CREW 2009 Impact Award

By Daniel Duggan
Crain's Detroit Business

The Detroit chapter of Commercial Real Estate Women today announced the winners of the 2009 CREW Impact Awards.

The awards recognize recently completed real estate projects in Southeast Michigan that demonstrate a significant, positive impact on the region.

• Winning the category of “new development,” was the Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital
• For “redevelopment,” the winner was the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel
• Marquee of Redford Township won for “special impact”

Susan Cook, the Impact Awards chair and a senior project manager with ATC Associates Environmental Services in Novi, said the awards “reflected a deep commitment to long-term investment here, despite the region’s economic challenges.”

“Whether it was the redevelopment of historic hotel properties to their former glory or the adaptive re-use of once industrial sites into unique corporate offices, the Impact submittals all reflected a dynamic commercial real estate approach where environmentally sound principles are in harmony with form and function,” she said in a press release.

Lawrence Marantette, owner of Detroit-based Taktix Solutions, has served as a judge since the Impact Awards were established in 2001 and said this year was a challenging one for the judges because of strong entries.

“Given the lack of significant development in southeastern Michigan, there was a surprisingly strong set of quality submittals for this year’s Impact Awards Program," he said. "The entries ranged from health care to housing to higher education, with a couple great community facilities projects. It shows the depth of CREW members in all aspects of real estate development."