Crain's Cleveland Business

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$2.00/FEBRUARY 27 - MARCH 4, 2012

Browns talk of seeking extension of sin tax Officials expect help from other teams in effort to retain source of cash to keep sports venues fresh

By JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com

cott Weber is living the dream.

If, that is, you dream about guns, the way he does — and, based on Mr. Weber’s brisk business, a lot of people must.

“I can’t explain it,” he says as he strolls through a couple rooms above his gun shop in Burton that are filled with guns, the heads of animal trophies from his African safaris and posters of Clint Eastwood as movie detective “Dirty” Harry Callahan. “But I’m going to ride this horse until someone shoots it out from under me.”

That horse is Mr. Weber’s online auction site, Gunrunnerauctions.com, which he uses to sell guns from private collectors, often deceased, to other private buyers nationwide.

Cleveland’s three major professional sports franchises soon might find themselves on the same team — along with the city of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County.

This new team would come together to win an extension of a cigarette and alcohol tax that would pay for the future upkeep of the city’s sports palaces to extend the life of those structures — and push back the need for new buildings beyond the typical 30-year life span.

The team effort will be needed because renewing or replacing the so-called sin tax, which now runs only through 2015, will be a come-from-behind challenge.

The biggest challenge will be changing the minds of state officials and overcoming the tobacco and alcoholic beverage lobbies, which in 2008 slipped into a budget bill language that forbids counties from levying local sin taxes. If the teams can secure an exemption from the ban from the state Legislature, it’s likely voters in Cuyahoga County then would be asked to approve the tax.

So far, the charge to extend the sin tax is led by the Cleveland Browns. Executives from the football team went before Cleveland City Council earlier this month to ask for a $5 million loan from the city for repairs that would be repaid later this year and in 2013 from future sin tax proceeds. Team officials say the 13-year-old stadium needs a variety of work, which includes repairing cracked

See GUNS Page 10

See BROWNS Page 4

RUGGERO FATICA

Scott Weber in the “Dirty Harry” room of his Burton Township gun shop, with a .44 Magnum

GIVING THIS SITE A SHOT Burton gun seller has evolved from industry insider to live auctioneer to major online dealer

Lifting of SBA loan limit opens candidate pool

09

When the Small Business Administration raised its maximum loan available to $5 million, many more companies became eligible for help. PAGE 3 ALSO: BioEnterprise churns out startup-ready CEOs. PAGE 3

S

Avenue Tower condos inch closer to sheriff’s sale Lenders on high-profile and long-stalled project owed more than $40M

By STAN BULLARD sbullard@crain.com

Whether Avenue Tower — the stalled, litigation-riddled condominium project in downtown Cleveland — eventually winds up as apartments or condos soon may become a relevant question.

After more than two years of liti-

gation, lenders are on the cusp of receiving court approval to seize ownership of the 58-unit condo property at 1211 St. Clair Ave. from developer Nathan Zaremba’s Zaremba Inc. Judge John O’Donnell of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas has asked lenders that provided more than $40 million in loans to

the project to draft jointly and submit to him a proposed judgment entry by this Thursday, March 1. The entry should include estimates of how much the various lenders are owed as of that date. The document could set the stage for a sheriff’s sale of the ballyhooed project, which has been in foreclosure proceedings

STAN BULLARD

INSIDE

By DAN SHINGLER dshingler@crain.com

See AVENUE Page 6

0

NEWSPAPER

74470 83781

7

SPECIAL SECTION

GOING GLOBAL Exporting is a thing of the present for Northeast Ohio companies ■ Page 13 PLUS: WHO’S SETTING UP SHOP HERE ■ & MORE

Entire contents © 2012

by Crain Communications Inc. Vol. 33, No. 9

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM

FEBRUARY 27 - MARCH 4, 2012

NOW, IS THE BOSS LISTENING?

COMING NEXT WEEK

Employees aren’t shy about approaching the boss with suggestions for improving things at work, according to a survey by Right Management, a unit of ManpowerGroup. More than half of 497 North American workers surveyed in January and February claim to make 20 or more suggestions each year. Katherine Ponds, career management practice leader at Right, is encouraged by the results. “Of course, the boss has to judge which suggestions are worthwhile, but employee concern or enthusiasm should be encouraged and their willingness to participate in problem solving is the sign of a healthy workplace,” she says.

NorTech Innovation Awards Crain’s again partners with local technology advocacy group NorTech to identify some of the area’s most promising innovations at this year’s awards.

How often do you offer suggestions to your boss at work?

Frequency

REGULAR FEATURES

CLARIFICATION

Classified .....................18 Editorial .........................8 Going Places ................12 Letter .............................9 List: Associations ..........17

A Feb. 20, Page 3 story on plans by State Industrial Products to move to Mayfield Heights from Cleveland misspelled the name of the company’s CEO on first reference.

He is Hal Uhrman.

Percentage

More than 20 suggestions per year

54%

Between 10 and 20 suggestions

24

Fewer than 10 each year

15

None

7

SOURCE: RIGHT MANAGEMENT, WWW.RIGHT.COM

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: Brian D. Tucker (btucker@crain.com) Editor: Mark Dodosh (mdodosh@crain.com) Managing editor: Scott Suttell (ssuttell@crain.com) Sections editor: Amy Ann Stoessel (astoessel@crain.com) Assistant editors: Joel Hammond (jmhammond@crain.com) Sports Kathy Carr (kcarr@crain.com) Marketing and food Senior reporter: Stan Bullard (sbullard@crain.com) Real estate and construction Reporters: Jay Miller (jmiller@crain.com) Government Chuck Soder (csoder@crain.com) Technology Dan Shingler (dshingler@crain.com) Manufacturing Tim Magaw (tmagaw@crain.com) Health care & education Michelle Park (mpark@crain.com) Finance Research editor: Deborah W. Hillyer (dhillyer@crain.com) Cartoonist/illustrator: Rich Williams Marketing/Events manager: Christian Hendricks (chendricks@crain.com) Marketing/Events coordinator: Jessica Snyder (jdsnyder@crain.com) Advertising sales manager: Nicole Mastrangelo (nmastrangelo@crain.com) Senior account executive: Adam Mandell (amandell@crain.com) Account executives: Dawn Donegan (ddonegan@crain.com) Andy Hollander (ahollander@crain.com)

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

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Solon insurance broker to move downtown Britton Gallagher also will unify branding of its business units

By MICHELLE PARK mpark@crain.com

If it’s true what the company’s CEO says — that Britton Gallagher has been a “sleeping giant in the suburbs” — it’s probably safe to say that the company is awake now.

The insurance brokerage in Solon is undertaking big changes this year, the most prominent of which is its

planned move to downtown Cleveland over Memorial Day weekend.

The relocation of the company’s two Solon offices and about 60 employees to the 30th floor of One Cleveland Center will cost more than $2 million, said Lee M. Stacey, who took over as president and CEO last September.

But the move isn’t all the company’s leaders have planned for its 70th

year in business. Britton Gallagher also plans to launch in May a more client-friendly website, and going forward will market itself as Britton Gallagher, Stacey not its current BrittonGallagher & Associates Inc. name, which Mr. Stacey called “clumsy.”

The company also will bring all but one of its eight business practices

together under a new logo and brand.

Mr. Stacey recalled last week during an interview at the firm’s main office, which is a retrofitted farmhouse, how he received not one but five boxes of business cards when he joined the firm — one for each of five business units that today have their own, distinct branding aside from that of Britton Gallagher.

The firm, with annual revenue of

INSIGHT

More firms now can tap federally backed money

BioEnterprise’s CEO residency program sets stage for leaders to guide promising tech startups

By MICHELLE PARK mpark@crain.com

By CHUCK SODER csoder@crain.com

A

See BOSS Page 4

MARC GOLUB

Al Hawkins, a BioEnterprise CEO-in-Residence, has started Milo Biotechnology LLC — which is part of his job at BioEnterprise.

THE WEEK IN QUOTES “When I wake up, my heart is literally pounding in my chest because I can’t wait to get to work. It’s a great feeling.”

— Scott Weber, operator of online auction site Gunrunnerauctions .com. Page One

See MOVE Page 6

Pool for SBA loans grows with limit hiked to $5M

BE THE BOSS — BUT NOT HERE

year after his hiring by BioEnterprise Corp., Al Hawkins already has one foot out the door.

And BioEnterprise has no problem with that: As part of the nonprofit’s CEO-in-Residence program, Mr. Hawkins’ top priority is to find a biomedical technology with commercial potential and turn it into a viable business.

So, in January, when Mr. Hawkins cut back his hours at BioEnterprise to focus on a company he started called Milo Biotechnology LLC, he actually was doing his job.

“My ‘job’ here — and I put it in quotes because it’s awesome — is to start new companies,” he said.

The program, which is designed to help the region attract talent and create companies, is uncommon: While some venture capital groups employ people whose main job is to become a top executive at one of their portfolio companies, few nonprofits employ people in such roles, according to Mr. Hawkins, who previously was director of new ventures for Boston University, and Linda Knopp, director of

about $12 million, is one of the largest insurance brokers in Northeast Ohio, Mr. Stacey said, and “we need to act like it and behave like it instead of a confederacy of small business practices.”

So, Britton Gallagher will unify the branding of its business units, which include BGS Associates, its employee benefits arm, and NewScience Insurance Group, through which it serves medical device companies.

“I think it puts the banks one step closer to moving forward with a sheriff ’s sale.

But there ... are a lot of questions that need to be answered.”

— Michael O’Donnell, courtappointed receiver for Avenue Tower. Page One

“In the last recession, companies that exported fared much better. ... When one country slows down, if you’ve diversified you have other markets to sell to.”

“Foreign firms are beginning to realize that a Northeast Ohio location provides not only excellent access to major U.S. markets, but the Canadian market as well.”

— Susan Whitney, director, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Commercial Service office in Cleveland. Page 13

— Ronald DeBarr, president and CEO of the Northeast Ohio Trade & Economic Consortium.

Page 13

A local online retailer used his loan backed by the Small Business Administration to buy a building in North Randall where the roof doesn’t leak like the one at the company’s last location.

In nearby Bedford, a physician is using his SBA-guaranteed loan to finance a new emergency room now under construction.

The uses for their loans are different, but the two business owners have something in common: Neither could have gotten the loans they secured if a decade-old limit on the SBA loan maximum hadn’t been increased.

The Small Business Jobs Act raised in October 2010 the maximum amount for SBA-guaranteed loans and fixedasset loans to $5 million from $2 million. The new limit has expanded the spectrum of would-be borrowers that can be served through the SBA program, according to area bankers and the head of the SBA in Cleveland.

“The advantage is we’re now reaching a customer segment that maybe historically wouldn’t have been interested in talking to us,” said Craig Street, national director of SBA lending for Huntington Bank. “It enables us to say ‘yes’ to customers more often.”

The previous limit had been in place since December 2000, said Gil Goldberg, director of the Cleveland SBA district, which encompasses the 28 northern counties of Ohio.

In the first SBA fiscal year since the change — Oct. 1, 2010, through Sept.

30, 2011 — 18 loans exceeding $2 million were approved in the Cleveland district. Two, however, were canceled, and one was reduced to below $2 million, he noted.

“This just opens it up to a larger small business population, and that can’t be bad,” Mr. Goldberg said. “The intent is working. Maybe next year, it might be 30 companies.”

The expansion of the program is particularly important following the recent recession because more See SBA Page 7

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Browns: Financing long controversial continued from PAGE 1

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concrete, fixing leaky seals that allow water to damage the structure and replacing seat anchors. The city approved the plan.

In an editorial board meeting last Tuesday, Feb. 21, with Crain’s, Browns officials indicated they expect they won’t be going it alone in seeking the Legislature’s approval for an extension of the sin tax.

“We anticipate a collaborative effort among the three teams,” said Fred Nance, the Browns’ general counsel.

The two other big-league teams are aware of the Browns’ moves but are staying on the sidelines for now.

“This is all very premature for us,” said Len Komoroski, president of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Quicken Loans Arena. “We’ve had no discussion about our position with respect to this yet.”

Three calls to Cleveland Indians executives were not returned.

The clock is ticking Cuyahoga County voters in 1990 approved a 15-year sin tax to pay for construction of Progressive (then Jacobs) Field and Quicken Loans (then Gund) Arena at what was known as the Gateway project. Five years later, voters extended the tax for another 10 years to help build Cleveland Browns Stadium. The measures put a tax on cigarettes of 4.5 cents per pack and on beer of 16 cents per gallon. It also taxed wine and mixed beverages at 32 cents per gallon and other spirits at $3 per gallon.

At the end of 2015, the bonds Cuyahoga County and the city of Cleveland issued to pay for their shares of construction of the Gateway buildings and Browns Stadium,

respectively, will have been repaid.

The teams have 30-year leases that put the onus of capital repairs on the city and county governments.

While all the teams have made building improvements with their own funds, the cost of upkeep will grow as the buildings age. So, to avoid putting the buildings at the mercy of tight government general fund budgets, the city, the county and the Browns agree they need a secure revenue stream that will be dedicated to paying for major capital repairs. Like all aging buildings, with diligent maintenance the life span of these structures can be extended and the need for new buildings can be postponed.

But first, the General Assembly must allow the county to put a new sin tax before voters.

Minds must be changed The legislative authority that Ohio counties had used to put what formally are called “permissive excise taxes” before voters was revoked with little notice in 2008. A few obscure paragraphs in the 1,200page, 2008 capital budget wiped out that option for local governments.

The change stymied public officials in Columbus and Franklin County in 2009 when they were looking for a way to buy struggling Nationwide Arena, home of the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League. Executives with the Browns know they must overcome this hurdle if the goal of using sin-tax revenue to cover capital repairs beyond 2015 is to be achieved.

“We would need state legislation to do it,” the Browns’ Mr. Nance said. “We’re going to have to get an exemption to extend the sin tax.”

Boss: Program brings talent continued from PAGE 3

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policy analysis and research for the National Business Incubation Association in Athens, Ohio.

Over the past four months, two executives in the BioEnterprise CEOin-Residence program have started to make the transition from full time to part time. Mr. Hawkins did so in January when Milo Biotechnology, which aims to commercialize a therapy for muscular dystrophy, raised $250,000 from JumpStart Inc. of Cleveland.

R.K. Khosla did the same last November when ChanRx Corp. closed a Series A investment. He became CEO of the drug developer, a spinout of ChanTest Corp. of Garfield Heights, through the CEOin-Residence program.

Now, three of the six executives BioEnterprise has hired through the program over the past four years either have cut back their hours at the nonprofit or left to lead a startup.

The third is Jon Snyder, who left in September 2009 to focus on Neuros Medical Inc. after the Willoughby company raised $1.8 million.

As for the other three executives, one is new, one has started a company but for now remains a

full-time CEO-in-Residence, and one moved back to Canada, his home country, a year and a half after he was hired.

BioEnterprise has applied for state money to add two more executives to the four it has now, said Baiju Shah, BioEnterprise president. One would focus on biomaterials, and the other on health care information technology.

“We are very interested in expanding this program,” he said.

Why? Mr. Shah said the program not only leads to the creation of new companies, but it also attracts talented people to Northeast Ohio.

For instance, the program served as a landing pad for Messrs. Hawkins and Snyder, both of whom said they grew up in the region and were looking for ways to come back.

It’s easier to find qualified people to run startups when you can offer them a salary during the period when those startups have no money, Mr. Shah said. The base salary for CEOsin-Residence is in the low $100,000 range, though the figure rises with bonuses and benefits.

Though all the current CEOsin-Residence have relevant experience, only one has been CEO of a

Phil Craig, executive director of the Ohio Licensed Beverage Association in Columbus and leader of the ad hoc coalition of similar groups that pushed for the end of the local tax option, would not say whether his group would support a waiver for a Cuyahoga County tax.

“We remain very interested in any legislation or ballot activity,” Mr. Craig said in a telephone interview last Thursday, Feb. 23. “We will be interested to know what plans exist for those taxes should requests be made to the Legislature for the re-enactment of those taxes.”

‘Big trouble’ without extension Public financing of stadiums and arenas has been a controversial subject since the early 1990s, when first Baltimore and then Cleveland used taxpayer money to build new stadiums for their baseball teams.

Opponents argue that the public shouldn’t be providing billionaire team owners with subsidized leases for buildings where millionaire athletes play baseball, basketball and football.

Yet voters in Cuyahoga County twice voted to tax the drinkers and smokers among them to build the Gateway buildings and Browns Stadium. Issue 2, to create the 15-year tax for Gateway, was approved by 51.7% of voters in May 1990. The second time around, in 1995, 71% of voters approved extending the tax 10 years.

Now, even Cleveland City Council’s harshest stadium critic says he favors extending the tax.

“If we don’t get the sin tax extended, we’ll be in big trouble,” said Councilman Michael Polensek, who represents Collinwood.

■

company, Mr. Shah noted.

Straight outta Pittsburgh Of the companies created by CEOs-in-Residence, Neuros Medical easily is the furthest along. It’s in the process of raising a second round of financing and has received commitments from Glengary LLC of Beachwood and the Cleveland office of RiverVest Venture Partners. Neuros is developing a neurostimulation device designed to relieve chronic pain experienced by amputees.

BioEnterprise borrowed the CEOin-Residence model from a similar organization called the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse. Since that program started in 2002, 25 of the 37 “Executives-in-Residence” who have left the program remain in Greater Pittsburgh and hold executive posts, said chief investment officer Jim Jordan.

Mr. Jordan noted how, after leaving the Executive-in-Residence program, David Palmer became CEO of ClearCount Medical Solutions. He helped the struggling company get back on its feet, raise $25 million and win regulatory approval to sell its main product, a sponge made with a radio frequency identification tag to make sure surgeons don’t leave it inside patients.

“Probably the next two and a half years, there are going to be some huge success stories,” Mr. Jordan said. ■

Volume 33, Number 9 Crain’s Cleveland Business (ISSN 0197-2375) is published weekly, except for combined issues on the fourth week of May and fifth week of May, the fourth week of June and first week of July, the third week of December and fourth week of December at 700 West St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland, OH 44113-1230. Copyright © 2012 by Crain Communications Inc. Periodicals postage paid at Cleveland, Ohio, and at additional mailing offices. Price per copy: $2.00.

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Avenue: With sour condo market, conversion to apartments likely continued from PAGE 1

since Feb. 4, 2010.

Judge O’Donnell ruled Feb. 10 in favor of summary judgments sought by Key Bank, PNC Bank, the city of Cleveland and the Key and Cleveland New Markets Investment funds to dismiss multiple counterclaims by Mr. Zaremba in the foreclosure case.

His Zaremba Cleveland firm built hundreds of housing units in the city’s neighborhoods before tackling in 2007 the development as condos of a city-owned parking lot downtown. Only five condo units were sold in the 10-story Avenue Tower before the residential market cratered in the housing collapse.

Judge O’Donnell’s ruling may

not be the last word at this point.

Zaremba has until early March to seek to appeal the lender’s motions for summary judgment. Dan Lindner, Zaremba’s attorney, declined comment last Friday, Feb. 24.

Michael O’Donnell, the courtappointed receiver for the property, said the judge’s action is significant.

“I think it puts the banks one step closer to moving forward with a sheriff’s sale,” Mr. O’Donnell said.

“But there is more to come. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered before (the case) goes to the final disposition of the property.” Michael O’Donnell and Judge O’Donnell are not related.

One issue the judge said lawyers and lenders need to decide is whether the retail space on the first

floor of the building should be sold separately from the rest of the structure.

The ruling on the lender requests for summary judgments comes after Mr. Zaremba and a group of investors failed to cut short the court fight by buying the property after they were unable to agree on a sale price with the lenders, according to two sources familiar with the situation who asked not to be identified.

Buyers lurk in the wings The potential that Avenue Tower could become an apartment property rather than a condo building under a new owner is high, given the dormant state of the downtown condo market. But how much the property may be worth in today’s

market is debatable, even with apartment occupancies at record levels.

One thing is clear, though: The building is worth far less than the tens of millions poured into it. It may even fetch less at a sale than the nearly $7 million owed to one lender, the city of Cleveland. It’s doubtful whether a buyer would pay anywhere close to the $15 million owed Key or the $12 million owed PNC. “There is no precedent for this,” said Dan Burkons, vice president of investments at the Marcus & Millichap real estate brokerage in Independence. “Who know what rents you would receive there? In the Warehouse District you could average the rents from five buildings to come up with a value. This property is also removed from other

rental districts downtown.”

Even so, Mr. Burkons said he has at least one would-be buyer he wouldn’t identify who is interested in the building, and he’s sure others would line up to take a shot at it.

Michael O’Donnell, the receiver, said he has been approached by at least two groups he would not identify that are interested in the property.

Left in the lurch if the building becomes a rental property are five condo buyers, some of whom paid more than $400,000 for their units.

The court action is encouraging to Councilman Joe Cimperman, whose Ward 3 includes downtown.

“Everyone’s goal here is to get the ship righted and get those spaces occupied,” he said.

■

Move: Downtown offers proximity to clients, affordable office space continued from PAGE 3

Britton Gallaher, founded in 1942, was ranked No. 8 in Crain’s most recent list of business insurance agencies based on its employment numbers, with 63 full-time-equivalent employees. Mr. Stacey, formerly president and CEO of Willis of Ohio, an operating unit of global insurance provider Willis Group Holdings plc., joined the firm after a year of discussions with previous CEO Bruce H. Ball, who now is chairman.

“This was an opportunity to …

take a firm to the next level,” Mr. Stacey said.

Remodeling work at the new offices began last week. The firm, which initially considered nine properties, chose to move downtown for a variety of reasons, including the depressed real estate market, Mr. Stacey said.

“Today, you can get Class A space at Class B pricing and we’re taking advantage of that,” he said, noting that Class A space offers higher amenities and better loca-

tion. Plus, the city offered the firm a payroll tax incentive to move, and being downtown puts Britton Gallagher closer to many of its clients.

Mr. Stacey also noted that moving to the city likely will enable the company to better recruit people from the West Side.

“We’re trying to grow,” Mr. Stacey said. “There’s a lot of opportunity right now in our industry.”

Deals in the offing?

Britton Gallagher is considering

two acquisitions — one local and one out of market. Both would close before the move if they close at all, Mr. Stacey said.

The decision to move the company wasn’t made by C-level executives alone. Britton Gallagher employees had their say via a move committee, which had a color, texture and tile subcommittee and a parking subcommittee, among others.

“We couldn’t be more thorough about this,” Mr. Stacey said.

After an eight-week process, Britton Gallagher chose a new logo that’s an abstract representation of the letters B and G. The firm chose the abstract logo because it did not want to become known as BG, said Wendy S. Kertesz, director of marketing.

“We now have the ability to take advantage of one mark,” Ms. Kertesz said, noting that the use of one brand instead of several should better enable the company to cross-sell across its platforms.

■

NOCHE is leading the Northeast Ohio Talent Dividend to increase the number of college graduates in the region.

In one year, Northeast Ohio gained 41,634 college degree holders and enjoyed $4 billion in new personal income across the region.

Visit www.noche.org/talentdividend to learn more and sign up for our newsletter.

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SBA: Higher volume leading lenders to hire more staff, too continued from PAGE 3

companies need SBA products that didn’t before, said Jack Schneider, a senior vice president of business banking at Fifth Third Bank, where he oversees its Northeast Ohio affiliate.

A sharper tool The SBA’s own data show greater demand for larger loans. The volume of SBA-guaranteed loans greater than $1.5 million grew from 13% of total dollars approved in fiscal 2005 to 21% in fiscal 2010, with many loans at the previous $2 million maximum.

Columbus-based Huntington — which was named the “grand slam” winner by the SBA Cleveland district for lending the highest number of loans and the largest loan dollar volume, among other things —

closed during the past year 27 loans in excess of $2 million across its footprint through the SBA’s 7(a) program, its primary business loan program, Mr. Street said. Those loans totaled roughly $81 million.

Some companies are using the larger loans to refinance debt, while others are borrowing to expand.

“I believe that this is a program that has absolutely done what it intended to do,” Mr. Street said. “All we often read about is banks aren’t lending and capital is so hard for small businesses to come by. It has enabled us to put our money where our mouth is.”

The expanded SBA limit also is attracting back to the table those companies that had maxed out their SBA borrowing, bankers said.

Ohio Commerce Bank, a smaller commercial bank in Beachwood,

State bill offers grant for vacant space fillers

By JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com

A bill working its way through the General Assembly would offer modest state grants to encourage small businesses to expand into existing, chronically vacant space.

House Bill 18, introduced by Rep. Nan Baker, a Republican from Westlake, would give a business a grant of $500 per new hire after a company moves into a long-vacant commercial space, provided it increases its work force by 50% after the move.

Rep. Baker said the grants could play a role in creating 4,000 jobs over the five-year life of the program.

But, she said, filling office and industrial space is the main purpose.

“No one hires for a $500 grant,” she said. “But if you’re already considering expansion, we are saying, ‘Consider going into a vacant building.’”

The bill passed the Ohio House 81-12 in December and already has had three hearings in the Senate.

Rep. Baker said she has been told by Senate leadership to expect the bill to pass and go to the governor when the Legislature returns after the March 6 primary election.

To qualify for what is called the Vacant Facilities Grant Fund, a small company must increase its work force by 50%, or by at least 50 employees for a larger company, within a year after the move.

It must provide the state Development Services Agency, which is replacing the Ohio Department of Development, with a certificate from the landlord stating that the space had been vacant for 12 months and must supply payroll records confirming the new hires.

The company also must not be eligible for other public financial incentive programs. Additional grants could be earned for four more years if a company continues to add employees.

The program is capped at $2 million, and grant applications must be within three years of the bill’s passage.

“We are targeting those (entrepreneurial) companies that are under the radar,” Rep. Baker said.

“Somehow we need to encourage them to continue to grow.”

Rep. Baker said the legislation grew out of conversations she had with David Greenspan, a Cuyahoga County councilman, who had seen a similar program work in Georgia.

The idea is to make properties that may carry the stigma of vacant white elephants more attractive to companies on the move.

The legislation initially called for a tax credit, but lawmakers were reluctant to create anything that cut into future tax revenue. Instead, the money will come from the existing Development Services budget.

Biggest bang for the buck?

Business groups have supported the bill with favorable testimony.

Daniel Navin, assistant vice president for tax and economic policy with the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, said his organization is supporting the grant fund because it sees the program as another way to help communities retain jobs.

“There is a pretty significant pool of commercial property, whether it’s office or industrial for manufacturing, that is either laying fallow or not being used to the greatest extent,” Mr. Navin said. “We view it as another tool for communities to, frankly, retain jobs.”

Several Democratic-leaning groups, however, question the value of the program.

“It’s a very small amount of money, and I’m not sure how much impact it can have,” said Brian Rothenberg, executive director of Columbus-based ProgressOhio. “If a small company could pay for the moving (and wait a year for the grant), I’m not sure it’s much of an incentive to expand.”

Dale Butland, communications director for Innovation Ohio, also based in Columbus, agreed with Mr. Rothenberg’s assessment.

He also said he was concerned the companies would hire at a low wage and then fire the workers once the grant requirements are met.

The result would be that the state could pay out more in a grant than it gets back in income tax from the newly hired and then fired employees.

■

probably would have lost at least one growing customer if it hadn’t been able to lend the manufacturer more SBA dollars, said Dell R. Duncan, president and CEO. Ohio Commerce has closed in the past year two SBA loans that exceeded $2 million and has three more in the pipeline, Mr. Duncan said.

“For us, it is a boon,” he said. “It gives us another tool to take on larger customers.”

Other perks, too It isn’t just higher loan amounts that are advantageous to these SBA borrowers; it’s also longer terms, lower payments and lower capital commitments, noted John E. Moshier, national SBA segment manager for KeyBank.

Dovi Kutoff, president of the online retailer OrangeOnions.com, said he enjoyed a lower down payment on his SBA loan, which afforded his company more working capital.

He borrowed nearly $3 million through Huntington to buy the aforementioned North Randall property to house his company’s offices and warehouse.

The company, which sells toys and housewares, had been renting an East Cleveland building that had

low, leaky ceilings, Mr. Kutoff said. The new building has 40-foot ceilings, which means “we can warehouse much more without taking more space because we’re going up,” he said.

“Now that we have certain efficiencies in place, we can concentrate more on sales, which leads to hiring more people,” Mr. Kutoff said.

Dr. John Kamau’s Bedford Community Emergency Room is another larger SBA-backed project that’s poised to create jobs.

Dr. Kamau, currently an emergency room physician elsewhere, borrowed nearly $4.5 million through Huntington to finance the purchase and conversion of the building, which is expected to open in late March with 35 new hires.

Opportunity grows It’s not just the borrowers that are hiring: KeyBank has hired nine SBA operations people companywide, including one in Cleveland, because its loan volume is up and the customer segment is wider.

That’s a roughly 20% increase in the SBA staff from a year ago, Mr. Moshier said.

“So yeah, we’re creating jobs, too,” he said. “There’s more opportunity.

We’re still calling on the same size borrowers we were, but there’s another market segment that we get to call on.”

KeyBank has issued SBA-backed loans of more than $2 million to each of 30 customers across the country that “we wouldn’t have been able to do before they increased the limit,” Mr. Moshier said. Four of those were Northeast Ohio borrowers.

When banks lend with a government guarantee, the part that’s guaranteed doesn’t count toward the limits set by their regulator on the amount of money they can lend.

How those loans count is particularly important for community banks, Ohio Commerce Bank’s Mr. Duncan said, because it allows them to lend higher amounts more efficiently without stemming other lending as much.

“It allows a community bank like us to serve larger customers,” he said.

Northeast Ohio bankers expect to lend at least a comparable number of larger SBA-backed loans in 2012, as awareness of the new limit builds.

“The discussions are happening more and more,” Mr. Moshier noted. “We’re seeing more opportunities come up with these larger requests.”

■

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM

FEBRUARY 27 - MARCH 4, 2012

PUBLISHER/EDITORIAL DIRECTOR:

Brian D. Tucker (btucker@crain.com) EDITOR:

Mark Dodosh (mdodosh@crain.com) MANAGING EDITOR:

Scott Suttell (ssuttell@crain.com)

OPINION

Yes on 15

C

uyahoga County voters have proven that they’re great at extending helping hands to those who are among the county’s most vulnerable residents. They should continue that history of compassion by voting “yes” March 6 on Issue 15, a renewal of the larger of two health and human services levies in the county.

Issue 15 is not a new tax. Rather, it’s a renewal of a 4.8-mill levy that provides the county with nearly $140 million in revenue that supplements money from federal and state sources. Those dollars go toward mental health and addiction treatment services as well as critical emergency services such as Metro Life Flight and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at MetroHealth Medical Center.

The lives touched by Issue 15 range from young children who are at risk of abuse or neglect to elderly citizens who receive support services so they can continue to live independently in their homes. The cradle-to-grave benefits of Issue 15 would be jeopardized if voters were to reject renewal of the tax.

County voters may not have an interest in either the Republican presidential primary or, for some, the face-off between Democratic stalwarts Marcy Kaptur and Dennis Kucinich in the 9th Congressional District. We hope they nonetheless turn out to vote in favor of Issue 15.

We’re all ears

B

ecause it’s a presidential election year, the Obama administration’s proposal last week to revamp and simplify the federal tax code as it applies to businesses may have few Republicans willing to embrace it. It wouldn’t hurt members of Congress from both parties to give the concept a fair hearing, though, because we believe a tax policy that could be made more equitable for the majority of businesses would be good for the economy.

We’ve repeatedly urged Ohio Gov. John Kasich to consider eliminating various tax breaks, which in the aggregate cost the state about $7 billion a year in revenue. Reducing the giveaways not only would produce more money for the state, but also could lead to lower tax rates for business in general by dropping tax perks for select groups.

President Barack Obama is presenting a similar idea in advocating a reduction in the top corporate tax rate to 28% from 35%. The catch is that dozens of tax credits and deductions would need to go. And therein lies the challenge.

It’s OK to talk in the abstract about creating fairness in the tax code by eliminating tax giveaways, until it’s your giveaway that would be gone. The lobbying by industry groups that benefit from these tax breaks is intense, which is why they remain in place year after year.

This piecemeal approach to tax policy stinks. The president’s instincts are correct. Congress should use his proposal as the starting point for long-overdue change in how American business is taxed.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Cleveland is poised for a major push

W

stadiums, arena, Rock Hall and science hile the media attention center. Then the blush was off the rose and may be rightly trained on we took for granted the development of the allegations of corruption housing and restaurants in the Warethat roiled around “the old house District and along East Fourth Street.

Cuyahoga County,” there’s something Don’t look now, but it’s happening happening here that has the unmistakagain. This time, however, there is an able air of excitement, and I hope others unmistakable difference, and it comes in are noticing. no small part from our political Most know about the new leaders. buildings coming out of the BRIAN Ed FitzGerald swept into ground, and about the imminent TUCKER office as our first county execuopening of the new downtown tive, and has been cleaning house casino. We’ve read and heard so ever since, as he promised. He much about the new convention speaks of Cleveland’s imporcenter, I suppose it’s easy to tance as “the capital of Cuyadiscount it. Or worse, find a way hoga County” and vows to dedto complain about it, or be icate big chunks of the county’s skeptical about its chances for share of casino revenue to success, as is the old Cleveland downtown’s redevelopment. way.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson However, developers are zeroing in on becomes the first African-American Cleveland from around the country for a political leader to truly lead on regional reason. They see opportunity. In fact, collaboration. He has positioned his city they see more opportunity than many of as a thought leader in sustainability and our own citizens, sadly. has suffered brutal state budget cuts and Yes, we had a period in the 1990s that still has delivered services with little had no small amount of excitement as well, fanfare, or whining. with the opening of our new downtown

Mayor Jackson has risked considerable political capital by asking state lawmakers to increase his authority over his city’s schools so that he can enact true reform and can embrace those outstanding charter schools that are receiving national attention.

We have bright, hard-working congressional representatives in Steve LaTourette and Marcia Fudge, who have shown ongoing willingness to work “across the aisle” for Northeast Ohio’s betterment.

Cleveland State University continues to improve its neighborhood and add exciting new programs for its students.

Its neighbor, PlayhouseSquare, continues to break new ground as far more than a theater center and more of its own neighborhood economic development corporation.

The Downtown Cleveland Alliance keeps our city a truly pleasant place to work and play. Two new downtown hotel projects are under way, and rumors abound of other high-profile hoteliers scouting for opportunities. It’s a great time to be in Cleveland — and I’m glad to be here to witness it.

■

THE BIG ISSUE Do you think people who receive unemployment or any other government benefits should undergo mandatory drug testing?

STACY JONES

WILLIAM SEELBACH

JESSICA YOUNG

NICK DYKO

Shaker Heights

Cleveland

Cleveland Heights

Lakewood

All government employees, including our state representatives, should also do drug testing. … They’re taking money from taxpayers just like the unemployment people are.

Yes. If you’re required to take a drug test to get employment at most places, why wouldn’t you be required to undergo drug testing in order to receive money and benefits for not working?

My first thought would be, no, I don’t think so, but I don’t really have a reason for it.

I think they should, absolutely.

If you’re getting something from the government, I think there should be a sense of a drug-free policy.

➤➤ Watch more people weigh in by visiting the Multimedia section at www.CrainsCleveland.com.

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Colleges, manufacturers team up CSU, Parker alter curriculum; UA, Timken hope to expand each other’s research presence

By TIMOTHY MAGAW tmagaw@crain.com

Two local universities are engineering relationships with local manufacturing giants — arrangements that their leaders say will change the way the institutions of higher learning and industry do business.

Cleveland State University recently teamed up with Parker Hannifin Corp. in Mayfield Heights to help overhaul its engineering curriculum, and the University of Akron is making strides with its own engineering program’s work with Timken Co. in Canton to boost their respective research enterprises.

“Since I’ve been here, I’ve said we need to do everything possible to get students — whether through co-ops, internships or collaborative experiences — outside the university, so we can build a more effective bridge with the university and their careers,” Cleveland State president Ronald Berkman said.

Besides giving students that realworld experience, Mr. Berkman said the university’s relationship with Parker could open new research op-

portunities for faculty and students.

Likewise, University of Akron president Luis Proenza long has touted the importance of such publicprivate arrangements and recently made them a piece of his university’s new strategic plan, Vision 2020. He has noted that such relationships are vital components of Northeast Ohio’s continued economic development.

The University of Akron, for example, hopes to court 10 companies over the next two years to take part in an open innovation agreement through its new Center for Surface Engineering and Lubrication Research — an outgrowth of the school’s collaboration announced last August with Timken Co. The new center will be charged with researching and developing surfacing and lubricant technologies, according to Gary Doll, who joined the university last September after serving as Timken’s chief technologist of tribology and nextgeneration materials since 2006.

“I was blown away by the response we’ve received from so many different industries,” said Dr. Doll, now the Timken professor of surface engi-

neering at the university. “We’ve had visits from a number of different folks who have come to learn about what’s happened here.”

Dr. Doll said the idea behind the center is to band together a cadre of researchers from several companies that will use the resources of the university’s research foundation to develop technologies that ultimately can be commercialized.

Ajay Mahajan, associate dean for research at the university’s College of Engineering, said the school wasn’t at a point where it could disclose the names of any of the companies it was courting, but noted that it has made inroads with several multinational companies.

“This is an evolving story, but the things we are starting to do have been phenomenal,” Dr. Mahajan said. “The best is yet to come.”

The University of Akron now is putting the finishing touches on a 6,000-square-foot laboratory that will bear the Timken name. It will be one of five labs located in the university’s new, 39,000-square-foot, $14.8 million engineering research building on the west side of campus.

The value of the Timken partnership with the University of Akron hovers at about $5 million, which includes the value of equipment provided by Timken as well as research support.

■

Nonprofit seeks college student mentors

By TIMOTHY MAGAW tmagaw@crain.com

A local nonprofit is recruiting hundreds of business professionals to serve as mentors for college students as they transition to higher education.

College Now Greater Cleveland, formerly known as Cleveland Scholarship Programs, has launched a formal mentoring program to help boost retention rates for students receiving College Now scholarships.

The hope over the next few years is to line up mentors for the roughly 2,000 students who receive scholarships each year from College Now,

LETTER

Shatten’s legacy lives on in region ■ Thanks to Brian Tucker for his look back at the life of Richard Shatten in his Feb. 13 commentary.

I stayed in Cleveland and stay engaged in many civic endeavors because Professor Shatten asked this grad student (and many more) to keep in touch and have coffee every month.

He believed in the power of individuals. Every student he had was made a better citizen and strived for more community impact all because Richard Shatten lived what he taught.

Adaora Nzelibe Schmiedl Cleveland Heights

according to the organization’s CEO, Lee Friedman.

“All that’s required is a college education,” she said. “You don’t have to be the CEO of the company.”

To facilitate a mentoring program on such a large scale, College Now joined forces with iMentor Interactive — a website similar to Match.com or other dating sites that instead of lining up couples pairs mentors and students based on certain character traits.

The bulk of the communication between the mentor and student, Ms. Friedman said, is through email and thus not “terribly time intensive” for the mentor. Mentors and

students, however, are required to meet at least twice a year.

Sue Tyler, one of the mentors involved in College Now’s pilot program rolled out last fall to about 50 students, drafted three of her coworkers at Medical Mutual to participate in the program.

“This is an important thing to do, and it’s easy,” said Ms. Tyler, Medical Mutual’s executive vice president and chief experience officer. “It can make a great difference in the success of that student and is not a huge commitment.”

For more information, visit the group’s website at www.college nowgc.org.

■

To minimize risk, GM will phase out salaried employees’ pensions

By MIKE COLIAS Automotive News

General Motors Co. said it will phase out its pension plan for salaried workers as a way to reduce the risk to its balance sheet.

About 70% of GM’s 26,000 salaried U.S. workers are enrolled in a defined-benefit, or traditional, pension plan. Those workers will be shifted to a 401(k) plan starting Oct. 1, said Cindy Brinkley, GM’s vice president of global human resources.

Eligible salaried employees still will receive the benefits accrued under the pension plan, Mr. Brinkley said.

GM also plans to offer lump-sum payouts to salaried workers who retired after Dec. 1, 2011, another move designed to reduce future pension risk. A spokeswoman said that

covers about 500 recent retirees.

A decade ago, GM switched to a 401(k) plan for new hires. About 7,000 salaried workers who were hired since Jan. 1, 2001, are still working at GM and are enrolled in the 401(k) plan.

Mr. Brinkley said the move “will give employees more control of their retirement income while certainly putting GM in a better position for long-term financial health.”

GM’s global pension obligations totaled about $128 billion at the end of 2010, according to its annual filing with securities regulators. Its U.S. pension plan was underfunded by $12.4 billion; plans outside the United States were underfunded by $9.9 billion.

■ Mike Colias is a reporter with Automotive News, a sister publication of Crain’s Cleveland Business.

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FEBRUARY 27 - MARCH 4, 2012

Guns: Business draws foot traffic to Burton Day Ketterer law firm will have a new face at top

continued from PAGE 1

Last year, he sold between $2 million and $3 million of firearms, and this year’s sales should be higher, he said.

Gunrunner is one of several online auction sites for firearms, but differs from some others in that it is an auction house, rather than a pure pass-through site, such as Gunbroker .com, which operates more like eBay. Gunrunner and other auction houses actually take possession of the firearms they sell, which they handle on consignment. Mr. Weber takes 15% of the purchase price for the firearms he sells, whether they are $200 pistols or $20,000 shotguns.

It’s big business — and the increased interest in guns might be showing up in increased online sales. Illinois-based Rock Island Auction Co., which claims to be the largest online firearms auction house, sold $16 million of firearms at auction in 2005, a number that doubled to $32 million by 2010, according to the company’s website.

Companies like to tout their sales because they want to demonstrate they can fetch high prices for guns in order to attract sellers, Mr. Weber said. Obtaining the guns to auction is the trick to the trade, said the 56-year-old Mr. Weber, who is a licensed firearms dealer.

Third-grade crush Mr. Weber started as a gun industry insider. He was a well-known competition trap and skeet shooter 20 years ago, and was paid by Italian gun maker Beretta to shoot and market the company’s guns. It was a great way to make a living for a guy who says he used to hide his “Shooters Bible” in the third grade so he could read it in school and not get in trouble.

But, one day in 2000, Mr. Weber decided he might do better if he opened his own gun shop. He’d need to quit his gig with Beretta, but he also wouldn’t need to visit gun shops around the country all the time.

“My girlfriend thought I was nuts,” Mr. Weber now says. “She said, ‘Are you sure you know what you’re doing?’ I was making $100,000 a year with Beretta — but I was tired of traveling.”

Because Mr. Weber knew so many people in the gun trade and sport, he quickly started getting guns — competition guns, high-end shotguns and other specialty firearms or collectibles that people wanted him to sell.

“I ordered some new (guns) and I would sell some from my own collection, too,” he said.

Soon, his little 20-foot-by-20-foot store, a former Burton barber shop, was full of both guns and customers, with a line of the latter out the door on Saturdays, he said.

“I plugged in the phone and it still hasn’t stopped ringing, 12 years later,” Mr. Weber said.

Livelier than livestock Despite all the foot traffic, his gun inventory grew, as buyers often traded in guns while other customers sold them outright. So, in 2001, Mr. Weber decided to hold an auction.

He rented out a hall at the Geauga County Fairgrounds and hired a livestock auctioneer. Then, he ran ads in gun magazines and newspapers and let all his customers know about the event.

“The auctioneer I hired went out and got some breakfast the morning

By MICHELLE PARK mpark@crain.com

RUGGERO FATICA PHOTOS

Scott Weber says of his start on his own in the gun business, “I plugged in the phone and it still hasn’t stopped ringing, 12 years later.” Below, old shotgun shell boxes at Mr. Weber’s Burton shop.

of the auction. He came back and said ‘Hey, there’s something going on over at the fairgrounds!’ I said, ‘Yeah — our auction,’” said Mr. Weber, recalling that the auctioneer told him he was not used to calling auctions in front of such large crowds.

But he did, and the live auctions went on for five years, until finally Mr. Weber decided he needed another format. The logical place to go, he said, was online. That way, he could reach customers from all over the country with an endeavor that would be somewhat self-advertising with a web presence.

From there, Mr. Weber said, his business took off. He began doing auctions monthly, with 200 or more guns in each one. But the monthly format proved insufficient to handle his total volume, so he began running daily auctions for lower-priced guns and related accessories and collectibles.

‘They’re here to buy’ While he might not be the biggest online firearms dealer nationally, Mr. Weber is probably the largest in Ohio. And he definitely is the biggest in tiny Burton, where his business is

helping others.

“It’s having a big impact everywhere here. … We’ve definitely had some overnight business come our way because of him,” said Gina Holk, general manager of the fourstar Red Maple Inn Bed and Breakfast in Burton.

Mr. Weber said he likes to refer his out-of-town clients to the Red Maple, because they are usually wealthy people looking for nice accommodations.

“They’re nice folks,” Ms. Holk confirms of Mr. Weber’s customers.

“But you can tell they’re here for a reason. They’re here to buy.”

February was a good month, again, Mr. Weber said, with Gunrunner selling 270 firearms for a total of $220,000. More important, every gun available for auction sold — a selling point in attracting even more sellers for the next auction, Mr. Weber said.

Deals hard to come by Todd Pearson agrees. Now the vice president of sales and marketing for Zeiss Sports Optics in Missouri, Mr. Pearson helps sell binoculars, rifle scopes and other high-end optics. He previously worked as director of sales for Remington Arms and as a divisional manager at Beretta, where he hired Mr. Weber.

Mr. Pearson said he now shops Gunrunner as a buyer, but says the prices Mr. Weber receives often are higher than he’s willing to pay.

“I look for deals on the site, which are hard to find anymore,” Mr. Pearson said. “It’s one of two websites I look at, and when there’s an auction running I look at it every day. … If you’re in the selling market, he’s probably the best place to go.”

Mr. Pearson said he prefers the Gunrunner site because it does not have reserve prices — its auctions start at a bid of $20 no matter the item and the top bid wins. He also likes that bidding on the site doesn’t stop until there’s a 15-minute

period with no bids, which Mr. Pearson said prevents the lastsecond sniping that is common on other sites.

That’s all according to plan, Mr. Weber said. And his plans don’t stop there.

Star of radio and TV? Mr. Weber is working on expanding his space. He doesn’t know what his square footage is now, perhaps 2,000 square feet on his retail floor, but he knows he needs more. So he’s taking another storefront next to his current location at 14548 N. Cheshire St. to double his size in March.

He’s also going Hollywood — much like his hero, Clint Eastwood, who has an entire room dedicated to him above Mr. Weber’s shop.

And, yes, it’s topped off with display cases of the Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver that Mr. Eastwood made famous as “the most powerful handgun in the world” at the time.

In March, Mr. Weber will begin hosting a weekly radio show every Sunday at 5 p.m. on Akron talk radio station WNIR-FM, 100.1, to talk about guns, hunting and other related activities.

He also hopes to make it to television. He said a producer already has been out to tape what he and Mr. Weber hope will be a sort of “American Pickers” meets “Pawn Stars,” only the show will be about guns. But, so far, no network has picked up the show, Mr. Weber said.

If that doesn’t happen, Mr. Weber said he won’t be too disappointed.

Because, so far, his business venture has all been like a dream come true, he said.

“When I wake up, my heart is literally pounding in my chest because I can’t wait to get to work,” he said. “It’s a great feeling.”

Besides, Mr. Weber already has had his 15 minutes of fame with a small part in one of Mr. Eastwood’s lesser films, “Any Which Way You Can.” ■

Rob Roland has practiced law for Canton-based Day Ketterer Ltd. for 27 years. Now, in the firm’s 140th year, he has taken its reins.

Mr. Roland, 53, has been named managing attorney for Day Ketterer, which also has offices in Cleveland and Roland Hudson. On Jan. 1, he replaced James R. Blake, who served as managing attorney since 2005 and remains a member of the firm’s executive committee.

Leadership is not new to Mr. Roland, who has been a Day Ketterer partner since 1990 and a member of the five-person executive committee for 15 years. However, this new role makes him responsible for day-today administrative activities, such as finances and staff issues.

“My challenge, to tell you the truth, is I’ve got to do those things and still have enough time and energy to do the big things,” Mr. Roland said.

Like many managing partners, Mr. Roland also maintains his own book of business, though a team enables him to do so, he said.

Key for Day Ketterer is keeping its niche in a market of international, national, midsize and small players, Mr. Roland said. The firm has 39 attorneys and six paralegals.

“Our partners don’t want to be part of a 1,500-man firm,” he said. “I think they value the sense of ownership that they get in a smaller firm like ours. Once you get big, it’s a different animal.”

Though Day Ketterer executives want to keep the firm midsize, geographic expansion is a goal, Mr. Roland said. There is interest in expanding into Mahoning County — a “hotbed” for the oil and gas industry where the firm could grow its related work, Mr. Roland said. There’s also a desire to continue to grow the firm’s Summit County presence.

Trace Evans is one of four executive committee members who voted Mr. Roland into his new position.

“He has unbelievable energy,” he said of Mr. Roland. “Rob not only wants to build his own practice, but he’s more concerned about the entity itself, Day Ketterer, the law firm.”

Day Ketterer was founded in 1872

by William R. Day, who made history as U.S. Secretary of State under President William McKinley when he played a leading role in negotiating the Treaty of Paris to end the Spanish-American War in 1898. He also served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit and for 19 years on the U.S. Supreme Court.

One change Mr. Roland already is introducing to Day Ketterer is to measure performance on a practice group level.

The aim is to increase the revenues and profitability of each group, where in the past there hadn’t been much emphasis at the group level, Mr. Roland said.

■

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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 Yellamo Inc. Geppettos of Lakewood 17103 Detroit Ave., Lakewood ID: 34-1880062 Date filed: Nov. 18, 2011 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $6,453 Down the Way LLC 9600 Lorain Ave., Cleveland ID: 26-1877022 Date filed: Nov. 22, 2011 Type: Employer’s annual federal tax return Amount: $6,191 Varrsity Constructors LLC 23209 Miles Road, Suite 2A, Cleveland ID: 20-5305272 Date filed: Nov. 18, 2011 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $6,134 Big Kahunas Inc. 6959 Carol Drive, Independence ID: 01-0768792 Date filed: Nov. 10, 2011 Type: Employer’s withholding, corporate income tax Amount: $5,620 First Steps to Childhood Development Daycarecenters Inc. 27701 Euclid Ave., Euclid ID: 27-1435009 Date filed: Nov. 29, 2011 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $5,017

LIENS RELEASED Chapel of Peace Funeral Home Inc. 12519 Buckeye Road, Cleveland ID: 34-1725612 Date filed: Sept. 12, 2005 Date released: Nov. 22, 2011 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $6,778 Clark Mechanical Inc. 18850 Miles Road, Warrensville Heights ID: 34-1343291 Date filed: April 9, 2008 Date released: Nov. 22, 2011 Type: Employer’s withholding

Amount: $24,492 Ko-Am Enterprises Todds Cleaners 150 Bell St., Chagrin Falls ID: 34-1850351 Date filed: Sept. 23, 2010 Date released: Nov. 22, 2011 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $20,427 Lakewood Foursquare Church 2150 Warren Road, Lakewood ID: 94-2961674 Date filed: Oct. 29, 2010 Date released: Nov. 1, 2011 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $5,017 Little Hands Daycare 1 Inc. 763 E. 152nd St., Cleveland ID: 20-3576762 Date filed: March 1, 2010 Date released: Nov. 30, 2011 Type: Employer’s withholding, unemployment Amount: $15,398 Michael & Sons Landscaping Inc. P.O. Box 26133, Fairview Park ID: 34-1507239 Date filed: April 30, 2008 Date released: Nov. 22, 2011 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $26,792 Ohio Mills Corp.

1719 E. 39th St., Cleveland ID: 34-1834555 Date filed: March 7, 2005 Date released: Nov. 8, 2011 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $29,265 Rybak & Associates Inc. 21821 Libby Road, Suite 201, Bedford ID: 03-0514289 Date filed: Feb. 23, 2011 Date released: Nov. 16, 2011 Type: Employer’s withholding, corporate income Amount: $40,778 Sunrise Home Health Care Inc. 3600 Euclid Ave., Cleveland ID: 34-1605110 Date filed: Dec. 5, 2002 Date released: Nov. 29, 2011 Type: Employer’s withholding, unemployment Amount: $824,646 Watsons Funeral Home Inc. 10913 Superior Ave., Cleveland ID: 34-0755005 Date filed: Oct. 15, 2010 Date released: Nov. 1, 2011 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $29,837

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11

Land buy helps tech outfit stay put City of Cleveland helps Laird remain at, expand West Side site

By STAN BULLARD sbullard@crain.com

A wafer the size of a postage stamp that keeps surrounding electronic parts cool or warm. A dollop of putty to mash over tiny metal parts that sops up heat.

Such are the small items that go into cell phones, tablet computers and other gadgetry and are created and made by Laird Technologies at its plant, research and administrative offices in Cleveland. Appropriately enough, the company at 4707 Detroit Ave. recently completed a pint-size deal for an adjacent property as it looks to grow.

The unit of London-based Laird PLC recently paid $240,000 for a two-building complex on less than an acre next door at 4805 Detroit Ave. The seller was Radnor, Pa.-based Airgas Inc., which had acquired the former Great Lakes Oxygen Co. in 2009 and consolidated operations at a nearby Airgas location, 2020 Train Ave. Buying the site will allow Laird

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not helpful to see them add property on the other side of town.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Tracey Nichols, economic development director, city of Cleveland to remain in Ohio City as it grows, said Michael Sutsko, president of Laird Performance Materials Inc. The economics were right as Laird, which had leased the site from Airgas for three years as it weathered the economic downturn, also built on the property a specialized mixing room for its products.

Replacing that room alone would cost more than the property itself, Mr. Sutsko said. Plus, Laird gains room to expand in the future from its crowded building next door.

Laird estimated it would take a 100,000-square-foot building on a 10-acre site, most likely in the suburbs, to justify moving from its current 56,000-square-foot building across the street from Max Hayes High School.

Tracey Nichols, the city of Clevelandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economic development director, said the city worked closely with Laird because of the siteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strategic importance to the company. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not helpful to see them add property on the other side of town,â&#x20AC;?

Ms. Nichols said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They could decide

to move the whole caboodle to another town.â&#x20AC;? The city provided a $148,500 loan to Laird under its vacant property initiative, she said.

Although the city provided the loan to Laird, Mr. Sutsko said the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s help negotiating environmental regulations was even more helpful to the company.

Many of the reasons for maintaining the operation on Detroit are intangible, Mr. Sutsko said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Many of our employees walk or bike to the plant,â&#x20AC;? Mr. Sutsko said, and others drive from the eastern or western suburbs to reach the central site near downtown. Laird employees and visitors also enjoy its proximity to restaurants downtown and at Gordon Square, he said.

Laird plans to hire at least five engineers and scientists in Cleveland this year thanks to sales growth, according to Mark Wisniewski, vice president of Lairdâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s thermal products unit. The company has 105 fulltime employees at the plant, where employment has grown from 80 at the end of 2009. â&#x2013;

20120227-NEWS--12-NAT-CCI-CL_--

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2/23/2012

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM

Carmakers urged to disable distractions

By CHRISTINA ROGERS Automotive News

The U.S. Department of Transportation has released its longawaited guidelines on distracted driving, calling on automakers to disable applications that allow drivers to manually access social media, surf the Web or send text messages while on the road.

The recommendations also seek to prevent any in-car technologies that require drivers to use both hands or to take their eyes off the road for more than two seconds.

“Increasingly, data show that as technology evolves, cell phones aren’t the only potential distraction in vehicles,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who has made distracted driving his signature safety issue.

“Many carmakers are now developing in-vehicle electronic systems that can give directions, post to social networking sites and search the Internet,” Mr. LaHood said.

The guidelines are voluntary, meaning automakers won’t be penalized or suffer a safety downgrade if they don’t comply.

In crafting the guidelines, National Highway Traffic Safety Administra-

tion administrator David Strickland said the agency met with a “countless” number of stakeholders, including carmakers and independent research groups. The agency chose to make compliance optional because it would give regulators more flexibility in keeping with the pace of fast-evolving technologies.

Mr. Strickland said the agency hopes automakers will make compliance with these guidelines a selling point to consumers, as they do with other safety ratings.

The public will have a chance to comment on the guidelines over the next 60 days.

Deadly issue In 2010, distracted driving deaths totaled 3,092, but NHTSA believes the total could be higher because drivers often are unwilling to admit to the behavior and many crashes lack a witness.

While other auto industry trade groups have published their own safety guidelines for in-car technologies, NHTSA wants to broaden the scope to include emerging apps for social media and better define what constitutes a distracted driving task.

The agency is working on a study

to determine the hazards of invehicle phone use and is looking at both hand-held and hands-free devices. It plans to release its analysis late next year.

Still, some safety advocates feel the agency’s guidelines don’t go far enough.

The National Transportation Safety Board issued its own proposal in December calling for all 50 states to outlaw cell phone use while driving, including on hands-free devices.

The proposal is far tougher than restrictions put in place by many states banning hand-held calls or texting and could put at risk technologies that promote hands-free calling behind the wheel.

While Mr. LaHood said he appreciates NTSB’s efforts, the agency still is studying the risks of handsfree driving. Mr. LaHood said in December he didn’t believe “handsfree” was the problem.

“Before we go too much further, I want to see what the studies we’re doing on the cognitive distractions on some of these technologies,” Mr. LaHood said.

■ Christina Rogers is a reporter with Automotive News, a sister publication of Crain’s Cleveland Business.

FEBRUARY 27 - MARCH 4, 2012

GOING PLACES JOB CHANGES CONSTRUCTION GILBANE BUILDING CO.: Kyle Wengryniuk to office engineer.

DISTRIBUTION ADVANCED CONTROLS & DISTRIBUTION: Mark Justice to application engineer.

EDUCATION

FINANCE KEYBANK: Alfred Carpetto to executive vice president and head, Enterprise Commercial Payments Group.

OHIO COMMERCE BANK: Gregg Paliokas to credit analyst supervisor.

MALONEY + NOVOTNY LLC: Dario Savron to shareholder.

MELCAP PARTNERS LLC: Sean Demlow to senior vice president.

SS&G: Antonio Golston and Domenick Cristino to associates; Kerilyn Boergert to manager.

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strategist; Steven Logan to digital production artist; Jay Bonning to back end developer; Morgan Rooks to digital media traffic manager; Michelle Phillips to media associate; Steven Eng to assistant systems administrator.

NONPROFIT CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: Gavin Svenson to curator of invertebrate zoology.

SERVICE ENTRYPOINT CONSULTING: Melody Miller Clegg to engagement manager, small and medium businesses practice.

FINDLEY DAVIES INC.: David Davala to senior consultant.

TECHNOLOGY KARCHER GROUP: Todd Whetstone to director, strategic initiatives.

HOSPICE OF THE WESTERN RESERVE: Judy Bartel to chief clinical officer.

BOARDS

BROUSE MCDOWELL: Kerri L. Keller, Joy D. Kosiewicz, Suzana K. Koch, Michael P. O’Donnell and NiCole Swearingen-Hilker to partners.

KEGLER BROWN HILL & RITTER: Jeffrey C. Miller to director.

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CEDAR FAIR ENTERTAINMENT CO.: Kelley Semmelroth to executive vice president, chief marketing officer.

UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS: Dr. Samden Lhatoo to director, Epilepsy Center, Neurological Institute.

DIAGNOSIS

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SUMMA HEALTH SYSTEM: Ben Sutton to vice president, integrated innovations and strategy.

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CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF MUSIC: Ivan Zenaty to violin faculty.

CEDAR BROOK FINANCIAL PARTNERS: Megan Farnsworth to senior account manager, employee benefits division.

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CHAS. E. PHIPPS CO.: Chad Giordano to sales representative, Cleveland market; Matt Milos to sales, training and development.

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THOMPSON HINE LLP: William J. Hubbard, Adam R. Nazette, Troy S. Prince, Alan S. Ritchie, Anthony J. Rospert and Jonathon H. Vinocur to partners.

MANUFACTURING

HIRAM HOUSE: Kevin D. Barnes (Taft Stettinus & Hollister LLP) to president; Spencer N. Pisczak to vice president, finance and treasurer; Michael R. Canty to vice president, development; Russell R. Grundke to secretary.

ROCKY RIVER PUBLIC LIBRARY: Catherine Manzo (Lakewood Hospital) to president; Audra Bednarski to vice president; William Henson to secretary.

SHOES AND CLOTHES FOR KIDS YOUNG PROFESSIONALS ASSOCIATE BOARD: Craig Gutridge (Deloitte) and Stephanie Landes (Melamed Riley Advertising) to co-chairs.

SWEDISH AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OHIO: Lars Eriksson to chairman and president; Kenneth Palmman to treasurer; Lars Traner to secretary.

EATON CORP.: Alejandro Diaz to director of global compliance; Trent Meyerhoefer to vice president and assistant treasurer for global treasury.

AWARDS

MARKETING

OHIO COMMON PLEAS JUDGES ASSOCIATION: Judge Janet R. Burnside (Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas General Division) received the 2011 President’s Award.

ADCOM GROUP OF COS.: Stacey Vaselaney to senior public relations strategist; Derryl Strong to art director; Alicia Lenhart to senior media planner and buyer; Jacob Pniewski to email marketing director; Rachel Bucey to content and SEO

COSE: Phil Stella (Effective Training & Communications Inc.) received the Volunteer of the Year Award.

Send information for Going Places to dhillyer@crain.com.

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

FEBRUARY 27 - MARCH 4, 2012

INSIDE

GOING GLOBAL

16 EXPERTS SAY GLOBAL PRESENCE IS IMPORTANT.

Exporting a thing of the present in NE Ohio

NORTHEAST OHIO’S PLACE IN THE BUSINESS WORLD

L

ast June, 7signal Ltd., a Finnish company that makes wireless networks for medical devices in hospitals, announced it would open a U.S. sales office and operation center in Akron, with a plan to employ 30 people within two years.

The decision to open a U.S. office in the Akron Global Business Accelerator in downtown Akron came after trade missions had been exchanged between Akron and the Finnish capital of Helsinki and the creation of the BioFinland Technology Bridge Program in 2010.

The bridge program, a collaboration between the city of Akron, the Akron Global Business Accelerator and the Helsinki Business and Science Park, was created to offer biomedical firms places to land in each country, and it was supported financially by the Ohio Third Frontier program.

In early 2011, 7signal staffers tested the waters spending several months demonstrating the company’s technology at Akron General Medical Center and Akron Children’s Hospital before making the decision to make Akron its U.S. home.

“We have aligned ourselves with the hospitals to be able to create more opportunities for companies to come here,” Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic told the Akron Beacon Journal last June 1. “And obviously the primary goal is to add more employment opportunities, jobs, here for our citizens.”

By DAN SHINGLER dshingler@crain.com

T

here was a time when Cleveland companies had opportunities to sell their products around the world, providing manufactured goods to customers who demanded the highest quality and knew they could find it “made in the USA.” And — contrary to the story national trade statistics might tell — that time is now.

Those involved in the exporting sector say there probably are more opportunities for local companies to sell beyond the United States than ever before and more reasons for them to do it.

That’s why at least some Northeast Ohio companies are enjoying their own private trade surpluses, even though the nation as a whole obviously has some catching up to do.

“We exported a little under $700 million worth of products from the U.S. to other locations (in 2011), and we probably imported about $200 to $250 million worth of stuff,” said Sal Miraglia, president of the Steel Group at the Canton-based Timken Co., where the company also has its largest specialty steel plant.

A casual observer might be surprised to hear that a U.S. steel company is exporting. After all, cheap steel from China and other nations is a constant complaint heard by the industry and its unions, right?

Right, but while Timken’s steel might be an exception to the rule in terms of the nation’s overall trade balance, it’s a prime example of Northeast Ohio’s exporting success.

Good home away from home Northeast Ohio long has been home to many businesses based in Europe, Asia and elsewhere around the world.

Team NEO estimates Northeast Ohio is home to more than 600 foreign-owned businesses. Many,

Building on quality

See EXPORTING Page 16

Region has amenities for foreign companies

By JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com

Some firms aim to compete on quality

Timken doesn’t just export any steel — like the stuff that even developing nations can and do produce themselves — it sells some of the strongest, most durable, highly engineered and, yes, expensive, steel in the world. Its steel gets used in things like heavy equipment transmissions, mining equipment, wind turbines and other applications for which the risk of a failed piece of steel has to be minimized, if not eliminated altogether.

A low dollar has helped of late, but by and large Timken competes on quality in the export arena, Mr.

13

See FOREIGN Page 14

THEY LIKE BUYING OUR STUFF ...

A look at the top five countries for Ohio merchandise exports in 2011:

Country

Volume

... AND THEY LIKE IT HERE, TOO By county, a look at international corporate presence in Northeast Ohio in 2011:

County

Number of establishments

Number of employees

Cuyahoga

180

15,168

Summit

68

6,158

Lake

23

1,716

Canada

$18.7 billion

Mexico

4.0

China

2.7

France

2.4

Geauga

11

1,222

Brazil

1.7

Lorain

11

1,052

SOURCE: FOREIGN TRADE DIVISION, U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

SOURCE: OHIO DEPARTMENT OF DEVELOPMENT

20120227-NEWS--14-NAT-CCI-CL_--

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14 CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM

FEBRUARY 27 - MARCH 4, 2012

GOING GLOBAL ALL SHAPES AND SIZES The Ohio Department of Development tracks where international enterprises do business in the state; here, a look at some of the locations of these establishments and the countries to which they are linked. (Companies with multiple retail or service locations may not be assigned a specific county):

NEO county

Canada

United Kingdom

Germany

Japan

France

Cuyahoga

26

18

33

32

11

Lorain

1

0

4

0

1

Medina

1

3

3

1

2

Summit

10

8

13

13

5

Lake

2

1

4

5

0

Geauga

0

0

4

1

3

Portage

0

0

2

1

3

Foreign: Europe’s woes stall some progress continued from PAGE 13

like ArcelorMittal, the steel company; prepared foods maker Nestlé USA; and Sterling Jewelers Inc. bought their way into Northeast Ohio businesses and have grown them. Others are newer, attracted from Europe, Israel and Asia to the region’s central location between New York and Chicago.

“Foreign firms are beginning to realize that a Northeast Ohio location provides not only excellent access to major U.S. markets, but the Canadian market as well,” said Ronald DeBarr, president and CEO of the Northeast Ohio Trade & Economic Consortium (NEOTEC), a Kent-based economic development partnership that works to attract international business to its member nine counties south of Cuyahoga County. “These qualities, as well as a great international trade support structure, give Northeast Ohio all the ingredients for global business success.”

A 2007 survey by Cleveland State University and the Cypress Research Group of Beachwood found that 40% of Northeast Ohio businesses involved in international business activity were in manufacturing, 16% in distribution and wholesale trade and 15% were professional service firms.

“People in this area don’t realize how much international flavor we have on the business side,” said William Hauser, an associate professor in the Department of Marketing

and International Business at the University of Akron.

Increasingly, Northeast Ohio business attraction efforts are wooing foreign companies to bring North American sales and distribution offices to the region. Mr. DeBarr said NEOTEC currently is working with 70 international companies and that 15 of those have indicated a strong interest in expanding to the U.S. and would consider Northeast Ohio. “We are prepared to react quickly once we see continued signs of positive recovery in Europe,” he said.

According to Mr. DeBarr, about 65% of foreign direct investment — the investment by an offshore business used to acquire and maintain a U.S. operation — in Northeast Ohio comes from a range of industries from six countries in western Europe.

“More recently, we are seeing energy-related interest, given the publicity on the shale industry opportunities in Ohio and Pennsylvania,” Mr. DeBarr said. “Unfortunately, most European countries are putting projects on hold, pending the stabilization of the economic and financial sectors in the euro zone.”

International targets In May 2010, Team NEO, the business attraction nonprofit, launched its international business attraction program, hiring Bernardine van Kessel to be its director of international business attraction. It also supports two staff members in

Germany. There, PM&P Consultants, a German international business consulting firm that has offices in Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich, serves as “Cleveland Plus Business Europe.”

In its first year, Team NEO’s international business attraction efforts generated 27 international leads and a handful of successes.

“Right now we get a lot of leads from Germany and the Netherlands,” Ms. van Kessel said. “Both of them historically have been strong investors (in Northeast Ohio) and the economic crisis has not affected them like it has southern Europe.

She held out for example the attraction to Akron of Röchling Automotive USA, a German maker of plastic parts for Lordstown’s Chevrolet Cruze and for the Ford Motor Co. plant in Detroit. The company invested $28.5 million in its Akron operation and has plans for a payroll of more than 100.

Team NEO, however, doesn’t target regions. Instead, it targets industries. Ms. van Kessel said the organization is focusing its efforts on attracting companies in the polymer and advanced materials industries as well as in advanced manufacturing, including computer numerical control (CNC) machinery and instruments and controls. It also is finding success in the automotive industry.

She said with General Motors’ Lordstown plant bustling and Japanese manufacturers recently adopting a policy to source and manufacture their products for the North American market on the North American continent, interest is growing among those companies and their first- and second-tier suppliers in the region.

Another company Team NEO has helped attract to Northeast Ohio is AmbaFlex, a Dutch company that makes conveyor belts for Coca-Cola Co. and other bottling plants. It now has a plant near Canton.

An Israeli security company, meanwhile, found its way to Cleveland Heights by a different route.

FST21 Ltd. visited Northeast Ohio because Cleveland Heights was looking for a security system for school buildings. At the same time, the city was turning the former Coventry School into a business development center.

Through Howard Gudell, a partner in SGI Global Business Advisors LLC, an international business consulting firm, it found FST21.

Soon enough, the city had convinced FST21 to see the school as a base of operations and demonstration center for the products it wants to sell in the United States.

■

LOCALLYKNOWN A look at some foreign companies doing business in Northeast Ohio.

IceCure Medical Ltd. Cleveland

A

ll roads pointed to Northeast Ohio when Israeli medical device company IceCure Medical Ltd. set out to find its U.S. headquarters.

Among the area’s attributes: a unique infrastructure for growing biomedical companies, world-class institutions such as the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals Case Medical Center and a progressive health care and insurance reimbursement environment, said Hezi Himelfarb, CEO of IceCure Medical.

It also didn’t hurt that one of IceCure Medical’s investors was Bridge Investment Fund L.P., a venture capital fund with offices in Tel Aviv and Cleveland.

Bridge, which had invested more than $1 million in the company since 2008, specifically focuses on Israeli medical device companies that have completed their initial clinical trials and are looking to the U.S. market for further clinical validation and to establish a U.S. sales and marketing organization.

“Everything was in favor of Ohio,” said Mr. Himelfarb, who praised BioEnterprise for its help researching markets and early due diligence without any commitment

Röchling Automotive Akron

L

ast month, Röchling Automotive USA had its grand opening for its $15 million facility in Akron, the seventh U.S. location for the Germanybased high-performance plastics company and the second for its automotive group.

Röchling Automotive, which makes parts that improve fuel economy, started production in November at its 75,000-square-foot facility in the Massillon Road Industrial Park, said Robert Eimer, vice president and general manager of Röchling Automotive USA LLP.

from IceCure that it would locate in Northeast Ohio.

In May 2011, IceCure opened its new office in Cleveland’s Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center and launched the marketing and sales of its signature device known as IceSense3, a state-of-the-art, high-tech cryoablation system that treats benign breast tumors through freezing as a minimally invasive, office-based alternative to a surgical lumpectomy.

“Our ultimate objective is to treat any kind of tumor in the breast,” he said. “Our dream is to be able to treat small breast cancer tumors.”

Mr. Himelfarb said IceCure will participate in the second phase of a clinical trial to test the efficacy of cryoablation technology in breast cancer tumors 2 centimeters and smaller. The first phase of the trial began before the company received its approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration at the end of 2010.

The company has four employees in its Cleveland office, said Mr. Himelfarb, who is based in Israel but spends one week a month in Cleveland. In its first year, IceSense3 is being used in 13 medical facilities throughout the U.S. The company expects that number to grow to 50 facilities in 2012.

— Chrissy Kadleck

including Chevrolet and Ford Motor Co. The company has about 30 employees now and has plans to eventually employ more than 100 skilled workers, including machinists.

“We feel like the greater Akron area offers a good pool of potential employees with a strong manufacturing background,” Mr. Eimer said. “Especially, as Northeast Ohio has been the rubber and plastic center of America for many decades.

“From day one, we experienced an incredible support by Akron, which helped us to solve all open issues like building permitting, land contract, tax incentives, very, very quickly,” he said.

A team of organizations worked

“From day one, we experienced an incredible support by Akron, which helped us to solve all open issues.”

– Robert Eimer vice president and general manager, Röchling Automotive USA LLP Röchling selected Akron for four main reasons — its available site, geographic location, work force and business friendly environment, Mr. Eimer said.

“In the Massillon Road Industrial Park, we found an almost shovelready site with connection to major highways and all infrastructure/ utilities, especially power, available,” he said. “With Akron, we are in a good proximity to our major customers while still keeping our logistic chain to our main suppliers short.”

Röchling does injection molding of automotive parts and makes two products at the Akron facility for customers in the auto industry,

to attract Röchling to the area including the City of Akron, Summit County, the State of Ohio, Springfield Township, First Energy Corp., the Greater Akron Chamber, the Northeast Ohio Trade & Economic Consortium and Team NEO. The city of Akron offered Röchling an incentive package that included 12 acres of city-owned property in the Massillon Road Industrial Park, tax-increment financing for eight years, a rebate equal to 1% of the total annual payroll for the first five years of operation and the first right of refusal on an adjacent five-acre lot in the industrial park for future expansion.

— Chrissy Kadleck

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FEBRUARY 27 - MARCH 4, 2012

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS 15

GOING GLOBAL

INTERNATIONALLYKNOWN A look at some area companies doing business overseas.

Volk Optical Mentor

RPM International Inc. Medina

T

en years ago, RPM International Inc. had revenues of $1.9 billion, 90% of which came from its North American operating companies.

Then, newly appointed CEO Frank Sullivan implemented a five-year strategic plan that, among other financial goals and objectives, would expand the company’s reach in Europe, where revenues stood at about $180 million, about 9% of total revenues. The remaining 1% was from all other overseas ventures.

Mr. Sullivan, the third generation of his family to lead the company, said his strategy was for Medinabased RPM to build on its existing strength in Europe, where the customs and way of doing business are similar to those in North America.

At the time, he made a convincing case to his board of directors, saying, “If we can’t get it right in Europe, we have no business going anywhere else.”

Fast forward a decade later and the $3.6 billion specialty coatings company sells its product in 150 countries and territories. RPM’s products are made in 78 manufacturing facilities in 18 countries, and its 50 independent operating companies employ more than 9,000 people worldwide.

“It’s important to be strategic about where you want to go ... because it can be risky.”

– Frank Sullivan CEO, RPM International Inc. Mr. Sullivan said 35% of RPM’s revenues now are generated outside of North America. European revenues have more than quadrupled, growing to $800 million, and the company has solid footing in South America, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific with about $100 million of revenues in each of the three regions.

“About $2.4 billion of our $3.6 billion in revenues is in North America,” Mr. Sullivan said. “The remaining $1.2 billion is overseas, and we’re just hitting our stride.

Over the next five years we should expect to grow that amount by $700 to $800 million.”

To that end, RPM continues to aggressively expand its global footprint, particularly in European economies, but also in high-growth emerging markets such as Latin America, India and China. Every acquisition but one in fiscal year 2011 and one so far in fiscal year 2012 has been overseas.

“It’s important to be strategic about where you want to go and very deliberate about the process because it can be risky,” said Mr. Sullivan.

He said the last piece of the international puzzle for RPM will be finding a way for its business model to work in China.

“We haven’t cracked the nut in China yet,” he said. “It’s a real challenge, and it will be the last stage for us.”

— Chrissy Kadleck

V

olk Optical of Mentor strives to be a global company, not simply a company that sells overseas.

A standout for its strong export growth during the past four years, Volk was one of 27 companies nationally that received the Presidential “E” Award for Exports in May. The company, which manufactures ophthalmic lenses and imaging products that are used to diagnose and treat conditions of the eye, also received a Governor’s Excellence in

Exporting Award by the state of Ohio in September 2009.

Exports have been a major component of Volk’s growth strategy over the past decade and in particular, the last several years, said John Strobel, vice president of sales and marketing. Now its products are used by eye doctors in more than 100 countries.

“Five years ago we put our first person overseas in the UK to cover our European distributors,” Mr. Strobel said. Volk, which is part of the publicly traded Halma Group of the United Kingdom, then opened offices in India, China and most recently, Brazil, in 2011.

“What we are really looking at doing is having more of a regional focus where we have sales and service offices to really focus on our distributors and dig down deeper into the market.”

Nearly 65% to 70% of the firm’s sales are international, said Mr. Strobel, adding that Volk is one of the few companies in Ohio that has an export license to sell to Iran.

Even during the economic downturn, Volk’s international focus enabled the company to increase sales and profits while creating jobs in the U.S., he said.

“One of the biggest positives we have seen about going global is

that we aren’t always relying on the U.S. market to carry the company,” he said. For instance, Volk has reported solid double digit growth annually in its export markets, which also includes the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

“There is really more balance to the company. A lot of small companies are afraid to go international because they don’t really know how but once they get their feet and get going it becomes almost a way of life and you just want to keep expanding,” he said. “As long as you stay focused on your core markets, it really can add to your domestic market as well.” — Chrissy Kadleck

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16 CRAINâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM

FEBRUARY 27 - MARCH 4, 2012

GOING GLOBAL

OTHERVIEWS

vices, extend the business life cycle and create new jobs.

Crainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s asks those with backgrounds in global business why itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important to think internationally and what barriers might exist.

Q What are some of the barriers to operating on an international level?

LARRY MILLER President Global Cleveland Global Cleveland is an organization focused on regional economic development through attracting newcomers.

Q Why is it important for Northeast Ohio to be a player in the global business community?

A Many businesses find themselves working in an increasingly global, international marketplace, whether they choose to or not.

Local companies are designing and producing products in this region for use in faraway markets like China, India, Brazil and Russia.

Even small companies find themselves working with customers, suppliers and partners from all over the world. Thanks to modern travel and communication, competition also can arise from just about anywhere in the world. To be successful in this environment, local companies strive to create an environment that reflects the global marketplace and look to hire employees who have global business skills and experience.

Q What are some of the barriers to operating on an international level?

A Finding international talent and

experience can be a major challenge.

It is important to tap into the experience of people who know how customer tastes, preferences and languages change from country to country. These employees know how key business processes like product standards, logistics and marketing, as well as labor law, intellectual property law and business ethics, vary from country to country.

ROBERT F. SCHERER

A Typical barriers to exporting include an inadequate organizational infrastructure, tariffs, regulations and standards, documentation and customs clearance, transportation, and financing and insurance.

However, an often-overlooked barrier is the â&#x20AC;&#x153;fearâ&#x20AC;? of exporting by small and medium-sized firms that are concerned about being paid for their products and services from international customers.

RĂ&#x2030;KA BARABĂ S Executive director TiE Ohio

Dean and professor of management Monte Ahuja College of Business, Cleveland State University The college of business in 2011 received a Presidential â&#x20AC;&#x153;Eâ&#x20AC;? Award for Exports, which is the highest recognition an organization can receive for making a significant contribution to the expansion of U.S. exports.

Q Why is it important for Northeast Ohio to be a player in the global business community?

A Regions that are strong exporters yield higher wages and salaries for the work force than regions whose orientation is primarily domestic.

Vigorous participation in global markets can produce greater industry competition and lead to innovations in products and ser-

The International Entrepreneurs (TiE) Ohio is focused on immigrant, international and minority entrepreneurs within the region.

Q Why is it important for Northeast Ohio to be a player in the global business community?

A Because there are several regions outside the U.S. that are developing at a faster pace than the U.S. and their purchasing power is exploding.

Q What are some of the barriers to operating on an international level?

A A lack of trusted networks that could lead you to the right resources and country-specific knowledge.

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Exporting: Companies must prep for more globalization continued from PAGE 13

Miraglia said, so its products have to be better than the competitionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s or represent an engineering feat that canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be reliably duplicated by someone else.

Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also why only about $150 million of Timkenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s total steel exports are raw steel, Mr. Miraglia said.

The rest is exported in the form of completed assemblies and components, including the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s flagship product, bearings, which are known worldwide, Mr. Miraglia said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We probably have nearly half of our sales for the bearing business serving non-North American demand,â&#x20AC;? he said.

To the north, in Cleveland, welding equipment and supply manufacturer Lincoln Electric follows a similar philosophy. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We segment the welding business into the high end, the middle and the low end,â&#x20AC;? said company CEO John Stropki. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The high end of the market, we service from a few export facilities, including Cleveland. The middle, we service by local productionâ&#x20AC;? in the country where the products are sold, Mr. Stropki said.

And the low end of the market?

The low-cost producers that donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t compete on quality can have that; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a commodity business and not what Lincolnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s after, Mr. Stropki said.

To serve the middle, Lincoln has plants all over the world â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 42 facilities in 19 different countries. It doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t try to make its least-expensive welding equipment or many welding consumables in Cleveland to sell in China, or vice versa. But it sells in 170 countries, Mr. Stropki said, and a good portion of the high-end products it sells internationally still are made here. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve exported from our Cleveland operations approximately $2 billion worth of product in the last six years,â&#x20AC;? Mr. Stropki said.

Customer follow up Following customers into new markets is a great way for smaller companies to not only begin exporting to their foreign operations, but to set up a beachhead in another nation from which to find still other customers, said Susan Whitney, director of the U.S. Commerce Departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Commercial Service office in Cleveland. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When that happens, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot easier,â&#x20AC;? Ms. Whitney said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;One of the questions we ask companies is, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Who do you sell to now?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; And then we look overseas and say, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a subsidiary of that same company you might be able to sell to.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;?

Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a strategy big companies use as well. For example, Mr. Stropki said Lincoln often follows large customers such as Caterpillar into new foreign markets. It exports the products that Caterpillar needs to make heavy equipment and establishes its own operations alongside Caterpillar to provide them locally, he said.

Another way to expand geographically is to follow an industry, and companies such as Timken and Lincoln do that as well.

For example, Timken knows that wherever there is a surge in mining or oil and gas exploration, it will see increased demand for its prod-

ucts either in the markets where the activity is taking place, or with the companies that supply that market themselves.

Similarly, Lincoln Electric knows that wherever there is a lot of infrastructure investment, there will be a lot of welding going on â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and demand for its products, said Mr. Stropki.

Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one reason many companies say they are starting to see more export opportunities in not only Asia, but in Latin America and South America. Brazil is still behind France in terms of the manufactured goods it buys from the U.S., but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s catching up as its oil and gas industry grows and as the company improves its infrastructure, say export experts.

But Brazil also illustrates a lingering challenge to exporters, in that it has not fully opened its markets to U.S. manufacturers, said Don Esarove, chairman of the Northeast Ohio International Business Network and an exporting manufacturer himself. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Brazil wants to grow its own industries, and they can make it very difficult to import product,â&#x20AC;?

Mr. Esarove said, noting that his automotive supply company has had more difficulty exporting parts to Brazil than to places such as China.

Lands of opportunity But as the globalization continues, experts expect more free trade agreements and other factors to bring down the barriers to trade, making it easier to sell into not only Brazil, but markets all over the world.

So itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only going to become more important for companies here and across the U.S. to step up their export games â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and not nearly enough of them have done so, said Bernardine van Kessel, director of international business attraction for Team NEO. â&#x20AC;&#x153;For small and medium-sized companies, there are just so many opportunities now,â&#x20AC;? Ms. van Kessel said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disheartening, sometimes, because they just donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do it.â&#x20AC;?

Much of Northeast Ohioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exports go to Canada, which is a great place for a company to cut its export teeth, Ms. van Kessel said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You can start the easy way, by getting into Canada,â&#x20AC;? Ms. van Kessel suggests. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Canada is by far our largest trading partner. â&#x20AC;Ś The language is the same, the cultures are similar and the logistics are easier to deal with.â&#x20AC;?

Ms. Whitney of the Commercial Service office predicts even more local companies will export in the future. Companies that can provide a valuable product overseas, one thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s better than what can be made elsewhere, are reaping too many benefits to slow down, she said. Meanwhile, more are realizing that exporting is a means of achieving more diversity, while at the same time accessing the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fastest growing markets. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In the last recession, companies that exported fared much better than those that did not,â&#x20AC;? Ms. Whitney said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s because they had more diversification. When one country slows down, if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve diversified you have other markets to sell to. I think companies realize that.â&#x20AC;? â&#x2013;

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CRAINâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM

17

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS BASED IN NE OHIO RANKED BY NUMBER OF MEMBERS(1)

Name of firm Address Rank Phone/Website

Members NE Number of Ohio members Year founded

1

ASM International 9639 Kinsman Road, Materials Park 44073 (440) 338-5151/www.asminternational.org

35,401

2

International Association of Information Technology Asset Managers 4848 Munson St. NW, Canton 44718 (330) 628-3012/www.iaitam.org

3

Publications

Meetings

Description or mission

Top executive

1,242 1913

Advanced Materials & Processes, International Thermal Spray

AeroMat Conference and Exposition, Trends in Welding Research

Serves materials professionals, nontechnical personnel and managers by providing highquality materials information and education

7,200

720 1998

ITAK News

IAITAM Annual Conference & Exhibition

For individuals and organizations involved in any aspect of IT Asset Management (ITAM), Barbara Rembiesa Software Asset Management (SAM), Hardware CEO, founder Asset Management

International Society of Explosives Engineers 30325 Bainbridge Road, Cleveland 44139 (440) 349-4400/www.isee.org

4,000

NA 1974

The Journal of Explosives Annual Conference on Explosives Provides technology, education and information Engineering, Blasting and Blasting Technique; Ohio to promote the safe, secure and controlled use Winston Forde and Fragmentation executive director Drilling & Blasting Conference of commercial explosives Journal

4

Institute of Mathematical Statistics P.O. Box 22718, Beachwood 44122 (216) 295-2340/http://imstat.org

3,993

5 1935

Annals of Applied Probability, Annals of Applied Statistics

World Congress in Probability and Statistics, Joint Statistical Meetings, IMS Annual Meeting

To foster the development and dissemination of Elyse Gustafson the theory and applications of statistics and executive director probability

5

American Orff-Schulwerk Association P.O. Box 391089, Cleveland 44139 (440) 543-5366/www.aosa.org

3,552

83 1968

The Orff Echo

AOSA Professional Development Conference

Professional educators dedicated to the creative music and movement approach developed by Carl Orff and Gunild Keetman

6

North American Police Work Dog Association 4222 Manchester Ave., Perry 44081 (888) 422-6463/www.napwda.com

3,300

175 1977

NAPWDA News & Events 2 meetings, 20 state workshops, Dedicated to assisting police work dog teams to Enrich, Enlighten & 1 national workshop throughout the world Enable

Harold Bennett president

7

National Association of College Stores 500 E. Lorain St. , Oberlin 44074 (800) 622-7498/www.nacs.org

3,100

55 1923

The College Store Magazine; Campus Marketplace

CAMEX (CAmpus Market EXpo)

To be the leading advocate and resource for college stores â&#x20AC;&#x201D; helping them connect, grow, and succeed

Brian E. Cartier CEO

8

Association of Nurses in AIDS Care 3538 Ridgewood Road, Akron 44333 (330) 670-0101/www.nursesinaidscare.org

2,000

31 1987

Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care

Annual convention

Education and support of HIV nurses

Kimberly Carbaugh COO

8

Society for Investigative Dermatology 526 Superior Ave. East, Suite 540, Cleveland 44114 (216) 579-9300/www.sidnet.org

2,000

25 1937

Journal of Investigative Dermatology

Annual meeting

To advance and promote the sciences relevant Rebecca Minnillo to skin health and disease through education, Jim Rumsey advocacy and exchange of scientific information executive directors

8

Society for Photographic Education 2530 Superior Ave., Suite 403, Cleveland 44114 (216) 622-2733/www.spenational.org

2,000

50 1963

Exposure Journal, members' newsletter, membership directory

SPE National Conference, SPE Regional Conferences

Provides a forum for the discussion of photography and related media as a means of creative expression and cultural insight

Virginia Morrison executive director

11

The North American Menopause Society 5900 Landerbrook Drive, Suite 390, Mayfield Heights 44124 (440) 442-7550/www.menopause.org

1,968

90 1989

Menopause (journal), Menopause Practice: A Clinician's Guide

NAMS Annual Meeting

To promote the health and quality of life of all women during midlife and beyond through an understanding of menopause and healthy aging

Margery L.S. Gass executive director

12

Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society 411 Wolf Ledges Pkwy., Suite 201, Akron 44311 (330) 972-7814/www.rubber.org

1,888

288 1909

Rubber Chemistry and Technology

Rubber Expo and Advanced Materials in Health Care

To expand the elastomeric profession and individual development through educational, technical, and inter-active activities

Edward L. Miller executive director

13

Marble Institute of America 28901 Clemens Road, Suite 100, Cleveland 44145 (440) 250-9222/www.marble-institute.com

1,654

20 1944

Newsletter, technical manual, consumer materials

StonExpo/Marmomacc of the Americas

Stone industry trade association; educates users and designers, promotes craftsmanship and establishes standards and specifications for stone

Garis F. Distelhorst executive vice president, CEO

14

American Society of Sanitary Engineering 901 Canterbury Road, Suite A, Westlake 44145 (440) 835-3040/www.asse-plumbing.org

1,089

43 1906

Plumbing Standards Magazine

Annual Meeting, E.J. Zimmer Technical Seminar & Exhibition

ASSE is an ANSI Accredited standards developer and product certification body

Donald R. Summers Jr., international president

15

United States Association for Energy Economics 28790 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 350, Cleveland 44122 (216) 464-2785/www.usaee.org

997

18 1994

Dialogue, Working Paper Annual North American Series conference

Advances the understanding and application of economics across all facets of energy development and use

David L. Williams executive director

16

Precision Metalforming Association 6363 Oak Tree Blvd., Independence 44131 (216) 901-8800/www.pma.org

900

85 1913

MetalForming magazine

Manufacturing for Growth (MFG) Meeting, FABTECH tradeshow

PMA represents the $113 billion metalforming industry of North America, which creates precision metal products

William Gaskin president

17

American Association of Neuropathologists 25373 Tyndall Falls Drive, Olmsted Falls 44138 (440) 793-6565/www.neuropath.org

868

9 1959

Journal of Neuropathology & Experimental Neurology

Annual meeting

The association addresses the needs of physicians and scientists in the field of neuropathology

Raymond Sobel president

18

Association for Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums 8774 state Route 45, North Bloomfield 44450 (440) 685-4410/www.alhfam.org

800

25 1970

Quarterly magazine, proceedings of annual conference

2012 Farmers Branch, Texas 2013 Bath Ohio 2014 Calgary, AB

Institutions and individuals dealing with interpretation of agricultural and economic history and why we need to understand it

Peter Watson president

19

American Holistic Medical Association 27629 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 213, Woodmere 44122 (216) 292-6644/www.holisticmedicine.org

733

97 1978

NA

iMosaic (Integrative Medicine Offering Science-based Alternatives In Collaboration)

To help create a healthy world by promoting holistic/integrative principles and practice in health care

Steve L. Cadwell executive director, CEO

20

Russian American Medical Association 36100 Euclid Ave., Suite 330-B, Willoughby 44094 (440) 321-2311/www.russiandoctors.org

675

150 2002

RAMA Journal

RAMA annual national conference Improvement of health care system

21

Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers P.O. Box 268, Oberlin 44070 (440) 774-2887/www.ascfg.org

600

4 1988

Conference and Trade The Cut Flower Quarterly National Show

The ASCFG provides production and marketing information to field and greenhouse cut flower growers

Judy Laushman executive director

21

United States Trager Association 13801 W. Center St., Suite C, Burton 44021 (440) 834-0308/www.tragerus.org

600

10 2001

Quarterly membership newsletter

Annual membership conference

Nonprofit membership organization supporting Trager practitioners in the USA

Anna Marie Bowers administrative director

23

American Institute of Organbuilders P.O. Box 35306, Canton 44735 (330) 806-9011/www.pipeorgan.org

450

76 1974

Journal of American Organbuilding

Annual Convention (September or Pipe organ building education October Yearly)

24

Precision Machined Products Association 6700 W. Snowville Road, Brecksville 44141 (440) 526-0300/www.pmpa.org

430

45 1933

Production Machining Magazine

Precision Machining Technology Show

Provide programs and services to the precision Michael B. Duffin machining industry in North America. executive director

25

Hard Hatted Women 4415 Euclid Ave., Suite 301, Cleveland 44103 (216) 861-6500/www.hardhattedwomen.org

400

NA 1979

NA

NA

Provides expertise for the successful recruitment and advancement of women in high- NA wage trade and technical careers

26

National Confectionery Sales Association Spitfire House, 3135 Berea Road, Cleveland 44111 (216) 631-8200/www.candyhalloffame.org

300

NA 1898

Yearbook and roster

Annual general meeting, two board meetings and Candy Hall of Fame Banquet

Administers the Candy Hall of Fame and provides scholarships to industry related students

Steve Forster executive director

27

American Aging Association 25373 Tyndall Falls Drive, Olmsted Falls 44138 (440) 793-6565/www.americanaging.org

197

NA 1970

Age

Annual meeting

To promote biomedical aging studies directed towards increasing the functional life span of humans

Michael Forster president

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. Business lists and The Book of Lists are available to purchase at www.crainscleveland.com.

(1) Source: Association websites, Associations Unlimited, individual associations. Fraternities, sororities, unions, honor societies and religious organizations are not listed.

Stanley C. Theobald managing director

Carrie L. Barnette executive director

Boris Vinogradsky, MD chairman

Robert Sullivan executive secretary

RESEARCHED BY Deborah W. Hillyer

20120227-NEWS--18-NAT-CCI-CL_--

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2/24/2012

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM

FEBRUARY 27 - MARCH 4, 2012

REAL ESTATE CLASSIFIED Phone: (216) 522-1383 Fax: (216) 694-4264 Contact: Toni Coleman E-mail: tcoleman@crain.com INDUSTRIAL SPACE

Copy Deadline: Wednesdays @ 2:00 p.m.

All Ads Pre-Paid: Check or Credit Card FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE AUCTION / MARCH 29 OUT-OF-STATE 4 MOBILE HOME PARKS IN NE OHIO OWNER ORDERS Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas Orders the Immediate Sale Pursuant to Case No. 2010CV03145

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216-691-7897 www.stysinc.com

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Call Toni Coleman at 216.522.1383

Crain’s Executive Recruiter OFFERED ABSOLUTE, REGARDLESS OF PRICE

Vintage Village Mobile Home Park

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Currently 52% occupied with Gross Annual Income of $383,423.

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Current NOI: $26,342 Current NOI: $18,316

4269 Pearl Rd., Cleveland, OH 44109 - Four-story medical/ office building consisting of 41,153 SF on approx 0.6 Acres.

Built in 1983 of steel-frame and concrete construction with brick exterior. Currently 27% occupied with $174,227 in annual rent. Incredible upside potential!

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REAL ESTATE AUCTION / MARCH 29

STRATEGIC LAND DEVELOPMENT SITES Twinsburg, OH

Broadview Heights, OH

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Off-Site Due Diligence Seminar: Tuesday, March 20th, 2:00P.M. to 4:00P.M. Chartwell Group Headquarters, 1301 E. 9th St., #2210, Cleveland, OH 44114

For Additional Information, Brochure and Terms of Sale, Call Mark Abood, OH RE Salesperson, 216-360-0009 Chartwell Group, LLC/Chartwell Auctions, LLC Michael Berland, OH Auctioneer • www.chartwellauctions.com

OFFICE SPACE

LERGAL NOTICE

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20120227-NEWS--19-NAT-CCI-CL_--

2/24/2012

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FEBRUARY 27 - MARCH 4, 2012

CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM

19

THEINSIDER

THEWEEK FEBRUARY 20 - 26 The big story: Northeast Ohio’s business attraction efforts in 2011 netted 11 businesses that are expected to create 1,430 jobs and $52 million in new annual payroll, according to a year-end tally from Team NEO. The nonprofit business attraction organization said those numbers represent the highest annual job count and payroll the group and its network of community economic development partners have recorded since the program began in 2007.

A fresh look: Although his days are numbered as MetroHealth’s chief executive, Mark Moran shared with employees the health system’s ambitious plan for growth — one that includes continuing to muscle up its outpatient network and overhaul its aging main campus on West 25th Street in Cleveland. Other than the county-subsidized hospital’s critical care pavilion and primary research building, few structures may remain standing, Moran including MetroHealth’s iconic patient towers built in the 1970s. MetroHealth also plans to build four satellite medical centers, including a $23 million center breaking ground next month in Middleburg Heights.

They hope it’s a hit: BioEnterprise Corp. launched a program designed to provide advice and connections to startups that have developed information technology products for the health care sector. Health IT companies can apply to join H.I.T. Accelerator, which will help them build relationships with local organizations that could become customers. Participating organizations include five of the region’s largest hospital systems as well as Medical Mutual of Cleveland, SummaCare of Akron and Case Western Reserve University.

Good start:

Aided by a low-snow winter, Northeast Ohio home sales climbed almost 26% to 2,216 in January from 1,766 listings in January 2011, according to statistics for sold listings from the Northern Ohio Regional Multiple Listing Service. “Clearly, the weather had something to do with it,” said Carl DeMusz, CEO of NORMLS. “But it is also due to other factors such as continued low interest rates and a little better job picture.” The average sale price of listings climbed almost 8%, to $107,563 last month from $103,175 in January 2011.

Showing off: NASA Glenn Research Center plans to host a technology showcase that could involve all 10 NASA centers. Charles Bolden, who leads the federal agency, gave NASA Glenn the go-ahead to organize the event, said Robert “Joe” Shaw, chief of NASA Glenn’s business development and partnership office. The event will take place sometime between this fall and the end of spring 2013.

Break on through: The Cleveland Clinic found a second organization to join its Innovation Alliance program, a collaborative effort to commercialize medical breakthroughs. The Clinic’s latest partner is North Shore-LIJ Health System, which operates the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, N.Y. The Clinic’s first partner in the Innovation Alliance was MedStar Health, the mid-Atlantic’s largest health care system.

Up, up, up: Fueled by an 18% surge in passenger traffic aboard AirTran Airways and growth aboard Frontier Airlines, Delta Air Lines and US Airways, Akron-Canton Airport kicked off 2012 with record passenger traffic in January. AkronCanton said nearly 126,000 passengers traveled to and from the airport last month, an increase of 12.6% from January 2011. It marks the 10th record-breaking month in a row for the airport.

REPORTERS’ NOTEBOOK BEHIND THE NEWS WITH CRAIN’S WRITERS

California, here they come

Where’s the beef?

Try a karate school

■ Driven to meet client demand on the West Coast, Cleveland law firm Hahn Loeser & Parks LLP is opening an office in downtown San Diego, the firm’s seventh overall.

Set to open this Thursday, March 1, in One America Plaza, San Diego’s tallest building at 497 feet high, the office will be staffed initially with Michael J. Gleason, a Cleveland partner who will be managing partner of the San Diego office, and Nevenka S. Whitworth, a Cleveland paralegal who also moved there.

CEO Larry Oscar said the firm was drawn to San Diego because it has had more than 70 California-related projects and clients in recent years. Plus, the city is a medical, aerospace and defense hub, and Hahn Loeser is active in those areas, Mr. Oscar said.

“We’re seeing a natural opportunity,” he said.

The firm expects to grow the office to three lawyers by the end of the first year, said Steven A. Goldfarb, the co-chairman of the firm’s litigation area who will serve as board member liaison for the San Diego office.

The firm has enjoyed a significant amount of work in California, and there’s “no reason to think it will stop,” said Mr. Goldfarb, who himself has significant client business there.

Hahn Loeser employs 130 lawyers in its offices. In addition to Cleveland, it has offices in Akron, Columbus, Indianapolis, Fort Myers, Fla., and Naples, Fla. — Michelle Park

■ You might get a kick, literally, out of the answer to this question: What do a private residence in Cleveland Heights and a karate school in Mentor have in common?

They will be the pickup points for orders of grass-fed beef sold during a beef sale announced last week by Geauga Family Farms, a cooperative of organic farmers in Geauga County.

■ Tremco Inc., a Beachwood-based maker Rather than force customers to drive to of advanced roofing and construction matethe farms or their distribrials, has invested about utor in Parkman, Geauga $5.5 million in gold.

Family Farms plans to deThat’s what the company liver orders on March 10 spent redoing its headto the home of Michelle quarters over the last Bandy-Zalatoris, who is a couple years, and it was representative for the rewarded Feb. 17 when farms, and on March 24 the renovated building to Hill’s Family Karate, achieved a gold “LEED” whose owners are friends certification from the U.S. Tremco Inc.’s green roof, on which of the cooperative.

Green Building Council. the company grows herbs Ms. Bandy-Zalatoris said LEED stands for Leadthe beef, produce, eggs, ership in Energy and breads and jams that are available from the Environmental Design. Gold is the council’s cooperative’s farmers normally are sold highest level of certification — and what during the summer months through a comTremco was shooting for with its project. munity-supported agriculture program, From its green roof that saves energy and whereby consumers pay upfront for a share also grows herbs for the company cafeteria, of the farm output. However, during the to advanced paving systems and weatherwinter months, her home and the karate proofing, Tremco’s new headquarters is a school serve as the link between farm and model of efficiency. Perhaps more imporcustomer for products such as triple-berry tantly, though, it’s also a showcase for the jam and dark amber syrup, as well as — on company’s products, many of which were used this occasion — grass-fed beef. in the building’s renovation. —Dan Shingler

MILESTONE

BEST OF THE BLOGS

THE COMPANY: The HMC Group, Westlake THE OCCASION: Its 80th anniversary

Excerpts from recent blog entries on CrainsCleveland.com.

Lest you think bad-debt collection is a modern phenomenon, The HMC Group has been in the business for 80 years.

The company was founded in 1932 by John Head as Head Mercantile Co. In 1975, Leonard Scharfeld, its corporate attorney, bought the business. His son, Steven Scharfeld, joined the business that year, followed by another son, James Scharfeld, in 1977.

Leonard died in 2009, and the company now is owned and operated by Steven and James, both of whom carry the title of president.

HMC Group specializes in collecting delinquent accounts receivable for a variety of creditors. It also handles so-called “early-out” billing — self-payments by patients — for more than 40 hospitals nationwide.

The company has about 85 employees and does business in Ohio, Illinois, Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Three other Scharfeld family members work at The HMC Group. Nancy Scharfeld, James’ wife, is in charge of the accounting department. Justin Scharfeld, James’ son, is the assistant collection manager, while Rob Scharfeld, Steven’s son, who joined the company in 2011, is learning the business.

For information, visit www.hmcgrp.org.

Send information about significant corporate anniversaries to managing editor Scott Suttell at ssuttell@crain.com.

Packages of the latter include steaks, roasts, ground beef and other products and range from $54 to $89. To place an order, contact Ms. Bandy-Zalatoris at michellebz @geaugafamilyfarms.org. Orders must be placed by March 1 for pickup in Cleveland Heights and March 15 for pickup in Mentor.

—Mark Dodosh

There’s gold in that thar building

GM’s coming bonus day a bonus for Ohio economy ■ General Motors Co.’s $9.2 billion profit for 2011 is leading to profit-sharing checks of as much as $7,000 for 47,500 eligible UAW members, which Bloomberg reported “may help lift the economies of states with unionized auto factories, such as Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky.”

The bonuses are “an all-time high for GM, and up from an average of $4,300 for the company’s U.S. union workers last year,” Bloomberg said. The payouts are scheduled for March 2.

David Green, president of UAW Local 1714 in Lordstown, which stamps metal parts for the Chevrolet Cruze, told Bloomberg he plans to pay off his 2011 Cruze with his GM profit sharing.

“I would think some folks are going to save it after being through some tough times, other people are going to use it to pay off bills and some are going to go out and buy stuff,” Mr. Green said.

The robust bonuses “will help consumers shake off fears from the Great Recession and boost spending,” particularly in the industrial Midwest, according to Bloomberg.

Clothes make the man; they also make him uncomfortable ■ Add clothing to the list of things that might not be good for your health.

So said The Wall Street Journal in a story that included a comment from a Cleveland Clinic expert in contact dermatitis.

“Apparel and accessories that are too tight, too loose, too heavy, too high or too

floppy can all create health issues,” The Journal said. “Wearers sometimes have no idea that the culprit is their clothes.”

Among the clothes that might be bad for you: tight jeans (they can interfere with digestion) and too-tight shirts and ties (headaches and blurred vision.)

In a section on fabrics, the Clinic’s Dr. Apra Sood told The Journal that while allergies to specific fibers are relatively rare, they occur more often with synthetics and blends than all wool, cotton or silk. More often, people who develop rashes and other irritations from clothes are reacting to dyes, fabric softeners and finishers that can include formaldehyde.

“Washing new clothes a couple of times before wearing can reduce that,” she said.

When dinosaurs drove among us ■ There was a charming Cleveland connection at the top of a Bloomberg story about the differences between Mitt Romney and his father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney.

Mitt Romney has said he learned to love “chrome and fins and roaring motors” while growing up in Detroit. His father “might have disagreed with such sentiment.”

Bloomberg noted that George Romney, a one-time chairman of the now-defunct American Motors Corp., “was a pioneer of small, fuel-efficient cars, most notably the Rambler.”

He even kept a plaque in his office from the Cleveland Auto Dealers Association that read: “To George Romney, critic, lecturer, anthropologist, white hunter of the American dinosaur.”

To the elder Mr. Romney, Bloomberg said, “the gas-guzzling, chrome-laden automobiles of his era were doomed just like the prehistoric beasts.”

20120227-NEWS--20-NAT-CCI-CL_--

2/23/2012

3:24 PM

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