Alliance eyes restaurant, retail growth

Midland business development efforts will expand this year to include more proactive recruitment of new restaurants and retail businesses, the CEO of the Midland Business Alliance said.

“We have a big gap in ‘How do we bring in retail and restaurants?’” Bill Allen told members of the Midland City Council at the council’s recent annual planning retreat. “We’re going to change that this year.”

Allen said the alliance — an umbrella organization for entities including the Midland Area Chamber of Commerce and Midland Tomorrow — has hired Buxton, a Fort Worth, Texas, customer analytics company, to help Midland find good retail prospects.

“We will get data that we never had before” that will help discover “who’s looking for a community the size of Midland,” he said. “This gives us the firepower to be proactive.”

Buxton will begin its work in the next few weeks. Allen said the data provided by the consulting firm could help not only draw new businesses but also could provide insights for firms already in Midland.

“If it’s used properly, we should be able to help our existing businesses,” Allen said.

In connection with the new retail recruitment efforts, alliance staff will be attending a major convention in Las Vegas in May sponsored by the International Council of Shopping Centers. The event is said to be the largest shopping center industry convention, drawing more than 37,000 attendees and 1,200 exhibitors.

Other entities under the Midland Business Alliance umbrella are the Midland Tomorrow Innovation Center (formerly the MidMichigan Innovation Center), the Midland Information Technology Consortium (MITCON) and CBM Services Inc., a collection agency that is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the Midland Area Chamber of Commerce.

Also on the agenda for the alliance in 2017 are “entrepreneurial week” activities the week of March 27, which will be aimed at providing resources for would-be and new entrepreneurs who need help in creating their businesses; a continued focus on the Midland SmartZone; and revising the dues structure for the Midland Area Chamber of Commerce.

Allen said the dues structure hasn’t changed in at least 20 years. He envisions a change from a model based on the number of employees in a business to a “tier dues” structure.

Changes in the economy mean that some small business owners can’t take time out of running their businesses to attend traditional chamber events, and the tier structure would allow them to take advantage of the services they most need, he said.

“Every tier will cost more but will have greater value,” Allen said.

Allen said the alliance in 2017 also wants to address “long-term plans” for the Farmers Market and Midland Blooms.

“We have to look past one year out,” Allen said, noting that both Bay City and Saginaw are opening year-round farmers’ markets.

Also updating council members at the retreat was Becky Church, Midland Tomorrow’s vice president of operations.

She described some of the structural changes made in 2016, including Midland Tomorrow’s absorption of the MidMichigan Innovation Center in the fourth quarter. She noted the MMIC had a statewide focus, while the new entity — the Midland Tomorrow Innovation Center — is focused on Midland County.

The center’s activities are aimed at job creation, commercialization of new technology and diversifying the county’s economic base.

Another structural change was MITCON becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Midland Tomorrow, which Church said would provide more tools for economic development, including more access to a local fiber optic network.

Church said Midland Tomorrow made 83 site visits in 2016 aimed at assisting local companies. She said these visits resulted in six companies being awarded a total of $72,030 from the state of Michigan from the Skilled Trades Training Fund, and two companies being awarded $44,375 from Michigan’s State Trade Expansion Program.

To see all the slide presentations made by the Midland Business Alliance, Midland Tomorrow and other presenters at the City Council planning retreat, visit www.cityofmidlandmi.gov/422/City-Council and click on “View All City Council Agendas and Minutes,” then choose the Jan. 7, 2017 special meeting.