Ann Arbor

NetEnrich to open Ann Arbor-area office, create 225 jobs

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October 15, 2008

More IT R&D is coming to A2, thanks in part to incentives from the MEDC. Confused yet? Don't worry, the bottom line is another 225 jobs for Ann Arbor.NetEnrich plans to open an office in Ann Arbor by the end of the month and hire 225 people within 10 years. Of those, 40-50 people will be brought in within one year."The number one reason we choose Ann Arbor was people," says Raju Chekuri, president & CEO of NetEnrich. "Ann Arbor has a lot of technical folks who understand what we do for a living."Another big factor in the decision is a $3.9 million tax credit from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. That money, which will be spread out over 10 years, played a significant role in luring NetEnrich to Michigan over states like Florida and South Carolina.The California-based IT company will invest $2.7 million in a new R&D and Network Operations Center. A specific space for the NetEnrich office hasn’t been decided yet, however, Ann Arbor SPARK is helping them choose a location."In a week's time, we'll have it nailed down," Chekuri says.Source: Raju Chekuri, president & CEO of NetEnrichWriter: Jon Zemke

FlexSys uses flexibility to triple employment in Ann Arbor

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Education

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October 15, 2008

Flexibility is something will all strive for, but it's Ann Arbor-based FlexSys' bread and butter.University of Michigan Engineering Professor Sridhar Kota started the form in 2001 after being inspired by nature. He noticed how many man-made objects are strong and rigid, but how most things in nature are strong and flexible.His company, now seven employees and three independent contractors strong, is taking that natural approach to heart. It designs products that are strong, have few parts and are incredibly flexibility."We can design things to have a minimal number of parts that can still perform a number of sophisticated functions," Kota says.The products range from blades for windshield wipers to helicopters. It is also worked to make the wings for airplanes more flexible (an idea the feds have been unsuccessfully trying to develop for years), thus reducing drag and making them more efficient.The company went from starting with a $100,000 grant to $5 million budget. It’s now trying create flexible blades for the blades of wind turbines. Kota expects that such flexibility could make them 15 percent more efficient, a huge step forward in developing that sector of sustainable energy.Flexsys expects to build and test a full-scale wind turbine employing their technology by the end of next year. If it pans out, it will mean at least 10 more research positions in the company and many more manufacturing jobs."We would add a significant number of people," says Sridhar Kota, president and CEO of FlexSysSource: Sridhar Kota, president and CEO of FlexSysWriter: Jon Zemke

Taubman springs $22 million gift on U-M for medical research

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Education

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October 15, 2008

The University of Michigan is caught in a catch-22, and that's just fine. Alfred Taubman, the retail mogul, gave the university $22 million for medical research last week. That's one year after the former U-M student gave his alma matter another $22 million. The first $22 million helped endow athe new Taubman Medical Research Institute, which is focused on understanding, treating and preventing human disease. The second $22 million, which will be bequeathed to the university, will also go toward the endowment.The money will fund research from U-M's top scientists (cleverly called Taubman Scholars) from the university's Medical School. There are currently five Taubman Scholars who receive $200,000 per year over three years to help pay for their laboratory teams to research things like stem cells.Taubman is one of U-M's most generous supporters, giving of more than $60 million before the latest $22 million installment. Most of that was raised by the University's $2.5 billion Michigan Difference campaign.Source: University of MichiganWriter: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor OccuSciences plans to go from 5 to 25-30 employees by 2010

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Education

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October 15, 2008

OccuSciences plans to start conducting clinical trails on its new diabetes early detection technology in November.If the tests go as expected the Ann Arbor-based start-up expects to go on a hiring binge within the next two years. The 1-year-old firm predicts a jump from its current staff of five people to 15 by the beginning of 2010. That could jump again to 25-30 people by the end of 2010.OccuSciences is a University of Michigan spin-off created by professors Dr. Victor Elner and Howard Petty. It's main product is a technology that assesses metabolic stress in the retina of a human eye. Put simply, it scans an eye to detect whether the patient has diseases like diabetes or glaucoma. "Our test measures how the actual cells and tissues are doing," says Matt Field, business manager with OccuSciences.This allows optometrists to see if someone has (or is at risk of developing) diabetes or glaucoma 10-15 years before it can be detected through traditional testing. And it can be done as quickly and easily as a traditional eye test.Right now, OccuSciences is using a $150,000 grant to develop a prototype of the technology. It plans to conduct testing through the latter part of this year, all of next year and into 2010. It hopes to begin commercialization (and job creation) soon after.Source: Matt Field, business manager with OccuSciencesWriter: Jon Zemke

Could revised 601 Forest plans leave space for another high-density development?

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Community Development

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October 15, 2008

Could the fight over the 601 Forest project just be prelude to another fight down the road? It might turn out that way as its developers' revised plans for a smaller version of the high-rise development are approved next week.The new designs shrink the original plans by half. The 'adjusted' building would be 14 stories tall instead of 26. It would house 150-175 rooms with 570-610 beds for students at the nearby University of Michigan. That's down from 342 residential units with 1,100 beds in the original plans. 601 Forest would replace the Village Corner party store and a nearby apartment building. The adjacent Mud Bowl would be left alone. The new proposed building's footprint is almost half its original size. "That remaining parcel is about a half acre," says Matt Kowalski, a city planner for the city of Ann Arbor. "It's a significant parcel."The developers, Hughes Properties and Omena Real Estate Investments, haven't proposed doing anything with it yet. They could come back with another proposal for a high-density, high-rise development down the road if the new plans are approved at City Council's meeting Monday evening.If such a scenario played out, it could achieve the same density as originally proposed but with slightly smaller buildings. When you consider that the ugly national economy and skittish lending markets are making it harder for big-ticket projects, splitting the project into two buildings over time could be a viable way of achieving the same goal.Attempts to reach the developers for comment proved unsuccessful.The battle over 601 Forrest has been raging for months now as Ann Arbor struggles with the idea of expanding vertically at its core in an urban fashion or continuing with horizontal, suburban-sprawl-style growth. The city has already approved a handful of other mid-rise and high-rise residential projects and has several more awaiting approval.The argument in favor of vertical developments like 601 Forest is that their density and proximity to the city's center are in sync with sustainable practices and smart growth. Opponents claim such tall buildings create more density than infrastructure can handle and create adverse natural phenomenon, such as wind tunnels. Stay tuned for more on this subject.Source: Matt Kowalski, city planner for the city of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke

Five Ann Arbor IT companies to add nearly 1,000 jobs in 10 years

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Community Development

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October 15, 2008

The new economy isn’t just growing in Ann Arbor, it’s flourishing. Excerpt: After a series of expansion announcements this year, Ann Arbor's information technology sector has reasserted its role as the region's top job growth engine. Five IT companies with existing local offices and one outside firm this year have revealed plans to add nearly 1,000 jobs over the next few years. Together, that would equal almost double the number of employees that Google has today at its AdWords headquarters in Ann Arbor. "It's probably the strongest of the technology sectors in Ann Arbor, and sometimes we lose sight of that," said Michael Finney, CEO of Ann Arbor SPARK, Washtenaw County's economic development organization. Read the rest of the story here, how Toyota just opened its new technical center near Ann Arbor here and how about a dozen local companies are in line for a number of Dept. of Defense contracts here.

Ann Arbor goes after big funding to expand trails, bike lanes

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Community Development

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October 15, 2008

Ann Arbor wants to squeeze a lot of active transportation projects into a short span of time, with the help of a new proposed federal program.Active transportation can be summed as anything that doesn't involve an automobile. Projects that enhance active transportation include bike lanes, walking trails and other assorted greenways.The Rails-To-Trails 2010 Campaign for Active Transportation is a proposed federal initiative to help build that very type of infrastructure. The program intends to dole out $50 million in federal funds for such improvements to each participating city, and Ann Arbor has its sights firmly set on being one of them."It can enable us to implement a generation of transportation initiatives in five short years," says Eli Cooper, transportation manager for the city of Ann Arbor.The city plans to announce its efforts to win a spot in the program at 1:30 p.m. Monday in front of City Hall. If successful, the $50 million would build another 38 miles of bike lanes, 25 miles of new sidewalks, 128 pedestrian crossings, finishing the Border to Border Trail and launching the Allen Creek Greenway initiative.A number of local organizations are working to make this happen, including the Ann Arbor Transit Authority, Washtenaw County, the University of Michigan, Border-to-Border Trail Group, Ann Arbor Public Schools, getDowntown, Allen Creek Greenway Partners, Washtenaw Bicycling and Walking Coalition and surrounding communities. Source: Eli Cooper, transportation manager for the city of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke

Live from Ann Arbor it’s Neil Young… circa 1968

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Arts & Culture

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October 15, 2008

Pushing back his Archives Vol 1 (1963-1972) album, Niel Young instead opts to release his famous two-night stand at the Canterbury House in Ann Arbor, in 1968.Excerpt:"Some forty years after taking the stage at Ann Arbor, Michigan's Canterbury House for a two-night run, Neil Young will release Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968. The disc, which collects tunes from his November 9-10, 1968 gigs at the titular venue, is due to arrive November 25 from Reprise, according to a Billboard.com report."Read the news here, and here.

Pacific Rim expands into old Ehnis & Sons space in downtown Ann Arbor

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Development News

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October 15, 2008

The old Ennis & Sons storefront in downtown Ann Arbor is about to undergo a dramatic transformation now that the Pacific Rim By Kana plans to take over the space.Ennis & Sons spent nearly a century selling work boots and clothes at 116 W. Liberty St. before closing up two years ago. University of Michigan architects Tom Buresh and Danelle Guthrie bought the late 19th Century structure shortly after and turned the upper floors into a home.The ground floor storefront stayed empty until Duc Tang (pronounced Duke Tan) recently agreed to expand his pan-Asian restaurant into the space. The change promises to be striking, turning the home of blue-collar uniform essentials, such as Red Wing boots and Carhartt jackets into the modern, Far East-inspired decor that of Pacific Rim.The 1,500-square-foot restaurant will nearly double its space, adding more dinning space, a bar and a private dining room in the 1,400 square foot Ennis & Sons storefront. "I always felt the restaurant was incomplete without those elements," Tang says. "We've gotten a lot of requests for a private dining area."The 7-year-old restaurant has enjoyed a good bit of success recently in the face of a tough economy. Pacific Rim recently logged its best two weekends of business, and Tang expect that to continue once the restaurant is enlarged.He plans to start construction later this month and have it finished by early next year.Source: Duc Tang, chef and owner of Pacific Rim By KanaWriter: Jon Zemke

Survey: UM best public college in America, 18th-best in world

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Education

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October 15, 2008

The University of Michigan is once again recognized as the leader and the best among public colleges in the U.S.Excerpt:The University of Michigan is the top-rated public university in the nation, and ranks among the top 20 public or private universities in the world, according to rankings released late Wednesday by London-based Times Higher Education magazine.The publication's 2008 World University Rankings rates UM 18th on a list of the world’s top 200 higher education institutions, immediately below Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. The Ann Arbor-based university moves up from 38th in the 2007 rankings and 29th in 2006.Read the rest of the story here and how U-M set a new record in research spending here.