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Award-Winning MAXPRO Leverages Centrepolis Accelerator Expertise
Award-Winning MAXPRO Leverages Centrepolis Accelerator Expertise sccadmin

When Nezar Akeel officially became an entrepreneur, he had what many fellow entrepreneurs didn’t have. He had age and experience. A lot of experience.

At 52, Akeel has the solid foundation of a well-established corporate career in engineering management. This experience gave him the chance to test out new ideas and concepts much like an entrepreneur would. “I was responsible for new ventures and new relationships within an often global setting, which helped a lot,” says Akeel. “So I’m not the typical young kid working on an idea with nothing to lose.”

His career experience contributed to his success as he launched MAXPRO, an all-in-one smart gym system that is topping best-of lists. In October 2019, MAXPRO won the “Best of Innovation” award for health and fitness for CES 2020, and Akeel received the award in Las Vegas in January 2020.

The decision to connect with the Southfield City Centre-based Centrepolis Accelerator was highly beneficial to getting MAXPRO to market, Akeel says.

As a small manufacturer and hardware entrepreneur organization, the Centrepolis Accelerator is a perfect fit for Akeel’s MAXPRO, which is a manufactured product with smart connectivity. Akeel felt this match from the first time he connected with Centrepolis Accelerator director Dan Radomski.

“We met at a Centrepolis Accelerator hardware development seminar in Detroit, and Dan understood the concept right away. I went to an additional workshop on lean design where I connected with other entrepreneurs and saw the support infrastructure and services that are available for entrepreneurs who are past idea phase,” says Akeel. “It was really the beginning of me connecting with the Southeast Michigan entrepreneurial world.”

As he was being mentored by younger entrepreneurs, Akeel recognized how much he could learn through these connections, including techniques for leveraging funding.

“The Centrepolis Accelerator helped me write a grant to the Business Accelerator Fund at Michigan Small Business Development Center, which has a high-tech grant and my product qualified,” Akeel says. “I ended up getting $25,000 in support just at the right time in the development process.” Centrepolis Accelerator connected Akeel to other resources, including crowdfunding, legal services, design, development and supply sources.

Throughout the process, Akeel has participated in multiple pitch competitions and match meetings and has learned the art of describing the value of his product for the investor audience. These experiences have resulted in financial support and ongoing conversations.

With his engineering background, Akeel says the ease of speaking a “common language” was a welcome benefit of working with the Centrepolis Accelerator. The rich manufacturing knowledge available at and through the Centrepolis Accelerator meant Akeel didn’t need to spend a lot of time explaining what his product does and how it fit into the connected hardware marketplace.

“My product really was a perfect fit for them,” he says, adding that the Michigan manufacturing ecosystem is a highly suitable place to develop a manufactured product. “In Metro Detroit and in Michigan in general, we have an established infrastructure for hardware and electronics.”

Because MAXPRO is a manufactured hardware product that intersects with the internet-of-things space, the fit was seamless, from both a development and connection perspective.

“The Centrepolis Accelerator was accessible and made themselves known,” Akeel says. “I plugged in and made time to attend their seminars, and that’s all a part of the entrepreneurial initiative.”

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Customer-Influenced New Look Brings Southfield City Centre Marriott to Foreground
Customer-Influenced New Look Brings Southfield City Centre Marriott to Foreground sccadmin

Customer feedback fueled the design choices for a $14 million interior renovation at the Detroit Marriott Southfield on Northwestern Hwy. in the Southfield City Centre. Phase one of the renovation was completed in May 2018 and updated and refreshed the lobby, all 226 guest rooms, all conference rooms, board room, and ballrooms, according to Rodney Jackson, general manager.

But something was still missing.

“In 2019, I went back to the owners and told them they did a fantastic job with the interiors, but the outside still looked like it did before,” says Jackson. His suggestion sparked a $300,000 exterior update that uplifts the whole property. “We went with a gray color palette, light and dark gray, and it’s been really well received by customers and corporate businesses in the area.”

For the interior renovation, customers offered their top improvements wish list, which included clean, fresh wood tile flooring throughout – including guest rooms – all new lighting and bedding, plus industry standard-exceeding 50-inch smart TVs with internet and Netflix. “If you come to the hotel, you don’t need to bring all of your devices,” says Jackson. “You enter your own Netflix credentials and when you check out, your information is erased. We wanted it to be as close to home as you can possibly make it.”

Improvements at the City Centre’s Marriott live up to the enhanced, pedestrian-friendly feel of the City Centre overall, says Jackson. And with a bikeshare station right in the hotel parking lot, guests can use the shared-use path of the Southfield City Centre Trail to move around the City Centre with ease.

“The bikeshare is so popular. I didn’t realize it was used as much as it is until I watched bikes come and go from the station,” Jackson says. “It’s a lot more popular than I imagined.”

The new modern exterior look coincided with an exterior update of the Courtyard Detroit Southfield property next door, and together they move their corner of the Southfield City Centre forward, Jackson says.

“When we look up and down the street, we don’t fade into the background, especially with Beaumont close by and all the updates they have done to their building,” he says. “We and the Courtyard wanted a more modern look to be more a part of this area, instead of in the background.”

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Southfield Area Chamber Welcomes New Executive Director
Southfield Area Chamber Welcomes New Executive Director sccadmin

A meeting with Jason Blanks is an energy-boosting experience. Even a phone conversation is like a shot of espresso, because Blanks, the new executive director of the Southfield Area Chamber of Commerce, has an incredible amount of energy.

And it’s infectious.

That’s a good thing, because Blanks has hit the ground running with a list of goals and action items. He comes to the Chamber with a rich career history in the public and nonprofit sectors.

“I’ve been in this role for two weeks now, and it has been super rewarding,” says Blanks. “I’ve met so many great people. Everyone is so welcoming.”

In his first two weeks, Blanks has developed a partnership with the Detroit chapter of the Association for Talent Development, a nonprofit professional development organization, to offer training to Southfield Area Chamber members. Courses in engagement with visuals, workforce revolution, and leading in the digital age are some examples that member organizations can benefit from. He’s also gearing up for a one-on-one series to engage with small businesses and offer whatever tools, insight, and direction they may need.

“Our goal is to make sure businesses have the resources to be successful,” Blanks says. “We want to make sure our partners are receiving that individualized service.”

A service-dedicated career

When Blanks was an industrial engineering student at Western Michigan University, he recognized that a career in engineering might not allow him the level of human interaction he enjoyed. “I thought I might be better suited to working in hospitals, so I switched my degree to pre-med.” While completing his degree, Blanks worked full time at Hope Network, assisting individuals with cognitive behavioral issues.

Blanks graduated and moved back to southeast Michigan to work as a case manager in a grant-funded prisoner reentry initiative at the Oakland Livingston Human Service Agency, where he would steadily move up the management chain and gain valuable experience and a skill for connecting people to services and resources. At OLHSA, he filled a supervisory role with Head Start, and wrote and facilitated a grant program for the DNR and Department of Justice aimed to provide employment readiness skills to youth between 15 and 18 years old.

“My background switched once I received these grants, and I was able to bring in additional funding to a group of individuals not being served,” Blanks says.

When the grant ended, Blanks transitioned to the City of Detroit where he worked as operations general manager in human resources, managing a $40 million budget and database tracking system. Still, Blanks was able to facilitate a charitable giving campaign with the United Way.

“I still have a heart and passion for giving back to the community,” he says.

An executive director position with the Humane Society of Monroe County gave Blanks his first executive director-level experience and granted him the responsibility of building memberships and bringing dollars into the agency to benefit animals and their community.

“We facilitated about eight charitable campaigns and auctions,” says Blanks. “It was a very unique experience.”

Southfield Area Chamber: a “perfect fit”

When the chance to lead the Southfield Area Chamber of Commerce presented itself, Blanks was eager to step in.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance. I had already worked closely with the chamber in Monroe, and I was interested in this position because I knew I could make a major impact in the city where I live, right in my own community.”

Currently, Blanks is working to learn as much as he can about the business climate in Southfield, including the Southfield City Centre, so he can create specific programming. He’s building on his strong skill of connecting people and building relationships to help grow businesses and resources.

When Blanks isn’t busy building connections, he’s supporting his wife, who works for the State of Michigan, and cheering on their three sons in their extracurricular sporting pursuits of basketball, soccer, and swimming.

Heeding the words of his past career mentors, Blanks has built a philosophy that he applies to both his personal and his business life. “As long as you are working to get the job done, put your all into it,” Blanks says. “And I do that with every aspect of my life.”

Blanks replaces Tanya Markos-Vanno, who left the Chamber in September for a business development role at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

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Maccabees Undergoes Renovation and Rebrands as The Century
Maccabees Undergoes Renovation and Rebrands as The Century sccadmin

A familiar office building in the Southfield City Centre will soon be known by a new name.

The Maccabees Center at 25800 Northwestern Hwy. and Civic Center Drive will rebrand and be revealed as The Century, a name selected through a unique form of focused crowdsourcing, says Thomas Litzler, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Livonia-based Schostak Brothers & Company, which owns the building.

“We came up with the name through employee focus groups and research,” says Litzler. The new name will accompany a new look, with an extensive remodeling project to several key areas of the building planned. “John Hawkinson [project manager] put together a menu of enhancements for us, and concurrent with that, a cross-section of employees came up with a variety of possible names.”

Suggestions included geographic locations, family names, and other more generic options.

“This name became an amalgamation of all of those,” Litzler says.

The Century is an especially fitting name, as Schostak will celebrate 100 years in business in 2020.

Planned renovations will leverage the 360,000-square foot building’s already desirable attributes, making the office center even more attractive to a wide variety of employees. A tenant lounge will offer space for people to gather for informal meetings or to watch television and enjoy snacks. A leasing center will feature a showroom and place for potential tenants to meet with leasing professionals. A fitness center and updated cafe will provide places for tenants to work out, refuel, and relax.

“The building currently has an outdoor courtyard green space with tables, and we will be improving that to create an all-weather deck with outdoor year-round furniture to get more use from the space,” says Litzler.

Parking lot improvements, upgraded HVAC for improved tenant comfort, and a new drop-off dry cleaning service will round out the building’s renovations.

The Century will also feature a bikeshare station, as part of the popular Zagster bikeshare program that connects amenities throughout the Southfield City Centre and provides easy access to heart-healthy activity along the shared-use pathways of the City Centre Trail.

“The bikeshare is a convenient way to get around and to close places without having to drive. People can easily get to the Town Center or to food trucks that are here often,” Litzler says. “It’s a convenient, novel way to get around and get some exercise, too.”

Work has already started on the building, and is scheduled to be completed during the first quarter of 2020. With a new name, and new amenities, The Century will provide tenants and potential tenants with even more reasons to enjoy working in the City Centre, Litzler says.

“With prominent visibility, very easy access to all Detroit markets–from downtown to the western suburbs and Troy–and plenty of free parking and a protected underground deck, The Century really is a full-service building.”

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Technosoft Expands in the Southfield City Centre
Technosoft Expands in the Southfield City Centre sccadmin

When Technosoft Corporation was preparing to expand its corporate footprint at One Towne Square in the City Centre, Southfield became its location of choice, edging out other locations across the country. With support from the Michigan Strategic Fund, Technosoft is creating a Digital Transformation Center of Excellence to deliver data solutions to its clients, using blockchain, robotic automation, and data science.

Business development support from Southfield helped make the decision to expand here an easy one.

“We think Southfield is very business friendly,” says Glenn Moore, vice president of marketing for Technosoft. “The city government was helpful in getting permits quickly when we were building out space and putting out signage. They helped us understand funds that were available to us, got to know us, and helped us with a lot of outreach.”

An IT company that helps clients digitize their businesses, Technosoft also embeds tech talent directly into its customer locations to work on projects, innovate, and create solutions. The Digital Transformation Center of Excellence will bring together talent teams to build and test applications, manage projects, and create digital solutions using artificial intelligence.

“We will have cross-functional tech teams work together to do cool project work for our customers,” says Moore.

With more than 4,400 employees globally, 1,200 employees in the U.S. and 900 right here in Michigan, it made sense for Technosoft to expand its presence here in the Southfield City Centre. The initiative is projected to create 104 high-paying jobs, according to information from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

In 2018, Technosoft applied for funding from the Going Pro talent fund through Oakland County Michigan Works! Southfield, which provides up to $117,000 reimbursement for tech skills training for new and existing employees.

“We are creating higher skilled employees in the area who are getting higher wages with better skills,” says Moore. “The City of Southfield [Business Development Department] was very helpful in making us aware of this program and helping us understand how it works. We give the City of Southfield some kudos for their support.”

Southeast Michigan has the talent that Technosoft needs, and Southfield provides a geographically attractive location for employees who live in different parts of metro Detroit. “We also like have Lawrence Tech so close by,” says Moore, who also serves as an adjunct instructor on campus. “We have been forming closer ties with the university for a potential pipeline for tech talent.”

When attracting talent, it helps that the Southfield City Centre offers walkability in a mini-urban environment, which helps potential employees visualize a comfortable fit in Technosoft’s office at One Towne Square. “With the Evergreen Road renovations and a nice walkway in front of our building, the city has made some improvements that make it more appealing,” Moore says.

“We have noticed the investments that have been made to make the City Centre a more interesting place to work.”

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Lasting Impressions is Loving the City Centre Vibe
Lasting Impressions is Loving the City Centre Vibe sccadmin

Angela Chryplewicz has achieved a satisfying balance between family and work by purposely building her career within her own family-owned and operated business. And her working life is all the more enjoyable since her company moved to an inspiring new location in the Southfield City Centre.

Chryplewicz is co-owner and CEO of Lasting Impressions, a promotional marketing company she runs with her sister Carla Ejaz and their lifelong family friend Jeff Nowaske. Together they create branded marketing solutions for corporations, sports teams, restaurants, and others, finding new and interesting ways for their to imprint clients’ logos and identities on mugs, t-shirts, and hundreds of other possibilities.

This year, Lasting Impressions moved from their former location in Westland to a temporary site at 4000 Town Center, making the final move to their newly renovated office just this month.

It was a smart move, Chryplewicz says.

“We love it when we have people walk in or come by to see us here. We have 4,000 square feet, and have a showroom that we put together,” she says. “We have created a nice display of our work, and we encourage people to come by and meet us and see what we have done.”

All in the family

Chryplewicz is proud to share the story of how she and her sister purchased the 42-year old family business from their father, founder Mark Dabeiro, together with Nowaske, whose own father is a lifelong family friend.

In a way, the three co-owners were well prepared for their roles, given their years of experience in virtually every department and every job description in the company. Chryplewicz and Ejaz grew up in the business, working summers and vacations alongside their dad, and Nowaske joined them straight from college 14 years ago. He now serves as chief operating officer, while Ejaz is head of sales.

“It’s a joke among us that sick days during elementary school and every summer vacation we were at work with dad. We grew up in the business,” says Chryplewicz. When she graduated a semester early from college, she was surprised when her father put her straight to work. “I thought I’d at least enjoy Christmas vacation, but dad said get to work. It’s our busiest season.”

A certified Women Owned Business through the Women’s Business Enterprise, Lasting Impressions joins an estimated 11.6 million women-owned businesses in the U.S. Chryplewicz impresses upon her own children the value of hard work and entrepreneurial spirit.

“It’s important to me that my kids understand that they can achieve whatever they want, but also that it takes a lot of hard work,” Chryplewicz says.

“Loving the Southfield City Centre”

When asked about Lasting Impressions’ experiences so far in their new office suite, Chryplewicz shares her whole team’s excitement. They love the new high-profile office and showroom in the Town Center for its inspiring corporate environment surrounded by dozens of successful businesses. The central location is a benefit she says all 15 employees appreciate. And they’re excited to be in the Southfield City Centre, in the midst of a vibrant business and after-work climate.

“We are all loving the work-play-eat atmosphere of the City Centre,” Chryplewicz says. “Some of our employees are really into fitness and do bootcamps outside, and take runs during their lunch breaks. We all like walking to restaurants on Evergreen. It’s great to take advantage of all there is to offer here.”

New city, new office. What’s next for Lasting Impressions?

“We are focused now on gaining traction in the Southfield area,” Chryplewicz says. “It’s a new territory for us and we are looking forward to meeting our neighbors and joining the chamber of commerce to get to know fellow business owners. And we continue to keep on top of trends for the best ways for our clients to share consistent branding.”

Get to know Lasting Impressions at www.liteam.com, 888-686-2890, or visit them at 4000 Town Center.

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Westin Southfield Detroit is a Landmark with a Whole New Look
Westin Southfield Detroit is a Landmark with a Whole New Look sccadmin

Checking in to a hotel used to feel like a combination of making a bank transaction and ordering cold cuts at a deli counter.

But no more.

At the Westin Southfield Detroit hotel in the Southfield City Centre, the traditional tall, imposing reception desk has been sent to pasture, and has been replaced by four clean, minimalist pods, greatly increasing the personal connection each reception associate can offer guests.

It’s kind of like a truly personal welcoming home for friends and family.

This reimagined space is just one highlight of the fresh new look at the Westin Southfield Detroit. On April 26, the 12-floor Southfield Town Center hotel opened its doors to city officials, community leaders, first responders, and top customers to celebrate the completion of its $14 million renovation.

“Because of its central location, the hotel is appealing to people at companies that do business around the area. The hotel continues to be a landmark here. This warranted the reinvestment into the hotel by ownership group Atrium Hospitality,” says Bryan Best, regional director of sales and marketing for the Westin Southfield.

Included in the renovation were guest corridors and rooms, plus public and meeting spaces. The hotel has 338 guest rooms and 47,000 square feet of meeting space, the largest of which is the Algonquin Ballroom, which seats 400 for dinner within its 4,628 square feet.

“Westin is a lifestyle company that likes to provide natural, uncluttered spaces, with nature brought right into the hotel,” says Best. His favorite update is the “living wall” in the lobby.

“It’s a very unique piece, like living art,” he says, adding that it’s a favored selfie spot for guests and wedding parties alike.

This art is a great complement to the various art installations strategically scattered around the walkable Southfield City Centre district, offering aesthetically-pleasing experiences from every perspective.

“With the Southfield City Centre making investments in public art, we feel what we offer here is a great contribution to the community, and our guests are within walking distance to those amenities as well,” says Best. “The development of the Evergreen Road corridor is something we are proud to show off to people who visit from all over the world.”

Regardless of season, hotel guests, visitors, and tenants of the Town Center buildings can walk through bright, open spaces, indoors and out, says Best. With plenty of amenities within walking distance, guests get the best of a walkable district with a welcoming feel.

“Those who live in the condominiums and townhomes near the hotel, and those who visit the restaurants close by, have a lot of very nice walking space which wasn’t there before.”

Guests are also welcome to take advantage of the Zagster bike share program to travel further afield within the City Centre district.

Part of the Town Center since 1987, the Westin Southfield Detroit was among the first phases of the then-Prudential Town Center Complex. It was originally a Radisson, and was purchased by Starwood in the late 1990s and unveiled as a Westin.

With the extensive renovation, the Westin Southfield Detroit is making a statement that it’s here to stay.

“Whether we are accommodating guests from across the country, or welcoming local residents to Easter brunch or Mother’s Day brunch, at the end of the day, we are part of the Southfield community,” says Best. “We’re proud to be here.”

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LTU Football Returns September 1
LTU Football Returns September 1 sccadmin

Lawrence Technological University will return to the gridiron for the first time in 72 years on Saturday, September 1, when LTU’s new football team takes on Oakland University’s club team.

LTU’s 2018 schedule features four home games that will be played on-campus in Southfield at the LTU Athletic Field, along 10 Mile Road west of Evergreen Road.

Following the Blue Devils’ opening rumble with the 2014 National Club Football Association Champions, the Golden Grizzlies, the Blue and White cross state lines for a trip to Milwaukee, Wis., to face off with Wisconsin Lutheran on Sept. 8.

Season tickets to all four home games, plus the spring Blue vs. White game on April 22, are available for only $40 on LTUAthletics.com.

In addition to access through the gate, season ticket holders will receive an exclusive gift from the Lawrence Tech football program.

Current LTU students will have free admission to home games. Students wishing to purchase the season pass, however, will receive full ticket holder benefits as well as the official 2018 Blue Devil Football student section shirt.

LTU will play a full schedule in the fall of 2019 as a member of the Mid- States Football Association of the NAIA.

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Beaumont Health Welcomes Employees “Home” to New Service Center
Beaumont Health Welcomes Employees “Home” to New Service Center sccadmin

It’s always cause for celebration when a new home is perfect in every way. This year, 3,000 Beaumont administrative employees from 16 buildings across Metro Detroit will move into the former First Center building, selected for its generous glass atrium, easy accessibility to major highways, and the vibrant work-life environment available here in the district. The new location has been named Beaumont Service Center.

Early this year, 550 members of Beaumont Health’s financial services team moved in, and so far, they’re thrilled, says Beaumont Health executive VP and COO Carolyn Wilson. Initial feedback is very positive.”Our teams have found Southfield easy to get to, and they love the common areas of the building,” Wilson says. A fitness center and sunshine-filled atrium provide places for employees to connect.

As a health organization, Beaumont values the Southfield City Centre’s pedestrian-friendly sidewalks, green spaces, and, of course, the Zagster bike share. As employees move in throughout the year, they will join their colleagues as active members of the Southfield City Centre community.

“We are really excited,” says Wilson. “We believe we have picked the right community for Beaumont Health and want to be a good neighbor. We feel really good about the decision we have made, and want to give back to the community as well.”

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Cybernoor Corporation moves in on Northwestern Highway
Cybernoor Corporation moves in on Northwestern Highway sccadmin

When Ahmed Alomari decided to expand Cybernoor, the global software support and solutions corporation he leads, he knew that a Midwest location made the most sense for clients located across various time zones.

“With Detroit regenerating, and with business incentives, Michigan seemed to be a good location,” says Alomari, Cybernoor Corporation president and CEO. “We searched for office space and knew we wanted to acquire a building. Southfield seemed to be a good location for an up-and-coming business.”

In October 2017, Alomari and his colleagues selected a building on Northwestern Highway, between Southfield Road and Evergreen Road. They knew they wanted extensive renovation, a prospect that requires permits and approvals that, in most cities, can take months. But Alomari says the whole process was smooth and simple, thanks in large part to support from the City of Southfield.

“We were new to the permitting process, but once the City learned what we wanted to do, they expedited everything for us, and made things happen in days that normally take months,” he says. Cybernoor purchased their building on October 16, and the bulk of the renovations were completed before the end of December.

As a One Stop Ready community, the City of Southfield is focused on economic development by following a set of best practice guidelines to provide cohesive support to businesses that invest in the community. Cybernoor’s positive experience illustrates the depth of resources available through Oakland County’s One Stop Ready designation.

As a small- to mid-sized business, Cybernoor management made a conscious choice to join  Southfield, because it believes in the value of variety and diversity for a robust business climate. When other similar-sized companies have chosen to locate in other suburban Detroit areas, Cybernoor selected Southfield, and Alomari says this was a smart choice.

He was correct. The City of Southfield is an engaged Redevelopment Ready Community, as designated by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. Because Southfield has invested time and effort into building a community-driven approach to development, prospective businesses can expect to benefit from effective, forward-thinking strategies designed to help the entire community prosper.

As Alomari continues to settle Cybernoor into its new home on Northwestern Highway, he will be looking to grow the Southfield location by hiring sales executives, a marketing manager, an office administrator, as well as technical staff. Alomari says he also plans to work with local schools and universities to seek out interns and offer training opportunities to help build a talent pipeline.

Overall, Cybernoor is looking to join an active and growing business community.

“We’re looking for good networking opportunities with other small- and medium-sized businesses, and to connect with other software and IT companies in Southfield,” says Alomari.

For companies that have yet to locate in Southfield, Alomari wants to share the message that the City of Southfield actively works to make new companies feel welcome and valued. A streamlined permit process, coupled with consistent and rigorous due diligence helped Cybernoor make the best choices when hiring contractors.

“In general, dealing with city permits can be a pain, but in this case Southfield was welcoming,” Alomari says. “This can really help other small businesses who are moving in and investing in the city.”

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