China Seeks Clean Tech Fund to Help Michigan Companies Ramp Up
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20111128-NEWS--0001-NAT-CCI-CD_-- 11/23/2011 4:56 PM Page 1 ® www.crainsdetroit.com Vol. 27, No. 49 NOVEMBER 28 – DECEMBER 4, 2011 $2 a copy; $59 a year ©Entire contents copyright 2011 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved Finance Extra Biz owners see brighter China seeks clean tech Fund to help Michigan companies ramp up ray of hope BY TOM HENDERSON Development Ltd. is in the midst of is being built with a commitment CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS a construction project that in- from the Chinese government of cludes about 14 million square $300 million. The Hanson group Survey: Some A real-estate development feet of office and retail space on officials said this is the first of group overseeing one of the 1,200 acres in the heart of Foshan, seven such retail/office/technolo- largest urban development pro- a metropolitan area in southern gy incubators planned across Chi- Best-Managed Nonprofit feel free to hire jects in China has agreed to pro- China with a population of 5.4 mil- na in coming years and includes a winner: Goodwill succeeds vide $30 million for an investment lion. The company also provided shopping center, office buildings fund to help Michigan-based seed money to get the joint ven- and a large technology incubator with a cast-off idea, Page 11 BY NATHAN SKID clean-tech companies ramp up ture off the ground and has com- focusing on clean-tech. CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS production so they can sell to the mitted to raise a much larger fund On Nov. 18, five representa- Chinese market, locate offices of unspecified size to invest in tives from China concluded a While memories of the economic there and form joint ventures Chinese-U.S. joint ventures and to weeklong visit to the U.S. by sign- This Just In downturn live on in the minds of with Chinese startups. license U.S. clean technology. business owners, cautious opti- Foshan Hanson Oriental Business The Foshan real estate project See China, Page 23 Pay gains among top-tier mism is replacing doom-and-gloom pessimism, according to a recent attorneys outpace peers survey conducted Top-tier Michigan lawyers ROUNDTABLE for Crain’s De- in private practice generally troit Business and outperformed their under- Turning corner: Honigman Miller lings, most public sector Panel says Schwartz and Cohn road’s still LLP by Lansing- counterparts and the profes- bumpy, Page 6 sion as a whole in compensa- based Epic-MRA tion gains, according to a Corp. new report by the State Bar of The survey of 300 Southeast Michigan. Michigan business owners and ex- The 2010 Economics of Law ecutives, taken Nov. 11, found a Practice Survey, released in business community that is stabi- full report form last week and lized and slowly growing. based on a survey of 3,775 re- John Cavanaugh, co-founder of spondents statewide, found Epic-MRA, said the findings con- that median pay for private tinue a positive trend noticed in a similar survey done in June. practice attorneys was “We are still an automotive state $84,000, down from $85,000 the — that’s the bread and butter. So previous year. as that industry goes, so goes the The median income of non- attitude of business owners,” Ca- private practice attorneys re- vanaugh said. “We are seeing opti- mained $88,000; in-house counsel at for-profit corpora- See Survey, Page 22 tions saw a 4 percent gain, from $121,500 to $126,000, off- set in part by declines among BIZ BACKS NITC – BARELY city attorneys, public defend- In a poll for Crain’s Detroit Business ers, some federal agency at- and Honigman Miller Schwartz and torneys and in-house counsel Cohn LLP, Gov. Rick Snyder got NATHAN SKID/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS some support from businesspeople App maker Detroit Labs LLC just moved into the Madison Building downtown. From left are co-founders Dan Ward, vice for private companies. president of business development; Nathan Hughes, vice president of software engineering; Henry Balanon, director of Among private practition- for his proposed New International Trade Crossing, although opinion mobile; and Paul Glomski, CEO. ers, median pay grew 3.3 per- was almost evenly split. The cent among managing part- business support, though, was ners ($150,000 to $155,000), better than support from the overall and almost 7 percent among population. An Epic-MRA poll of 600 the top 5 percent of that likely voters conducted Nov. 13-16 for the Detroit Free Press and Movin’ up with downloads group ($750,000 to $800,000). Associates saw slight gains, WXYZ-Channel 7 found 59 percent from $70,000 to $71,000. opposition, with only 30 percent Sole practitioner median support. Investors sign on as app market grows pay decreased as a whole by 7 Business percent or more, and non- owners and BY TOM HENDERSON equity partner median pay executives CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS MORE ON APPS was unchanged. The largest supporting the This is a great market gain for any group was feder- new bridge: Opposed: What began as a trickle in 2008 has be- “ Ⅲ Profiles: Four al prosecutors, who ad- come a flood of local mobile smartphone opportunity, and it companies with vanced nearly 10 percent, app development and downloads. Five lo- app-titude, 46% 44% Page 24 from $130,000 to $142,500. cal app developers have had aggregate cements Detroit as the Ⅲ downloads of more than 1 million each, a Evolution: The — Chad Halcom More poll results, Page 22 rise of a local trade association continues to grow latest hotbed. multibillion-dollar rapidly, and investors are pouring money ” sector, into the space. Josh Linkner, ePrize Inc. Page 24 Dan Gilbert, founder of Detroit-based Quicken Loans Inc., and Josh Linkner, and to serve as an incubator for app- founder of Pleasant Ridge-based ePrize based companies they hope to spin off. CRAIN’S LIST Inc., are the highest-profile investors in Three weeks ago, Detroit Labs moved Largest Southeast local smartphone apps. Their investment into the recently rehabbed Madison Michigan app firm, Detroit Venture Partners LLC, formed Building in downtown Detroit, one of a developers, Page 17 NEWSPAPER Detroit Labs LLC in the spring to do app de- velopment for large commercial clients See Apps, Page 24 20111128-NEWS--0002-NAT-CCI-CD_-- 11/23/2011 4:23 PM Page 1 Page 2 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS November 28, 2011 MICHIGAN BRIEFS Genesee chamber seeks support fees from Pfizer for setting up the program. We have to wait and see for aerotropolis designation State scrambles to restore renaissance zone tax break what the volumes will be for Pfizer Remember when “aerotropolis” to retain their profitability.” When the Minervini Group LLC decided turn the residents of the zones. Revoking it was “inadver- looked like a typo? Now, it’s look- — Jay Greene abandoned Traverse City Regional Psychiatric Hospital tent,” she said. Sen. David Hildenbrand, R-Lowell, ing like a trend. Following on the into the Village at Grand Traverse Commons mixed-use sponsor of the Senate bills, hopes legislation can be heels of the state’s first aerotropo- development, it counted on state tax incentives that passed and sent to Snyder this week. The Legisla- Chamber-visitors bureau merger: lis around Detroit Metropolitan Air- came from having the site designated a renaissance ture returns to session today. port and a campaign to seek a simi- A good idea, not a good surprise zone. Like developers throughout Michigan, Min- The 10 renaissance zones in Grand Rapids “were lar designation for the region ervini used the elimination of the state income tax absolutely successful,” said Kara Wood, the city’s Speaking of the Genesee Region- surrounding Lansing’s Capital Area in the zone to lure condominium buyers. economic development director. Those zones have al Chamber, the organization also International Airport, the Genesee Re- But Minervini was surprised to learn that the received more than $413 million in private invest- likes the idea of merging with the gional Chamber of Commerce wants Snyder administration and Legislature — as part of ment since 1997 and have created 1,630 jobs, not in- Flint-Genesee County Convention & municipalities in Lapeer, Shi- a broader overhaul of the state tax code — quietly cluding temporary construction jobs. The zones also Visitors Bureau. But that bureau is- awassee, Oakland and St. Clair had taken back the tax break. attracted hundreds of residents downtown, as old of- n’t prepared to be as accommodat- counties to get behind its effort. Sara Wurfel, Gov. Rick Snyder’s press secretary, fice buildings, warehouses and factories were con- ing, with officials telling The Flint The aerotropolis designation — confirmed that the administration is working with verted into condominiums and apartments. Journal that they never were con- known formally as the Next Michigan the Legislature to restore the income tax break for — Pat Shellenbarger sulted. Development Corp. — allows regions Among the people who also like near airports, rail lines and high- the merger are members of the ways to use tax incentives to attract Michigan companies plan to work ter on the shore of Muskegon Lake. mail Lipitor to patients who order Genesee County Board of Commis- businesses. The Genesee chamber on a Muskegon manufacturing cen- Besides manufacturing, the the pills through the pharmacy. sioners, which determines what or- told The Flint Journal that the idea ter to develop Michigan’s wind en- Muskegon-based energy center Diplomat then would bill the pa- ganizations share a hotel room tax is one of the biggest economic devel- ergy industry.