NORTHERN EQUITIES GROUP
I joined Northern Equities Group (NEG) in 1999 after working in commercial mortgage banking for thirteen years. NEG is a private, Michigan-based development company established over 30 years ago by Neil J. Sosin, CEO, and is now headed up by his son, Matthew Sosin. For 30 years our primary equity partner has been a Michigan based Family Office. Our partnership has been very successful. We have generated greater than market returns while maintaining conservative capital structures for each project and undertaking reasonable risks.
During my tenure, NEG has been actively engaged in four major development projects (land development and project development):
- Haggerty Corridor Corporate Park. Phase I and II, Novi, Michigan. 400 acres. Major focus of new development. When completed, HCCP will encompass over 2.5 Million square feet of Office/Office research space.
- Country Club Corporate Park, Farmington Hills, Michigan. 145 acres.
- Beck North and Beck West Corporate Parks, Novi, Michigan. 200 acres.
- McLaren Campus, Independence Township, Michigan. 78 acres. Great Lakes Cancer Center, former Recticel Building and a planned mixed use retail/office.
NEG Previously developed over 2,000 apartment units, which were strategically disposed of as the focus of our development turned to the large corporate parks.
Our major strengths are in deal structuring, development and construction oversight, asset management and facility management.
We operate with a very lean, flat entrepreneurial structure. Everyone contributes to the company via a variety of roles. For further information, feel free to visit:
MY ROLE IN DEVELOPMENT
Some details of my development role are:
- Development Management responsibilities are divided up between myself and the head of our Facilities Management, Brian Hughes.
- In 1999, I was tasked to create and design new single story flex buildings. I initially collaborated with a seasoned broker to go over what worked and didn’t work in the historical understanding of flex buildings. The result of this research was a complete re-design of this building type. The new design featured a U-shaped design with decreased building depths to allow for a greater window line; a larger % of brick so that the rear of the buildings are as attractive as the front; 10' to 12' tall office ceiling heights to add volume to the space; 7' tall banded glass windows on all four sides of the building to let in a profuse amount of light; well thought out HVAC design for a logical and flexible distribution of heat and air conditioning; more landscaping and more parking; and an overall design of the shell buildings to ensure the ultimate flexibility in use (ranging from 100% office to a 50/50 office/research split).
- I work with various architects, engineers, landscape designers and interior designers. This product type is incredibly popular and has diverse appeal. High tech companies such as Bosch, Paychex, Intel, Harman Becker and MTU/Tognum love the flexibility of having a research component immediately adjacent to high end offices. This design also appeals to numerous Asian and European companies and we have utilized elements in their interpretations of Feng Shui and other such space design beliefs to appeal further to their needs.
- I work with the city planners and their various consultants to gain preliminary and final site plan approval.
- Present projects to Planning Commissions.
- Move projects through building permit process.
- Bid and award construction contracts with general contractors.
- Oversee construction through final certificate of occupancy.
- I constantly receive design/use feedback and work to improve the design of the buildings based on leasing and operational performance of the facility.
