20100927-NEWS--1-NAT-CCI-CL_--
9/24/2010
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$1.50/SEPTEMBER 27 - OCTOBER 3, 2010
Vol. 31, No. 3
Manufacturing begins to climb from deep hole Brookings report shows Cleveland No. 2 in 2Q job growth; outlook reveals uphill battle By DAN SHINGLER dshingler@crain.com
MARC GOLUB
ABOVE: Patrick Conway (left) and Daniel Conway, brothers and co-owners of Great Lakes Brewing Co., are investing $6 million into the operation to increase beer production; the expenditures include new fermenters in the tank farm. BELOW: New equipment more than doubles bottling to 240 bottles per minute, from 105.
GROWTH ON TAP AT GREAT LAKES Ohio City brewer creates buzz with $6 million in capital improvements that will bolster production
See JOBS Page 26
Apartment owner grapples with spate of foreclosures
By KATHY AMES CARR kcarr@crain.com
By STAN BULLARD sbullard@crain.com
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Debt woes are striking Niederst Management, one of the largest — and, for a time, one of Northeast Ohio’s fastest-growing — apartment ownership concerns. Fannie Mae, the governmentbacked company that underwrites housing debt, on Sept. 3 sued to foreclose on Niederst’s Richmond Park Apartments in Richmond Heights
reat Lakes Brewing Co. has been fulfilling its expansion plans in the same way fans of its carefully crafted beers and ales slake their thirst — by sipping, not gulping down market share all at once. As a result, the brewer in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood has been growing slowly and methodically within its 65,000square-foot brewhouse on Carroll Avenue between West 26th and West 28th streets. The latest installment of its expansion effort involves a $6 million investment that would boost its production capacity to meet heightened demand.
under a $30 million mortgage. Likewise, Minneapolis-based US Bank National Association sued Sept. 9 to foreclose on Niederst’s Highland House Apartments in Lakewood. Both cases are in Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas. Those actions follow the decision of Dallas-based investment banker Orix Capital Markets LLC to sue Niederst Aug. 6 in Lorain County Court of Common Pleas in a See LOANS Page 26
INSIDE A closer look at legal software A global law firm with a large Cleveland office is one of a few legal outfits using a new method that allows lawyers to blast through thousands of electronic records. Read Chuck Soder’s story on Page 3.
See BREWING Page 14
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Cleveland seems to be digging out of its jobs hole — but, oh, does it have a long way to go. Economic development advocates are touting a new research report by the Brookings Institution that ranked Cleveland No. 2 among the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas in manufacturing job growth during the second Zeller quarter. Its 3% increase trailed only No. 1 Youngstown, which saw an 8.9% spurt in manufacturing jobs in the quarter. However, that same report showed that while the Cleveland
market appears to be gaining jobs faster than the country as a whole now, it suffered more job loss over the breadth of the downturn. The nation saw a 5.5% drop in overall employment between its peak in 2006 and the middle of 2010, according to Brookings. By contrast, the Cleveland area saw a 7.3% decline in employment over that period. And the view is worse over the long term, according to local economist George Zeller, who has been saying for years that Ohio and the Cleveland area entered their own recession in 2000 — and never came out. Since 2000, Cuyahoga County has
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LEGAL AFFAIRS Employers make accommodations for nursing mothers ■ Page 19 PLUS: THE INTERVIEW ■ ADA CLAIMS ■ HIRING TRENDS ■ & MORE
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