Joel Ferguson is a very busy man.
Looking at his involvement in business, politics, community affairs, media and education, it’s hard to see how one man can do it all. But somehow Ferguson manages, and he doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

A Sexton High School graduate, Ferguson went on to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps, then enrolled at Michigan State University, financing his education by working nights on the Oldsmobile assembly line. After that, it was on to teaching at, and later becoming the director of, the Greater Lansing Urban League OJT (On the Job Training) Program. In 1973, he cofounded F & S Development Company, which became Ferguson Development, and since then has developed upwards of 14 multi-family residential complexes throughout the state, providing affordable housing for lower income families and senior citizens. In addition to residential housing, Ferguson has also been the developer and owner of many commercial facilities. Along the way, he cofounded WFSL-TV (channel 47) and WLAJ-TV (channel 53). Ferguson was also one of the original organizers of several banks including Capitol National Bank, the only locally owned bank in Lansing.

Politics has played a pivotal role in Ferguson’s life. Beginning his involvement during the height of the civil rights movement, Ferguson became the first African-American elected to the Lansing City Council and the first African-American to serve on the Ingham County Board of Supervisors. Local politics is only part of the story. Ferguson has played a role in every national presidential election since 1972 and, in 1988, made history by orchestrating Jesse Jackson’s presidential primary victory in Michigan. He has been an at-large member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) since 1988 and was elected vice chairman of the DNC Black Caucus in 2001. In 1995, President Clinton appointed Ferguson a member of the board of directors of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, where he served for five years. Needless to say, he was a part of the most recent presidential campaign and was a super delegate at the nominating convention.

Since 1986, Ferguson has served on the Michigan State University Board of Trustees and was elected its chairperson in 1992. His current term runs until 2013.

If the above description was all there was, it would be enough, but space prohibits a full accounting of Ferguson’s achievements, honors, professional accomplishments, community involvement and leadership activities.

One of Ferguson’s current projects, partnering with Gary Granger and The Granger Group, is the building of the new Michigan State Police headquarters, going up on the corner of Grand Avenue and Kalamazoo Street in Downtown Lansing. This multi-million dollar project will allow the MSP to consolidate from three locations into one.

Q: Has all of your development work been centered here in Lansing?
A: No, we’re in 16 different cities in Michigan. But here in Lansing we’ve developed Serenity Place, Elmwood, Capitol Commons and Friendship Manor, just to name a few. We have 800 or so senior citizens in Lansing in our apartments. Our very first project here in Lansing was Friendship Manor. We also have done work in Cadillac, Kalamazoo, Jackson, Port Huron and Bay City.

Q: How long has the work been going on for the Michigan State Police headquarters?
A: Well, we started talking about it when Engler was governor, but the actual construction started almost two years ago.

Q: When will the building open?
A: It will be finished by November of 2009.

Q: How big is the headquarters?
A: It’s going to be 150,000 square feet on five floors.

Q: Who is the architect on this undertaking?
A: We are working with Hobbs+Black Architects, right here in Lansing.

Q: Is this your biggest project?
A: No, the House Office Building is twice the size of the police headquarters at almost 300,000 square feet.

Q: What are your hopes for this project?
A: For any development, there’s a multiplier of 1.8 percent—that is, a project like this creates jobs and spins off money into the community that helps and, when the building is finished, the space that the State Police will have is just going to be tremendous.

Q: What motivates you in your professional life?
A: What we’re about is creating jobs. I’ve partnered on a couple of major developments in Lansing like the State of Michigan Social Services Building with Sam Eyde that has over 200,000 square feet and the House Office Building with Gary Granger. And with each job, we feel we are making a quality building that will become part of the landscape of the city. We want to bring people back to Downtown Lansing. When we build downtown, the spin-off in terms of restaurants, retail and the like has helped to revitalize the city. That’s our goal, and we feel we’ve been very successful in that. Working with my son, we believe we’ve played a role in turning around Old Town. The office building we’re in, the old Estes Furniture warehouse, and the condominiums we’ve built along the river have helped Old Town come alive.
Our other business has been housing. For instance, here in Lansing’s Capitol Commons, we have 200 units for senior citizens and 144 for families. Riverfront has 300 units, of which 200 are for seniors. In Delta Township, we have Elmwood, and in Grand Ledge, Serenity Place also provides senior housing. We’ve had an impact on the quality of life for the residents of our buildings.
We’ve created jobs, not just in construction, but in building management and all that goes along with that. We want to contribute to the betterment of Lansing.

Q: Anything new on the horizon?
A: There are a number of major projects we’re working on, but I’m not ready to announce them quite yet.