Electro-Matic Visual Blog

Building tenant teams up with Electro-Matic, Consumers Energy, and Michigan Saves to upgrade entire facility to LED lighting for NO ADDITIONAL OUT OF POCKET COSTS

KPH Holdings owns 402 Haven St, a 64,000 square foot commercial space in Eaton Rapids. The building consists of a mix of office and industrial space. Kevin Hein was faced with two challenges at 402 Haven St. First, the entire building was filled with old inefficient lighting. Secondly, the building had very few tenants leaving Hein with lots of unused space. These two factors cost both him and his tenants enormous amount of money in utility costs. Because of the limited cash flow from lower occupancy and high energy costs Hein did not have available funds to invest in upgrading the lighting.

He was stuck in a situation many building owners find themselves. He knew if he updated the lighting and spaces he could attract new tenants and save money, but he didn’t have the resources to do it, which kept him in common continuous cycle of doing nothing.

The office spaces consisted of 4-lamp T12 troffers while the industrial space was a mix of 2-lamp 8-foot T12 fixtures and 400w metal halide high bays. His parking lot also had a number of 400w metal halide fixtures. The result was a very inefficient building that was not a desirable space for prospective tenants. The goal for the project was to find a way to improve the lighting throughout the building without adding funds beyond the current cash flow, which would help keep current and attract new tenants.

Kevin employed the help of Electro-Matic Visual to visit the building an offer a solution. Alan Nicholson from Electro-Matic enlisted the help of Consumers Energy to discuss rebates while Ascentium Capital discussed financing options. Together they recommending taking advantage of a program called Michigan Saves, which allows 0% interest financing for up to 36 months for energy efficiency projects.

Here’s the breakdown Electro-Matic presented:

What Electro-Matic found was Hein could use the Michigan Saves program to spread out his entire project cost and use his energy savings from the LED lighting to pay his Michigan Saves monthly payment, and STILL have $174 leftover EVERY MONTH compared to his original energy bill. After showing Kevin the data he immediately was on board and approved the project. On top of that, Kevin could use his Consumers Energy rebate (which actually ended up being over $24,000) to further invest in additional upgrades for his building.

Benefits:
As a result of the project Kevin has a remarkably better looking and more energy efficient building. Since completing his project his building is now nearly 100% occupied with 6 new tenants. Kevin was happy to take us on a tour of his building to snap some photos and share his thoughts:

"I am extremely pleased by the work of Alan Nicholson and Electro-Matic. His experience in the lighting field along with his connections with Consumers Energy and Michigan Saves were vital to the success of this project. I would recommend using Electro-Matic for any energy reduction projects and would not hesitate to use them again."

- Kevin Hein, KPH Holdings Inc President

List products and services EM used:

• 136 36 watt 2x4 LED flat panels replacing 4-lamp T12 fixtures in office areas
• 150w LED high-bay fixtures replacing 400w metal halide fixtures
• 150w AP series parking lot lights replacing 400 watt metal halide area lights
• 60w AP series wallpacks replacing 250w metal halide wallpacks

"It was a pleasure working with Alan and Kevin on this project. It was a complete team effort by Consumers Energy, Electro-Matic, and Michigan Saves. We appreciate the support by trade allies like Electro-Matic to ensure the success and satisfaction of customers like Kevin."

- Mark Bates, Consumers Energy

Bristol Manor is beautiful historic landmark in East Cleveland that serves the community in many ways! Bristol Manor Event Center is a newly renovated gem located on the East Side of Cleveland. Their beautifully restored, historic facility is a perfect example of how old school charm and modern flare can create the perfect venue for any event. With several spaces to choose from that can be customized to accommodate meetings, showers, retirement parties, wedding receptions, or any type of celebration where you want beautiful and lasting memories. 

People were unaware of the beautiful new renovations and Bristol Manor wanted to let the community know their multipurpose facility was available for the community to utilize. To bring awareness to Bristol Manor, Electro-Matic Visual’s Fusion series display gave Bristol Manor the ability to communicate information about events, venue availability, and community information. Bristol Manor experienced an uptick in business with their new LED display to communicate effectively to let the patrons know what was available.

Products and Services Electro-Matic Used

• 16 mm Fusion Series Display
• Adams Signs and Graphics of Massillon, OH sold and installed the sign.

Peace Lutheran School in Saginaw, Michigan is home to almost 300 students that range from preschool through grade 8. Peace Lutheran School wanted to upgrade their lighting to improve the visibility and increase the security and the overall attractiveness of their wonderful campus. To match their needs, Electro-Matic Visual installed 60 LED lighting fixtures that included wall packs, recessed soffit lighting, and parking lot lighting.

"We are very pleased with the Electro-Matic lighting we purchased and had installed for our recent exterior lighting renovation at our school campus. The exterior lighting is much brighter now compared to the other fixtures we had installed during original construction in 2003. Certainly increased lighting levels create a more secure environment, but they also help to showcase our school at night- all accomplished with considerably less energy use!"

— Joel Keup, Peace Lutheran School-Principal/Facilities

"In addition to a great product, Electro-Matic representative, Ben Riedel, took plenty of time to help us understand the great quality and performance advantage Electro-Matic lighting have over other similar fixtures that could have been purchased from local electrical supply warehouses." 

— Joel Keup,, Peace Lutheran School-Principal/Facilities

Electro-Matic Visual is excited to hear the great feedback and that Peace Lutheran School is enjoying the many benefits of our LED lighting. We are also looking forward to partner with Peace Lutheran School on future projects! 

"Great product, great service and wonderful education!  For me, this is what sets Electro-Matic apart from the rest.  I hope to be able to use Electro-Matic Visual in future projects at both of our campuses."

— Joel Keup, Peace Lutheran School-Principal/Facilities

Dietz Commercial is a midsized, privately held company that manage and own commercial property buildings around Metro Detroit as well as several, multi-family apartment buildings in Ohio. Their 100+ person team of dedicated investment, management and leasing professionals are highly experienced industry leaders whose strong culture and real world successes have earned them a series of Office Building of the Year (TOBY) and Property Manager of the Year awards from the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA).

The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International is a federation of U.S. local associations and global affiliates. The leading trade association for commercial real estate professionals for more than 100 years, it represents the owners, managers, service providers and other property professionals of all commercial building types, including office, industrial, medical, corporate and mixed-use. BOMA International and its local associations and affiliates offer unrivaled opportunities to make professional connections, gain professional development and learn about the latest trends and issues affecting commercial real estate.

Networking at a local BOMA conference brought Electro-Matic and Dietz Commercial together. Dietz wanted to upgrade their lighting to improve the look and feel of their properties so their tenants could feel safer and their properties could run more efficiently with higher quality products. For the past two years, Electro-Matic has worked on or audited all of the Dietz commercial properties here in Metro Detroit, upgrading both their interior and exterior, including their corporate office.

"I have hired Electro-Matic Visual on several occasions and they have consistently exceeded my expectations.  They have installed interior and exterior LED lights for me in several of our assets. Recently they have installed new pole lights and ground lights in Rochester Hills, Sterling Heights and Bloomfield Hills.  They installed wall packs and replaced soffit lights in Bloomfield Hills and Novi.  Currently, they are scheduled to replace the interior lights in our corporate office in September.  I can recommend them without hesitation."

- Brian Salliotte, Vice President of Commerical Management & Leasing 

"We've been excited to work with Dietz property group over the last couple of years and improving the lighting levels in their properties while, reducing their energy footprint."

- James Baker, Director of Sales at Electro-Matic Visual

The advancement in LED technology has busted open countless creative doors for the competitive retail industry. LED signs are one of the most powerful and modern ways you can communicate who you are as a business.

At Electro-Matic Visual Solutions, we realize how important it is to stand out in a crowd. Our LED retail signs are designed to increase your visibility and brand exposure by turning drive-by traffic into customers. The creative freedom and ability to customize content and tailor messages throughout the day presents an opportunity to reach different and specific audiences by allowing you to promote in-store specials, upcoming events, new employees, company partners, and much more.

With our LED displays, you can update, change, and announce specials, promotions, and new products all within seconds. Companies that invest in an indoor or outdoor retail sign see their business increase by 15 to 150%. Personalizing your digital display can create an experience people are more likely to return to.

Basic Content for LEDs

Here are the types of content you can program onto your LED display:

• Text message
• Text message with a background image or picture
• Image (by itself)
• Graphic
• Videos and live feed
• RSS feed (stock/weather/sports ticker)
• Time and temperature readings
• Media player

Restaurants and Food Franchises

Customers have a variety of options for fast food, and many customers make impulse decisions for food purchases while on the road and when noticing specials on the restaurant’s signage.

Both full service and quick service restaurants still use traditional manual letter boards to promote offers and announcements. The main issue with manual reader boards is the unnecessary labor for owners (and employees) to physically change out the letters to form a new message. Additionally, manual letter boards are bland so less people are likely to remember the message you put out, if they even notice it at all. Here at Electro-Matic Visual, we've helped many franchises make the switch to digital. Restaurant digital signage can display the best of their food as well as entertain customers as they wait for their food, boosting overall satisfaction. It is crucial to provide a visually appealing experience that will entice customers to come back for more visits.

Restaurant businesses have to stay modern by offering fresh, new items on their menu. The easiest way to broadcast new menu items is by using digital signage to reach out to consumers driving by their locations. Displaying new and daily specials will always have customers coming back for more.

To recruit employees, it can be beneficial to post that help is wanted at restaurant locations and any job openings as well as the benefits that come with the position.

Other Small Businesses

Whether you create revenue by selling a product or providing a service to consumers, you can engage people by showcasing those offerings on your LED signage. This type of advertisement will highlight your product/service while reinforcing the reputation you already have for said items and draw in more attention. Place your business’s best, most popular, or most valuable products and services upfront by featuring them on a prominent digital sign. The benefit of featuring products and services through digital signage is that you can easily update your information as products or promotions take new priority.

You could also use your digital display to show a product in action. This is a great tactic for products that offer visual results, are difficult to describe, or are new to the market.

If there is a sale at your business, you could provide onlookers images of the discounted items and include the special price for each item. Also provide information of discounted services as well.

LED signage provides the perfect opportunity to announce new offerings. If you wish to communicate incentives and bonuses such as loyalty programs, display those on your sign as well. Establishing a constant relationship with your customers will guarantee foot traffic and revenue. People trust and value customer reviews. Let visitors see what other happy customers are saying about you by sharing quotes on your display.

West Salem, Ohio's Mohican Church of the Brethren is passionate about spreading the gospel, reflecting the love of Christ and positive growth. They are a community that encourages all to visit and experience the difference Christ has made in their lives. 

Unfortunately, Mohican Church sits a few hundred feet off the road, making it difficult for people to find. Additionally, they are located next to another church and cemetery, which has caused confusion as to which entrance is for each organization. They made the decision to update their signage as a solution that would make them more visible and established, while also communicating information to the community more effectively.

Electro-Matic Visual provided a demo for Mohican Church facilities committee to compare the 16mm and 11mm displays. A month later, EM provided Mohican with another demo for the congregation to see. Mohican decided that the Electro-Matic 11mm Fusion Display was a perfect fit for their church. The crisp and clear 11mm display allowed Mohican to promote information and graphics for service times, ministries, and upcoming events.

Products and Services Used
Electro-Matic Fusion 11mm – sold and installed by Aker’s Signs (Canton, OH)

Meadows Crossing is student housing and retail complex located just steps away from Grand Valley State University Campus in Allendale, MI. The retail portion of Meadows Crossing includes Mully’s Bar & Grill, HIP Party Store, Gentleman’s Quarters Barber Salon, Cottage Inn Pizza, and Insomnia Cookies.

Student housing in Allendale is an extremely competitive market. The window of opportunity to attract a student and get them to commit to a housing situation is very slim. Also, the retail segment can be challenging for tenants located near a college campus. Outlets often need to make a years-worth of revenue in an 8 or 9-month span due to the school calendar. For that reason, maximizing exposure to potential customers is extremely important.

Originally, Meadows Crossing had an outdated static monument sign on a long, large brick base (see below). The original sign didn’t seem to match the brick base, and also offered limited signage for each tenant. The sign didn’t feature any changeable messaging options.

_{Old Signage at Meadows Crossing}

Benefits of New LED Sign

The goal of the project was to upgrade the signage for Meadows Crossing that would outshine every other sign nearby, bringing maximum exposure for student housing and their retail outlets. Meadows Crossing enrolled the help of Universal Sign Systems to come up with the perfect solution. To bring maximum exposure and create that WOW factor Universal decided to install the first ever 6mm LED display in all of west Michigan. Universal supplemented the LED sign with new tenant signage in a sleek black cabinet that tied the entire sign together.

Because of the high pixel density of the LED sign, Meadows Crossing was able to show any image, graphic, or video with breathtaking picture clarity while complying with the size limitations of the local jurisdiction. All of the other signs in Allendale were mostly 16mm displays which were only good for simple text. Because of the 6mm pixel spacing Meadows Crossing could now show high-def images of their townhomes, delicious cookies from Insomnia cookies, delicious pizza from Cottage Inn, and more. The new sign brought immediate buzz to the area, resulting in more renters and higher sales revenue for their tenants.

"When Glenn came to me with a request for a replacement multi-tenant sign that would be a cut above the rest, I knew the recently released 6mm Electro-Matic display was the perfect fit. The quality of the display and tight pixel pitch allowed for detailed advertisements in the limited space that we were allowed. Thanks to Alan and the Electro-Matic team for knocking it out of the park!"

— Nate Zevenbergen, Universal Sign, Inc.

"We have thoroughly enjoyed having the new 6mm, high-density, LED sign at Meadows Crossing. It helps us to market our brand to the college student community every day. It enables us to market our retail tenants and their businesses as well. Our student apartment community is the best off-campus housing option for GVSU students and this elegant sign beams our superb brand 24/7."

— Glenn Turek, President at Silveri Management