Displaying items tagged: economic development

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed into law bills repealing the state’s “right-to-work” law and reinstating a law that requires higher wages and benefits to be paid on state-financed construction projects.

GRAND RAPIDS — Even as the COVID-19 pandemic recedes, quality child care remains hard to come by for many Michigan families. That’s due in part to providers who left the field and didn’t return — and a handful of Michigan organizations hope to use new state grants to reverse the trend.

LANSING — Michigan notched a win with Ford Motor Co’'s decision to build a $3.5 billion, 2,500-job electric vehicle battery factory in Marshall.

GRAND RAPIDS — Mayor Rosalynn Bliss outlined the “next version” of Grand Rapids during her eighth State of the City address, emphasizing the need for more housing density to meet demand, completing major riverfront projects and improving policing.

GRAND RAPIDS — Sustainability, transportation and placemaking are top priorities for Grand Rapids residents as city officials prepare a 20-year master plan to guide future development.

Ottawa County would extend broadband internet service to unserved and underserved areas of the county through a $27 million public-private partnership with a southeast Michigan firm.

GRAND RAPIDS — Deidra Mitchell, president and CEO of Waséyabek Development Co. LLC, was selected to guest lecture at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government to promote best practices in tribal economic development.

GRAND RAPIDS — City officials have released a plan for spending $8.5 million in federal funding primarily on repairing or building hundreds of affordable housing units and creating homeownership opportunities.

GRAND RAPIDS — Fox Motors Group LLC has widened its reach on the southeast side of the state, acquiring three new dealerships and a collision center in metro Detroit. 

Local governments across Michigan are using cannabis excise tax revenue to fund basic public services as well as programs that aim to expand equity in the industry.

A roundup of mergers and acquisitions, expansions and other briefs across West Michigan.

Tribal affairs experts say the federal government erred in determining that the Grand River Bands of Ottawa Indians failed to meet the criteria for federal recognition and remain optimistic that the tribe will successfully obtain the crucial designation.

LANSING — Michigan’s decade-old “right-to-work” laws are in peril now that Democratic legislators are acting to rescind them — as promised — two months after taking power in Lansing.

LANSING — The Michigan House on Wednesday approved bills to add protections for LGBTQ people to the state’s civil rights law, capping a decades-long legislative effort to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in employment, public services and housing.

GRAND RAPIDS — A long-running public art competition in Grand Rapids has tapped a former planner for the South by Southwest festival in Austin to lead the event into its next era.

Some Michigan municipalities are getting creative with how they spend tax revenue coming back from their licensed cannabis businesses, while others are using the annual funding for core services and resolving budget deficits.

GRAND RAPIDS — Developers are making progress on the design and overall vision for a Grand Rapids riverfront amphitheater, which they call “the largest proposed redevelopment of a riverfront in the nation at this point.”

State officials are partnering with major universities and auto-sector employers on a new statewide scholarship program aimed at developing talent in the electric vehicle and mobility space.

This week, MiBiz is celebrating the winners of the 10th annual M&A Deals & Dealmaker Awards, which recognizes top businesses and individuals contributing to the region’s economic vitality.

Ten years ago, when MiBiz set out to recognize West Michigan’s top deals and dealmakers, we began with a simple premise. Our goal was to showcase the best business practices that the region has to offer and to demonstrate how West Michigan punches well above its weight class. 

Arjun Murthy’s career has taken him from the halls of Congress to Cascade Partners LLC, where he works as the investment banking firm’s youngest director. 

In his role at Allied OMS LLC, a doctor-owned and -led management services organization, Brian Hamilton traveled more than 40 weeks out of the year in 2022.

Buoyed by a rise in popularity of employee stock ownership plans among business owners, deal attorney Justin Stemple wrapped up the second busiest year of transactions he’s had in his 18-year career at Grand Rapids-based Warner Norcross + Judd LLP.

Jeff Helminski of Auxo Investment Partners was sitting in his downtown Grand Rapids office in May 2020, during the early days of the pandemic, when his phone rang with a cold call from a prospective investment partner. 

When Jody Vanderwel first heard about Grand Angels, she knew very little about the business of angel investing. 

The Shepler family’s decision to sell the third-generation-owned ferry transportation company was “not taken lightly, but it was necessary.”

Chinese battery parts manufacturer Gotion Inc. is reassessing real estate plans for a $2.4 billion factory in the Big Rapids area after scrutiny from a township board.

 Twenty-five years after founding AppleTree & Gilden Woods, President and CEO Brigdett VanDerHoff realized the timing was right for her to transition away from the early childhood and preschool care provider. 

Grand Rapids-based Edustaff LLC has quickly grown over the last dozen years from a regional company to the third-largest staffing organization in the country for substitute teachers.

A new 20-mile pipeline more than a decade in the making will support growth plans for multiple West Michigan agribusinesses that have been hampered by limited wastewater infrastructure.