Crain's Detroit Business - 25th Anniversary Issue, May 3, 2010 - (Page E3)

May 3, 2010 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS Page E3 Welcome 1990 1985 1995 2000 2005 2010 From the publisher M K ARY RAMER L Smith ast week, I chatted by phone with a Crain’s subscriber who now lives and works in another town but still has business ties to Detroit. “What do you think of the business publication in your new town?” I asked. “I hardly ever read anything in it I didn’t already know,” he told me. “When I read Crain’s, I always see things I didn’t know — and I consider myself plugged in.” That is music to the ears of the journalists in our newsroom. Whether their stories appear in print or online, they work hard to give business readers news and information they don’t get anywhere else. We celebrate our 25-year history this week. Jennette Smith, assistant managing editor, led the team that pulled this 25th anniversary edition together. The aim was to give a snapshot of the past 25 years in business — and a glimpse of the kinds of companies and people who are shaping our future. As part of our print and online anniversary package, we videotaped Keith Crain and Peter Brown, talking about the founding and early days of Crain’s Detroit Business. Keith was the founding publisher (now editor-in-chief), and Peter (now publisher and editorial director of Automotive News down the hall) was founding editor. It was a hoot. And you can see the video yourself on our Web site, www.crainsdetroit.com/25thextras. Imagine starting a weekly business newspaper in the auto capital of the world, with the pronouncement that it would cover everything but the auto industry. That’s what Keith and Peter did in 1985. Keith’s friends told him he was crazy, thought he’d lose his proverbial shirt on this ill-conceived publication. So when did you know you’d hit a home run? I asked him in the video. “The second week,” he responded. Everybody in town was talking about this new publication and discovering all kinds of things they didn’t already know. Part of the success was figuring out what a former managing editor dubbed “the Craingle” — the Crain angle on any given story. In the video, Peter recalled that in just the second week of publishing in 1985, a big story broke on a Friday morning: The Stroh Brewery Co. announced it was shutting down its downtown brewery. The daily papers would have the story plastered on Page 1 on Saturday. So what was the Crain angle for readers who got their papers on Monday? Keith Crain named it immediately: “real estate.” What would happen to the prime spot on the fringe of downtown? That brewery site, later developed as an office park, is now the headquarters of Crain Communications Inc., a move that would have been hard to predict in 1985. CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS ON THE COVER: ‘BEFORE AND AFTER’ SCENES 1. William G. Milliken State Park and Harbor on the Detroit River in Detroit — formerly Tri-Centennial State Park — is Michigan’s first urban state park, developed in the 2000s. Photos courtesy of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy. 2 A quarter century of change and where it’s leading 1 3 2. Campus Martius Park, also in Detroit, has become a destination for food, entertainment and winter skating since it opened in 2004. Overlooking the park is Compuware Corp.’s world headquarters, opened in 2003. 3. Opened in 1969 on the south side of Big Beaver Road in Troy, Somerset Mall became Somerset Collection with expansions in 1992, 1996 (the addition of Somerset North) and 2004. Shown is Somerset South. Photos courtesy of Somerset Collection. http://www.bloomroofing.com http://www.crainsdetroit.com/25thextras http://www.bloomroofing.com

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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