Crain's Detroit Business - December 19, 2011 - (Page 9)

December 19, 2011 From Previous Page CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS sional soccer team so we could write about it … policy addresses that have come to be known as “special messages.” This Web story by Dustin Walsh reported on Snyder’s plan for fixing what he called a “broken” educational system. Among proposals that have since become law: A pool of funds to award additional per-pupil money to districts that meet financial bestpractice measures and changes in the tenure system that make it easier to fire bad teachers. May 27: “New hotel plan emerges for the David Whitney building” You know downtown Detroit is hot when someone is thinking about opening a hotel. Daniel Duggan reported that the new hotel was being planned as part of a mixed-use development for the historic David Whitney Building. The building COSTAR GROUP was purchased 19: David Whitney in March by Building Whitney Partners LLC, an evenly split joint venture between The Roxbury Group in Detroit and the Farmington Hillsbased hotel investment firm Trans Inns Management Inc. In a Dec. 12 Web story, Duggan reported that Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. would bring its Aloft hotel brand to the Whitney space. 20: Geoffrey Fieger got attention when he set out penalties for lawyers in his firm that he considered underperforming. Page 9 loan officers who also earn commissions. Gilbert called the jury’s decision “a victory for right over wrong” — hence the headline. This we exaggerate? Keep reading. Oct. 12: “As hedge fund buys the farms, prices rise — but what happens come the downturn?” So this is how viral marketing works, eh? The Crain’s Michigan Business weekly Wednesday email reported on a hedge fund that was buying up farmland and, in the process, raising land prices and a few eyebrows. Freelance writer Howard Lovy sent a link of his story to Glenn Reynolds, creator of the Instapundit blog. With more than 4,100 page views to date, we needn’t add that Instapundit is widely followed. 16 13 Feb. 23: “Taking stand in overtime class-action case, Dan Gilbert defends Quicken culture, explains his e-mails” … Like we wrote about him here. In this story, Gilbert defended Quicken Loans’ corporate culture and business model during the jury trial involving his company’s overtime policy. At one point, the exchanges between Gilbert and the attorney for the former Quicken loan officers who were seeking overtime drew a warning from U.S. District Judge Steven Murphy. Testimony also featured a Gilbert email telling Quicken employees to have a nice Thanksgiving but adding: “How many mortgages will you sell at your Thanksgiving dinner?” Gilbert explained in court: “That was kind of tongue-incheek. The rates had come down, and we had some great products, so there was some truth to it.” 19 NATHAN SKID/CDB 21: "I think the time is now," said Joe Muer Jr., announcing the planned reopening of Joe Muer Seafood with Andiamo Restaurant Group’s Joe Vicari in March. The restaurant opened in September. Jan. 12: “More red flags up at Borders” For years, bookworms throughout Southeast Michigan would speak of exploring the canyons of literature that made up the original Borders bookstore in downtown Ann Arbor, evoking memories of a sort reserved for such iconic regional brands as Vernors, Kmart, Highland Appliance … hmm. This Jan. 12 Web story by Crain’s Daniel Duggan reported, among other things, that Chapter 11 was an option for Borders Group Inc., which had grown from a single, revered outlet into a chain of more than 600 book and music stores that had been unable to transition into the digital age. Asked about the possibility of bankruptcy, analyst Jim McTevia neither hemmed nor hawed: “Yes.” And even Chapter 11 wasn’t sufficient. In September, Borders was liquidated. 14 15 Feb. 2: “5 Questions With ... sports executive and team investor Andy Appleby” No other story this year generated as many reader comments as Bill Shea’s Q&A blog with Andy Appleby, chairman and CEO of the marketing and management firm General Sports and Entertainment LLC — and, it turns out, an owner of Appleby an English professional soccer team with a substantial fan base. And passionate? Well, when comments to a story suggest new lyrics for “Over There” (Hint: “The Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming”), that’s a pretty reliable sign of real, live, visceral, unspellchecked British football passion. Appleby’s observation during the interview that British soccer fans “take it very seriously” could be a contender for “Understatement of 2011,” if we had a category for that. Now if we could just get Dan Gilbert to buy an English profes- May 29: “Energy drink king behind $100 million fund: Bhargava sets up tech park for new firms” Just how big is 5-Hour Energy? Big enough that its creator, Manoj Bhargava, could start a $100 million fund to invest in emerging businesses in the state. The Stage 2 Innovations Fund was co-founded by Bhargava — CEO of Living Essentials LLC, maker of the 17: Manoj Bhargava created 5-Hour Energy, popular then jolted the state energy with a $100 million drink — investment fund. and former Chrysler Group LLC CEO Tom LaSorda. The fund looks to capitalize two to six companies that are about 12-18 months away from commercializing a patented, major new technology. A company should have the potential to reach $100 million to $200 million in net income within a few years, LaSorda and investment fund CEO Simon Boag said in this Page 1 story by Daniel Duggan and Dustin Walsh. April 27: “Snyder reveals details of plan to reform K-12 education system” Throughout the year, Gov. Rick Snyder has delivered a series of 17 30 pending lawsuits or imposing a $25,000 fine on attorneys who didn’t try at least three cases a year. The attorneys who left the firm said the penalties created “an ethical minefield where attorneys’ own financial interests could be at conflict with their professional responsibility to clients.” Fieger’s response, in part: “I’m not interested in having people come here to retire on a paycheck from me.” 21 Nathan Skid’s blog, March 29: “The reincarnation of Joe Muer’s” Two Joes who aren’t average by any means helped return a fabled name to Detroit’s restaurant scene. Joe Vicari, CEO of Warrenbased Andiamo Restaurant Group, opened a reincarnation of Joe Muer Seafood in the former Seldom Blues space inside the Renaissance Center. Crain’s restaurant writer Nathan Skid first reported the deal in this March blog. Vicari purchased the original Muer recipes and licensing agreements and signed on Joe Muer as a consultant for the restaurant, which opened in September to a brisk business. racing license” In the era of the casino, Michigan’s horse racing industry has been hobbled. One local example of the plight of the ponies was Pinnacle Race Course’s announcement that it was surrendering its racing license for 2011. Pinnacle closed in November 2010, planned to reopen in January 2011, then July. The Huron Township track also said it planned to file an application for 2012 live and simulcast racing permits. Seven months after this Web story was posted, it had not done so. 24 20 18 Aug. 28: “Lawyers flee Fieger over workload rule — Ethics concerns cited, disputed” Now how in the world did a story about Geoffrey Fieger attract so many readers? In the Aug. 28 issue, Crain’s Chad Halcom reported on the turnover at Fieger, Fieger, Kenney, Giroux & Danzig PC — a result of what former Fieger colleagues claim were unreasonable workload requirements. In a memo, Fieger proposed withholding paychecks from attorneys who didn’t maintain a minimum of 22: Fire destroyed 30 percent of Magna’s Howell plant on March 2 and damaged all but one of its four production sectors. March 7: “Carbone resigns as Beaumont Hospitals’ COO after 9 months on job” After hiring K. Bobbi Carbone, M.D., as William Beaumont Hospitals’ COO in 2010, CEO Gene Michalski said, “Having a physician as our COO will also enhance our partnership with physicians both in patient care and in business Carbone operations.” Less than nine months later, Carbone resigned for undisclosed reasons. She settled an employment contract dispute with Beaumont for an undisclosed sum and now works in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates as an executive at a 12-hospital health care company. Sam Flanders, M.D., is Beaumont’s interim COO. Jan. 3: “A&P bankruptcy creates new headache for subleasing tenants” Call it the ghost of Farmer Jack. When the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. closed the Southeast Michigan supermarket chain in 2007, it had store leases extending to 2020 in some locations. It was able to sublease some of the space to other chains, while other space was left vacant. In this story in the Jan. 3 issue, Daniel Duggan reported that A&P, as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, filed a motion to terminate leases at the 20 locations where the space was leased to a subtenant. The move would require the businesses and landlords involved to renegotiate leases and decide which will lose roughly $350,000 per year on a typical lease — money previously paid by A&P. The grocery chain expects to emerge from bankruptcy early next year. 25 22 March 3: “Magna plant fire in Howell slows OEM produc- 23: Pinnacle Race Course in Huron Township closed in November 2010 after holding only a weekend race schedule last year, then gave up its racing license for 2011. tion” How delicate is the auto industry’s supply chain? Consider the concern after a fire gutted the Howell plant of Canadian auto supplier Magna International Inc. The Magna Atreum interiors plant supplied door panels, interior trim and instrument panels to the three Detroit automakers, Mazda Motor Corp. and Nissan North America Inc. Within 24 hours of the fire, some assembly plants slowed production while others shut down. Yet within six days, 450 employees in Howell were operating the plant at 80 percent of capacity. May 5. “Pinnacle Race Course gives up 2011 horse- 23 COURTESY OF PINNACLE RACE COURSE

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crain's Detroit Business - December 19, 2011

Crain's Detroit Business - December 19, 2011