FEBRUARY 13 - 19, 2017 NAFTA Research opportunities? bucks rise Ways companies, Local hospitals, workers might universities gain from bene t from Trump’s focus on studying push to rework new treatments, treaty, Page 3 Page 8 Media Obituary Education Gilbert-backed Detroit pizza, TBD magazine School closings come focuses on with economic risk sports baron Detroit stories Mike Ilitch By Kirk Pinho [email protected] Dan Gilbert, perhaps the city’s dies at 87 biggest booster, is bankrolling a new quarterly magazine about De- Bill Shea troit. [email protected] Called TBD, the magazine pub- lishes features on Detroit business- Detroit-born billionaire Mike Il- es, artists and trends, launched its itch, the former minor-league base- website in November and pub- ball player and U.S. Marine turned lished its rst printed issue, which global pizza baron who came to own clocks in at a hefty 114 pages of the Detroit Tigers and Red Wings, thick paper and has no advertising, died Friday at the age of 87. last month. It is loaded with rich Ilitch died at a local hospital, ac- photography and magazine pieces cording to a statement from the Il- from veteran local writers. itch organization. Ilitch reportedly Experts are still guring out had health troubles since the late where in the metro Detroit media 1990s, fading in and out of the spot- ecosystem Bedrock LLC’s TBD light at this team’s public events in magazine ts. CHAD LIVENGOOD PHOTOS recent years, with every absence fu- “I don't think it will tip the mar- The new Mumford High School in Detroit, rebuilt in 2012, might be on the list of schools to be closed under a new plan. eling specula- ket,” said Jack Lessenberry, the tion about his head of the Wayne State University fate. journalism faculty and senior news State plan to shut struggling sites e family director for Michigan Public Radio, said in a state- adding that magazines like Hour could slow Detroit’s turnaround ment it will Detroit generally have a lock on the By Chad Livengood sistently low student test scores. hold a private metro Detroit features niche. [email protected] “To nd out they may be closing, funeral service. “It looks to me like some kind of AT&T retirees Nancy Pickett and that’s devastating to me,” Harrington A public event promotional vehicle in some way, Kimberly Harrington opened a said. is being Mike Ilitch which doesn’t mean it’s not going small vocational training school last With focus on Detroit’s revitaliza- planned Det. to be legitimate.” August, thinking they had the per- tion shifting from downtown and e Detroit native parlayed mod- Bedrock says its $15-per-issue fect location on Wyoming Street in Midtown to the city’s vast neighbor- est roots into a business empire with magazine is about publishing “a northwest Detroit. hoods and commercial corridors, $3.3 billion in annual revenue, led by collection of inspiring people, sto- Pickett and Harrington’s Phleboto- some business and community lead- the Little Caesars pizza chain he ries, and ideas de ning Detroit to- my Express Training Center is across ers are concerned about the impact co-founded with wife Marian Ilitch day” and is “one more way to spark the street from Mumford High School, mass school closings could have on as a $10,000 Garden City startup in curiosity about the city.” which they thought would give them a e orts to turn around pockets of the Kimberly Harrington is student services 1959. “We want people inside and pipeline to recruit recent graduates city that are showing signs of rebirth. coordinator and co-founder of e chain today has more than SEE MAGAZINE , PAGE 18 with the promise of $15-an-hour jobs SEE SCHOOLS , PAGE 17 Phlebotomy Express Training Center. 4,000 locations and is the world’s drawing blood in medical facilities. largest carry-out pizza chain, gener- “I told Nancy this kind of opportu- ating a fortune that Ilitch has used nity needs to be available in the city, since the late 1980s to invest in his and what better place than across the downtown Detroit business and real street from this school?” said Har- estate ventures that admirers say rington, a 1983 Mumford graduate. helped make him a key gure in the Five months after they opened their city’s slow renaissance. doors, Harrington and Pickett’s busi- "My father was a kind-hearted ness plan is threatened after the state’s family man, a big-idea businessman, School Reform O ce announced a hands-on leader and a devoted Mumford as one of 25 Detroit schools philanthropist who created opportu- that may be closed in June due to per- nity and pride for everyone around © Entire contents copyright 2017 him," his son, Christopher Ilitch, by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved president and CEO of Ilitch Holdings crainsdetroit.com Vol. 33 No 7 $2 a copy. $59 a year. Inc., said in a statement. "He was one-of-a-kind, and I’m honored to have worked with him to grow our organization and our hometown. We will never forget his dedication to his employees, players and franchisees, Nir Saar (center) is principal of Mumford Academy, the ninth- and 10th-grade his passion for Detroit, his giving NEWSPAPER classes at Mumford High School on Detroit’s northwest side. He posed for a photo and generous spirit, and his Thursday morning with freshmen Lashonna Merritt (le ) and Tai’mae Jenkins. SEE ILITCH, PAGE 16 P001_CD_20170213.indd 1 2/10/17 7:47 PM 2 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS // FEBRUARY 13, 2017 INSIDE MICHIGAN BRIEFS CALENDAR 14 CLASSIFIED ADS 15 Snyder’s $56.3B budget includes cereals. e company has state will stop funding the city’s $1.2 DEALS & DETAILS 14 targets retiree plans been struggling with slumping sales million per month water payments to of its cereals amid the growing vari- the Great Lakes Water Authority, the KEITH CRAIN 6 Gov. Rick Snyder has proposed ety of breakfasts people are eating. Flint Journal reported. OPINION 6 tackling the state’s unfunded retiree J A newly announced three-year OTHER VOICES 7 obligations by using a more conser- MICH-CELLANOUS strategic plan by Grand Rap- vative estimate for investment re- J Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont ids-based regional economic devel- PEOPLE 14 turns, a move that would require KELLOGG CO. said they’re willing to make more opment group e Right Place Inc. RON FOURNIER 6 higher annual contributions from Kellogg is dealing with a market that is business divestments as a way to calls for $500 million in new capital RUMBLINGS 19 Michigan’s general fund. less hungry for cereal. nudge European regulators who re- investment, MiBiz reported. e or- Addressing legacy debt is among main wary of their proposed merger, ganization’s new strategy includes a WEEK ON THE WEB 19 the spending priorities Snyder out- Kellogg cuts more costs AP reported. A Dow spokesman said focus on tracking its business sup- lined last week in his 2018 scal-year as cereal sales slump last week that among the conces- port systems and more focus on COMPANY INDEX: budget, which proposes increased sions that Midland-based Dow and measuring success in assisting small SEE PAGE 18 spending in such areas as infrastruc- Kellogg Co. is slashing more costs Wilmington, Del.-based DuPont are and medium-sized companies. ture, education, economic develop- as it works on improving slumping willing to make are the sale of part of J Kalamazoo-based Bell’s Brewery force grew by 48 percent — to 4,118 ment and skilled trades training. cereal and snacks sales, AP reported. DuPont’s crop protection business Inc. named Laura Bell to the newly solar-related jobs — in 2016 over the Snyder proposed a general fund e Battle Creek company’s latest — along with its associated research created role of CEO, eective Feb. 1. previous year, according to the Solar budget of $10.1 billion for the scal move includes ending its direct de- and development — and the sale of Her father, company founder Larry Foundation’s National Solar Jobs year that starts Oct. 1, out of a total livery of snack products to super- Dow’s acid copolymers and iono- Bell, will continue as president and Census. e improvement in the $56.3 billion statewide budget. e markets and big-box retailers, and mers business. Dow Chemical and remain active in various projects. rankings by the Washington, D.C., Legislature will work to adopt a nal instead shipping those products to DuPont plan to join in a $62 billion Laura Bell, 31, previously was vice nonprot came mostly from strong 2018 budget in the next several months. warehouses before they move to re- deal and then break apart into three president. Bell’s is Michigan’s largest growth in project development jobs Under Snyder’s spending plan, the tailers’ distribution centers. Kellogg publicly traded companies, but anti- independent craft beer company. and the declining cost of solar pow- state would lower its estimated rate of already uses the warehouse distribu- trust regulators remain hesitant. J Michigan’s solar industry work- er, energy labor experts said. investment returns for statewide re- tion system for the majority of its J e state of Michigan plans to pro- tirement systems from 8 percent to products, but the company says do- vide Flint residents with water lters Corrections 7.5 percent. e estimate would be ing so for all its products will free up and replacement cartridges for about eective immediately to all state em- critical resources to invest more in three more years amid the city’s crisis J A story on Page 1 of the Feb.