- Details
- By Tribal Business News Staff
- Economic Development
The Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi's economic development company acquired a Michigan warehousing firm and 156 acres of land, marking a significant expansion of the tribe's non-gaming business portfolio.
Waséyabek Development Company partnered with two of its subsidiaries, Zip Xpress and Green Transportation, to purchase Great Lakes Warehousing in Holland, Michigan. The deal includes the company's 315,000-square-foot warehousing facility and surrounding undeveloped land near the junction of I-196 and M-40.
The transaction was structured as two separate purchases: Zip Xpress and Green Transportation acquired the warehousing operations from the Van Wyk family, while Waséyabek bought the land from All Properties Unlimited. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The acquisition brings Waséyabek's non-gaming portfolio to 32 companies with more than 650 employees. The purchases align with the tribe's strategy to expand its transportation and logistics operations while adding property in its ancestral lands.
Great Lakes Warehousing, founded in 1976, has operated in Holland for nearly five decades. Mike Van Wyk, one of the founding family members, will remain as a consultant after the sale.
DWH, a Waséyabek-owned advisory firm that has worked with Zip Xpress and Green Transportation since 2021, led due diligence for the acquisitions and will oversee management of all three companies.
Tribal Council Chair Dorie Rios said the purchases advance the tribe's goals of enhancing sovereignty and sustainability through economic investment. "To do that while also acquiring a large parcel of property in the region of our ancestral lands is very fulfilling," Rios said.
The undeveloped land provides opportunities for future expansion that will be evaluated through Waséyabek's five-year strategic planning process, according to Chris Rogers, chair of the Waséyabek Board of Directors.
