20131021-NEWS--0001-NAT-CCI-CD_-- 10/18/2013 5:46 PM Page 1 ® www.crainsdetroit.com Vol. 29, No. 43 OCTOBER 21 – 27, 2013 $2 a copy; $59 a year ©Entire contents copyright 2013 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved Page 3 Health systems have good The D speaks to Chinese biz 2013; 2014 outlook uncertain Good deals in real estate draw investors; more expected BY DUSTIN WALSH $9.4 million, respectively, outbidding De- some difficulties there is a growing CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS troit-based Rock Ventures LLC, said Ryan movement to rejuvenate the city.” SUZETTE HACKNEY Snoek, a real estate consultant who coor- Established in 1989, DDI has prop- The growing wealth in China is lead- dinated the sale on behalf of the seller, in erties in Shanghai, Nanjing, Cheng- ing to an influx of investment from the the crainsdetroit.com story. du and other Chinese cities, as well nation as metro Detroit continues its Greg Elliott, an attorney with Farm- as properties in California. As new watering holes open, economic rebound. ington Hills-based law firm Hoffert & Local experts on the Chinese mar- PJ’s works to turn a profit Crain’s first reported last week that Associates PC, represented DDI locally ket said metro Detroit should pre- September’s auction sale of the David but declined to comment on the firm or pare itself for more deals. There’s an Stott and former Detroit Free Press the deals. In a statement, the company influx of Chinese investment as the VC deals in state are most buildings was won by Chinese real es- said it “carefully researched the two U.S. and local markets remain tate developer DDI Group. properties and appreciated their her- strong investment options in the ever for 3rd quarter The Shanghai-based company, also COSTAR GROUP itage and positioning in the city.” midst of insecurity and slower The David Stott building sold called the Dongdu International Group, ac- The company also “respected the dri- growth in China. quired the two downtown Detroit build- to DDI Group of Shanghai for Inside ve amongst the local business commu- $4.2 million, outbidding ings, sight unseen, for $4.2 million and nity that while the city is going through See China, Page 25 Detroit-based Rock Ventures. LARRY PEPLIN Quicker audits For many donated police ASSOCIATED PRESS on biz agenda for cars, red-tape delay is their Detroit lot in life, Page 4 This Just In new Treasury chief Wixom’s Alta Equipment BY CHRIS GAUTZ soccer no CAPITOL CORRESPONDENT acquires rental company When Kevin Clinton takes over as state trea- Wixom-based Alta Equipment surer on Nov. 1, the former insurance executive Co. said Friday that it has ac- will face a laundry list of changes being pushed quired the assets of Evans by the business community and awaiting leg- Equipment Co. Inc. Terms were free kick islative approval. not disclosed. free kick Outgoing Treasurer Andy Alta, which sells industrial Dillon announced his resigna- equipment such as forklifts Backers must win site bid, beat odds on profitability tion this month, citing person- and excavators, will retain the al issues. He’s leaving a de- 25 employees at Evans’ opera- partment in transition, one tions in Burton near Flint. BY BILL SHEA sional soccer league’s 19 clubs make being asked to adopt a more Evans is a contractor rental AND DUSTIN WALSH money, sources familiar with the situ- customer-friendly way of do- CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS supply business for industrial ation told Crain’s. ing business while meeting its and construction customers. primary objectives. That means even if the family is “Evans Equipment has been he family behind a plan for a While it’s the Michigan De- a solid player in the rental successful in its bid to purchase the local Major League Soccer Clinton partment of Treasury’s primary business for over 32 years,” team is expected to find out county land and turn it into a mixed- job to collect revenue that Steven Greenawalt, founder and funds state operations, busi- this week if it will be the suc- use development including an open- FIXES CEO of Alta, said in a state- T 8 ness groups are rankled over air soccer stadium, its success in ment. “In that time, they estab- cessful bidder for the unfinished Bills take aim at some of its practices, such as lished a very loyal customer Wayne County jail site. If it is, it will growing a stable fan base that will Treasury practices, lengthy timelines for tax au- base, particularly in construc- Page 21 be the culmination of a three-year spend the money required to make dits and no mechanism for tion tool, aerial lift and power making lower-cost compro- equipment rental segments.” plan to bring the sport to metro De- the Detroit team a money-making mise arrangements and payment plans, such as David Glass, former co- troit. enterprise is far from a given. those that can be negotiated with the IRS. owner of Evans, now will But even if the Apostolopoulos fam- Pro soccer is a hard dollar: Even the Bills working their way through the Legisla- serve as Alta’s branch man- ture would set a one-year deadline for the de- majority of the elite English Premier ager at the Burton location. ily wins against a rival bid for the partment to complete a tax audit for a business, Alta is on track for more land by Dan Gilbert, it still will face League soccer teams are in the red, greatly limit the use of indirect auditing in de- than $200 million in revenue an uphill battle to make a team prof- according to public reports. termining tax liability and institute a program in 2013, up from $152 million for taxpayers to, in some cases, work with the in 2012. itable. Just four or five of the profes- See Soccer, Page 22 — Chris Gautz See Treasury, Page 21 Yearning for legal peace of mind? (see our ad on page 9) ‰ ATTORNEYS AT LAW A BETTER PARTNERSHIP WNJ.com NEWSPAPER 20131021-NEWS--0002-NAT-CCI-CD_-- 10/18/2013 4:52 PM Page 1 Page 2 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS October 21, 2013 MICHIGAN BRIEFS Amtrak ridership in Michigan Ⅲ A Swedish company with the incredibly appropriate name grew faster than overall U.S. With Great Lakes levels so low, talk turns to adapting Swedish Biogas is turning human Amtrak’s Michigan ridership in- waste into fuel as part of a project creased 4 percent in the fiscal year The implications of lower water levels are numer- University’s Muskegon campus. in Flint. But MLive.com reports that ended Sept. 30, compared with ous for Michigan. The Great Lakes provide much of The city of Grand Rapids embraced climate adapta- that the company says Flint’s 1 percent nationwide, MLive.com the state’s drinking water and are used for com- tion as part of the five-year Sustainability Plan it shrinking population is slowing reported. Nearly 909,000 people got merce ranging from shipping to fishing to recre- passed in 2010. The city has reduced its consumption its growth, so the company is con- on or off trains. ational boating and tourism. of water from Lake Michigan by more than 16 percent sidering bringing in waste from The Ann Arbor station saw the For every inch the water level drops, a freighter has since 2000 and has focused on removing pollution nearby communities. greatest increase in ridership at 10 to decrease its cargo by 50-270 tons, industry sources from combined sewer overflows into the Grand River, Ⅲ A billboard near the I-69 inter- said. This leads to companies paying for space on a Lake Michigan tributary. It’s also looking at conser- percent, while Detroit grew 6 per- change with I-75 reads “I’m Con- ships they are unable to use. Although seasonal vation measures, such as reducing losses in the city’s cerned About the Blueberries,” but cent, Kalamazoo 4 percent and dredging provides a short-term fix, the practice is ex- water system, updating plumbing and reusing gray no one knows who put it up, the Dearborn less than 1 percent. Traf- pensive and funding has become a political issue. water for irrigation, said Haris Alibasic, director of Flint Journal reported. The CBS Out- fic in East Lansing dropped about “I think we need to change our mindset so that the city’s office of energy and sustainability. doors sign company only will say 3 percent. rather than reacting to these issues every time, we The infrastructure piece, he said, “is really some- that it was put up anonymously. Ticket revenue grew 6 percent to need to start thinking about how we can be adaptive thing that governments — national, state and local Ⅲ HopCat Grand Rapids was voted $28.8 million. to these issues,” said Alan Steinman, director of the — have to focus on.” the second-greatest beer bar in the Annis Water Resources Institute at Grand Valley State — MiBiz U.S. in a competition conducted by Whatever twerks: You gotta CraftBeer.com, MLive.com report- hand it to this Jackson foam firm when the trick-or-treaters come written a couple of times about the System plans to replace its Sparrow ed. For you road-trippers out around this season and you’re won- effort to attract new companies to a Ionia Hospital east of Grand Rapids there, No. 1 was MeKong Restaurant, A quick check of the Crain’s dering what is up with that giant 92-acre site in the Grand Rapids with a $25 million hospital expect- a Vietnamese restaurant in Rich- archives reveals that the word hand, now you know.