news
Macro Connect News:
February 2008 - Matt and Kevin Morin participated in the second annual Climb Detroit. They both climbed all 77 floors of the Renaissance Center to raise money for the American Lung Association.
December 2007 - Doug Marsh, our Business Manager, was elected President of the Detroit AM Rotary Club for the 2008-9 year. The Detroit AM Rotary Club is a social service organization whose mission is to uplift children in Detroit through volunteer efforts. Doug takes office in July of 2008.
December 2007- Gordon Elsner was promoted to Senior Consultant.
October 2007 - Team Macro Connect participated in Gilda's Comedy Walk at the Detroit Zoo. Funds raised benefited Gilda's Club of Metro Detroit. Gilda's Club Metro Detroit is a free, non-residential cancer support community in Royal Oak named in honor of the late comedian and former Detroiter Gilda Radner
September 2007 - Macro Connect partnered with Picture This Communications to support Energyville. Energyville is a web based game created by The Economist and Chevron to open a dialogue regarding global warming. Envergyville can be played at www.willyoujoinus.com.
August 2007 - Macro Connect added Carl Martin to our staff.
July 2007 - Kevin Morin joined the board of the Boll Family YMCA in Detroit and was named to the information technology committee.
Macro Connect In the News:
Wayne State University's South End (February 6, 2008): "Loft builder turns failed housing project into office space"
Lauren Cavanagh
One Midtown developer is taking a step back from the
residential market and is finding success in the office market.
The Mid-Med Lofts were originally marketed as homes, but they were not selling.
The developer has now decided to turn the lofts into much needed office space.
Bill Vogel, principal for Fairway Realty and leasing agent for the lofts,
doesn't think the failure of the lofts as homes had anything to do with the
project itself.
"It was the function of the residential real estate market as a
whole," Vogel said. "It wasn't isolated to Midtown, it wasn't
isolated to the city, and unfortunately, it wasn't even isolated to the state.
"The residential market dropped off and there were several macroeconomic
issues that led to that. We had a certain amount pre-sold, but before we took
that next step to close on some of those sales, we thought 'Well, is this
really the best use for the building?'"
Vogel feels good about making the transition before it was too late. He said
that turning the space into offices is good for Midtown.
"We think that we are very fortunate compared to other developers of
residential projects in the area because we caught on with what was happening
in the market before we chose to close on any of these sales," Vogel said.
"The location is just perfectly placed between the two main entities that
drive Midtown."
Located on E. Canfield between Woodward and John R street, the lofts are right
in the middle of campus and the Detroit Medical Center. Vogel said that the
offices could be perfect for employees of both institutions.
"We spoke with some people within departments at WSU that just need more
office space," Vogel said. "They are bursting at the seams."
Vogel also said there may be people interested in buying who are affiliated with
the DMC.
"Maybe they are suburban doctors that come to do rounds at the DMC two or
three times a week and want to have an office close by," Vogel said.
"We saw a real potential for office space."
There are other potential buyers out there who aren't working
with the DMC or WSU, but like the thought of having an office in Midtown.
Douglas Marsh, a WSU graduate, is the business manager for Macro Connect, a
local technology consulting firm that supports small and medium-sized
businesses, nonprofit organizations and schools. The business is based in
Detroit, and an office in Midtown is something the company is very interested
in.
"Many of our clients are in Detroit and [Midtown] is a central location
for our office employees and field staff to work out of," Marsh said.
"We love the energy and excitement that is associated with being in the
city."
Marsh thinks that Midtown is good for any business because of all it has to
offer, including the culture, and the fact that traffic and parking are less of
an issue there than in the Central Business District. Marsh and Macro Connect
hope to be settled in Midtown before the end of March.
The Mid-Med lofts have been listed as offices for six weeks now, and Vogel is
very pleased with the reaction.
"We're averaging one to two calls a day," Vogel said. "We've had
close to a dozen showings, including a very large group that wanted to take a
whole floor, and we have some smaller tenants moving in over the next couple of
weeks. We're very happy with the response we've had so far."
Vogel thinks that Midtown is growing and has a lot to offer.
"I would argue that Midtown is the second most viable space in all of
Detroit," Vogel said. "With all the developments going on [in
Midtown], there is just so much happening. It is the second greatest rebirth in
the city short of the Central Business District."
Crain's Detroit Business (June 5, 2006): "These CEOs are top in Fitness: Men Under 50"
Matthew Morin says he doesn't feel right if he's not in shape. "It's hard to be productive in the rest of your life if you aren't taking care of your physical and mental health," the president of Bloomfield Hills-based Macro Connect said. Staying in shape is a necessity, as he is a soccer and basketball player and sails competitively. Morin lives in Detroit and is a member of the Boll Family YMCA in Detroit. His workout routine consists of racquetball and squash, weight lifting, swimming, indoor soccer and basketball.
Building: Business and Apartment Management (June 2004): "Wi-Fi For Apartments and Condos: What is it and How Does it Work?"
Wi-Fi is short for wireless fidelity. It is a wireless technology that allows users to connect to the Internet over radio waves at ultra high speeds. Wi-Fi technologies can connect users inside buildings to the Internet and, in larger complexes, can even be used to share Internet access between building, all without the use and expense of wiring.
According to Matthew Morin of Macro Connect in Bloomfield Hills, while this technology has obvious commercial applications (hotels, coffee shops, airports, etc.), it is also well suited to apartment and condominium complexes. It allows owners, managers, and builders to provide an added amenity and differentiate their properties from others that do not offer wi-fi service.
It allows residents and condo owners to connect to the Internet for work or leisure from anywhere in their home. AAM member Ken Koss of Ark Realty/Koss Home Builder recently worked with Macro Connect to implement an all-wireless network that provides Internet access to every unit in each of the 18 buildings in the Boulevard apartments in Auburn Hills. The Boulevard provides Internet access to tenants of their furnished apartments free of charge (after an initial se-up fee of between $25 and $50) and charges a monthly fee of $24.95 to tenants in unfurnished apartments.
According to Koss, "It is one of those things that is an important commodity to offer. If you cant do it and do it at a reasonable rate, yar are not being competitive."
His decision to provide this amenity was made during the time when the executive short term (2-3 month) leasing market was becoming more competitive. He could see that the hotel properties along the freeways were adding high speed internet connection (sometimes wireless) and integrating it into their daily rates.
"We've had nothing but positive reaction to this service. People love it," said Koss. While it is essential for the business, short term renters, the longer term tenants have responded positively as well. "I can count at least three conventional leases that would not have come in without this feature in an unfurnished apartment,
Detroit Free Press (January 19, 2004): "Wi-Fi Access a Perk for Some Metro-Area Renters"
Mike Wendland
Wi-Fi has moved into the metro are far beyond the home network or the occasional hot spot at a restaurant or coffee shop.
From the new Wi-Fi service that went online last month in the midfield terminal at Metro Airport to the Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center hotel to boaters at the Detroit Yacht club, wireless broadband Internet systems are sprouting up faster than winter potholes on the Lodge Freeway
The Latest example of how this high-speed means having always-on access to Web sites and e-mail is being applied in new business settings in Auburn Hills, where an entire apartment complex has gone Wi-Fi.
All 256 units of the Boulevard apartment can no tap into the Internet wirelessly; something owner and general manager Ken Koss says is a major draw in luring new tenants during what has generally been a tough time in the apartment rental business.
Koss' complex rents to a well-heeled crowd, many of whom are executives for nearby DaimlerChrysler AG or Volkswagen pr the French and Japanese auto supply firms attracted to Auburn Hills and its booming development.
"I won't say that having wireless Internet is the determining factor in having them lease from us. But it's a deal clincher," Koss says. "It's something that is enormously convenient over a fixed cable modem or DSL connection because the can be online from any room in the apartment - even the bathroom, if they want."
Koss build the Walton Boulevard complex in 1989. After DaimlerChrysler opened its hug headquarters a mile or so down nearby Squirrel Road, he said he began getting so many German-speaking tenants that he learned the language himself.
"They all have laptops and are used to carrying them around and being online wherever they go in the office," he says. "They like to do the same thing here at home."
The boulevard includes free Wi-Fi access for those renting furnished units, the package chose by most of the business lessees. Tenants who furnish their own units themselves get unlimited Wi-Fi for $24,95 a month, almost half the monthly fee for undiscounted cable or DSL modem packages.
Matthew Morin, whose networking company Macro Connect did the installation for the complex over the fall, says without Wi-Fi the only broadband option for the tenants was long-term contracts with cable or DSL companies.
"To build its own wired network would have required digging and burying cable for the complex," Morin says. "That would have been costly and messy."
Morin says new technology has greatly improved Wi-Fi security, making it very difficult to penetrate by hackers or so-called car drivers, who drive around in vehicles looking for unsecured wireless networks.
Macro Connect installed three access points in each of the 18 buildings in the complex. On top of each building is a directional antenna, providing a bridge network to the next building.
When a tenant moves in or asks for the service, Morin or a technician authorizes the customer's computer by typing in an identifying number. No installers, cables or plugs are needed. It takes less than a minute.
The Boulevard is the first apartment complex his company has set up with Wi-Fi and the only one he knows of in the area, although he believes several others, as well as condominiums, are in the planning stages.
"People actually make a decision about where to live based on Internet access," Morin says.
Koss agrees. "I'll be talking to prospective tenants and they pull out a list. And right up there with being close to shopping and other community attractions I can see they've written down 'Internet access.' I think it's as much as an essential these days as air conditioning."