ADVERTISEMENT - Crain`s Cleveland Business

Transcription

20140324-NEWS--25-NAT-CCI-CL_--
3/20/2014
12:19 PM
Page 1
Vol. 35, No. 12
Entire contents © 2014 by Crain Communications Inc.
0
NEWSPAPER
74470 83781
7
12
ADVERTISEMENT
$2.00/MARCH 24 - 30, 2014
20140324-NEWS--26-NAT-CCI-CL_--
3/20/2014
12:20 PM
Page 1
20140324-NEWS--1-NAT-CCI-CL_--
3/21/2014
4:06 PM
Page 1
$2.00/MARCH 24 - 30, 2014
Anti-sin tax group starts to rumble
Coalition proposes alternatives to Issue 7; backers say those options are flawed
By JAY MILLER
[email protected]
It’s not a big tax and Cuyahoga
County taxpayers have been paying
it for 19 years.
But it is a big deal. And if a small,
social-media-savvy band of citizens
can sway enough voters, renewal of
the sin tax that has paid for the
buildings that are the homes to
Cleveland’s major-league sports
teams will go down to defeat on the
May 6 ballot.
The leaders of the anti-tax group,
which calls itself the Coalition
Against the Sin Tax, or CAST, consider themselves Cleveland boost-
ers and fans of the teams. They say
Issue 7, the proposed 20-year sin
tax extension, has been rushed to
the ballot and they just don’t believe the sin tax is the best way to
fund improvements to buildings
that are owned by Cuyahoga County and the city of Cleveland.
They say the process that put the
sin tax on the ballot has not considered other alternatives for financing the repair and upkeep of the
buildings; they also say citizens
need more details about the capital
improvements the teams want before they approve the continued
spending of public money.
“The way that this has been
pushed through isn’t right, and if we
reject the sin tax this May we will
have another year to evaluate alternatives and to come up with a deal
that is transparent and fair,” CAST
chairman Peter Pattakos told about
four dozen supporters at the group’s
first organizational meeting last
Wednesday, March 19, at the Market Garden Brewery in Cleveland’s
Ohio City neighborhood.
See GROUP Page 24
Local businesses are slow
to buy into Bitcoin’s value
Digital currency has been
described as just a ‘fad,’ but
others believe it’s here to stay
By CHUCK SODER
[email protected]
Frank Revy admits he “might be losing product
three dollars at a time” whenever he sells a cup of
coffee to those very few people who pay with bitcoin.
His shop, coffeeproper in Lakewood, is one of a
handful of local businesses that have decided to
accept payments from people who use the controversial digital currency.
Bitcoins traded for almost nothing in 2010,
when computers first started churning through
the complex calculations needed to produce
them. But that was then: Over the last year, the
GETTY IMAGES
IT’S NOT AS EASY AS YOU THINK
Crain’s reporter Chuck Soder details his attempt to
purchase a cup of coffee with bitcoin. Page 23
price of a single bitcoin blasted past the $1,000
barrier last November, before coming back into
orbit. You could buy one for about $590 last Thursday, March 20.
Some merchants, such as The Wine Spot in
Cleveland Heights, immediately convert any bitcoin they receive into cash. But not coffeeproper.
See BITCOIN Page 23
What is it? How does it work?
By CHUCK SODER
[email protected]
So, what the heck is Bitcoin? And does it really
have a chance to compete against the almighty
dollar?
We’ll start with the basics.
Bitcoin is a form of currency that isn’t issued by
a central government. There also is no such thing
as a physical bitcoin (the concept is capitalized,
the currency is not). Computers are used to create
them. Big computers: It takes a lot of horsepower
to run the complex algorithms needed to produce
a single bitcoin. Your laptop won’t cut it.
All those computers form a network that serves
to confirm transactions made with bitcoin, without the help of Visa, MasterCard or your local
bank. And the system is set up so that, over time,
it becomes harder to produce new bitcoins, which
is intended to keep inflation in check.
Merchants have at least one good reason to accept bitcoin: It allows them to avoid paying fees associated with credit card transactions. (However,
merchants sometimes choose to pay a so-called
“mining fee,” which tends to be lower than a credit card fee, to encourage people in the computer
network to process their transactions quickly.)
See WORK Page 23
MCKINLEY WILEY
Frank Revy’s coffeeproper in Lakewood is one of a handful of Northeast Ohio businesses
that accepts bitcoin.
2
3/21/2014
CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
2:57 PM
Page 1
WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM
MARCH 24 - 30, 2014
700 W. St. Clair Ave., Suite 310,
Cleveland, OH 44113-1230
Phone: (216) 522-1383
Fax: (216) 694-4264
www.crainscleveland.com
Publisher/editorial director:
John Campanelli ([email protected])
Editor: Mark Dodosh ([email protected])
Managing editor: Scott Suttell
([email protected])
Sections editor: Amy Ann Stoessel
([email protected])
Assistant editor: Kevin Kleps
([email protected]) Sports
Senior reporter: Stan Bullard
([email protected]) Real estate and construction
Reporters:
Jay Miller ([email protected]) Government
Chuck Soder ([email protected]) Technology
Dan Shingler ([email protected])
Energy, steel and automotive
Tim Magaw ([email protected])
Health care and education
Michelle Park Lazette ([email protected])
Finance
Rachel McCafferty ([email protected])
Manufacturing and energy
Research editor:
Deborah W. Hillyer ([email protected])
Cartoonist/illustrator: Rich Williams
Art director: Rebecca R. Markovitz
([email protected])
Events manager: Jessica Snyder
([email protected])
Special events coordinator: Kim Hill
([email protected])
Marketing strategist : Michelle Sustar
([email protected])
Advertising director: Nicole Mastrangelo
([email protected])
Account executives:
Dawn Donegan ([email protected])
Andy Hollander ([email protected])
Lindsie Bowman ([email protected])
John Banks ([email protected])
Michael Jansen ([email protected])
Office coordinator: Denise Donaldson
([email protected])
Web Editor: Damon Sims
([email protected])
Digital strategy director: Nancy Hanus
([email protected])
Audience development director:
Eric Cedo ([email protected])
Web/Print production director:
Craig L. Mackey ([email protected])
Production assistant/video editor:
Steven Bennett ([email protected])
Billing: Michele Ulman, 313-446-0353
([email protected])
Credit: Todd Masura, 313-446-6097
([email protected])
Customer service/subscriptions
877-824-9373
Crain Communications Inc.
Keith E. Crain: Chairman
Rance Crain: President
Merrilee Crain: Secretary
Mary Kay Crain: Treasurer
William A. Morrow:
Executive vice president/operations
Chris Crain:
Executive Vice President, Director of
Strategic Operations
Dave Kamis:
Vice president/production & manufacturing
Anthony DiPonio:
Chief Information Officer
Mary Kramer: Group publisher
G.D. Crain Jr. Founder (1885-1973)
Mrs. G.D. Crain Jr. Chairman (1911-1996)
3/21/2014
1:33 PM
Page 1
Looks like a million bucks.
Feels like a million bucks.
IS250 AWD
PER MO LEASE $299
CLASSIC LEXUS 2014
27 Month lease requiring $3,995 Cash or Trade due at signing 10,000 miles per year
and 25¢ charge per mile over. Plus tax, title, license and doc. fee. MSRP: $44,423
Navigation, Blind-spot monitoring, All wheel drive & much more!
And here’s a few more deals under a million.
LEXUS
2014 ES350
LEXUS
NAV
2014 RX350
MONTHLY LEASE $399
LEXUS
NAV
2014 GS350
MONTHLY LEASE $419
27 Month lease requiring $3,995 Cash orTrade
due at signing. 10,000 miles per year and 25¢
charge per mile over. Plus tax, title, license
and doc. fee (MSRP: $44,223)
BMW
2014 320i xDrive
BMW
2014 X3 xDrive28i
BMW
2014 528i xDrive
NAV
MONTHLY LEASE
MONTHLY LEASE
$329
AWD
$299
MONTHLY LEASE
AWD
$489
MONTHLY LEASE
$489
36 Month lease requiring $3,995 Cash or Trade
charge per mile over. Plus tax, title, license and
doc. fee. Additional charge for certain ext. colors.
36 Month lease requiring $3,995 Cash
or Trade due at signing. 10,000 miles
per year and 20¢ charge per mile over.
Plus tax, title, license and doc. fee
36 Month lease requiring $3,995 Cash
or Trade due at signing. 10,000 miles
per year and 20¢ charge per mile over.
Plus tax, title, license and doc. fee
CADILLAC
AWD
2014 ATS
MONTHLY LEASE $299
CADILLAC
2014 SRX
CADILLAC
AWD
2014 CTS
MONTHLY LEASE $439
2.0 TURBO
doc. fee (MSRP: $38,160 - ST#W11244)
Save an extra $1,500 if you own OR lease a ‘04 or newer NON-GM vehicle. Trade-in not required
FWD
MONTHLY LEASE
$319
doc. fee (MSRP: $38,430 - ST#W11175)
2.0 TURBO
doc. fee (MSRP: $48,025 - ST#W11199)
LEXUS
CADILLAC
BMW
WILLOUGHBY HILLS 800 525 7594
MENTOR 440 255 6955
WILLOUGHBY HILLS 888 439 8833
Offers end 3/31/14
CLASSIC
DRIVECLASSIC.COM
4
3/21/2014
4:19 PM
Page 1
Aclara could fetch $150M
SOLD
Proposed sale follows layoffs at utility tech
company; parent to write off sale as a loss
12930 DARICE PARKWAY
STRONGSVILLE, OHIO
By CHUCK SODER
[email protected]
Newmark Grubb Knight Frank
is pleased to announce the sale
of the 162,000 SF Multi-Tenant
Modern Distribution Facility at
12930 Darice Parkway in
Strongsville for $8,125,000.
Terry Coyne represented the seller.
Visit
TerryCoyne.com
MARCH 24 - 30, 2014
Visit
TerryCoyne.com
Or Call Terry at
216.453.3001
1350 Euclid Ave, Suite 300
Cleveland, Ohio 44115
1350 Euclid Ave, Ste. 300
Cleveland, Ohio 44115
Attn: Manufacturers & Warehouses
Tired of costly electric bills
and a poorly lit facility?
Join FirstEnergy & ROI Energy to learn how you
can get a rebate for upgrading your lighting
• 50% Energy Savings
Aclara, a provider of advanced
metering technology for utilities, is
scheduled to be sold for an amount
that could reach $150 million,
though its parent company still
plans to write down the sale as a loss.
Aclara, which has 177 employees
in Solon, is expected to be acquired
by Sun Capital Partners, a Florida
private equity firm that among other
things helps entities within corporations become separate companies.
In this case that corporation is
Esco Technologies of St. Louis. The
diversified maker of engineered filtration products put Aclara up for
sale last August, saying that it wanted to pay down debt, finance acquisitions and focus on higher-margin
lines of business.
Aclara’s business is a tough one.
The company, based in Hazelwood,
Mo., sells meter-reading equipment
and other technologies that help
utilities monitor and manage the
flow of electricity, water and gas. For
years, Aclara has made some of
those products in Solon, but last
April it announced plans to lay off
about 80 employees and outsource
some of Solon’s manufacturing to its
contractors.
Esco isn’t saying whether any
manufacturing is still going on at
that location, according to Kate
Lowrey, director of investor relations
• FirstEnergy Rebates
for the parent company. However,
Aclara employed 241 in Solon when
it made the announcement last
spring — meaning it has trimmed
more than 60 people from its local
staff. At the time, the company noted
that its office staff in Solon would be
retained.
Demand for so-called “advanced
metering infrastructure” products is
expected to grow over the long term,
but the market for those products
can be volatile. At Aclara, that volatility has come in the form of large contracts that can cause big fluctuations
in the company’s sales. For instance,
in 2011, Aclara struck a deal to install
advanced metering infrastructure
throughout the territory served by
Southern California Gas Co. Now
that Aclara is delivering products for
that contract, its sales are way up:
Aclara’s revenue jumped to $51.9
million in Esco’s fiscal first quarter,
which ended Dec. 31, up almost 50%
from $34.7 million during the yearearlier period. That spike helped
Aclara move into the black: it earned
$3.7 million in its latest fiscal first
quarter, up from a $7.7 million loss
during the like period a year earlier.
But those contracts come and go,
according to Esco’s Lowrey.
Plus, sales cycles in the utility industry are “often unpredictable due
to budgeting, purchasing and regulatory approval processes that can
take up to several years to complete,” according to a statement in
Esco’s annual report for its most
recent fiscal year, which ended on
Sept. 30, 2013.
A loss in the offing
Sun Capital plans to pay $130
million in cash for Aclara, and Esco
has retained the right to another $20
million in receivables owed to
Aclara, which had a total of 555
employees across its operations as of
last September.
But Esco had listed Aclara’s value
— its assets minus its liabilities — at
about $195 million, according to its
most recent quarterly report published in February. Esco said it plans
to record the sale as a $50 million
loss after the deal closes at the end of
March.
Despite the expected loss, Esco
CEO Vic Richey said in a statement
that the sale represents “an exciting
opportunity” for Esco to cut its debt
and become “a more strategically
focused, higher-margin business
with a much steadier and predictable growth profile.”
It’s unclear what the deal might
mean for Aclara’s Solon operations:
Officials from Aclara would not talk
about the deal, because it has yet to
close. A representative from Sun
Capital did not return a phone message left on Wednesday, March 19.
The private equity firm apparently
is OK with taking on a challenge: Sun
Capital’s website says it “focuses on
companies that are operationally
challenged, experiencing an industry
or business transition, undergoing a
corporate divestiture, or managing
rapid growth.”
■
• Fast Payback
• Brighter lighting
• Replace HID high bays
• Upgrade T-12 fixtures
Independence, Ohio Thurs., May 15, 9-11:30 a.m.
Registration limited to first 40
$69.00/person
CALL TODAY! Don't miss out!
Register at www.ROI-Energy.com/seminar or call 330-931-3905
Crocker Park hotel in the works
By STAN BULLARD
[email protected]
Crocker Park in Westlake is closer
to putting a long-sought hotel in the
property mix at the retail, office and
residential complex.
Stark Enterprises, co-developer of
Crocker Park with the Carney family
of Westlake, this year hopes to start
building a six-story hotel and a 400space parking garage near Union
Street between Crocker Road and
the complex’s Regal Cinemas and
Nordstrom Rack.
Steve Rubin, chief operating officer
of Stark, said the developer plans a
limited-service hotel with 112 rooms.
Stark is in final negotiations with a
lender for the hotel’s flag and with
lenders for the project, he said. Rubin
declined to estimate the project’s
cost, though he did say as many as
five restaurants also would go into
retail additions to that area.
Stark plans to seek approval soon
from the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County
Port Authority for a bond issue to
finance the streets, sidewalks and
other infrastructure for that component of Crocker Park’s expansion.
The city of Westlake authorized a tax
increment financing agreement
March 10 that would let a portion of
the property tax payments go toward
repaying the bonds.
Crocker Park’s restaurants and
stores can serve as an amenity for
the hotel. David Sangree, president
of the Hotel & Leisure Advisors consultancy in Lakewood, said few hotels
in Cleveland’s suburbs have such a
mixed-use complex as an amenity,
although it is a common combination elsewhere.
“It would be a big competitive
advantage compared to the other
“Ever since we opened,
we’ve had people asking if
we would add a hotel.”
– Steve Rubin
chief operating officer,
Stark Enterprises
hotels,” Sangree said. “Guests can
park once and walk to shopping and
dining.”
Westlake Mayor Dennis Clough
said Stark has been pursuing the hotel
project separately from the pending
second phase of Crocker Park on its
south side. That phase is slated to
include a new headquarters for
Brooklyn-based American Greetings
as well as more retail space and
apartments.
The mayor said the city expects to
Volume 35, Number 12 Crain’s Cleveland Business (ISSN 0197-2375) is published weekly, except for combined issues on the fourth week of December and fifth week of December at 700 West
St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland, OH 44113-1230. Copyright © 2014 by Crain Communications
Inc. Periodicals postage paid at Cleveland, Ohio, and at additional mailing offices. Price per copy:
$2.00. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Crain’s Cleveland Business, Circulation Department, 1155 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, Michigan 48207-2912. 1-877-824-9373.
REPRINT INFORMATION: 800-290-5460 Ext. 136
issue bonds “within weeks” for infrastructure for the second phase.
However, the city decided it did not
want to fund the Union Street additions on Crocker Park’s north side
with its own bonds, so Stark will take
that financing component to the
port authority.
“It came down to the city only
wanting to issue $48 million for
Crocker Park and American Greetings,” Clough said. “We opted just to
stop at that level.” He estimated the
public infrastructure associated with
the hotel, garage and retail space on
Crocker Park’s northeast corner will
require a port bond issue of about $6
million.
A hotel has been in the game plan
for Crocker Park since 2005. Rubin
said the hotel originally was going in
on what now will be the American
Greetings side of the complex.
Instead, the hotel will go in on the
north side, closer to the Interstate 90
interchange.
Rubin said surveys by Stark’s hotel
consultant show demand for another
hotel in the suburb. However, its
strongest market survey came from
shoppers and visitors to the 1 millionsquare-foot property.
“Ever since we opened, we’ve had
people asking if we would add a
hotel,” Rubin said.
■
Subscriptions: In Ohio: 1 year - $64, 2 year - $110. Outside Ohio: 1
year - $110, 2 year - $195. Single copy, $2.00. Allow 4 weeks for
change of address. For subscription information and delivery concerns
send correspondence to Audience Development Department, Crain’s
Cleveland Business, 1155 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, Michigan, 482079911, or email to [email protected], or call 877824-9373 (in the U.S. and Canada) or (313) 446-0450 (all other locations), or fax 313-446-6777.
3/21/2014
3:22 PM
Page 1
MARCH 24 - 30, 2014
5
Software provider getting plenty of notice
Akron’s Knotice is acquired by N.Y. firm with 350 employees
By CHUCK SODER
[email protected]
The 70 people who work for Knotice are now part of another marketing technology company, one
that should help the Akron-based
software provider make the most of
a big opportunity.
Knotice has been acquired by Ig-
nitionOne, a company based in
New York City with about 350 employees. Terms were not disclosed.
The deal should give Knotice —
which years ago received financing
from JumpStart, a Cleveland nonprofit that provides assistance to local entrepreneurs — the resources
to capitalize on a sudden boost in
demand for the company’s tech-
nologies, according to president
and CEO Brian Deagan, who will
continue on in a management role
with the combined business.
Only recently has the marketing
sector started to understand the
potential of Knotice’s technology,
Deagan said. The company’s software allows marketers to send messages to consumers through multi-
ple platforms,
including websites, email and
mobile devices,
and
analyze
consumer data.
The 13-yearold
company
grew from nine Deagan
employees
in
2006 to 88 by the start of 2012. However, its growth was tempered because
the company created its data man-
Garage
next door
provided
opening
See KNOTICE Page 6
INSIGHT
Case says
law school
remains in
‘fine shape’
Gent Machine made
room for expanding
business by buying
school bus building
Applications rise
despite turbulence
and another change
in dean’s position
By RACHEL ABBEY McCAFFERTY
[email protected]
It took about 18 months, nearly
$500,000 and plenty of paint for
Gent Machine Co. of South Euclid
to turn an old bus garage into a
modern manufacturing plant.
Today, instead of school buses,
the 10,000-square-foot building
houses seven Swiss-style CNC
(computer numerically controlled)
lathes for Gent Machine. The maker of screw machine parts had been
a staple in South Euclid for 70 years
when it started to outgrow its
15,000-square-foot plant at 445
South Green Road, right next to the
bus garage.
“It became very apparent very
quick” that the company needed
more space, said president Rich
Gent, who owns the company with
his brother, vice president Adam
Gent.
Gent Machine primarily uses
CNC lathes and Davenport brand
five-spindle screw machines to turn
materials such as steel, aluminum
and brass into screw machine parts
used by automakers and producers
of specialty fasteners. In 2009, Rich
and Adam Gent bought the 87year-old, family-owned business
from their father, who still owns a
minority share.
Rich Gent said the company saw
a dip in business during the
recession, but has been growing
steadily since mid-2009, which led
to the need for expansion in 2011.
That need intensified in 2012 when
Gent Machine signed a major customer, which Rich Gent declined to
identify.
In 2013, revenue was up 60%
from 2012, and the company added
11 jobs. Today, Gent Machine has
44 full- and part-time employees,
not including the owners. Its annual sales are more than $5 million,
although Gent declined to be more
specific.
Gent said he had been looking
agement platform in 2008 — long before the marketing sector understood
what it was, Deagan said. He cited a
quote from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who has said that innovators
need to be willing to be misunderstood for long periods of time.
“We were working on something
that the market wasn’t necessarily
ready for, nor did we have the funding to change hearts and minds,”
Deagan said.
By MICHELLE PARK LAZETTE
[email protected]
Though its dean’s resignation this
month marked the second time since
2008 that a leader of Case Western Reserve University School of Law has left
amid some form of conflict, one of the
school’s now-interim deans sees the
state of the program this way:
“We’re not the
Cleveland
Browns.”
In making that
statement,
Michael Scharf
means a leadership change at a Scharf
law school doesn’t have the domino effect that management shakeups at National Football League teams do, as new coaches
and general managers almost always
hire their own people.
INSIDE: A look at the tenures of law
school deans at Case Western Reserve
University, Cleveland-Marshall College
of Law and the University of Akron.
Page 14
share the space for a year, starting
in the summer of 2012. The city
agreed to sell the garage to Gent
Machine for $200,000, and the
company quickly got to work transforming the space.
“At a law school like ours where the
faculty plays such an important role,
the kinds of continuity we have in our
staff and in our faculty leaders has enabled us to continue to move forward
through our leadership changes,”
said Scharf, who with Jessica Berg
went from being acting deans to interim deans when Lawrence E.
Mitchell resigned effective March 1.
Prior to resigning, Mitchell had
been on a leave of absence since last
November after he and the university were sued in October by a law
school professor who said Mitchell
retaliated against him after the professor reported alleged sexual harassment of women by the dean. Mitchell
had been dean since June 2011.
See GARAGE Page 8
See CASE Page 14
JANET CENTURY
Gent Machine Co. president Rich Gent, right, said it “became very apparent very quick” that the company needed more
space. He owns the business with his brother Adam.
for new space in and out of South
Euclid when the city-owned garage
next door came to mind. Euclid
economic development director
Michael Love said Gent Machine
was one of the city’s longesttenured businesses, and it wanted
to keep the company — and its jobs
— in the city. But a lot went into
making that happen.
Gent Machine and the South Euclid-Lyndhurst schools, which had
been leasing the bus garage from
the city, reached an agreement to
6
3/21/2014
3:22 PM
Page 1
MARCH 24 - 30, 2014
194.67 AC For Sale
Concord, Ohio
90
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Christopher J. Hondlik, SIOR
seventy-fifth
75
anniversary
216-861-7200
www.ostendorf-morris.com
global commercial real estate services
STAN BULLARD
After spending two years in foreclosure, the Sterling Building was transferred to a lender led by Dallas-based Lone Star
Funds on March 17. Mark Munsell, one of the building’s owners, said it was the only “amicable solution” he could reach.
Foreclosure leads to transfer
COMING APRIL 6
CRAIN’S WEEKLY REPORT WEBCAST!
Delivered on Sunday evenings,
Crain’s Weekly Report is Northeast
Ohio’s only weekly online business
news video webcast.
For sponsorship opportunities, contact Nicole Mastrangelo at
216-771-5158 or [email protected].
SALT • SALT • SALT
• Water Softener • Industrial • Food
• Ice Melt • Sea Salt
Call For Pricing!!
Minimum Delivery: 1Pallet
Sterling Building put
under lender’s control
By STAN BULLARD
[email protected]
Bought from a lender 13 years ago,
the Sterling Building in Cleveland’s
Theater District is in a lender’s
hands once again, although it’s a different lender this time around.
Real estate owner and developer
Mark Munsell, who led an investor
group called Sterling Telecom Office
Building LLC that had owned the
building at 1255 Euclid Ave., transferred it to the lender March 17.
The move settled a 2-year-old foreclosure suit in Cuyahoga County
Court of Common Pleas. Now a
tech-focused office building, the
structure dates from 1909 and once
was the home of the old Sterling
Lindner department store.
The new owner is led by Lone Star
Funds, a Dallas-based fund that
invests in commercial real estate by
buying distressed mortgages.
Munsell said in a March 19 interview he is disappointed with the outcome, but it was the only “amicable
solution” he could reach.
“In today’s financing environment, we could not find someone
who would refinance the property,”
he said.
The foreclosure was launched
after the $8 million loan that the
Munsell group had used to buy the
building in 2001 came due in 2011.
The Cleveland office of real estate
broker CBRE Inc. took over management and leasing of the building for
Lone Star’s asset manager, Hudson
Americas LLC, when the property
changed hands.
“In today’s financing
environment, we could not
find someone who would
refinance the property.”
– Mark Munsell
real estate owner, developer
Kenny Coven, CBRE managing
director for asset services, said the
firm’s immediate task is getting its
hands around the building and
boosting its 84% occupancy level.
Coven said Lone Star typically
sells distressed properties after a period of time, and CBRE will handle
the assignment when Lone Star
orders that step. Because of its tech
tenants and data center capability,
the building will garner multiple
bidders as interest in Northeast Ohio
is high among groups seeking such
properties, he said.
Munsell said he was attracted to
the property because of the presence
on Euclid Avenue of the fiber optic
lines that tech companies prize.
When Sterling Telecom bought
the structure from Mony Life Insurance Co. of New York, the 196,000square-foot building was 90% occupied. However, after the 2001 terrorist
attacks sparked a business downturn,
occupancy fell to 43% and Munsell’s
company, Munsell Realty Advisors,
went into rebuilding mode.
The building provided Munsell,
who primarily owns and develops
office buildings in suburban Akron,
Cleveland and Dayton, his first
access to the downtown market in
Cleveland. Despite the bruises he
suffered as he exits the Sterling
Building, Munsell said he considers
downtown a more attractive market
than it was in 2001.
When Munsell’s group bought
the property, Euclid Avenue was
described as bedraggled, far different from its condition today.
“It’s gorgeous now,” Munsell said.
“I am an opportunist. When an
opportunity arises, I’ll consider it.”
Michael Shuster, the Cleveland
attorney who represented the lender
in the case, declined comment.
Three calls to the new owner were
not returned by 1 p.m. March 20. ■
Knotice: New owner plans to grow locally
continued from PAGE 5
1-800-547-1538
Salt Distributors Since 1966
The market for Knotice’s technology picked up significantly last year,
especially after technology research
firm Forrester released a report listing
the company among seven of the top
data management platform providers
in the marketing business.
IgnitionOne saw that report, as
did other companies in the industry,
Deagan said.
“That put us on the radar of a lot
of people,” he said.
Knotice’s technology should complement IgnitionOne’s capabilities,
Deagan said. The acquirer focuses
more on helping marketers buy digital
advertising and manage marketing
efforts related to display ads, search
engines and social media. Knotice’s
data management platform will be
used to analyze a lot of the information IgnitionOne collects, Deagan
said.
Acquiring a culture, too
Besides Knotice’s technology, IgnitionOne liked that the company
seemed to have an entrepreneurial
mindset, said IgnitionOne CEO Will
Margiloff.
“They’ve built an incredible culture there,” he said.
JumpStart provided Knotice with
$500,000 in financing in 2006. Midway through 2010, the company finished paying back JumpStart’s money,
with interest. JumpStart’s investment never converted to equity
because Knotice didn’t raise outside
financing.
“The JumpStart investment came
at a very important point in the
growth of the company,” Deagan
said.
Knotice’s largest shareholders
are Deagan, chief technology officer
Bill Landers and Jon Grimm, chief
financial officer and chief operating
officer.
Deagan said he expects Knotice’s
Akron office, which houses more
than 60 people, to serve as a technology development hub for IgnitionOne.
The office will continue to grow,
Margiloff said, noting that IgnitionOne should be able to help Knotice
recruit people.
“I think this will maybe raise the
profile of the company a bit,” he
said.
■
3/21/2014
1:34 PM
Page 1
PRISM PROVIDES
EVERYTHING
MANUFACTURERS
NEED TO GROW
Led by MAGNET, Northeast Ohio Has Come Together to Strengthen Manufacturing
PRISM, the Partnership for Regional Innovation
Services to Manufacturers, is the first and only
initiative that combines MAGNET’s years of
manufacturing consulting and engineering expertise
with the power of Northeast Ohio’s innovation-driven
institutions. PRISM is ready to fuel our region’s
principle economic driver, manufacturing, into the
next generation.
MAGNET’S 30 YEARS OF MANUFACTURING EXPERIENCE
MAGNE
1 Growth Plan
PRISM IS A ONE-STOP SHOP FOR:
Q planning successful growth
Qdefending and extending your core business
Qinnovating to make new products
Qimproving processes and finding new markets
Qattracting talent and managing your hiring and
2 Defend & Extend Core
3 Innovate to Grow
training needs.
DOUBLE
DIGIT
GROWTH
4 Build Talent
PRISM BRINGS YOU THE REGION
PRISM integrates MAGNET’s 30 years of deep
manufacturing expertise with a network of bestin-class organizations ready to help manufacturers
grow right now. PRISM just doesn’t give you a
phone number to call, PRISM will manage and
monitor that partner relationship and make things
happen no matter what your growth goals are or
in what ways you need help.
REGIONAL ASSETS
REGION
Leading Manufacturers
Willing to Share
PRISM HAS HELPED COMPANIES:
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
overcome technical challenges using NASA Glenn
and university resources
design, develop and launch new products
find new markets and commercialize new products
increase EBITDA and free up time in core business
to be able to grow
solve growing pains through employee training,
cultural realignment, and streamlined onboarding
processes
obtain capital for growth
manage the growth process so that CEOs can
grow their business while maintaining their core
Economic Development
Organizations
Colleges/Universities
● Professors
● Technology
● Facilities
● Researchers
Technology at
Government Labs
● NASA
● America Makes
Supported by the Manufacturing
Extension Partnership program
OUR PRISM
PARTNERS
INCLUDE:
For more information on PRISM, contact Linda Barita at [email protected] or 216.391.7766
www.manufacturingsuccess.org
8
3/21/2014
4:12 PM
Page 1
MARCH 24 - 30, 2014
Crain’s wins two Neal Awards
Honors were for
‘CLE 2030’ section
and commentaries
Aggressive Financing up to 10M!
Where are you going?
CBS can help get you there:

Jonathan Mokri
440.526.8700
Commercial Real Estate
[email protected]
Financing (Owner Occupied or Investment)
www.cbscuso.com
3XUFKDVHRU5HÀQDQFH
machinery, equipment or
other capital assets
SBA 7(a) and SBA 504 loans
with as little as 10% down
Providing Commercial Loan Financing in Partnership with Area Credit Unions SM
Crain’s Cleveland Business has
been honored with two awards in
the 60th annual Jesse H. Neal
Awards, a national competition
staged by ABM, The Association of
Business Information and Media
Companies, that each year honors
the best work in business media.
Crain’s won in the category of Best
Cross-Platform Package for its July
22, 2013, special report, “CLE 2030:
Facing the Future.” It is the second
straight year Crain’s has won in that
category, which recognizes publications for reporting that combines
print, online and multimedia components of coverage.
CLE 2030 analyzed the importance of the urban core to Northeast Ohio and put into perspective
various efforts to move the city for-
Bennett
Dodosh
ward. The package was spearheaded by sections editor Amy Stoessel.
Others involved in the project were
reporters Tim Magaw and Jay
Miller, freelance writer Dan McGraw, video editor Steve Bennett
and freelance photographer Marc
Golub.
Crain’s also won in the category
of Best Commentary for three editorials penned in 2013 by editor
Mark Dodosh.
In commenting on the honors,
Crain’s publisher John Campanelli
said, “The Neal Awards, which are
often called the ‘Pulitzer Prizes of
business journalism,’ are a true indication of editorial excellence. No
Magaw
Miller
other publication in Ohio was
honored with a
Neal
Award,
and our newsroom brought
home two. That
says
plenty
about the work Stoessel
being done day
in and day out by our reporters and
editors. Our editorial staff continues to deliver the outstanding coverage our business community deserves.”
Stoessel accepted the awards at a
March 14 awards luncheon in New
York City.
■
Coming Soon! Minority-Owned Business Directory
Crain’s Cleveland Business has created this directory to help raise the
profile of minority businesses in Northeast Ohio. Companies listed
have 51% or greater minority ownership.
For more information, contact
Deb Hillyer at [email protected].
Don’t forget to check out our other list products
www.CrainsCleveland.com/Lists
THERE’S NO BUSINESS
LIKE YOUR BUSINESS.
Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease is a full-service corporate law
ÀUPWKDWZRUNVZLWKDOONLQGVRIEXVLQHVVHVWRKHOSWKHPJURZ
:HUHFRJQL]HWKDW\RXUEXVLQHVVLVXQOLNHDQ\RWKHU$QGZKDWD
FRLQFLGHQFH³EHFDXVHRXUODZÀUPLVXQOLNHDQ\RWKHUWRR
Higher standards make better lawyers.®
For more information, visit vorys.com.
Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP
1375 East Ninth Street 2100 One Cleveland Center Cleveland, Ohio 44114
106 South Main Street Suite 1100 Akron, Ohio 44308
JANET CENTURY
These retainers fit into automotive applications at Gent Machine Co. in South Euclid.
Garage: Company secured county loan
It painted the building, installed
new lighting and electrical work
and turned a long-empty salt storage space into a high loading dock.
Gent Machine also built a hallway
to connect the two previously adjacent buildings. The school buses
moved out last summer, and the expansion officially was complete in
December.
The building needed a lot of
work, Gent said, but he knew staying in the same place would help
the company save on moving costs.
And the sale came with two acres if
the company needs to expand in
the future.
Gent Machine was able to secure
a $178,000 redevelopment and
modernization loan from Cuyahoga County. When the loan came
together and the city agreed to sell,
“it started to make financial sense,”
Gent said. The company put an additional $100,000 in renovations in
the building on top of what the
county loan financed. Gent Machine also received a traditional
loan for the purchase of the building.
Nathan Kelly, deputy chief of
staff to Cuyahoga County Executive
Ed FitzGerald, said while attracting
new businesses to the county gets
attention, helping existing businesses expand is critical.
“Our bread and butter, the way to
advance our economy, is in expansion,” Kelly said.
The loan for Gent Machine came
from the county’s Western Reserve
Fund, a local fund for economic development launched in 2011. The
$100 million fund is used to invest
in entrepreneurship and small
business development, business attraction, and modernization by ex-
“Our bread and butter, the
way to advance our
economy, is in expansion.”
– Nathan Kelly
deputy chief of staff
to Cuyahoga County Executive
Ed FitzGerald
isting companies. Some of Gent
Machine’s loan can be forgiven in
exchange for creating up to 15 jobs,
Gent said.
The brothers expect 2014 to be a
bit quieter than 2013, but Gent said
he still predicts about 5% growth in
revenue. He intends to hire about
three more skilled machinists and
plans to focus on becoming more
efficient in the expanded plant.
“For us, this is kind of a year to
catch our breath,” he said.
■
3/20/2014
1:39 PM
Page 1
MARCH 24 - 30, 2014
9
GOING PLACES
JOB CHANGES
AUTOMOTIVE
COLLECTION AUTO GROUP: Gary
Tilkin to vice president, managing
partner, Nissan, Volkswagen,
Buick/GMC and Acura dealerships.
CONSULTING
Dubin
Tredway
Embaugh
Matile
PRADCO: Ginny Tredway, Tamara
Dubin and Kaleb Embaugh to
management consultants.
We Solve Problems.
Effectively. Efficiently. Consistently.
FINANCE
KEYBANK: Michael Matile to
relationship manager, Key Private
Bank.
Clark
Murray
Nagel
Apostolis
FINANCIAL SERVICE
440-571-7777
AXA ADVISORS: Keven French
and Austin Murray to financial
professionals.
We are a different kind of business law firm.
Learn about us at
www.gertsburglaw.com, or
call us to discuss your legal matter.
BEACON FINANCIAL PARTNERS:
Candice Clark to client relations
coordinator.
GALLOVIC, GRANITO & CO.:
Beverly Petersen to manager;
Michael Prince to staff accountant.
36 South Fr anklin Street
Chagrin Falls
Gangel
Hall
Ruzics
Fasola
MCMANUS, DOSEN & CO.:
Terrance S. Yee to auditor.
Last chance to nominate!
HEALTH CARE
LODI COMMUNITY CARE
CENTER: Charlene Nagel to
certified nurse practitioner, adult
medicine.
Shaerban
Dykeman
Deutsch
Brantley
LODI COMMUNITY HOSPITAL:
Costas A. Apostolis, M.D.,
urogynecologist; Michael Gangel,
M.D., urologist; Daniel Hall, M.D.
and Thomas Ruzics, M.D.,
board-certified obstetrician/
gynecologists; to medical staff.
METROHEALTH SYSTEM: Anjay
Khandelwal, M.D., to associate
director, Comprehensive Burn Care
Center.
of
Lamb
Petznick
GALLAGHER SHARP: Melanie R.
Shaerban to associate.
TAROLLI, SUNDHEIM, COVELL
& TUMMINO LLP: Michael P.
Gonzalez to associate.
MANUFACTURING
LIBRA INDUSTRIES: Tom
Dykeman to vice president, sales
and business development.
PMI INDUSTRIES INC.: Kenneth
Mencini to director of finance.
PREMALUX LLC: Andrew Deutsch
to director, sales and business
development.
Presented by In partnership
with
Darrow
greater cleveland
Harget
RETAIL
ACME FRESH MARKETS: Laura
Darrow to director of human
resources; Mike Harget to store
director, State Road.
OSWALD COS.: John Fasola to
senior vice president, director of employee benefits.
LEGAL
Note
CrainsCleveland.com/WON
INSURANCE
WESTFIELD GROUP: Deborah
Birk to marketing communications
leader.
women
SERVICE
Plescia
Sepesy
NONPROFIT
CUYAHOGA HEALTH ACCESS
PARTNERSHIP: Demario J.
Brantley to health access and
operations coordinator.
ROGERS CO.: Kyle Sepesy to
account manager.
VOCALINK: Dennis Plescia to
strategic account manager.
STAFFING
SHAKER HISTORICAL SOCIETY:
Ware Petznick to executive
director.
AREA TEMPS INC.: Melissa
Artman and Michelle Moore to
sales representatives; Erin
DeBrossard and Brittany
Bevelacqua to sales support.
REAL ESTATE
BOARDS
CBRE INC.: Brandon Isner to
research coordinator.
FIELDSTONE FARM
THERAPEUTIC RIDING CENTER:
Thomas Rathbone to chairman;
Allen K. Wiant to president;
T. Rodney Twells to vice president.
ROCKY RIVER PUBLIC LIBRARY:
Audra Bednarski (River Snow
Management LLC) to president; Jean
M. McQuillan to vice president;
Patrick Burke to secretary.
GREEN BRIDGE REAL ESTATE:
John Lamb to commercial real
estate specialist.
MARKETING
KELLER WILLIAMS CHERVENIC
REALTY: Candy Kelly to assistant
team leader.
KARCHER GROUP: Chellsea
Mastroine and Daniel Bridenstine
to web marketing specialists.
TRANSACTION REALTY: Chantel
Porter, Abdul Muhammad and
Gene Chernov to sales associates.
STAY CONNECTED
■ Crain’s on Twitter: @CrainsCleveland
■ Crain’s on Facebook: Facebook.com/CrainsCleveland
■ Crain’s on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/crain’s-cleveland-business
■ Crain’s on Instagram: instagram.com/crainscleveland
■ Crain’s daily e-newsletters: CrainsCleveland.com/register
Outdated lighting is
costing you a fortune.
Smart Change.
Simple Payback.
Contact Us To Schedule Your
Facility Audit Consultation
440.829.4299
[email protected]
f in
Energy Savings Up To 70%
Maintenance Free Benefits
FirstEnergy Rebates
Sustainable Solutions
Complete Turnkey Process
Send information for Going Places
to [email protected].
MIDWEST
LIGHTING
GROUP
Cleveland’s Premier Lighting Solution
www.midwestlightinggroup.com
20140324-NEWS--10-NAT-CCI-CL_--
10
3/20/2014
4:11 PM
Page 1
MARCH 24 - 30, 2014
PUBLISHER/EDITORIAL DIRECTOR:
John Campanelli ([email protected])
EDITOR:
Mark Dodosh ([email protected])
MANAGING EDITOR:
Scott Suttell ([email protected])
OPINION
Let it be
T
he Ohio Department of Taxation describes
the state’s Commercial Activity Tax as “an
annual tax imposed on the privilege of doing business in Ohio.” But with Gov. John
Kasich recommending that the Legislature raise by
15% the tax known by the acronym CAT, businesses
are likely to feel it’s more a pain than a privilege to
do business in the Buckeye State.
The CAT was the wise creation last decade of another Republican governor, Bob Taft, who sought a
more equitable way to tax business in Ohio. Taft
convinced the Legislature to phase out the corporate franchise tax and the personal property tax,
which hurt manufacturers in particular because the
tax applied to tangible assets such as plant and
equipment, and to put the CAT in their place.
Taft’s goal was to implement a tax with a low rate
that would apply to a broad base of businesses. In
this way he’d spread out the tax load while keeping
the tax from becoming burdensome. And so, in
mid-2005 began the CAT, which taxes the taxable
gross receipts from most business activities at a rate
of 0.26%.
Because the CAT is based on receipts, not profits,
it wasn’t love at first sight for businesses that previously avoided much of a tax bill because their bottom lines routinely were in the red or marginally in
the black. However, the tax steadily has won acceptance in business circles and even has caught the
eye of other states for possible imitation.
Now, Kasich wants to raise the CAT’s rate to
0.30% in order to help produce enough new revenue to offset tax money that would be lost if lawmakers enact an 8.5% cut he’s seeking in personal
income taxes over the next three years. An increased CAT would cost businesses another $743
million in taxes over the next three years, according
to Kasich’s office.
The move to raise a tax on business might have
been expected from a Democratic governor, not a
Republican such as Kasich. Regardless, the potential
for a rate hike was a concern back at the CAT’s inception, according to Greg Lawson, statehouse liaison and policy analyst for the Buckeye Institute, a
conservative public policy think tank.
“The whole fear was that because it’s such a small
rate, it’s an extraordinarily tempting target” for an
increase, said Lawson, who was a legislative aide
when the CAT was devised.
Kasich talks up Ohio as a business-friendly state,
but his actions can be inconsistent with his words.
Last year, he convinced the Legislature to raise the
regressive sales tax a quarter point, which makes
selling anything more expensive. Now he wants to
increase Ohio’s most basic tax on business.
We might understand the governor’s insistence
on raising taxes on business to cover the cost of reducing income taxes for the third time in 10 years if
the public was clamoring for more tax cuts. But no
such groundswell exists.
Unlike Florida, Ohio won’t get its income tax to
zero, and it won’t hold on to wealthy snowbirds who
head south to escape our winters no matter how low
top tax rates go. So why engage in this headlong dash
to cut income taxes at the risk of alienating employers and losing jobs by raising the CAT? Just let it be.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Honesty remains the best policy
vealed that his fund had shortill Ackman scares the JOHN
ed $1 billion of Herbalife
bejesus out of me.
Ackman is a billion- CAMPANELLI stock.
I have no problem with
aire hedge fund manAckman seeing a potential opager. But he also spends part
portunity and shorting a
of his time doing a great imstock. Short-selling is crucial
pression of Glenn Close in
to the balance and integrity of
“Fatal Attraction.”
the stock market. But what
If you saw that 1987 film you
Ackman has done since gives
certainly
remember
it.
me the willies. He’s now made
Michael Douglas plays a sucit his obsession to destroy the
cessful, married lawyer who
company. It’s as if he bet
has a steamy weekend affair
against a team … and is now working to
with Close. He believes it was a simple
break the legs of the players.
fling; she believes it was something
He has paid lobbyists more than
more. She then pursues him, and when
$260,000 to build a case against Herbalhe rejects her, she pretty much makes it
ife in Washington. He’s paid civil rights
her mission to destroy his life, even boilorganizations (he accuses the company
ing his family’s pet bunny.
of targeting minorities) more than
Like Douglas’ character, Herbalife, a
$5 billion multilevel marketing company
$130,000 to help in the cause. He’s orgadealing in vitamins and energy drinks,
nized letter-writing campaigns and paid
doesn’t come off as exactly an angel. The
activists to attend anti-Herbalife rallies.
company has been criticized for preying
“I am going to personally pursue the
on its own customers — its “representaHerbalife matter to the end of the earth,”
tives” — while top management and inhe said.
vestors get rich.
Earlier this month, the Federal Trade
In late 2012, Ackman called Herbalife
Commission announced it was opening
“the best-managed pyramid scheme in
an investigation into Herbalife. Its stock
the history of the world.” He then refell 15%.
B
Regardless of whether Herbalife is
honest or shady, Ackman’s unprecedented antics should scare anyone in
business.
These days, anyone with a grudge
against you or your company — an angry
customer, a disgruntled employee, a
competitor — can become a nuisance. If
the grudge develops into a full “Fatal Attraction,” look out. All a person needs is
the time and the Internet.
So, can we somehow protect ourselves
from this kind of sabotage? I asked Scott
Chaikin, CEO of Dix & Eaton, who has
some expertise in crisis communications.
Figure out your vulnerabilities, he
says, and develop a strategy to shore
them up. Where are people interacting
with your company? What’s the experience like? How can it be improved?
Also, invest in your reputation now.
Your business should have an honest
and authentic story to rally around. You
should have advocates eager to tell that
story at a moment’s notice.
Perhaps most obvious, Chaikin says
you need to be able to say that you are
running a good, trustworthy business.
That means no pyramid schemes, no
dishonesty and no bunny soup.
■
TALK ON THE WEB
Re: Hard Rock Rocksino
■ Downtown, Flats, East 4th, Quicken
Loans Arena and PlayhouseSquare are
all excellent for the greater area entertainment scene, but for those who do not
care to go downtown but want to see
concerts, then the Rocksino offers a good
alternative.
If it were not for the Rocksino, those
concert entertainment dollars would
likely go unspent in the local economy.
The Rocksino is capably filling a void.
— Jim Daniloff
■ In your March 17 story on the Hard
Rock Rocksino, Cindy Barber, co-owner
of the Beachland Ballroom concert club
in Cleveland’s Collinwood neighborhood, said the Rocksino seems to be an
appropriate venue for what she called
soft-ticket acts that have played casinos
Reader responses to stories
and blogs that appeared on:
for years.
AWWW! Poor Barber. These are sour
grapes from a worried owner of a competitor, who isn’t even paying attention.
The article neglects to mention such Alisters as Jennifer Nettles, who is not a
“soft ticket act” but has played the
Rocksino.
I’m not sure how many 20/30-something stars who have “played casinos for
years” are now packing the Hard Rock
that Beachland Ballroom is shrugging
about. I am sure things are poppin’ over
there in Collinwood for the rock and
country music spenders.
— IZZN
See WEB Page 11
POLL POSITIONS
What's your favorite movie shot
or set in Cleveland?
“American Splendor”
6.3%
9.4%
“The Avengers”
“A Christmas Story”
28.1%
“The Deer Hunter”
21.9%
“Major League”
29.7%
4.7%
Other
Vote in the poll each week at
20140324-NEWS--11-NAT-CCI-CL_--
3/20/2014
4:01 PM
Page 1
MARCH 24 - 30, 2014
11
PERSONAL VIEW
Proposed tax on miles traveled
by vehicle shouldn’t fly in Ohio
By HOWARD A. LEARNER
Learner is executive director of the
Environmental Law and Policy Center,
an environmental and economic
development advocacy organization
with offices in Illinois, Ohio and other
Midwest states.
G
as tax revenues are declining, as people drive less
and more fuel-efficient
new cars require filling up
less at the pump. That saves people
money, reduces pollution and
lessens America’s imports of foreign oil. However, less driving and
more fuel-efficient vehicle technologies produce less funding for
needed transportation infrastructure improvements that are vital to
Ohio’s economic growth, public
health and safety.
Many politicians oppose raising
the motor fuels taxes. So some
states, like Oregon, are looking to
shift from gas taxes to vehicle miles
traveled (VMT) taxes, which charge
motorists based on how many
miles they travel on the roads. An
onboard vehicle device, using GPS
or other technology, records the
distance driven, assigns it to the appropriate taxing jurisdiction, and
calculates the tax amount owed.
Proposed new federal legislation
(H.R. 3638) would establish a “Road
Usage Fee Pilot Program,” namely
vehicle miles traveled taxes. However, this approach doesn’t work
well in practice in Ohio and similarly situated states with the interstate
highways that are the nation’s
crossroads used by millions of outof-state drivers each year.
First, Ohio’s interstate highways
are a crossroads of America —
that’s different than coastal Oregon. Changing to VMT taxes here
would mean out-of-state drivers
who now pay Ohio gas taxes on
their fuel purchases while using
Ohio highways — Interstate 70, 71,
77, 80 and 90 — would instead get a
free ride as they travel through.
Meanwhile, Ohio drivers would
be forced to pay the entire VMT tax
burden. This shift is disadvantageous and unfair to Ohio motorists
and taxpayers. Why would Ohio
legislators want Ohio taxpayers to
further subsidize highway use for
out-of-state motorists?
Second, VMT taxes would effectively penalize fuel-efficient cars,
such as Honda Accord hybrids
manufactured in Marysville and the
Chevy Cruzes manufactured in
Lordstown.
Why should a gas-guzzling Hummer, which causes much more
wear-and-tear on the highways, pay
the same VMT tax as a lighter, fuelsipping car? Will heavy trucks pay
their higher fair share?
The Congressional Budget Office’s March 2011 report, in comparing gas taxes and VMT taxes, emphasized the disproportionately
high road wear from cargo trucks
compared to what’s recouped by
current gas tax levels: “Heavy trucks
travel less than 10% of all vehicle
miles, but their costs per mile are far
higher than are those for passenger
vehicles, and they are responsible
for most pavement damage.”
CBO suggested that VMT taxes, if
adopted, should be adjusted to recognize weight-per-axle in properly
allocating highway wear-and-tear
to the cost causers, which are disproportionately heavy trucks and
larger commercial vehicles.
Third, VMT taxes would penalize
modern new clean electric vehicles
and hybrid cars that pollute much
less than internal combustion engine and diesel cars and trucks, and
thereby provide air quality, public
health and other environmental
quality benefits for everyone. Creating positive incentives for clean
electric vehicles and hybrids makes
more sense, as Clean Fuels Ohio
points out in its EV Readiness Plan
for Ohio.
Fourth, the current gas tax is simple and inexpensive to administer
at the pump. The system is already
in place. The VMT tax requires that
fairly costly new technology be installed in vehicles, and a new administrative system be created. The
costs of operating and auditing a
VMT system are higher than collecting gas taxes.
If legislators are reluctant to raise
gas taxes, then why would the proposed VMT taxes be any more popular with the public?
The gas and motor fuel taxes are
both fairer and practically better
suited to Ohio’s geography and
needs. For Ohio, the proposed VMT
tax for cars is not the right tool to
address transportation infrastructure funding challenges.
■
Web: Blazek’s response was ‘small-minded’
Re: Kelly Blazek
and LinkedIn
■ Those of us who have been using
LinkedIn effectively for (in my case
almost a decade now) years, often
get request links from others we do
not know. Most often we share
some interest or possible opportunity together.
I do ignore requests from places
like Abu Dhabi when the requestor
only has 10 connections, but would
never deny a request to someone just
because I don’t know them! If some
mindful young professional sent me
a request for help to connect to
someone to secure a position, it’s unfathomable to me why someone
would not grant it, especially if they
claimed to be some sort of superstar
connector on a job board.
I can’t tell you how repugnant,
small-minded and selfish Blazek’s
response was to that young woman.
I do detest the stain it leaves on our
community. We are not all like her!
— Ron Copfer
Re: John Kasich,
tax shifter
■ ALL taxes paid by smokers should
be used either for Health and Human Services issues, or to help the
smokers find ways to quit. It is illogical and ethically wrong for any
government agency to make money off of death.
— Jerome Masek
■ Get off it, Kasich. NO NEW
TAXES!
— Henry
■ To people like “Henry” calling for
“NO NEW TAXES:” Can we assume
you won’t be complaining about
school districts needing to increase
property taxes? You have no problem with the roads in horrible condition? You want a Libertarian/Tea
Party paradise?
Move to Somalia. There’s no government to get in your way there.
— Tom Burnett
■ I am no proponent of further income tax cutting — our schools and
city governments have been punished enough, but what exactly is
the uproar over increasing the cigarette tax?
Because it unfairly targets those
with low incomes? So, we should
take it easy on those who elect to
pursue a filthy habit that makes all
of our health care premiums skyrocket? We can do better than that.
— Jeff Desmond
GET DAILY NEWS ALERTS FROM CRAIN’S !
Register for free e-mail alerts and receive:
■ The Morning Roundup: The day’s business news
from Ohio’s daily papers
■ Breaking news alerts
■ Daily headlines: Crain’s-produced news and blog
items from the day
■ Dealmaker Alert: Published Wednesday.
■ Health Care Report: Published Tuesday.
■ Real Estate Report: Published Monday.
■ Small Business Report: Published Thursday.
■ Shale and Energy Report: Published Friday.
STARTING THIS WEEK:
■ Manufacturing Report: Published every other
Wednesday.
SIGN UP NOW AT:
CrainsCleveland.com/register
FOR SALE
4,160 SF Office Warehouse on 2.06 Acres
8360 E. Washington St., Chagrin Falls, OH 44023
SITE
E. W
ash
ing
ton
St
*Lines are Approximate
t 4'0óDF8BSFIPVTF1SPQFSUZ
t 4'0óDF#VJMEJOH
t 4''SFFTUBOEJOH8BSFIPVTF
(BSBHF
t 0WFSIFBE%PPST
t "DSFT
t "NQMF1BSLJOH0VUTJEF4UPSBHF
t 1PUFOUJBM3FEFWFMPQNFOU4JUF
David R. Stover, SIOR
216.839.2012
HannaChartwell.com
WHAT
IGNITES
YOU?
C HANGING LIVES ,
EX PANDING
KNOWLEDGE
n eo m ed . ed u
• ONE CALL • ONE SOURCE • MANY RESOURCES
Joe Thomas
A Trusted Name
A Certified Minority-Owned Business Enterprise.
A Franchisee of the Proforma Worldwide Network
“Helping you to Maintain Brand Integrity & Consistency”
QUALITY
• PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS • WEARABLES • SIGNAGE
• PRINT SERVICES • BRANDED ONLINE ORDERING
Grassroots Personalized Customer Service
Contact info: Proforma JOE THOMAS GROUP
13500 PEARL ROAD, STE: 139-107, CLEVELAND, OHIO 44136
[email protected] | Phone: 440-268-0881
www.joethomasgroup.com | www.proformajoethomasgroup.com
20140324-NEWS--12-NAT-CCI-CL_--
12
3/20/2014
1:41 PM
Page 1
MARCH 24 - 30, 2014
Tri-C has high hopes for hospitality program
Incoming associate dean believes college
can be bridge to nation’s top culinary schools
K
laus Tenbergen has a tall
order for Cuyahoga Community College’s hospitality management program,
which he’ll be overseeing as its associate dean beginning in June.
“What are the top three culinary
schools in the country?” Tenbergen
asked rhetorically. “Johnson &
Wales, Culinary Institute of America and I’d say Kendall College. I
want people to immediately think
of Cleveland” as the heavyweight of
associate degree programs that
bridge ambitious students to those
top-tier culinary schools, he said.
“We want to build the program
so its graduates are prepared to either continue their education or
able to serve as the next leaders in
any variety of hospitality and culinary professions,” Tenbergen said.
The certified master baker and
executive pastry chef has more than
30 years of industry experience to
prepare him for the task.
Tenbergen most recently served
at California State University, Fres-
KATHYAMESCARR
WHAT’S COOKING
no, as director of its culinology program, which blends the study of
food sciences and culinary arts. He
earned a bachelor’s degree from
Kendall College in Chicago, where
he served as department chair of
the baking and pastry degree program; a master’s degree in management from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee; and a doctorate
of education from California State
University.
At Tri-C, the German-born chef
will join Brandt Evans, chef and coowner of Blue Canyon Kitchen and
Tavern in Twinsburg and Pura Vida
in downtown Cleveland’s Public
Square, who in December filled the
hospitality management program’s
newly created role of executive director.
The chef-administrators both
plan to further connect the program, which has about 550 students, with the region and state’s
tourism, hospitality and culinary
sectors. According to state employment projections, leisure and hospitality employment in Ohio will
grow by 4.3% between 2008 and
2018, behind construction, professional services, and education and
health services.
Part of bolstering Tri-C’s hospitality management program involves improving its completion
and job placement rates, which
both chefs qualify as “low,” though
neither they nor the school were
able to quantify that assessment by
deadline.
Crain’s asked the chefs to outline
how they plan to improve those
rates and expand upon other priorities.
Klaus Tenbergen:
Q: Do you have any plans to integrate your culinology approach into
Tri-C’s hospitality management
In Partnership With:
8FEOFTEBZ"QSJMtBNBN
Progressive Field
The Business of Baseball
In conjunction with Crain’s “Twenty Years of Gateway” section, this
intimate breakfast gives a behind-the-scenes look at the business of
Indians baseball.
Tickets include:
Exclusive Q&A with
Bob DiBiasio, Mark Shapiro & Brian Barren
t#FIJOEUIFTDFOFTUPVSTBU1SPHSFTTJWF'JFMEt
t#SFBLGBTUCVČFUt
Tickets on sale now!
CrainsCleveland.com/Indians
Supported by:
GET YOUR FILL
Read Kathy Ames Carr’s What’s
Cooking blog at:
CrainsCleveland.com
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Beginning in June 2014, Klaus
Tenbergen will oversee Cuyahoga
Community College’s hospitality
management program as its associate
dean.
program?
A: Not necessarily. There will be a
period of evaluating what the needs
of the students are, the faculty’s capabilities and the industry’s needs.
(Lodging and) tourism is the program’s smallest degree option (next
to culinary arts and food service
management), but has potential to
grow given downtown Cleveland’s
recent economic and tourism
growth. We may establish other degree options.
Q: What are some of your initial
goals?
A: I want to increase the number
of (partnerships) with other fouryear schools, so our students have
the ability to lead food-related businesses and make higher salaries. I
also want to focus on improving our
students’ professional development. Two-week study programs in
California or Chicago would certainly be one way to broaden their
horizons.
Q: What are some of the ways
you’re helping to improve the completion and job placement rates?
A: This is key. Sometimes students
start working in the field making $12
an hour, working 16-hour days, then
don’t have time for school and drop
out. They don’t see the point of going to school and making minimumwage salaries. Our goal is to articulate with local employers that their
job is part of their schooling, like a
paid internship. I’d like to establish a
mentorship program with food-related business owners to work closely with students. Part of this may also
involve creating an advisory board,
with key players from national food
service providers, sports venues, hotel associations and restaurants as a
way for businesses to work closely
together and connect students with
employment opportunities.
Brandt Evans:
Q: What are some specific ways in
which you’re helping to improve
the completion and job placement
rates?
A: Our goal overall is completion,
completion, completion. Some of
our students who come in don’t excel at math and English, so it takes
them longer to complete the program. We’re ramping up our number of tutors to help. We also are
bringing in more big-name chefs,
from Dante Boccuzzi (Dante),
Jonathon Sawyer (Greenhouse Tavern), Doug Katz (Fire Food and
Drink), Eric Williams (Momocho),
Karen Small (Flying Fig) and Matt
Fish (Melt Bar & Grilled), to do
demos and talk about real-life situations so our students know what to
expect when they look for a job.
Q: Talk about some of the initiatives you’ve undertaken as executive director.
A: My role is to be the bridge between the program and the community.
I’m
working on furthering our partnerships with
those in the hospitality, tourism
and restaurant
industries to let
them know our
students can be Evans
their next employees. We get a lot of requests for
our students, but we want to focus
on channeling them to the position
that best suits them. I’ve had a
handful of meetings with the (general manager) of the new 9 hotel
who will have a need for 350 employees. If a student has an interest
in entering the restaurant industry,
I don’t want to send (him or her) to
a restaurant and that’s it. Their personality may be geared more toward a Dante restaurant or with
Jonathon Sawyer. My connections
with these chefs can help place
them more strategically. I’m also focusing on developing our articulation program by partnering with
schools that have bachelor’s degrees, like Kent State University and
Johnson & Wales.
Q: What opportunities does the
hospitality management program
provide for graduates?
A: Your degree could lead to so
many types of jobs. You don’t have
to be an Iron Chef on the Food Network. You can become a nutritionist with the Cleveland Clinic, a chef
at Stouffer’s, own your own catering
business, be a food writer or a food
scientist. Our biggest challenge in
the industry, though, is filling cook
positions at restaurants.
Local morsels
■ Spice Kitchen + Bar’s Carthusian
Sazerac, concocted by bartender extraordinaire David Hridel, was featured in a Saveur March 7 cocktail
feature. “I was seduced by a bewitching green lady,” the writer says
of the drink. “I felt buoyed up by the
lilting, balanced marriage of what I
later discovered to be rye whiskey,
green chartreuse, lemon bitters and
just the barest hint of absinthe.”
■ Cleveland-based Orlando Baking
Co. just rolled out two whole grain
breads under its True Grains product
line. The honey grain and purple
wheat raisin breads bear the Cleveland Clinic’s Go! Healthy mark for
foods that meet stringent national
nutrition guidelines. The honey
grain bread contains 24 milligrams
of DHA omega-3 per serving, which
Orlando says promotes cardiovascular health and brain and eye development. The purple wheat raisin is a
sweet, nutty-tasting low-fat bread
that contains antioxidants. The
breads are $3.99 per loaf and available at Heinen’s, Whole Foods, Giant Eagle and other area grocers. ■
20140324-NEWS--13-NAT-CCI-CL_--
3/20/2014
12:24 PM
Page 1
MARCH 24 - 30, 2014
13
TAX LIENS
The Internal Revenue Service filed tax
liens against the following businesses
in the Cuyahoga County Recorder’s
Office. The IRS files a tax lien to
protect the interests of the federal
government. The lien is a public
notice to creditors that the
government has a claim against a
company’s property. Liens reported
here are $5,000 and higher. Dates
listed are the dates the documents
were filed in the Recorder’s Office.
LIENS FILED
J & J Enterprise Services Inc.
6491 Pebblecreek Drive,
Independence
ID: 54-2108723
Date filed: Feb. 7, 2014
Type: Employer’s withholding
Amount: $240,400
Handl-It Inc.
5386 Majestic Parkway, Suite A,
Bedford Heights
ID: 34-1700605
Type: Employer’s withholding,
unemployment
Amount: $208,496
Handl-It Inc.
5386 Majestic Parkway, Suite A,
Bedford Heights
ID: 34-1700605
Amount: $201,270
Independence
ID: 54-2108723
Amount: $153,544
Independence
ID: 54-2108723
Amount: $114,847
6491 Pebblecreek Drive, Independence
ID: 54-2108723
unemployment, corporate income
Amount: $87,209
Ake Environmental
& Construction & Service Inc.
503 Broadway, Bedford
ID: 34-1129970
Amount: $75,406
Bidder Transport Inc.
3565 Glen Allen Drive, Cleveland
Heights
ID: 34-1554376
unemployment
Amount: $70,787
Practice Management
Consultants LLC
20006 Detroit Road, Suite 200,
Rocky River
ID: 75-2995645
unemployment
Amount: $58,359
Dan Morell & Associates Co. LPA
6060 Rockside Woods Blvd.,
Independence
ID: 34-1732795
Amount: $49,466
BTA Collision LLC
27500 Lorain Road, North Olmsted
ID: 27-1626005
corporate income
Amount: $45,243
Kelly Restoration
2166 Warren Road, Lakewood
ID: 34-1702016
unemployment
Amount: $45,087
Interactive Search Group LLC
35104 Euclid Ave., Suite 303,
Willoughby
ID: 27-0961280
Amount: $42,892
ISG Employment LLC
Willoughby
ID: 45-3274785
unemployment
Amount: $38,633
Medicare Transport Inc.
6100 Oak Tree Blvd., Suite 200,
Independence
ID: 26-4552200
unemployment
Amount: $37,674
Amount: $16,334
Amount: $12,702
unemployment, failure to file
complete return
Amount: $11,392
LD Evolutions
24254 N. Oxford Oval, North
Olmsted
ID: 26-3512949
Amount: $14,315
Red Fitness 24 7 Maple Heights
LLC
18605 Detroit Ave., Lakewood
ID: 46-1665297
Date filed: Feb, 6, 2014
Amount: $12,355
HRC & R LLC
16300 S. Waterloo Road, Cleveland
ID: 27-2628588
Amount: $13,362
Lunas Management LLC
8405 Cherry Hill Lane, Broadview
Heights
ID: 20-4158678
unemployment, failure to file
complete return
Amount: $12,316
Techland Research Inc.
28895 Lorain Road, Suite 201, North
Olmsted
ID: 31-1565119
Date filed: Nov. 22, 2013
Date released: Jan. 8, 2014
unemployment
Amount: $8,759
Field Day Cleaning Inc.
14713 Granger Road, Maple Heights
ID: 30-0402503
corporate income
Amount: $13,266
Red Fitness 24 7 Willoughby LLC
ID: 46-1678476
Amount: $12,995
All Nations Deliverance Ministries
International Inc.
15715 Libby Road, Maple Heights
ID: 13-4248397
Tremont Electric LLC
2379 Professor Ave., Cleveland
ID: 26-0316466
Date filed: Sept. 7, 2012
Type: Partnership income
Amount: $42,120
Euclid Day Care Academy Corp.
567 E. 200 St., Euclid
ID: 90-0745959
Amount: $11,790
LIENS RELEASED
Shree Jagdamba Inc. Foodtown
Super Market
7516 Saint Clair Ave., Cleveland
ID: 20-8002260
Date filed: July 26, 2011
Will Repair Inc.
2901 E. 65 St., Cleveland
ID: 34-1577547
Date filed: Oct. 14, 2011
Amount: $7,499
Yormick & Associates Co. LPA
526 Superior Ave. E, Suite 230,
Cleveland
ID: 34-1882937
Date filed: Aug. 24, 2012
Amount: $18,723
R & L Metal Spinning Inc.
3185 W. 33 St., Cleveland
ID: 30-051181
Amount: $37,064
Interactive Search Group LLC
Willoughby
ID: 27-0961280
unemployment
Amount: $30,570
Red Fitness 24 7 Cincinnati LLC
ID: 46-1652521
Amount: $26,149
ISG Employment LLC
Willoughby
ID: 45-3274785
Amount: $23,442
Jacobs Real Estate Services LLC
as owner’s representative, is pleased to announce a lease with
TIAA-CREF
at
Two Chagrin Highlands
Red Fitness 24 7 Westlake LLC
ID: 46-1664136
Amount: $21,689
Red Fitness 24 7 Severence LLC
ID: 46-1725770
Amount: $19,665
TIAA-CREF was represented by
CBRE
Steve Voinovich
Leased and managed by:
Cleveland Stone Corp.
4400 Carnegie Ave., Cleveland
ID: 34-1858405
Amount: $18,824
Brothers Painting & Decorating
Inc.
9319 Bohning Drive, Garfield Heights
ID: 34-1815287
Amount: $16,685
Warrensville Animal Center LLC
4003 Warrensville Center Road,
Beachwood
ID: 27-2430639
For leasing information, call
John Klayman or Cindy Greiner at 440-871-4800
www.JRESgroup.com
JRES is a fully integrated third-party commercial real estate ﬁrm providing:
property management • leasing • development and planning • brokerage services • construction management
20140324-NEWS--14-NAT-CCI-CL_--
14
3/20/2014
4:01 PM
Page 1
MARCH 24 - 30, 2014
Case: University has had considerable growth in law school applications
Before Mitchell, from 2008 to
2011, the law school was led by interim dean Robert H. Rawson Jr.,
who since has returned to the practice of law at Jones Day. Before
Rawson, Gary J. Simson served between 2006 and 2008, when he resigned amid ragged relations with
some alumni and big donors.
One source who knows the university well but asked not to be
identified said the concern is that
the turnover at the top could affect
the perception of the law school by
outsiders, such as prospective students and parents. However, the
same source doesn’t see systemic
problems within the law school.
“The fundamentals are in fine
shape,” he said. “That’s an excellent
faculty out there. The student body
is strong. Alumni loyalty is very high.
The question is, what effect do the
distractions have on the fundamentals? And I have not seen much.”
Others familiar with the law
school concur, and cite recent news
as proof.
In an email sent March 11 to law
school alumni, Case Western Reserve
president Barbara R. Snyder identified what she called a “series of positive developments” at the law school.
They include a hefty rise in applications, which were up 35% compared
to this time last year and already had
surpassed 2013’s total by 16%.
That’s double-digit growth at a
time of double-digit decline, on average, in law school applications in
the United States, which as of
March 14 were down 10.7% from
applications in the like period in
2013, according to the Law School
Admission Council in Newtown, Pa.
“Right now, this is a really good
time in the life of our law school,
which I think … is the best-kept se-
cret considering what’s gone on
this year,” Scharf said.
Snyder also noted in her email
that the law school’s overall ranking
was 64th in the U.S. News & World
Report list of Best Law Schools
ranked in 2014. That’s up four
notches from 68th in 2013.
“The number is far lower than we
would like, but does mark the first
gain the school has made since
2009,” Snyder wrote.
A fatal blow? No
Both Berg and Scharf stressed
that the continuity of the law
school’s faculty and staff is a stabilizer. Of the 49 full-time faculty, 26
are tenured, according to the university.
Scharf
and
Berg
have
worked under
four deans during their time
with the law
school — 13 and
15 years, respectively.
Asked Berg
whether
they
have perceived instability, Berg
replied, “It’s always hard to predict
how things might have been different. Through different points, it certainly felt like business as usual.
We’re still doing our work, teaching
our classes, moving ahead.”
According to a post in late September by the TaxProf Blog, the average
tenure for sitting law school deans is
slightly more than four years, and the
median tenure is 3.24 years.
Brent D. Ballard, who received
his law degree in 1985 from Case
Western Reserve and sits on the law
school’s visiting committee, doesn’t see the changes at the top every
few years as a sign that the school is
in trouble.
“You would certainly like to have
a law school dean that had longer
tenure,” acknowledged Ballard,
managing partner of the Calfee law
firm, where he said one-fifth of the
attorneys are Case Western Reserve
graduates. But he maintains it is the
faculty members who are critical to
the student experience.
“Look at a managing partner at a
law firm,” Ballard said. “If you have
a series of short-tenured managing
partners, it certainly causes some
disruption among all of the constituents. But, is that a fatal blow? I
don’t think so.
“It’s unfortunate that we’ve had
this kind of turnover, but I think
what’s more important is the relationship between students and faculty,” Ballard said. “When I was in
law school, I think I laid my eyes on
our dean twice.”
Recent alumna Michelle Reese,
who graduated in May 2013 and is
now an associate attorney with Day
Ketterer’s Canton office, echoed
that sentiment.
“Personally, I’m not worried
about the school,” Reese said. “I
feel that the administrative issues
will always be kept separate from
the education that the students are
receiving there.”
Money matters matter
While many share that sentiment, some say the turnover and
negative publicity that has come
with it pose a risk to the school’s
brand and fundraising. According
to one former university employee,
Case Western Reserve’s law school
has made “many poor choices in
dean candidates over the years.”
“It’s really, really hard to increase
the reputation of your school and
SWITCH FOR OUR COINAGE,
DOUGH, DINERO, MOOLAH
MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE
BUSINESS INTERNET & VOICE
$
79
99
mo*
+ 30-DAY SATISFACTION GUARANTEE
CALL OR CLICK TODAY
866-791-2688
COXBUSINESS.COM
*Offer ends 4/30/14. Minimum service term, equipment, installation, fees, taxes, and other restrictions may apply. Limited 30-day money-back guarantee; exclusions and other
restrictions apply. See coxbusiness.com. ©2014 Cox Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
101901-0008
DEAN DATELINES
Case Western Reserve
University School of Law
■ March 1, 2014: Michael Scharf
and Jessica Berg
now are interim
deans, upon
Lawrence E.
Mitchell’s
resignation. They
had been acting
deans since
November, when
Mitchell
Mitchell took a
leave of absence.
■ 1997-2006: Gerald Korngold
■ 1996-1997: Michael J. Gerhardt
Cleveland-Marshall College of
Law, Cleveland State University
■ 2011-present: Craig M. Boise
■ 2010-2011: Phyllis L. Crocker
(interim)
■ 2005-2010: Geoffrey S. Mearns
■ 1997-2005: Steven Steinglass
University of Akron
School of Law
■ 2008-2011: Robert H. Rawson
Jr. (interim)
■ 2012-present: Elizabeth A. Reilly
(interim)
■ 2008-2012: Martin H. Belsky
■ 1995-2007: Richard L. Aynes
■ 2006-2008: Gary J. Simson
■ Sources: The three universities
■ June 2011-March 2014:
Lawrence E. Mitchell
really easy to ruin it,” said the former employee, who asked not to be
identified. “You have to be smart,
and you have to choose people who
are visionary.
“Not just Case, but any school
that suffers a setback in leadership
has to work extra hard to try to
maintain its fundraising and rankings and morale,” the former employee said.
That may be, but interim dean
Scharf noted that the school’s capital campaign was “extremely successful” under both Rawson and
Mitchell. As of late February, it had
raised $24.2 million toward its $32
million goal.
Still, Barbara J. Danforth said she
is more likely to give her money
elsewhere. As a visiting student who
attended Case Western Reserve law
school for one year, Danforth said
the university solicits her often.
“We’ve got another new dean
(and) here, after a very short time,
he’s gone, and gone under some very
suspicious circumstances,” said
Danforth, a senior vice president
with Ratliff & Taylor, an executive
search firm in Independence. “Is that
where I’m going to invest my money?
No. There are too many other organizations whose leaders I trust.”
On to the next dean
Mitchell’s resignation brings the
number of Northeast Ohio law
schools that are in some stage of a
dean search to two. The University
of Akron expects to name a permanent dean for its law school by July.
Case Western Reserve’s president
and provost are consulting with
constituents before they convene a
search committee, interim dean
Berg said. There is no timeline for
the start of the search, according to
Berg, who noted that searches for
deans tend to run on the academic
cycle, beginning in mid-fall and
wrapping up in early spring.
Berg served on the search committees that hired both Simson and
Mitchell.
“It’s not clear what we could have
done differently,” Berg said. “It’s
not as though people came and two
months later left. They were obviously matches for a period of time,
and the school accomplished things
in that period of time.”
Each of the search committees
did extensive background checks on
candidates and gathered input from
staff, faculty, alumni and students,
she said.
“We do our homework,” Berg
said. “We do what we can to get a
good match.”
Today, law schools seek different
qualities in leaders than what they
sought a decade ago, according to
Tim McFeeley, a vice president with
Boston-based executive search firm
Isaacson, Miller. He has conducted
several law school dean searches,
and is conducting another.
Ten years ago, the first priority
was finding deans who were worldrenowned legal scholars, McFeeley
said.
“(Today) they’re in financial difficulty, most of them,” he said of law
schools. “They’re looking for people
who are creative about creating new
revenue sources. They want deans
to find ways to bring in money.
That’s not that much different (than
before) — it’s just that the pressure
is higher.”
■
Apple Growth Partners names Texan its CEO
ON THE WEB Story from licly traded media
Apple Growth Partwww.crainscleveland.com company headners, an accounting
and advisory firm with
quartered in Daloffices in Akron and Cleveland, has
las, where he served as a corporate
a new CEO.
officer and a vice president of marHe’s Harold Gaar, a longtime resiketing and sales at The Dallas Morning News, Belo’s largest operating
dent of Dallas who served for eight
years as managing partner of Travis company.
“I’ve known Harold through our
Wolff, one of the largest regional
CPA alliance for years and most reaccounting firms in Texas.
cently as he served on our board of
Apple Growth Partners said Gaar
advisors,” said Dave Gaino, chairwill lead the strategic growth of the
man of Apple Growth Partners. “I
firm and is responsible for all busiadmired the job he did growing
ness operations. He also will be
Travis Wolff and am thrilled he
available to advise clients on a
chose to join Apple Growth Partners
range of business matters, the firm
as our CEO. He brings a wealth of
said.
experience, operational, and marPrior to his stint at Travis Wolff,
keting knowledge to the position.”
Gaar worked for Belo Corp., a pub-
20140324-NEWS--15-NAT-CCI-CL_--
3/20/2014
4:00 PM
Page 1
IN THIS SECTION
■ Crain’s selects an All-Gateway team of the top Cleveland
Indians players since 1994. Page 16
■ We look back at the most memorable moments from the
Jacobs/Progressive Field era. Did the “midges game” (right)
make the cut? Page 16
■ Bob DiBiasio, John Hart and Mark Shapiro recall the time in
which former Cleveland Indians owner Dick Jacobs was forced
to consider every option — one of which was the possibility of
moving his beloved team. Page 17
■ A look at the economic impact of Gateway on downtown Cleveland. Page 18
■ Business owners discuss the impact of Gateway. Page 19
■ Jacobs Field broke new ground with the method in which it was designed
and the creative way in which it was financed. Page 20
■ Fans such as Greg Van Niel (bottom right, with three of his souvenirs)
recall their fondest memories from the last 20 seasons. Page 21
ALSO ONLINE
Go to www.CrainsCleveland.com/Gateway for additional
coverage, including:
■ Photo galleries of
Cleveland Indians fans and
some great moments from
the Jacobs/Progressive Field
era
■ A preview of the 2014
Cleveland Indians
■ A history of the Gateway
project
■ A look at where some of the key players in the Gateway
development are now
■ A crucial vote for the three major professional sports teams is
only six weeks away
20140324-NEWS--16-NAT-CCI-CL_--
3/20/2014
4:01 PM
Page 1
20 YEARS OF GATEWAY
16 CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
MARCH 24 - 30, 2014
ALL-GATEWAY TEAM
ALEX NABAUM
Catcher ............... Victor Martinez
First baseman ...... Jim Thome
Second baseman .. Roberto Alomar
Shortstop .............. Omar Vizquel
Third baseman ......Travis Fryman
Designated hitter .. x-Travis Hafner
Left fielder ............ Albert Belle
Center fielder ....... Kenny Lofton
Right fielder .......... Manny Ramirez
Starting pitcher .....CC Sabathia
Relief pitcher ........ x-Jose Mesa
x-Not pictured
■ For a preview of the 2014 Cleveland
Indians, go to:
www.CrainsCleveland.com/Gateway
■ For more on the All-Gateway team,
read Kevin Kleps’ blog at:
www.CrainsCleveland.com
About the starting catcher …
W
e know what you’re thinking:
Where’s Sandy Alomar? The
catcher who hit two of the most
memorable home runs in Indians
history (the 1997 All-Star game at Jacobs Field
and against the Yankees in the ’97 postseason)
surely belongs on the All-Gateway team, right?
The key words in this discussion: All-Gateway, the best players since the ballpark debuted
in ’94.
Three of Alomar’s six All-Star seasons were
pre-Gateway, and from 1994-2000, he was limited to 93 games per season because of injury. In
that span, he drove in more than 50 runs just
once — during his sensational 1997 season.
Victor Martinez, meanwhile, batted .297 in
eight seasons with the Tribe. In that span, he
made three All-Star teams, won a Silver
Slugger award and had three .300 campaigns.
If this was an all-time Indians team, Alomar
would’ve been the selection. But since 1994,
Martinez has been the most productive Tribe
catcher.
The only other positions that required some
debate among the Crain’s staff were second
base, third base and the two pitching
positions.
■ Carlos Baerga was good in 1994 and ’95, but
his best seasons were pre-Gateway. And
Robbie Alomar was fantastic throughout each
of his three years for the Tribe.
■ The Indians’ third-base situation has been
so bleak that the only other players who
merited serious consideration were Matt
Williams, who played all of one year in
Cleveland, and Casey Blake, a .266 hitter with
the Tribe who spent a chunk of his time in
right field.
■ Sabathia (106-71, 3.83 ERA with the
Indians) was selected over Cliff Lee, another
Cy Young winner who was traded before he
hit it big in free agency, Charles Nagy and
Bartolo Colon.
If we were choosing a five-pitcher All-Gateway rotation, we would have probably selected
Sabathia, Lee, Colon, Nagy and Orel Hershiser.
■ Mesa had a combined 101 saves from
1995-97, which was enough to give one of the
cover subjects of Cleveland’s all-time sports
misery the nod over the likes of Bob Wickman
(the Indians’ all-time saves leader) and Chris
Perez (who made two All-Star teams before he
lost it in 2013).
— Kevin Kleps
GREATEST GATEWAY MOMENTS
■ 1. April 4, 1994: Before a sellout
crowd of 41,459, the Tribe in extra
innings defeated the Seattle
Mariners in the first game at what
then was known as Jacobs Field.
The Indians won it in the 11th
when Eddie Murray doubled and
then scored on a two-out single
from Wayne Kirby. It was the first
of what would become many
dramatic finishes at the ballpark.
known as midges, the
Indians rallied to beat
the New York Yankees
2-1 in extra innings. The
bugs rattled Yankees
reliever Joba Chamberlain, who surrendered
the Yankees’ lead. A
Travis Hafner single in
the 11th drove in Kenny
Lofton for the victory.
■ 2. Oct. 3, 1995: In the first game
of the American League Division
Series against the Boston Red Sox,
Indians catcher Tony Pena
delivered Cleveland its first postseason victory since 1948 with a
dramatic 13th-inning home run.
■ 4. Oct. 5, 1997: With
two outs in the eighth
inning and Mariano
Rivera on the mound, it
seemed all but certain
the Indians would be eliminated
by the New York Yankees from the
1997 postseason. That is until
Sandy Alomar Jr. homered to tie
the game and save the Tribe from
■ 3. Oct. 5, 2007: Amid an
invasion of mosquito-like insects
GETTY IMAGES
postseason elimination.
■ 5. Aug. 5, 2001: The Indians
rallied to overcome a 12-run
deficit and defeat the Seattle
Mariners 15-14 in 11 innings. It
would tie a major-league
record and made the
Indians the first team in
76 years to overcome a
12-run deficit.
closers in baseball. All Eckersley
could say was “Wow.”
Honorable mention
■ July 8, 1997: Tribe catcher Sandy
Alomar hits a home run to help the
American League defeat the
National League 3-1 in the 68th
MLB All-Star game. Alomar was
named the most valuable player.
■ June 4, 1995: Tribe first
baseman Paul Sorrento
nails a two-out, two-run
home run to seal a threerun ninth inning, giving
the Indians a 9-8 victory
over the Toronto Blue
Jays. The Tribe trailed 8-0
in the third inning.
■ July 16, 1995: In walk-off
fashion, Tribe outfielder Manny
Ramirez hits a home run in the
12th against Dennis Eckersley of
the Oakland A’s — one of the best
■ Sept. 8, 1995: The Indians clinch
their first division title in 41 years.
■ Oct. 11, 1997: The Indians
secure a 2-1, 12th-inning win in
the third game of the American
League Championship Series
when Marquis Grissom steals
home after Omar Vizquel misses
a suicide squeeze bunt and
Baltimore catcher Lenny Webster
drops the ball. — Timothy Magaw
20140324-NEWS--17-NAT-CCI-CL_--
3/21/2014
1:35 PM
Page 1
20 YEARS OF GATEWAY
MARCH 24 - 30, 2014
CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS 17
New park helped Indians become hit on, off field
By KEVIN KLEPS
[email protected]
B
ob DiBiasio remembers
then-Major League Baseball
commissioner Fay Vincent
sitting in a golf cart at
Cleveland Stadium prior to the
Cleveland
Indians’
game against
the Toronto
Blue Jays on
May 2, 1990.
Vincent’s
message to
the Northeast Ohio media, six days before
Cuyahoga County voters were
asked to approve an excise tax on
alcohol and tobacco: If the referendum to fund the construction of the
Gateway stadium-arena complex
failed, Cleveland could lose its
baseball team.
“There was some seriousness to
all of that,” said DiBiasio, the Indians’ senior vice president of public
affairs and a 35-year employee of
the team.
The Indians had long grown tired
of playing at the cavernous stadium, where they were tenants of
Browns owner Art Modell.
They played before sparse
crowds, they annually had one of
baseball’s lowest payrolls, and losing was almost as constant as the
beat of John Adams’ drum.
“It just wasn’t ours,” former Indians general manager John Hart said
of Cleveland Stadium. “There was no
real charm or magic. No real history.”
Hart and Indians president Mark
Shapiro, who joined the Tribe in 1992
as an assistant in baseball operations,
said Dick Jacobs had no intentions of
taking his team elsewhere.
“He never once mentioned to me
in any conversation, ‘If this doesn’t
work, we’re moving,’ ” Hart said.
“He didn’t have to.”
The unspoken implication: Moving the team was a last resort to
which Jacobs never dreamed he
would go.
“When I first began working here,
there was some recency to that
threat (of the Indians leaving),”
Shapiro said. “But it was clear that
Dick Jacobs owned the team partly
out of a civic responsibility and a
civic goal to keep the Indians here. I
think that was the goal — that and to
develop a state-of-the-art ballpark.”
What if?
Jacobs, in addition to having
Cleveland pride, was a very astute
businessman.
Hart said no matter the result of
the sin tax vote in 1990, one thing
was clear: “I don’t think Dick
would’ve remained a tenant of Art
Modell and the Browns. He wasn’t
going to be No. 2 to a football club
in a football stadium.”
But would Jacobs have moved
the Indians if the tax hadn’t passed
by the slimmest of margins (1.2%)?
“I would venture to say that Dick
might have given it one more shot
(to get funding for a new ballpark in
Cleveland),” Hart said. “I don’t know
if he had the wheels in place. I had
several calls from several cities that
were feeling out if the Indians would
be willing to move. We were the
prime bait for some cities.”
At the time, a baseball franchise
hadn’t relocated since the Washington Senators left the nation’s capital
to become the Texas Rangers in
1972.
Minus the sin tax, would the Indians have joined the list?
“It would be almost impossible to
see the Indians playing in (Cleveland Stadium much longer than
1993),” Shapiro said. “It’s almost
impossible to foresee baseball remaining in Cleveland. Either the
team would be moving or there
would be a ballpark built somewhere else (in the city).”
Glory days
Jacobs’ worst fears were never
realized.
“The (sin tax) vote was very
close,” Hart said. “Dick was very
poised and very confident it was
going to go through. When it
passed, there was no celebration.”
The parties occurred later, after
the “perfect storm” struck.
Hart and the Indians’ minor
league development team — a department Shapiro directed from
1994 to ’98 — had the Tribe poised
for sustained success.
Seven regulars from the 1994 Indians’ lineup — Sandy Alomar Jr.
(28 at the time), Albert Belle (27),
Kenny Lofton (27), Omar Vizquel
(27), Carlos Baerga (25), Jim
Thome (23) and Manny Ramirez
(22) — were either in their primes
or hadn’t yet entered the primes of
their careers.
The new jewel of a ballpark —
which opened on April 4, 1994, in
a dramatic fashion (an 11th-inning
victory) that would become as anticipated as a smile from Vizquel
or a snarl from Belle — was a critical piece in a near-championship
puzzle.
“From a baseball perspective, it
was a gift,” Hart said of Jacobs
Field. “We were able to design all
of the things you wanted to appeal
to the players. It was sort of a perfect storm in a positive way.”
The Indians were also able to go
toe-to-toe with the big boys of Major League Baseball on a level at
which they hadn’t been able to approach in the past.
“It could be the most significant
move in franchise history, simply
because it provided us the economic foundation to compete at the
major-league level,” DiBiasio said.
The Indians’ average attendance
per game was 39,121 in the strikeshortened 1994 season. From 1995
to 2001, they sold out 455 consecutive games, then a big-league record,
and they drew more than 3 million
fans for six consecutive seasons.
The box-office jolt meant significantly more money was invested
in a roster that was loaded with
young talent.
The Tribe’s payroll jumped
from $18.56 million in 1993 to
$30.49 million in ’94, the first season at the Jake. The payroll increased $7.6 million to $38.1 million in 1995, when the Indians
celebrated their first postseason
berth in 41 years by advancing to
the World Series, and it got as high
as $93.36 million in 2001, the
Tribe’s second season under the
ownership of the Dolan family.
“That wasn’t us acting outside of
revenue,” Shapiro said. “That was
us spending revenue.”
■
Proud neighbors of the
best sandlot in America.
We’d like to thank the Cleveland Indians for
all of the memorable moments at Progressive
Field over the past twenty years. We are
looking forward to many more.
Ohio’s Health Insurance Choice Since 1934
MedMutual.com
20140324-NEWS--18-NAT-CCI-CL_--
3/21/2014
1:49 PM
Page 1
20 YEARS OF GATEWAY
MARCH 24 - 30, 2014
District set stage for development, not job boom
By STAN BULLARD
[email protected]
C
all it the Gateway getaway.
Chris and Sandy Haas
own a two-bedroom condo on the fifth floor of The
Pointe at Gateway, 750 Prospect
Ave., to make a weekend of it as
they take advantage of Indians
season tickets and Cavaliers and
Browns
suites.
“The arena is outside the
back door.
East Fourth
Street is
near the
front door,” Chris Haas said. “It’s
so much fun to be in the heart of
the action. Then it’s back to reality.” On Monday mornings, they
make their way home to a house
on the Avon Lake waterfront and
to All Pro Freight Systems Inc. in
Avon, where Chris Haas is CEO.
Before Gateway opened in 1994,
there were no condos for sports fanatics or even apartment rentals for
young professionals in the area
south of Euclid to the Innerbelt. The
area pre-Gateway was a hodgepodge of buildings from the Central
Market to legacy downtown stores
such as the now-closed Goldfish
Army Navy Store, hat stores, wig
stores, and shoe and clothes stores.
Hunter Morrison, director of the
Cleveland City Planning Commis-
sion during the first Gateway campaign in 1990, said, “That area from
the south side of Euclid Avenue had
not seen a nickel of investment
since the first World War.”
Today, a plethora of parking lots
Health Care and the
Business of Cancer Care
Issue Date
Ad Close
Materials Due
April 21
April 10
April 15
This is a look at the business of health care and cancer research
and treatment in Northeast Ohio. Cleveland is a home to
powerhouses in health care, and there are early-and second-stage
companies working on methods of treating cancer.
Don’t miss your chance to be in this thought-provoking and relevant issue.
Book your ad today!
Contact Nicole Mastrangelo at 216-771-5158 or [email protected].
and a handful of wart-like underutilized buildings still await their next
chapter, but the 20 years since Gateway opened have been followed by
$700 million in property development, according to Historic Gateway Neighborhood Corp., a local
development corporation serving
the sports complex’s neighborhood.
The list of commercial real estate developments in the Gateway
area is a long one. Central to the
area is Cleveland-based MRN
Inc.’s East Fourth Neighborhood,
which includes apartments,
restaurants and entertainment
spots that spill onto Euclid from
East Second to East Sixth streets.
Others include the Hyatt Regency
Cleveland at the Arcade, Radisson
Hotel Cleveland-Gateway, Hilton
Garden Inn, the Osborn and other
apartment buildings and a roster
of eateries and bars.
However, that is different from
what was pictured by Gateway
backers and city officials in the
Mike White administration during
the 1991 campaign for the sin tax
that funded much of the project’s
cost. The central refrain then:
Gateway would be a job creator.
City planners estimated it would
yield 17,000 jobs.
Morrison, now executive director
of the Northeast Ohio Sustainable
Communities Consortium nonprofit, said the jobs estimate was
based on the likely mix of office and
residential that could go into the
shadow of the sports complex.
“We were on track through the
construction of Key (Tower) to
build an average of half-a-million
square feet of office space (annually) for a couple years,” Morrison
said. “Things changed when Sohio
(now BP America) merged and
moved from town and Progressive
Corp. built in Mayfield Village in-
stead of coming downtown.”
When Ernst & Young Tower
opened a year ago, it was downtown’s first new multitenant office
building in 20 years.
Today, Ken Silliman, Mayor
Frank Jackson’s chief of staff and a
veteran of the White administration, points instead of jobs to the
resurgence of the district and the
creation of a neighborhood fabric
like Chicago’s Wrigley Field or
Boston’s Fenway Park.
Setting the table
What has happened is that the
Gateway neighborhood is a central
focus of redevelopment that plays
a key role connecting disparate
parts of downtown, from Cleveland State University and PlayhouseSquare to the Warehouse
District. It was reinvigorated with
restaurants, apartments and bars
that attract today’s hipsters as the
world’s cities compete for talent.
Gateway helped set the table for
rebuilding that part of downtown
in multiple ways.
For one, the Gateway corporation itself commissioned an awardwinning plan by Sasaki Associates
with suggestions for capitalizing on
the nearly $500 million investment
in the stadium complex. The plan
identified new routes for north and
south development at Gateway beyond Ontario and East Ninth
streets: today Clevelanders know
them as East Fourth Street between
the repurposed 1890s-commercial
buildings and what is now the 5th
Street Arcades.
The area also benefits from three
national historic districts that make
it easier for old buildings to win crucial state and federal tax credits for
adaptive reuse projects.
See DISTRICT Page 19
20140324-NEWS--19-NAT-CCI-CL_--
3/21/2014
1:34 PM
Page 1
20 YEARS OF GATEWAY
MARCH 24 - 30, 2014
District
Tom Yablonsky, vice president of
development for Downtown Cleveland Alliance and executive director
of the Historic Gateway and Historic
Warehouse District Development
Corp. nonprofits, said the project
demonstrates that, “If you design it
right, you’ll achieve spinoff and a
vibrant neighborhood.”
Real estate developers also had a
lot to work with, although in 1994 it
was hard to see behind upper-floor
windows caked with dust or walls
covered with aluminum to make century-old buildings look like 1950sand 1960s-era office buildings.
“Many of the buildings have intrinsic value; they date back to the
Gilded Age when Cleveland was a
wealthy city,” Yablonsky said. “The
captains of industry traveled
through Europe and wanted similar things here. That is how you get
something like the Old Arcade.”
Although its first-floor retail has
languished, in 2001 the glass-topped
building was updated in a $60 million project and redone as a Hyatt
Hotel.
The go-slow approach
Moreover, the area’s redevelopment was incremental; much of it
led by local real estate developers
or property owners.
Ari Maron, spokesman for familyowned MRN, which produced East
Fourth Neighborhood, remembers
the first time his father, Rick Maron
brought his family downtown to
look at the Buckeye Building, a
building fronting on Prospect with a
2082 East Fourth address.
It was 1996, and Ari Maron, a precocious Shaker Heights High School
junior, said, “‘Dad, why did you buy
this?’ He pointed at where construction workers were building the ballpark and arena and said, ‘It’s going
to change the whole area.’”
Initially, Rick Maron planned to
do one building. After renovating the
second — the Windsor Block, at 322
Euclid — as apartments, Ari Maron
said his father expected a national
developer to do the rest of the street.
Instead, MRN wound up doing most
of it.
Critics of stadium and arena-area
economic development strategies
often say there is no proof that hotel,
retail or office developers put in
their projects because of the sports
facilities.
However, ask real estate developers in addition to MRN why they
located projects near Gateway and
they speak with one voice.
Landmark RE Management, the
Cleveland-based real estate development firm that helped establish the
Warehouse District as a residential
area, also led the redevelopment of
the one-time Colonial Hotel and Euclid and Colonial Arcades into Colonial Marketplace in a joint venture
with hotelier Amitel Inc., and the
building owner, the Marcus family.
John Carney, a Landmark principal, said, “Interest of the group (in
the original development) was high
because the Indians and Cavs were
basically across the street.” Thanks
to its Residence Inn, Colonial Marketplace just sold for almost $16 million. Today, Landmark is partners in
a plan to repurpose the empty May
Co. store’s upper floors to apartments, but Carney said the project is
designed to meet housing demand.
Thank goodness it’s not 1984
Fast forward to now, as Streetsboro-based Geis Cos. recasts the
former Ameritrust Complex at East
Ninth and Euclid as The 9 in a
mixed-use project with apartments,
a hotel, supermarket, restaurants
and a $200 million price tag.
Fred Geis, who partners with his
brother Greg Geis in The 9, said, “I
do remember the old area. Gateway is a very important part of
everything we are doing today. If
(East Ninth) looked the way it did
in 1984, there’s no way in heck we
would do this.”
Several elements also went in
Gateway’s favor.
The Greater Cleveland Regional
Transit Authority won federal
funds to remake Euclid as a bustransit corridor that spurred added
investment. Horseshoe Casino
Cleveland added another attraction. Yablonsky notes that Gateway
came along just as government,
civic and real estate developers
learned the tools, from state and
federal tax credits to alternative
building codes to redo buildings.
That set the table for Sandy
Haas, who had suggested to her
husband that they buy a condo after a hard-hat tour as the Higbee
Building was being converted to
the casino in 2011.
“I thought, it would be so cool to
have a place down here,” she said.
“Now we go to (Hilarities) all the
time after games. We wouldn’t do
that if we were driving in for a
game.”
■
We’re excited to announce Nesco Resource won Inavero’s 2014
Best of Staffing® Award for providing exceptional service to our
clients and talent. Fewer than 2% of all staffing agencies earn this
award — a proud testament to our quality driven processes.
www.nescoresource.com
MORE PERSPECTIVE ON GATEWAY’S IMPACT
■ Jerry Schmelzer began running
an elevator at the Finance Building,
750 Prospect
Ave., at age 10
when his father
bought the office
building. He recalls it as a busy
shopping area
serving working
people. Over
time, upper floors of the buildings
emptied. By the 1970s, people no
longer felt safe walking after dark.
Then came Gateway.
“It has had a tremendous impact,”
said Schmelzer, 76. “If there were no
Gateway, I don’t think it would have
developed the way it has. Before
Gateway, this was all bars, wig
shops, loan shops and sports shoe
stores. The buzz started as soon as
the (sin) tax passed.”
Mr. Schmelzer ran a public relations/ad agency in the building until
phasing it out in the mid-1990s.
That’s when he oversaw the redo of
the building and three adjoining structures into Pointe at Gateway, a $12
million retail/residential complex.
■ When Mike Rubin bought
Prospect Music in 1982, it had been
in the same
place since
1941. Now at
818 Huron Road,
it is in its third
home since Gateway went up after exiting others
as the buildings
became upscale lofts.
“My experience is that landlords
keep telling you that they want you,
until they don’t,” Rubin said.
“There are not nearly the jobs in
the area that used to be here,” he
said, adding that he considers benefits from higher visibility “infinitesimal.” He remained there due to
“force of habit” and downtown having
less competition than suburbs oversaturated with music stores.
A plus, he noted, is the area has
gained a new sense of community.
Traveling rock stars still stop by, he
said, but most working musicians
can’t afford to live downtown.
■ Andy Wohlgang’s face and
Read’s Jewelers store are familiar to
late-night local TV
viewers. He aggressively advertises the business
dating to 1930
that he has
owned since
1971.
“I’m in a business that, no matter what, people
come to me when they need my services,” he said of the jewelry store,
which also operates a gold and diamond-limited pawn shop.
He’s now at 740 Prospect Ave. His
old location, at 211 Prospect, was
razed to create the parking lot and
entrance to the garage serving East
Fourth Street’s apartments, restaurants and the House of Blues.
Wohlgang considers Gateway a big
plus. “Downtown has improved (since
Gateway), no question about it,” he
said. “East Fourth is an improvement.”
■ Maria Toptsidis
runs her late
mom’s Helen’s Tailor Shop and dry
cleaners, 2121 E.
Second St., as part
of her North Olmsted-based Unique
Dry Cleaners, but
she says she might pull the plug on it
if sales do not improve.
Toptsidis’s mother, Helen Hatzigeorgiou, bought the shop in 1972, renamed it after herself and ran it until
she died in 2012.
Toptsidis feels that Gateway has
not been good for small businesses.
She had operated her own store, Top
Tailor Shop, on East Ninth Street
near the ballpark for six years until
1991, when sidewalk and street closings for Gateway construction
starved her out.
She reopened in North Olmsted,
but her mom held on. That store took
another kick from construction of the
parking garage for Horseshoe Casino
Cleveland; sales still suffer. That is
why 2014 may be its last year.
“The rich benefit and the other
ones who survive stay in business,”
Toptsidis said. But she takes the big
view: “We needed Jacobs Field. It
was good for our city, so we can be
up there with other cities.”
■ Adrian Lindsay is operations
manager at Stonetown, a soul foodfusion restaurant
that has been at
627 Prospect
Ave. for a year.
Owned by a
Cleveland-based
group with four
other locations in
the region, Stonetown went in near Gateway because it
got an attractive rent at the location
from building owner K&D Group and
wanted to be part of the downtown’s
expanding business environment.
“This is an event-oriented location,”
Lindsay said. “It’s kind of a challenge.
Winter is tough but summer and
spring are great.”
Games at Gateway account for a
lot of its business, he said; he boosts
staffing 20% if the Cavs are playing
Miami or another contender. The ballpark provides less bounce.
A Warrensville Heights native, Lindsay remembers the neighborhood prior to the sports complex. “This area
would be a mess without Gateway,”
he said.
— Stan Bullard
WHERE ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
MEETS THE REAL WORLD
All of our core classes begin with a real-world business challenge posed
directly from Northeast Ohio-based companies, large and small.
And unlike other MBAs, our integrated track courses are team taught by
expert faculty. We combine several business disciplines into each class
to empower you to quickly assess real-world business problems and
implement the best solutions.
www.talentalley.com
Nesco Resource is the largest national
staffing firm headquartered in North East Ohio.
Contact us today to see how we can
help you improve your staffing experience.
Learn more and apply: go.jcu.edu/mba
20140324-NEWS--20-NAT-CCI-CL_--
3/21/2014
1:54 PM
Page 1
20 YEARS OF GATEWAY
MARCH 24 - 30, 2014
Jacobs Field was model many others followed
By JAY MILLER
[email protected]
TAXING ISSUE SOON WILL HIT BALLOT
E
very major league sports
palace in the country is
one-of-a-kind. All have
been custom made for
their sports teams and their communities.
Yet in the recent history of baseball stadium building, Jacobs Field,
now Progressive
Field,
stands out
as breaking
new ground
for its siting, its design and
the creative way it was financed.
“Almost every new sports facility
project looks to Camden Yards or
Gateway (in Cleveland) as a model
for how such a project should proceed,” wrote the Journal of the
American Planning Association in
2004. “Recently opened stadiums
in Detroit and Seattle, and new
arenas in Washington, D.C., and
Indianapolis, utilized Camden
Yards and Gateway as models, influencing their design, site choice,
and the inclusion of a variety of
uses within the facility.”
They were called “retro” stadiums, and it was the design of
choice for nearly two decades, culminating in the new Yankee Stadium that opened in New York in
2009.
They were very much unlike the
“superstadiums” built in the 1970s
and 1980s. There, fans watched
games in sunk-into-concrete
bowls and surrounded by acres of
parking miles from downtown.
Some even were domed stadiums.
By contrast, retro parks were designed of brick and steel to blend
into the late 19th or early 20th century buildings that were their
neighbors in older urban areas.
Beginning with Oriole Park at
Camden Yards in Baltimore in
1992, and with Jacobs Field two
years later, the retro parks often
were irregularly shaped to fit onto
the existing street grid and were
left open to the urban skyline beyond the stadiums’ walls.
“You wanted those buildings to
be in city grids” downtown, said
Thomas Chema, who served as
Gateway Economic Development
Corp.’s executive director from
1990 to 1995. “(Gateway) jumpstarted a whole set of positive
things for the community, including the Great Lakes Science Center
and the development of the Historic Gateway Neighborhood.” The
science center opened in 1996,
while the Gateway neighborhood
The question Cuyahoga County
voters will be asked on May 6 is not
whether they want to continue paying
a so-called sin tax on their vices —
smoking and drinking — for another
20 years.
Nor are they being asked to vote
to stop spending for the upkeep of
Progressive Field, Quicken Loans
Arena and FirstEnergy Stadium and
turn that financial responsibility over
the sports teams that use those
sports facilities.
They are being asked only if they
want to continue paying a special
Cuyahoga County add-on to what the
state calls excise taxes on alcoholic
beverages and cigarettes.
And they may be asked this question a time or two more if civic leaders don’t get the answer they want
this first time.
If a majority of Cuyahoga County
voters say yes on May 6, the total excise taxes they will pay will remain
where they are — at 34 cents on a
gallon of beer, between 64 cents
and $1.82 per gallon of wine or
mixed beverages, depending on the
percentage of alcohol, and $1.70
cents on each pack of cigarettes.
That will continue to give Cuyahoga County and the city of Cleveland a dedicated revenue stream to
pay for the upkeep of the buildings
used by the Cleveland Indians for
baseball, the Cleveland Cavaliers for
basketball and the Cleveland Browns
for football.
If they say no, people who buy
those products in Cuyahoga County
will still pay tax on them, just not the
county’s add-on portion, the state tax
on those products will remain. So, instead of paying 34 cents per gallon,
Cuyahoga County beer drinkers will
only pay the Ohio rate, or 18 cents a
gallon. The state tax on wine will remain at between 32 cents and $1.50
a gallon, depending on the alcohol
content and cigarettes will be taxed
at $1.25 a pack. — Jay Miller
has become a trendy place to live
and dine out.
Chema, who is retiring in June
after serving 11 years as president
of Hiram College, spent his time
between Gateway and the Portage
County college as a consultant on
stadium and arena building. He
spread his knowledge of the Gateway experience to projects in more
than 30 other communities, including Petco Park in San Diego,
Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati
and Canal Park in Akron, home of
the Cleveland Indians’ AA affiliate,
the Akron RubberDucks.
Though the retro concept eventually would lose its freshness,
more than a dozen followed Baltimore and Cleveland, according to
“Big League Parks: The Complete
Illustrated History,” a 512-page
paean to ball fields published in
2009.
Among the followers were Comerica Park in Detroit, Coors Field in
Denver and Pacific Bell (now
AT&T) Park in San Francisco. All
mimicked Jacobs Field, especially
its ornate steel light towers. Perhaps not surprisingly, all five stadiums, including Jacobs Field, were
designed by HOK Sport, now Populous, a Kansas City, Mo.-based division of Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum.
Gateway’s financing also was pioneering. For decades before Gateway, stadiums were financed 100%
with public tax money.
Its financing, though, was cobbled together out of a mix of public
tax money, revenue from the advance purchase of luxury seating,
property loans and even a $22 million contribution from Cleveland
Tomorrow, a corporate roundtable
that has since been absorbed by the
Greater Cleveland Partnership.
“(Jacobs Field) set the tone for
(the financing of) everything that
came after it, from Coors Field to
the San Francisco Giants building,”
Chema said. “All the baseball parks,
but also all the arenas.”
What has not been duplicated,
though others have tried, is the
pairing of a stadium and an arena
in a downtown setting, Chema said.
He said several cities, including Baltimore and Denver would site stadiums or arenas near existing downtown retro ball parks, but none has
done them in tandem.
“This was the largest public-private partnership ever in Northeast
Ohio,” Chema said with some
pride. “And nobody in the country
has done a ball park and an arena
together.”
■
HGR ...
MORE ONLINE
Industrial Surplus is what we do.
• Used Material
Handling Equipment
• Machine Tools,
Surplus & MRO Items
We Buy & Sell
EVERYTHING!
www.hgrinc.com/whatwedo
HGR Industrial Surplus, 20001 Euclid Ave. Euclid (216) 200-4110
■ A look at some
of the key
players in the
development of
Gateway, such
as Tom Chema
(right).
■ Some of the
early plans for new sports facilities
in Cleveland included a dream of a
domed stadium that could one day
host the Super Bowl.
■ More on the sin tax, including why
opponents such as ad man and
restaurateur Alan Glazen feel “we
stoop to our lowest ethical levels by
making a minority pay for something
enjoyed mostly by the majority.”
Read the stories at:
crainscleveland.com/gateway
20140324-NEWS--21-NAT-CCI-CL_--
3/21/2014
1:54 PM
Page 1
20 YEARS OF GATEWAY
MARCH 24 - 30, 2014
New facility has helped to create many new memories
By TIMOTHY MAGAW
[email protected]
seen that were new pretty much
looked like flying saucers that landed and then they put seats in them.
But I fell in love with (Jacobs Field)
immediately. It was a ballpark.”
G
reg Van Niel has witnessed his fair share of
memorable moments at
Progressive Field. The
perennial season-ticket holder
was there for the electrifying home
opener in 1994 and two World Series berths.
Also, last
year, he
caught four
foul balls
during a
single game
—a
serendipitous occasion that even landed
him on “SportsCenter.”
But the memory he holds particularly close to his heart? Last
year, when he took his 11-year-old
daughter, Ella, to the team’s first
postseason appearance since
2007, when the Tribe faced the
Tampa Bay Rays in a one-game
playoff for the American League
wild card. The Tribe fell short, but
for Van Niel, being able to bask in
the energy of a sold-out ballpark
with his young daughter by his
side was something to behold.
“It was my daughter’s first playoff game, and she was overwhelmed,” said Van Niel. “It was
so loud she had to stick her fingers
in her ears. I told her that there
was nothing like playoff baseball.”
Fans like Van Niel insist it’s
memories like these — not the
hulking steel beams that form the
ballpark’s shell, the bobblehead
promotions or dollar dog nights —
that make Progressive Field such a
special place in the city. When it
opened in 1994 as Jacobs Field,
the park marked a new era for the
Tribe. Sure, the physical facility
Enduring memories
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Maryhelen Zabas was a regular at
Jacobs Field during the 1990s.
MORE ONLINE
■ Check out a photo gallery of fans
enjoying some memorable moments
at Cleveland Indians games:
CrainsCleveland.com/Gateway
was impressive, but the renewed
hope and energy for a franchise
that hadn’t won a championship
since 1948 was the real story.
Maryhelen Zabas remembers
Opening Day in 1994. Zabas — the
iconic, cookie-peddling nun then
known Sister Mary Assumpta —
often was spotted in the stands
during the Indians’ impressive run
in the mid- to late-1990s. She has
since left her religious order to
pursue a ministry with the dying
in Oregon, but she still fondly remembers the excitement surrounding the ambitious Gateway
project.
“It was crazy wild,” Zabas said
about the ballpark’s opening in
1994. “Everybody was so excited,
but I have to tell you, I didn’t want
a new ballpark. All the ones I had
SWEET SUITES!
Traci Christler is a self-described boomerang kid. She grew
up in Cleveland, but she went to
school elsewhere and spent more
than a decade in Indianapolis.
Now, the 42-year-old nonprofit
professional is back in Cleveland
and is an Indians season-ticket
holder with her father, Gary.
When she was younger, her dad
would take her to games at the old
Cleveland Stadium, and one of her
favorite memories was running up
and down the stairs of the often
empty stadium to find the perfect
seat. Her dad taught her to keep
score, and she grilled him about
how John Adams — the Tribe diehard who has banged on a 26-inch
bass drum in the outfield for
decades — got the “best job on the
planet.”
The Tribe’s move to Jacobs
Field altered the game-day experience from those early days at
Cleveland Stadium — all for the
better, Christler said. Adams, of
course, was still pounding away in
the outfield, but the digs were
nicer and the teams were better.
The memories with her dad? Just
as good.
“We had this shiny new toy to
play with,” Christler said in an interview shortly before catching a
flight to see the Indians in Arizona
at spring training. “At Municipal,
everything was falling apart. You
would get splinters from the
chairs. At Jacobs Field, everything
was bright and shiny, and then all
of a sudden we had these amazing
Tribe teams that were winning.”
Indians fans, particularly those
entrenched in the glory of the
mid-to-late 1990s, still have a hard
time calling the ballpark by its
newish name, Progressive Field.
For the most part, it’s still The
Jake. Shortly after the name
change, CLE Clothing Co. — a local clothier now with a retail shop
on East Fourth Street — started
selling shirts that said, “It’s still
The Jake to me.”
“During this time, the Tribe had
fallen from the good teams from
the ’90s and all the good times had
at The Jake,” said Mike Kubinski,
the company’s founder, owner
and designer. “We did the design
for the nostalgia of the name and
the memories.”
The beat lives on
Adams and his bass drum are as
permanent fixtures at Progressive
Field as the 19-foot-tall “Little
Green Monster” in left field or the
Bob Feller statue outside Gate C.
Adams has kept the pulse at Tribe
games for more than 40 years —
20 of which were at Progressive
Field.
Adams characterizes his seats
atop the left-field bleachers as his
“escape” or “fantasy island.” Loyal? Absolutely. Crazy? Maybe a bit.
Adams is one of a horde of recognizable Tribe fans who’ve attended seemingly hundreds of
games over the years. Just for
starters, there’s Jim Stamper and
his large sign depicting Chief Wahoo flexing his large biceps and
Tom “the Hat Man” O’Toole, a
regular season ticketholder who
would change hats every inning.
“Being a Cleveland Indians fan,
there is no cure,” Adams said. “But
there is group therapy. It’s called
going to a game.”
■
CRAIN’S SPORTS SERIES:
THE BUSINESS
OF BASEBALL
In conjunction with Crain’s “Twenty
Years of Gateway” section, an April
16 breakfast at The Collection Auto
Club at Progressive Field will give a
behind-the-scenes look at the business of Indians baseball.
It also is an opportunity to
experience a day in the life of a
major-league sportswriter.
Attendees will have access to the
press box and press dining room —
as well as the chance to participate
in a Q&A session with the Indians’
top leadership.
The speakers and topics will be:
■ Mark
Shapiro,
president,
Cleveland
Indians (right):
“Small market,
big competitor:
The Business
of Indians
Baseball”
■ Bob DiBiasio, senior vice
president public affairs, Cleveland
Indians: “Memories and magic:
Celebrating 20 years of baseball
at Gateway”
■ Brian Barren, executive vice
president, sales and marketing,
Cleveland Indians: “Marketing a
major-league ballclub in 2014”
Limited space is available for the
event, which will run from 7 to 9:30
a.m. For information or for tickets,
contact Kim Hill at 216-771-5182
or [email protected], or go to
CrainsCleveland.com/Indians.
Tickets must be purchased in
advance.
When morale is high,
everybody gets to ride.
Thrills bring every group together.
Professional Baseball in a Budget Friendly Environment
Experience the thrill of our two new rides,
Pipe Scream and Lake Erie Eagles. The
excitement of the water rides. And not to
mention the hot dogs. With something for
everyone to enjoy, take your next group
outing to the Best Amusement Park in the
World and experience thrills they’ll never
forget. Learn more at cedarpoint.com/
group-sales/corporate-programs, or call
1-800-448-2428.
Opens May 10
LAKE ERIE CRUSHERS BASEBALL
Avon, OH
Call: 440.934.3636 for details
www.LakeErieCrushers.com
20140324-NEWS--22-NAT-CCI-CL_--
22
3/21/2014
1:35 PM
Page 1
MARCH 24 - 30, 2014
EMPLOYEE BENEFIT SERVICES FIRMS
RANKED BY NUMBER OF AREA PROFESSIONALS(1)
Name of firm
Address
Rank Phone/Website
Professional
employees
2014
2013
Total
employees
in NE Ohio
Clients in NE
Ohio (%)
Firm compensation
Services
Top local executive
Title
1
Towers Watson
1001 Lakeside Ave., Suite 1900, Cleveland 44114
(216) 937-4000/www.towerswatson.com
131
114
160
NA
NA
Benefits, talent management, rewards and risk and
capital management
Mike J. Turk
managing consultant
2
Mercer
200 Public Square, Suite 900, Cleveland 44114
(216) 830-8000/www.mercer.com
110
93
110
NA
By project,
commissions, fixed
fees, hourly rates
Retirement and risk management, health and welfare
benefits, investment consulting and management, work
force communication and change
Scott Kiper
Larry Scherer
principals
3
Oswald Cos.
1100 Superior Ave., Cleveland 44114
(216) 367-8787/www.oswaldcompanies.com
100
93
243
80
Fees, commissions
Employee benefits strategic consulting, group benefits
brokerage, integrated health and wellness management,
retirement plan consulting
Robert J. Klonk
CEO
4
Selman & Co.
6110 Parkland Blvd., Cleveland 44124
(440) 646-9336/www.selmanco.com
78
70
83
5
Commissions and
fees
Administration of life and health insurance programs for
banks, credit unions, affinity groups and insurance
company partners
David L. Selman
president, CEO
5
Findley Davies Inc.
1300 E. Ninth St., Suite 850, Cleveland 44114
(216) 875-1900/www.findleydavies.com
68
64
83
64
Fee-for-service
based on hourly
rates
Health and group benefits, retirement consulting,
actuarial services, defined contribution plan
recordkeeping, defined benefit plan administration
Rob Rogers
principal, chairman
6
Gallagher Benefit Services Inc.
1100 Superior Ave. Suite 1700, Cleveland 44114
(216) 623-2600/www.gallagherbenefits.com
58
50
62
90
Fees and
commissions
Brokerage and consulting in health and welfare,
retirement, wellness, human resources, health care
analytics, benefits compliance
Mark F. Alder
area president
7
Alpha Group Agency Inc.
4200 Rockside Road, Independence 44131
(216) 520-3300/www.thealphaga.com
53
51
77
90
NA
Medical, HSA/HRA, dental, disability, life, wellness,
401(k), voluntary benefits,deferred comp, executive
benefits, Claims Advocacy, COBRA administration
Kevin Mackay, John Wain, Jim
Schade, Adrienne Vichill, Brian
Spear, principals
8
Tegrit Group (Summit Retirement)
13680 Cleveland Ave., Uniontown 44685
(330) 644-2044/www.tegritgroup.com
51
37
61
80
Fixed fees, project,
hourly rates
Actuarial, administration, compliance, consulting, plan
design, government filings, benefits outsourcing
Michael M. Spickard
CEO, chief actuary
9
The Fedeli Group
5005 Rockside Road, Fifth Floor, Independence 44131
(216) 328-8080/www.thefedeligroup.com
50
40
125
80
By consulting
services,
commissions, fixed
fees
Employee benefit plan design including consulting,
compliance, wellness, self funding and data analytics,
voluntary and executive benefits, group purchasing
Umberto P. Fedeli
president, CEO
10
Dawson Consulting Group, an AssuredPartners Co.
1340 Depot St., Rocky River 44116
(440) 333-9000/www.dawsoncompanies.com
45
26
65
75
Commissions, fixed
fees
Industry-specific solutions that enable business owners to James F. Harmon
attract and retain employees, while growing their
president, employee benefits
business
11
CBiz Inc.
6050 Oak Tree Blvd. South, Suite 500, Cleveland 44131
(216) 447-9000/www.cbiz.com
40
42
171
100
NA
Group health benefits consulting and administration,
retirement plan solutions, payroll, COBRA, flex, property
and casualty, life insurance and HR consulting
Michael P. Kouzelos
SVP, strategic initiatives,
COO, employee services
12
CPI-HR
6830 Cochran Road, Solon 44139
(440) 542-7800 /http://cpihr.com
37
36
85
80
Consulting fees and
commissions
Health care reform navigation including pay or play
analyzer tools, benefit and payroll/HR administration and
HR assist services for HR departments
Jim Hopkins
CEO
CALL THE EXPERTS FOR YOUR EMPLOYEE BENEFIT AUDIT
Contact Chris Villari + [email protected] + 216.363.0100
13
Employee Benefits International
4700 Rockside Road, Summit One, Suite 505,
Independence 44131
(216) 264-2707/www.employeebenefitsint.com
29
24
29
70
Fees and
commissions
Health care consulting, corporate wellness, 401k and
Dustin, president
retirement planning, worksite marketing and property and Jim
Brian Hirsch, COO
casulty
14
Huntington Insurance Inc.
200 Public Square, Cleveland 44114
(888) 576-7900/www.huntington.com
28
32
65
35
Commissions and
fees
Consulting and strategic planning in: population risk
Craig Mottice
management, on-site clinics, data analytics and predictive exec. vice president,
modeling, results-based wellness and health care reform managing director, Northeast Ohio
15
Aon Hewitt
5005 Rockside Road, Suite 1000, Independence 44131
(216) 573-9700/www.aonhewitt.com
26
26
60
NA
NA
Empowers organizations and individuals to secure a
better future through innovative talent, retirement and
health solutions
Ryan Black
partner, market leader, Cleveland/
Pittsburgh
16
Trinity Pension Consultants
202 Montrose West Ave., Suite 290, Copley 44321
(330) 668-3747/www.trinitypension.com
24
19
28
85
Retainer, fixed fees,
by project
Actuarial consulting, administration, plan design, plan
documents
Anthony J. Warren, Kevin A.
Bergdorf, principals; Adam E.
Warren, vp, finance and operations
16
Vantage Financial Group Inc.
6200 Rockside Road, Cleveland 44131
(216) 642-7878/www.vanfin.com
24
22
69
95
Commissions and
fees
Design and implementation of employee benefit
programs: health, dental, disability, life insurance,
worksite marketing, flexible benefit administration,
qualified retirement plan administration
William McCormick
president, CEO
18
Chapman & Chapman Inc.
2307 E. Aurora Road, Suite B13, Twinsburg
44087-1952
(440) 287-7600 /www.chapmanandchapman.com
22
20
29
93
Commissions, fees
Employee benefits strategic consulting, benefits
brokerage including voluntary and worksite, retirement
plan consulting, executive benefits
Walter K. Chapman
CEO
19
Buck Consultants, A Xerox Company
925 Euclid Ave., 18th floor, Cleveland 44115
(216) 861-9099/www.buckconsultants.com
21
21
23
75
By project,
commissions, fixed
fees, hourly rates
Health and productivity, retirement, communications,
compensation, benefit audits, benefit outsourcing
John D. Cree
principal,
market leader
20
DS Benefits Group(2)
3555 Reserve Commons Drive, Medina 44256
(330) 725-0501/dsbenefitsgroup.com
20
20
22
97
Fixed fees and
commissions
Innovative, customized insurance brokerage services,
including government regulations and compliance,
strategic planning, benefit design and financial analysis
Dino Sciulli
president
21
National Associates Inc.
20325 Center Ridge Road, Cleveland 44116
(440) 333-0222/www.nainc.net
17
17
19
90
Fixed fees, hourly
rates, retainer,
project
Actuarial, administration, testing, plan design and
consulting services for retirement plans; compliance,
government filings, employee communication
Gerrit C. Kuechle
president
22
Britton Gallagher
1375 E. Ninth St., Cleveland 44114
(216) 658-7100 /www.brittongallagher.com
15
16
80
90
Commissions and
fees
Strategic benefits plan; health care insurance (medical,
dental and life), health reform compliance, wellness
programs and employee incentive programs
PJ Insana, executive vice president;
Dennis Laughlin, president, CEO
22
Hylant
6000 Freedom Square Drive, Suite 400, Cleveland
44131
(216) 447-1050/www.hylant.com
15
9
60
90
Commission or fee
Full-service employee benefit brokerage and consulting
services
Scott Dillabaugh
president, Hylant Cleveland
24
Todd Associates Inc.
23825 Commerce Park, Suite A, Cleveland 44122
(440) 461-1101/www.toddassociates.com
14
9
52
80
Commission, fixed
fee, project based
Health insurance, disability insurance, dental insurance,
vision insurance, life insurance, executive compensation
and benefits, section 125 plans
Edward J. Hyland Jr., president;
Randy Cumley, Tim Fitzpatrick,
executive vice presidents
25
Noble-Davis Consulting Inc.
30275 Bainbridge Road, Building B, Solon 44139
(440) 498-8408/www.noblepension.com
12
18
19
80
Fixed fees plus
hourly rates for
special projects
Open architecture platforms which allow us to work with
any financial adviser. Balance forward accounting,
compliance only services, daily valuation
Jan L. Davis, Pamela S. Noble, Karin
D. French, partners
25
Willis
1001 Lakeside Ave., Suite 1600, Cleveland 44114
(216) 861-9100/www.willis.com
12
13
30
85
Fees and
commissions
Full-service firm; consulting, program design and
administration, all lines of product placement, audit
services
Casey Petersen
CEO
Source: Information is supplied by the companies unless footnoted. Crain's Cleveland Business does not independently verify the information and there is no guarantee these
listings are complete or accurate. We welcome all responses to our lists and will include omitted information or clarifications in coming issues. (1) Formerly Dorman Sciulli
Advisors. (2) Formerly Dorman Sciulli Advisors.
RESEARCHED BY Deborah W. Hillyer
20140324-NEWS--23-NAT-CCI-CL_--
3/21/2014
4:05 PM
Page 1
MARCH 24 - 30, 2014
Bitcoin
It’s the coffee shop’s loss if Bitcoin
(the concept gets a capital letter, the
currency doesn’t) plummets in value
and turns out to be a total fad.
Many people say it will. Among
them are former Federal Reserve
chairman Alan Greenspan and New
York Times economics columnist
Paul Krugman.
Revy agrees more with some of the
people who’ve made big Bitcoin
bets. People such as Marc Andreessen, who helped create
Netscape, the first popular web
browser, and the Winklevoss twins,
who won a big stake in Facebook after suing founder Mark Zuckerberg
for supposedly stealing their idea.
Bitcoin backers cite a variety of
advantages that could help the digital currency become popular with
people other than tech enthusiasts
and hardcore Libertarians who
would rather use money that isn’t
controlled by the government.
One of the main selling points is
that merchants that accept bitcoin
don’t need to pay fees associated
with credit cards.
As for Revy, the former financial
planner said he long has been interested in alternative currencies. He
mainly wanted to be able to offer his
customers another way to pay.
“Maybe we’re way ahead of the
curve. Or maybe not. Maybe … we’re
right at the brink of something that
could be a new way, or at the very
least another way of conducting
commerce,” said Revy, who started
the coffee shop at 17823 Detroit Ave.
with Bryan Davis last October.
Perhaps, though as of last
Wednesday, March 19, only three
coffeeproper customers actually had
paid with bitcoin.
Not a groundswell yet
Another of those three customers
is Nikhil Chand, a newly minted Bitcoin consultant who recently helped
The Wine Spot set up its point-ofsale system so that the beer and wine
merchant at 2271 Lee Road could
start accepting the digital currency.
Now Chand and Wine Spot coowner Adam Fleischer are talking to
other businesses in the Lee Road
area in an attempt to create a destination for people who want to spend
bitcoin in Northeast Ohio. Some of
those businesses are exploring the
idea, according to Fleischer.
To Fleischer, the decision to accept bitcoin “was a no-brainer” once
he figured out how to do it. With
Chand’s guidance, The Wine Spot
downloaded a piece of software
called BitPay onto an iPod Touch
that it already owned, connected the
software with the store’s point-ofsale system and trained Wine Spot
employees on how to enter bitcoin
payments into the system.
As a result, the Cleveland Bitcoin
group, which was formed last summer on Meetup.com, held one of its
regular meetings at The Wine Spot in
early March.
The store also has attracted a few
dozen other bitcoin customers, some
from beyond Cleveland Heights. It
helped that both the Sun News and the
Heights Observer wrote about the Wine
Spot’s decision to accept bitcoin.
“They’re coming to us just because we’re accepting bitcoin,”
Fleischer said.
Coinmap.org lists about 1,500
companies that accept bitcoin in the
United States; only 10 are in Northeast Ohio. Some of them, such as
Chand’s CoinNEO consultancy, are
run by a single person.
Nationwide, the biggest retailer that
accepts bitcoin is probably Overstock.com. Electric car maker Tesla
BUYING WITH BITCOIN PROVES DIFFICULT
If you own an iPhone and want to
buy something with bitcoin, be
warned: It isn’t easy.
I eventually succeeded in buying
one $3 cup of coffee with bitcoin,
but it took a while. First, I had to get
my hands on some bitcoin. Nikhil
Chand, a local Bitcoin consultant,
told me to open an account on Coinbase.com, a well-known site in the
world of digital currency.
So I did. Then, with nothing but my
email address, Nikhil generously sent
me .0078 bitcoin (which was worth
$5 at the time). I could have bought
bitcoin myself through Coinbase, if I
had given the website my bank account number (I’m not ready for that).
The next day I visited coffeeproper, a coffee shop at 17823 Detroit
Ave. in Lakewood. When I went to
buy a coffee, co-owner Frank Revy
pushed some buttons on his iPad
mini and presented me with a QR, or
quick response, code, which is like a
bar code for smart phones.
An Android user would be able to
download a Bitcoin app capable of
scanning that code and sending the
money straight to coffeeproper. But
Apple recently banned all apps that
Motors does, too, as does Richard
Branson’s spaceflight startup, Virgin
Galactic, which just sold two tickets
for a suborbital flight to the Winklevoss twins. PayPal is thinking
about accepting bitcoin as well.
The local companies on Coinmap.org include David’s Grill and Bar
in downtown Cleveland, Underhill’s
Games, which is a board game store
in Cuyahoga Falls, and Aspire Auctions, a Cleveland company that sells
art, jewelry and other goods online.
True believers
The computer services company
in Euclid that Virgin Galactic operates in his free time is listed on the
website as well, but the main way he
makes money off bitcoin is by trading it. As of March 12, Emick said, he
had earned about $5,000 by buying
and selling bitcoin, mostly by connecting with people on a website
called LocalBitcoins.com.
Emick said he thinks Bitcoin has
a future as a currency. That’s why
he ended up convincing a coffee
shop in his neighborhood, Lake
Shore Coffee House, to accept it.
A lot of people who buy bitcoin
from Emick want to use it for gambling online, which is legal in some
states. Today, it’s tough to use cred-
actually let people spend bitcoin, citing vague legal reasons for the move.
Anyway, I do have a regular QR
code reader on my iPhone, so I held
my phone up to the iPad mini and
scanned the purchase code, which
produced a giant string of letters and
numbers that work like a digital address. I copied the characters into
my account on Coinbase so that my
bitcoin would know how to get to coffeeproper and then hit the “send
money” button. But it didn’t work.
Not sure why. Revy’s theory is that
the purchase code was an older one
from a previous transaction.
The next day, after conducting a few
Internet searches about how to make
a bitcoin purchase using an iPhone, I
tried again. This time I entered my
Coinbase account information directly
on the iPad mini at coffeeproper. And
it worked! I spent .004917 bitcoin, and
received a cup of coffee.
But there was still one complication: Though the iPad mini at coffeeproper wasn’t set up to remember my
password, it also didn’t automatically
log me out. Scary.
So, for now, if you love bitcoin,
buy an Android.
— Chuck Soder
it cards for such purposes.
About a quarter of Emick’s customers are buying bitcoin as an investment, he said, describing a recent
deal he did with a woman who bought
$2,000 in bitcoins “just to sit on them.”
On the flip side, a local startup
company gave away half a bitcoin
last week as part of a contest. The
company, VsMe Gaming, is developing software designed to allow
people to play video games online
for money — in this case, bitcoin.
A test version of the software had
players compete against each other
playing a classic game called Snake.
That tournament proved popular —
people played the game nearly
12,000 times, according to Ari
Lewis, one of three students at Case
Western Reserve University who recently started VsMe Gaming.
They plan to launch the full version of the gaming platform by the
end of the summer. If Bitcoin becomes a fad, that’s bad news for
VsMe Gaming: The company doesn’t want to endure the 50-state
skilled gaming review that they’d
need to go through to exchange U.S.
currency securely, via PayPal.
But they’re not worried about Bitcoin.
“We don’t think it’s just a fad,”
Lewis said.
■
Work
As of last Friday, March 21, bitcoins were trading for about $580
each. However, consumers can buy
fractions of a bitcoin so that they
can make purchases using bitcoin
without a large initial investment.
Right now, the digital currency
appeals to a few niche groups. Need
to transfer large amounts of money
around the world? Bitcoin can make
the process easy and fast. No need
to wait for bank approval or pay fees
to Western Union.
Want to gamble online? You
might want to buy bitcoin if you
want to ensure that your transaction is secure, because PayPal doesn’t process gambling transactions,
even in states where it is legal.
Live in a country such as Cyprus,
which last year swiped huge
amounts of money out of citizen
bank accounts to keep the government afloat? Maybe bitcoin is an alternative for you.
Merchants eventually could offer
lower prices to people who pay with
bitcoin, because it costs less to accept than plastic. Travel could become easier if bitcoin becomes
broadly accepted in other countries.
And it would be nice to avoid overdraft fees and be able to send money to friends via the Internet, knowing nothing other than their email
address.
But is Bitcoin ready for mainstream adoption in the United
States? No, according to Nikhil
Chand, who recently formed a Bitcoin consultancy called CoinNEO.
For one, it’s not that easy to use,
especially if you want to pay in person with an iPhone (for more on
how that works, check the other story that starts on this page). Plus, today, the Bitcoin network can
23
process only seven transactions per
second, which won’t cut it if the
technology really takes off.
“There is so much room and need
for innovation, especially for the
end-user experience,” Chand said.
Plus, Bitcoin suffers from a lack of
legitimacy. For one, it was the currency of choice for Silk Road, a website that had been used to sell drugs
and other illicit goods. Silk Road
hurt Bitcoin’s reputation, even
though the government was able to
“There is so much room
and need for innovation,
especially for the end-user
experience.”
– Nikhil Chand
founder, CoinNEO
shut down the online market.
And hackers have found weaknesses in the technology. One of
them contributed to the fall of Mt.
Gox, a Tokyo-based exchange that
recently lost hundreds of millions of
dollars in bitcoin and filed for bankruptcy in Japan.
But that problem didn’t touch the
heart of the technology, the “Bitcoin
blockchain,” which records every
transaction, according to Ari Lewis
and Sagar Rambhia.
The two Case Western Reserve
University students — who have
formed an online video game company, VsMe Gaming, which eventually plans to let people play against
each other for bitcoin — aren’t
among those who like the digital
currency because the government
has nothing to do with it. They want
the government to come up with
sensible Bitcoin regulations.
“We want it regulated, because
that means the U.S. government
thinks it’s legitimate, and it’s here to
stay,” Lewis said.
■
How Ciuni & Panichi
measures up...
40 years of experience,
a proven program of
on-time performance,
proactive communication,
and superior client
service.
Call today to learn how
we can make a
measurable difference
for you.
216.831.7171
cp-advisors.com
20140324-NEWS--24-NAT-CCI-CL_--
24
3/21/2014
3:23 PM
Page 1
MARCH 24 - 30, 2014
Group: Pro-tax coalition says multicounty vote isn’t ‘realistic’
Proponents of the tax, working
through a group called the Coalition for Greater Cleveland’s Future,
are wary of any effort against the
sin tax. Their concern is that a failure to extend the sin tax will start a
cascade of events that will cost the
city one or more of its big league
teams.
Pattakos, a Cleveland attorney,
and businessman Alan Glazen, another anti-sin tax leader, don’t see
a defeat of Issue 7 as something
that would lead the teams to look
for new homes in new cities.
“I just find it impossible to believe that would happen,” Pattakos
told Crain’s after the meeting.
“There are only so many cities with
the infrastructure and fan base to
support a big-league franchise.”
Should the tax extension be defeated, CAST wants the teams and
public officials to sit down and over
the next few months review the situation with the sports facilities for
voters. First, it wants the teams to
do a better job of justifying the
money they want to see spent on
the buildings. Then it wants them
to find a better way to pay those
costs.
It is offering two alternative financing proposals.
The first is a multicounty 0.1%
sales tax levied on purchases in
Cuyahoga County and as many as
10 nearby counties, the residents of
which attend games or watch them
at home on television. It sees this
“Adding $5 to every ticket,
including ‘Disney on Ice,’
will mean fewer people
attending games, which
would result in fewer
people frequenting
downtown businesses, etc.”
– Nancy Lesic
spokeswoman, pro-sin tax coalition
approach as a good way to promote
regionalism.
CAST also suggests what it calls a
“facility fee” of $3 to $5 on every
seat sold at the three buildings.
That fee, it says, would cover the
costs of improvements and would
put the cost where it belongs, on
people who patronize the facilities.
Not so fast
Nancy Lesic, spokeswoman for
the pro-tax coalition, said in an
email that the tax on the ballot
makes more sense than CAST’s alternatives.
For one, Lesic noted, state law
currently does not allow for taxes
across county boundaries. She said
proposing a multicounty tax may
“make for a good sound bite, but
it’s a very simple-sounding proposition for a very involved and complex issue.”
“It’s not realistic to expect that
our state legislature — which will
be on recess this summer — would
pass any such piece of legislation in
time to allow a multicounty vote
(approval of which would be far
from guaranteed) before the tax expires in 2015,” Lesic wrote.
She also argued in her email that
any ticket surcharge would have its
flaws, too.
“Any such increase, whether it be
the admissions tax, facility fee or
other such surcharge on every ticket, will have the same result —
Cleveland will be less competitive in
attracting events and fewer people
will come downtown,” she wrote,
noting that Cleveland’s admission
tax is the highest in a region that includes Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis,
Louisville and Detroit.
“Adding $5 to every ticket, including ‘Disney on Ice,’ will mean
fewer people attending games,
which would result in fewer people
frequenting downtown businesses,
etc.,” Lesic wrote.
Trolling for dollars
The three teams — the Cleveland
Browns, Cavaliers and Indians —
began formal conversations about
building improvements with city
and county officials about a year
ago.
The revenue from a 20-year extension of the sin tax would pay for
a round of capital improvements
on three buildings approaching
middle age. The tax works out to
though, are scoreboards. Cavaliers
and Indians executives told County Council that upgrading scoreboards at Quicken Loans Arena and
Progressive Field to high-definition
standards would cost $9 million
and $14.5 million, respectively.
Issue 7 opponents object to
spending public money on what
they see as advertising boards that
will generate revenue for the teams.
State Sen. Shirley Smith, DCleveland, singled out the scoreboards when she announced her
opposition to the sin tax extension
in January and offered a new twist
— a guarantee of sorts of winning
teams.
“Before tax dollars are doled out
for state-of-the-art scoreboards
and other stadium improvements,
taxpayers have a right to see a return on their investment,” Smith
said in a prepared statement. “This
concept of performance-based
metrics is not uncommon when tax
dollars are invested in other private
businesses, so why should professional sports teams be any different?”
If voters reject the 20-year extension of the tax on May 6 and no alternative is approved by the time
the sin tax expires in July 2015, the
city and the county, as landlords,
could be forced to cover the costs of
major repairs on the three buildings for 20 years. The money would
come from their general funds and
could siphon dollars away from
other city and county services. ■
one cent per glass of wine, oneand-a-half cents per bottle of beer,
$3 per gallon for liquor and about
five cents per pack of cigarettes.
The extension would continue tax
collections until 2035 and raise
about $260 million over its lifetime.
The Browns have begun spending $120 million on desired upgrades and necessary maintenance
on FirstEnergy Stadium. The city of
Cleveland owns that stadium and
will pay $30 million of the cost
spread out over 20 years. The city
and the county are considering
paying for additional repairs out of
sin tax proceeds.
In January, the Cavaliers and Indians gave County Council itemized lists of desired repairs, updates
and improvements at the buildings
they occupy.
The Cavaliers’ list includes replacing a number of 20-year-old structural elements as well as a replacement of the roof, heating and cooling
systems, seating and windows. The
team estimated the cost of its wish
list, which it would like to complete
over the next decade, at between $55
million and $65 million.
The Indians’ list also includes
heating and cooling system components, plumbing fixtures and
pumps, concession stands and
seating at an estimated cost of $60
million to $70 million.
The score on scoreboards
The lightning rods on both lists,
CLASSIFIED
Phone: (216) 522-1383 Fax: (216) 694-4264
Contact: Denise Donaldson
E-mail: [email protected]
Copy Deadline: Wednesdays @ 2:00 p.m.
All Ads Pre-Paid: Check or Credit Card
BUSINESS SERVICES
BE EFFICIENT
FOR SALE
C. W. JENNINGS INDUSTRIAL EXCHANGE
Global Expansion Consulting
Construction • Acquisitions
Exporting • Financing
(855) 707-1944
FLYNN
ENVIRONMENTAL
For Lease
Dry $1,000.00 to $1,200.00/hour
Speed- 400mph/ceiling- 41,000ft. Seats 6. 3 pilots available.
UST REMOVALS • REMEDIATION
DUE DILIGENCE INVESTIGATIONS
(800) 690-9409
Call 614-783-3937
REAL ESTATE
FOR SALE
RECEIVERSHIP SALE
Established children’s indoor entertainment facility, profitable and
well managed for sale by Receiver.
Including:
• Unique inflatable play structures
• Infant/toddler area for kids 3 years and under
• Parent lounge, including complimentary WIFI and flat screen TV’s
• Concession stand
• Located in the greater Cleveland area
For further details, contact the Court Appointed Receiver, Paul
Downey at 216 896 9490
List your Industrial,
commercial or
Retail Space Here!
Crain’s Cleveland Business’
classifieds will help you fill
that space.
Contact Denise Donaldson
at 216.522-1383
Bricklayers and Allied
Craftworkers Local 5 Ohio
All Masonry Structures
Since 1867
New Builds and Restorations
Commercial, Industrial,
Institutional, and Residential
[email protected]
216-447-9965
Website:
bricklayers5ohio.org
For daily on-line
updates, sign up @
CrainsCleveland.com/Daily
BUSINESSES
FOR SALE
Office Furniture
sale
Most of these items are
in near perfect condition!
Call Susan at 440.943.3600
[email protected]
http://mediaii.com/blog/furniture-ssale.pdf
Classified Ads
WORK!
CALL
216-522-1383
CHEAP
KITCHEN CABINETS
Locally Made
ProMark Cabinets
(216) 453-3654
Warehouse Moving Sale
Engine & Gear Oils, Antifreeze
PSF, in Totes & 55 Gal. Drums.
Also re-con 55 gallon drums,
5 gallon cans, HT pallets, misc. items.
Very low prices. Bob.
(330) 777-5203
Crain’s Executive Recruiter
Local company looking for
person who is proficient at
Quick Books PRO
Part time position paid hourly
or by the project.
Mr. King
330 777-5203
To place your
Executive Recruiter
ad
Call 216-522-1383
B-to-B Service Business in Stark County
Highly-automated.
Profit $275,000. Ask $850K.
Also available:
Signs & Printing:
Sales > $800,000.
Owner-Mgr. earns $230,000.
Don Dreisig, Owner
Fuller & Associates, Inc.
(serving No. Ohio for 33 years)
330-492-6294
[email protected]
Put some “punch” in your
classified ad...
Use color and get
your ad noticed!
20140324-NEWS--27-NAT-CCI-CL_--
3/20/2014
MARCH 24 - 30, 2014
2:29 PM
Page 1
25
THEINSIDER
THEWEEK
MARCH 17 - 23
Stopped in its tracks: National Interstate
Corp. won the battle to maintain its independence as a publicly traded company. American
Financial Group Inc. said its Great American
Insurance Co. unit dropped its tender offer to
buy all the shares of National Interstate it
doesn’t already own in light of an announcement by the U.S. District Court for the Northern
District of Ohio that it would grant a motion for
a preliminary injunction enjoining completion
of the tender offer. American Financial already
owns about 52% of National Interstate, a
provider of specialty transportation insurance in
Richfield. Alan Spachman, the founder of
National Interstate, had opposed the tender offer of $30 a share because he believed it
undervalued the company.
Positive vibe: Positively Cleveland president
and CEO David Gilbert unveiled a new travel
and tourism campaign that he hopes will bring
at least 4 million more tourists annually to the
region in five years. Gilbert told civic leaders how
his organization, the area’s convention and visitors bureau, will “change the narrative about
Cleveland” with the branding campaign. He also
told Crain’s that Positively Cleveland will spend
$1.5 million a year over the next three years to
target convention and meeting planners and
leisure visitors in a region that includes Buffalo,
Columbus, Detroit, Erie, Pittsburgh and Toledo.
Capital bonanza: Gov. John Kasich is recommending the Legislature allot nearly $130 million to capital projects in Northeast Ohio. His biennial capital budget shows $98.2 million going
to the region’s state universities and $31.6 million to parks and community projects. The renovation of the Cleveland waterfront was a winner, though not to the extent local boosters had
hoped. The budget shows the state kicking in $5
million toward the $47 million needed for a
pedestrian bridge to connect the Lake Erie waterfront with the rest of downtown, and $3.5 million to help pay for a $16.7 million riverfront
park on the east bank of the Flats.
Prime time to buy: A new study by real estate website Zillow of the nation’s 35 largest
metros ranks Cleveland the top buyers’ market
in the country. Buyers’ markets tend to have lots
of inventory, steep price cuts and homes that
linger on the market. The Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor MSA is above Philadelphia, Tampa, Chicago
and Pittsburgh on the list of top buyers’ markets.
Up with downtown: Downtown Cleveland
Alliance, which oversees marketing, maintenance and safety in downtown Cleveland, has
retained the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative and Denver-based Progressive Urban
Management Associates to produce a five-year
strategy plan by June for the central business
district. “We’ve had record investment in downtown Cleveland. Our job now is to keep the positive momentum going,” said Joe Marinucci,
president and CEO of the alliance.
Short subjects: For the second time in less
than two years, Westfield Bank is acquiring a
Northeast Ohio institution — this time, Valley
Savings Bank, a two-branch institution based in
Cuyahoga Falls … Cleveland Play House’s 99th
season, the first scheduled by artistic director
Laura Kepley, will feature a classic Lillian Hellman drama and the world premiere of a comedy from Cleveland playwright Eric Coble …
Jonathon Sawyer, chef and owner of The Greenhouse Tavern and Noodlecat restaurants in
Cleveland, was named a finalist in the James
Beard Foundation Awards for 2014. He’s a finalist in the category of Best Chef: Great Lakes,
which encompasses Illinois, Indiana, Michigan
and Ohio.
REPORTERS’ NOTEBOOK
BEHIND THE NEWS WITH CRAIN’S WRITERS
He was never happier
to see a line in his life
Learning to hack
for a good purpose
Wired to spend cash
in a wireless world
Ah, there’s the beef.
You might think I was disappointed when
I arrived at the corner of East 31st Street and
St. Clair Avenue in Cleveland, hungry and
with only 10 minutes to
spare, preparing to get myself a Slyman’s corned beef
sandwich.
The line was out the
door of Slyman’s Restaurant and down the block. I
would have no time to get
a copy of Cleveland’s
finest sandwich (if not its
best meal, generally —
hey, this is a notebook, not
an unbiased story!)
I was overjoyed. That’s because my last
few trips to the famous eatery, though admittedly months apart, caused me great
concern.
Business had been slow and tables readily available — not something I was used to
seeing. The loss of Midtown businesses,
changes in eating habits, more restaurants
downtown — these and other factors all impacted Slyman’s, servers and owner Freddie
Slyman told me on several occasions.
But two things were buoying recent sales,
I was also told this week — St. Patrick’s Day
kept the place busy for nearly three weeks,
and counting, while the new casino was
sending customers there.
I can only hope those trends will sustain
the iconic deli until my next visit.
It was the only way I could get to sleep.
— Dan Shingler
Case Western Reserve and Cleveland
State universities hope to turn a handful of
students into top-notch hackers.
Starting this fall, both universities will offer courses in a new
curriculum where
undergraduate engineering and computer science students will learn how
to break into — and
then protect —
hardware, software
and
data.
Researchers at both
universities teamed
up to develop the
curriculum, which they say is among the
first comprehensive cyber security education programs in the country offered to undergraduates.
Cleveland State and Case Western Reserve also plan to offer versions of the courses to graduate students.
The team of researchers spearheading the
project are Swarup Bhunia, associate professor of electric engineering and computer
science at CWRU; Chansu Yu, chair of electrical and computer engineering at Cleveland State; and Sanchita Mal-Sarkar, associate lecturer of computer and information
science at Cleveland State.
The researchers received a total of
$200,000 in grants from the National Science Foundation to support the courses.
— Timothy Magaw
A private equity firm in Chagrin Falls has
committed $80 million to a newly formed
Boston-area firm that is focused on developing and managing wireless infrastructure,
such as cell towers, in an increasingly digital world.
Peppertree Capital Management Inc. has
been here 19 times before: Including this
most recent investment of equity and debt
financing in Blue Sky Towers LLC, it has
founded or invested in 20 tower companies.
The need for more wireless infrastructure
is clear, said Ryan D. Lepene, managing director of Peppertree Capital.
“Every one of the sites that you build is capacity-constrained,” he said, citing how the
number of people using wireless devices has
surged.
“As more users demand more from their
phones, that means they’re pinging the tower more,” Lepene said. “The carriers can’t
solve their network issues fast enough.”
Blue Sky, founded by Tom Remillard and
Jim Rech, who together have roughly four
decades of experience in the wireless business, aims to provide wireless carriers — for
example, Verizon and AT&T — and their real
estate vendors with “unparalleled real estate
access,” using Remillard’s “proprietary database of cell site-friendly landlords.”
Read: Blue Sky has access — through licensing of that database — to people in major metropolitan markets across the country, and quickly can use it to find tower and
rooftop sites when a carrier comes calling in
need of improved coverage in an area, Lepene said.
— Michelle Park Lazette
WHAT’S NEW
BEST OF THE BLOGS
Excerpts from recent blog entries on
CrainsCleveland.com.
Learn from Cleveland
PRODUCT: SprayLube 990
COMPANY: Buyers Products,
Cleveland
Buyers Products, which makes products
for the mobile equipment market, aims to
keep things moving with its new SprayLube
990, a lubricant with hundreds of uses.
The new SprayLube 990 “penetrates and
loosens rust and corrosion on metal-to-metal parts,” the company says. It’s formulated
with corrosion inhibitors and “protects surfaces as well as lubricates and displaces
moisture,” according to Buyers Products.
SprayLube 990 is designed for lubricating
and protecting a variety of parts, including
pintle hooks, drive train sprockets and door
hinges.
“The 15-ounce can of SprayLube 990 contains 28% more lubricant at one-third of the
cost of other lubricants,” says Brian Smith,
marketing manager at Buyers Products. “It’s
an ideal solution for use on moving parts on
trucks, trailers and other equipment.”
Buyers Products was founded in 1946. It
also makes truck accessories and equipment
including its SnowDogg line of snow plows,
ScoopDogg line of snow pushers, SaltDogg
line of salt spreaders, DumperDogg dump inserts and a line of toolboxes.
For information, visit:
www.buyersproducts.com.
Send information about new products to
managing editor Scott Suttell at
[email protected].
■ A trip to Cleveland helped convince a
Lansing, Mich., city council member that
her city should pursue a downtown grocery
store.
Lansing’s Fox TV affiliate reported that
city and economic leaders “are in the early
stages of developing a plan” to recruit a
downtown grocer.
Council member Kathie Dunbar, who is
spearheading the effort to put together a
comprehensive recruitment package, says
it’s about time.
“This is not a new concept; this is something residents downtown, business owners, anybody involved in urban revitalization has been talking about,” Dunbar said.
The story noted she is “modeling her
ideas off two urban stores she recently visited in Ohio.”
After researching
and visiting The Hills
Market in Columbus
and
Constantino’s
Market in Cleveland,
Dunbar said she became convinced a
Lansing store would
be successful.
“The statistics they used for market
analysis to open both those businesses had
lower occupancy rates, lower density and
lower income than what we have in Lansing
and those stores are thriving,” Dunbar said.
Ads enter the stream
■ Cleveland is one of four markets targeted
by new Planned Parenthood ads designed to
promote ObamaCare with young women as
the law’s first open enrollment nears its close.
TheHill.com reported that the group is
airing new radio ads in English and Spanish
“highlighting the importance of health in-
surance and the affordability of some options on ObamaCare’s marketplaces.”
The ads, which also will air via music
streaming service Pandora, are targeting
Cleveland as well as Houston, Dallas and
Fort Worth, Texas.
Organizers with Planned Parenthood “are
preparing to hold more than 500 enrollment
events in eight states before March 31, along
with sign-up drives specifically targeted at
the Latino community in 15 cities,” including Cleveland, according to the story.
By the numbers
■ TheAtlanticCities.com examined “U.S.
mega-regions,” a concept that dates back to
1957, when the economic geographer Jean
Gottman coined the term “megalopolis” to
describe the emerging economic hub that
stretched from Boston to Washington, D.C.
“The term came to be applied to a number of regions, including the vast Midwestern megalopolis that extends
east from Chicago through
Detroit and Cleveland and
south to Pittsburgh, which
Gottman dubbed ‘Chi-Pitts,’
and many more across the
United States and around the
world,” TheAtlanticCities.com
said.
The website looked at North America today
and says there are a dozen distinct mega-regions — mostly in the United States, but
spilling into Canada and Mexico, too.
Northeast Ohio continues to be part of
“Chi-Pitts,” which extends north and west
from Pittsburgh through Cleveland, Detroit,
Indianapolis, Chicago, and Minneapolis,
taking in more than 50 metros.
Our mega-region is home to 41.8 million
people and generates $2.3 trillion in output.
“Its economy is just a bit smaller than the
United Kingdom’s, about the same size as
Brazil’s, and bigger than all of Russia’s —
equivalent to the world’s seventh-largest
nation,” the story noted.
20140324-NEWS--28-NAT-CCI-CL_--
3/20/2014
12:20 PM
Page 1
GET
MORE
The MORE Everything Plan for Small Business
MORE
MORE
MORE
Unlimited International
Messaging included.
25 GB of cloud storage included.
We’ve doubled our 4G LTE
bandwidth in cities coast to coast.
CLOUD STORAGE
MESSAGING
NETWORK STRENGTH
RANKED #1 IN OVERALL
NETWORK PERFORMANCE*
BUY 1
GET 1
RootMetrics® Independent National Study
The most comprehensive national mobile
network performance study ever undertaken.
FREE
Quad-core processor Android™
Samsung Galaxy S® 4 (16 GB)
Plus, receive a $100 bill credit when you
activate a new 4G LTE smartphone line.
Also available in white. First phone: $149.99 2-yr. price - $50 mail-in rebate debit
card. Free phone: $50 2-yr. price - $50 mail-in rebate debit card. New 2-yr activation
required per phone. Offer ends 3/31.
RootMetrics® RootScore®
Award Winner
LEGENDARY RELIABILITY.
CALL: 1.800.VZW.4BIZ
|
CLICK: vzw.com/s4
|
VISIT: verizonwireless.com/storelocator
*Rankings based on RootMetrics US National RootScore Report: covering July-December 2013 for network performance test results of 4 mobile networks as an average across all available network types. The RootMetrics award is not an endorsement of
Verizon. Your results may vary. Visit www.rootmetrics.com for details.
Activation/upgrade fee/line: up to $35. IMPORTANT CONSUMER INFORMATION: Subject to Cust. Agmt, Calling Plan, rebate form & credit approval. Up to $350 early termination fee/line. Offers & coverage, varying by svc, not available
everywhere; see vzw.com. Rebate debit card takes up to 6 weeks & expires in 12 months. Bill credit applied within 2-3 billing cycles. Samsung and Galaxy S are both registered trademarks of Samsung Electronics America, Inc. and/or its related
entities. © 2014 Verizon Wireless.
H3338