputation with customers, dedication to employee safety and client service, and experienced management team makes them an ideal partner for Rand, and we look forward to working closely with Sven and the entire Andrie team to achieve greater success together.”
Muskegon-based Andrie Inc. is a marine transport company on the Great Lakes and Illinois River. | COURtESY FILE PHOtO
Verplank Dock on the north bank of the Grand River in Ferrysburg. | COURtESY PHOtO
Real estate attorney, preservationist buys Heritage Hill house
By Rachel Watson
When a 19th century mansion and former inpatient treatment center in Heritage Hill hit the market last winter, Sara Lachman couldn’t pass up the “once-in-alifetime” opportunity to own one of the only standing structures in Grand Rapids that’s featured in the Library of Congress.
Lachman, a real estate attorney who founded Lachman PLC in 2020 and is the owner of multiple other Heritage Hill properties, acquired the Samuel Sanford House at 540 Cherry St. SE on June 28 for $1.31 million from Sanford Behavioral Health Services, according to city property records.
The property most recently was a 10-bed women’s residential treatment facility for substance use, eating disorders and other behavioral health needs. Sanford Behavioral Health Services is named after the house, which was built by Samuel Ransom Sanford in 1847.
David Green, founder and CEO of Sanford, told Crain’s in March that he listed the facility for $1.6 million in late February as part of a planned transition of operations to the company’s new campus in Marne.
He and his wife, Rae Green, spent more than $1 million to renovate the Sanford House in a project led by Grand Rapids-based Rockford Construction.
“Overall, it was in pretty good shape, but we definitely touched all surfaces,” Green said in March.
Although Lachman wasn’t looking for a new office, she jumped at the chance to buy the property, moving her team of four employees into the first floor of the building in early July.
“We are just tickled pink about being here,” said Lachman, who lives just “steps away” in a multifamily historic home that houses her family and several tenants.
The new digs will keep her closer to home during the workday.
“You can’t get a better commute,” she said.
After the move, Lachman listed her former 4,700-square-foot office in the Waters Center, at 161 Ottawa Ave. NW downtown, for sublease through DAR Commer-
WK Kellogg investing in legacy Battle Creek production plant
By Mark Sanchez
WK Kellogg Co. plans to invest $450 million to $500 million to modernize supply chains and operations at three production facilities, including in Battle Creek, and close another plant.
The plan that the Battle Creekbased cereal maker detailed Aug. 6 while reporting quarterly results includes $390 million in capital expenditures and a one-time restructuring charge of $110 million.
cial Real Estate. The annual asking rent is $17 per square foot.
A
historical ‘treasure’
The Sanford House appealed to Lachman’s inner history geek, she said.
“I absolutely love the neighborhood, and I am a big preservationist,” she said. “I wanted to make sure that the property didn’t get developed. Not that it necessarily would have, but I felt very, very protective of it.”
Lachman discovered during conversations with Green that he and his wife worked hard to get the home featured in the Library of Congress online catalog. The home is one of only a couple of structures in the city still standing today that are listed there.
For Lachman, the Sanford House’s first standout feature is its Greek Revival architecture, which is one of just a few homes in that style left in Grand Rapids. Another element of the Sanford House that captivated Lachman is a rare, mural-style panoramic wallpaper in the main floor hall and stairs. It was produced by 19th century French industrialist and artist Jean Zuber’s wallpaper company, Zuber & Cie.
This particular wallpaper, “Les Vues d’Amérique du Nord,” or “Scenes of American Life,” was also chosen to adorn the walls of the Diplomatic Reception Room in the White House during First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy’s redecoration. The scenes depicted in the artwork have sparked controversy for their idealized depictions of life in Jacksonian America.
Very few other buildings in America contain the same wallpaper design. It’s in the Old Governor’s Mansion in Baton Rouge, La., Monmouth Historic Inn in Natchez, Miss., in the entry hall of Philadelphia’s Acorn Club, and at Brown University in Providence, R.I.
“I’m trying to contain myself because the Zuber wallpaper is just really fantastic,” Lachman said. “Zuber’s wallpaper at auction, it goes for big money, and when I saw that it was in here, my jaw dropped. To me, it’s a treasure.”
Under the plan, Kellogg will close an aging production facility in Omaha, Neb., starting in phases in late 2025 with full closure by the end of 2026. The company also intends to “scale back production” at a facility in Memphis, Tenn., beginning in late 2025, “resulting in a more focused, streamlined facility.”
At plants in Battle Creek, Belleville, Ontario, and Lancaster, Pa., Kellogg will invest in new infrastructure, equipment and technology. The latest moves will result in WK Kellogg cutting about 550 jobs. The estimate includes adding positions at the plants receiving upgrades, company officials said.
“We are prioritizing and investing in more agile and efficient platforms and reducing our reliance on older, more rigid and higher cost platforms,” Chairman and CEO Gary Pilnick said Aug. 6 in a conference call with brokerage analysts to discuss quarterly results. “By doing so, we plan to
consolidate our overall network footprint, which would drive improved operating efficiency.”
CFO Dave McKinstray said production will start to move in late 2025 and be completed by late 2026.
The Battle Creek-based WK Kellogg is a spinoff from the former Kellogg Co., which split into two separate entities nearly a year ago, and focuses on cereal brands such as Frosted Flakes, Froot Loops, MiniWheats, Special K, Raisin Bran and Rice Krispies. The larger Kellanova (NYSE: K) is based in Chicago and manufactures and markets the company’s snack food brands.
In late 2023, WK Kellogg received a $5 million grant from the Michigan Strategic Fund board to invest in the legacy plant in Battle Creek.
At the time, the company expected to invest at least $44 million, and potentially as much as $143 mil-
lion, in the Battle Creek plant for new equipment. The Michigan Strategic Fund board late last year also approved a Renaissance Zone for a period of 15 years for the plant, which will abate an estimated $1.27 million in taxes annually.
Pilnick called the modernization plan “a significant step in our journey as we continue to prioritize investments and consolidate production to ensure we have a reliable, resilient, efficient, and agile supply chain, and importantly, ensuring our business has the appropriate margin structure to compete effectively.”
“These are necessary decisions made with thoughtful consideration to ensure our supply chain network is more reliable and allows WK to thrive into the future,” Pilnick said. “The best way to think about this is we’re shifting production from the oldest facilities to more efficient facilities, and also from old platforms that are more rigid to newer, more agile technologies. We feel good that we have the right capacity, the right ability to produce going forward as we execute on this project.”
WK Kellogg (NYSE: KLG) on Aug. 6 reported $672 million in second quarter sales, a 3.9% decline from a year earlier, with $31 million in net income, or 36 cents per diluted share. Midyear sales declined 2.8% to $1.37 billion, with $64 million in net income, or 73 cents per diluted share.
The house was built by Samuel Ransom Sanford in 1847. | COuRtEsY OF sANFORD BEHAVIORAL HEALtH
At plants in Battle Creek, Belleville, Ontario, and Lancaster, Pa., Kellogg will invest in new infrastructure, equipment and technology. | stOCK
COMMENTARY
The aging crisis we can no longer afford to ignore
Ademographic shift is quietly reshaping Michigan’s economic landscape, demanding our attention and strategic planning. Our state is aging rapidly, threatening to disrupt our workforce and business operations in unprecedented ways. Michigan’s population is aging faster than the national average. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, 20% of our residents are now 65 or older. More strikingly, Michiganders 85 and older represent our fastest-growing age group. This demographic transformation isn’t just a matter for health care providers or social services — it’s a critical business issue that affects every employer in our state.
plan for that possibility. Navigating supportive care options can be overwhelming and life-upending. Caregivers are more likely to experience negative health outcomes, leading to increased absenteeism, reduced productivity, and even early retirement.
is executive director of LifeCircles PACE, which offers an in-home alternative to nursing home living.
The impact of this shift is twofold. First, we’re seeing a significant portion of our experienced workforce retiring, taking with them valuable skills and institutional knowledge. According to the Michigan Center for Data and Analytics, the share of working-age adults is projected to remain flat at 37% of the population through 2050 as our senior population continues to grow. This imbalance poses a threat to our ability to maintain a robust, skilled workforce. Second is the growing challenge of caregiving for older adults. As more full-time employees become caregivers for aging relatives, they must juggle careers with caregiving responsibilities. Many people have never considered needing daily help or created a
COMMENTARY
The economic implications are significant. Businesses are losing valuable talent and experiencing decreased productivity. The costs of recruiting and training new employees to replace those leaving the workforce prematurely are substantial. So, what can we do to prepare for these impacts? Enhancing opportunities for team members to fulfill both their work and caregiving roles may pay dividends.
Employers could offer options like remote work, flexible hours, or job-sharing to help employees balance work and caregiving responsibilities. Companies could also invest in training for newer employees, including mentorship programs. These knowledge management systems will help retain the expertise of retiring workers before they leave. Investing in supports to help employees enhance their overall wellness, manage stress and access preventive health services can reduce the impact that caregiving has on your team.
Businesses could also offer eldercare benefits, such as subsidized in-home care services for members of the employee’s extended family or employee assistance programs that include access to eldercare counseling and resources. If your organization offers a dependent care flex spending account, make sure your team knows when they may use the account for senior dependents.
Your human resources team can also be prepared to counsel team members on existing programs in Michigan that may relieve your employees of some of the more
time-consuming tasks of caregiving. For example, the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) offers comprehensive care for seniors to age in their own home, while potentially alleviating some of the caregiving burden on your employees.
West Michigan offers one of the most beautiful and dynamic places to live and work. Chambers of commerce and economic development organizations have been harnessing our region’s high quality of life and beauty to attract new talent to our state for years. Attracting talent that can afford to live here has gotten increasingly difficult given the housing affordability crisis. Consider if your business practices make it easier or more difficult for families to defray the cost of housing by becoming inter-generational households. Flexibility for caregiving may allow families to share their home with an older relative who could financially contribute to the household budget.
A recent proposal at the state govern-
ment level could’ve helped financially support caregivers. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer proposed a $5,000 tax credit for people who are caring for an elderly or disabled relative, which aimed to alleviate some of the financial stress associated with caretaking. This proposal did not end up in the state’s $82.5 billion budget, but a continued push for some financial relief would go a long way as families continue to struggle with the impacts of inflation.
The demographic shift we’re experiencing is not a future problem — it’s happening now. As business leaders, we must advocate for policies that support caregivers, adapt our workplaces to accommodate an aging workforce and invest in programs that help seniors age in place. Working together to turn this demographic shift into an opportunity for innovation and growth will help ensure Michigan’s economy remains strong and competitive in the years to come.
Nuclear energy is path to clean, reliable electricity
You may have noticed that discussions about energy production often include robust talk about nuclear energy, from restarting shuttered plants to the need for nuclear energy to power increasingly important data centers. In fact, many news headlines have centered around nuclear energy production in our state, including recent articles in the Associated Press, Detroit Free Press, MLive and Crain’s, among others.
safely utilized in Michigan for decades and is both clean and reliable. Therefore, we believe Michigan must closely examine investment in nuclear energy as an important piece of our state’s energy future.
(Right)
Michigan’s energy profile is undergoing dramatic changes as our state seeks affordable and clean energy sources amid major questions about grid reliability. Nuclear energy has been
A recently introduced bipartisan package of legislation offers an attractive first step in advancing that goal. House Bills 4753 and 5606-5609 would:
Provide research and development tax credits for Small Modular Reactors
Define “Advanced Modular Reactor” in state statute
Create the Nuclear and Hydrogen Education Grant Program to award money to colleges and universities that create or ex-
pand educational programs related to nuclear or hydrogen energy generation
Establish scholarship funds for students who commit to working at energy generation facilities for at least three years after graduation
Taken together, this package of bills is designed to encourage investment in safe, clean and reliable nuclear energy technology that is essential for our energy needs.
In creating a bipartisan coalition to conduct a nuclear energy feasibility study, as well as to support and advocate for this legislation, we have already seen tangible results in the form of millions — if not billions — of dollars of investment in Michigan. By incentivizing the use of Advanced Modular Reactors, Michigan could create thousands of additional megawatts of baseload generation, ensuring a more reliable power grid that would benefit people and businesses throughout the state. Supporting higher education institutions as well as students who study energy-re-
lated subjects would also help attract a highly skilled workforce to our state.
In a time when Michigan is moving toward new, and quite frankly, lofty renewable energy standards, it would behoove us to embrace advanced technologies to help meet our goals. While already a “top10” state for nuclear energy production, becoming a nationwide leader in the utilization of Small Modular Reactor technology — along with becoming the first state to reactivate a shut-down nuclear plant with the restarting of Palisades — would give Michigan a unique opportunity to capture the benefits of these innovations and attract leading talent in the field. While most energy regulations, especially related to nuclear, are set at the federal level, legislators should do everything we can to make our state more attractive for businesses, students and entrepreneurs. We urge our fellow lawmakers, industry stakeholders, and people throughout Michigan to support this critical legislation.
Heidi Gras
(Left) Rep. Graham Filler, R-Duplain Township, represents the 93rd House District, which encompasses portions of Clinton, Gratiot, Ionia, Montcalm and Saginaw counties.
Rep. Joey Andrews, D-St. Joseph, represents the 38th House District, which covers parts of Allegan, Berrien and Van Buren counties.
COMPANIES / PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
BANKING / FINANCE
Sonder CPA
Sonder CPA is thrilled to unveil their refreshed identity and unified vision. At the heart of their rebrand is the word, Sonder, encapsulating the realization that everyone has a unique story, and those stories influence one’s journey.
Sonder CPA is taking bold steps towards redefining the landscape of the traditional CPA firm through their focus on authentic connections and proactive communication, all with the goal of ensuring their clients achieve their individual definition of success.
BENEFITS / INSURANCE
Marsh McLennan Agency
Taylor Bracken joins Marsh McLennan Agency’s Health & Benefits practice as Vice President, based in Grand Rapids. With 3.5 years of industry experience, Taylor is passionate about partnering with employers to accomplish their health & wellness strategic goals. Taylor focuses on upper and middle market organizations in professional services, non-profit, manufacturing, and construction.
CONSTRUCTION
Rockford
Rockford is pleased to welcome Jessica Eberbach as Director of Property Management. With over 20 years of experience in real estate development and property management, she brings leadership expertise in aligning business strategies with effective people operations. She oversees a portfolio of more than 70 properties and 35 team members. Jessica is a Certified Apartment Manager and has been recognized with the PMAM Leadership Lyceum Eagle award and multiple Property of the Year awards.
HUMAN RESOURCES
Design Group International (DGI) Design Group International (DGI), a leader in the field of Process Consulting, announces that Peter A. Schein has joined its Community of Practice. DGI helps clients navigate through complex business challenges for which organizational culture, change, and leadership can help or hinder their ability to adapt and innovate. DGI practices Process Consulting, a type of organizational development consulting that relies on an iterative, collaborative approach when working with a Client.
MANUFACTURING
Mission Design & Automation
Mission Design & Automation is thrilled to welcome Gerald Halford as a new Vice President on our executive team.
Halford brings with him more than 20 years of experience in the automation industry, his career spanning roles in engineering, project management, business leadership, and more recently, Vice President & General Manager at JR Automation.
NONPROFITS
Greenland Advanced Oral Care
Greenland Advanced Oral Care proudly announces the grand opening of its new Destination Dental Center at 2490 East Paris Ave SE. GAOC specializes in prosthodontics, offering services such as crowns, bridges, restorative & esthetic dentistry, dental implants, dentures, and comprehensive care for patients with complex medical histories. Our team, including Dr. R. Graham Greenland and Dr. Lisa Kane, is dedicated to restoring smiles and enhancing patient care in the Medical Corridor of Grand Rapids.
Jason McLelland and Keith Tubergen have become Kapnick Insurance’s newest partners. Jason and Keith both joined Kapnick in 2021 and have significantly contributed to Kapnick’s growth and success in their respective industry specializations. Jason has developed Kapnick’s construction industry solutions and surety expertise. Keith has expanded their transportation and towing practice while also leading Kapnick’s small commercial risk division, nurturing innovative risk solutions for small business leaders.
Halford is eager to drive growth and innovation at Mission, focusing on customer engagement and operational excellence.
NONPROFITS
D.A. Blodgett - St. John’s
D.A. Blodgett - St. John’s announces that Joel Bell has been appointed its new President and CEO. Bell had served as the organization’s Chief Programs Officer for two years. A licensed social worker with more than 20 years of experience, including roles at Bethany Christian Services and the State of Michigan, Bell has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Calvin University and a Master of Social Work degree from Western Michigan University, where he also serves as an adjunct professor.
Rotary Club of Grand Rapids Eunice Lopez-Martin will lead the Rotary Club of Grand Rapids as the 2024-25 president. Eunice is a senior operations manager at Steelcase and an adjunct professor at the Seidman College of Business at Grand Valley State University. Eunice’s Rotary journey began when she was a junior Rotarian at Ottawa Hills High School. Eunice holds a masters of business administration in organizational leadership and a bachelors of business administration in international business from GVSU.
Jim Kapnick, CEO, commented: “I’m thrilled to have them as partners. Their commitment to our success has been exceptional, and they will play a critical role in Kapnick maintaining our independence and driving the firm’s future growth.”
TECHNOLOGY
Envizion IT
Envizion IT Ranked on Channel Futures 2024 MSP 501—Tech Industry’s Most Prestigious List of Managed Service Providers Worldwide. “We are hyper-focused on West Michigan, which makes ranking internationally even more exciting to share,” said Mark Veldhoff, Founder/CEO. “being recognized for a model that saves customers money vs the traditional model is exciting for us as well. We are achieving business growth while doing what is right for our clients. We have created a better IT model.”
Tubergen
McLelland
WINTRUST
From Page 1
(Nasdaq: WTFC), the parent corporation for 15 community banks in Illinois and Wisconsin that operate as wholly owned subsidiaries. Macatawa, which will keep its name in the deal, became Wintrust Financial’s 16th community bank subsidiary.
Wintrust Financial has “a lot of business” with clients in West Michigan but lacked a physical presence in the market, Crane said. Through the acquisition, Wintrust Financial got a 26-office branch network in Ottawa, Kent and Allegan counties.
The deal ushers Wintrust Financial into the West Michigan market with a solid footprint from which the bank intends to grow and expand, Crane said.
“At some point, the ability to con-
O-A-K
From Page 1
office is about two blocks away from its current location, the new space feels “closer to the heartbeat of downtown,” Stanek said.
“We always want to be a downtown Grand Rapids contractor,” he said. “For employee retention, there is something to be said for being connected to the downtown, and this allows us to continue that for the next generation to come.”
O-A-K will work out of temporary office space on the second and third floor of the building while the company renovates the fifth, sixth and seventh floors for its permanent office space, Stanek said. The temporary space in the building
NURSES
From Page 1
health systems still have much more work to do to stabilize the situation.
“The data, at the end of the day, is still telling us that there is a high percentage of Michigan nurses that are looking to change their jobs,” said Barbara Medvec, a clinical associate professor at UM’s School of Nursing and co-author of the study. “As we have this higher demand for nurses, we need to keep them comfortable and productive at the bedsides or at the front lines.”
tinue to expand effectively requires a physical presence. Not only do we get that here with Macatawa’s 26 branches, but we get a terrific group of people that we think will help us continue to grow,” Crane said. “It was logical sense and a high-quality bank, which was important to us.”
In 2023, Macatawa Bank ranked third in the $5.8 billion Ottawa County market with a 20.17% market share and stood sixth in the $22 billion deposit market in neighboring Kent County, where it had a 4.64% share.
In buying Macatawa in an allstock transaction, Wintrust Financial was drawn by attractive demographics in the West Michigan market and its growing population and diverse economy.
“We think West Michigan is a nice, continued expansion for us,”
Crane said. “It’s a nice market (with) lots of very successful entre-
will offer space for O-A-K’s 48 employees in Grand Rapids, while the renovations will be able to accommodate 52 people to allow for some new hires, he said.
“Everyone company-wide is really excited for the opportunity to get back and see each other on a day-to-day basis,” Stanek said. “There is a lot of excitement with the new location.”
O-A-K is working with Ghafari Associates to design its new, approximately 19,000-square-foot offices, which are expected to be completed by the end of June 2025. Once the build-out is finished, the company expects to work out of the building for “the next 100 years,” Stanek said.
The contractor intends to rent the remainder of the 43,869-square-
and pay and benefits as their top reasons for why they wanted to leave the profession.
The nearly one-third of RNs who said that they planned to leave their jobs suggests “a higher potential for a destabilized health care workforce,” UM researchers wrote.
“Nurses were more likely to plan to leave their employer if they had experienced an abusive or violent workplace event, reported higher levels of emotional exhaustion, and rated their hospital more poorly on patient safety.”
Of particular concern to industry watchers is the 13% of respondents, excluding for retirements, who said they planned to leave the nursing profession entirely.
“Nurses were more likely to plan to leave their employer if they had experienced an abusive or violent workplace event.”
Barbara Medvec, clinical associate professor at UM’s School of Nursing
The survey also found that fewer nurses — 32% in 2023, versus 39.1% in 2022 — planned to leave their jobs within the next year. The planned departure rate in 2023 was 36% once researchers excluded retirement as a reason for leaving.
Nurses cited the workload, management and leadership concerns,
preneurs running companies in West Michigan.” Wintrust Financial wants to expand further into Michigan, led by the management team at Macatawa Bank “that would help us devise the rest of this plan,” Crane said. That management team now includes Christopher Woelffer, who previously served as CEO at Wintrust Financial’s Schaumburg Bank & Trust in Illinois since January 2020. He is now the market head in Michigan. A commercial banker who helped to organize and lead St. Charles, Ill.-based STC Capital Bank in the mid-2000s, Woelffer will work alongside Macatawa Bank President and CEO Jon Swets “to build and execute an expansion plan,” Crane said.
Macatawa was what Crane called the “right size” bank for Wintrust Financial to buy in the latest in a series of acquisitions over the years. Further expansion in West Michi-
foot building to other tenants once renovations wrap up. Macatawa Bank currently has offices on the first floor.
The building most recently housed offices for DeVos-owned RDV Corp., which consolidated its downtown space when it moved into the former Fifth Third Bank building at 200 Monroe Ave. NW. RDV Corp. also sold the adjacent Peninsular Club building in 2023.
O-A-K originally constructed the building in 1956 for Preferred Insurance Co., so it felt like “a natural fit” when the company looked at the property for its offices, Stanek said.
“We’re going to modernize the space and make it feel like our place to match our culture, but the previous owner did a really nice job maintaining it,” he said.
tinue to practice,” she said. “We’ve got to be really careful about making sure that we’re not understaffing, that we are addressing workplace violence and that we are very much making sure we understand staff, emotional burnout and just the stress of work so that we can maintain them in the profession.”
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed into law bills that state lawmakers passed late last year that doubled penalties and fines for assaulting a health care worker or volunteer providing care to a patient.
gan could come through another transaction, buying bank branches, or developing new offices within the existing footprint or in new markets, he said.
Macatawa Bank “is on the verge of being able to expand very nicely,” Crane said.
“We would like to grow in West Michigan, and that probably means more locations, more communities, more bankers,” he said. “We think their brand has a lot of value.”
The largest commercial bank headquartered in the Chicago area, Wintrust Financial had nearly $57.8 billion in total assets and $48 billion in deposits, with $44.6 billion in loans. Last month, Wintrust Financial reported second quarter net income of $152.4 million, or $2.32 per diluted share.
Asked if another acquisition in Michigan was possible, Crane said: “You never say never, but we want to get this one under our belt first.”
As Wintrust Financial works to integrate Macatawa Bank and targets a spring 2025 information technology systems integration, Crane said one of the leadership team’s key goals is to avoid or minimize any customer disruption.
As a separately chartered community bank that operates as a subsidiary of Wintrust, Macatawa retains local decision-making and a local board of directors that will guide the bank, although some back-office administrative functions such as compliance and I.T. will get centralized.
“What we want to do is to take the best of Macatawa and the best of the Grand Rapids community and we just want to build on it,” he said. “I don’t think a model that works in Chicago always works elsewhere, so we’ll be very sensitive to the important attributes in the market.
“They are a West Michigan bank.”
ing the bedside, things aren’t getting better,” Brown said. “Things aren’t going to improve until we get the staff at the bedside, and nurses aren’t going to stop leaving the hospitals until we’re adequately staffed and able to do the job that we want to be able to do.”
Chronic understaffing remains the “biggest problem,” Brown said.
who “were either dissatisfied or extremely dissatisfied” in their current position remained steady: rising slightly from 26.5% in 2022 to 28.2% in 2023.
Fewer nurses in 2023 said they faced mandatory overtime (11.2%) or rated their work environment as “unfavorable” compared to the year before (16.9%) respectively.
Planned departure rates were highest for nurses 34 years old and younger who indicated that they expected to change jobs or pursue another profession, often because of fatigue, emotional stress or some type of a violent episode that occurred in the prior 12 months, Medvec said.
“We all know that we’re going to need more nurses, but if we are losing nurses in the younger age brackets, that doesn’t mean they’re going to be available to us to con-
Legislation remains pending in Lansing that would require hospitals to meet nurse-to-patient staffing ratios and end mandatory overtime as a regular practice. The legislation, pushed by Democratic lawmakers in the state House and Senate and backed by the Michigan Nurses Association, aims to retain and bring nurses back to the profession, and to improve patient safety after thousands of nurses have left their positions because of burnout and stress.
While the survey shows year-toyear improvements, the rate at which nurses intend to leave their jobs or the profession remains far too high, said Jamie Brown, president of the Michigan Nurses Association and a critical care nurse at Ascension Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo.
“As long as we have nurses leav-
The union argues that if hospitals could better staff patient units, many nurses would stay and not leave their jobs, and those who have previously left may return to the profession.
“We have enough nurses in the state of Michigan to staff all of these nursing openings, but nurses don’t want to go and work in these shortstaffed situations that the hospitals are putting us in,” Brown said.
“They’re asking us to take care of too many patients.”
Staffing ratios have been a topic in union negotiations for new contracts with hospitals, she said. Younger nurses especially “are not willing to put up with the conditions the hospitals are forcing them to work in,” Brown said.
The 2023 nursing study that UM researchers conducted generated survey responses from 7,095 RNs, versus 9,150 in the prior year.
The 2023 survey found “significantly lower” rates of emotional exhaustion. The number of nurses
The number of nurses reporting understaffing in the work week prior to the survey declined from 48% to 41%.
Reported rates of abuse and workplace violence declined between the two survey years. More than 40% of RNs reported in 2023 that they had been the subject of abuse or violence within the prior 12 months, which compares to 50.2% in 2022.
Christopher Friese, the Elizabeth Tone Hosmer professor of nursing at UM and the study’s principal investigator, said several reasons could explain the lower dissatisfaction rates. COVID-19 cases were fewer, and their conditions were less severe, and leaders at hospital and health systems have been more focused on nursing issues, Friese said.
“The one key policy change we observed was fewer hospitals using mandatory overtime to maintain staffing levels in 2023,” he said. “So that was seen as a welcome sign from many registered nurses.”
Owen-Ames-Kimball Co.’s current headquarters at 300 Ionia Ave. NW in downtown Grand Rapids. KAtE CARLSON
From Page 3
fund. His office’s investment interest income alone was $7 million this year, which was $5 million more than budgeted, he said.
“I think most counties were preparing for this,” Whitener said. “We all knew some sort of retroactivity … settlement or decision was going to come down, and that the writing was kind of on the wall.”
Muskegon County Treasurer Tony Moulatsiotis said his county back in 2020 also created a restricted account to pay for potential claims out of its excess proceeds “so that (potential liability) doesn’t have an effect on our general fund.”
Kent County Treasurer Peter MacGregor echoed that.
“The money has already been set aside,” he said. “This will not affect our general fund dollars at all.”
For years, counties had been al-
From Page 3
units is $1,481 a month, and $1,764 a month for the two-bedroom units.
“This is an exciting project for me because it’s one of the first conversions of office to housing, which we know is needed, especially as the market has changed pretty dramatically because of COVID-19 when it comes to office space,” Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalynn Bliss said during a Committee of the Whole meeting ahead of the city commission’s July 30 approval.
Cummings said the project “absolutely would not” happen without the recent changes to the state brownfield law, though he doesn’t expect a wave of conver-
lowed by state law to keep proceeds from the sale of foreclosed properties in excess of the amount a property owner owes in tax debt. They often used that cash to offset losses on other properties that either failed to sell or sold for less than the unpaid taxes.
Christina Martin, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation who argued the case on behalf of former property owners, called the practice of keeping surplus proceeds “home equity theft.”
A 2020 state Supreme Court ruling in Rafaeli LLC v. Oakland County found the practice violated the constitution’s takings clause. Further legislation passed by the Michigan Legislature that year cemented the decision and outlined a process for former homeowners to file claims to recoup their losses.
The law limited claims dating back farther than two years but left open the door for a future retroactivity ruling. The state Supreme Court
sions given the complexity of the process and building types.
“If I could wave a magic wand and put all of our office vacancy in two buildings, it would make things a lot easier, but unfortu-
delivered that ruling on July 29.
Meanwhile, another big part of why the West Michigan treasurers say they aren’t worried is because they were already parties to a separate but related class action lawsuit filed in 2014 in federal court that also was recently settled.
Forty-three counties in West and Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula were parties in Wayside Church v. Van Buren County, a suit filed a decade ago in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan. A few other similar class action suits are underway on the east side of the state, including in Wayne and Oakland counties, but none as large as the Wayside case.
The Wayside case stemmed from three property owners who failed to pay property taxes and lost their property to tax foreclosure. All properties were sold at a county auction for more than the taxes owed. The property owners then filed a class action suit to retrieve
the excess amount.
At the time, Michigan law did not provide for returning those surplus funds. Following the Rafaeli ruling and new legislation, local governments became liable to pay them back.
Federal District Judge Paul Maloney approved a settlement on July 12 that will require the counties to pay out a percentage of the funds to those who joined the suit, dating back to 2013. The terms of the settlement also shield the counties from future liability.
The ruling is currently being appealed by a group of attorneys representing objectors to the class action settlement.
If the ruling is upheld, Kent County would be required to pay out about $1.4 million under the settlement. Muskegon and Kalamazoo’s county treasurers did not disclose the amounts they will be responsible to pay.
Warner Norcross + Judd Partner
The city commission also passed a 15-year Neighborhood Enterprise Zone district for CWD’s project. Commissioners approved the NEZ for the project even though city policy requires
“This is an exciting project for me because it’s one of the first conversions of office to housing, which we know is needed, especially as the market has changed pretty dramatically because of COVID-19 when it comes to office space.”
Rosalynn Bliss, Grand Rapids Mayor
nately it doesn’t work that way,” Cummings said. “It’s one building, one market at a time. The floor plate has to work and you have to have the vacancy to be able to pull it together.”
that there will be multiple rate cuts over the next 12 months,” he said.
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recession, the Fed must take a far broader view of the economy and then act accordingly in setting monetary policy and interest rates, he said.
“Because the market reacted doesn’t mean the Federal Reserve needs to react to that level,” Goolsbee told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business after a visit with local business leaders and a tour of Steelcase Inc.’s Grand Rapids headquarters.
“The Fed is supposed to react to the whole economy, not market gyrations,” Goolsbee said. “We have to take the long view.”
Goolsbee declined to offer an opinion or prediction on whether the Federal Open Market Committee (FMOC) may begin reducing interest rates when meeting again in September after raising them quickly beginning in early 2022 to ward of high inflation.
However, Federal Reserve governors in their individual economic projections have been “very clear” that they believe inflation should continue to ease and that unemployment will remain low, “and
“They believe that the conditions will warrant that kind stepping down in that kind of restrictiveness (in monetary policy) to match the economic conditions,” Goolsbee said.
Now that inflation has eased, economists generally expect the FMOC to cut interest rates starting in September. PNC Bank economists, after this month’s disappointing jobs report that signals a softening U.S. labor market, predicted the start of lower interest rates beginning next month.
“The Federal Reserve wanted to see a bit more labor market slack, and now it is getting that. With the labor market softening and inflation easing, the Federal Open Market Committee is ready to cut the fed funds rate, their key short-term policy rate, at their next meeting on Sept. 18,” PNC economists wrote in their Aug. 2 economic briefing.
“Further rate cuts are likely in 2024 and 2025 as inflation continues to move toward the central bank’s 2% objective. Job growth is likely to slow further in the near term, before interest rate cuts work their way through the economy and lead to a pickup in job growth in 2025.”
that NEZ districts with housing must have 20% of those units made available to households earning at or below 80% of the area median income. CWD intends to submit an application
Goolsbee noted that the report stating U.S. employment increased by just 114,000 jobs in July from June, well below expectations for a little less than 180,000 new jobs and setting off a stock market selloff, was well within the margin of error.
While the Aug. 2 jobs report surely was disappointing, and he “perfectly understands” why the stock market reacted the way it did, “that doesn’t mean the Fed needs to act on that same kind of timetable,” Goolsbee said.
The Federal Reserve has a “dual mandate” to maximize employment and stabilize prices, not to fight stock market volatility, and should not react to month-tomonth fluctuations in economic data, he said.
“The jobs number was disappointing (and) was under expectation, no question. It’s also one month,” he said. “I always say, when it’s good or when it’s bad, be careful concluding too much or over-indexing on one month’s information. We want to take the totality, and I think if the economy is slowing down then the Fed should incorporate that.
“We should be taking the long arc of what’s happening in the
Matt Nelson represented Kent and Ottawa counties in the Wayside case. He said under the terms of the settlement, claimants in the class action will be able to claim up to 80% of the excess proceeds owed, minus attorney fees and costs. Had the case gone to trial and the property owners won, they would have been entitled to claim up to 95% of what they were owed.
Nelson added that because the ruling is being appealed, the timeline for potential payouts if the decision is upheld will be extended by at least a year. Claimants likely wouldn’t see a dime until 2026, he estimates.
Kalamazoo County’s Whitener said he finds the delay “incredibly frustrating.”
“I think I speak (for all) of my counterparts here in Michigan when I say we would love this to be over and done with, and so the fact that it’s being delayed is annoying,” he said.
for the 15-year NEZ exemption, which allows for reduced taxes on the residential improvements.
City staff recommended waiving the 80% AMI policy because the 28 units, which equates to 20% of the total units, would be income-restricted for an additional five years with the brownfield plan, said Sarah Latta Rainero, Grand Rapids’ economic development director.
“This would be activating an empty office building,” Latta Rainero added.
The original plan for 111 Lyon was to rehabilitate the upper floors of the building to attract a new anchor or commercial office tenant. However, CWD switched gears to pursue residential conversion.
“We’re very focused on the fact that this location is arguably the
economy, not over-indexing on one month’s numbers.”
The Federal Reserve “is being very tight in monetary policy,” Goolsbee said. Present interest rates were set a year ago when economic conditions nationally were “very different” from today, he said.
best in town,” Cummings said. “It has urban amenities with suburban convenience, attached secure parking and unbeatable security.” CWD is still finalizing building amenities that will be part of the redevelopment of the upper floors of the building, Cummings added.
Meanwhile, leasing activity was slow in downtown Grand Rapids in the second quarter of 2024, with overall office vacancy rates across the greater Grand Rapids area increasing slightly from 6.9% to 7.1%, according to NAI Wisinski of West Michigan’s latest quarterly office market report.
Downtown Grand Rapids had an 8.4% office vacancy rate during the same time period, with 866,706 square feet of available vacant space, according to the report.
“Inflation is way down from where it was last year,” Goolsbee said. “I’ve been saying for a while that we need to consider: Do we want to be that restrictive, that tight? The reason to be tight is if you think the economy is overheating, but this is not what an overheating economy looks like. If anything, people are nervous that it’s slowing down too much.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. economy faces “crosscurrents” with the national unemployment rate going up more than expected in July, although the labor participation rate and the employment-to-population rate also both rose, Goolsbee said. Combined with the inflation rate easing toward a 2% target, “we’re now getting back more of a balanced posture of: where’s the risk?” he said. “And then the critical question is, is it going to stop and settle down at normal full employment? Or are we going to break through that into something worse? So, we have risks at both sides of the mandate at this point.”
Gaddy looks to set the ‘future course’ of the Grand Rapids Community Foundation
Six months into her new role as president and CEO of the Grand Rapids Community Foundation, LaSandra Gaddy is preparing to invite myriad voices around the table to forge a new strategic plan. Gaddy took the reins of the 102-yearold foundation in February, succeeding former president and CEO Diana Sieger, who retired after 36 years in the position. Following a 15-year career in banking, Gaddy racked up two decades of nonprofit leadership experience, most recently as CEO of the Women’s Resource Center in Grand Rapids, where she helped the nonprofit secure a larger space in the Madison Area neighborhood. The new facility, which opened last summer, better supports the Women’s Resource Center’s mission of improving economic mobility for women, according to Gaddy. Gaddy recently spoke to Crain’s Grand Rapids Business about the community foundation’s next steps following her six months of onboarding with the organization. Among her goals, Gaddy aims to center the voices of the nonprofits that are closest to underserved populations as the foundation embarks on a plan to hone grantmaking priorities. | Rachel Watson
What appealed to you about working in philanthropy?
I love the idea of giving back, especially (because) as a child, I didn’t know what that word ‘philanthropy’ meant. But my parents had always taught me and my siblings — the six of us, growing up in (Detroit) in a position where we needed social services and support from our community — that we were always to give, and give our best. Being able to translate that into a career path was extremely exciting for me.
I firmly believe that it is critically important that children and young adults can see themselves in positions like this. I had some incredible people that I, for many years, was watching in their positions, like La June Montgomery Tabron from the (W.K.) Kellogg Foundation. She was a role model for me, not even knowing it.
You grew up in Detroit. When did you move to Grand Rapids?
I moved to Grand Rapids when I got married about 30 years ago. The lessons that I learned and that shaped me come from growing up in the city of Detroit, going to Detroit Public Schools and just my community here in Grand Rapids. You talk about (AssetLimited, Income-Constrained, Employed) families — who are those ALICE families? I know what it’s like to be asset limited. I know what it’s like to have one vehicle and use public transportation systems. I know what it’s like to not have safe and affordable child care. I know what all of that feels like. We often talk here at the community foundation about how the people who are closest to the problems usually have the best answers for those situations for course correction. I firmly believe that because I lived it.
What were some priorities that you felt strongly about bringing into this role?
Engaging our nonprofit partners on a deeper level. For me, as a nonprofit leader, I wanted to see the community foundation bring us in for learning opportunities, connection opportunities at a higher level. The pandemic had
a lot to do with that in not being able to lean on the community foundation as that convener for nonprofits and (not) bringing us in to tap into the resources that the foundation has. The community foundation already had a posture of listening and a posture of convening, but (my question is), how can we do that on a deeper level?
(The second is) having a healthy culture. I’m not saying that the culture wasn’t healthy at all. It was a great culture. It’s a phenomenal team. That’s one of the things that I was super excited about (was their) expertise. But in the organizations that I was in, especially leading the Women’s Resource Center, I have always centered our people-first culture and really wanted to ensure our team (has) a voice. I also want to ensure that our community, our donors, our philanthropic partners, lean into our North Star and our mission. For me, the past six months have been a whirlwind of listening and learning and seeing the overall excitement that exists for our community as a whole, but for the Grand Rapids Community Foundation, as well.
During that period of listening and learning, did your focus shift at all?
We’ve set some new internal strategic priorities. But what I am and our team is super excited about is we haven’t had a formal strategic plan in a number of years, and we are so excited to embark next spring on strategic planning, setting the future course for our giving.
Could that involve changing the nonprofits you give to, or is that all to be determined? It is to be determined, because it’s going to be incredibly important that we center the voices of our nonprofit partners, the voices of our many constituents that support this work, and our donors. So we’re going to have to bring in all of those voices as we set strategic priorities and giving priorities for the future. We don’t want to be the voice; we need the community’s voice in this process.
What untapped opportunities or community needs could the foundation tackle?
What I love about our nonprofits is they’re not silent about what needs to be addressed, whether
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it’s housing, homelessness, the high need for affordable, safe, accessible child care or transportation. There’s so many issues that are brought to the table and continue to be brought to the table. We could look at doing things differently, though, and that’s what I want to address. There are so many pressing needs in our community, it’s really going to require collective impact.
Another piece that I’m excited about is just continuing something that Diana started, working with other foundations to ensure opportunities for partnership, and I’m looking at how we can do that at an even greater impact.
How far ahead will the strategic plan look?
Because of the speed of change, we need to be nimble, and so I would like to see us plan ahead for under five years.
What else are you thinking about in this next chapter?
We firmly believe that all voices are critical as we turn our pathway forward. We have so many powerful nonprofits here, and I’m personally looking forward to hearing from them.
President and CEO LaSandra Gaddy started with Grand Rapids Community Foundation earlier this year. Crain’s
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