2010 – Page 38 of 78

Ex-U-M football player Dhani Jones explores world for Travel Channel

By Newsroom

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May 26, 2010

Dhani Jones has always been one of the most colorful athletes to ever come out of the University of Michigan, but now he has become one of the most interesting to follow on his travels around the world.Excerpt:Dhani Jones pops into a cab and then out again, while doing his best to hold what should be a simple 15-minute phone conversation.Like most aspects of his on-the-go existence as an NFL linebacker/off-season world traveler/poet/bow-tie entrepreneur, there are challenges. His cell phone keeps dropping a signal. When Jones returns in mid-sentence, he's paying the cabbie, off to do who knows what in who knows where.This is Jones' life: Rarely sedentary, always anxious to try the next thing on the ultimate sportsman's bucket list.As host of his own Travel Channel reality show, "Dhani Tackles The Globe" (Mondays, 11 p.m.), he gets plenty of chances.Jones, entering his 10th NFL season and fourth with the Cincinnati Bengals, has never been one to shy away from challenges. It's part of the niche of a reality series in which he has experienced life as dragon boat racer in Singapore, a bull fighter and Lucha libre combatant in Mexico City, a water polo player in Croatia and a rookie Jamaican cricketer.Read the rest of the story here.

Michigan Islamic Academy co-founder Dawud Tauhidi passes

By Newsroom

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In The News

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May 26, 2010

Dawud Tauhidi, one of Ann Arbor's most prominent members of the Muslim community, has passed away. Coincidentally, his passing takes place right after the city of Ann Arbor approved plans for a major expansion of the Michigan Islamic Academy, which he helped co-found.Excerpt:It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of a great leader in the world of Islamic academia. After two years of battling, cancer ultimately took his life. Brother Dawud Tauhidi is succeeded by his five wonderful children and, of course, hundreds of children whom he taught or was acting principal for.After becoming Muslim in 1972, Atauhidi wasted no time in learning Arabic and Islamic studies. It soon became clear that his heart's passion lay in the field of academia. Thus, Dawud Tauhidi founded the Tarbiyah Project and he co-founded the Michigan Islamic Academy in Ann Arbor, MI. Later he became the principal and director of Crescent Academy International in Canton for several years. Read the rest of the story here.

Ex-Pfizer staff notch start-up hits with MicroDose Life Sciences

By Newsroom

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Entrepreneurship

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May 26, 2010

Part of finding the next big hit in Michigan's entrepreneurial ecosystem is knowing where to look, and the ex-Pfizer people at MicroDose Life Sciences know where to look.Excerpt:A group of former Pfizer Inc. employees is offering start-ups an alternative to traditional venture financing.MicroDose Life Sciences, staffed mostly by people affected by Pfizer’s Michigan job cuts, was formed in 2007 to buy majority stakes in start-ups and to steer their products toward the market. The company, backed with $100 million from an undisclosed private equity investor, has recently made its first two investments, said Kenneth Massey, its director of research and clinical operations.With start-up funds scarce, MicroDose’s model is bound to appeal to some entrepreneurs. By selling to MicroDose, based in the Detroit suburb of Farmington Hills, they no longer need to worry about financing as long as their products meet milestones, Massey said. MicroDose fills various business needs as well, such as help with marketing, human resources and intellectual property. An affiliated research group, Ann Arbor Bio Research, supplies clinical-development services."Once we’ve partnered with somebody it’s a true partnership. They don’t have to do round A and come back with another tranche," Massey said. "We don’t do your standard phases of investing. When we invest in a company, it is our intent that we will take it all the way through to an exit."Read the rest of the story here.

U-M study shows chubby kids endure more bullying

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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May 26, 2010

Anyone who has spent time on a playground as a child knows that chubby kids got more than their fair share unwelcome attention. A University of Michigan study is showing that what was true then is still true today.Excerpt:The danger of bullying has been making headlines recently, and now a new study shows heavy kids are more likely to be picked on than their normal-weight peers.The study confirms other research that chubby children are more likely to be the victims of bullying. About one-third of kids in the USA weigh too much.Researchers at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor analyzed the bullying incidents of 821 children ages 8 to 11.Read the rest of the story here.

Ann Arbor’s response to Pfizer’s exit provides lessons for others

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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May 26, 2010

A lot of other Pfizer towns are sweating the possibility of becoming ex-Pfizer towns, and they're looking to Ann Arbor for answers on what to do if the worst happens.Excerpt:Pfizer, the pharmaceutical giant that slugged Ann Arbor's economy in 2007 by announcing that it would shutter its 174-acre campus here, is still slashing jobs.Pfizer said Tuesday that it would cut another 6,000 workers, part of a continuous restructuring initiative attributable to changes in the drug industry and to Pfizer's January 2009 acquisition of fellow giant Wyeth.Read the rest of the story here.

Ashley Promenade wants to turn downtown parking lots into mixed-use development

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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May 26, 2010

Whenever a developer proposes that a smaller, older building be knocked down for a newer, larger building in downtown Ann Arbor the opposition argues, "Why don't you build on the empty parking lots instead of knocking down our neighborhood?" Well, someone it seems like someone was listening. Two downtown surface lots could soon be gone if the plans for Ashley Promenade come to fruition in downtown Ann Arbor.Developers Ron Jona of Southfield-based Ron Jona & Associates and Ann Arbor real-estate broker William Eddy plan to turn a depressing section of Ashley Street dominated by surface parking lots near the intersection of William Street into a dense urban development with retail shops, hotel rooms and a conference center."We need to create a critical mass," Jona says. "This section of Ashley is just underutilized."The developers plan to build on the surface parking lot at the corner of Ashley and William, known as the Kline Lot, and the surface parking lot at the corner of First and William. Other private parcels and buildings in one of downtown's practically dead sections are also planned.Replacing these spaces would be a 500,000-square-feet of mixed-use buildings, including a 12-story hotel and 80,000 square feet of conference center space. Retail space and underground parking (more than what is currently on the surface lots) would also be mixed in to the plans. The idea is to breathe life into this section of downtown and help increase the level of retail activity in the city's center by bringing multiple uses to one space."It's very ambitious," Jona says. "It's very comprehensive. We felt a lot of projects we had seen in Ann Arbor, which we believe can become a world-class city, have been a myopic."But this isn't a development that can be done as simply as turning over plans (which have been two years in the making) for review and approval by local officials. Because the city owns the parking lots it would have to put out a request for proposals, similar to what is being done for the Library Lot and 415 W Washington parcels.Jona hopes to reveal the plans at a public meeting within the next 30 days and have a RFP to submit the plans for before the end of this year.Source: Ron Jona, co-developer of Ashley Promenade?Writer: Jon Zemke

U-M Regents approve ER expansion at hospital

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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May 26, 2010

The emergency room is about to get bigger at the University of Michigan Hospital. The university's Board of Regents have approved a $17.7 million renovation project.The project will renovate just under 29,000 square feet of space in the hospital, in both the Medical Inn Building and level B1 of the hospital. Hobbs and Black Associates will design the project, which will consist of a phased construction set to finish by the winter of 2012.To make room for the newly-expanded emergency room, the hospital's Dentistry Dept is moving into 6,400 square feet in the Medical Inn Building. That space will be renovated before the move. The emergency room will then expand into the Denistry Dept's former space on level B1 of the hospital, creating 26 treatment bays, 6 enclosed triage rooms, 2 family consultation rooms, as well as expanded and improved patient reception areas.The Emergency Department at University Hospital has experienced steady and significant growth, with over 77,000 patient visits in fiscal year 2009. The combination of increased patient volume, increased case complexity and treatment has resulted in crowded conditions. This project is meant to help reduce that congestion. Source: University of Michigan?Writer: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor Skatepark designs unveiled

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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May 26, 2010

The conceptual designs for the proposed Ann Arbor Skatepark have been released and they go well beyond a couple of ramps and a half pipe on concrete, typical of skateparks in Michigan.Trevor Staples, chair of the Friends of the Ann Arbor Skatepark, has previously said organizers behind the effort used the new Riley Skatepark in Farmington Hills as a template. That is evident with the combination of skating apparatus that can facilitate both new and experienced skaters.What sets the proposal apart are the concrete bowls, a staple of West Coast skateparks, and one of the things that makes Riley special. These are for advanced skaters and represent a significant cash investment in infrastructure, which helps explain the skatepark's expected price tag of nearly $1 million.The facility also has the basic small hills, steps, ramps and ledges common in most other skateparks. All of this interspersed with spectator areas and the green space on the north side of Veterans Memorial Park near the intersection of Maple and Miller roads on the city's northwest side.Skatepark design firm extraordinaire Wally Hollyday Design came up with the design after a couple public engagement sessions. Source: Friends of Ann Arbor SkateparkWriter: Jon Zemke

CVS to keep façade on new downtown space

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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May 26, 2010

What promises to be downtown Ann Arbor's first façadectomy doesn't look like it will be an easy process. CVS Pharmacy plans to tear out everything except the facade in its new home next to the University of Michigan's campus.The national pharmacy chain will be moving into 209 S State, which is the 2-story building between the State Theater and Buffalo Wild Wings. The challenge is that the building behind the storefront facade is a former single-family home. "There isn't much historic work worth saving other than masonry facade," says Aaron Vermeulen, principal of Ann Arbor-based O-X Studios, which was redesigning the building a year ago before CVS purchased it. That sale became final last week.Complicating matters more is that the building is surrounded by bigger structures and only accessible from its entrance and a crowded alley. That alley includes the back end of numerous businesses, and also is home to major power lines and transformers.Vermeulen believes it's possible to claw the old building out from behind and send it out the back alley before moving the materials for the new business in the same way. In theory the pharmacy could be in place without much disturbance to street frontage.The building started out as a small Queen Anne house in the late 19th Century with a bay window, wood shingle roof and small addition. By 1902 it had become a two-unit boarding house called the Chubb House named after its owner George Chubb. An eatery also opened around this time. Its current façade was added sometime between 1925 and 1930, a pattern repeated in several downtown homes at the time. By then it was known as the Ritz Dine and Dance and was considered a cabaret. By 1936 it became Chubb's restaurant but within a year had morphed into the Michigan Wolverine Student Cooperative, as a response to the Depression. The cooperative disappeared during World War II. From that point a mix of retail tenants occupied the ground floor, including the Secretary of State, Ann Arbor Cooperative Credit Union, book shops, women's clothing stores and a lighting store. Residential apartments remained in the upper floors. Source: Aaron Vermeulen, principal of Ann Arbor-based O-X StudiosWriter: Jon Zemke

Concentrate Takes A Holiday

By Concentrate Staff

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General

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May 26, 2010

We're taking a break next week. Partly for business and partly for pleasure. It's Memorial Day weekend, so if you're like us you'll be honoring those who've served our country while manning the backyard barbecue. We're also indulging in some site upkeep, tweaking our content and changing some features. Look for a spruced up version of Concentrate when we return on Wednesday, June 9th.