20140825-NEWS--0001-NAT-CCI-CD_-- 8/22/2014 7:23 PM Page 1 ® www.crainsdetroit.com Vol. 30, No. 34 AUGUST 25 – 31, 2014 $2 a copy; $59 a year ©Entire contents copyright 2014 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved The Great Flood Positively Heaps of trouble: Scrap COURTESY OF GENERAL SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT A rendering of a 2,500-seat ballpark in Utica that yards feel flooded, too recharged would cost up to $10 million and be open by 2015 or ISTOCK PHOTO 2016. Developmental teams would play there. The $981M question: What if it happens again? Cash surge, lighter batteries power A123 comeback Page 3 BY DUSTIN WALSH Appleby’s next CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS Brewster-Douglass goes 123 Systems LLC is in down; what’s up for site? the midst of a at-bat: Ballpark, A recharge. Over the past five years, Focus: Employment Law the Livonia-based manufac- turer of automotive lithium- HR’s new ion batteries rode a wave of league in Utica balancing act: politician hype, projected de- mand that never material- BY BILL SHEA Sexuality ized and product failures that CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS landed the company in Chap- Rochester sports entrepreneur Andy Apple- laws are changing, ter 11 bankruptcy protection. by is giving baseball another shot. Page 11 Despite political opposi- Perhaps best known today tion, A123 emerged from U.S. for his ownership of English Bankruptcy Court last year un- soccer club Derby County, This Just In der the ownership of Chinese which in May fell just shy of supplier conglomerate Wanxi- promotion to Britain’s global- Water board approves ang Group Corp., made sweep- DUSTIN WALSH ly popular Premier League, Ap- ing changes to its business Jason Forcier, CEO of A123: “We’re no longer focused on chemistries pleby last week unveiled buyback of DWSD bonds but on markets, which I think is a big change in our thinking.” plan and is expected to have a plans to build an $8 million to The Detroit Board of Water positive cash flow for the first $10 million baseball stadium Commissioners unanimously time in its history this year. everything from its manage- ate just above a net zero cash in Utica that would open in approved a buyback of water A123 batteries manufac- ment team to its product line- flow on revenue of $200 mil- 2015 or 2016. Appleby and sewer bonds Friday after tured in Livonia and Romu- up. lion in 2014, compared with a He’s also creating an inde- reaching deals with enough lus are already powering ve- Most significantly, A123 loss of $100 million in 2013 pendent league of three developmental teams to investors to proceed with a hicle models such as the eased its emphasis on a sin- and $300 million in 2013. jointly use the 2,500-seat stadium for a May-Sep- debt refinancing. BMW 3 series, Chevrolet gular lithium-ion technology tember schedule. Owners of bonds from the Spark and McLaren MP4-12C to power passenger cars and From darkness to light The venture, which also includes a small Detroit Water and Sewerage De- — and many are being is emerging as a player in mixed-use retail-condo phase, is the product of partment agreed to sell back shipped to China as its mar- low-voltage lithium-ion bat- Under Wanxiang, A123 Appleby’s sports firm, Rochester-based General $1.47 billion, or about 28 per- ket evolves. These kinds of teries for weight savings and made sweeping management Sports and Entertainment LLC. The firm for sever- cent, of the system’s $5.2 bil- contracts are expected to amp other fuel-efficient technolo- changes, including the firing al years owned a Single-A minor league team in lion in outstanding debt, ac- up in the next several years. gies. of CEO David Vieau and oth- Fort Wayne, Ind., that was part of the San Diego cording to Bondholder To improve its position, The new strategy is expect- Communications Group LLC. A123 was forced to rethink ed to help the company gener- See A123, Page 25 See Ballpark, Page 24 The plan and refinancing were presented as a way for investors to part with their se- curities at a known price and for the city to free up cash with new, lower-cost debt. Fresh Thyme plans at least 4 stores for Detroit area The buyback means the Michigan Finance Authority is on BY KIRK PINHO Papa Joe’s Gourmet Market and Colein Whicher, company director track to issue bonds this week CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS Whole Foods Market Inc. in of marketing and strategy. to replace the old debt and pay Rochester Hills and the Whole Those stores are expected to be for system improvements. At least four Fresh Thyme Farmers Foods and Nino Salvaggio Interna- about 30,000 square feet, a real es- Should the deal move for- Market grocery stores are expected tional Marketplace in Troy. tate source said. Another Fresh ward as planned, investors to open in metro Detroit in 2016, The Phoenix-based natural gro- Thyme store received site plan ap- and bond insurers would and the new supermarket chain is cer will open stores in the 137,000- proval from the Northville Township drop their objections to the swinging for the fences in its site square-foot Troy Commons shopping Planning Commission in June, said water and sewer portions of selection. center, at Big Beaver and Rochester Jennifer Frey, the township’s di- Detroit’s debt-cutting plan in That’s because Fresh Thyme is roads in Troy, and the 123,000- rector of community development. the city’s bankruptcy case, COURTESY OF FRESH THYME FARMER’S MARKET taking the competition head-on by Fresh Thyme Farmers Market plans to square-foot Hampton Plaza shopping That 29,000-square-foot develop- according to court records. planning stores near other gro- center, at Hamlin and Rochester — Bloomberg take on Papa Joe’s, Whole Foods and other high-end grocers. cers vying for similar clientele: the roads in Rochester Hills, said See Fresh Thyme, Page 21 Intellectual property? WNJJ.coom Game on. (see our ad on page 2) ATTORNEYS AT LAW NEWSPAPER 20140825-NEWS--0002-NAT-CCI-CD_-- 8/22/2014 1:49 PM Page 1 Page 2 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS August 25, 2014 MICHIGAN BRIEFS W. Mich. commercial real estate The hospital property contains park land that cannot be transferred report looking up, as are rents Herman Miller decides to get out of the office more without a citywide vote, some attor- Judging by the second-quarter neys told MLive. With the acquisition last month of Connecticut- hospitality and even residential. Ⅲ Greensboro, N.C.-based Tanger real estate market reports from Col- based Design Within Reach Inc., Zeeland-based Herman CEO Brian Walker emphasized that the company liers International’s West Michigan Outlets Factory Outlet Centers Inc. will Miller Inc. aims to push far deeper into consumer fur- is not moving away from contract office furniture. break ground on its third Michigan office, the region can expect to see niture to top the $500 million mark in annual sales, Rather, Herman Miller seeks to tap the much larger mall, this one in Byron Township reasonable growth and increasing MiBiz reports. consumer segment at a time when mobile technolo- near Grand Rapids. Tanger’s other rents in the months ahead, MiBiz Design Within Reach, a distributor of modern fur- gy enables people to work from anywhere. As work outlet centers in the state are in reports. While the Colliers reports niture, lighting and accessories, gives Herman Miller and home become more blended, that creates more Howell Township along I-96 and didn’t signal any significant a new platform to accelerate growth in the consumer opportunity to market crossover products under the West Branch along I-75. changes from the first quarter — segment. It views the $95 billion segment as far less Herman Miller brand. Ⅲ If you’re a nonprofit seeking nor warn of any rapid changes com- volatile than the $10 billion office furniture industry Speaking of office furniture, the latest quarterly an extremely well-lit venue that af- ing in the third quarter — they did and as offering greater growth potential. survey by Michael A. Dunlap & Associates in Holland fords views of the water pretty reveal positive momentum across Moving into the consumer segment fits with an produced an industry index of 55.62 in July, up from much just about everywhere, then all commercial real estate sectors in “office to everywhere” strategy established a decade 54.6 in April and 54.36 a year earlier. That’s above register to bid on Round Island West Michigan. ago after a three-year downturn in the early 2000s. the average of 54.37 in the 10 years that the firm has Passage Lighthouse near Mack- Most notable, perhaps, is that The strategy pushed Herman Miller to serve a cross- polled executives at furniture makers and their sup- inac Island. Bidding to date has limited inventory has become section of markets — office, health care, education, pliers to gauge activity in 10 key categories. reached $20,000, the Detroit Free more of an issue, especially in the Press reported. Night light includ- retail segment. Additionally, the ed. Loud doorbell, too. report noted that much of the cur- ported. Execs stress that doesn’t up from 32 a year ago. The credit nell Earley said he won’t rule out Find business news from rent industrial activity involves necessarily mean the credit union union ended the second quarter putting Hurley Medical Center up for around the state at crainsdetroit new construction.