9.24.07
A man of many titles: Tom Celani has so many interests, it's hard to keep them straight
By Robert Ankeny
Tom Celani has to make a decision when you ask him for a business card.
He's either “owner” of Farmington Hills-based MotorCity Harley-Davidson and Bloomfield Hills-based MotorCity Power Sports; or he's “president and CEO” of Novi-based Luna Entertainment; or he's “proprietor” of TC Vineyards Inc., the Celani Family Vineyards in Napa Valley.
He's also an investor in a theater chain, a land developer in Arizona and Colorado, and a casino management consultant.
Celani, 51, of West Bloomfield Township, has grown a successful family wholesale beer company into an empire of businesses.
One source estimates Celani's companies could hit close to $250 million in revenue in 2007. His two dealerships employ about 110 people and had about $50 million in revenue last year, Celani said.
Celani expects to sell about 1,100 motorcycles this year at MotorCity, the top volume Harley-Davidson dealer in the Midwest. He is currently expanding the dealership from 30,000 to 40,000 square feet.
Walls in his upstairs office are decorated with Harley posters, a huge elk head and a large portrait of his wife Vicki and three children: Vinnie, Olivia and Ben.
On the wall near his desk is a striking photo of the Celani Family Vineyards in Napa Valley.
In many ways, Celani's heart is there on the sunny slopes that remind him of Italy, or back to Detroit's east side 40 years ago.
"I guess there always was a seed there, since I was a boy and worked with my grandfather Vincenzo in his basement making wine with grapes we'd buy at Eastern Market.
"He'd make about four barrels just for his own family and friends, and a small barrel of vinegar,” Celani said.
"I began collecting wines about 20 years ago, knew a good distributor, started going to tastings, and about 1987 put a few cases away."
Today, his home wine cellar is stocked with French, Italian and U.S. wines, and includes about 5,000 bottles, he said.
In 2005 he purchased a 20-acre vineyard with house and winery in Napa Valley.
"We're about a quarter-mile down the road from (race driver) Mario Andretti and (former Kmart CEO) Joe Antonini's vineyard," Celani said.
Celani has hired winemaker Mark Herold, who has been astonishing critics with his wines from small vineyards.
Our goal said Celani, is to build "a small, boutique, high-quality winery, and make wines sought after by great restaurants."
He said his wines — labeled "Ardore," meaning passion — will hit store shelves this fall with a limited amount of Chardonnay available in October and about 300 cases of a Cabernet/Merlot blend to be distributed by General Wine & Liquor Co. starting Nov. 1.
Celani's passion for wine-making extends to custom-designed bottles and a custom label. His love for wine has also led him to wine auctions, which in one case resulted in a spot on the board of the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.
CCS President Rick Rogers said the college family got to know Celani through the wine auctions before he became a trustee in 2003.
Celani is a big donor, as well as a major bidder at CCS wine auctions, Rogers said.
"We were already friends. Knowing of his interest in the mission of the institution, and of his level of enthusiasm, we thought he would be an asset to the board and that's worked out," Rogers said.
As a businessman, Celani also has fared well from his investments in the casino industry.
In March 1999, Celani hit a $30 million jackpot when International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT) bought Sodak Gaming Inc., a South Dakota-based slot machine distribution company he had invested in.
"I bought two-thirds of the company for $2 because two partners wanted out ... and then invested $500,000 in it," Celani said.
Sodak became the exclusive slot machine distributor to North American Indian-owned casinos for IGT, the world's largest manufacturer of slot machines.
Celani owned more than 3 million shares, according to the 1998 annual proxy report of the then-publicly traded company, when IGT decided to buy Sodak and do its own distribution to tribal casinos.
He also was working with various start-up tribal casinos in Michigan and elsewhere. That led to a partnership in Detroit's MotorCity Casino.
Celani joined with Detroit entrepreneur Herb Strather and Greektown Casino L.L.C. founders Ted Gatzaros and Jim Papas to push for commercial casinos in Detroit by helping finance a statewide ballot campaign in November 1996.
"Tom was a good partner," Strather said. "We did our deal on a handshake, in July 1995, and signed paperwork a month later."
Celani had been supporting a proposal for an Indian casino complex called FoxTown to be built east of Woodward Avenue by the Bay Mills tribe and Harrah's Casinos of Las Vegas.
But then-Gov. John Engler blocked off-reservation casinos, Strather said.
"My recollections of Tom are that he always kept his word and he had guts. I'm very appreciative to have worked with him," Strather said.
Celani was a partner in MotorCity Casino L.L.C., and sold his share to Marian Ilitch when she gained total control in 2005.
Ilitch paid MGM Grand/Mirage Casinos $525 million for its Mandalay Bay holdings, a 53.5 percent share of MotorCity. She bought an additional 11.5 percent from Strather's group, Atwater Associates L.L.C., for $100 million and 10 percent from Celani for an undisclosed amount estimated at between $85 million and $100 million.
In addition to casinos, Celani is a major figure on Detroit's philanthropic scene.
In 2003, the Celanis donated $1 million worth of Harley-Davidson and Buell motorcycles, personal watercraft and other power sports items to the Central Michigan University College of Business Administration.
"Those were ingenious contributions," said Steve Smith, CMU director of media relations. "Celani's idea was that marketing students could find the best ways to sell the 'boy toys,' with the money from the sale going toward a student investment portfolio, the Tom and Vicki Celani Venture Capital Fund.
"It gave marketing students a chance to figure out how to get the best prices for those items, so the bikes were auctioned on eBay," he said.
Then finance students got to figure out how to invest the money in the stock market. "It gave them real world experience," Smith said.
Celani attended CMU as a freshman in 1974 but left to help run the family business — Action, a Livonia-based Miller beer distributorship — because his mother was dying.
In 2004, CMU awarded Celani an honorary doctorate for his "more than three decades as a business leader and entrepreneur."
And in 2005, the university named a new dorm on the Mt. Pleasant campus the Ben and Marion Celani Residence Hall in memory of Celani's parents.
Since 1982, one of Celani's favorite charitable endeavors has been Hearts of Livonia, founded in 1978 by his father. The nonprofit raises money for advanced life-support equipment at Livonia's St. Mary Mercy Hospital, giving $2.6 million to St. Mary and other charities, including more than 160 college scholarships for Livonia students.
The Celanis also support Rochester-based Sweet Dreams Project, Oakland Child Abuse and Neglect Council, and the Rainbow Make-a-Wish Foundation in Oakland County. They are also benefactors to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Michigan Opera Theatre.
"He's such a good community citizen," said David DiChiera, founder and general director of MOT. "You don't meet many people as open to supporting community efforts as he and Vicki."
He said the Celanis opened their home for a fund-raiser for the world premier of "Cyrano," DiChiera's own opera that will be performed Oct. 13-28.
"They do it with such grace, everything very beautifully done, and show so much enjoyment doing it," DiChiera said.
Robert Ankeny: (313) 446-0404, bankeny@crain.com
He's either “owner” of Farmington Hills-based MotorCity Harley-Davidson and Bloomfield Hills-based MotorCity Power Sports; or he's “president and CEO” of Novi-based Luna Entertainment; or he's “proprietor” of TC Vineyards Inc., the Celani Family Vineyards in Napa Valley.
He's also an investor in a theater chain, a land developer in Arizona and Colorado, and a casino management consultant.
Celani, 51, of West Bloomfield Township, has grown a successful family wholesale beer company into an empire of businesses.
One source estimates Celani's companies could hit close to $250 million in revenue in 2007. His two dealerships employ about 110 people and had about $50 million in revenue last year, Celani said.
Celani expects to sell about 1,100 motorcycles this year at MotorCity, the top volume Harley-Davidson dealer in the Midwest. He is currently expanding the dealership from 30,000 to 40,000 square feet.
Walls in his upstairs office are decorated with Harley posters, a huge elk head and a large portrait of his wife Vicki and three children: Vinnie, Olivia and Ben.
On the wall near his desk is a striking photo of the Celani Family Vineyards in Napa Valley.
In many ways, Celani's heart is there on the sunny slopes that remind him of Italy, or back to Detroit's east side 40 years ago.
"I guess there always was a seed there, since I was a boy and worked with my grandfather Vincenzo in his basement making wine with grapes we'd buy at Eastern Market.
"He'd make about four barrels just for his own family and friends, and a small barrel of vinegar,” Celani said.
"I began collecting wines about 20 years ago, knew a good distributor, started going to tastings, and about 1987 put a few cases away."
Today, his home wine cellar is stocked with French, Italian and U.S. wines, and includes about 5,000 bottles, he said.
In 2005 he purchased a 20-acre vineyard with house and winery in Napa Valley.
"We're about a quarter-mile down the road from (race driver) Mario Andretti and (former Kmart CEO) Joe Antonini's vineyard," Celani said.
Celani has hired winemaker Mark Herold, who has been astonishing critics with his wines from small vineyards.
Our goal said Celani, is to build "a small, boutique, high-quality winery, and make wines sought after by great restaurants."
He said his wines — labeled "Ardore," meaning passion — will hit store shelves this fall with a limited amount of Chardonnay available in October and about 300 cases of a Cabernet/Merlot blend to be distributed by General Wine & Liquor Co. starting Nov. 1.
Celani's passion for wine-making extends to custom-designed bottles and a custom label. His love for wine has also led him to wine auctions, which in one case resulted in a spot on the board of the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.
CCS President Rick Rogers said the college family got to know Celani through the wine auctions before he became a trustee in 2003.
Celani is a big donor, as well as a major bidder at CCS wine auctions, Rogers said.
"We were already friends. Knowing of his interest in the mission of the institution, and of his level of enthusiasm, we thought he would be an asset to the board and that's worked out," Rogers said.
As a businessman, Celani also has fared well from his investments in the casino industry.
In March 1999, Celani hit a $30 million jackpot when International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT) bought Sodak Gaming Inc., a South Dakota-based slot machine distribution company he had invested in.
"I bought two-thirds of the company for $2 because two partners wanted out ... and then invested $500,000 in it," Celani said.
Sodak became the exclusive slot machine distributor to North American Indian-owned casinos for IGT, the world's largest manufacturer of slot machines.
Celani owned more than 3 million shares, according to the 1998 annual proxy report of the then-publicly traded company, when IGT decided to buy Sodak and do its own distribution to tribal casinos.
He also was working with various start-up tribal casinos in Michigan and elsewhere. That led to a partnership in Detroit's MotorCity Casino.
Celani joined with Detroit entrepreneur Herb Strather and Greektown Casino L.L.C. founders Ted Gatzaros and Jim Papas to push for commercial casinos in Detroit by helping finance a statewide ballot campaign in November 1996.
"Tom was a good partner," Strather said. "We did our deal on a handshake, in July 1995, and signed paperwork a month later."
Celani had been supporting a proposal for an Indian casino complex called FoxTown to be built east of Woodward Avenue by the Bay Mills tribe and Harrah's Casinos of Las Vegas.
But then-Gov. John Engler blocked off-reservation casinos, Strather said.
"My recollections of Tom are that he always kept his word and he had guts. I'm very appreciative to have worked with him," Strather said.
Celani was a partner in MotorCity Casino L.L.C., and sold his share to Marian Ilitch when she gained total control in 2005.
Ilitch paid MGM Grand/Mirage Casinos $525 million for its Mandalay Bay holdings, a 53.5 percent share of MotorCity. She bought an additional 11.5 percent from Strather's group, Atwater Associates L.L.C., for $100 million and 10 percent from Celani for an undisclosed amount estimated at between $85 million and $100 million.
In addition to casinos, Celani is a major figure on Detroit's philanthropic scene.
In 2003, the Celanis donated $1 million worth of Harley-Davidson and Buell motorcycles, personal watercraft and other power sports items to the Central Michigan University College of Business Administration.
"Those were ingenious contributions," said Steve Smith, CMU director of media relations. "Celani's idea was that marketing students could find the best ways to sell the 'boy toys,' with the money from the sale going toward a student investment portfolio, the Tom and Vicki Celani Venture Capital Fund.
"It gave marketing students a chance to figure out how to get the best prices for those items, so the bikes were auctioned on eBay," he said.
Then finance students got to figure out how to invest the money in the stock market. "It gave them real world experience," Smith said.
Celani attended CMU as a freshman in 1974 but left to help run the family business — Action, a Livonia-based Miller beer distributorship — because his mother was dying.
In 2004, CMU awarded Celani an honorary doctorate for his "more than three decades as a business leader and entrepreneur."
And in 2005, the university named a new dorm on the Mt. Pleasant campus the Ben and Marion Celani Residence Hall in memory of Celani's parents.
Since 1982, one of Celani's favorite charitable endeavors has been Hearts of Livonia, founded in 1978 by his father. The nonprofit raises money for advanced life-support equipment at Livonia's St. Mary Mercy Hospital, giving $2.6 million to St. Mary and other charities, including more than 160 college scholarships for Livonia students.
The Celanis also support Rochester-based Sweet Dreams Project, Oakland Child Abuse and Neglect Council, and the Rainbow Make-a-Wish Foundation in Oakland County. They are also benefactors to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Michigan Opera Theatre.
"He's such a good community citizen," said David DiChiera, founder and general director of MOT. "You don't meet many people as open to supporting community efforts as he and Vicki."
He said the Celanis opened their home for a fund-raiser for the world premier of "Cyrano," DiChiera's own opera that will be performed Oct. 13-28.
"They do it with such grace, everything very beautifully done, and show so much enjoyment doing it," DiChiera said.
Robert Ankeny: (313) 446-0404, bankeny@crain.com
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