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March 14, 2012 | 3:18 PM | By Dustin Dwyer

How Bon Jovi Explains The Midwest’s Casino Boom

A rendering of the proposed Kewadin Lansing Casino. Photo courtesy of Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians.

Next week, the city council in Lansing, Mich. is expected to vote on a proposal for a $245 million casino for the city’s downtown.

The proposal is just the latest in what’s starting to look like a casino-boom in the Midwest. Both Toledo and Cleveland have new casinos opening in May. The Detroit Free Press reported last week that there are no fewer than 22 casino proposals in Michigan right now. And Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel is still holding out hope for Illinois leaders to approve gambling in his city.

At first glance, it’s easy to see why casino gambling is such a hot topic right now. Casinos bring hundreds of millions of dollars in new investment, including construction jobs and long-term jobs for dealers, waiters, cooks and others.

Also, research has shown that regions in economic stress are more likely to use gambling as an economic development tool. Here in the Midwest, there’s been plenty of economic stress.

But it’s not exactly a settled issue whether casino gambling actually creates economic development.

So why all the interest?

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FILED UNDER: Communities, Government, Industry, Jobs, casino, Chicago, Cleveland, Economic Development, gambling, gaming, Hollywood Casino Toledo, Horseshoe Casino Cleveland, Kewadin Lansing Casino, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Toledo
February 20, 2012 | 9:05 AM | By Dustin Dwyer

Midwest Memo: Groupon’s Growth, Toledo’s (Unfinished) Transformation And The Big Easy Takes One Away

Groupon grows Chicago-based Groupon has acquired a new York company that specializes in gathering data about local consumers. The Chicago Tribune says it could be the “deal of the year.”

Long way to go in Toledo The Toledo area has seen 7,200 new jobs in manufacturing since June of 2009. That’s the second best improvement in the country (Lansing, Mich. is number one). But the Toledo Blade says there are still 36 percent fewer manufacturing jobs than there were in 1998.

Background check The Blade also has a Special Report out this morning. The newspaper hired investigators in China to look into two Chinese investors who’ve invested millions in Toledo. The paper finds that the two investors amassed their fortunes thanks to connections to the ruling Communist Party in China, and after years of service as government bureaucrats. (Our own Dan Bobkoff reported on Toledo’s China connection last summer).

Losing to the Big Easy Indianapolis was in the running for a GE corporate office with 300 high-paying jobs. But the company picked New Orleans instead.

Next in line The New York Times profiles the heir apparent to the CEO office at Ford.

Unpaid fees Detroit decides it’s time to collect.

Media moratorium The Chicago News Cooperative, a non-profit news agency that had been providing content to The New York Times, will suspend its operations on February 26th.

FILED UNDER: Midwest Memo, Chicago News Cooperative, GE, General Electric, Groupon, Lansing, New Orleans, Toledo
November 16, 2011 | 11:45 AM | By Pete Bigelow

Midwest Memo: Chicago Budget Should Easily Pass, Toledo Gains 1,100 Jobs, Cleveland Eyes China Medical Markets

Three stories making news across the Midwest today:

1. Chicago budget vote tonight. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s first city budget will be voted upon by the city council tonight. It is expected to be easily approved. The budget addresses a $635 million deficit through a series of layoffs, library and mental-health clinic cuts and fee increases. Our partner station WBEZ says the only question now is how the city’s 50 aldermen will vote, citing minimal opposition. “It could be six or it could be a unanimous vote,” Ald. Bob Fioretti tells the station. He said he worried Emanuel’s plan to nearly double fees for water and sewer service over four years will hasten an exodus of residents. But, “My yes or no vote isn’t going to mean anything,” he said. “I believe it’s already decided.”

2. Chrysler brings 1,100 jobs to Toledo. Chrysler announced today that it would invest $500 million at a Toledo assembly plant to build its next-generation Jeep SUV. The investment is expected to create more than 1,100 new jobs by 2013, according to the Detroit Free Press. The Toledo North plant will add a second shift. The plant, which opened in 1997, was the only Chrysler plant in North America operating only one shift, according to the newspaper.The investment comes as part of a $1.7 billion move centered around the Jeep SUV. Remaining funds will be invested at other Chrysler plants.

3. Cleveland biomedical companies eye China markets. There’s growing opportunity for Cleveland-area biomedical companies to meet China’s growing demand for advanced health care. The Chinese government has pledged $100 billion to upgrade its healthcare infrastructure, and “it would be insane not to take advantage of that immense growth,” Eddie Zai, founder of the Cleveland International Group, a business investment consulting firm, tells our partner station Ideastream. Zai’s new venture, the Cleveland Bio-Fund, is partnering with Newsummit Pharmaceuticals in Shanghai, to bring $100 million to U.S. medical device companies. The Plain Dealer endorses the developments, calling it, “an example of the kind of commerce that is the path to jobs and wealth.”

FILED UNDER: Government, Industry, Jobs, auto industry, Chicago, China, Chrysler, city budgets, Cleveland, health care, Rahm Emanuel, Toledo
November 11, 2011 | 1:24 PM | By Dan Bobkoff

Echoes of Midwest Concerns as Obama Delays Keystone XL Decision

Adee Braun

Construction workers at a Detroit refinery. It's being converted to process more Oil Sands crude piped in from Canada

The future of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline won’t be decided until after next year’s Presidential election, the Obama administration announced Thursday. This is the $7 billion, 1,700 mile pipeline that would carry crude from the Canadian Oil Sands (also known as tar sands by its detractors) down to refineries in the US Gulf. TransCanada, the firm hoping to build the pipe, plotted a route through states like South Dakota, Nebraska and Oklahoma, on its way to Texas.

This has been one of those no-win decisions for the President, with critics of the pipeline arguing it will harm the environment and health of those along its path, and the energy industry touting the thousands of jobs that could be generated from the construction and operation of the pipeline. This week, the Obama administration delayed any decision until new routes can be devised—bypassing an environmentally at-risk region of Nebraska.

What does this have to do with the Upper Midwest? As I reported over the summer, pipelines carrying crude from the controversial oil sands come into the Great Lakes region as well. With the oil sands now financially viable, there’s been a frenzy to convert Midwest refineries to process this heavy, tar-like crude. It’s meant more jobs in cities like Toledo and Detroit, but also raised concerns about potential oil spills. Oil sands crude is thought to be more corrosive than conventional crude, and some think it contributed to the Marshall, MI pipeline spill in 2010. Click here to hear our reporting on costs and benefits for our region of this growing energy source.

FILED UNDER: Government, Industry, Jobs, Detroit, energy, jobs, keystone xl, Obama, oil sands, pipeline, Toledo
November 7, 2011 | 1:15 PM | By Pete Bigelow

Midwest Memo: Toledo Casino Competes With Detroit, Water Shortage In West Could Be Economic Springboard For Midwest

Three stories making news across the Midwest today:

1. Water playing greater role in Midwest economy? Our partner station WBEZ continues look at the importance of Great Lakes water in the region’s economy. It reports today that the Great Recession dramatically slowed the population exodus from the region, and now, water shortages elsewhere in the U.S. could lead to a population resurgence in the Midwest. In cities across the West, long droughts have taken a toll. Water levels in Lake Mead are at their lowest levels since the lake’s inception in the 1960s. Midwest communities are capitalizing. A marketing campaign for the city of Erie, Pennsylvania notes, “One fifth of the world’s fresh water, potable, not saltwater, is right here in our back yard.”

2. Perils of outsourcing. Replacing government employees with private workers who make less money has become a popular move in recent years for politicians grappling with strained budgets. But such outsourcing comes with hidden costs, says The New York Times, which profiled Michigan’s efforts to deal with that issue today. The state wants to lay off 170 nursing assistants at a veterans’ hospital in Grand Rapids and replace them with workers who make $10 per hour. A legal dispute is under way, and The Times reports that it highlights the pitfalls of such decisions and that taxpayers “end up paying for the cuts in more indirect ways.”

3. Toledo casino will compete with Detroit. In April, the Hollywood Casino will open in Toledo, Ohio, just north of downtown on the Maumee River. It means jobs and a larger tax base for the city. In Detroit, it means competition. The Detroit Free Press reports that Detroit casino operators will not disclose how many of their customers come from northeast Ohio, but they have taken notice of Toledo’s plans. A Lansing-based casino analyst tells the newspaper that gamblers from Ohio and Ontario comprise 20 to 30 percent of the Detroit client base. And the Toledo casino will not only try to draw from its home base, it’s operators are seeking to lure clients from southeast Michigan.

FILED UNDER: Government, Industry, Innovation, Jobs, casinos, Detroit, Great Lakes, state budgets, Toledo, water
September 30, 2011 | 12:04 PM | By Pete Bigelow

Midwest Memo: CME Offered Tax Incentives for Indiana Relocation, John Kasich Begins SB5 Defense

Three stories making news across the Midwest today:

1. Report: Indiana sets sights on luring CME headquarters. Indiana is aiming to land another Illinois company with a tax-incentive package. This time, a big one. Crain’s Chicago Business reports today that Indiana has offered CME Group Inc. $150 million per year to move its headquarters to the Hoosier State. CME CEO Terry Duffy did not comment on the report, but earlier this week, said he expects the headquarters issue “to be resolved by year end.” Indiana’s top economic development official, Dan Hasler, neither confirmed nor denied the report when reached.

2. Kasich begins official SB5 defense. On Thursday night, Ohio Gov. John Kasich made his first official campaign appearance to support Issue 2, a state ballot measure that could repeal Senate Bill 5, a controversial law that limits collective-bargaining rights of public employees. Appearing in Toledo with Mayor Mike Bell, Kasich outlined his defense of SB5 – that it helps local governments control spiraling costs. “I believe in unions, I believe they have a place,” Kasich told The Columbus Dispatch. “I am not out, in any way shape or form, to go after and target anybody.”

3. Michigan airport authority announces cuts. The Wayne County Airport Authority said Thursday it would cut costs and raise fees as part of a plan to reduce its expenses by $20 million over the next 12 to 15 months. The Authority, which runs operations at Detroit Metro and Willow Run airports, approved a budget of $292 million for fiscal 2012 that includes wage and benefit changes for employees. Airport World reports at least 100 employees will lose their jobs. “It’s imperative that we re-engineer Detroit Metro and Willow Run Airports so that they become the most competitive in North America,” said Turkia Awada Mullin, the WCAA’s new chief executive officer, who has drawn attention this week for taking a $200,000 buyout from her previous job as Wayne County’s chief development officer to accept the head position at the airport authority.

FILED UNDER: Government, Industry, Politics, Chicago, CME, Detroit, Indiana, John Kasich, Michigan, Ohio, SB5, tax incentives, Toledo
June 10, 2011 | 5:12 PM | By Dan Bobkoff

Cleveland Area More Cautious on China

Downtown Toledo

CLEVELAND — Should other Midwest cities be looking to the Chinese to revitalize vacant property? It’s working out pretty well so far in Toledo, as I report this week. That city has been aggressive in courting investment from China, and they’ve created some strong relationships there that seem to be bearing fruit.

Not every deal goes so well, though. Just ask the Cleveland Cavaliers. In 2009, the team announced it was selling a 15% stake to a Chinese investor. A year later, it fell apart.

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FILED UNDER: Communities, Government, Industry, Jobs, Cavs, Chinese investment, Cleveland, Cleveland Cavaliers, Marina District, Team NEO, Toledo, Tom Waltermire
June 10, 2011 | 1:02 PM | By Dan Bobkoff

Why Chinese Investors are Buying in Toledo

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TOLEDO, OH –Toledo Mayor Michael Bell is serious about Chinese investment in his city. When he gives you his business card, one side is in Chinese. His office is adorned with Chinese screens and other gifts from his travels there.

Mayor Michael Bell's office is adorned with Chinese gifts like this screen.

“America is always waiting for people to come to them,” says Mayor Bell. “Well, we’re on the other side now and we have to be able to reach out and market ourselves.”

A year and a half in office, the independent Mayor’s efforts are paying off. His first trip to China was in September. Five months later, he sold a struggling city-owned restaurant complex to two Chinese investors for more than $2 million. Bell and economic development folks in Toledo say these deals are all about relationships. They’ve worked hard to make those connections and pitch the Chinese on the many opportunities in this unfamiliar city.

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FILED UNDER: Communities, Government, Jobs, China, Chinese investment, Docks, heritage foundation, Marina District, Michael Bell, Toledo
June 6, 2011 | 12:10 PM | By Micki Maynard

Midwest Memo, Monday, June 6, 2011

Five must-read stories on the Midwest economy

1) GM Tech Center Investment: General Motors said today it is investing $130 million in its technical center in Warren, Mich., and expects to add 25 jobs.

GM joined Ford and Chrysler with a good first quarter in 2011. Photo by Chris via Flickr.

The automaker will build an enterprise data center, and remodel an administrative building on the tech center campus. The move comes after the Warren City Council approved tax credits. GM also is getting a credit from the state of Michigan.

 

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FILED UNDER: Government, Jobs, casinos, Chicago, General Motors, Indianapolis, tax incentives, Toledo, unions, Wisconsin