Ann Arbor

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

By Newsroom

●

January 7, 2009

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

By Amy Whitesall

●

Arts & Culture

●

January 7, 2009

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

By Amy Whitesall

●

Arts & Culture

●

January 7, 2009

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

By Newsroom

●

Community Development

●

January 7, 2009

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

By Newsroom

●

Community Development

●

January 7, 2009

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

By Newsroom

●

Economic Development

●

January 7, 2009

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.

Ann Arbor moves forward on Veterans Park skatepark

By Newsroom

●

Development News

●

December 17, 2008

They're not doing flipkicks in Veterans Memorial Park yet, but supporters are a few kicks closer to rolling in half pipe at a new Ann Arbor Skatepark.The city has approved a "memo of intent" to build a skatepark in the northwest corner of Veterans Park. "It's not a completely binding document but it does give us the foundation to start," says Trevor Staples, a spokesman for the group that is working to establish the skatepark.That group is setting up a fund within the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation so it can raise the money for the park within the next 12-18 months. They're looking at raising $800,000 to $1 million through donations and grants to build the skatepark.The facility will be about 30,000 square feet of permanent concrete skatepark. It will have a skateplaza and possibly even a full pipe. It will also work with the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission to bring some art into the skatepark as well.The Ann Arbor Skatepark Committee says the city is undeserved by not counting a skatepark among its varied recreation options (ranging from tennis courts to Frisbee golf). The group also claims a space dedicated to skateboarders will enhance the city's reputation and help keep kids out of trouble. The group is so confident that a skatepark is needed that it lists 30 reasons why one should be built on its website. Among the more eye-catching are No. 27 "Skateboarding is happening with or without a skatepark" and No. 30 "If a city doesn't have a skatepark, it is a skatepark."Source: Trevor Staples, spokesman for the Ann Arbor SkateparkWriter: Jon Zemke

Northern United Brewing seeks microbrewery prominence

By Newsroom

●

Development News

●

December 17, 2008

Bell's and Motor City have long been considered the mainstays of Michigan's microbrewery world. Northern United Brewing hopes to add its name to that list.The micro-brewery received a $1.1 million tax credit from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to expand its operations in Ann Arbor, Traverse City and Dexter. The company currently owns North Peak Brewing Co. in Traverse City, Jolly Pumpkin Brewing in Dexter, along with Ann Arbor's Grizzly Peak, Café Habana and Blue Tractor restaurants.Northern United plans to use the money to expand its operations in those spaces and create 158 jobs within the next five years, including 67 in its first year. It had been looking at other sites in Ohio and Indiana.Source: Elizabeth Parkison, Ann Arbor SPARKWriter: Jon Zemke

Plans for The Madison make it leaner, meaner and more palatable to Ann Arbor City Council

By Newsroom

●

Community Development

●

December 17, 2008

Back again for the first time, it's The Madison. But the downtown development isn't bigger and better. This time it's a bit leaner and meaner.Jeff Helminski, the developer, has cut the plans down from 14 stories to four after the Ann Arbor Planning Commission recommended rejecting the original plans. That means the number of rental apartments has been chopped from 161 to about 60.But many of the details of the project remain the same. It's still aiming at providing work-force housing for people who work downtown or want to live in one. It's still going to incorporate sustainable features and affordable housing. A handful of old student-ghetto houses will be razed to make room for the structure on the north side of Madison Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues.The new plans, which will be submitted to the city late this month, call for a 4-story building with one level of underground parking. The apartments will range in size from studios to four-bedrooms. The building's design will take cues from surrounding architecture, such as industrial finished from the Fingerle Lumberyard across the street."It will be a modern façade," Helminski says.Source: Jeff Helminski, developer of The MadisonWriter: Jon Zemke

Washtenaw Land Trust protects 25 more acres in Whitmore Lake

By Newsroom

●

Development News

●

December 17, 2008

Ann Arbor's Greenbelt may get most of the headlines when it comes to rural land preservation, but the Washtenaw Land Trust is the real big dog.Case in point: the Trust just took 25 acres near Whitmore Lake under its protection. Significant, yes, but a drop in the bucket for a non-profit that controls the development rights to 3,711 acres across Washtenaw County. The trust has added 91 acres so far this year, but it expects to grow that number significantly in the coming weeks. "There will be much more by the end of the year," says Susan Lackey, executive director of the Washtenaw Land Trust. "We do as much in the last week and a half of a year as we do in the balance of the year."That meant about 1,000 acres in the waning days of 2007. Most of the donors were in a last minute rush to earn valuable tax credits - similar to the way people make charitable donations during the holidays to get tax breaks.And that's one of the big differences between the Trust and the greenbelt. While the greenbelt will spend millions of dollars to acquire development rights around Ann Arbor, the Trust protects rural acres through donations all around Washtenaw County."For us (paying for development rights) is more the exception than the rule where it's the opposite for the greenbelt," Lackey says.Both are similar in that they are located in Ann Arbor. The Trust is in the New Center building adjacent to the railroad tracks and Huron River in a space once occupied an old scrap yard on the city's north side. Jerry Norblom and Barbara Michniewicz made the most recent donation of development rights for 25 acres to the Trust. The property is composed of wetlands, a mature hard wood forest and old tree farms. The Washtenaw Land Trust now protects 334 acres in Webster Township. For information send an email to info@washtenawlandtrust.org or call (734) 302-LAND (5263).Source: Susan Lackey, executive director of the Washtenaw Land TrustWriter: Jon Zemke