Crain's Detroit Business

12/09/2025

Michigan’s legal w**d industry suffered a major blow Monday in its legal battle against a new 24% wholesale tax on cannabis.

Michigan Court of Claims Judge Sima Patel ruled against the Michigan Cannabis Industry Association in denying its request for an injunction and effectively cleared the way for the tax to take effect on Jan. 1.

In her ruling, Patel agreed with the state's argument that adding a tax does not change ma*****na laws.

“The court finds insupportable plaintiffs’ argument … that the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Ma*****na Act (MRTMA) is the sole method by which to tax regulated ma*****na in Michigan and that the 24% wholesale excise tax could only be enacted through an amendment to the MRTMA passed by a supermajority,” Patel wrote in her ruling.

Nothing in the voter-passed law, she said, requires that “all other taxes” imposed on ma*****na be effectuated by an amendment to that law. Rather, the Legislature imposed another tax through the road-funding law.

The new wholesale tax was written into House Bill 4951, which was passed 78-21 in the Republican-led House and 19-17 in the Democratic-controlled Senate — short of the supermajority threshold in both chambers.

But Patel did leave a window for the industry.

Read more here: https://www.crainsdetroit.com/cannabis/new-michigan-w**d-tax-will-go-effect-jan-1-after-judges-ruling?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

12/08/2025

The state’s tallest building would have to close on a temporary basis should demolition commence as envisioned on a pair of Renaissance Center towers after the 2027 NCAA Men's Final Four on April 3 and April 5.

The need to shutter the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center comes because “it cannot be occupied during that process” as the riverfront complex’s five-story podium and retail area would be removed, and the 39-story 300 and 400 towers on the water are razed and infrastructure work takes place, said Jared Fleisher, CEO of Dan Gilbert’s Detroit-based Bedrock LLC real estate development company.

The prospective timing of the closure means the hotel’s roughly 1,300 rooms would remain available for the huge crowds expected that weekend.

Shovels are then expected to start work on an ambitious vision for repurposing the Renaissance Center spearheaded by Bedrock and General Motors Co., which owns five of the seven buildings that make up the bulk of the 5.5 million-square-foot complex developed in the 1970s and 1980s.

For years, Detroit's convention and tourism industry has argued that the city's downtown core and surrounding areas are underserved by hotels, which is causing it to lose revenue to other cities with more robust stock.

The temporary shuttering of the RenCen hotel would be a blow to that ecosystem, although there are other hotels coming online in the interim that should help dull the pain, including the 600-room JW Marriott under construction on the former Joe Louis Arena site and the 227-room luxury Edition hotel at Hudson’s Detroit.

Read more here: https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-estate/renaissance-center-marriott-would-shutter-during-overhaul?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

12/08/2025

Like many metro Detroit communities, a drive down the residential streets of Hazel Park can feel like deja vu. Street after street of pre- and postwar ranch and bungalow homes dot the landscape of the working class city in southeastern Oakland County.

But the so-called “Bottle House” definitely stands out.

While still a flat, ranch-style home like many that surround it, the upwards of 20,000 glass bottles embedded in the structure — “creating a time capsule of 1930s Detroit, per the home’s owner and developer — are hard to miss.

Bought in 2021 by Bloomfield Hills-based investor Carl Schiller from a family that had owned the home for more than 60 years, the interior did not have the same interesting design characteristics, leading to a gut, “down to the studs” renovation that now resembles new construction inside.

Schiller listed the 1,225-square-foot, two-bedroom home for sale last weekend at an asking price of $350,000, or about $285 per square foot.

That’s at the high end for Hazel Park, but Schiller says a handful of nearby new-construction homes have fetched similar prices.

Read more here: https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-estate/funky-hazel-park-bottle-house-sale-fully-modern-interior?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

12/05/2025

Acrisure Chair and CEO Greg Williams and his wife, Dawn, have made a historic $401 million donation to Michigan State University, primarily aimed at athletics. It’s the largest single donation in MSU history and one of the largest single donations in college sports history.

It follows MSU's announcement earlier this week of a $1 billion athletics capital campaign that aims to keep the university competitive in a bigger-money era of college sports. The pledge from the head of the fast-growing Grand Rapids-based insurance and fintech company is a major step in that campaign.

About $290 million of the latest pledge will be used to support MSU athletics as part of the “For Sparta: The Capital Initiative for MSU Athletics” that was announced on Tuesday. The money will help MSU compete nationally, and will go toward major renovations at on-campus facilities like Spartan Stadium, Breslin Center and Jenison Fieldhouse.

Another $100 million will go to Spartans Ventures. Spartans Ventures, announced in October, is a nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation and a subsidiary foundation focused on fundraising. Spartan Ventures and its subsidiary Spartan Athletics Foundation will focus on maximizing revenue-generating opportunities, supporting Name, Image and Likeness opportunities for student-athletes and establishing a more focused approach to fundraising.

Outside of athletics, $11 million will go toward academic and extracurricular initiatives, including the MSU Burgess Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, the Risk Management and Financial Insurance Program in the Eli Broad College of Business, the Spartan Marching Band and Pep Bands, and the Sparty Mascot Program.

Read more here: https://www.crainsdetroit.com/sports-recreation/michigan-state-university-receives-401-million-athletics-donation?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

12/04/2025

The new CEO of Detroit’s largest real estate development company believes legislative action is imminent on an incentive program integral to the proposed redevelopment of the Renaissance Center.

Speaking Thursday morning at a Crain’s Detroit Power Breakfast event, Bedrock LLC CEO Jared Fleisher said there’s been bipartisan action in recent days to introduce bills to expand the transformational brownfield program and is hopeful a vote could happen before the end of the year.

And while time is of the essence for getting the program expanded to undertake the redevelopment, Fleisher said in the fireside chat with Crain's Executive Editor Mickey Ciokajlo that Bedrock would hold off for at least a while on commencing work so as to preserve hotel room capacity.

Bedrock’s $1.6 billion plan to redevelop the 1970s-era office complex on the Detroit River was first floated just over a year ago and includes demolishing two 39-story towers, with another tower being overhauled for residential use and another as spruced-up office space.

The 1,300-room Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center hotel tower, the state’s tallest building at 73 stories and 727 feet, would also be carved up, reducing the hotel to some 850 rooms on the lower levels and reserving the top levels for additional residential space.

But Fleisher said given that the Final Four men's college basketball event is coming to Detroit in 2027, any work would be destined to start after that because the hotel capacity is needed for the NCAA tournament.

Read more here: https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-estate/bedrock-wants-shovels-ground-rencen-site-after-2027-final-four?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

12/04/2025

The statue of RoboCop that started as a tweet that became a nearly 15-year saga has finally found its forever home in Eastern Market.

The statue, inspired by the 1987 science fiction film set in a futuristic Detroit, was cemented into place outside Free Age Productions’ studio in Eastern Market at 3434 Russell St., said Jim Toscano, co-owner of the production studio.

Erecting the bronze statue caps a strange project more than a decade in the making.

Toscano was roped into the RoboCop saga about three years ago through the project's pioneer, Detroit filmmaker Brandon Walley, who he knew through film school. Walley had finished making the statue, it just needed a home.

“I couldn’t say no. It was too cool,” Toscano told Crain’s. “We just had to figure out a way to make it happen…It’s funny, after all that time, it just seemed to come together faster than we thought.”

The work to install the statue, more than 10 feet tall, needed to happen before the deep freeze for structural reasons, Walley said.

A ribbon cutting and celebration are planned for the spring, he said. Actor Peter Weller, who played the character in the original film, will be invited, he said.

Read more here:

The statue of RoboCop that started as a tweet that became a nearly 15-year saga has finally found its forever home in Eastern Market in Detroit.The statue, inspired by the 1987 science fiction film set in a futuristic Detroit, was cemented into place outside Free Age Productions’ studio at 3434…

12/03/2025

New construction delays at the A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Center for the Performing Arts have forced the Grosse Pointe Theatre to cancel the first performances planned for the new space.

The recent delays are the latest in the nearly three-year effort to get the $45 million center on the Grosse Pointe Park-Detroit border built and open.

“Despite extensive efforts to keep our construction project on schedule, we have encountered unforeseen obstacles that have resulted in delays beyond our control,” Paul Schaap, president of the Urban Renewal Initiative Foundation, the nonprofit building the new center, said in a letter sent Monday to the Grosse Pointe Theatre board.

“It’s been a combination of the usual things in terms of construction delays but also the intricacies of the theatrical systems themselves,” said the recently-named executive director of the Schaap center.

The cancellation comes after the Grosse Pointe Theatre sold some 3,500 tickets or three-quarters of the tickets available to the Dec. 5-21 run of "Irvin Berlin’s White Christmas," which were to have been the first productions in the new Schaap Center, said Danielle Caralis, president of the Grosse Pointe Theatre board.

The theater is in the process of refunding tickets that were purchased, she said. Given tiered ticket pricing, she could not immediately say what the dollar amount of the refunds will be.

Read more here: https://www.crainsdetroit.com/arts-entertainment/schaap-construction-delays-force-grosse-pointe-theatre-cancel?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

12/03/2025

The city of Birmingham has sued the nonprofit Community House to enforce deed restrictions that require its downtown property to be held exclusively as a community center for Birmingham residents.

It is asking the court to issue a temporary restraining order to prohibit the sale or transfer of the property for any purposes that violate the deed restrictions.

“Such a sale is expressly prohibited by the governing deed restrictions, violates the 1989 Probate Court order and would permanently deprive the residents of the city of Birmingham of a unique civic and charitable asset intended for their benefit,” Kathleen Martone, the city's attorney with Varnum Law, said in the filing.

The lawsuit comes after the nonprofit Community House, in operation for just shy of 100 years, announced its plan last month to end its early child care and event rentals programs, lay off most of its employees, sell the historic property and convert itself to the Birmingham Area Community Foundation, effective July 1.

The moves are part of a plan to ensure its viability and help fund a permanent endowment to support other nonprofits focused on education, wellness and cultural vitality with grants and mentorship as well as provide scholarships for local students pursuing education beyond high school, the Community House told Crain’s last month.

But the city — giving voice to pushback from residents — is concerned that a sale of the Community House property to a private, third-party buyer might lead to development that isn’t consistent with the deed restrictions that it continue to operate as a community center, it said in the court filing, noting that any sale to a non-charitable, private party is expressly prohibited.

Read more here: https://www.crainsdetroit.com/nonprofits-philanthropy/city-birmingham-sues-community-house-maintain-center-site?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

12/02/2025

Jennifer Gilbert, ex-wife of Detroit businessman Dan Gilbert, is starting a new foundation that plans to convert a former shipyard building on Detroit’s east riverfront into a venue for cultural programming and art.

Dubbed Lumana Art Foundation, the new entity will serve as the cultural anchor of Stanton Yards, a 13-acre development site near Belle Isle and the latest addition to the Little Village cultural corridor, where arts space The Shepherd opened last year.

The new foundation aims to create opportunities for artists and designers — including exhibition space — and the institutions supporting their work, Gilbert said.

Gilbert, whose divorce from Dan Gilbert, founder and chairman of Rocket Companies, was finalized last month, did not disclose the amount she is contributing to help fund the effort or the projected costs to renovate the 21,000-square-foot building at 9666 E. Jefferson Ave. that Lumana is moving into. But its space at Stanton Yards is funded through her newly formed Lumana Arts Foundation, she said.

The foundation is investing an undisclosed amount to renovate the 21,000-square-foot shipyard site to build out exhibition galleries, an auditorium, a bookstore and a café.

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Jennifer Gilbert, ex-wife of Detroit businessman Dan Gilbert, has started a foundation that is converting a former shipyard building on Detroit’s east riverfront into a site for inclusive cultural programs and art.

12/02/2025

Spartan Stadium will get a major makeover as part of a new $1 billion initiative by Michigan State University to update on-campus facilities and boost the student-athlete experience.

The university announced Tuesday that "For Sparta: The Capital Initiative for MSU Athletics" is part of the school’s record $4 billion capital campaign, dubbed "Uncommon Will. Far Better World" campaign that it announced publicly in March.

MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz said the initiative sets a bold course for the future of MSU athletics.

“By investing in world-class facilities and experiences for our student-athletes, we are positioning MSU to lead in an increasingly competitive landscape,” Guskiewicz said in the announcement. “This initiative reflects our commitment to modernize our athletics program and I look forward to seeing the impact it will have on Spartans today and for generations to come.”

The goal of the For Sparta campaign is to give MSU athletics the strategic resources for facilities and overall program investment to compete at the highest levels, according to a news release. The new campaign is designed to impact every MSU student-athlete, with sport-specific facility improvements across multiple venues and shared spaces, such as a student-athlete dining facility.

Read more here: https://www.crainsdetroit.com/sports-recreation/michigan-state-announces-1-billion-sparta-initiative-boost-athletics?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

12/01/2025

There is new life at the Chrysler Tech Center as Stellantis looks to rebuild its North America operations.

The automaker has hired hundreds of salaried employees at its North America headquarters in Auburn Hills in recent months as it moves to boost U.S. manufacturing. In all, the maker of Ram, Jeep, Chrysler and Dodge vehicles is adding nearly 2,000 direct, white-collar jobs in engineering, manufacturing, quality and other departments, according to the company.

Employees note tougher competition for parking at the sprawling complex along I-75. Commuters bemoan the substantial increase of traffic on the Oakland County corridor.

These are good problems, to be sure.

Just a year ago, the situation at the transatlantic carmaker, and its future in Michigan, appeared dire — so much so that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called it a “top priority” to retain the automaker’s Michigan presence as its nerve center shifted overseas under previous leadership.

So, nobody could have predicted then that Stellantis would be the only Detroit Three automaker not to uproot from its metro Detroit HQ. But as General Motors and Ford Motor move into new digs, the 33-year-old Chrysler Tech Center is humming with activity not seen since pre-pandemic.

Read more here: https://www.crainsdetroit.com/automotive/stellantis-goes-hiring-spree-auburn-hills-hq-rebuild-bid?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

12/01/2025

An effort to redevelop part of the former Packard Plant site on Detroit's east side includes manufacturing and housing — and the city's first indoor skate park and a new techno music museum.

Publicly unveiled during a Monday morning press conference at the site, city leadership and the development team said there is an agreement to build a 393,000-square-foot new manufacturing facility on the southern 28 acres of the 40-acre property. Plans also call for the restoration and conversion of an existing Albert Kahn-designed building into 42 units of live/work housing, plus the skate park and the Museum of Detroit Electronic Music.

Mark Bennett and Oren Goldenberg are spearheading the redevelopment of the now largely demolished Packard Motor Car Co. auto factory along East Grand Boulevard near Interstate 94.

During a Monday morning news conference, Mayor Mike Duggan said the effort to repurpose the 117,000-square-foot Albert Kahn building on the south side of East Grand Boulevard previously put off developers who wanted to raze the remaining structures on the property to build warehouse and industrial buildings.

"We went out for bid and asked people for proposals," Duggan said. "We got no proposals unless we knocked down these two buildings and put in new plants. That might be something some administration would consider, but we took one last shot and I was glad to talk to Oren Goldenberg."

Pending various city approvals, construction could begin in the first part of 2027.

Read more here: https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-estate/packard-plant-redevelopment-announced?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own