Grand Valley State University’s annual Health Check research report provides a wealth of granular data on trends that are affecting the West Michigan market. 

Corey Hart returned to Grand Rapids last September to find that support for entrepreneurship and startup companies had grown well beyond what it was when he left for California a decade earlier.

GRAND RAPIDS — Bazzani Building Co. has started construction on a new housing project in the city’s Belknap Lookout neighborhood that will run entirely on renewable energy. 

For this 13th installment of Crystal Ball, MiBiz reporters interviewed dozens of West Michigan executives about their outlook for the state and national economy and the indicators they’re watching as they prepare their businesses for the new year. While no single issue seemed to rise to the top this year, here’s a subjective list of their concerns that came up most often, ranked in no particular order. 

If the long-promised economic downturn is on the horizon, manufacturers will be the first to feel it in 2020. That’s according to economists and industry experts who say the U.S. economy has become virtually split as it’s powered by confident consumers but weakened by a cautious business sector that is reducing investments and bracing for a contraction.

A combination of factors came together in 2019 to take a bite out of Michigan’s economy. The six-week General Motors strike, white-collar job cuts at GM and Ford early in 2019, a slowing manufacturing sector, and relatively flat auto sales collectively held back the state’s growth this year.

Oswaldo Cordova and Evangelina Abundis opened El Globo Restaurant LLC 14 years ago.

Key indexes for industrial activity across West Michigan recorded big declines for October that economist Brian Long partly attributes to the lengthy United Auto Workers strike again General Motors.

MUSKEGON — The origin of HyVIDA Brands Inc. goes back six or seven years when Rick Smith took a taste of sparkling water.

Michigan’s economic growth “slowed down considerably” during the spring and summer, although University of Michigan economists doubt the state is on track for a downtown in the next two years.