Crain's Detroit Business - 25th Anniversary Issue, May 3, 2010 - (Page 3)

May 3, 2010 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS Page 3 Bigger will be better, Lakeshore predicts A 28,000-square-foot lease by GalaxE Solutions Inc. is expected to boost redevelopment of the 330,000-square-foot 1001 Woodward, formerly the First Federal Building in Detroit. Inside Population loss at root of Detroit water woes, Page 18 Acquisition part of growth strategy BY SHERRI WELCH CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS 1001 Woodward wins new lease, maybe new life GalaxE plans to bring 500 jobs BY DANIEL DUGGAN CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS Detroit-based Lakeshore Engineering Services Inc.’s acquisition of Maumee, Ohio-based TolTest Inc. should allow it to continue to grow by at least 10 percent to 20 percent annually over the next three years. Lakeshore announced the deal last week but did not disclose financial details. The merged company, Lakeshore TolTest Corp., said it expects to post annual revenue of more than $500 million this year, with more than $300 million of that expected to come from Lakeshore and nearly $200 million from TolTest. Lakeshore TolTest provides design and construction Rachmale services, environmental remediation and bulk fuel services to the federal government and a smaller number of municipal customers, such as the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, with about 650 em- ployees at 40 offices in 12 countries. Lakeshore and TolTest each brought roughly 325 employees to the merged company. The combined company “will be able to sell to the clients better because we have more qualified people working together and a presence in various different countries now,” said Lakeshore President and CEO Avinash Rachmale. “We will get economy-of-scale efficiencies, so we can be more competitive in bidding … and be able to provide better service to the client under one umbrella.” See Lakeshore, Page 21 Company index These organizations appear in this week’s Crain’s Detroit Business: Ackerman, Ackerman & Dynkowski . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Ann Arbor Spark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Berry Reynolds & Rogowski . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Big Boy Restaurants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Detroit International Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Detroit Medical Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Detroit River International Crossing . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Detroit Water and Sewerage Department . . . . . . . . 18 Detroit-Windsor Tunnel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Domino’s Pizza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Donnelly Penman & Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Eight Mile Boulevard Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 English Gardens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Express Employment Professionals . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Forte Belanger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 GalaxE Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Hantz Holdings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Henry Ford Health System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 With the ink still drying on the first major lease since the beginning of the decade, there is new hope for the future of the 1001 Woodward office building. Overlooking Detroit’s Campus Martius, the building has had a rocky history of bad investments, failed redevelopment plans and deals that fell Who’s through. GalaxE? But with the The IT New Jersey-based company information techand its expansion nology firm GalaxE Solutions Inc. pickplans, Page 22 ing the building for its new home in Detroit, the 28,000-square-foot lease is being seen as a building block for future deals in the building. “This shows that the work we’ve put into this building is paying off,” said the building’s owner, Detroit entrepreneur Dimitrios “Jim” Papas. Historically known as the First Federal Building, the 330,000Papas square-foot building was used as the bank’s headquarters until it was sold in 1998. By 2003, the building had low occupancy and its use as an office building was questioned. As a result, Warren-based developer Lorenzo Cavaliere Hungry Howie’s Pizza and Subs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 NEW IN TOWN The interest in growing walls and things that appear green are so hot, and they’re the goto group. “ Garden Fresh Salsa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Lakeshore TolTest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Michigan Department of Transportation . . . . . . . . 20 Michigan Department of Treasury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Michigan Retailers Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 New Economy Initiative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Oakwood Healthcare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Picano Restaurant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Plante Moran Cresa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Planterra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Rossetti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Safeway Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 SEMCOG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Signature Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Steinhardt Pesick & Cohen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Sterling Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 St. John Providence Health System . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 St. Joseph Mercy Health System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 ” NATHAN SKID/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS Building on a nationwide plant care operation, Planterra Corp. owner Larry Pliska will open a retail operation and new greenhouse this summer. “This is the future of Planterra,” Pliska said. Kelly Deines, Rossetti Design trend helps Planterra flourish Company grows into new HQ, to launch retail branch Bloomfield Township. The company has taken on jobs CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS around the country in the casino Larry Pliska got his start in the and hotel industries, and has also plant business in the built a national prac1970s, running a small tice for plant mainteretail shop. nance. Since those days, Planterra will emhe’s built the Planterra On the Grow is a bark on a new busiCorp. into a design feature that will ness line this summer firm handling plant appear in most issues when it opens a conarrangements in com- highlighting growing sumer retail operamercial buildings companies, large and tion as part of a $3 milsuch as the Renais- small. Know of a lion investment in a sance Center in company you think state-of-the-art greenCrain’s should write Detroit, the First about? Contact house in West BloomCenter in Southfield Managing Editor field Township on and the new Henry Andrew Chapelle at Drake Road north of Ford Health System achapelle@crain.com. 14 Mile. hospital in West “This is the future Trinity Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 University of Michigan Medical School . . . . . . . . . . 1 Wade Trim Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Walsh College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Wayne State University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Wayne State University Medical School . . . . . . . . . 23 William Beaumont Hospitals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 BY DANIEL DUGGAN OntheGrow of Planterra,” Pliska said. Though the greenhouse has been Pliska’s dream for 20 years, the planning kicked into high gear three years ago when he saw the commercial real estate market declining. The increase in retail efforts also coincides with the trend for “green” designs in homes and businesses, he said. In the company’s history, retail has typically been one-half of one percent of revenue, Pliska said, with a small, dedicated group of plant collectors buying from him. However, he’s expecting the firm’s 2009 revenue of $4 million to See Planterra, Page 23 Department index BANKRUPTCIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 BRIEFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 BUSINESS DIARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 CALENDAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 CAPITOL BRIEFINGS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 CAREERWORKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 CLASSIFIED ADS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 KEITH CRAIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 OPINION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 OTHER VOICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 PEOPLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 RUMBLINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 SMALL BIZ SOLUTIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . 18 STAGE TWO STRATEGIES . . . . . . . . . . . 4 See Lease, Page 22 THIS WEEK @ WWW.CRAINSDETROIT.COM Digital special edition Subscribers have access to Crain’s 25th Anniversary edition at www.crainsdetroit.com/25th. Nonsubscribers can see it until May 10. Subscribe at www.crainsdetroit.com/subscribe Health Care Extra Newsletter Sign up at crainsdetroit.com /getemail for a bimonthly roundup of health industry news. WEEK ON THE WEB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24  http://www.crainsdetroit.com/getemail http://www.crainsdetroit.com/25th http://www.crainsdetroit.com/getemail http://WWW.CRAINSDETROIT.COM http://www.crainsdetroit.com/subscribe

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crain's Detroit Business - 25th Anniversary Issue, May 3, 2010

Crain's Detroit Business 25th Anniversary
Looking Forward
25 Companies to Watch
25 Mainstays
25 People Then and Now
25 Scandals and Dubious Deeds.
25 Philanthropic Gifts
25 Newsmakers of the Year
25 Big Stories
25 Innovations
25 Gone But Not Forgotten
Health Care
Defense
Suppliers
The Internet and Communication
Energy
Finance
Signs of the Times

Crain's Detroit Business - 25th Anniversary Issue, May 3, 2010

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