Counties, cities, and townships are valued partners. Cultivating prosperity in the communities we serve is how we define success. When municipalities invest in Ann Arbor SPARK, we are able to deliver specific benefits and results. Contact Phil Santer to learn more about how SPARK can help with your public sector project.

Investor Benefits

  • Participation in SPARK’s public-sector committee, which focuses on economic development opportunities in Washtenaw and Livingston counties and southeast Michigan.
  • Outreach and services to growing companies located within their communities.
  • The inclusion of appropriate real estate options and development of responses to requests for sites/proposals for business attraction.
  • Access to regional and real estate data, demographic and business information, and the ability to leverage SPARK staff for research data questions.
  • Access to SPARK events.
  • Consultation and deal structuring for economic development incentive programs and project management for major investment or job creation projects.

Platinum Investors

For higher-level municipal investors, Ann Arbor SPARK can provide guidance on strategic projects. This could include data,  implementation of a specific economic development strategy like Redevelopment Ready Communities®, neighborhood improvement programs, marketing of high-priority development projects, or other community-focused projects.

Project-Based Consultations

Community partners with a specific, intensive project (that would take more than 20+ hours of staff time to implement a year) can leverage SPARK’s economic development team through additional investment.

Examples of these projects could include:

  • Development and implementation of a custom economic development plan
  • Review and implementation of directed economic development incentives
  • Assignment of SPARK staff on-site for a specific duration.

Additional consultation services

  • Redevelopment Ready Communities®
  • Economic development strategies
  • Brief economic impact studies
  • Economic development technical assistance
  • Grant support and technical assistance
  • EPA brownfields assistance
  • Workforce development strategies
  • Resources for state incentive programs
  • Deal structuring and negotiation
  • TIF projections
  • Review or develop pro formas
  • PA 198s
  • Data analyses
    • demographics and economic indicators
    • graphics
    • GIS/mapping
    • retail market gap identification
    • location quotients and shift-share analysis

SPARK Services