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11/11/2011
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NOVEMBER 14 - 20, 2011
CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM
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Metro’s building plan won’t stop at one Funds must be committed by 2013 as condition of bonds By TIMOTHY MAGAW tmagaw@crain.com
Even as they eliminate hundreds of jobs to balance their operating budget this year and next, officials with the MetroHealth System are on the clock to build multiple satellite medical campuses as they look to
assure the future of the county-subsidized health system. MetroHealth CEO Mark Moran sees a planned $23 million health center in Middleburg Heights as a key component in the health system’s quest to hang on to its market share and make inroads with new patients. But the investment won’t
stop there, according to Mr. Moran, who said the recently announced suburban campus is the first of three, or potentially more, MetroHealth plans Moran to build in coming years. The investment would be financed with the proceeds from $75 million
INSIGHT
in bonds that MetroHealth issued in January 2010 to finance future capital investments. But those bonds come with a catch. The bonds were issued through the Build America Bonds program, a nowdefunct federal stimulus initiative. Under terms of the program, MetroHealth has three years from the date of the bonds’
issuance — or January 2013 — to commit the funds to specific capital projects. Mr. Moran said he doesn’t intend to let the money slip away and aggressively is planning for more outpatient locations. If MetroHealth doesn’t commit the funds, the health system would be audited to determine whether it earned more investing the net proceeds of See METRO Page 37
Auction of Chase Tower loan creates intrigue Location near casino could draw plentiful interest By STAN BULLARD sbullard@crain.com
RUGGERO FATICA
Mike Ode (left) and his father, Fred, in front of the vault in the former bank they now use for Foundation Software’s offices.
GROWING THEIR OWN Foundation Software takes novel approach to avoiding the hiring blues by turning inexperienced staffers into programmers By CHUCK SODER csoder@crain.com
H
iring software developers is hard. That’s why Fred Ode is hiring physics
majors. The CEO of Foundation Software Inc. in Brunswick has made it a point to hire smart people with little or no software development experience and to train them to become programmers.
The concept is a sharp departure from standard practices in the software business. Companies in Northeast Ohio and elsewhere almost never hire people to become software developers unless they already have learned to write code. Many area information technology executives, however, say it is extremely hard to find programmers with the skills they need.
chairwoman of the Society for Information Management, said because such training programs are scarce, more companies might not be willing to try it. “It seems like an awful lot of work to get what you want,” Ms. Sadar said. Meanwhile, Brad Nellis, the
CRAIN’S FILE PHOTO
headquarters. According to a listing on www .auction.com by Archetype Advisors, a commercial real estate loan-sale adviser in Miami Beach, the $13 million loan on the office portion of See AUCTION Page 8
THE WEEK IN QUOTES “The governor and the speaker are ... going to take a breather and recalibrate and see what we need to do next. … If we do take up portions of SB 5, it certainly is not going to be something we take lightly.”
“Business is very good for us … we chose not to participate in the economic downturn.” — Jeff Schneid, Unistrut Service Co. of Ohio. Page 9
— Mike Dittoe, director of communications for Ohio House Speaker Bill Batchelder. Page One
See TRAINING Page 6
WILL IT CATCH ON? Foundation Software, based in Brunswick, is trying something new to solve the shortage of software programmers: hiring employees with no prior development experience, and providing them the necessary training. Will more companies follow suit? Stacy Sadar, the membership
An Internet auction slated to start tomorrow, Nov. 15, for the $13 million mortgage on the office portion of the former Chase Financial Tower at Tower City Center in Cleveland almost has as much drama as a gunfight in the Old West. Exactly who will show up for the auction adds mystery to this showdown. The building at 250 W. Huron Road is within rifle range of Cleveland’s coming casino — a location that could serve as a draw for bidders. The auction brings to light a loan dispute between the mortgage lender, J.P. Morgan Chase, and real estate giant Forest City Enterprises Inc., which developed the office space that serves as the four-story base for the eight-story Ritz-Carlton Hotel that thrusts skyward above it. The structure is one of seven Forest City developed at Tower City, an office-hotel-retail complex that also serves as the developer’s corporate
president of the Northeast Ohio Software Association, said the strategy might fit larger companies more than smaller ones, with one caveat: the shortage of software developers isn’t getting any better. “You get desperate. You’ve just got to do something,” he said. — Chuck Soder
“A quality (mobile) application is going to cost in the tens of thousands of dollars. … Get something out there, but start small and measure it.”
“Most businesses today, based on our standards, are small businesses. … I think we say 98% of all businesses are small businesses.”
— Dan Young, principal, DXY Solutions LLC. Page 13
— Gil Goldberg, Cleveland District director, U.S. Small Business Administration. Page 13