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Surprises ahead in downtown apartment push As city center vacancies dwindle, developers see unheralded sites as conversion targets
RUGGERO FATICA
GrafTech site manager Brian Bartos stands near a machine that rolls graphite for today’s high-tech products.
HOT IN CLE LAKEWOOD GrafTech puts 21st-century twist on materials it’s made for 126 years By DAN SHINGLER dshingler@crain.com
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magine a city with one of the nation’s largest buggy-whip makers 126 years ago and then, instead of disappearing like its peers, the buggy-whip company evolved to become a thoroughly modern and successful manufacturer and exporter of high-tech products. Now imagine that same company increasing its work force by more than two-thirds in the midst of one of the nation’s worst recessions. Actually, you don’t need to imagine — just go to Lakewood. Because that’s just about the kind of success that city has had with GrafTech International. See GRAFTECH Page 17
As apartment fever infects Northeast Ohio’s real estate community, developers and investors are buying and eyeing some unexpected buildings — including the vacant former headquarters of East Ohio Gas — for potential conversion to apartments in downtown Cleveland. Cyrus Sakhai, a principal of Sovereign Properties Ltd. of Manhattan, acknowledged that his company has been approached by several prospective buyers he would not identify and would consider a sale of the 21-story East Ohio Building, at 1717 E. Ninth St. Sovereign bought the building in a 2006 distress sale for $12 million to market it as offices. However, a soft office market downtown and the
STAN BULLARD
By STAN BULLARD sbullard@crain.com
East Ohio Gas’ former headquarters nation’s stagnant economy have done those plans no favors. Sovereign let the building go dark after the last See SURPRISES Page 12
INSIDE Think you’re a great driver? Prove it A growing number of Progressive Corp. customers are using Snapshot, a device that monitors driving habits. Crain’s reporter Michelle Park details the insurance product and gives it a test drive. PAGE 3 ALSO: The National Carbon Co., which later turned into GrafTech, pre-dated Lakewood.
■ Cleveland’s Manufacturing Mart gains support. PAGE 6
Fairmount Minerals enjoying sunny days in the sand business Her company sells industrial sand — stuff found all over the world, including at no fewer than 26 mines in North America that Fairmount owns or fared in its first year under controls. And yet Fairnew president Jenniffer mount sold sand as fast as Deckard, she can sum it up it could dig it in 2011. without using numbers. Deckard While most industrial “We were absolutely sold out. We couldn’t have made companies still were chasing their pre-recession sales records, Fairanother grain,” Ms. Deckard said.
Fracking, other markets boost Chardon company’s revenue line well past records By DAN SHINGLER dshingler@crain.com
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Like most private companies, Chardon-based Fairmount Minerals doesn’t disclose its revenues. But if you want to know how the company
mount was shattering them, Ms. Deckard confirms. Ms. Deckard isn’t taking credit for the increase, which helped Fairmount grow to 752 full-time employees at the end of 2011 from 610 the previous year. The nation’s booming shale gas industry was the main driver of Fairmount’s burgeoning sales, because sand is used in hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” But the shale business wasn’t the
only sales driver, according to Ms. Deckard, who said “every one of our markets is growing.” Coming in about tied with fracking, in terms of sales to Fairmount’s end markets, is the foundry business, which uses sand to cast metal parts. They are followed by sales to glass makers, which use sand as a key raw material, and to companies that make filtration systems using See SAND Page 6
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SPECIAL SECTION
WHO TO
WATCHINTECH
Crain’s identifies some of the lesser-known players in NE Ohio technology ■ Pages 13-15
Entire contents © 2012 by Crain Communications Inc. Vol. 33, No. 3