Electro-Matic Visual Blog

St. Blasé Catholic Church in Sterling Heights, MI utilizes LED displays to announce church and community events

St. Blasé Catholic Church is a welcoming Catholic community, located in Sterling Heights, MI.

The Situation
Located at the high-traffic, high-visibility location at the intersection of 15 Mile Road and Maple Lane Drive in Sterling Heights, MI, St. Blasé Catholic Church wanted to maximize its ability to reach out to the community via new LED signage. The existing sign, a simple brick wall with white plastic formed lettering, didn’t afford them this capability. 

The original brick wall with plastic-formed lettering offered no ability to advertise or announce events to the local community.

Objective
St. Blasé wished to have a simple, user-friendly LED signage solution that offered durability, longevity, and flexibility in the type of content media they wished to display.

Solution
Two full-color LED displays were installed into the new v-shape monument sign just two weeks after the project broke ground.

St. Blasé saw immediate results in the days following the installation of the parish’s new LED displays. On average, the church received 3-4 calls per day from people within the community interested in taking part in church events and services.

"Many of our parishioners are proud to say we are the Church with the big new sign, we are definitely getting noticed."

— Tim Doppel, Business Manager, St. Blasé Catholic Church

Products Electro-Matic used:

• 2 Full Color LED Displays: 16mm 4'x8'

Seaholm High School was spending hundreds of dollars on banners as well as had a manual letter board that was ineffective since messages were being changed manually whenever something was going on. They were trying to find an effective solution to where it was easy for them to get their message across and go about their day without a hitch.

Before LED Signage

The signage they were using was very costly and ineffective. People were still not getting the information they needed for upcoming events or fundraisers or even important school activities. They rely on mass emails to get the information across, but it would be nice to make it public for the community to see. The goal was to save money on different signage while getting the message across to the community about different events or important announcements the school was having.

Electro-Matic LED Solutions

Electro-Matic came up with a beautiful solution 6.5’ tall x 11’ long double sided 16mm display with Cellular Connection. Whoever is in charge of programming the sign will have remote access to be able to change the message at a moment’s notice if their laptop is within wifi. It is so much easier for Seaholm to get their message across and the sign looks absolutely amazing.

One of the reasons it benefits to have an EM Display, is that we are located here in Metro Detroit, and we can get to the sign as quickly as possible to maintenance or repairs if needed. Additionally, our light weight and sleek design of our Fusion, not only is installation faster, but there is no extra work or install involved when it comes to communication. We understand that time is money and we made it a lot easier to install our displays. Another benefit is our warranties and the 24/7 Tech Support we offer to our customers!

List products and services EM used:

• Fusion 16mm Display
• Visions Software
• Cellular Modem

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 Commercial 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