Ann Arbor

Alphacore turns Pfizer closing into biz opportunity

After working together, off and on, for nearly 20 years, Bruce Auerbach, Reyn Homan and Brian Krause weren't about to let some cost-cutting corporate decision from the Pfizer to get in their way. That's why the group of three scientists decided to start Alphacore Pharma shortly after Pfizer closed its Ann Arbor campus in 2007. Today the 2-year-old start-up on the city's west side provides steady paychecks for the three men and a growing stable of independent contractors."We've had a lot of good milestone success and a lot of fun doing it," Auerbach says.The company specializes in early clinical research for a protein that could help treat cardiovascular disease. It got the help of some angel investors to help push its research through the early clinical trial process. Alphacore hopes to partner with a larger pharmaceutical company in the near future to further develop the protein into a drug after it finished the early clinical trials.In the mean time the trio of ex-Pfizerites continue to do what they enjoy, work together on drug development research. The only difference between doing it today and three years ago is that they don’t have worry about the boss leaving town.Source: Bruce Auerbach, president of Alphacore PharmaWriter: Jon Zemke

Great Lakes Drug Development turns old Pfizer expertise into start-up gold

Another happy band of ex-Pfizerites made the jump from corporate paychecks to start-up riches. But the guys at Great Lakes Drug Development didn’t travel the same road as most other start-ups.The 10 guys at the Brighton-based life sciences firm originally opened the office for Decode Genetics after Pfizer closed its Ann Arbor campus in 2007. That didn’t work out the way they expected, and they decided the idea of working for someone else might not be all its cracked up to be."We wanted to do our own thing and take our destiny into our hands," says Kevin Hershberger, COO of Great Lakes Drug Development.Today their year-old firm manages the development of drug compounds and provides consulting service. The original 10 are now nine, but there are a couple of independent contractors helping push the company forward.Great Lakes Drug Development hopes to go on growth spurt within the next year or two now that it's established its footing. That could mean another 5-6 hires as more and more work comes in."We're expanding very nicely," Hershberger says.It also wants more of a piece of an action. The company wants to evolve from a straight consulting firm to one that takes part ownership the intellectual property and drugs that its helps build at the onset."We'd like to have a little more ownership in the game," Hershberger says.Source: Kevin Hershberger, COO of Great Lakes Drug DevelopmentWriter: Jon Zemke

U-M moves forward on $76.5 million in projects

Another round of construction stimulus is coming to the University of Michigan thanks to its Board of Regents.The Board approved spending nearly $66 million on a new soccer stadium, demolition of the Kresge Complex and additions to the Engineering Programs Building and the George Granger Brown Memorial Laboratories.The big-ticket item is a 66,000-square-foot addition to the George Granger Brown Memorial Laboratories. The new wing will house space for research laboratories and offices for faculty and students. The 220,000 square-foot building was built in 1958 and houses the Department of Mechanical Engineering. It includes research areas such as bio, energy and nano-systems. The $56 million project is currently in the design phase.Disappearing is the Kresge Complex at the northeast corner of Ann Street and Zina Pitcher Place. The Board of Regents approved the $9.7 million demolition of the hodgepodge of buildings from mid 20th Century. University officials have said the 260,000 square feet that housed the Kresge Hearing Research Institute, Kresge Temporary Animal Facility, Alice Crocker Lloyd Radiation Therapy Center and Upjohn Center for Clinical Pharmacology has reached the end of their useful life.The Board of Regents also approved the construction of a 10,000-square-foot addition to Engineering Programs Building, aka Wilson Student Team Project Center. This is the building where U-M's famous solar cars and concrete canoes are developed and produced. The $4.8 million addition gives these teams more space to operate. Work is expected to be done by the fall of 2010.Also approved was the schematic design for the new $6 million soccer stadium. The new stadium is set to go just west of the U-M Tennis Center on South State Street. It will feature space for restrooms, locker rooms and stands for 1,800 fans. Work on that project is also expected to wrap by the fall of 2010.Source: University of Michigan Board of RegentsWriter: Jon Zemke

U-M students launch downtown incubator – TechArb

"What about a place for the kids?" is a statement sure to make most eyes roll, but a group of University of Michigan students are dead serious about such a subject when it comes to business incubators.They know about Ann Arbor SPARK and co-working spaces in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, but they want their own home geared toward their needs. So instead of waiting for the adults to get their act together, they decided to create their own – TechArb."The needs (that places like Ann Arbor SPARK cater toward) didn't necessarily cater to students," says Jason Bornhorst, organizer behind TechArb. "The needs of students are definitely different than someone who has graduated."Those needs range from not paying rent to being surrounded by peers who they aren't afraid to fail around. Bornhorst is a fourth year computer science engineering major at U-M and founder of the start-up Mobil33t.com. He and some other student entrepreneurs went looking earlier this year for an incubator space that fit them, such as a basement or a classroom. The ended up leveraging RPM Ventures and the U-M College of Engineering's Center for Entrepreneurship to find their own space in the basement of a downtown Ann Arbor building. About 10 student-run start-ups now call the basement home this summer as part of a trial run. "It's a summer experiment," Bornhorst says. "We have been here for five weeks and its going great."He is cataloging the progress made at the incubator in the hopes that documented progress will show an institution like the university that TechArb is worth funding and not redundant. Bornhorst sees it as sort of minor leagues for young entrepreneurs where they can take big risks with little chance of embarrassing themselves in the big leagues of Ann Arbor SPARK or elsewhere in the everyday business world.Source: Jason Bornhorst

Ann Arbor plans to plant 1,000 trees this fall/next spring

Tree Town is about to get a big infusion of fresh bark this year (and next) as the city makes plans to plant 1,000 new trees.The city expects to spend about $300,000 buying and planting the trees late this fall and into early next spring. The money is coming from the city's stormwater fund. "Trees provide an exceptional benefit for stormwater because they suck up so much water in their leaves and trunk," says Kerry Gray, urban forestry and natural resources planning coordinator for the city of Ann Arbor, adding that a mature maple tree will absorb about 1,000 gallons of water each year. The trees will be planted mostly in areas where there is a low canopy in the city. Ann Arbor officials also expect to replace many of the ash trees lost to the emerald ash borer in recent years. The saplings will also go next to impervious surfaces, such as roads and parking lots, so they can suck up water that might otherwise end up in the sewer system.Source: Kerry Gray, urban forestry and natural resources planning coordinator for the city of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke

U-M Tech Transfer to students: Your ideas are safe here

If a University of Michigan student builds a better mouse trap or reinvents the wheel, they can rest assured the university will keep its hands out their pockets.The U-M Tech Transfer recently released a clarification of its Technology Transfer Policy - Student entrepreneurs are the sole owners of their inventions, even if they work on a project in a University design course, receive guidance from a faculty member, or use specialized University equipment."We really want to communicate the fact that we want to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship," says Ken Nisbet, executive director of the U-M Tech Transfer, adding this clarification is about making the student body feel comfortable about its ideas and pursuing them at the university.The old policy was a bit ambigious about intellectual property ownership. The university can claim ownership of intellectual property created by employees at the university. However, students were considered a grey area until recently."If a student is student isn't an employee, end of argument," Nisbet says. "We thought why don't we make that crystal clear?"Source: Ken Nisbet, executive director of the University of Michigan Tech TransferWriter: Jon Zemke

Parking rate increase at 415 W Washington helps staunch meter expansion

The money has to come from somewhere. That's the thinking behind a recent rate increase for parking on Ann Arbor's 415 W Washington parking lot.The City Council approved raising the rates on the lot earlier this month as way of boosting parking revenue and filling holes in budgets. Had the city left rates at that level on that lot, it would have seriously looked at expanding parking meters or other parking restrictions further into the neighborhoods that surround downtown as a way to increase revenue.Parking meters and other restrictions have been creeping into the general downtown area for years. For instance, parking meters travel north along First Street practically to West Kingsley Street into an area that has a sprinkling of businesses but is dominated by residential housing. Limiting parking to a few hours is also common place for on-street parking spots in the Old West Side neighborhood. An expansion of the downtown-area parking web might be in store anyway. The city is looking for proposals to redevelop the 415 W Washington lot. Dozens of parking spaces (read revenue generators) will disappear when a project for that property begins.Source: Wendy Rampson, city planner for Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke

Future of Ann Arbor’s State Street area evolving

Ann Arbor's State Street is waving good bye to Shaman Drum and hello to CVS. The times, they are a-changing. Excerpt:A wave of changes among retail spaces on South State positions the near-campus commercial district to widen its mix, through the pending arrival of a national pharmacy chain and an expected decline in the number of fast-food outlets. Several properties on State between William and Washington are in transition: The Shaman Drum Bookshop at 311 S. State is closing after nearly 30 years in business; a CVS Pharmacy may build a new store at 209 S. State; and a new U-M dorm and privately operated student housing high-rise promise to bring hundreds of new residents to the immediate area.While some real estate brokers expressed fear that the result could be a proliferation of fast-casual food uses - which can more easily afford the $40-$50 per square foot rental rates - that in turn would hurt the economic diversity of the area, others say they're confident that the new student housing and the proximity to the Diag will keep the area vital."I don't think there's a recession on State Street," said Bob Andrus, a broker at Michigan Commercial Realty, who recently leased 2,250 square feet on State to Great Lakes Team Apparel to expand its existing location. "The demand is much stronger than I anticipated. Read the rest of the story here.

McKinley turns old bank space into spiffy new storefront