20111205-NEWS--23-NAT-CCI-CL_--
12/2/2011
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DECEMBER 5 - 11, 2011
CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
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THEINSIDER
THEWEEK NOVEMBER 28 – DECEMBER 4 The big story:
Shale gas development is pumping more money into Northeast Ohio, as Houston-based VAM USA announced it will spend $57 million to build a steel finishing mill in Youngstown. The company said the new mill would be attached to a $650 million tubular steel mill V&M Star is building in Youngstown. VAM said its finishing mill would open in phases, beginning in the middle of 2012, and would encompass 200,000 square feet. The company said it expects to hire 100 people for the plant, which is to be fully online by the end of 2013. The larger V&M Star plant, about a million square feet in size, is expected to open by the end of next year and employ as many as 400 people.
A race for deals: SuperTrapp Industries announced its second acquisition in a little over a month by unveiling its purchase of Fluidyne Powersports Inc. of San Bernardino, Calif. SuperTrapp, a maker of performance exhausts for automotive and recreational vehicles, bought Fluidyne, which it will operate as a subsidiary called FPS Racing, for an undisclosed sum. FPS manufactures high-performance radiators, oil coolers and accessories for dirt bikes, ATVs and other off-road vehicles. On Oct. 27, SuperTrapp acquired JayBrake, a Springville, N.Y.-based manufacturer of custom hand and foot controls for Harley Davidson and other high-end motorcycles.
Making us hungry: A local food truck pioneer and an established area restaurateur are shifting the mobile street fare concept into a 6,400-square-foot bricks-and-mortar site in downtown Cleveland that’s scheduled to open by the end of March. Chef Chris Hodgson, of food trucks Hodge Podge and Dim and Den Sum, and Scott Kuhn, owner of Washington Place Bistro & Inn and three other restaurants, are opening Hodge’s in the space occupied by the Hodgson French eatery Zinc, 668 Euclid Ave., which is within shouting distance of East Fourth Street. The restaurant will employ about 50 individuals. Zinc is scheduled to close at the end of December. Ready to roll: Forest City Enterprises Inc. said its Forest City Real Estate Asset Services unit was selected by the Georgia Department of Transportation to lead a project team in the development of a multimodal transportation hub in downtown Atlanta. Forest City is partnering in the project with Cousins Properties Inc. and The Integral Group, both based in Atlanta. Forest City will be responsible for fee-based master planning for the project, which will be developed on a 119-acre site in the city. The Cleveland-based real estate giant said specific responsibilities will include coordinating planning, engineering and architectural activities.
Priming the pump: The state of Ohio began accepting applications for InvestOhio, its new small business job creation tax credit program. InvestOhio offers a 10% state income tax credit on cash investments in qualifying small businesses of up to $10 million. To qualify, the investment must add to an existing business. It cannot be used for the purchase of the entire business or for an asset acquisition.
In the mood to expand: Ambiance Inc. is spreading the love to Columbus. The Clevelandbased retailer of women’s intimate apparel this month will open its eighth location, at 175 E. Campus View Blvd., just north of Interstate 71 off state Route 23 in Columbus. It currently has four stores in the Cleveland area and one each in the Akron, Canton and Youngstown markets.
REPORTERS’ NOTEBOOK BEHIND THE NEWS WITH CRAIN’S WRITERS
Fast money, and more of it ■ Running in Cleveland just became a little more profitable. Prize money at the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon will increase for next May’s race and its sister 10-kilometer event, organizers said last week. It will rise to $3,000 for the men’s and women’s marathon winners — up from $2,000 apiece last May — and $2,000 for the men’s and women’s 10K winners — up from $1,500 each. The men’s marathon winner will receive an extra $3,000 if he breaks 2 minutes 20 seconds, and the women’s winner will earn the same bonus if she beats 2:40. Course records are 2:10:29 and 2:30:15, respectively. “The increase in prize money should draw more elite runners in our marathon and 10K events and make for an even more exciting finish line,” executive director Jack Staph said in a news release. Participation rose to 18,300 runners in May, and race officials report registrations already are up 30% over this time last year. — Joel Hammond
encourage hospitals to find ways to reduce unnecessary and costly emergency room visits. MetroHealth has done similar work with its heap of uninsured patients through its “partners in care” program, where each patient is assigned a medical team to help manage his or her care. — Timothy Magaw PHOTO PROVIDED
Runners start the 2010 Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon in downtown Cleveland.
■ MetroHealth is getting more hands-on with Medicaid patients who use its emergency room a tad too frequently, and the effort appears to be paying off for the hospital that is subsidized by Cuyahoga County. As part of an 18-month pilot project, the health system targeted 15 patients who
repeatedly came to MetroHealth’s emergency room for non-emergency conditions. Using a team of case managers, managed care representatives and primary care docs to design a specific care plan for each patient, the health system was able to reduce the number of emergency room visits for the pilot group by 36%. Dr. Alice Stollenwerk Petrulis, MetroHealth’s medical director for case management, said the health system was able to better coordinate patient care by essentially hounding patients to follow up with primary care doctors. The effort was so successful that MetroHealth has expanded the program to as many as 50 emergency room regulars, Dr. Petrulis said. The hope, she said, is to share MetroHealth’s model with other hospitals in the city and across the state. “As a single system, it’s getting to be a big load, but what it tells me is that intensive case management works,” Dr. Petrulis said. The original pilot project was spurred by a statewide initiative by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services to
WHAT’S NEW
BEST OF THE BLOGS
A payoff for hounding patients at MetroHealth
Excerpts from recent blog entries on CrainsCleveland.com.
COMPANY: Ridgid Tool Co., Elyria PRODUCT: TriStand chain vise Model 460-12 The company says it has expanded its line of portable TriStand chain vises with the introduction of the Model 460-12. Ridgid’s TriStand vises are intended to hold PVC, steel and copper pipes. The Model 46012 has a 12-inch jaw and an extended chain to grip pipe diameters ranging from ½ to 12 inches. The chain vises are durable and are designed for rugged jobsites. Ridgid says the base is optimized to provide more working area, with the pipe benders located at the rear of the base for bending or adjusting pipe. The large vise base also overhangs the front legs to allow for clear tool swing. The 460-12 and the updated Model 460-6 vise feature an integrated ground lug that provides a conductive surface to connect the weld ground, and a jack screw to help stabilize the unit during use, Ridgid says. Both are self-hooking for pipe up to 4 inches. “The portable 460-6 and 460-12 TriStand chain vises provide a variety of features that are designed with tough welding, threading and grooving demands in mind,” says Larry Feskanich, product manager, pipe tools at Ridgid. For information, visit www.Ridgid.com.
But mom, it was only dinner and a movie ■ By now it’s no surprise to learn that many young adults have moved back in with their parents due to the severity of the recession. Indeed, one in four people age 18 to 24 did just that during the downturn, according to Pew Research survey data cited in a Wall Street Journal story. Beyond numbers, though, the story offers practical advice for parents, as well as a helpful anecdote from a suburban Cleveland family. “While living at home makes financial sense for cash-strapped twentysomethings, it’s important for parents to establish that it’s not an open-ended arrangement,” The Journal said. The Journal said Jon Marshall, 23, moved back in with his parents in a Cleveland suburb after graduating from college in May, to save money for graduate school. “His parents don’t expect him to pay rent or household expenses, but he must put aside about $20,000 of his salary at an architecture firm,” the newspaper reported. His parents have access to his bank account to make sure his saving stays on track. Mr. Marshall told The Journal that when he goes out and spends more money than usual, “I have my mom the next morning asking me why I spent so much.”
Here today, gone in a couple weeks ■ A promising Cleveland startup will be gone in a flash. The Boston Business Journal reported
What’s fowl is fair in Beachwood ■ There’s no better model of modern suburbia then Beachwood — good schools, well-kept homes, plentiful nearby shopping and chicken coops. Chickens? Yes, and now, maybe a goat or two. “We have a number of chicken coops around, believe it or not,” said longtime Beachwood City Council member Saul Eisen. City council has been reviewing its longstanding farm animal ordinance that allows chickens on lots greater than one acre, in response to a resident who would like to add a goat to her flock of chickens. Mr. Eisen said it’s never been a real problem, though he does recall a complaint he fielded from a Cedar Road resident who angrily reported that a neighbor’s rooster was perched on his porch. The city asked the resident to move the coop further away from the neighbor’s house. “Now, there’s no problem, except it might cock-a-doodle-do at 5:30 in the morning,” Mr. Eisen said. — Jay Miller
that FlashNotes, an online marketplace for college students to buy and sell their course notes, is moving from Cleveland to Cambridge, Mass., as it finalizes its first major financing round, led by Atlas Ventures. FlashNotes expects to move into the Atlas offices in the next two weeks, its cofounder and chief operating officer, Dave Petruziello, told the Business Journal. Along with the Atlas backing, Boston’s density of colleges is a big draw, he told the newspaper. FlashNotes allows students to upload their notes, often in PDF format, and set their own prices, the newspaper reported. The company keeps 20% of the sale price and the student takes the rest. Mr. Petruziello told the Business Journal that it launched last spring and focused on four universities, but students from another 40 colleges have started using the marketplace since then.
The blot thickens in Cleveland and beyond ■ “Blotting” is all the rage in Cleveland and other older cities. TheAtlantic Cities.com reported that across troubled Midwestern cities, “homeowners in failing neighborhoods are snapping up adjacent vacant lots for their own use, creating block-lots, or blots.” Blotting “is an opportunistic response to urban decline that has been around for decades,” the website said. In Chicago the price for most blots is $1,000, while in Cleveland lots “go for as little as $1,” according to the website. A spokeswoman for Cleveland’s Community Development Department had no readily available data on blotting but said the practice had been increasing.