Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor’s Arboretum Ventures becomes state’s leading VC fund

Michigan Technology and Research Institute plans to hire

It didn't scare Michael Bleavins when Pfizer pulled up stakes in Ann Arbor two years ago. It actually reaffirmed that he had made the right decision.The former Pfizer scientist was just starting the Michigan Technology and Research Institute with three of his colleagues when the news broke. Today their start-up is debuting new products, employs seven and could hire another 1-3 people this year."We wanted to stay in the area," Bleavins says. "It's an area we believe in so we wanted to make a go of it."The institute does laboratory work and drug-research consulting. Its latest offering is DNA testing for human clinical trials. It has signed two companies to contracts for its services and hopes to land another 3-4 more this year.That would allow the firm to at least hire one more researcher, if not more. A lot of these sorts of hires turn out to be old co-workers or friends that Bleavin and his co-founders want to work with for the foreseeable future, or at least until Pfizer comes back.Source: Michael Bleavins, co-founder of the Michigan Technology and Research InstituteWriter: Jon Zemke

ForeSee Results expands in Ann Arbor, plans to hire 30-60

ForeSee Results isn't suffering from survivor syndrome, but people would understand why if the Ann Arbor-based came down with a case of it.As the economy continues its downward spiral, ForeSee Results continues to enjoy success and grow. "We've been growing at a pretty significant rate in the last couple of years despite the economy," says Larry Freed, CEO of ForeSee Results.The 7-year-old company is moving to bigger spaces on the city's north side, expanding from 15,000 to 40,000 square feet. It needs to after hiring about 50 people last year to create a staff of 140, 85 of which work in Ann Arbor. Freed expects to hire another 30-60 this year.The website-information firm captures "voice of customer" feedback and uses it to measure customer satisfaction for the likes of as Kohler, Citibank and Ameriprise. It uses uses the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index to find out the satisfaction of website visitors and pinpoint opportunities to improve the site.ForeSee Results is doing it so well that it's experience double-digit revenue growth, a trend it expects to continue this year whichever way the economy turns.Source: Larry Freed, CEO of ForeSee ResultsWriter: Jon Zemke

Single Source Procurement steps into Pfizer’s wake, opens Ann Arbor office

Bob Engster is picking up the pieces left behind by Pfizer and making quite the nice chunk of change.The Kalamazoo resident founded Single Source Procurement in 2003 after Pfizer bought Upjohn. It was the corporation's move that left Engster looking for a new job, so he created his own. He was Single Source Procurement's only employee those first few years, helping small companies and start-ups save money whenever they bought, stored or fixed biotech and life sciences equipment. Today he oversees a staff of six in Kalamazoo and plans to open an Ann Arbor office with three employees later this month. It's looking for instrument repair people right now.Engster's company has discovered that there is a demand for his services in places where Pfizer has pulled up stakes and left a wake of start-ups, such as Ann Arbor, Holland and Kalamazoo."We kind of follow Pfizer," Engster says. "We have a lot of opportunities in Michigan."Most start-ups or small companies have to pay high prices for bio-tech equipment. Single Source Procurement leverages the vendors by buying in bulk for a large number of these small firms. It also does stockroom management and helps fix these bio-tech instruments. That usually works out to about 30 percent savings for the companies and another company created in Michigan.Source: Bob Engster, CEO and founder of Single Source ProcurementWriter: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor, Music Town

The Internet mantra has long been you can work from anywhere. And A-list talent agency Fleming Artists is proof positive that even Ann Arbor can compete with the likes of L.A. and New York. Representing everyone from Ani DiFranco and Tom Paxton to Jeff Daniels and My Dear Disco, Fleming has been looking after world-class musicians for almost 30 years.

MASTERMINDS: Jon Carlson and Greg Lobdell

The Blue Tractor. Café Habana. Grizzly Peak. Jon Carlson and Greg Lobdell have become defacto planners of Ann Arbor's downtown. Friends since childhood, the two are building a local food and drink empire by turning historic spaces into must-visit destinations.

State Bank set to open in downtown Ann Arbor next week

The Ann Arbor State Bank is set to open its doors one week from today.The city's newest financial start-up has approvals from the locals, state and feds. All it needs now is customers. "We should be good to go," says Peter Schork, acting president of Ann Arbor State Bank. All those interested should go to the old Anderson Paint building in downtown. Schork and his partners have transformed the building on William Street next to the BP gas station into a retail location that will serve as the bank's headquarters.Schork and his partners see an opportunity to break into a banking scene heavy on national banks but thin on local options. The ever-mounting financial crisis among major banks and other financial institutions should also help drive customers their way.The plan is to capture 1-2 percent of the local market within three years, which equates to $60-$100 million in deposits. That bit of market share should be more than enough to support the newly refurbished 9,200-square-foot building and the 15-17 employees that are expected to work there.Source: Peter Schork, acting president of Ann Arbor State BankWriter: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor gives thumbs down to City Place development

More and more development pressure for new student housing in downtown Ann Arbor is mounting. The latest example is the City Place development, which hoped to bring more density to downtown. Unfortunately that won't be anytime soon after the City Council voted it down Monday.The proposal called for a five-story brick-and-limestone apartment building on the east side of Fifth Avenue between William and Jefferson streets next to Blimpy Burger. It would house 164 bedrooms in 90 units. Those would go over one level of underground parking with enough space for 97 vehicles.The team behind the development has communicated to city officials that it plans to incorporate environmentally friendly features and perhaps even go for LEED certification. However, what those features are and what, if any, LEED certification it would apply for is not publicly known.Not so green is the developer, Fifth Avenue Limited Partnership, plan to raze seven historic homes on the 1.2-acre parcel to make way for the development. Those houses include one of the city's oldest surviving houses, circa 1838. The others are a mix of mid-to-late 19th Century and early 20th Century homes. They are now currently subdivided into student housing and appear to be in varying stages of disrepair.The City Council turned down a similar-yet-bigger proposal from the developer last January.Source: City of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke

The paradox of cheap parking, in real time

Free parking is far from free.Excerpt:Last spring, I heard about an interesting dataset about Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I lived for four years as an undergraduate student. Busy with the flurry of activity leading up to my completion of graduate school, I stored it away to look at later. After all, real-time information on cities is hard enough to come by, let alone on the simultaneously ubiquitous and fascinating topic of parking.Read the rest of the story here.