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County to revisit real estate holdings FitzGerald open to sale of properties as he looks to address government space needs By JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com
The new Cuyahoga County government is picking up on the old government’s attempt to rethink its real estate portfolio and to incorpo-
rate its space needs into broader redevelopment efforts in downtown Cleveland. County Executive Ed FitzGerald said last week his administration is working on a strategy that would address the county’s longstanding
need to find a new home for many of its workers, dispose of some of the property it owns and be a catalyst for other private development. Mr. FitzGerald told Crain’s he plans to reopen the conversation regarding the best solutions for the real estate puzzle this Wednesday, April 6, during his State of the County address, which will be held before a City Club of Cleveland audience at the Marriott at Key Center.
“We’re trying to come up with a process that’s really going to throw it open to anybody who can come up with a creative package,” Mr. FitzGerald said. “You might, for example, have somebody that owns a building that we might want to do a swap with. “We want to see if there are ways to either sell (buildings) off piecemeal or ways to package them together,” he said.
Two county-owned properties are of particular interest to the real estate community: the Ameritrust complex at East Ninth Street and Euclid Avenue, and the four-story county administration building on Ontario Street that sits next to the site of the new convention center and medical merchandise mart, which are under construction. A transformation of the vacant See COUNTY Page 18
FDA testing resolve of biomed firms More scrutiny may slow product approval process By CHUCK SODER csoder@crain.com
SHIPPERS FEEL THE SQUEEZE Freight companies, customers face rough road as rising fuel prices start to ding bottom lines By DAN SHINGLER dshingler@crain.com
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teep fuel prices are affecting more than commuters, with local trucking and logistic companies feeling the pinch as their gasoline and diesel costs climb. Next, they say, manufactures and other shippers are likely to be hit by
price increases and possibly even truck shortages. “Trucking right now is very, very dangerous. Rates are going through the roof, and trucks are hard to find,” said Hank Newman, president and founder of Recon Logistics, a company in Chagrin Falls that helps small manufacturers and other shippers See GAS Page 9
NOT PUMPED UP Trucking and logistics companies and manufacturers are troubled by the implications steep fuel costs may have on their business: ■ Even when shippers pass on their higher fuel costs, their profit margins still suffer because they cannot apply surcharges when trucks run empty. ■ With fewer dollars available to invest in more trucks, the supply of available shipping capacity threatens to collide with an increased demand for shipping services from busier manufacturers.
Getting a medical device past federal regulators has gotten a lot harder lately, according to several Northeast Ohio biomedical companies. Now they’re wondering if it might get harder still — and whether the increased scrutiny could make it difficult for fledgling device makers to attract investment or simply survive the process. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration in January announced a list of 25 changes it plans to make to the 510(k) process, which is the pathway by which a large majority of medical devices receive FDA approval. The 510(k) pathway is reserved for products See FDA Page 6
INSIDE Ball’s in their court Some local companies and other organizations say they are looking at how effective their Cavs sponsorships are as certain metrics such as TV ratings decline. Read Joel Hammond’s story on Page 3.
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SPECIAL SECTION
We profile nine family owned businesses ■ Page 13
Entire contents © 2011 by Crain Communications Inc. Vol. 32, No. 14