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11/4/2011
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$2.00/NOVEMBER 7 - 13, 2011
Brownfield grant programs may lapse By JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com
State funds enable distressed property cleanup, urban redevelopment
Two state economic development grant programs that help businesses and communities resurrect distressed properties may expire in the next eight months, and the Kasich administration so far has no plan in place to continue them.
Both programs — the Clean Ohio Fund and the Job Ready Sites program — have strong support statewide, particularly in urban areas that have little or no undeveloped land. With outright grants, the programs help cover part of the
cost of cleaning up chemically contaminated land or vacant, asbestosfilled buildings. Authorization for the Job Ready Sites program is set to expire Dec. 31. The deadline for the final round of grants was Nov. 1. Observers say
the Clean Ohio Fund may end by June 30, 2012, when winners will be announced for the round of money for which communities now are applying. Ohio Department of Development spokeswoman Katie Sabatino
said the state considers these successful programs, but is evaluating its options for assisting with the redevelopment of brownfield sites. Of the Clean Ohio Fund in particular, she said, “The Ohio Department of Development is working with the (Kasich) administration to chart a path to assist with brownfield issues.” See GRANTS Page 21
Specialty chemicals industry preps for natural gas windfall Plastics producers will benefit with extraction of ‘liquid’ raw materials By DAN SHINGLER dshingler@crain.com
MARC GOLUB
Michael Churney, president of Churneys’ Truck Center in Cleveland, aggressively pursued a loan to refinance debt and even wrote to his congresswoman about his inability to obtain financing. In July, he received an SBA loan from a local bank.
LENDING SPIGOT OPENS UP Small Business Administration’s Cleveland district particularly benefits as more credit-worthy borrowers receive loans
They drilled more than a mile beneath the soil and bedrock of eastern Ohio, into millions of years of cooked dinosaur carcasses and found … polyethylene? Well, not exactly. What the drillers found, as just about everyone knows by now, is billions of dollars of natural gas and oil. But along with the oil and gas is billions of dollars of other “liquids,” as the industry calls “If we’re the bakers, them. They are the raw natural gas is the materials that go into flour.” plastic resins and many other specialty chemicals – Cal Dooley, president, American Chemistry — and they might be as Council much a boon to Ohio’s economy as the gas and oil itself, experts say. “It’s huge for our industry,” said Cal Dooley, president of the American Chemistry Council in Washington, D.C. “There’s just been a dramatic shift in the conversations in the boardrooms of U.S. chemical companies because of shale gas.” The talk has turned to gas, Mr. Dooley said, because See GAS Page 8
INSIDE By MICHELLE PARK mpark@crain.com
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overnment-backed small business lending is up this year — an increase that’s occurring not because lenders are easing their standards, but because more small businesses are creditworthy today than have been in recent years, say those doling out the dollars.
The Cleveland district of the U.S. Small Business Administration backed more dollars to more borrowers during fiscal 2011 than it has in any year since fiscal 2008. In the 12 months ended Sept. 30, the district’s loan dollars totaled $363.6 million, up 66% from $218.6 million in fiscal 2010. The number of borrowers receiving SBA loans in the district climbed 37%, to 1,434 in fiscal 2011
A lofty project Plans are under way in Beachwood for a hotel that could carry the Aloft name, a chic brand that will make its debut in Northeast Ohio as part of the Flats East Bank Neighborhood in downtown Cleveland. But whether the $12 million project reaches fruition depends on whether Beachwood City Council approves a rezoning in the face of substantial and well-organized resident opposition. Read Stan Bullard’s story on Page 4.
See LENDING Page 9
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SPECIAL SECTION
FINANCE Busy executives take advantage of financial counseling services through employer ■ Page 15 PLUS: HOUSING MARKET ■ ADVISER ■ & MORE
Entire contents © 2011 by Crain Communications Inc. Vol. 32, No. 45