Development News

Seven Islands Mercantile brings antiques, three new jobs to Grand Ledge

Kathy Fitzpatrick, Seven Islands Mercantile Wednesday, December 05, 2012

Talk about quick business development. Kathy Fitzpatrick, Peg Cook, and Roxann Mills of Grand Ledge were exchanging ideas on an antiques and vintage items business, and three weeks later, they had one.

“We moved very quickly from conception to birth,” says Fitzpatrick. “We found a retail space that the right price and was right downtown.”

The North Bridge Street storefront offers a wide variety of items, including antiques, vintage items, home goods, cat toys, dog biscuits and caramel corn.

“We all like antique and vintage items, and we like repurposing stuff into better stuff,” says Fitzpatrick. “We’re not just looking at antiques, not just vintage treasures, we’re looking at all of it.”

Seven Islands Mercantile opened in November. It now has limited hours on Thursday and Friday evenings, and is open during the day on weekends. In addition to selling their own items, they carry consigned inventory as well. The store currently employs the three co-owners.

All Star Barbershop opens on Michigan Ave, adds two jobs

Anthony McLiechey, All Star Barbershop Wednesday, November 28, 2012

When Anthony McLiechey came across the opportunity to open his own barbershop on Lansing’s Eastside, it was the neighborhood itself that really sold him.

“It’s such a diverse neighborhood, there’s a little bit of everything,” says McLiechey. “I’ve lived on this side of town before, and I always liked it. There are a lot of independent businesses over here.”

McLiechey opened his All Star Barbershop on Michigan Avenue on September 1 and specializes in extending discounts to seniors, students and children under 12.

“Hopefuly it’ll be something that adds to the community,” says McLeichey of his shop. “You have a lot of businesses that just take from the community, and they don’t realy take pride in the people. I want to be someone who helps people.”

The All Star Barbershop currently employs a staff of two, with two additional stations to accommodate future growth.

Okemos and Grand Ledge home to new Player's Choice Golf shops, four new jobs

Chris Mann, Player's Choice Golf Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Looking for a new place to shop for golf equipment? How about two? Player’s Choice Golf opened its first location in Grand Ledge in April, and has now opened a second location in Okemos.

“I had been in the business for 30 years with another golf shop in town that closed in December,” says Player’s Choice Golf’s Chris Mann. “I ran into Josh Herrera at Meijer in early February, and we talked about the golf market.”

A week later, Herrera called Mann to ask him to help operate a 700 square foot golf shop and outdoor driving range on East Saginaw Hwy in Grand Ledge.

“We had a kick-off day, on April 13, and we had so many people there, there was no parking left,” says Mann. “I’ve never seen so many sales on one day.”

The successful opening certainly proved to Herrera there was local demand for their services. In addition to carrying a wide array of golfing equipment, Player’s Choice Golf specializes in club fitting and hosting demo days with manufacturers. The summer was so busy for the new shop, Herrera opened his second location at the Okemos Golf Center in late September.

The second location is larger, about 1,400 square feet in size, and also includes a driving range. Mann says the business hopes to eventually expand both locations. The new business currently employs a staff of four across the two shops.

Hibachi House offers fresh fast food, creates four jobs

Qiuyan Chen, Hibachi House Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Qiuyan Chen and her husband Mou Li aren’t new to the Asian food business, but their latest restaurant, Hibachi House, is something new for the Lansing area.

“We decided to add a totally new thing to the Lansing area,” says Chen. “We cook the food right on the hibachi grill. It’s hot and fresh.”

It’s also fast. The 3,000 square foot, Delta Township restaurant seats sit-down diners inside, but also includes a drive-thru window for diners on the go.

“A lot people who work don’t have a lot of time,” Chen says. “We can provide fast food that is a real meal during their lunch time.”

Chen adds that the Hibachi House food is also healthy, using no MSG, little oil and low-sugar fried rice.

Hibachi House opened at 4021 W. Saginaw on October 15. The restaurant currently employs four workers. Chen hopes to expand the concept into additional Lansing-area locations in the future.

Lansing Urgent Care opens third location on Westside

Lansing Urgent Care Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Lansing Urgent Care is growing. The business, which opened its first location in 2006 and its second in 2010, is now preparing to open a third location on Lansing’s Westside.

“When we were honored as the Greater Lansing Entrepreneur of the year in Healthcare services in 2011 it spurred us to expand and help fulfill the need for same day medical services," says Dr. Terry Matthews, owner of Lansing Urgent Care. "Another motivator to open our third facility is that family doctors are retiring at record rates and sadly fewer and fewer new doctors are entering primary care. As a result, patients often experience a delay in seeing their own doctor or they resort to a very expensive ER visit at the moment they need care."

The 4500 square foot facility will open in early December on West Saginaw just east of the Lansing Mall in Delta Township. According to a Lansing Urgent Care spokesperson, the new office will help ease the regional demand for their services.

“As a physician it always feels good to bring additional medical services to an area," says Matthews. "As local business owners my wife Catherine and I are very excited to be able to bring many new permanent full-time positions to the Lansing area."

The new Lansing Urgent Care location will be similar to the existing facilities, with six exam rooms, an onsite lab and digital X-Ray services. Hiring began company-wide earlier this year to prepare for the opening. Eight new positions have been created over the last year, bringing the total staff of Lansing Urgent Care to 42 employees.

Black Dog Antiques opens in Downtown Grand Ledge, creates two jobs

Shonda Bain, Black Dog Antiques Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Shonda Bain began collecting antiques years ago. The hobby grew into hosting an antiques booth in Mason, and more recently grew into something even more.

“I moved to Eagle and I saw that this spot was open,” Bain says of the Grand Ledge storefront that is now the home of her new Black Dog Antiques store, “and it just seemed like the right fit.”

Bain and her partner Shannon Forbush opened the 1,600 square foot store on August 1, and have found their location to be an ideal spot during Grand Ledge events.

“It’s next door to the parks, with the bands and festivals and the farmers market,” says Bain. “Grand Ledge has a lot of stuff going on all the time. It’s nice to always have something going on downtown.”

Black Dog Antiques offers a wide variety of antiques, from furniture to tools to kitchen items. The store employs Bain and Forbush, and also provides rental space for other antiques vendors.

Holt-based Tacos E Mas opens Delta Twp location, adds six jobs

David Delacruz Jr., Tacos E Mas Wednesday, November 14, 2012

The Delacruzes opened Tacos E Mas in Holt four years ago with authentic family recipes. Lansing area diners approved, and demand for their specialty Mexican food has led to a second location in Delta Township.

The second Tacos E Mas opened in early October on W. Thomas L Parkway, just off of West Saginaw. The 1,000 square foot location offers carry out, delivery, as well as dine-in accommodations for up to 30 diners.

The food at Tacos E Mas comes directly from General Manager David Delacruz Jr.’s grandmother’s recipes. The menu includes some unique items diners may not find at other Mexican restaurants, such as hot burros, a meat-filled tortilla covered in a spicy cheese sauce and beans.

“It’s all her recipes,” says Delacruz. “She passed away and left them to us. There are some ingredients that are a little more expensive in some things, but we stand by them, because it makes the food taste that much better.”

The new location currently employs six workers. Delacruz expects the business to eventually grow to a staff of ten. His family hopes to open a third Lansing location in the next one to three years.

Eco-friendly The Root Celler opens, to create five jobs

Kristine Gilbert-Gigante, The Root Cellar Wednesday, November 14, 2012

For Kristine Gilbert-Gigante, owning her own salon has been a lifetime pursuit.

“I’ve always wanted to be a hairdresser,” she says. “We have pictures of me when I was little with curlers and doing hair.”

Now, after 14 years of working as a professional stylist, Gilbert-Gigante has opened The Root Cellar, an eco-friendly salon on West Saginaw in Lansing.

“Our goal is to be as eco-friendly as possible,” she says. “We recycle everything we use. If I’m not going to do it, nobody is going to do it for me.”

The Root Cellar specializes in “eco aware” products, such as ammonia free hair color and gluten free hair products. The 1,000 square foot salon opened in early October and employs Gilbert-Gigante, an additional stylist and a reflexologist. Gilbert-Gigante will add two additional staff members to her team in the near future, and will also soon being offering raindrop therapy services.

Williamston home brew store opens, adds two jobs

Mary Reed, Home Brew Depot Wednesday, November 14, 2012

One day, explains Mary Reed of Williamston, her husband came home with an idea.

“Since Michigan Brewing Company went out, and we knew they did a good business with home brew supplies, and they were in Webberville and we’re right here in Williamston,” she says, it only made sense that a market still existed for a home brew supply store in their area.

“We started checking things out and we had great support from the local community here about dong it,” Reed says. “That really cinched it for us that we were going to do it.”

The result is the now open Home Brew Depot on Grand River in Downtown Williamston. The 400 square foot business sells equipment and ingredients kits for home brewing beer, as well as ingredients for making wine, liquor and soda.

The Home Brew Depot opened near the end of September and celebrated their grand opening last weekend. The store currently employs both Reed and her husband Bill Reed. The pair hopes to grow their staff over the next year.

Port Lansing Global Logistics Center opens in 48,000 sq ft warehouse at Capital Region International

Brent Case, Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce Wednesday, November 07, 2012

The new Port Lansing Global Logistics Center at the Capital Region International Airport celebrated its grand opening just week, but it’s already beginning to spark interest from potential tenants.

“We’ve now have had some conversations with some larger cargo providers,” says Brent Case, Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce vice president for international business services. “It’s not just an idea anymore, there is something concrete there to rally around.”

The 48,000-square foot warehouse was built to create warehouse space to lease to private businesses, encouraging use of the Lansing airport as a logistics hub. The facility is a freight consolidation center, a general purpose foreign trade zone, and an import/export incubator.

“It’ll be individual companies that will be using the space,” says Case. “They’ll bring or create jobs there. Our hope is that we get the building filled up and prove that there is demand for it, and private developers will build the next one.”

Board of Water and Light installs $4.7M steam turbine and generator

Stephen Serkaian, Lansing Board of Water and Light Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Progress continues on the Lansing Board of Water and Light’s REO Town Cogeneration Plant. In October, a $4.7 million steam turbine and generator was installed.

“The installation went off without a hitch,” says Stephen Serkaian of BWL. “A crane lift of an 80 ton piece of equipment is no easy task. But with the skill of heavy equipment operating engineers and skilled construction trades men and women, the turbine and generator are now in place to generate up 14 megawatts of electricity when fully operational.”

Once operational, a natural gas-fired combustion turbine electrical generation process will create waste heat, which will be converted into steam and be distributed to BWL steam customers. Then, the new steam turbine generator will convert any excess steam into additional electricity at high efficient rate.

“It was the installation of the last major piece of equipment in the Cogeneration Plant,” says Serkaian, “that will generate up to 300,000 pounds of steam per hour and 100,000 megawatts of electricity per hour when fully operational.”

The $182 million plant is scheduled to begin operations on July 1, 2013. The facility will also function as the BWL’s headquarters, housing approximately 180 employees. The headquarters will open in the fall of 2013.

Sign-A-Rama opens in 1,700 sq ft Okemos location

Dale Kohlsmith, Sign-A-Rama Wednesday, November 07, 2012

The economic downturn was tough on sign and graphic companies, leaving a hole in the Lansing market for a locally owned but nationally franchised sign company. After 20 years in the education and training industry Dale Kohlsmith paired that local need with his own dream to operate his own business, opening Sign-A-Rama on West Grand River in Okemos.

“All of the other stores had gone down in the area,” Kohlsmith says. “There are a lot of independent sign companies here, but not many formal franchise models. What differentiates us is that we are locally owned and operated, so we can provide the customer service of a local shop, but have the global resources of a corporation.”

The 1,700 square foot business opened in July and currently employs a staff of four. Kohlsmith plans to place a focus on utilizing vendors of American-made products, which a particular focus on Michigan-made goods.

“At least 90 percent of our products are made in the US,” says Kohlsmith. “We’re also very focused on being eco-friendly.”

As the new Sign-A-Rama continues to grow in Okemos, Kohlsmith plans to branch out into specialty markets, such as vehicle wraps.

New GLCVB visitor center to welcome guests to East Lansing

Tracy Padot, Greater Lansing Convention and Visitors Bureau Wednesday, November 07, 2012

The Lansing area is about to become even more welcoming with the opening of a second location for The Greater Lansing Convention and Visitors Bureau (GLCVB) in East Lansing. The new 400 square foot visitor information center celebrates its grand opening with a ribbon cutting this week.

“The addition of a second visitor center location is something that has been on our radar for a few years,” says VP Marketing Communications for the GLCVB, Tracy Padot. “We spent a lot of time finding the right location, to position ourselves for maximum success. The space needed to be affordable, visible to the traveling public and adjacent to shopping, dining, attractions and events. When the space opened up across from the Broad, we knew we had found the right fit.”

The new Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum is, in fact, a primary reason for the second GLCVB location. The museum is expected to create a great influx of visitors. Additionally, an East Lansing location hopes to service Michigan State University’s growing population of international students and their families.

The location will be staffed Tuesday through Sunday and will showcase special events and projects, as well as guide visitors to destinations throughout the Greater Lansing area.

Vertafore expands into 36,000 sq ft East Lansing office

Ed Vincent, Vertafore Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Formerly known locally as Sircon, the insurance industry-focused IT firm Vertafore moved from their Okemos location to Abbot Road in East Lansing in early 2012 to accommodate the office’s continued growth.

“We have deep roots in Michigan beginning with Sircon,” says Ed Vincent, senior vice president of Producer Lifecycle Management for Vertafore. “We were in a couple of different facilities in Okemos, and we wanted to get everyone in one space.”

The 36,000-square-foot office houses about 130 local Vertafore employees. According the Vincent, the space could accommodate about 25 additional employees, after which the office may consider expanding more in the building.

“I’m excited that we’ll be in the position that we’ll be hiring software engineers ad hiring service professionals,” says Vincent. “We absolutely have a commitment to growing the staff, and giving the staff career development opportunities.”

Vertafore is headquartered in Seattle and employs approximately 1,300 workers. The company purchased Sircon in 2008.

Vincent says the growing staff has been enjoying their new East Lansing home, and look forward to becoming increasingly involved with the community and Michigan State University.

Aerospace manufacturer opens in 19,000 sq ft Mason space, adds nine jobs

Matthew Rudd, Apex Wednesday, November 07, 2012

New aerospace manufacturer, APEX Precision Solutions, Inc., announced the opening of a 19,000 square foot facility near Mason last week. The company, which launched in the spring of this year, was started by a team of manufacturing executives from the medical device industry.

“We’ve been in operation, really since July of the facility,” says Matthew Rudd, President and CEO of APEX. “We’re operational now and taking orders.”

APEX specializes in machined parts and fixtures for the aerospace industry and related fields. The company plans to create 25 to 35 new jobs over the next two years.

“Our initial goal here is get the certifications that will allow us to enter into more component manufacturing,” says Rudd. “We plan on growing in the markets that we’re currently service, but we’ll be able to go a little deeper.”

APEX currently employs a staff of nine. Investment in their new facility was made assisted by Lansing Economic Area Partnership, the Small Business Technology Development Center, the Lansing Regional SmartZone and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.