Michigan gives Wolverine Worldwide $1M for office rehab amid PFAS cleanup

• Michigan will give Wolverine Worldwide $1 million toward a $9 million office renovation.
• The work will allow the company to move employees to Michigan, which state officials said is important for west Michigan.
• The company also is responsible for widespread PFAS contamination in the state and continues to pay cleanup costs.

Michigan officials this week awarded a $1 million business development grant to global footwear retailer Wolverine World Wide as it remakes its Rockford headquarters two years into a corporate turnaround plan. 

The award will be given to Wolverine if it invests $9.1 million on its office renovations by fall 2027 and retains 750 jobs in Michigan. 

The grant could support new jobs in the region, state officials said, though job creation is not mandatory. However, the state also says as many as 100 workers could be added to the headquarters.

The reconfigured offices offer “potential to add new positions moving forward as the company invests in its centralized and core business operations while divesting out-of-state locations,” documents said.

Wolverine was founded in Rockford over a century ago, with growth escalating in the early 1960s as Hush Puppies became a global shoe phenomenon. 

Its fortunes turned over time, including after widespread PFAS contamination was discovered in multiple Kent County sites tied to the retailer.

The company’s board launched a turnaround in 2023 as Wolverine struggled with losses, heavy debt and unsold inventory. 

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The company appointed Chris Hufnagel as CEO, and he immediately started a plan to stabilize Wolverine. It sold its Keds and Sperry brands, as well as its leather division, laid off staff and consolidated its global operations. In 2024, it reached $101 million in operating income, after several years of losses. 

Moving Saucony offices to Rockford from Massachusetts was part of the plan, Hufnagel said this week, as was renovating the headquarters to encourage innovation and collaboration across brands.

“We believe that world-class environments are key to attracting and retaining talent, unlocking our team’s full potential, and driving our business forward,” Hufnagel said in a statement.  

“Spaces that encourage creativity, collaboration, and innovation are critical as we continue building a new company for the future.”

PFAS history

The public funding comes as state environmental regulators and Wolverine continue to address the severe PFAS contamination from the shoe company’s operations in and around Rockford in northern Kent County.

That includes a $69.5 million Wolverine payment to the state and two counties to run municipal water lines to two townships with high levels of well contamination following litigation by the state. Recent investigations have targeted the shoe retailer’s properties north of downtown Rockford and its headquarters property. 

The US Environmental Protection Agency also is involved with contamination cleanup at two sites where Wolverine was found responsible, one on the shore of the Rogue River in downtown Rockford, the other at a former dump site on House street.

Corporate documents indicate $37 million still owed on environmental liabilities, after Plainfield Township extended payment terms for residential water hookups in contaminated areas. 

The Michigan Strategic Fund, which awarded the grant by delegated authority  — without a public vote — routinely vets company requests for grants with other agencies, spokesperson Otie McKinley told Bridge Michigan. 

“The MEDC works collaboratively with other state agencies and departments – as well as local partners – as part of our due diligence process, “ McKinley said, noting that includes EGLE. 

“As with all MEDC performance-based grants, recipients must be in and maintain good standing across state agencies to remain eligible for funding through MEDC grant programs.”

WWW employs 3,100, down from about 5,900 in 2016, the year before citizen activists prompted recognition that the forgotten dump and demolished tannery in downtown Rockford had led to extremely high levels of PFAS.

At the time, national testing was just starting in groundwater for the per- and polyfluorinated chemicals — used for waterproofing Wolverine’s Hush Puppies, among other industrial and fire-fighting uses — that were linked to cancer and other adverse health effects.

Michigan has found about 300 sites with contamination. Total PFAS costs to the states were not available for this story, but reports indicate Michigan spent $69 million in 2018 and 2019.

EGLE did not disclose details of its recent work with Wolverine, but spokesperson Scott Dean told Bridge Michigan in a statement that the agency is working with the company on remediation ordered by court agreements. 

Documents from EGLE in 2024 indicate the state was buying water filters for residents on wells near newer PFAS sites traced to Wolverine. 

“We remain committed to addressing legacy PFAS contamination,” Dean said.

Working through issues

Wolverine did not respond to Bridge’s questions about the grant award coming amid state and federal cleanup efforts. 

However, Hufnagel’s comment in a statement suggests that Wolverine is committed to Rockford.

“We are extremely proud of our west Michigan roots,” he said, “and look forward to cementing our presence in the community with this multimillion-dollar investment.”

The commitment after years of legal wrangling and community pressure to acknowledge pollution is welcomed by Sandy Wynn-Stelt, a neighbor of the House Street dump who became a national PFAS activist because of it. 

Systems where taxpayers pay for environmental cleanups and support business growth are flawed, she said. However, she sees progress around Rockford’s contamination today. 

“I love a company that learns from their mistakes, stays and … is willing to face it,” Wynn-Stelt said. “I would actually like to see more companies follow Wolverine and maybe even do better than Wolverine did. That's what I would hope for.”

Wolverine stock [NYSE: WWW] opened Thursday at $16.67 per share, compared to its year-to-date high of $23.98. 

The stock price brings the company’s market capitalization to $1.4 billion, up from $575 million in fall 2023. The company now predicts revenue growth of up to 4% per share this year.

Some Saucony presence remains in Boston, where Wolverine opened an 11,000-square-foot innovation hub in November. Other new offices in fall 2024 were opened in China and Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, the $1 million grant for Wolverine comes from the Michigan Business Development Program, which Senate Democrats and Speaker of the House Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, have said they’re willing to trim in next year’s budget.