Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor’s Stout Systems nearly doubles staff

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December 3, 2008

Ann Arbor's Stout Systems is feeling its oats these days. Not only has the software firm almost doubled its staff since 2006, growing from 15 employees to 25 people and five independent contractors., it also recently opened an office in Detroit and expects to grow its staff by as many as six people by the end of the year. Oh, and it's also looking into starting an internship program. "There doesn't seem to be any lack of demand for software development services," says John W Stout, president and founder of Stout Systems. Stout Systems started 15 years ago with just Stout. The firm specializes in software development and helping firms with technical staffing such as computer programmers or project managers. Most of the company's recent growth comes from website customization and an expansion of its expert-level software development services."The only thing that limits us is if we decided we didn't want to get much bigger," Stout says. "Source: John W Stout, president and founder of Stout SystemsWriter: Jon Zemke

Fate of Ann Arbor’s historic Delta Upsilon home to be decided soon

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Community Development

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December 3, 2008

The fate of the Delta Upsilon house, one of Ann Arbor's most historic homes, is about to be decided.National leaders for the Delta Upsilon fraternity expect to make a decision on whether to restore or raze the stately mansion-turned-frat-house "sooner rather than later," according to Ian Areces, director of chapter services for Delta Upsilon."There is a serious effort to see if we can restore it," Areces says.Doing so would be quite the feather in the fraternity's hat. Fire ravaged the historic structure at 1331 Hill Street earlier this year. It has remained vacant since then while the fraternity haggles with the insurance company over the cost to restore it.Albert Kahn designed the house for Delta Upsilon in 1903. It is one of the famous architect's most notable works because it is one of the earliest surviving examples of his non-industrial, non-commercial work. Kahn is famous for designing such world-renowned buildings like the Ford Rouge Plant and the Fisher Building in Detroit.The Tudor-revival structure is accentuated by exposed timbers on the outside surrounded by stucco. Its interior is resplendent with ornamental woodwork, plaster and Pewabic tile. Read more about its history here.Source: Ian Areces, director of chapter services for Delta UpsilonWriter: Jon Zemke

U-M’s Michigan Difference campaign brings in $3.1 billion

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Economic Development

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November 19, 2008

The Michigan Difference aimed for the stars with a $2.5 billion goal and landed a galaxy away, raising $3.1 billion, making it the most successful fundraising campaign in the University of Michigan's history.More than 364,000 donors gave, helping such causes as student financial aid, the creation of new student programs, hire and retain outstanding faculty, supporting research and building new facilities. "Thousands of donors from throughout our state, around the country, and indeed the world, have shown they believe U-M is a great investment," says U-M President Mary Sue Coleman. "That investment will sustain the University's impact for generations and will allow us to continue to serve our state and our nation."The Michigan Difference helped building the likes of the new Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and the restoration and expansion of the U-M Museum of Art. Source: University of MichiganWriter: Jon Zemke

EDF Ventures invests in downtown Ann Arbor, creates new fund

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Economic Development

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November 19, 2008

In a small, old house on the northern edge of Ann Arbor's downtown is one of the big players in Michigan's new economy – EDF Ventures.The venture capital firm invests in numerous early-stage health care companies. Today it has about $170 million worth of assets under management. About a third of those are based in Michigan. Its latest investment, for example, is in Grand Valley State-based TransCorp, a start-up that develops surgical instruments and implants.EDF Ventures has organized four investment funds since 1987 and is getting ready to start a fifth worth up to $50 million. It's that growth that inspired the firm to expand to four full-time and three part-time (including one intern) employees. Two new hires have already joined the firm and the company expects to add yet more next year when it gets its fifth fund up and running. Source: Linda Fingerle, chief financial officer and principal of EDF VenturesWriter: Jon Zemke

New building construction nearly done at Ann Arbor Airport

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Community Development

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November 19, 2008

It's not exactly Aerotropolis development, but the Ann Arbor Airport is indeed expanding.The small airport on the city's south side is preparing to open a few new buildings in the next few months as part of a $2.5 million improvement project. First up will be the six hangars set to open in January. A new maintenance shed will also open its doors early this spring.The new hangars will bump up the airport's total to 154. The 63-by-65-foot buildings will offer more hanger space, accommodating either a couple of smaller planes or small, private jets."Basically anything with a 60-foot wingspan," says Matt Kulhanek, the manager for the Ann Arbor Airport.The new 7,700-square-foot maintenance shed will replace the existing 4,000-square-foot structure. "We really can't even get all of our equipment in there," Kulhanek says. "It's basically an old pall barn that doesn’t even have running water or sewer in it."He adds this is the first expansion to the airport since the late 1970s or early 1980s. About half of the $2.5 million price tag is being paid for by state and federal grants. The rest comes from bonds the airport took out and will pay off with revenue it generates.Source: Matt Kulhanek, the manager for the Ann Arbor AirportWriter: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor’s Enmark Systems doubles employees with new software

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Economic Development

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November 19, 2008

Enmark Systems was at a crossroads in the early 2000s. Some of its key employees were either ready to buy the business or break out on their own. They ended up buying it (for a handsome price) and have grown the software developer significantly.At the time, sales had slid from a high of $4.6 million in 2000 (thanks to the Y2K build up) to $2.4 million in 2002. Shortly after the employees took over. Since then they have built sales up to $5 million this year. They have also doubled the number of employees to 30, along with an intern and independent contractor."When you boil it down, they buy our product to save money," says John Bilek, president of Enmark Systems.That means the client either reduces costs, increases sales or both. Enmark has been able to do this by developing new software products for metal service center distributors. It's also allowed the ompany to spread their its base across North America, helping keep their bottom line growing.Even though Bilek is bracing his company for the worst, with the current state of the economy, he does see hope. For instance, he sees big potential in President-elect Barack Obama's pledge to heavily invest in the county's infrastructure."That's huge for our business," Bilek says.Source: John Bilek, president of Enmark SystemsWriter: Jon Zemke

Arbor Day picks U-M for Tree Campus USA planting kickoff

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Development News

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November 19, 2008

It's almost too fitting that the Arbor Day Foundation picked the University of Michigan's campus --in a city commonly referred to as Tree Town-- as one of the kick-off points for its Tree Campus USA program.The program recognizes college campuses and surrounding communities committed to planting, maintaining and celebrating trees. There is a particular interest in schools that exhibit best practices in urban forestry.Walk through U-M's Diag and it's easy to see why it is getting a coveted spot in the program's inner circle. Among the other participating schools are Northern Kentucky University, University of Texas, Arizona State, Oregon State, the University of Nebraska, Virginia Tech, the University of California-San Diego, and Jackson State in Mississippi.Each school will be recognized with a tree-planting event. About 1,000 trees will be planted during the Tree Campus USA events. Source: Arbor Day FoundationWriter: Jon Zemke

Flagship Air looks to take off from Ann Arbor Airport

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Economic Development

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November 19, 2008

Tim Patton didn’t start out wanting to create a local airline but that's just what the veteran entrepreneur ended up doing with Flagship Private Air."It really started as a personal passion," Patton says.The chairman and CEO of Patton Holdings (based out of Domino Farms) bought a private plane a few years ago for his health-care company. He often needed to go to small, out-of-the-way places like Hershey, Pennsylvania, for business, places that were prohibitively expensive to fly commercially out of Detroit's Metro Airport.He wasn't alone. Plenty of local business people found flying either too expensive or too time inefficient using major airlines. And then the CFL went off over Patton's head."There is no one else doing this here in Ann Arbor," Patton says. "Why not make a business out of this?"Flagship Private Air is set to take off in early December. It has a handful of turbo-prop planes ready to fly from Ann Arbor's Airport to 47 locations throughout the continental U.S., but mainly focused on the Midwest. The chartered planes can carry private parties within 250 miles. Prices are usually kept under $1,000 per person with a minimum of two people. The company can also cater the flights food from Zingerman's as well as set up hotel or rental car reservations. And Patton plans to expand his business to summer resorts in northern cities, like Traverse City or Mackinac Island. The idea of hiring out a small plane for a few people at a reasonable price makes it worthwhile to local business people, especially those concerned with time efficiency. For instance, customers don't have to drive far, go through extensive security checks or fly at the whim of notoriously late airlines.The planes can be rented out on a per trip basis or customer can buy blocks of time at a discount. Flagship even allows clients to become fractional owners in a plane. Think of it like a private-plane timeshare.Patton has high hopes for Flagship Private Air as Ann Arbor's new economy business sector grows in both size and prominence.Source: Tim Patton, chairman and CEO of Patton HoldingsWriter: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor zoning changes promote density, green building

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Community Development

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November 19, 2008

The proposed zoning changes for downtown Ann Arbor are in the middle of their own campaign season as sponsors get ready to go before City Council early next year.The city's Planning Department is holding pubic briefings on the proposed changes this week now that they have been recommended for approval by the city's Planning Commission. Think of the Planning Commission's blessing as winning the primary and the getting City Council approval the general election. It's why city planners are making the rounds with local residents about the proposed changes in both scheduled formal meetings and informal ones."If someone wants to meet, I can do that," says Wendy Rampson, a city planner with the city of Ann Arbor.The proposed changes call for creating more density and a traditional urban environment in the city's core, downtown area. That basically means developers can build structures that are as much as 400 percent bigger than the lot size. Those numbers can go up if the developer meets certain criteria, such as making the building LEED certified or including affordable housing. For instance, a developer can build 650 percent bigger than the lot size if it’s a platinum LEED building. That number can bump up as high as 900 percent with onsite affordable housing.The city plans to hold meetings at 9 a.m. today in the City Council chambers of City Hall and again at 6:30 p.m. in the Washtenaw County building, 200 N Main St. Another will be held at 3:30 p.m. Thursday again in the county building. For information, call (734) 994-2802.Source: Wendy Rampson, a city planner with the city of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke

Stockwell renovation turns historic U-M dorm coed

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Community Development

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November 19, 2008

The University of Michigan's Stockwell Hall is going to be different in more than one way when its renovation wraps up next fall.U-M plans to turn what has been traditionally a women's dorm into a co-ed facility. The thinking is that demand for all-female housing is dwindling. There are approximately 800 available spaces in all-women residences, but only about half that number of female residents requested such housing.Making the circa-1940 structure a co-ed building on the Hill area of the university's campus will allow for more flexibility in student housing options. There will still be four other female-oriented dorms on U-M's campus, including Betsy Barbour and Helen Newberry residences, Martha Cook Building and Henderson House. "We need to rebalance the availability of women’s housing to the larger preference for coeducational living," says Linda Newman, interim director of U-M's University Housing. "At the same time, we can increase the availability of single rooms desired by returning students – women and men." The university recently began renovating Stockwell as part of its Residential Life Initiatives, which is revitalizing and expanding student-living options on campus. The project will preserve the building's Tudor Revival architecture and interior character, while replacing old mechanical, electrical, plumbing, safety technology and elevator systems.The finished project will feature air-conditioned rooms, WiFi access, lounges, kitchenettes and remodeled community bathrooms. What was once the dining hall area will be turned into a new community spaces for music practice, recreation and informal performances. Residents will eat the newly opened Hill Dining Center.Source: University of MichiganWriter: Jon Zemke