Economic developers have long recognized the need for uniformity in use of the term “business park.” The expression designates certain kinds of districts or subdivisions set-aside for sites to be occupied by groups of manufacturing and/or high tech industrial facilities.

To give prospective occupants a better idea of what they can expect to find in a business park and assure them of high quality characteristics and services, the Michigan Department of Commerce and the Michigan Industrial Developers Association, in 1969, adopted a set of standards for qualified developments to be known as “Certified Industrial Parks.”

Beginning with those established criteria, the Michigan Economic Developers Association (MEDA) and the state department now known as the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) updated the standards in 2001 and renewed the voluntary program for certifying business parks.  This program today is known as the “Michigan Certified Business Park Program.”

Park developers throughout Michigan use the CBP standards in the design of parks and work toward achieving certification.  Prospects will find that a Certified Business Park offers specific advantages that are not available in other parks.