Crain's Grand Rapids Business, December 23, 2024

Construction rm les lawsuit over stalled HQ

Companies names American Seating, Ghafari in $7.5M suit

By Kate Carlson

e construction manager overseeing the buildout of American Seating Co.’s new Grand Rapids headquarters has sued the 138-year-old seating company and its architect claiming nearly $7.5 million in unpaid work on the project.

Caledonia-based First Companies Inc. led the lawsuit in Kent County Circuit Court on Nov. 22 against American Seating and Ghafari Associates LLC, the lead architect for the headquarters project taking shape at a former Steelcase Inc. building on the city’s far south side. First Companies levied claims

including breach of contract, fraud and negligence against American Seating, Ghafari Associates, or both.

In the 42-page lawsuit, First Companies claims it was excluded from the start from several key planning and design aspects

New soccer team to compete in MLS NEXT Pro league

Professional league’s connection to MLS is crucial to driving interest for fans, players

By Kate Carlson

e Grand Rapids soccer team that will play home matches at Amway Stadium will compete in the MLS NEXT Pro men’s league. Owned by members of the Van Andel and DeVos families, the Grand Rapids-based soccer club is poised to be the league’s sixth independent team at the time it launches in the spring of 2027.

MLS NEXT Pro, which is sanctioned as a Division III professional league, completed its third season in 2024. It currently includes 27 MLS-a liated teams and two independent teams that play across the U.S. and Canada. Partners expect to announce branding and a name next year for the team, which they’re temporarily calling “West Michigan Soccer.” e team will play at least 14 home matches at Amway Stadium, potentially drawing up to 119,000 fans to the west side Grand Rapids facility in the club’s rst season, which will run from March through November.

MLS NEXT Pro President Charles Altchek told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business that fans can expect to see “the stars of today and tomorrow” competing

on the eld at Amway Stadium. “ ese are players who are fueling the national teams,” he said.

Ownership structure

David Van Andel and his family will hold primary ownership of the club, with roles planned for his four sons: Jesse, Aaron, Kyle, and Christian Van Andel. Dan DeVos and his family will hold a

Benteler secures incentives for Wyoming battery plant

By Mark Sanchez

Benteler Automotive Corp.’s

plan to build a $105 million plant to produce battery components at a former General Motors property along U.S. 131 in Wyoming has gained state assistance.

e Michigan Strategic Fund board on Dec. 10 approved a $1.4 million performance-based grant and more than $395,000 in state

tax capture to support the project, which will create 147 new jobs at the 80-acre location on 36th Street SW in Wyoming, commonly known as Site 36.

e German automotive supplier plans to develop the 315,000-square-foot facility on 20 acres at the southwestern corner of Site 36, the location of a former GM stamping plant that has been vacant since 2009. e new plant

would produce battery components for Ford Motor Co. commercial transit vans for assembly in Ohio.

e plant will become Benteler’s seventh in the U.S. Construction began in September and Benteler expects to begin production in 2026.

“Michigan is at the heart of

American Seating has yet to move into its new headquarters on 40th Street. KATE CARLSON

Corp. secured the naming rights of the professional soccer stadium with a $33 million donation announced on Nov. 18.

A rendering of the Benteler Automotive plant proposed for Site 36 in Wyoming. COURTESY IMAGE

Report: Acrisure is top 50 IPO candidate in 2025

company is on track to surpass $5 billion in revenue this year

By Mark Sanchez

Economic expectations for 2025 could bring heightened activity for initial public offerings in the U.S., including a West Michigan company: Grand Rapids-based global insurance broker and fintech services firm Acrisure LLC.

A November report from PitchBook listed Acrisure among the top 50 IPO candidates in 2025 involving private equity-backed companies.

Co-founder, Chairman and CEO

Greg Williams told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business in May at the annual Mackinac Policy Conference that Acrisure will eventually become a publicly traded company, and “potentially sooner than later.”

“I think this is a public company — at some point in time,” he said.

“Is the market ready? From a timing perspective, is the company ready? From an operational perspective, those things have to line up and be very, very aligned. You get one chance to do this, and only

one chance to do this. But it’s got to be right on as many facets and factors that you possibly can be.”

The company generated $4.5 billion in sales in 2023, up from $38 million in 2013, and previously said it was on track to surpass $5 billion in revenue this year. The firm also reached a valuation of nearly $27 billion last year.

Currently, Acrisure’s largest institutional investors include BDT & MSD, a Chicago- and New

VC fund for people of color adds more ‘horsepower’

michigan capital Network signs affiliation with New community Transformation Fund

By Mark Sanchez

The New Community Transformation Fund has inked an affiliation with Michigan Capital Network, giving the Grand Rapids-

based venture capital fund a deeper administrative bench and broader network to source deals.

Under the arrangement, Michigan Capital Network will handle day-to-day management and offer

“We share their goal of creating access to capital for people of color because we know that business growth, entrepreneurship and capital investment strengthens our economy and makes our state more attractive to other businesses looking to relocate.”

Medical device firm plans to relocate HQ to Grand Rapids

Gentex, michigan capital Network participate in capital raise for

By Mark Sanchez

An Illinois-based medical device company plans to move its corporate offices to Grand Rapids following capital investments from local investors.

Zeeland-based Gentex Corp. and Grand Rapids-based Michigan Capital Network participated in the $4.6 million Series B capital round for PhotoniCare Inc., a Champaign, Ill.-based firm that developed a new generation otoscope to better diagnose, treat and monitor middle-ear infections.

PhotoniCare also signed a manufacturing partnership with Gentex to produce the OtoSight Middle Ear Scope.

The raise came as part of PhotoniCare’s ongoing $9 million equity capital round. The funding will enable PhotoniCare to support an ongoing clinical trial, ramp up production and sales for

guidance to the venture capital fund. The work includes handling due diligence and vetting prospective investments, compliance and other operational support for the New Community Transformation Fund, which founders created five years ago to invest in businesses owned by people of color.

Michigan Capital Network’s Abid Ali had served as a temporary managing director for the New Community Transformation Fund since Ollie Howie departed in June. Ali continues to manage the fund under the affiliation.

Leaders at the two Grand Rapids investment firms have been discussing the affiliation for months and “thought it made sense for both organizations from the very

the OtoSight Middle Ear Scope, and relocate the headquarters “to work more closely with our new manufacturing partner, Gentex,” President and CEO Cary Vance said in an announcement.

A Nov. 27 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission indicates that the $4.6 million raised so far involved four equity investors. Vance expects PhotoniCare Inc. to close the full $9 million capital round within a few months.

Gentex will produce the OtoSight Middle Ear Scope in Zeeland. The arrangement with PhotoniCare further builds on Gentex’s move into new products and markets, including medical applications.

The PhotoniCare device fits with Gentex’s production acumen for digital-vision platforms used in automotive rear-vision

Acrisure LLC’s corporate headquarters in downtown Grand Rapids. rAcHeL WATSON

Champaign, Ill.-based PhotoniCare Inc. developed a new generation otoscope to better diagnose, treat and monitor middle-ear infections. The company plans to relocate its headquarters to Grand Rapids and work with Gentex to produce the OtoSight Middle Ear Scope. | cOUrTeSY PHOTO

Andrea “Dre” Wallace is CEO of Opnr, a platform that connects venues with musical artists to serve as opening acts at concerts. The company received a $150,000 investment from the New Community Transformation Fund. cOUrTeSY PHOTO

Paul D’Amato, CEO

director of Michigan Capital Network

Companies get ‘aggressive’ to mitigate health costs

By Mark Sanchez

With a softer labor market and double-digit premium increases coming for 2025, employers have been more apt to at least explore alternatives, according to West Michigan insurance agents.

The environment has more companies considering whether to selffund their health coverage, offer a narrow-network plan or swap carriers altogether to find a better deal.

Companies “are at the end of their rope” with shifting cost to the workforce through higher deductibles, co-pays and cost sharing and are looking to go deeper with changes, said Amy McCulloch, a consultant with insurance brokerage Lockton Companies.

“They’re really starting to have to get more aggressive,” McCulloch said. “They’re more in a state of necessity to go beyond what they’ve had to consider in the past. You’re seeing employers reaching for things that have been considered too aggressive previously.”

Amid a wave of more interest in self-funded options, McCulloch expects companies that already have such a self-funded plan to carve out pharmacy benefits or stop-loss coverage to another insurance carrier, or to weigh their options for a third-party benefits administrator.

“What you’re going to see is employers who have already been self-funded, they’re going to start to move away from the more cookie-cutter self-funded programs into a more progressive program that allows you to manipulate and have the most purchasing effectiveness,” she said.

That posture comes as double-digit rate increases are on the way for 2025.

In the small group health insurance market in Michigan for companies that employ 50 or fewer people, premiums will increase by a statewide average of 11.3% next year.

State regulators recently approved an average 11.5% premium increase for Blue Cross Blue Shield and 11.6% for HMO subsidiary Blue Care Network.

Priority Health, Michigan’s second-largest health insurer, received approval for a 13.2% statewide average premium increase for 2025 policy renewals, and Priority Health Insurance Co. that sells PPO policies secured a 12.3% average increase.

Agents say rate increases for larger companies also are well into the double digits during policy renewals.

In West Michigan, a family health plan this year cost $20,244 on average, with the employee contributing 23% of the cost, according to an annual cost survey by The Employers’ Association. The average cost was for HMO, PPO and point-ofservice health plans.

A plan for just the employee and children, minus the spouse, cost an average $18,696, and $15,564 for an employee and a spouse, according to the 2024 The Employers’ Association health care cost survey.

The double-digit increases for 2025 follow a period of moderate

annual rate hikes, driving more companies to shop around for their health benefits to see if they can get a better deal from another carrier, said Robert Hughes, president of Grand Rapids-based Advantage Benefits Group Inc.

In the small group market, Advantage Benefits Group has seen “more carrier changes than any year previously because of the larger increases than in previous years,” Hughes said.

“When they get hit with these massive increases, they just had no other choice other than to shop carriers,” he said. “You just can’t shop an increase like that.”

Advantage Benefits Group also has more small group clients looking at level-funded health benefits that are similar to self-funded plans. Level-funded benefits offer a plan in which an employer pays a pre-set amount to cover employee medical claims for the year. If the claims come in less, the employer can get money back or use the surplus for the following year’s coverage. If claims are higher than expected, the difference gets built into the rates they pay in the next year.

Agents say there’s also more dis-

cussion among clients interested in lower-cost narrow-network health plans that are tied to a specific health system and come with additional discounts. Workers who use the chosen health system, its facilities and doctors pay lower copays and deductibles. Benefits are tiered, with higher co-pays and deductibles for using a different care provider.

Priority Health recently introduced a new narrow-network product that uses parent corporation Corewell Health. The narrow network coverage for self-funded employers, known as PriorityIntegra, starts coverage Jan. 1, 2025.

Clients who have considered a narrow-network plan view it as an alternative to raising deductibles and the amount that employees contribute to the cost of coverage, Hughes said.

“They’re like, ‘Do I want to raise contributions out of people’s checks? Do I want to raise deductibles? Or would I rather shrink the (care) network a little bit?’” he said. “More employers are deciding to go down that path of shrinking the network a little bit.”

Hughes estimates the cost savings from a narrow-network plan at 6% to 7%.

After trying to avoid it for years, some companies have resorted to raising the deductibles built into their policies.

“The labor market has softened a bit for sure, if you talk to HR people. They’d like it to be a little bit better, but it’s definitely a change from before, and then you combine that with these bigger increases, they’re willing to share some of the costs with employees that they couldn’t in the past,” Hughes said.

Even so, Shannon Enders, a managing partner at Norton Shores-based Lakeshore Employee Benefits, still has a number of clients who are willing to absorb the rate increases rather than change benefits and possibly

cause disruption and risk having employees look for another job.

“We see more groups taking the increase and keeping the plan than we do cutting the increase by reducing the plan,” Enders said. “The biggest surprise to me is how many are just taking it. It’s (from their) fear of losing employees.”

Most employers already use high-deductible health plans.

Across West Michigan, twothirds of employers answering this year’s The Employers’ Association cost survey had health plans with deductibles of $2,000 to $3,999 or $4,000 to $5,999. Another 12% had plans with a $6,000 to $9,099 annual deductible.

Raising deductibles can generate cost savings initially, but eventually, companies may get to a point where they can’t raise deductibles any higher to mitigate costs, Enders said.

“Over years, as people have bumped those deductibles out, we’re kind of out of space to move them (more) to drive the needle,” Enders said.

Max Rispler, vice president and a client executive for employee benefits at the Grand Rapids office of Hylant, said many companies “are now passing on costs, for sure,” as well as looking at incentives or disincentives to enroll in their health plans. They include spousal surcharges and exclusions or credits to opt out of coverage.

Hylant also has noticed employers with a headcount of 75 to 100 people being more open to evaluating self-funding or level funding their health benefits, Rispler said. Given the possibility of more large rate increases in subsequent years, Rispler expects many more employers to begin examining options.

“We’re seeing more groups be open to making changes to benefit plans and starting to put cost containment in place or go down the alternative funding routes and drive down the spend that way,” Rispler said.

Downtown office tower hits the market for $33M

By Kate Carlson

The 99 Monroe office building in Grand Rapids’ central business district has hit the market for the first time in eight years.

Grand Rapids-based Vision Real Estate Investment Inc. listed the 12-story building at 99 Monroe Ave. NW for sale on Dec. 2 for $32.9 million. An affiliate of the real estate brokerage, development and property management firm has owned the 201,000-square-foot building since February 2016, when it purchased it from Franklin Partners for $31.95 million.

Vision Real Estate Investment owner Tim Engen declined to comment on the listing of the property, but confirmed that Vision Real Estate relocated its offices in summer 2023 to 6200 Wing Ave. SE in Gaines Township Tenants in 99 Monroe include

Panera Bread; Comerica Bank; Worklab by Custer; Bodman PLC; Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone PLC; KPMG; Legacy Trust; David, Wierenga & Lauka PC; Grand Ventures; and McShane & Bowie PLC. The 41-year-old building is currently 90.2% occupied, according to the property listing. Franklin Partners had fully renovated the building after acquiring it in 2014.

According to the Vision Real Estate Investment listing for the property, “99 Monroe delivers both immediate cash flow and long-term appreciation potential.”

The 99 Monroe building is considered Class A office space, which has consistently outperformed in the office market. In 2024, Class A assets had 11.6% vacancy and 31,832 square feet of net absorption, according to brokerage firm JLL’s most recent office report. The office

market in Grand Rapids had a vacancy rate of 14.7% at the end of the third quarter, according to JLL.

Earlier this year, digital third-party travel agency Booking.com renovated half of the fifth floor of 99 Monroe for its offices, as Crain’s Grand Rapids Business previously reported. The project cleared the way for 50 Booking.com employees to relocate from the company’s former offices in Wyoming.

The 99 Monroe office building was put on the market less than a month after the owner of Bridgewater Place filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 13. The 17-story office tower in downtown Grand Rapids has struggled in recent years after Corewell Health, one of its main tenants, opted to not renew its lease as it consolidated its offices to the new Corewell Health Place office park in Monroe North neighborhood last year.

Usonian-style home lists for sale in dunes of Grand Haven

By Rachel Watson

A West Michigan architect is selling a Usonian-inspired home he built in 2020 among the dunes in Grand Haven, where the Grand River meets Lake Michigan.

Mike Bouman, vice president of design and engineering for Grand Rapids-based Pioneer Construction, on Dec. 5 listed the four-bedroom, two-bathroom home in Grand Haven’s North Shore area for $1.34 million.

Traci Gresham, of Five Star Realtors in Holland, has the listing for the nearly 2,500-square-foot home.

Bouman designed the modern beach residence himself, inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian-style mid-century homes. Pioneer Construction was the builder.

“I’ve always been interested in the Usonian design concept from Frank Lloyd Wright, and mainly what I brought into it … was the radiant heat floors,” Bouman said. “All the floors throughout the whole house (are) polished concrete, radiant heated floors.”

Other Usonian traits that the house shares are the angled/flat roof, built-in shelves and cabinetry, tall windows to let in sunlight and a central hearth.

‘Snow globe’ views

The home is on property directly bordering the 115-acre Kitchel Lindquist Hartger Dunes Preserve, founded in 1971. It is close to the scenic trails of Ottawa Sands and North Ottawa Dunes, and it also has shared deeded access to 100-plus feet of Lake Michigan beach frontage where the channel joins the lake.

Bouman said the setting prompted him to choose floor-toceiling windows and an open concept layout for unobstructed views.

“The house overlooks a protected natural area of dunes that will never be built on,” he said. “It’s beautiful in the summer, and it’s especially beautiful in the winter, when it’s snowing. It’s kind of like a snow globe, (and we can) watch the deer,” which are protected as part of the preserve.

An experimenter who likes to try new things, Bouman said prior to this, he and his family spent about 25 years in different houses he renovated on Spring Lake, where he has also designed and built houses for clients.

But he found this property “by

accident” when driving around one day and subsequently acquired it for just over $200,000 in April 2019.

“I just started thinking it would be nice to build a new house instead of renovating another, and it went really well, and was a great experience,” he said.

In addition to the dune views, from the back of the house, occupants can see boats gliding past on the channel.

“Some people wonder why we didn’t go higher (with the structure) to get a better view, but we really wanted to do just a one-story, and that was a big part of it,” Bouman said. “Another factor was separating the primary suite from the guest bedrooms on the other side of the house — just trying to give some privacy to both areas.”

Gresham, the broker, said not only is the home a rare example of a new-build contemporary lakefront home in Grand Haven, but the single-level design had already drawn interest from prospective buyers. It’s rare to find Lake Michigan properties that are good for aging in place, she said.

“A lot of buyers looking to be in close proximity to the lake prefer at least a main floor primary (suite), but this has the advantage of having all the bedrooms on one floor, so it’s easy living,” she said. She added it also has extra-wide doors and zero-step entryways.

High-quality elements

The home is luxury grade, from its interior and exterior materials to its Marvin windows and Miele and Sub Zero brand appliances.

It has three distinct segments — the main living area in the center, and the sleeping suites and private spaces like the gym and office in wings on the side. The right side also has a three-car garage.

The home is heated by a boiler instead of a gas furnace. Three mini-splits control the air conditioning separately in the different zones of the house for greater energy efficiency.

Though Bouman wanted the exterior to appear to have wood siding, he was looking for durability and lower maintenance. So he selected a new product — Vesta steel siding from Walker-based manufacturer Quality Edge — that’s made to look like wood. The siding has a gray vertical-grained pattern, while the soffit overhangs have a rich brown faux-wood horizontal grain finish.

“There’s a few other houses in

West Michigan that have used it also, and some commercial buildings,” Bouman said of the Vesta product.

The front door is real wood — a walnut pivot door he imported from Colorado.

Because he loves plants, Bouman included a long planter along one wall that extends from the front to the back of the house and benefits from all the natural sunlight that streams through the plentiful windows.

Influenced by the ceiling of a restaurant Bouman once visited in the British Virgin Islands, the ceilings of the great room and bedrooms are a dark-stained pine to add warmth and drama.

The mid-century-style cabinetry has a similar dark-toned wood

grain pattern. The home’s furnishings, which may be included with the sale at an additional negotiated price, are of warm wood hues a shade lighter.

The home’s third bedroom in the guest wing is currently being used as a den but could easily be converted back by changing the furniture. Bouman said another room in the guest wing that’s a gym right now could be turned into a fourth bedroom.

Outdoors, there’s a patio with an indoor-outdoor wet bar perfect for entertaining, as well as a Michael Phelps Swim Spa by Master Spas adjacent to a deck in the yard.

The approximately three-quarter acre lot offers room to spread out.

Bouman and his family and friends spent weeks after the

home was finished planting dune grass in the yard to blend harmoniously with the surroundings and provide low-maintenance landscaping.

A real estate ‘grand slam’ Gresham said the house is a “grand slam” in lakeshore real estate because of three primary attributes.

“A lot of times, in real estate, they say you can have only two out of three things — a beautiful location, beach access and a house that’s turnkey,” she said, adding this place has all three.

“I think we’re going to have a lot of buyers that are pretty excited about it, because it has so much to offer,” Gresham said.

This home on Grand Haven’s north shore is listed for nearly $1.35 million. | SKYVIEW EXPERTS

The single-level home is inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian homes, which often were single-story homes with flat or angled roofs and tall windows to let in light. SKYVIEW EXPERTS

The seller said in winter, the tall windows give the feeling of living in a “snow globe.” SKYVIEW EXPERTS

The kitchen is equipped with high-end Miele and Sub Zero brand appliances. | SKYVIEW EXPERTS

Land bank reserves 7 properties for housing development

By Rachel Watson

The city of Grand Rapids has formally organized its land bank authority and is considering housing projects that could add up to 43 units on seven parcels that had reverted to the state and will soon be under local ownership.

Formed in October, the Grand Rapids Land Bank Authority adopted articles of incorporation and temporary bylaws at its first meeting on Dec. 11.

It also unanimously voted to reserve seven residentially zoned land bank properties for a period of six months for five developers who were already in the process of applying to the city for options to purchase the parcels and build housing on them when the land bank was formed.

Based on the developers’ current proposals and what is allowed under recent housing zoning amendments, the sale of the seven lots could add as many as 43 units to the local housing stock, Jessica Solis, the city’s economic development coordinator who manages the land bank properties, told Crain’s.

Many of the properties have been under the ownership of the Michigan State Land Bank Authority since Kent County dissolved its

land bank at the end of 2018. A few later came to the state land bank through Kent County’s tax foreclosure process.

All seven parcels are managed by the city of Grand Rapids under an agreement with the state, but the state plans to transfer ownership to the city sometime next year now that it has a land bank. The ownership transfer is a procedural step that will not require the exchange of funds, Solis said.

Six of the parcels are on the city’s southeast side, and the seventh is in Roosevelt Park on the southwest side.

Solis said in a presentation at the meeting that the applicants are a mix of emerging developers and individuals who have done other projects, but not housing development.

“The idea (with reserving the parcels) is they can continue to work with the planning department to make sure that what they’re proposing on these lots is feasible, and then obtain their financial commitments so that they can move forward with a project,”

she said.

She added that reserving the parcels would honor “the amount of time and money that they’ve put into this process already.”

The five developers and the

properties they are in the process of optioning for purchase are:

Bryce Hansen, Stransen Development Group: 443 Sheldon Ave. SE

LINC Up: 500 Umatilla St. SE

Collin Hansen, Cambridge Holdings LLC: 710 and 716 Cornwall Ave. SE

Seeds of Promise: 722 Alexander St. SE and 1139 Lafayette Ave. SE

Jorge Manzo: 754 Cutler St. SW

The seven lots would include a mix of multifamily structures, a duplex and single-family homes, Solis said.

“All of this is subject to change as the applicants continue to work with Planning and obtain their financing,” Solis said via email. “Final project details would be presented to the (land bank authority) when they consider entering into an option agreement.”

When the city has residential properties up for sale, its property disposition policy dictates its top priorities for those properties are for affordable housing and homeownership projects, local ownership and emerging developers, in that order.

In October, Grand Rapids became the second city in Michigan to form its own land bank. State legislation was signed into law in June to enable the move, allowing

the city to take ownership of 107 parcels that are currently owned by the state land bank.

At its meeting, the new Land Bank Authority also approved articles of incorporation and temporary bylaws that are expected to be reviewed again after the new year, when the city gets a new mayor and a couple of new city commissioners in January who may have different ideas about how the land bank should be organized.

The policies approved thus far state that Grand Rapids Economic Development Director Sarah Rain-

ero will serve as executive director of the land bank, and it will be governed by the same board members who serve on the Economic Development Corporation and the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority.

Solis and Rainero said that the city’s economic development team, which will shepherd land bank agendas, expects it will spend the first few months of the year working with the board and consulting attorneys to develop goals and policies for the land bank before any major decisions are made.

This property at 443 Sheldon Ave. SE is among seven land bank-owned parcels eyed for housing. GOOGLe STreeT VIeW

Partners create more housing for tourism workers

By Rachel Watson

A longtime Chicago-based affordable housing developer is partnering with a West Michigan luxury home builder to create much-needed housing for the local tourism workforce in Allegan County.

Johnny Walker, who spent the bulk of his career developing affordable housing in Chicago, recently moved to Saugatuck Township and set his sights on building housing geared toward the hospitality and tourism workforce in

ward just past U.S. 131 — a broad area that includes tourism hotspots like Saugatuck and Douglas and small rural towns farther inland.

Those characteristics have contributed to a need for more than 6,000 units of both rental and forsale housing in Allegan County.

“When you go out to dinner (here) and you talk to people that work in the restaurants, they’re driving in 30, 40 miles in many cases because there’s no housing locally.”

Johnny Walker, partner, Tangram Development Group

Fennville and the Saugatuck-Douglas area.

Walker noted the unique dynamics of Allegan County, which spans the lakeshore from Holland to nearly South Haven, and east-

“Allegan County is interesting because you have this rural population around the town of Allegan and the other small little towns, and then you have the lakefront communities, where you have a dramatically different dynamic in terms of income levels,” Walker said. “I think all the builders have been catering to that in Allegan County, and the easier route is to simply build luxury homes to facilitate more tax revenue coming in from either out-of-state or second homes, or even in-state people who want more expensive houses.”

He added that “not enough attention has been paid to the affordable housing and the workforce housing aspect.”

“When you go out to dinner (here) and you talk to people that

work in the restaurants, they’re driving in 30, 40 miles in many cases because there’s no housing locally,” Walker said.

Indeed, a recent survey of employers conducted as part of Allegan County’s 2023 housing study found that 25,505 people out of the county’s total workforce of 41,427, or 61.6%, commute into the county from surrounding areas for work, and 3,975, or 9.6%, of those in-bound commuters drive more than 50 miles each way to work.

Walker and Douglas DeHaan, president of the Hudsonville-based custom luxury home builder DeHaan Homes, last year established a new development venture called Tangram Development Group LLC to address the lack of workforce housing in the county. The firm takes its name

from a type of puzzle that consists of seven flat polygons of different sizes put together to form a whole.

“We came up with the name because we were trying to solve some different needs, not just the same thing,” Walker said. “… We’re trying to jump in to solve the need, instead of staying siloed or in one pocket.”

DeHaan said he met Walker two years ago through projects they worked on together. He said they shared a “mutual vision” for adding affordable housing in the county, which was further solidified as they began talking to various municipalities.

As a high-end developer, DeHaan said he’s been somewhat “insulated” from understanding the full scope of need, but his eyes were opened when it came time for his five daughters to buy homes, and it was a struggle to find anything attainable for their budgets.

“My kids are in this demographic … (of) late 20s, early 30s children (who are) the first generation in 100 years that’s not going to be able to better themselves as their parents have,” he said. “… I had a career of 41 years of building highend luxury homes. I would like to use that skill set, that talent, in the last 10 years of my career to build affordable homes — to continue our business, but also to segue into doing something that’s giving back, that’s helping the community in a different way.”

The duo have their sights set on a 3-acre parcel near downtown Fennville for a $10 million to $12 million, 60-unit affordable apartment project they’re designing called Cider Cove. They’re about two months from site plan submittal, but if all goes as planned, they would build units reserved for individuals making 60% to 90% of the area median income, with rents ranging from the high $800s to about $1,400.

Walker said those are “unheard of” so close to the lakeshore.

“We’re going to be providing housing for people who currently live or work (in Allegan) — now, they can have a home a little closer to the lake, but yet affordable,” Walker said. “And then (we’ll also house) all the people who work in South Haven, Saugatuck, Douglas — the laborers, the baristas, the chefs, everybody who’s working in the stores — at a place that’s now

just a 10-minute drive to get to work and within walking distance to downtown Fennville.”

Tangram is partnering with Ryan Kilpatrick, owner of Grand Rapids-based consultancy Flywheel Community Development Services, to apply for brownfield TIF incentives and grant funding from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.

Walker said they’ve already got high interest in Cider Cove from the Ox-Bow School of Art, which needs affordable year-round housing for its teachers.

They hope to break ground on the Cider Cove project next year.

Separately, Tangram Development is also under contract to buy a 9-acre parcel in Saugatuck for a housing development that would include condominiums, townhomes and tiny homes. They hope to market the condos starting in the $300,000 range, and the townhomes and smaller homes would be in the $500,000 to mid-$600,000 price point.

Walker said there’s potential to parcel off part of that acreage to support the development of housing for the Saugatuck Center for the Arts, which needs 40 rooms for its traveling artists-in-residence. Though it’s not yet a sure thing, the idea is to provide housing for the artists during the four to five warmer months of the year, then use the housing for other purposes in the winter, Walker said.

“They are in critical need of housing anywhere around the area,” Walker said of the arts center. “The challenge is, when all those artists leave, what do you do with the housing? We’re trying to come up with a concept and a price point to where maybe people who are in the area (and) who live on their boats throughout the summer (would use the) housing for seven months of the year.”

DeHaan and Walker said the Fennville and Saugatuck projects are a jumping-off point for Tangram, but they also are in talks with several other Allegan County townships about developing more workforce housing.

“We found that the need is great, so what we want to do is build a repeatable footprint that’s proven and use it in a way that (partners) with other communities,” DeHaan said. “We feel a sense of responsibility.”

Tangram Development Group plans to build affordable housing for workers in tourism-reliant communities like Saugatuck. GETTY ImAGES

Howmet Aerospace plans $107.5M plant in Whitehall

By Mark Sanchez

Howmet Corp. intends to invest up to $107.5 million to develop a new advanced manufacturing plant and offices in Whitehall.

The plant would produce ceramic cores that are used in the production of air-cooling passages inside airfoil products for jet aircraft engines. The project would create 300 new jobs in Muskegon County that pay an average $29.41

Fund board.

“The company is attracted to Michigan because of the commitment that Team Michigan has shown to the project and the speed by which the company could dial up the production capacity in Whitehall. The ease of collaboration and synergy it would create with other aspects of the business in Michigan and make it a perfect fit for the project,” according to the MEDC memo. “Moreover, aerospace and defense is an area of strategic focus for the State of Michigan and securing this project would ensure Michigan remains a global leader in this sector of the economy.”

“It’s not an exaggeration to say that if you flew on a western commercial aircraft, it was probably with components designed or manufactured in Western Michigan...”

Ben Squires, director of government affairs for Howmet

an hour, plus benefits.

Howmet once based ceramic core production in Muskegon County many years ago and the project “marks a return of that production line back to Whitehall after its departure decades ago,” according to a memo from Michigan Economic Development Corp. staff to the Michigan Strategic

The Michigan Strategic Fund board on Dec. 10 approved a $5.1 million performance-based grant and a 15-year, 100% exemption on the State Essential Services Assessment (SESA) exemption worth more than $1.6 million.

Ben Squires, director of government affairs for Howmet, told MSF board members that the decision to build in Whitehall came down to “the state’s highly skilled labor pool and strong workforce development

ecosystem,” and a “business friendly environment, plus infrastructure assets that allow us to ship products that we manufacture to customers around the world.”

“It’s not an exaggeration to say that if you flew on a western commercial aircraft, it was probably with components designed or manufactured in Western Michigan that got you from point A to point B, and Western Michigan is the jet engine airfoil capital of the world,” Squires said.

Howmet is “actively engaged with Muskegon Community College to really build out that talent pipeline” through the MEDC’s New Jobs Training program and will use MichiganWorks! for talent recruitment and workforce devel-

opment, said Dan Neebes, a business development project manager at the MEDC.

One of the largest employers in Muskegon County, Howmet Aerospace considered developing the project in Texas or Tennessee.

The state assistance “will help address the cost disadvantage of locating the project in Michigan when compared to the competing sites outside of Michigan,” according to the MEDC staff memo. “The performance-based grant will help offset the cost to build the new facility, allowing the company to expand its manufacturing facility and become a stronger employer in the region,” MEDC staff wrote.

State assistance was needed “because this highly competitive

project represents a unique opportunity to bring home a key component of the aerospace and defense supply chain proving once again that you can make it in Michigan,” Neebes said.

Howmet Corp. is a subsidiary of Pittsburgh, Pa.-based Howmet Aerospace Inc., a publicly traded corporation with more than 23,000 employees globally that makes components for jet engines and industrial gas turbines. Howmet employs 2,440 people in Michigan, about 1,340 of whom are represented by the United Auto Workers, according to the MEDC. Operations at the corporation’s Whitehall Division in northern Muskegon County date back to the early 1950s.

Images show progress on Howmet’s plant in Whitehall. | cOUrTeSY PHOTO

DeVos Place expansion, new hotel could lure more events

By Kate Carlson

The DeVos Place Convention Center in downtown Grand Rapids is losing out on 58 events annually because of inadequate event space and low hotel supply downtown.

However, adding both to the convention center would only be feasible with public funding, according to a newly released study.

The Grand Rapids-Kent County Convention-Arena Authority (CAA) a year ago commissioned the study by Loveland, Colo.-based consulting firm Hotel Valuation Services (HVS) to look at the feasibility of growing DeVos Place with more meeting space and potentially a connected hotel. It follows a similar study on the topic from 2018.

“We’re trying to keep up with our competition,” said CAA board chair Rick Winn. “Milwaukee is expanding (convention space), Columbus just expanded — there’s a lot of competition for meetings and we want to stay relevant.”

The CAA retained HVS to update a study the firm conducted in 2018 examining the feasibility of expanding DeVos Place and building another downtown hotel. The up-

dated study was presented Dec. 6 at a CAA board meeting.

HVS findings recommend a 7,900-square-foot meeting room addition and a 21,000-square-foot ballroom expansion to DeVos Place to meet the demand for events. The study projects the additions would facilitate an additional 29 events annually to the convention center, resulting in an additional 48,000 hotel stays.

HVS also looked into seven site options downtown for a convention center hotel, narrowing sites down to building a hotel on top of DeVos Place or developing the Fifth Third Bank building at 111 Lyon St. NW into a hotel.

The study weighed adding a downtown hotel with 478 hotel rooms and 43,000 square feet of meeting space.

Both locations were “minimally” different in terms of revenue they were projected to generate, but it would cost about $31.5 million more to redevelop the Fifth Third building into a hotel, according to the study. The estimated cost to develop a hotel on top of DeVos Place is $282.3 million, and the cost estimated to develop the Fifth Third building into a hotel is

$313.8 million.

As well, the building owner of the Fifth Third Bank, CWD Real Estate Investment LLC, is pursuing plans to convert the downtown office building into residential units. Plans for the office-to-residential conversion “pretty much rules out” the Fifth Third building, HVS Convention, Sports & Entertainment President and Managing Director Thomas Hazinski told Crain’s.

HVS was unaware of CWD’s plans for the building during the study, he added.

“The DeVos Place is losing events because of inadequate space,” Hazinski said. “They are also losing events because sometimes there is a lack of hotel room availability. Given the high capital cost of developing these hotels and current financing conditions for hotels are not favorable, it’s not feasible at this time for private developers.”

The issue is one that most cities face when they consider adding hotels and convention centers to their downtowns, Hazinski said.

“Because of the large amount of meeting space that needs to be developed and the high level of amenities that are required at these properties, they are not feasible,”

Hazinski said. “Most cities have turned to some form of public-private partnership.”

Some cities use public financing in a way so their convention center hotels are publicly owned and privately operated, Hazinski added.

Both Richard Winn, CAA board chair, and Richard MacKeigan, regional manager of ASM Global, said the CAA needs time to do a deep dive on the updated study before they decide how to proceed.

For MacKeigan, the immediate takeaway from the study is that DeVos Place is the best place to add a hotel for convention needs downtown.

“We need to get a better understanding of what (the study) means,

and then start having conversations internally with stakeholders about what those next steps should be,” MacKeigan said. “If we all agree it could work, the most likely scenario is more due diligence needs to take place. It’s not time right now to pull the trigger and put a shovel in the ground.”

Winn agreed, adding that a committee will most likely be pulled together to work through the study results.

“It will take public financing, so we’ll have to get with the county and city to discuss it, and we are also in the midst of two huge projects,” Winn said, referencing the Acrisure Amphitheater and Amway Stadium.

DeVos Place along the Grand River. | JOE BOOmGAARD

Auto suppliers are seeking shreds of certainty amid many disruptions

By Elizabeth Schanz

In a transitioning automotive sector facing uncertainty caused by shifting policies and consumer preference, industry observers say suppliers could potentially see a longer runway for internal combustion parts.

That’s at least one source of stability for an industry filled with unknowns as President-elect Donald Trump prepares for his second term by promising tariffs and withdrawing policy support for electric vehicles.

“Uncertainty … I think that’s what everybody’s feeling right now. We went through a very dynamic election, to say the least. As we enter into January, there are a lot of unknowns,” said Mike Wall, executive director of automotive analysis with S&P Global Mobility who’s based in Grand Rapids. “A lot of stuff’s been circulating out there, but until we actually see it in the flesh and on paper and coming through as policy, we don’t know.”

With inauguration day approaching on Jan. 20, the automotive industry is acting under the expectation that the incoming Trump administration will come out fast with policy changes. Until then, the industry is wrestling with partial information and making “millions, millions and millions of dollars kinds of decisions” based on what they expect to transpire, Wall said.

Despite the uncertainty, Paul Isely, associate dean and professor of economics at Seidman College of Business at Grand Valley State University, believes the election offered further clarity on the type of cars that will be produced and will help moderate prices to boost volume, he said.

The next six months could be crucial in sorting out the industry’s future, he said.

“2025 is going to lay some of the groundwork for where the winners and losers are in the automotive market for the next five years,” Isely said. “So you’re going to have to pay very close attention to how manufacturers up and down the supply chain adjust to what occurs over the next six months. And by the end of the year, we may start to see some fallout from that with some mergers and acquisitions starting to happen.”

Consumer preference

In North America, vehicle production has remained relatively flat, and currently sits about 2 million units below pre-pandemic levels.

North America production peaked at 17.8 million units in 2016 and dipped to 16.3 million units before the pandemic caused widespread disruptions along the supply chain. Production hovered around 13 million units in 2021 and 2022 before improving to 15.7 million units as sales rebounded, supply chain

shortages eased and semiconductors became more readily available, Wall said.

Against the backdrop of potentially shifting federal policy under the incoming Trump administration, consumer preference also will play a major role in how the electric vehicle transition unfolds, Isely said.

While EV sales have been steadily growing and EV technology and battery prices continue to fall, longer term sales outlooks become less clear based on consumer preference, according to a June report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). Under a best-case scenario, BNEF forecasts global passenger EV sales to reach 30 million by 2027, primarily driven by China, and reach 73 million units by 2040.

“One of the biggest issues (the automotive industry) is having to deal with is which type of cars to build as consumers try to figure out which type of cars to buy in a world where the regulations and subsidies are ever-changing,” Isely said.

“That’s been the primary set of challenges that exist out there. And now we’re through the election, some of that uncertainty is going away.”

Electric vehicles have gripped the automotive industry over the last couple of years with heightened investment, Biden administration standards intended to reduce the production of vehicles powered by fossil fuels, and EV rebates for consumers. Specifically, automakers would have until 2032 to shift at least 35% of production to EVs based on Biden’s fuel efficiency standards.

Meanwhile, Trump has vowed to end the $7,500 consumer tax credit for electric-vehicle purchases and could attempt to roll back vehicle-efficiency rules.

“Those future EV programs are going to still be on the board. Granted, some of them may be delayed, but I’ll tell you the bigger issue for suppliers is volume,” Wall said, referring to shifting targets from automakers.

Even now, lower-than-projected EV sales have caused financial pressures for auto suppliers that invested heavily to adapt as the in-

Lower interest rates, new tariffs could define the coming year

dustry began to electrify, said Randy Thelen, CEO of The Right Place Inc. in Grand Rapids.

“What that has done for auto suppliers in our region is if you’ve been making components for the internal combustion engine cars, and you took on orders for ICE or for EV, you’re now double capitalized or investing capital in two segments,” Thelen said. “This one’s wildly underperforming, and so it has created balance sheet stress for some automotive companies. It’s proven to be a difficult thing for the supply chain to balance.”

Ultimately, the incoming Trump administration likely means a longer window for emission targets, and further production of internal combustion models.

“That gives (the industry) maybe a little bit of breathing room. Doesn’t mean EV is dead. Doesn’t mean we’re not going to be investing in EV,” Wall said. “The future is still largely electric, for sure, but we were staging out maybe some of that runway.”

Talk of tariffs

Another consequential issue for the automotive industry could be Trump’s tariff policy.

Trump has stated an intention to impose 10% tariffs on goods from China and 25% tariffs on all products from Mexico and Canada, which could affect key trade routes for auto parts and assembled vehicles.

These claims have taken center stage in suppliers’ minds. For instance, a single automotive component can cross the border of Mexico and the U.S. numerous times before it heads to the automaker for assembly. Goods might hit a tariff uptick each time they cross the border, Wall said.

The tariffs could cause severe problems in the supply chain and are being closely watched by the industry, Isely said, though he believes the tariffs will serve as a bargaining tool and won’t be as severe as anticipated.

However, as federal policies remain tentative, suppliers are think-

By Mark Sanchez

Interest rates should continue to decline in 2025, making some business borrowing less costly and potentially spurring higher capital investments and M&A deal activity.

Further rate cuts are widely expected in the new year after the Federal Open Market Committee began lowering them in September following more than two years at elevated levels to ward off high inflation.

In a recent annual economic outlook, University of Michigan economists projected Federal Reserve governors will cut interest rates four times in 2025 by a quarter-point each, as inflation continues to ease and the labor market further softens.

“The continued slowdown in the labor market alongside closeto-target inflation gives the Fed room to move rates lower,” UM economists wrote in their Nov. 21 outlook.

New tariffs that incoming President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose could temporarily raise inflation “as markets adjust to the new normal” and could trigger a retaliatory trade war, which “will encourage the Fed not to raise rates in 2026 in the face of tariff-induced price pressure,” UM economists wrote.

During his campaign, Trump vowed to impose a 60% tariff on goods from China, and 10% to 20% tariffs on imports from other nations. Trump most recently threatened to impose a 25% tariff on all products coming into the U.S. from Mexico and Canada.

Lower cost of capital

Lower interest rates surely benefit businesses using lines of credit and short-term loans with variable interest rates by making working capital cheaper, said Joel Rahn, executive vice president for commercial banking at Grand Rapids-based Independent Bank Corp.

In what Rahn calls a “split dynamic,” borrowers seeking long-

term loans for equipment purchases that typically use fixed rates may not benefit as much, particularly as bond yields remain high. Businesses generally tend to lock in fixed rates that are pegged to bond markets for those loans for the cost predictability, Rahn said.

“On one hand, you have easing and a lowering of rates for floating-rate loans, and the most common form of a floating-rate note for a business would be its capital line of credit. So, that will benefit businesses. It just eases the cost of carrying that working capital financing,” he said.

On the other hand, “the bond market is a little skeptical that inflation has been tamed,” which may keep long-term rates higher for a while, Rahn said.

“You have the bond market indicating that there’s still fear of inflation, and the bond market is not completely sold on floating-rate interest rates coming down that much more,” Rahn said. “If we truly get a lowering of interest rates across the board, both short-term and long-term rates, that just makes it that much easier to digest a business acquisition (and) it makes it easier to justify a real estate development.”

Fueling the M&A pipeline

Lower rates that make financing a deal cost less could help to drive more mergers and acquisitions in 2025.

In an annual survey by law firm Dykema Gossett PLLC, 70% of respondents said they expect the U.S. M&A market to strengthen during the next 12 months. Just 9% expect the M&A market to weaken in 2025.

“This, our survey tells us, is largely driven by the positive elements of financial market conditions, availability of capital, and general economic conditions such as stabilizing inflation and reduced interest rate levels — the same top factors that respondents say impacted M&A opportunities

UM economists said the continued slowdown in the labor market alongside close-totarget inflation gives the Fed room to move rates lower. | cOUrTeSY PHOTO

A General Motors assembly plant in Fort Wayne, Ind. | emILY eLcONIN/bLOOmberG

AUTO

From Page 11

ing ahead by stockpiling materials and assessing demand, Wall said.

“The reality is, you may spend a little bit more in the early days just to kind of protect yourself and find yourself. Maybe it wasn’t needed, maybe it was just an abundance of caution, but those are some of the things I think are going through suppliers’ and automakers’ minds right now,” Wall said.

Over the last three years, Zeeland-based Tier 1 supplier Gentex Corp. prepared for the effect of tariffs and supply chain disruptions by the way it sources components, said Neil Boehm, Gentex’s chief technology officer.

Additionally, the majority of the company’s operations and production is done in West Michigan, he said.

“We’ve been through it before a few years back and think we’re in a way better place today from a supply chain side, to be able to

LENDING

From Page 11

over the past 12 months,” according to Dykema’s report on the 2024 survey results.

Survey respondents included C-suite executives, bankers and private equity professionals. They anticipate the top three sectors for M&A activity next year will be health care, financial services and energy.

address it and react quicker,” Boehm said.

As 2025 looms large and future policies are yet to unfold, businesses are taking potential shifts in stride.

From Boehm’s perspective, industry growth will be slower and is going through one of its “down cycles.” He hopes the new year will be a period of stabilization and that 2026 will be a year of growth.

While challenges may arise for the industry, Wall sees suppliers as a “resilient bunch” that are able to navigate a variety of industry cycles.

“We’ve been through a lot. … Think about the Great Recession, the amount of demand destruction and challenges going on then, then going to COVID and those very, very challenging times,” Wall said. “Suppliers are a hearty bunch. They find a way, one way or another.”

Crain’s Grand Rapids Business reporter Mark Sanchez contributed to this story.

greater market presence for Wintrust Financial in Michigan.

“We like a lot where we start from. And over time, as we identify opportunities in the market, we’ll certainly add the resources that they believe are necessary to fully penetrate the market,” CEO Tim Crane told brokerage analysts in an October conference call to discuss quarterly results.

Uncertainty over tariffs

Nearly seven out of 10 survey respondents believe private equity will boost deal volume in 2025, although “economic volatility and limited exit opportunities may deter them from deploying dry powder,” according to the Dykema report.

More bank deals

The banking sector could very well experience more deal activity in 2025.

Bank executives and directors answering trade publication Bank Director’s annual survey “strike a cautiously optimistic note about the prospect of M&A” next year. Among survey respondents, 43% indicated their organization “is very or somewhat likely” to buy another bank by the end of 2025. That compares to 35% a year earlier.

Top drivers for bank M&A in 2025 are the need to achieve greater scale to drive technology and other investments and geographic expansion.

Two bank deals were announced in West Michigan in 2024: Holland-based Macatawa Bank Corp.’s $510.3 million merger into Rosemont, Ill.-based Wintrust Financial Corp. that closed Aug. 1; and ChoiceOne Financial Services Inc.’s pending $180.4 million Fentura Financial Inc. deal that should close in early 2025.

Wintrust executives have said that the bank intends to build a

The new year also brings in the new presidential administration and the threat of tariffs.

UM economists expect that new tariffs on imports from China will take effect starting in 2026, “with several rounds of retaliation to follow.”

“During 2025, we expect elevated levels of both imports and exports in anticipation of new tariffs, with the current account deficit holding largely flat relative to nominal GDP,” per the UM outlook.

If President-elect Trump follows through and imposes new tariffs, it could accelerate inflation toward the end of 2026 to 2.3% “as the projected tariffs work their way through domestic prices,” according to UM’s economic outlook.

New tariffs also could force U.S. companies to alter their foreign production strategy.

For instance, Rockford-based footwear and apparel marketer Wolverine World Wide Inc. four years ago was “doing north of 40% of our production in China,” CEO Chris Hufnagel said in a recent interview with Crain’s Grand Rapids Business.

These days, “we’re sort of midteens out of China” after diversifying production to Vietnam, Bangladesh and Indonesia, Hufnagel said. If tariffs occur, Wolverine World Wide could move production from China to the other Asian facilities, he said.

BUILDING BEYOND THE BLUEPRINT

At Triangle Associates, we’re more than a construction manager. We’re in the people business — focused on partnerships, safety, and delivering high-quality buildings that make lasting impacts in the communities we serve.

As your partner, advocate and neighbor, we’re proud to help shape spaces where people live, work and learn.

OTSEGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS NATATORIUM MUSKEGON

Tourism officials expect uptick in business, leisure travel

By Rachel Watson

Coming off three years of post-pandemic hotel revenue growth driven by increased group business and leisure travel, Kent County officials say they expect an even better year for room stays in 2025.

Kent County hotels are projected to end 2024 with about $269 million in revenue, the third straight year of recovery after the pandemic-driven losses of 2020 and 2021, per county treasurer’s office data provided to Crain’s by Experience Grand Rapids.

The projected year-end figure represents an increase of nearly 3.9% over 2023’s revenue of about $258.9 million, which in turn was an increase of 4.1% over 2022’s revenue of about $248.7 million. In 2019, prior to the pandemic, Kent County hotels generated about $226 million.

Janet Korn, senior vice president of Experience Grand Rapids, the county’s convention and visitors bureau, said based on current convention sales bookings, officials expect increased hotel revenue again in 2025.

“Our convention sales team is on target to meet or exceed their room

night goal this year for future bookings,” Korn said earlier this month, adding that group business is a good barometer for room stays, while leisure travel can be harder to predict because those booking cycles are shorter.

“We’re positive because we continue to see increased numbers, and we don’t have any data that would tell us that we won’t continue to be successful in attracting more people here,” she said.

Korn said as Experience Grand Rapids’ destination marketing team gears up to launch a marketing campaign next year for 2026 — the first year that the Acrisure Amphitheater will open for concerts — they’ll also be telling the story of Grand Rapids’ continuous improvement in the meantime.

They’ll be talking about downtown projects wrapping up in 2025, like the Lyon Square Park enhancements surrounding the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel and the initial phase of the $50 million Grand Rapids Public Museum expansion that will improve access to the river’s edge and draw in new exhibits.

Additionally, they will tout attractions outside the city center, like Frederik Meijer Gardens &

Sculpture Park, which will celebrate its 30th anniversary with special events next year.

“And then, fingers crossed, we’re going to … restore the rapids back to the river, then there’s this little amphitheater going up along the river and a connection with the riverwalk,” Korn said. “There’s going to be so much energy. … Downtown is an attraction that a huge percentage of the visitors that come to Kent County report coming (to), and it’s only getting way more exciting for a variety of different reasons.”

Korn said Experience Grand Rapids already has booked dozens of state-based, national and international conventions and sporting events of various sizes for 2025.

Among the largest of the group events booked are the American Public Works Association’s North American Snow Conference in April, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists Annual Conference in June, the Fraternal Order of Eagles International Convention in July and the Gideons International Convention, also in July. Together, those four groups alone will bring 11,100 conference attendees to Grand Rapids in 2025.

Rick Winn, president and CEO of the DeVos- and Van Andel-owned hotel business AHC Hospitality, said his company’s portfolio of five downtown Grand Rapids hotels increased its revenues in 2024 and expects to do so again through the new events. As a private company, AHC does not disclose sales figures.

“We’re projecting, again, another increase,” Winn said of 2025. “We judge our budgets annually, primarily on what is the business already on the books — the big

groups, like associations … and I already have contracts (with) a healthy base of business already. So we’re looking forward to a great 2025.”

Average downtown Grand Rapids hotel occupancy in 2023 was 61.4%, while countywide it was about 58%, per Smith Travel Research figures provided by Experience Grand Rapids. Through October 2024, the latest month for which figures were available, Kent County’s average hotel occupancy rate was 60.4%.

Serving West Michigan’s Construction industry for 70 years! Our goal is to go above and beyond to provide the finest of services across all Commercial Construction Industries.

Hotel operators consider 70% occupancy a healthy benchmark. | AHC HOSPITALITY

Right Place says economic activity is ‘picking up’ after election

By Mark Sanchez

Slightly fewer West Michigan companies posted higher sales, planned expansions or increased hiring during 2024, but their prospects have already started turning around heading into the New Year.

The results from The Right Place Inc.’s staff visits with more than 600 companies in the region this year may reflect the prevailing uncertainty about the economy, interest rates, inflation and the presidential election.

Those factors combined to make many companies “pause decisions,” said The Right Place CEO Randy Thelen.

“All of those factors had an impact on those relatively small declines,” Thelen said Dec. 5 following The Right Place’s annual economic outlook and state of the region presentations.

Now that inflation is mostly tamed, interest rates are coming down, the economy appears poised to avoid a recession, and the election has taken place, Thelen has begun to hear more optimism.

“Right now, among the businesses, with the election behind us, we know we have some certainty,”

Thelen said.

Thelen spoke with executives at three local manufacturers who all talked about “how the switch has gone back on.”

“The feedback from companies already in the last 30 days has shifted. Orders are picking up,” Thelen said.

Over this year, 62% of the businesses that The Right Place staff met with reported increased sales, which compares to 66% in 2023.

The number of companies planning an expansion declined four percentage points to 53%, and 45% of the businesses this year reported they increased hiring, down from 49% in 2023.

Thelen called those declines “not a major change, but something to be mindful of” and noted that The Right Place was “monitoring” those metrics heading into 2025.

“The numbers aren’t so big that they’re alarming, but they are moving in the direction that we should all be aware of,” he said.

One area that improved yearover-year was labor. Fewer companies — 32% this year, versus 43% last year — reported recruitment issues. That’s a sign that the labor shortage has eased and become “more normalized,” although acute shortages persist in the high-skilled trades and technical positions, Thelen said.

As many companies across the economy struggled with the labor shortage coming out of the pandemic, they may have pulled back their focus on growing sales because they lacked enough workers to meet demand, Thelen said.

“It wasn’t too long ago, like two years ago, where companies were not as aggressive on the sales side of things for fear that they wouldn’t have the talent to fulfill those new orders and the needs of those new customers,” he said. “You saw that throughout the economy. You saw it in restaurants who wouldn’t seat all their tables, you saw it in hotels that wouldn’t fill all the hotel rooms, and we saw that on many factory floors where they might not be operating all the lines because they

simply couldn’t find labor.

“Today, with the labor market in better equilibrium, companies can go forward with the sales and business development strategy with a much more aggressive approach knowing that they can find the people to meet those needs. So, it’s a different sort of business outlook on that perspective.”

Employers now rank increasing sales as their top challenge, followed by talent attraction, a reversal from 2023.

The easing of the labor shortage could become temporary, however.

Incoming President-elect Donald Trump’s stance on immigration could reignite the labor shortage for the next decade, said Jeff Korzenik, chief economist at Fifth Third Bank.

“The labor shortage is coming

back. It’s just that anything that’s different about immigration will tighten the labor shortage,” Korzenik said. “It’s not going to be more abundant immigration. So, anything that goes on there, it’s going tighten … the labor market for the next 10, 12 years.”

Overall, the West Michigan economy heads toward 2025 is solid shape compared to the state and the nation. Data show that the Grand Rapids area fares well when compared to 20 peer markets across the U.S.

“We continue to outpace the state and nation, which is good, and now we’re measuring ourselves against the best of the best across the country,” Thelen said. “We’re competing well in some areas; we need to compete more in others.”

The Right Place Inc. CEO Randy Thelen discusses the Grand Rapids area’s economic outlook for 2025. | bUD KIbbY

Care models, specialty drug costs top health care trends

By Mark Sanchez

Rising costs should lead companies to more consider alternative strategies and models in the year ahead, as well as drive traditional health insurers to take a closer look at how they cover high-cost specialty drugs.

Health care also could see more mergers and acquisitions activity in 2025, while labor unions are likely to remain aggressive in pursuing better pay in contract negotiations that could erode already thin margins for hospitals and health systems.

Here’s a look at some of the top health care trends West Michigan executives can expect in 2025.

Direct primary care

The medical practice that Drs. Matt Falkiewicz and Nick Blank launched in early 2019 in Grand Rapids uses a business and care model that’s been steadily gaining traction in health care as insurance premiums rise even higher.

Nova DPC PLLC does not take health insurance and instead uses a membership model where patients pay a monthly fee for physi-

cian visits for primary care. The model, known as direct primary care, has been growing as consumers and employers that self-fund their insurance seek out alternatives to rising costs.

Falkiewicz and Blank expect their practice to grow in 2025.

“The future seems bright here and the issues will continue,” Blank said. “There’s a hole in the health care system and DPC is a place to help fill in that hole.”

The direct primary care model, also referred to as concierge medicine, uses a monthly or annual fee for patients. The model is predi-

cated on low overhead costs, personalized care for patients, and smaller patient loads with longer physician visits.

Nova DPC has grown by 10% to 15% in the last year and the two physicians expect the model to accelerate in 2025 and beyond as the practice gains more traction as one way to counter rising health insurance costs.

“We absolutely expect to at least see consistent (traction), but my suspicion is it’s going to be higher,” Falkiewicz said.

Falkiewicz cites data from dcfrontier.com that the number of direct primary care practices in the U.S. has grown from about 900 five years ago to more than 2,600 today.

“It’s definitely grown a lot, even in the past five years since we’ve been in the business,” Falkiewicz said. “There’s a lot more physicians who want to get out of a system and get out of the hamster wheel (so) you have more time with patients, more flexibility with patients and you make your own schedule and spend more time with someone if they need it. We’re looking forward to seeing the growth.”

Other direct primary care practices have emerged or grown in the last couple of years in West Michigan. They include My Partner Health and Exponential Health, which recently opened a second office in Holland.

Christian Healthcare Centers Inc. also uses a membership model and began construction this fall on a $2.3 million, 7,067-square-foot primary care office at 9640 Adams St. in Holland Township, just east of I-196. The location will become the third primary care office for the Plainfield Township-based Christian Healthcare Centers.

As well, Detroit-based Plum Health this year expanded into Lansing, Corunna, Van Buren Township and Royal Oak.

Specialty drugs

Health insurers in the last couple of years have often cited high-cost specialty drugs as a key driver behind rising insurance premiums.

As the use of specialty drugs grows rapidly, and as lower-cost alternatives come on the market, expect to see health insurers give greater scrutiny to what they cover.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan recently announced that effective Jan. 1, 2025, it was dropping coverage for Humira, a popular but costly auto-immune drug that’s used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis and psoriasis. The state’s largest

health insurer instead will cover a biosimilar version of Humira, Simlandi, for fully insured and self-insured employers.

Blue Cross Blue Shield pays about $500 million annually for more than 60,000 Humira prescriptions, Chief Pharmacy Officer Antheer Kaddis said. The self-injected specialty drug costs about $6,700 per prescription and each patient typically gets six to eight prescriptions a year, he said.

As more lower-cost biosimilars enter the market, Blue Cross Blue Shield intends to examine whether to switch coverage away from the higher-cost brand-name version.

“We automatically embrace biosimilars as the alternative to brandname drugs,” Kaddis told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business. “There’s a lot of them in the pipeline where we’re going see more and more biosimilar competitors. That’s why you’re going to see more and more biosimilar adoption by not just Blue Cross Blue Shield in Michigan, but our competitors will do the same. That’s because we’re all trying to drive toward lower net costs for our members and for our customers.”

In the first nine months of 2024, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan’s 652,000-member HMO product, Blue Care Network, paid $532.6 million in prescription drug claims, a nearly 35% increase over the same period last year and almost equal to the amount paid in all of 2023, according to a quarterly financial report to state regulators.

Finances

Hospitals and health systems that saw their finances stabilize over the last few months will have to cope with higher labor costs in the years ahead.

The most recent monthly report on financial performance of more ran 1,300 U.S. hospitals and health systems by Kaufman Hall shows operating margins averaged in the mid-to-high 4% range for the first nine months of 2024. The average operating margin for October was 4.4%.

The improved financial health will run into a heightened aggressiveness by labor unions that represent health care workers and have been securing contracts with sizeable wage increases. Unions such as the Michigan Nurses Association, SEIU Healthcare Michigan and the Teamsters have been pushing in the post-pandemic era for higher wages and better working conditions to retain and attract more people to health care as the industry faces worker shortages.

Frozen garlic bread pioneer sells to new owner

By Mark Sanchez

Cole’s Quality Foods Inc., a maker of frozen garlic bread sold at retailers across the U.S. that started in Muskegon more than 80 years ago, plans to sell to a family-owned Ontario food baker.

Furlani Foods, also a leading garlic bread maker that’s based in Mississauga, near Toronto, said Dec. 12 that it signed an agreement to acquire Cole’s Quality Foods.

The company said that combining the two companies and brands “and the collective production capabilities will drive efficiencies and innovation that benefit consumers.”

The deal came about as the family-owned Cole’s Quality Foods was reaching capacity at its facili-

“We are proud to bring Cole’s, its brand, and its long history into the Furlani family.”

Jonathan Kawaja , Furlani CEO

ties and either had to invest or seek a partner, said CEO Scott Devon, whose family bought the company in 1979. His father, Wes, invented frozen garlic bread in the 1970s.

Cole’s Quality Foods, with a workforce of about 350 and projecting $135 million in revenues for 2024, has production facilities in Muskegon and North Liberty, Iowa, the latter of which produces bread sticks. It maintains its corporate headquarters in Grand Rapids.

In opting to seek a buyer, the family chose Furlani Foods, a competitor whose owners Devon has known for years. Furlani intends to maintain Muskegon operations, Devon said.

“We’re at capacity in both facilities and COVID was very difficult, but it turned out to be very good for us in the long run. A lot of people switched from going out to eat to eating at home. So, we benefitted from that. We had a lot of increases in our sales at that time,” Devon told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business. “We are at the point where we needed to either double-down and expand our facilities or find a partner, which we chose to do.

“The strategic lineup of what they were looking for, and what we offered, really paired well together.”

Devon, who has run Cole’s Quality Foods for 25 years, will continue with the company for a year in a

consulting role. He also recently formed a company that makes frozen pizzas sold at Meijer stores.

The Chicago office of KPMG served as the investment bank for Cole’s Quality Foods in the deal, while Grand Rapids-based Varnum LLP was the legal adviser.

Terms of the deal, which the companies expect to close in the first quarter of 2025 pending regulatory approvals, were undisclosed.

Cole’s and Furlani had talked in the past about a merger, and “the

timing was right this time,” Devon said.

Founded in 1984, Furlani Foods makes garlic breads, including Texas toast, loaves, rolls, breadsticks, bread knots, and baked products sold at national retailers. It has three facilities located in Mississauga and Oak Creek, Wis.

The company in May 2023 secured an investment from Chicago private equity firm Entrepreneurial Equity Partners, which invests in food and consumer packaged

goods. The firm made the investment alongside the family of Furlani CEO Jonathan Kawaja. Entrepreneurial Equity Partners previously acquired Grand Rapids-based Roskam Bakery in 2022.

“We are proud to bring Cole’s, its brand, and its long history into the Furlani family,” Kawaja said. “Combining these companies means we can bring our customers an expanded product line, greater capacity, and improved service. It supports our ability to grow, ensuring a bright future.”

Cole’s Quality Foods operates a main production facility in Muskegon, where the company was founded more than 80 years ago. GOOGLe STreeT VIeW

Sovengard scales back after slow start at new location

By Abby Poirier

Just four months after reopening in its new Bridge Street location, Scandinavian-inspired farm-to-table restaurant Sovengard has run into some operational challenges.

Owner Richard Muschiana said he laid off five staff members last month and reduced operating hours, citing a slow start for the restaurant, which reopened in July at 1232 Bridge St. NW following a two-year, $3 million relocation and renovation.

The changes were necessary to reduce labor costs to reflect the slower-than-anticipated traffic and as the business prepares for a tipped wage law at the start of the new year, he said.

While the decision was a difficult one, Muschiana said that he realized Sovengard would face some significant headwinds when it reopened.

“We knew that we were opening during a difficult economic and business period, so I don’t think we had illusions about the difficulty factor of what we were facing,” Muschiana said.

Sovengard, formerly located at 442 Bridge St. NW, initially closed in 2022 when the space proved too small for the growing restaurant. Muschiana started work on the new space a few blocks west in 2023. High construction costs and parking concerns caused delays for the project.

The 5,000-square-foot restaurant reopened this summer in an expanded space with three dining rooms, a backyard biergarten and produce market.

Muschiana said the restaurant may have needed more time to develop before reopening.

“We didn’t get to choose our timing; we (had) closed already for two years so there was no way to further delay,” he said, citing building costs and financial setbacks as contributing to the rushed reopening. “It took us several tries to secure the funding that we needed, partly because we had been closed for a couple years, and essentially we’re being viewed as a new business again.”

Following Labor Day, Sovengard saw a downturn in business,

which Muschiana attributes to uncertainty leading up to the election, alongside inflation and wage concerns affecting customers.

Muschiana said since reopening, 50% of Sovengard’s costs were labor, which he aims to reduce to around 30% to 32% following the recent changes.

“We didn’t make that decision lightly,” he said of the layoffs. “We needed to have a smaller staff. We were waiting to build up and add (hours) seven days a week. We just added brunch services, but the numbers really weren’t coming through to be able to sustain this large staff that we had hired in the summertime.”

Muschiana also is wary of looming changes to the state’s tipped wage credit in 2025.

The Michigan Supreme Court ruled in July that a 2018 legislative maneuver to water down the laws was unconstitutional, meaning the $10.33 hourly wage will increase to $14.97 by 2028, while the lower tipped wage for servers and bartenders will be phased out by 2030.

The elimination of the tipped wage credit, which allows restaurants to pay servers and bartenders a percentage of the minimum wage provided their tips make up the difference, will increase labor costs for Michigan restaurants, prompting industry-led pushback.

While some restaurants are weighing a shift to counter-service models to reduce labor costs absent legislative action to retain the tipped wage, Muschiana said he’s going to keep table service at Sovengard no matter the outcome.

“That’s another reason why we’ve decided to condense our staff,” he said. “We would rather have a tighter team of people here, giving them full-time hours and being able to endure these changes.”

With the smaller staff, Muschiana anticipates implementing a range of new lower-price sandwich options to attract a wider range of customers to help the restaurant adapt to the new wage structures. He’s also not ruling out price increases on some existing items.

The bar area inside Sovengard. | ABBY POIRIER

Downtown’s historic Trust Building hits market for $12M

By Kate Carlson

A prominent, 132-year-old downtown Grand Rapids office building has come on the market for $12 million as its owner aims to balance its portfolio.

The 10-story Trust Building, owned by CWD Real Estate Investment, was listed on Dec. 6 by Geoffrey Meekhoff from CBRE Grand Rapids after a previous list-

the most historically significant buildings downtown. This is a portfolio adjustment for us, we need to redeploy some cash in some other parts of our fund.”

The office tower was designed by Solon S. Beman, who designed the country’s first planned company town called the Pullman project, as well as several other Chicago landmarks including Grand Central Station.

“There is an opportunity to get some other people invested in downtown, so that’s kind of what we’re doing.”

Sam Cummings, co-owner CWD Real Estate Investment

ing posted last year expired. The 120,000-square-foot building at the corner of Pearl Street and Ottawa Avenue was constructed in 1892.

CWD Real Estate Investment is owned by Sam Cummings, Scott Wierda and Dan DeVos.

“If it were just an emotional thing, I never would sell this building,” Cummings told Crain’s. “It’s one of my favorite buildings downtown, and arguably one of

Two former presidents have visited and worked in the Trust Building tower over the past century. Theodore Roosevelt gave a campaign speech at the building in 1900, and Gerald R. Ford started his law career in the building on its fourth floor.

CWD has owned the building for about 12 years, investing in the space and addressing much of the deferred maintenance when it was purchased, Cummings said.

The office tower is listed at a price point that would allow a buyer to add some amenities, Cummings said.

“There is an opportunity to get some other people invested in downtown, so that’s kind of what we’re doing,” Cummings said.

“We have it priced pretty aggressively to allow for somebody to do something nice with it. It’s important for us that the building finds a good steward. By turning some of the existing spaces into nice amenities, it could very easily make this a really nice investment without breaking the bank on rents.”

Tenants in the building include various law offices, Start Garden and Terra Bagels on the first floor. Three new undisclosed tenants recently signed leases at the building, though occupancy is still around 60% to 65%, Meekhoff said.

While the local office market is experiencing a “flight to quality,” Meekhoff said there’s also a need for more hybrid and flexible work space.

“We have got to get the landlords to employ that,” Meekhoff said. “That’s not what is happening downtown. I call it landlord fatigue, they want somebody else to do it. I think that’s the solution for downtown.”

Meanwhile, just two blocks away, CWD is in the planning stages of converting one of its other office buildings downtown at 111 Lyon St. NW from office to residential. Cummings said a similar plan for the Trust Building might

SPONSORED CONTENT

be possible, though existing leases on certain floors would likely hinder a conversion.

“The floor plate could probably work, but you would need to move tenants with long-term leases,” Cummings said.

The Trust Building is the second large office building downtown to go on the market this month, fol-

lowing the 12-story 99 Monroe building that Vision Real Estate Investment Inc. listed for $32.9 million on Dec. 2.

The last time CWD sold a large downtown building was in April 2022, when The Rowe building at 201 Michigan St. NW sold for $19.6 million to a California-based real estate firm.

Investing in non-profits is good for business

The benefits of corporate social responsibility - strengthening communities, building loyalty, and engaging employees

By The Salvation Army in Kent County

For many companies, corporate success is defined by profit margins. For others, it’s measured by giving back to their community. And for some, it’s about both. Beyond the altruistic reasons, there are many benefits to corporate charitable giving.

Public image and brand loyalty

The marketplace for shoppers is very competitive. While some consumers prefer the lowest priced option, others are increasingly conscious of companies that demonstrate a commitment to social good. Many businesses may be unaware that when you give to local branches of national organizations, like The Salvation Army in Kent County, your money goes to help individuals in your area. With a corporate gift, a company can improve their public

image and increase brand loyalty while helping to improve their community.

Employee engagement and retention

By supporting local nonprofits, employers can also provide meaningful volunteer opportunities. Employees, particularly those of the younger generations, prefer to work for companies with a strong sense of purpose and social consciousness. This can strengthen employee engagement, improve morale and increase employee retention.

There are key points to consider when selecting a non-profit to support, and funds used to help those in need locally is among the top reason for some businesses. “We look for many things in the organizations we support and chief among them are integrity, providing

people with a hand up instead of a handout, and addressing unmet human need. The Salvation Army meets all these criteria, and we’re honored and pleased to be in a position to offer them assistance.” said Lynn Afendoulis, UFP Industries Foundation.

“Our family and my company, now doing business as InfiniDrive Motor Manufacturing, have been blessed in so many ways,” said David Hathaway, Senior VP. “Accordingly, we feel compelled and honored to share our blessings with other in our community, but particularly The Salvation Army in Kent County, which continues to give so much in His name to those in need in our community without discrimination.”

“Our programs were created specifically to meet the needs in Kent County,” said Major Tim Meyer, Grand Valley Area

“We look for many things in the organizations we support and chief among them are integrity, providing people with a hand up instead of a handout, and addressing unmet human need. The Salvation Army meets all these criteria, and we’re honored and pleased to be in a position to offer them assistance.”

– Lynn Afendoulis, UFP Industries Foundation

CRAIN’S CONTENT STUDIO

Commander with The Salvation Army. “We have numerous programs that operate year-round which help thousands of families. We provide housing and utility assistance, address substance use disorders and addictions, and we are the only food pantry in Kent County operating five days a week. The Salvation Army focuses on ‘Doing the Most Good’, which is why we offer different programs to meet the needs of each community in which we are based.”

Simply put, corporate social responsibility is not mandatory, but it does show its customer base and employees that it cares about people and the community.

Whether it’s a corporate or yearend gift, sponsoring a special fund-raising or assistance event, an in-kind donation or volunteering, together we can all make a difference.

To learn more, go to sakentcounty.org or contact us for a meeting or a tour to learn more about how we can help.

The 2024 Red Kettle Kickoff, Blue Bridge Grand Rapids Photo credit: The Salvation Army in Kent County

CWD Real Estate Investment has listed the Trust Building for $12 million. | JOe bOOmGAArD

Black bar association aims to build talent pipeline

By Elizabeth Schanz

Forty years after its founding, Grand Rapids’ only Black bar association has elected a new leadership team that intends to advance the organization’s goal of creating a professional community for minority lawyers.

The Floyd Skinner Bar Association, which honors the legacy of Grand Rapids attorney Floyd Skinner who graduated from the University of Michigan nearly a century ago and worked on a monumental case involving integrated seating policies, recently named a new president, vice president, secretary and treasurer.

That includes Alexander Thibodeau, who grew up in metro Detroit and moved to Grand Rapids six years ago, when he became involved with the association as a corporate partner.

“We are all very energetic and enthusiastic about the work that Floyd Skinner does and are looking forward to trying to build a more robust and impactful legal community for Black lawyers in Grand Rapids,” said Thibodeau, who was elected president of the FSBA.

The Floyd Skinner Bar Association aims to create a pipeline for young lawyers and establish a network through programming to help shape the West Michigan legal community. The organization aims to ensure that African American lawyers have access to the tools, networks and opportunities to

achieve long-term success.

Founded in 1984 by a group of African American attorneys, FSBA honors the legacy of Grand Rapids attorney Floyd Skinner, who graduated from the University of Michigan in 1926.

In Skinner’s last year of law school, he worked on the case Bolden v. Grand Rapids Operating Corporation. The case, which originated in Grand Rapids, was taken to the Michigan Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of requiring integrated seating policies.

The organization honors the legacy of its namesake by paving the way for the next generation of Black lawyers in Grand Rapids, including the new leadership team composed of Grand Rapids law professionals.

Thibodeau also serves as a litiga-

tion attorney at Warner Norcross + Judd LLP, in addition to serving as a trustee for the Grand Rapids Bar Association, where he previously chaired the diversity, equity and inclusion committee.

Thibodeau is focused on three key areas in the organization: increasing membership, building out the organization’s minority clerkship program and creating a sense of community for attorneys coming to West Michigan. The clerkship program, in particular, will be in focus after the pandemic caused difficulties with matching law students with corporate partners.

“When an attorney of color is building their practice and where they want to land after law school, it’s really easy to look at markets like Detroit or Chicago because there are really robust Black or mi-

nority legal communities in those places,” Thibodeau said. “West Michigan’s is undeniably growing … (and there’s) an opportunity to really present why Grand Rapids is a great place to practice.”

FSBA currently has 30 active members. For $50 in annual dues, they receive professional development, networking events and a scholarship reception, Thibodeau said.

Mandice McAllister, the diversity, inclusion and equity manager at Warner Norcross + Judd, said FSBA fosters a meaningful community for attorneys “who are trying to find their way in this profession” and who are looking for networking and mentorship. She noted that bar associations like FSBA are part of a joint effort among law firms to create a “talent ecosystem” that is conducive to attracting and retaining Black lawyers.

McAllister also was part of a planning committee that earlier this year launched the inaugural West Michigan Black Legal Summit, which similarly aimed to create networking opportunities for young legal professionals in a field with a historical lack of diversity, particularly in West Michigan.

FSBA programming — like its minority clerkship program — fosters the next generation of Black lawyers in Grand Rapids by connecting minority law students to summer clerkships and associate programs with Grand Rapids law firms and other legal employers.

Thibodeau aims to reinvigorate the clerkship program by reconnecting with and establishing more corporate partners.

“Obviously DEI and increasing diversity have been a talking point of a lot of organizations over the last five to 10 years,” Thibodeau said. “The clients are demanding that they be represented by diverse, multifaceted, socially aware law firms or companies. The demand is one of business imperative.”

Other newly elected leaders at FSBA are:

w Vice President: Ciarra Adkins, who operates AQUME Law PLLC and is the founder and president of AQUME Foundation, Michigan’s first Black community foundation. w Secretary: Brandon Davis, a managing director for the city of Grand Rapids and a former senior assistant prosecutor in Muskegon County.

w Treasurer: Davina Bridges, a litigation associate at Dickinson Wright specializing in complex commercial and business litigation across industries such as banking, real estate and health care.

At-Large members of the FSBA leadership team are Michael Adams, Hon. Christina Elmore, and Adam Sturdivant.

“I’m thrilled with the leadership that has been elected. Excellent, excellent Black attorneys and wonderful leaders in our community,” McAllister said. “I’m looking forward to great things from this group.”

Developer adds child care center to Grand Rapids project

By Kate Carlson

Housing developer Magnus Capital Partners is launching a pilot program that would add 120 early childhood education slots at one of its new Grand Rapids projects, and plans to expand the concept to several other housing developments across the region.

Magnus Capital Partners is working with Big Rapids-based early childhood education provider Early Learning Company LLC on the center called Gro Childcare Academy, which is expected to open in spring 2025 on the site of the developer’s HoM Flats at Maynard project at 526 Maynard Ave. NW.

The academy will occupy a 7,800-square-foot space at the multifamily development located on the city’s west side. HoM Flats at Maynard initially called for 240 apartment units across seven buildings, but site plans changed to reduce the unit count to 230 to add the daycare center.

Some residents have started to move into the buildings, but the entire project is set to be completed in early 2025.

“The child care problem goes hand in hand with community development in delivering the bestin-class workforce housing and we know child care is a parallel problem,” Magnus Capital Partners CEO

Vishal Arora told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business. “We’ll do it wherever we can or it makes sense.”

The pilot project comes after a 2023 report from IFF, a nonprofit community development financial institution, identified a need for about 20,500 additional early childhood education slots in Kent County to meet demand. For ages 0 through 5, the city of Grand Rapids had the largest gap in access by 7,239 slots, followed by Wyoming (3,397), Kentwood (1,538) and Gaines Township (1,191), according to the 2023 report.

Gro Childcare Academy will be available to HoM Flats residents as well as other people who don’t live in the apartment complex. The child care center will serve as a pilot location that Magnus Capital Partners plans to expand to its other HoM Flats locations.

The company has developed apartment projects under the HoM Flats brand in Holland and Wyoming, south of Grand Rapids. Magnus Capital broke ground on its second project in Holland in April 2024, which it expects to be completed in 2026.

The developer also purchased the now-shuttered Frankie V’s Sicilian Pizza and Grill next to its Wyoming apartments, as Crain’s Grand Rapids Business previously reported. Magnus Capital Partners

has submitted plans for a phase three of the Wyoming apartment project to city officials, Arora said.

“Our long-term vision is to expand Gro Childcare Academy to every HoM Flats location, offering a safe, nurturing learning atmosphere for the children of working families in the communities we serve,” Arora said. “We’ve received positive feedback from those who have heard about it already.”

Hooker DeJong is the architect and Rhode Construction is serving as general contractor on the center at HoM Flats at Maynard.

Gro Childcare Academy will have natural lighting and developmentally appropriate learning materials for infants through children up to 12 years old. It will feature a

play-based, hands-on curriculum.

Tyler Huntey, CEO of Early Learning Company and West Michigan child care provider Huntey’s Clubhouse, will serve as executive director of Gro Childcare Academy and oversee its day-to-day operations.

He plans to hire more than 25 new employees to staff the center.

“We are honored to spearhead this important initiative in partnership with Magnus Capital Partners,” Huntey said in a statement.

“With nearly 30 years of experience operating successful child care services, I’m confident Gro Childcare Academy will become a premier choice for families and help bridge the gap of high-quality early childhood education in the community.

From the moment we toured a

HoM Flats community and met the Magnus team, we were impressed by the quality of the facilities, their commitment to resident well-being and how our visions align around innovative solutions.”

Early Learning Company, through the Huntey’s Clubhouse brand, has six locations across the state in Big Rapids, Hesperia, Howard City, Morley Stanwood, Newaygo and Reed City.

Arora said the HoM Flats focus on workforce housing made for a natural pairing with early childhood education.

HoM Flats at Maynard has 230 apartments that include one-, twoand three-bedroom units.

“Gro Childcare Academy will appeal to current HoM Flats residents as well as area commuters and remote workers not only because of the quality of care but also for its convenient location within the community,” Arora said. “Just like HoM Flats, Gro will also feature modern design and best-in-class amenities.”

Arora highlighted the partnerships forged with local leaders and the state to make the child care component a reality.

“The one thing to emphasize here is it wouldn’t exist without a very strong public-private partnership,” Arora said. “It really wasn’t just us, there are a lot of stakeholders at the table.”

Magnus Capital Partners’ HoM Flats at Maynard project on Grand Rapids’ west side will include an onsite child care center. | HOOKER DEJONG

New leaders at the Floyd Skinner Bar Association (from left): President Alexander Thibodeau, Secretary Brandon Davis, Vice President Ciarra Adkins and Treasurer Davina Bridges. | COURTESY PHOTOS

COMMENTARY

To reach state and business goals, hire a New American

With talk of immigration all around us, I am sharing one immigrant’s business story: My own.

Since I was a teenager, I have worked my way from refugee to U.S. citizen (over 20 years now!) to banking executive. I now oversee a large bank branch and have enjoyed a financial services career spanning two decades.

At age 16, my family and I arrived in metro Detroit, escaping war in Bosnia. We had just a couple of pieces of luggage, did not speak or understand English and had no familiarity with American culture. After getting crucial help from the nonprofit organization now known as Samaritas, we found a place to live and our basic needs fulfilled. My parents found jobs, and my sister and I enrolled in school. Thanks to the hard work of my parents, within a year they purchased a home for our family.

My first job was at Pizza Hut and on my 18th birthday I became a store manager before starting college. I then earned a degree in less than four years.

This is a relatively typical refugee story and that is why our business community should embrace New Americans as part of the workforce.

As businesspeople, we have heard from our colleagues who have the data about how important diversity can be to our companies. It can improve decision-making, productivity and profits. Everyone

should be open-minded when it comes to welcoming refugees into their workforces. The majority of the people who have come from across the world to Michigan to start a new life here did so because they wanted a better life and a better opportunity for their children. They understand that the best way to achieve that is through hard work. These are prospective employees who are ready to fight for a better tomorrow with the highest level of commitment.

Once you go through hardship and not having anything, you look at things differently in the workplace. You act differently in your company. You are more appreciative. You watch dollars more closely. You treat the business like it is your own. When

refugees come into our community, they are hungry for work and they are loyal, which is especially significant now in this high-turnover environment. All they want and need is an opportunity. Their impact on your organization could be unmeasurable.

Here in Michigan, our state has identified a specific need. We all understand that we must grow our state’s population. At the same time, almost every business has a need to fill open positions. Both of these essential goals can be filled by welcoming New Americans and providing them with chances to earn employment opportunities.

For businesses interested in making these connections, you can connect with

organizations like Samaritas, which helps 75% of refugee families become self-sufficient within 180 days of resettlement. Sometimes, as New Americans, we are being mentored by others, those more experienced and kind enough to help. At the beginning of my career, I was a mentee eager to learn, but today I want to give back to my community and I am mentoring others. When you help someone at the beginning of their career, they never forget it, especially those who could never learn important career and life lessons anywhere else.

Hiring New Americans will help these employees, their families, our community and, in ways you cannot even imagine, your business.

Congress needs to act on non-opioid bill for seniors

Congressional bills often have monikers to make them more memorable and descriptive in meaning for the public. Such is the case with the bill called the Alternatives to Prevent Addiction in the Nation — or Alternatives to PAIN Act (HR 7142/S.3832) — introduced early this year. This is a proposal worthy of discussion and passage.

It is particularly directed to helping senior citizens on Medicare achieve coverage of non-opioid pain medications as soon as they receive FDA approvals. This allows health care providers more options for managing the acute pain of patients, particularly after surgery.

Increasingly, seniors prescribed opioids after surgery juggle their worries about possible addiction — how much can I take

and for how many days? — with the devastating effects of debilitating pain. This concern hits close to my home. We have felt vulnerable when it comes to pain management and the risk of medications.

Interestingly, in these times of deep political divisions the Alternatives to PAIN Act has the support of 51 House members, almost equally split between Democrats and Republicans, and the U.S. Senate with 19 senators of both parties and an independent. This bipartisan unity highlights the critical nature of addressing senior health care challenges.

Health challenges are interconnected. I have certainly seen this in my 18 years of service as a Kent County commissioner and as a longtime board member of the Area Agency on Aging of

Western Michigan. Locally, we have built strong community health programs and support services for seniors. This legislative assist from Congressional action would help extend the options for senior citizens and their health care providers to manage post-surgical pain.

This legislative proposal takes a practical approach. It ensures that out-of-pocket costs for non-opioid alternatives won’t exceed those of opioid prescriptions, preventing cost from forcing seniors toward riskier options. It also removes bureaucratic red tape like prior authorization requirements that can delay access to safer treatments when they are needed.

spend. Instead, let’s expand access to innovative non-addictive pain medications that have FDA approval.

I ask our Michigan Congressional delegation to support this legislation. As a county commissioner, I will continue to work to protect our residents through local

Increasingly, seniors prescribed opioids after surgery juggle their worries about possible addiction — how much can I take and for how many days?

I see this Alternatives to PAIN Act as providing a chance to prevent addictions before they start. Prevention is always preferable to treating an addiction, which then forces the government to react and

initiatives. But I also feel the need for federal action for access to a full range of safe pain medication choices. This bill represents hope for many senior citizens and along with it a promise for healthier communities.

Carol Hennessy is a Kent County commissioner and board member of the Area Agency on Aging of Western Michigan.

Anida Sabanovic is a vice president and senior bank manager at Comerica Bank, and a volunteer leader for Samaritas.

Course seeks to build small army of developers of color

By Rachel Watson

As the city of Grand Rapids looks to add housing at all price points, a new group has emerged to add more entrepreneurs from historically disadvantaged communities to the development ecosystem.

With the support of a $30,000 grant from the Frey Foundation, the Urban League of West Michigan and Housing Next will launch the Equitable Development Initiative, a training program they hope will add 20 firsttime developers of color to the community by spring 2026.

“There’s a lot of moving parts in development, but our hope is that we can build a small army of emerging developers, some of whom will want to stay in that small-scale space, but hopefully several of them will want to move up and start doing larger development deals,” said Ryan Kilpatrick, lead consultant for Housing Next and owner of Flywheel Community Development Services.

Eric Brown, president and CEO of the Urban League of West Michigan, said he’d been dreaming of just such a program for about five years, so he jumped at the chance to launch the project with Housing Next.

“The Urban League’s mission is about making sure that Black and African-Americans have their full economic self-sufficiency, civil rights and parity,” he said. “We want to ensure that more people in our community — particularly communities of color, Black and Brown communities — have the ability and the confidence to take part in the creation of wealth and to grow in their own neighborhoods. … You require the networks to do just that.”

The first 10-week cohort will run Feb. 18 to April 29 with 10 participants. A second cohort is expected to start in October 2025.

Tuition is set at $2,500, but scholarships will be available, thanks to the Frey Foundation grant.

Cassandra Oracz, special assets manager at the Grand Rapids office of the Lansing-based community development financial institution Cinnaire, is developing the curriculum and will

teach classes at the Urban League in partnership with a yet-to-beannounced roster of local instructors across several disciplines.

The curriculum will cover the basics of development, financing, design, construction and property management. Participants will be paired with mentors during the course of the program. The goal is to ensure the recruits will be able to launch a small-scale development project after graduating, Kilpatrick said.

The trainees will be asked to raise 5% of the funds needed for their projects, “just to build the muscle of raising capital for development,” Kilpatrick said. He added their contributions will be paired with other resources, like access to the Kent County Affordable Housing Revolving Loan Fund and capital from impact investors he is working to enlist.

In partnership with the city of Grand Rapids, the developers also will be given access to cityowned vacant lots or land bank properties to develop, as well as connected with free, permit-ready plan sets for building two-, three- and four-unit infill projects.

Sarah Rainero, the city’s economic development director, told Crain’s via email that the development center expects to roll out a web application for the plan sets that will be made available in January or February.

“The City is working to establish a plan for properties, and it will be in concert with the goals of the new citywide Land Bank Authority,” Rainero said.

The city announced the plan

PEOPLE & COMPANIES ON THE MOVE

To place your listing, visit https://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/ people-on-the-move/ or contact Debora Stein at (917) 226-5470 / dstein@crain.com

ACCOUNTING

Doeren Mayhew

Doeren Mayhew is thrilled to announce the promotion of two team members.

Jennifer Stolsonburg, CPA and Cody Bos, CPA, MSA have recently been promoted to Principals in the Grand Rapids Audit & Assurance Group.

Bos Stolsonburg

HEALTH CARE

Marketlab

sets in January 2024 as a way to encourage more small-scale infill housing development. In April, the city adopted five zoning changes that aim to make it easier to build multi-family and accessory dwelling units by right in its neighborhoods. Then, in October, the city approved the formation of the land bank to acquire state land bank-owned properties, allowing the city more local control over development.

Grand Rapids Planning Director Kristin Turkelson said in a statement that the Equitable Development Initiative is “the perfect complement” to build on the policy work the city has been doing for several years to support housing development.

“(It will equip) emerging developers with the skills and opportunities they need to take full advantage of streamlined processes,” Turkelson said. “By combining their training with ready-to-go resources, we’re helping these developers bring projects to life faster and contribute to the growth of vibrant, inclusive neighborhoods in Grand Rapids.”

Kilpatrick said the emerging developer training will be one of several ways that Grand Rapids and Kent County can fill a need for nearly 35,000 more units by 2027.

“Sometimes it will happen on greenfield sites, and sometimes it’s going to happen on infill, brownfield and grayfield sites,” he said. “We need those housing units to be developed at all scales. We can’t just rely on large developers who are building 50 units at a time. We’d love to have 50 developers who are building one unit at a time.”

Kilpatrick said the Urban League and Housing Next hope to continue this program for many years to come, eventually adding enough capacity to run multiple cohorts at once.

“I think we’re also hopeful that we get plenty of folks who find value in it and have a little bit of cash and they’re willing to pay for the program because they have the income to do so, so that it becomes a more sustainable source of revenue to help offset the cost for folks who need the support,” he said.

Jennifer leverages her nearly 20-year background to deliver tailored accounting solutions to her clients. She brings a strong technical skillset in auditing employee benefit plans and offering proactive solutions to ensure her clients meet their fiduciary responsibility and compliance matters. With more than 10 years of experience, Cody delivers the highest quality of audit and assurance services in areas such as inventory analysis, consolidations/ business combinations, proactive consulting and more.

Marketlab is pleased to announce Fred Vander Molen as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Fred joined Marketlab in 2020 and has since taken on progressive leadership roles, most recently as Chief Financial Officer. Fred now steps into his latest role as our COO & CFO. Fred brings extensive expertise from diverse West Michigan companies including ARM, Perrigo, Ranir, BDO, and Irwin Seating. This rich, multi-faceted experience across financial and operational disciplines makes him uniquely suited to lead operations and drive Marketlab’s strategic growth.

NONPROFITS

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park

Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park welcomes Heather Zak as Chief Financial Officer, bringing 20+ years of financial leadership in healthcare, nonprofit, and research sectors. Zak will oversee financial operations, ensuring fiscal health aligns with Meijer Gardens’ mission of promoting art, culture & nature. Previously CFO at Hope Network, Zak also held leadership roles at Corewell Health and Van Andel Institute. Zak succeeds Dawn Kibben who is retiring after nearly 31 years of service.

Goodwill of Greater Grand Rapids Goodwill of Greater Grand Rapids announces Jill Eggebrecht Wallace as its new President and CEO, effective January 1, 2025. A dedicated leader at Goodwill for 17 years, Jill most recently served as Chief Marketing Officer and Vice President of Operations. She has been instrumental in retail growth, strengthening workforce programs, and building community partnerships. As CEO, she will enhance community impact, explore new revenue streams, and advance Goodwill’s mission.

This duplex rendering is part of the Michigan Municipal League’s open-source “pattern-book homes” project. Grand Rapids’ permit-ready homes designs were influenced by the pattern-book homes project. | creDIT: mIcHIGAN mUNIcIPAL LeAGUe

LAWSUIT

for the project. As well, the lawsuit claims American Seating and Ghafari made changes to previously approved design plans without filling in First Companies, ultimately adding costs to the project.

First Companies seeks court mediation to resolve the dispute. As of Dec. 12, neither American Seating nor Ghafari had officially responded to the lawsuit.

“While we don’t comment on pending litigation, we are continuing to talk with the other side and look forward to a mutual resolution of this matter,” Mary Ann Sabo of Sabo PR said in a statement on behalf of American Seating.

Ghafari Senior Vice President Nicole Ghafari said the company “cannot comment on pending litigation.”

First Companies’ attorney, Bruce Courtade with Rhoades McKee PC, declined to comment for this story.

According to First Companies,

VC FUND

From Page 3

beginning of this process,” said Paul D’Amato, CEO and managing director of Michigan Capital Network.

“We share their goal of creating access to capital for people of color because we know that business growth, entrepreneurship and capital investment strengthens our economy and makes our state more attractive to other businesses looking to relocate,” D’Amato said.

Launched in early 2020, the New Community Transformation Fund raised nearly $12 million to invest in growing mid-stage businesses owned and operated by people of color, or companies transitioning to new owners. Investments range between $500,000 and $1.5 million. The fund targets investments in companies that are involved in financial technology, health care, advanced manufacturing and information technology. Companies receiving investments must relocate to West Michigan or already have their home base here.

PHOTONICARE

From Page 3

cameras, displays, driver assist systems, and high-beam headlight controls that over the year has become a core manufacturing competency.

“We’re an invested partner, and we are also a very good manufacturer. They’re a technology company that doesn’t have a manufacturing capability, and so the augment of what we’re trying to grow into, as well as what we do really well, which is make stuff, and that fits with both of our needs,” said Robert Vance, Gentex’s vice president of new markets. “(Medical device) is in an expanded area that we are looking to grow into. Technology-wise, we can see this being a first generation and there can be

the overall project cost had ballooned from about $8.5 million over three phases to more than $10.5 million just to complete the third and final phase.

American Seating CEO Thomas Bush wrote to First Companies in August 2023 “expressing ‘shock’ and claiming that American Seating had no advance notice that phase three would be ‘more than the entire estimated budget’” of the project, according to the lawsuit.

Two months later on Oct. 17, 2023, American Seating’s attorney wrote to First Companies CEO Craig Baker “attempting to shift blame to First Companies for submitting excessive phase proposals,” the lawsuit claims.

American Seating paid just over $7.8 million between July 5, 2023, and April 29, 2024, for work completed by First Companies and its subcontractors before payments stopped, according to court documents.

Crain’s Grand Rapids Business first reported in November that more than a dozen subcontractors

Affiliating with Michigan Capital Network can accelerate deal flow and “allows us to see so many more deals. They have in-depth expertise in various industries that also allows us to go deep to look at the best deals that are out there,” said Skot Welch, a co-founder and managing partner at the New Community Transformation Fund.

“They’re able to increase our momentum that we had as a fund through the operations,” Welch said. “They just really add horsepower to what we were doing so that we can actually go further, faster. We can stay focused on what we do, while they add velocity to what we do.”

Likewise, the New Community Transformation Fund can introduce Michigan Capital Network to prospective investments.

The 20-year-old Michigan Capital Network operates four venture capital funds and five angel investing groups across the state in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Detroit, Flint and Saginaw.

Birgit Klohs, co-founder and executive chair for the New Community Transformation Fund, calls the

multiple generations of the technology that become stronger, faster, cheaper, lighter, all of that. Our intention is that this is the beginning of a long road map together.”

For years, Gentex has been working to “take technologies into other areas,” Vance said. In the medical field, Gentex this past summer launched eSight Go, a lightweight wearable device that assists people with low vision. The company also formed a partnership with Mayo Clinic four years ago for a new surgical lighting system.

The strategy “is just an expansion of our technology portfolio” to diversify revenues, Vance said. “And that expansion comes in new markets, it comes in existing markets, and it’s really allowing Gentex to become a technology player in a big way.”

Founded in 2015, PhotoniCare

had filed construction liens totaling more than $6 million seeking payment for work on the project.

The buildout of the headquarters at 1040 40th St. SE appears nearly complete when viewed from the outside. The seating company secured a long-term lease for the property after selling its legacy manufacturing campus on Grand Rapids’ west side in January of this year for $10.2 million to furniture maker Mien Co., according to city property records. American Seating was still operating from the Broadway Avenue location as of Dec. 12.

Despite nonpayment, First Companies kept working on the project and was “forced to pay several of its subcontractors and suppliers money that they were owed for work … but which ASC had failed to pay in a timely fashion,” according to the complaint.

In July 2024, Bush allegedly disclosed to Baker that American Seating’s financing for the project would be about $2.5 million short of what was needed.

The 39-acre property is owned

affiliation agreement with Michigan Capital Network a “positive step forward” for the small venture capital fund that’s operated with a limited staff.

The administrative structure at Michigan Capital Network is “something that we couldn’t build up because the fund was not that big,” Klohs said.

The affiliation connects the New Community Transformation Fund with a well-respected investment firm in Michigan Capital Network that offers continuity in management, has a like-minded investment thesis, and a seasoned staff of investment professionals.

The affiliation also aids the New Community Transformation Fund’s ability to do joint deals with other investment funds, Klohs said.

“A lot of pieces we were struggling to make work we now have in place in a great partnership,” she said. “It gets us way further down the road.”

The New Community Transformation Fund has so far invested in six active portfolio companies. Three of the deals closed this past

previously raised $17 million from investors across private capital rounds that involved equity and debt, plus secured more than $6 million in Small Business Innovation Research grants from the National Institutes of Health.

Prior investors include Oklahoma-based Plains Ventures; OSF Ventures, the corporate investment arm of OSF HealthCare in Peoria, Ill.; Sony Innovation Fund, the corporate venture capital arm of Sony Corp. in Tokyo, Japan; and New York City-based Dreampact Ventures.

Michigan Rise and Red Cedar Ventures, the investment arms of the Michigan State University Research Foundation, also previously invested in the company.

Michigan Capital Network first invested in PhotoniCare in 2022 and has participated in subsequent

by a Canadian company doing business as 1040 Michigan LP, which purchased the site for nearly $48.8 million in June 2022 from an affiliate of Livonia-based Schostak Brothers & Co., according to property records.

First Companies alleges that American Seating owes $7,493,791.73, plus 6% annual interest, in addition to lost profits for work the contractor couldn’t complete.

Meanwhile, construction liens from more than a dozen subcontractors started piling up in August of this year. At least 15 contractors have filed liens since then, claiming nonpayment:

w Cannon Concrete Construction Inc. filed a $116,900.75 lien on Dec. 4

w Total Fire Protection Inc. filed a $204,414.10 lien on Nov. 7

w Sparta-based Armock Mechanical Contractors LLC filed a $1.6 million lien on Nov. 5

w Hudsonville-based Galveston Painting filed a $54,572.59 lien on Nov. 5

w Zeeland-based Town & Country

fall under the interim management arrangement. They were:

w Functional Fluidics, a health technology company that specializes in red blood cell health and uses data and laboratory technology to develop therapies, support clinical trials, and bridge the gap between clinical research and patient care, starting with Sickle Cell Disease. The New Community Transformation Fund participated in a bridge financing round for the company.

w Opnr LLC, a tech startup that connects musical artists with entertainment venues. The company currently works with about 700 small entertainment venues across the U.S. The New Community Transformation Fund invested $150,000 in Opnr. The venture capital fund committed another $250,000 that Opnr can receive by meeting certain milestones such as platform engagement. The investment was part of a $1 million capital round that Opnr seeks to raise.

w RiseKit, a firm that connects employers, community organizations and workforce agencies to create opportunities and economic mobility

capital rounds, said Meagan Malm, senior principal and director of operations at Michigan Capital Network who’s an observer on PhotoniCare’s board of directors.

The Grand Rapids investment firm connected with PhotoniCare while looking at another similar company. Michigan Capital Network was conducting a competitor analysis when it came across PhotoniCare, which has already received U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance for the OtoSight Middle Ear Scope and was ahead of marketplace competitors, Malm said.

Michigan Capital Network also liked PhotoniCare’s technology “a lot better,” she said.

PhotoniCare’s product differs from other otoscopes by using high-resolution imaging and infrared technology to detect the presence or absence of fluid in the mid-

Group filed a $365,878.12 lien on Oct. 30, after a $40,344 lien on Aug. 30

w Grand Valley Wood Products filed a $274,020 lien on Oct. 29

w Kentwood-based Thornview Electric Co. LLC filed a $2,075,520.39 lien on Oct. 28 w Schepers Brothers Company Inc., based in Byron Center, filed a $791,044 lien on Oct. 16

w Innovative Iron Inc., based in the city of Wyoming, filed a $100,459.14 lien on Oct. 2

w Sherwin Williams-Co., based in Cleveland, Ohio, filed a $6,649.07 lien on Sept. 24

w Grandville-based Johnson’s Carpet One filed a $183,221.26 lien on Sept. 10

w Otis Elevator Co.’s division based in Farmington Hills filed a $132,500 lien on Sept. 9 w Rockford-based Glass Design Inc. filed a $338,989.10 lien on Sept. 3

w Rayhaven Group Inc., based in Livonia, filed a $34,415.81 lien on Aug. 27

w Grand Rapids-based Thermline Inc. filed a $81,388.33 lien on Aug. 16.

for job seekers. RiseKit plans to use the funds from the seed round to expand into additional Midwest markets, including Michigan. RiseKit will hire West Michigan employees to support a local ecosystem of employers and community organizations as part of its expansion.

The fund has been examining additional investment opportunities and has a deal pipeline that is “positive and good and robust,” Klohs said.

Directors at the New Community Transformation Fund conducted a national search for a managing director to succeed Howie. Directors interviewed several good candidates who were living elsewhere in the U.S., she said.

During the process, Michigan Capital Network came forward with the idea of an affiliation. The two organizations then worked out the agreement, with runs for three years with options for renewal.

“After the search of several months, this became, in our minds, the best option,” Klohs said. “It just became a much better way forward for us.”

dle ear. Using technology spun out of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the device has a more than 90% accuracy rate, compared to 50% through a traditional otoscope. An ongoing clinical trial will determine the device’s effectiveness in reducing the use of antibiotics and the overuse of procedures to insert ear tubes in children after misdiagnoses.

“We felt like PhotoniCare’s technology and where it was in the market, it was positioned ahead of others’ technology,” Malm said. “It was a really interesting market need and medical need for patients.”

PhotoniCare plans to move its headquarters to the Michigan State University Innovation Park in downtown Grand Rapids. The company worked with The Right Place Inc. on the headquarters move to Grand Rapids.

ACRISURE

From Page 3

York-based merchant banking firm; a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority; and Guggenheim Investments, a New York- and Chicago-based global asset management and investment advisory firm.

Bloomberg first reported in June 2023 that Acrisure had started interviewing banks ahead of a po-

SOCCER

From Page 1

minority stake, with his son, Cole DeVos, playing a key leadership role.

Both families have become minority investors in professional soccer teams in recent years. The Van Andel family are minority owners in the FC Cincinnati MLS team, while the DeVos family are minority owners of the Orlando City SC in the MLS and the Orlando Pride of the National Women’s Soccer League.

When the families weighed the potential to bring soccer to West Michigan a few years ago, they ultimately landed in talks with the MLS NEXT Pro league, which was founded in 2022.

“As we got into discussions, it became apparent to us that this league would be the right choice for what we want to do here in Grand Rapids, and also, getting West Michigan reintroduced, if you will, to professional soccer,” David Van Andel told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business.

The new soccer team continues a sports collaboration between the two families that started with the creation of the Grand Rapids Griffins, which is co-owned by second generation Amway Corp. scions Dan DeVos and David Van Andel.

The new soccer team will join the Grand Rapids Rise women’s volleyball team, which DeVos’ DP Fox Ventures launched in December 2022 and played its first season this year, as the region’s most recent professional sports team addition.

BENTELER

Benteler’s U.S. automotive operations,” said Steve Bates, executive vice president of Cluster North America for Benteler Automotive Components.

“Why Michigan? It’s about the people, the experience, the knowledge and the proximity of those resources specific to the site,” Bates said. “This investment is a further clear commitment to the region.”

Benteler Automotive had considered developing the facility outside of Michigan, including in Jacksonville, Fla., and Duncan, S.C.

The South Carolina location “is particularly attractive because of lower labor costs that are 10% lower and 300% lower heating costs,” Michigan Economic Development Corp. staff wrote in a memo to MSF board members.

tential IPO.

In 2024, the company also made a series of key C-suite additions, including hiring John Tuttle from the New York Stock Exchange as its first president and bringing on Aaron Miller as CFO. Miller previously led financial services in the private equities department at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, an investor in Acrisure.

PitchBook’s recent report noted that after two down years in 2022 and 2023 that followed “unprece-

DeVos also serves as chairman of RDV Sports, which owns the NBA’s Orlando Magic, the NBA G League’s Lakeland Magic and the Orlando Solar Bears minor league hockey team.

DP Fox will assist with the process of forming the team, but the club will eventually need its own group to manage its operations in the future, according to the founders.

Given the Van Andel and DeVos families’ experience in various professional teams and Michigan’s “rich soccer history,” it makes sense for MLS NEXT Pro to launch a team in Grand Rapids, Altchek said.

“We know from all of the research we’ve done that Michigan is one of those places that’s underserved from a professional soccer perspective. We also know of the success the Van Andel and DeVos families have had in various sports,” Altchek said. “Bringing together all those different elements, a state and city and region with a rich soccer history and bringing that together with families that are invested deeply in their community … it will create a really positive dynamic for the club and fans and everybody who wants to be part of professional soccer in the region.”

Staying independent

The new Grand Rapids team will join MLS NEXT Pro as its sixth independent team, meaning it will be unaffiliated with another team in the MLS, the highest level soccer league.

“The Van Andel and DeVos families will be in full control of the

“Despite these challenges and alternative considerations, the company would like to invest in a new plant in the City of Wyoming on the long-vacant Site 36, which would fulfill the Company’s desire to help revitalize this key site in Michigan,” according to the memo. “The company further believes that locating in Michigan will allow for the continued hiring and training of outstanding talent in the area, building upon its already strong existing skilled workforce and its demonstrated history of success in the area dating back more than 40 years.”

The state incentives “can help secure the company’s continued presence in West Michigan,” MEDC staff wrote.

The Wyoming City Council approved Benteler’s site plan for the project in September.

Benteler employs about 24,000 people at more than 70 plants and in 25 countries, including about

dented levels” in 2021, the IPO market began rebounding in 2024 and “we believe 2025 is likely to see further growth if public markets continue to be strong.”

Through the third quarter of this year, the U.S. market was “seeing a robust level of IPO capital raised” totaling $67.9 billion, a level that easily outpaced the $27.8 billion in all of 2023, according to PitchBook.

If Acrisure pursues an IPO in 2025, it would be the first West

Michigan company in years to do so, following a rush of IPOs in the 1990s.

The former Fremont Michigan Insuracorp. began publicly trading its shares on the Over-theCounter Bulletin Board in 2004. It was later acquired by Dearborn-based Auto Club Insurance Association in 2011.

Most recently, Traverse Citybased Hagerty went public in 2021, but did so via a merger with Aldel Financial, a special purpose

team and be able to hire all their own staff, pick players and decide on branding for the club,” Altchek said. “This will be a Grand Rapids/ West Michigan club and will have its own unique identity and brand.”

The owners believe being an independent team will give them more flexibility for players and in managing the team.

“We believe you have more options and being able to develop players and build relationships with other teams that eventually those players can move up into that league,” Van Andel said. “MLS NEXT Pro is going to rely heavily on youth soccer and other lower clubs to feed into its player base. As we form the team and start to get up and running, we’ll begin to form relationships with I’m sure all sorts of other clubs and club teams.”

However, the professional league’s connection to the MLS is crucial to driving interest for fans and players alike, according to DeVos, the chairman and CEO of DP Fox Ventures.

900 at two manufacturing facilities in Grand Rapids and Holland and a North American headquarters in Auburn Hills.

The Benteler Automotive project is the latest development for Site 36, which is now owned by Grand Rapids- and Oak Brook, Ill.based Franklin Partners, which bought property from the city of Wyoming for $5.25 million in 2022. GM operated at the site from 1936 until 2009.

Corewell Health a year ago bought 40 acres for $6.6 million for an $80 million service center that will house supply chain offices, a courier fleet and additional shelled space for future use.

In November, Godwin Mercado broke ground on a new 6,000-squarefoot marketplace at the site.

Randy Thelen, CEO of The Right Place Inc., called the trio of projects that came about after the property sat vacant for so long “truly an extraordinary outcome” that “took

acquisition company, rather than a traditional IPO.

Two Michigan companies completed an IPO in 2024. They were Birmingham-based OneStream, which launched on the Nasdaq on July 24 and raised about $490 million, and Novi-based Lineage Inc., which debuted on the Nasdaq the following day and raised $4.4 billion.

Crain’s Grand Rapids Business editor Joe Boomgaard contributed to this report.

size of Amway Stadium. The facility will open with an 8,500-seat capacity and have the ability to scale up to 11,000 seats in the future, according to site plans.

The opening capacity would put club attendance “in the wheelhouse where we would like to be,” Van Andel said, acknowledging attendance will depend on the community’s reaction.

“Our goal is to attempt to fill that stadium on a regular basis,” Van Andel added. “Soccer hits a different demographic than we’ve hit so far.”

DeVos echoed those sentiments.

“Having those connections with the major league organization is very important for the credibility of the league and for the attraction of players,” he said.

Currently, MLS NEXT Pro has two independent clubs: Carolina Core FC and Chattanooga FC, which both had their first season in 2024. Three more independent clubs are set to join the league in 2026: Connecticut United FC, Jacksonville Armada FC and Cleveland Pro Soccer.

The Van Andel and DeVos families will be investing in youth programs in the city and the region to develop talent for the team, Altchek said.

“There will be a real emphasis on local players through their player development efforts,” Altchek said.

Reaching new demographic

Van Andel said first season attendance projections played into discussions with developer Grand Action 2.0 when determining the

some time coming out of the Great Recession” of 2008-09.

“The former GM site, in the heart of a community like Wyoming, all across the country you can drive by them and see them still chain-link fenced and looking pretty desolate,” Thelen said after The Right Place’s annual economic outlook. “And to bring that GM site back to full life, fully sold out, is pretty extraordinary.”

“There will be a lot of fans and a lot of new fans coming out who haven’t participated in sports in Grand Rapids before and throughout the region,” he said. “I think soccer is going to be a big draw at this level.”

The Grand Rapids soccer team also aims to build on momentum generated from the U.S. hosting the World Cup in 2026.

“Soccer is truly a global sport,” Van Andel said. “We’ve got so many other professional leagues, and to bring soccer now into the mix is an exciting thing for Grand Rapids. It gives us a membership into that global community, and I think Grand Rapids will benefit greatly from that.”

Construction on Amway Stadium is expected to start in spring 2025 and wrap up in early 2027 in time for the club’s inaugural season. The stadium will be located on the west side of Grand Rapids at 230 Winter Ave. NW on surface parking lots owned by Downtown Grand Rapids Inc.

The Benteler Automotive project “would play a pivotal role in revitalizing a long-vacant and contaminated eyesore of a property that the state and our tremendous local partners at the City of Wyoming and The Right Place have prioritized for renewed development for a number of years,” Sam Sedlecky, a business development adviser with the MEDC, told MSF board members at the meeting.

From left to right: David Van Andel, MLS NEXT Pro President Charles Altchek and Dan DeVos.

| SeTH THOmPSON

Brewt’s CEO Emily Griffen leverages fighting spirit to innovate in the beverage industry

Emily Griffen can still “vividly” remember the first time she was punched in the face. Little did she know that joining a Muay Thai class as a way to meet new friends would lead her to compete in the sport across Europe and Thailand, including landing a U.S. state title. She channeled her fighting spirit into launching her first business, Brewt’s, in 2017, from her kitchen in Los Angeles. In the seven years since then, she moved the cocktail mixer company to Grand Rapids and expanded from selling at farmers markets to the shelves at more than 3,000 major retailers across the Midwest, including Meijer, Walmart and Home Goods. Griffen talks with Crain’s Grand Rapids Business about the creation of Brewt’s, her new foray into non-alcoholic cocktails, and the Chihuahua that inspired her brand.| By Abby Poirier

How did you start Brewt’s?

A lot of it stemmed from (bad) mixers on the market. I bought so many, especially when I was fighting and watching my weight (and) I couldn’t afford all the sugar and all the salt and all this. So (my partner) and I made this bloody mary at home. Originally, we started taking it to pool parties in LA. I was using organic tomato juice with tons of fresh flavor. We’d show up at parties, and everybody knew that we would have these. People were always like, ‘You should sell this.’ We kind of thought that it was crazy. Somebody approached me here in Grand Rapids about doing the food and wine show. She was like, ‘I heard that you make these bloody marys.’ I had nothing lined up next in my life. So we made labels on a computer at home, came back to Grand Rapids, bottled all this bloody mary mix at my parents’ house … and went to the food and wine show. I sold out of the product in the first two days and signed with a distributor 20 days after.

Where did the Brewt’s brand name come from?

Brutus, my Chihuahua that I got (when I was) very young. He passed away … when he was 15 years old. This dog was my ride or die. When I started the business, Luke and I were like, ‘What do we name this company?’ I was like, ‘This dog is my life. This dog has seen me through the worst of my life and the best of my life.’ And I wanted him to live on forever with the legacy of Brewt’s.

As you’ve grown Brewt’s, what’s been the biggest learning curve?

Every day is a learning curve, especially when you’re coming from nothing in this industry, you’re still learning from scratch. I still feel like I’m learning from scratch every single day. (In the) last year, we have seen exponential growth just by being really crazy hands on, traveling a lot and being with distributors. But I find that scaling is definitely the hardest part. It’s (been) the biggest learning curve for me, and it still is. Getting the product off the shelf, getting it to the

consumer, I’ve learned so much doing that. It all comes back to:

‘How do you get the consumer to love it?’ That’s the challenge every single day. How do you walk into every single person’s home and be like, ‘You’ve got to try this.’

How did you figure out who your customers are?

The brand has been built off of what I call trial. Trial meaning me schlepping my things to a liquor store on a Friday afternoon, which I’ve done many times, sitting in a grocery store

where not a single customer comes in, driving in snow storms to get somewhere that I don’t want to be. It took us years and years of doing that to say, ‘Here’s who the customer is. This is what they want. This is what they’re saying.’ It’s taken us so much money and time and employees, but it’s the only way that we’ve been able to get down to the core of who our customer is.

What’s next for the brand in 2025?

In 2025, (we’re) releasing four SKUs of a non-alcoholic,

ready-to-drink (beverage). We’re calling it the Re-Marg. It’s like a reimagined margarita, so non-alcoholic, same really great freshness, but then we’re going to use some key elements, like ashwagandha root and hibiscus water, and elements that make you feel like you’re drinking a faux margarita. But then in summer, (once) we’ve been accepted and approved for our liquor license, we’ll start putting out four ready-to-drink (cocktails) as well.

The most exciting part of the business is happening right now, and it’s going to happen in the next four years. I see it in my head. The last seven (years) have been hard, and it’s been a lot of ups and downs and a lot of challenges, but in the next four I see creative, exciting times, a time that we can say, ‘We did all this work. Here it is. People want it.’

What’s been key to growing the business over the past seven years?

Support. A lot of people support me as a business owner. I’m very fortunate. An instrumental part of my growth has been people advocating for me. My partner, Luke, advocates for me every day. He’s out in the market, talking about me and this brand every day. People believe in me. I cannot let them down. People believe in this brand. I cannot let them down. This is my life and we’ve made it this far, and I don’t see myself doing anything else. We’ve been given a shot; people are responding to it well.

I come from parents that were entrepreneurs. I’ve seen them hustle and work. They’ve instilled that in me, that nothing in this life is given to us, that it literally just takes really hard work and failing a lot for you to see small successes. I just live with that, honestly.

We have not been given anything in this business. We bootstrapped this business like crazy. We penny-pinch everything. But we see where it’s going. We have bigger goals than us just trying to get this off a shelf at a Meijer. We want this in volume. It’s time to play with the big leagues. That’s our goal.

President

Group

Executive

mickey Ciokajlo, mickey.ciokajlo@crain.com

Editor Joe Boomgaard, joe.boomgaard@crain.com

Managing editor

Andy Balaskovitz, andy.balaskovitz@crain.com

Special projects editor Tim Gortsema, tim.gortsema@crain.com

Director of audience and engagement

Elizabeth Couch, elizabeth.couch@crain.com

Audience engagement editor matthew Pollock, matthew.pollock@crain.com

Director of Visual Media Stephanie Swearngin

Creative director

Thomas J. Linden, tlinden@crain.com

Associate creative director Karen Freese Zane

Digital design editor Jason mcGregor

Art directors

Kayla Byler, Carolyn mcClain, Joanna metzger Notables coordinator Ashley maahs

REPORTERS

Kate Carlson, real estate, kate.carlson@crain.com

Jack Grieve, audience engagement, jack.grieve@crain.com

Abby Poirier, restaurants, retail and agribusiness, abigail.poirier@crain.com

Mark Sanchez, health care and finance, mark.sanchez@crain.com

Rachel Watson, residential real estate, insurance and tourism, rachel.watson@crain.com

Sonya Hill, research and data, shill@crain.com

ADVERTISING

Advertising & event sales director

Jill may, jill.may@crain.com

Business development strategist Andy Rasero, andy.rasero@crain.com

Account executive Jennifer maksimowski, jennifer.maksimowski@crain.com

Michigan events director Samantha Flowers, samantha.flowers@crain.com

Events Planner

Tressa Brondyke, tressa.brondyke@crain.com

People on the Move manager

Debora Stein, dstein@crain.com

Classified sales Suzanne Janik, sjanik@crain.com

Sales assistant Rachel Smith

CRAIN’S CONTENT STUDIO

Senior director of Crain’s Content Studio Kristin Bull, kbull@crain.com

Crain’s

PRODUCTION

Vice

(833)

(845)

Emily Griffen started her cocktail mixer company, Brewt’s, in 2017.