DETROIT BUSINESS MAIN 10-29-07 A 1 CDB 10/26/2007 6:11 PM Page 1 ® http://www.crainsdetroit.com Vol. 23, No. 44 OCTOBER 29 –NOVEMBER 4, 2007 $2 a copy; $59 a year ©Entire contents copyright 2007 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved THIS JUST IN Chrysler property for sale Compuware planning Chrysler L.L.C. is cleaning up its books, listing $23 million worth of industrial property in metro Detroit for sale. The five listings are va- cant or soon-to-be vacant $1B Covisint IPO properties in Detroit, Ster- ling Heights and Windsor. Selling off unneeded property is one of the first Company to retain some ownership moves by a turnaround firm to pay down debt and BY TOM HENDERSON create liquidity, said Kevin CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS Prokop, a former turn- THE COVISINT STORY around specialist at the Ⅲ Founded: By the Detroit 3 in a joint venture Compuware Corp. hopes to raise at least $1 billion in an ini- Southfield-based private-eq- in 2000. LEAH BOYD tial public offering of its Compuware Covisint subsidiary and uity firm Questor Manage- The Fort Street facility may lose mail- Ⅲ Purpose: Revolutionize through Web-based has hired Morgan Stanley, the New York-based investment ment Co. L.L.C. and co- sorting operations to Pontiac. procurement and online auctions the way banker, to study the IPO’s feasibility. founder with Dan Gilbert of parts were bought and sold in the auto Compuware already has conducted an a new Livonia-based pri- supply chain. Standard & Poor’s predicted internal study of the possible IPO of its suc- vate-equity group, Rock- $200 billion would flow through Covisint’s portals. cessful business unit and hopes to spin out Bridge Equity Partners L.L.C. Biggest loss the company in the next year, according to New York City-based Cer- Ⅲ Sold: To Compuware Corp. for $7.1 million in 2004. Company had offered too many Covisint President and COO Bob Paul. berus Capital Management services and foundered. Bob Paul was “The coolest thing coming out of this L.P. acquired Chrysler on promoted to president in 2003 and told to fix story is that in the next six to 12 months, Aug. 3. in mail move the company or kill it. He trimmed lines of we could have a high-tech IPO that does- The five properties were business, sold the rest. n’t come out of Silicon Valley,” Paul said. listed last week on the com- Ⅲ Revenue: $11.2 million annually when Paul Paul said Compuware would retain at mercial real estate Web sold. Had revenue of $19.6 million in the least a 50 percent share in the company. site Loopnet. The Southfield may be city’s first two quarters of Compuware’s current He said retaining some ownership would allow shareholders office of UGL Equis Corp. is fiscal year, on track to 65 percent growth to benefit from the revenue generated by the IPO while re- the broker. The company over last year. taining the possibility that Covisint’s performance in the fu- declined to comment. Ⅲ Employees: 224 and expected to grow by 15 percent-20 percent in the next year. For sale are: postmark See Covisint, Page 40 The Sterling Heights Vehicle Testing Center, BY CHAD HALCOM 155,000 square feet on 38 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS acres at 7150 Metro Park- way, Sterling Heights. List- Despite claims by an employee ed at $7 million, the center union, moving mail-sorting opera- is one of four operations tions from downtown Detroit to a named to close in this new regional facility in Pontiac in It’s in the wind year’s United Auto Workers 2008 wouldn’t disrupt next-day de- negotiations. livery of mail within the city, say A former full-size van U.S. Postal Service officials. DTE lays groundwork for more renewable energy sources plant at 3035 Pillette Road And it shouldn’t affect the opera- in Windsor. The 164-acre tions of large mailers, such as Blue BY AMY LANE sibility of a project that could property is listed at $13.5 Cross Blue Shield of Michigan or DTE CAPITOL CORRESPONDENT help it meet a brewing state stan- million. Energy Co., they added. dard to require utilities to obtain The former Winfield The Pontiac plant is scheduled LANSING — DTE Energy Co. is a percentage of their future pow- Foundry property south- to open early next year and is sup- laying groundwork for a 30,000- er generation from renewable west of Van Dyke and posed to consolidate some func- plus acre wind development that sources. Lynch roads in Detroit. tions of the Detroit district and the could provide power to its South- Such a standard is under dis- The 45-acre property is list- Southeast Michigan District of the east Michigan customers and cussion in the Capitol as part of a ed at $2 million. Postal Service, which also in- cost an estimated $1.2 billion to state strategy to meet long-term Vacant land on Mound cludes Oakland County. $1.5 billion. energy needs. ISTOCK PHOTO.COM/MARK EVANS Road near Outer Drive in The consolidation is expected to This is the largest wind-energy “Michigan started talking Detroit. The 7-acre proper- save the Postal Service about $4.3 project proposed in Michigan. about a renewable-portfolio stan- WIND POWER ty, currently used as a park- million a year in operating costs, Utilities, state officials and busi- dard in earnest about third quar- ing lot, is listed at $300,000. Ⅲ What: DTE has purchased said Nancy Rettinhouse, Detroit nesses increasingly are looking ter last year,” said Trevor Lauer, A 12,000-square-foot easements on some 30,000 acres district manager of postal opera- at renewable energy to power DTE vice president of marketing. in Michigan’s Thumb. former industrial building tions, by eliminating some em- part of Michigan’s future. “As we got involved in discus- Ⅲ at 14420 Plymouth Road, The goal: Turbines would likely ployee positions while maintain- DTE has purchased easements sions … we thought it would be a be built in clusters, forming four or Detroit, next to a current ing the same level of service. on some 30,000 acres in the very logical thing to start to pur- five separate wind farms in the Chrysler facility. The prop- Another casualty of the change Thumb area’s Huron, Tuscola chase easements.” region. Electricity produced would erty is listed at $190,000. would be the loss of a Detroit post- and Sanilac counties and has The 30,000 acres could accom- flow into Detroit Edison Co.’s — Daniel Duggan system, and the windmills would be mark in most mailings. erected towers that measure modate about 300 wind turbines See This Just In, Page 2 wind speed, as it studies the fea- part of the utility’s rate base. See Postal Service, Page 40 See Energy, Page 40 Bought out but buying EXECUTIVE WHEELS into a new education, Green can mean more than just a NEWSPAPER Page 11 car color today, Page 25 DETROIT BUSINESS MAIN 10-29-07 A 2 CDB 10/26/2007 6:19 PM Page 1 Page 2 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS October 29, 2007 Mazur, CEO of Mid-America Asso- lion in the effort. for half of $1.2 billion in new THIS JUST IN ciates insurance company. — Sherri Begin business that the company has The Pontiac City Council will booked over the next several ■ From Page 1 continue meeting with develop- years. ers this week in an attempt to American Axle plans overseas “The way we did the business Stuart Frankel throws in award the contract. plants in India, Thailand with our traditional pick-up and — Daniel Duggan SUV products, our pond — our $9.4M bid for Silverdome American Axle & Manufacturing market size to fish in — was $7 Holdings Inc. said Friday it plans billion,” Rahangdale said. “The Troy-based developer Stuart Study: E-prescriptions reduce to open a manufacturing plant in Frankel Development Co. has way we are expanding our drive- India next year and is planning a line products, we are now fishing stepped forward as a bidder for medication errors plant in Thailand. the Pontiac Silverdome site. around in a $27 billion market.” The Southeast Michigan e-Pre- The company is evaluating — Brent Snavely The company plans a conven- scribing Initiative has released re- sites in India, said American tion and conference center on the search that indicates e-prescrib- Axle President and COO Yogen site, along with a mixed-use re- ing significantly reduces Rahangdale, and Thailand ranks DTE continues union talks search and industrial park and a medication errors. second in the world for produc- DTE Energy Co. and union elec- retail development. Frankel pro- The initiative is a coalition tion of pick-up trucks. poses a phased development, trical workers were continuing that includes: Blue Cross Blue The company declined to name negotiations at press time in the with 100,000 square feet devel- Shield of Michigan, Health Alliance the programs or customers it oped at a time, according to bid wake of DTE’s notice last week Plan, Henry Ford Medical Group, plans to serve with those plants. that it could terminate the work- documents released by the city of Medco Health Solutions Inc., CVS Detroit-based American Axle Pontiac. ers’ contract. Caremark Corp., General Motors (NYSE: AXL) also showcased a Workers earlier this month re- Also according to Pontiac doc- Corp., Ford Motors Co. and Chrysler group of products for all-wheel- uments, Frankel’s offer is $9.4 jected the three-year tentative L.L.C.