February 22, 2016
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Change Ups: Lobdell honored with service award
Beltline Bar Famous Mexican Café owner Jeff Lobdell received the Michigan Restaurant Association’s Distinguished Service Award in recognition of providing exceptional leadership and commitment to Michigan’s food service industry. Lobdell is one of only four people to hold the secret recipes used at the Beltline Bar, which has been in business for 63 years. Lobdell’s […]
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Construction materials prices continue downward trend
Construction input prices fell by 0.6 percent during January, according to an analysis of the Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index by the Associated Builders and Contractors. Construction input prices are down 2.7 percent from January 2015 and have now decreased on a year-over-year basis for 14 consecutive months. The implication is that global […]
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Public Record
MORTGAGES Selected mortgages filed with Kent County Register of Deeds KREITZER, Steven M. et al, Quicken Loans, Grove's Sub. No. 1, Lot 33, $248,850 SOUTHWELL, David R. et al, First United Credit Union, Vinkemulder's Sub., Lot 136, $415,500 HENMAN, Leslie et al, Homestead Funding Corp., Golf View Estates No. 3, Lot 94, $221,160 CORFIXSEN, Greg […]
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For the love of sales — and not for the love of money
Do you love sales? Do you love what you do? Do you love your product? Do you love your company? Do you love your customers? These are not questions I pulled out of the air. These are questions that directly affect your productivity, your attitude, your income, your success and your fulfillment. Not to mention […]
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Street Talk: Downtown parking is a balancing act
Downtown development carries a cost, and it’s not just in dollars. With a slew of projects already underway and more on the drawing board, the initiative to invigorate downtown’s residential component (also known as the GR Forward plan) is producing dividends. The ancillary cost — or maybe the collateral damage, if you will — is […]
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Employers can expect stiff visa competition
Last year, 233,000 applications were filed for H1B visas, but only 85,000 were available. Susan Im, immigration attorney and president of Im Law, said she expects this year’s application numbers to again far exceed the number of available H1B visas. “We already know employers are facing this uphill challenge of trying to get one of […]
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Acton Institute wins prestigious award for documentary
Everything you’ve ever wondered about why the billions of dollars put into solving poverty hasn’t worked is addressed by a critically acclaimed documentary from a local institute. Grand Rapids-based Acton Institute, which promotes a free society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles, recently received Atlas Network's Templeton Freedom Award for its award-winning […]
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Comcast invests in upgraded business service
Comcast is betting $1 million that it can attract new business customers in Kent County. The cable provider is moving to a “proactive” strategy that includes installing more than 10 miles of cable fiber capable of connecting 427 buildings that house at least 800 tenants. When Comcast first began offering its digital services in 2006, […]
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Manzano is a national role model for Latinas
Sonia Manzano’s usual audience is children, but she’s got a powerful message for the adults attending the Business Journal’s 50 Most Influential Women in West Michigan event. Named one of the country’s 25 Greatest Latino Role Models Ever by Latina Magazine, Manzano is well known for her role as Maria on “Sesame Street,” a part […]
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Stock market rollercoaster could become the ‘new normal’
Last week marked a bit of good news for investors, with the S&P 500 and Dow charting their first three-day wins of the new year, and as of Wednesday, stocks had made their best three-day performance since August. But a slow start to the new year has drawn comparisons to one of the more tumultuous […]
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Fifth Third offers affordable solution to the underbanked
A traditional financial institution has developed a rather nontraditional banking program to engage those with little or no bank relationship. Since Fifth Third Bank launched its Express Banking program late last fall, more than 4,800 accounts have been opened in an approximately 40-county market region in Michigan. Considered both a product and a service, Express […]
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Four mistakes family business owners make with their exit plan
Have you ever seen someone walk unsuspectingly into a glass door? I’ve been that person. What’s the worst part? Knowing it was totally preventable. While that scenario may be funny, creating and executing your exit plan is serious business. There are four common mistakes I see family business owners make in their exit plan — […]
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Why is Pittsburgh better off than Grand Rapids?
In Michigan Future’s latest report, “Michigan’s Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy,” we compare Metro Grand Rapids (Barry, Kent, Montcalm and Ottawa counties) to Metro Boston and Metro Pittsburgh. We use Boston because it is the region that anchors two of the nation’s most prosperous states, and Pittsburgh because it is the leading region that has […]
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Five years in, Lacks has healthier workforce
Lacks Enterprises saw its health care costs per employee rise by more than 30 percent over a two-year period, creating an unsustainable situation for the company. Executives realized if a proactive solution wasn’t found soon, the dramatic rise in health care costs would eventually overwhelm the auto parts maker. Jim Green, executive director of human […]
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Soccer club kicks around $8M tournament complex
Derek Dufendach and his local youth soccer club, River City FC, are trying to bring an $8 million, 80-acre soccer complex to West Michigan. Dufendach’s plans are ambitious. He’s already been speaking with property owners in the area to find the best fit; he’d like to find 80 acres or more, with the potential to […]
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City to income and property taxpayers: ‘Take the bus’
Grand Rapids Business Journal reports show a steadily increasing number of downtown developments now coming to fruition — and every one of them devours yet another parking area with no replacement plan. Downtown is considered the Central Business District, but just as the city parking department last month morphed into the “mobility” department, downtown is […]
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Inside Track: D’Arienzo sees zoos as a way to change the world
As Peter D’Arienzo settled into a chair in a conference room at the John Ball Zoo administrative offices, he twisted off the cap of a water bottle. The brisk late January morning was less than a month into D’Arienzo’s stint as the CEO of the zoo, and he was elaborating on the reasons he had […]
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Bookstore is a golden retirement opportunity
The new owners of a downtown Grand Haven bookstore are excited to be starting the next chapter of their lives. The four owners of The Bookman, 715 Washington Ave., are retired or will be retiring soon. When the prospect of purchasing the more than 40-year-old bookstore became available, they saw it as a golden opportunity. […]
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Genetic carrier screening startup thriving in Grand Rapids
A genetic carrier screening startup that launched in Grand Rapids in 2013 has aspirations to be part of every pregnancy that occurs in the United States. Alan Mack said more than 4 million women become pregnant in the United States annually, and his company, NxGEN MDx, which provides genetic carrier screening for more than100 recessive […]
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Redesign of Calder Plaza picks up speed
(As seen on WZZM TV 13) A conceptual design for reimagining one of Grand Rapids’ best-known downtown gathering spaces could be finalized this year. The city of Grand Rapids, Kent County and Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. are leading a renewed effort in the potential redevelopment of Calder Plaza, which has become an iconic symbol for […]
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Soccer team’s next gooooooal is to keep growing
Matt Roberts feels Grand Rapids FC is like the ‘cool new restaurant’ in town. In the soccer team’s first season in Grand Rapids, Roberts, who is the team’s founder, said he and other organizers didn’t expect the attendance growth throughout last season. Games averaged more than 4,500 spectators at Houseman Field in Grand Rapids, a […]
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Project set to change Fulton Street landscape
Roughly 20 years after Van Andel Arena’s transformation of Fulton Street, a new development is set to change the landscape, and skyline, of downtown Grand Rapids. Venue Tower, a collaboration between Orion Construction and The Gilmore Collection, broke ground early this month at an underused piece of downtown real estate next to The Gilmore Collection’s […]
