Mark Sanchez: This has benefits here in Grand Rapids to the West Michigan Whitecaps, which is the high-Class A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. And I had sat down with Joe Chamberlain, who was a CEO Managing Partner at the Whitecaps to talk about this $35 million ongoing stadium renovation at LMCU Ballpark, and they're seeking investors to help pay for what is a really major renovation. But bottom line, you know this run by the big club, this improbable run into the playoffs brings more, at least, fan attention. He says, you know, they start group ticket sales here in another week or two. They've got some higher interest among fans. And then the Whitecaps, again, they're seeking investors, just like the owners did 30 plus years ago when they formed the franchise. They sought private investors and raised private capital to form the franchise and build the stadium. They're now going out and seeking more investors to take a small equity stake in the franchise and trying to raise that $35 million to pay for this renovation. In Crain’s Grand Rapids we'll have another follow-up story to what we posted online the other day talking about the renovation and it's going to be a really cool stadium what this has done. Already a nice place to watch a ball game. You're going to get some new outfield terraces. They've made a lot of improvements with players in the clubhouse and training facilities. But you're going to have the lawn move to the outfield. You've got some new outfield terraces that are coming up. And if you drive along US-131 northbound from downtown, you can see that work going on there at the stadium alongside the freeway. The bottom line right now, this run that ended last weekend by the big club, yeah, it brought a little more attention. And at a time when they're trying to grow the fan base and grow attendance next year. The Whitecaps had the best average attendance in 23 years last summer. And again, on the business side, bring more attention and hopefully they can get these investors to help finance this project and create something even bigger and better here in Grand Rapids.
Patrick Center: And the renovations are being rolled out in phases. So, phase one was this past season. How many phases? When will this all wrap up?
Mark Sanchez: It's two phases. The phase one, it's kind of wrapping up here within the next few weeks. The phase two got underway here a little more than a month ago after the 2024 season ended on September 6th. And if you go inside the stadium, basically there's no field there. It's the field's been completely excavated. It's a new playing surface that will have better drainage, will help with weather conditions. The power alleys, if you understand the baseball term, folks, the power alleys in the outfield are getting moved in about 20 feet, that should create a little more offense. And then again, the big part of this, in the first phase they created some new hospitality suites because about half of the ticket sales come from group sales. And then they're adding these two new outfield terraces that are really, talking to Joe Chamberlain said it's going to be a really nice place to view a ball game coming next year.
Patrick Center: So, we'll stick with that home field advantage discussion, but we'll broaden it out to a statewide debate. And that is short-term rentals and the ordinances. Local communities say they should be the decision makers on this. And then there are those in the state who say this is a state issue. So where are we right now? Muskegon has passed a compromise on short-term rentals.
Mark Sanchez: And this is a big issue in many communities, particularly the shoreline communities along Lake Michigan that have considered or adopted these short-term rentals. You know, where I live, there's a lot of folks that like to come to town each year and they stay in a home. We've seen Airbnb and Verbo really rise over the last several years to make this process a little easier to find a nice vacation rental to stay for a week. And it's a big deal in some of these communities. And the latest to adopt an ordinance on short-term rentals is Muskegon. And it was kind of a compromised ordinance, and the debate is really the right of folks to use their property to generate income versus that never ending debate on where do we put that regulatory line or do we even have a regulation? There have been instances where sometimes these short-term rentals can cause a little disruption to a neighborhood. But it's an issue that's ongoing in this, again, this age of a Verbo and Airbnb. And the short-term ordinance in Muskegon is really kind of a compromise ordinance that uses an overlay district approach that splits the residential districts into 11 different zones and caps the short-term rentals in each zone at about 4% of the total housing units. So again, it's where do you put that line and some of the communities are struggling exactly how to regulate, why to regulate, whether to regulate? We've seen some litigation filed against some of the ordinances. But it is an issue that's going to just continue to play out. And as I said, especially in these Lakeshore communities, it's kind of the big issue of property rights versus what's the proper way to keep these things under control so they don't start causing disruptions in neighborhoods, because you are actually running a commercial enterprise in a residential neighborhood.
Patrick Center: Could this become a template for other communities to use?
Mark Sanchez: Not quite sure at this point. You know, everybody's, you know, that's, that's why you have the ability to have local ordinances. Everybody has to customize the rules, the regulations based on their own marketplace. There has been some legislation proposed and pushed at the state level, but it's not gone too far. And there's also been legislation to prohibit local communities from enacting their own ordinances. So, you can see exactly as you said, it's a big wide issue that everybody's got an opinion on. Right now, Muskegon's the latest community to adopt an ordinance, and it's trying to find a compromise between one side and the other.
Patrick Center: We're talking with Crain’s Grand Rapids Business staff writer, Mark Sanchez. We talked about some venture capital deals taking place and how interest rates could spur more conversation, but yet we're getting some numbers back that there are some declines in the third quarter.
Mark Sanchez: Yeah, venture capital investing in America has been down for a couple of years as the interest rates started going up in 2022. That started affecting valuations. It started affecting the ability of companies to come to market to raise capital, started affecting where investors are putting their money. Hey, I can get X amount on a fixed income asset. And boy, let's put some money there right now and kind of not be so risky with our money. But there's still a lot of investing going on and just throw the numbers out there right now. This is from the latest quarterly report from Pitch Book and the National Venture Capital Association. Investments in Michigan, $108.5 million over 20 deals in the third quarter. That compares to $166.6 million in 38 deals in the previous quarter, and it's also down from the third quarter of 2023. So that's again, kind of continuing that little bit of softness in the venture capital market right now, but folks are awfully hopeful. And what we're hearing from folks is there's a lot of people on the sidelines right now sitting on their money and there's a huge amount of money in the trillions of dollars sitting on the sideline. Basically why? Well, we've had the economic uncertainty this year. We've had high interest rates that are now beginning to come down. Oh, and we have this little thing, the presidential election in a few weeks. Folks are kind of waiting to see, having a kind of a wait and see mentality over what happens there and then how things shake out, the economy shakes out before coming back to the market and making their investments.
Patrick Center: Crain's Grand Rapids Business staff writer, Mark Sanchez, thank you so much.
Mark Sanchez: Thank you, Patrick.