20101206-NEWS--1-NAT-CCI-CL_--
12/3/2010
3:56 PM
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$1.50/DECEMBER 6 - 12, 2010
Vol. 31, No. 48
Area public stocks outpace S&P Index shows NE Ohio companies by far outperform broader market HOW THE INDEX WORKS Bloomberg tracks the stock prices of 49 local public companies, known as the Northeastern Ohio Index. It weighs the stocks according to price, so higher-priced companies carry more weight. For instance, Lubrizol Corp. makes up 7.06% of the index, with Motors Liquidation Co. at 0.01%.
INSIDE: Charting monthly prices of the Northeastern Ohio Index against the S&P 500 Index. Page 22
By DAN SHINGLER dshingler@crain.com
Past results have no bearing on future performance, as investment firms say. But if you had invested in Northeast Ohio’s public companies since U.S. stocks hit their low in spring 2009, you’d be well ahead of the broader markets. Since they fell to their nadir in March of last year, the stocks of the region’s public companies in the aggregate have outperformed the
markets as a whole, and by plenty, according to Lakefront Capital Partners, a Cleveland-based investment management firm that tracks the stocks of area companies. Lakefront follows something called the Northeastern Ohio Index, a group of 49 companies that Bloomberg tracks via an index that allows local companies to be compared to the S&P 500 index. If you’d invested in those Cleveland-area companies on March 9, 2009, the day the local index hit its
recessionary low point — and in the same week the S&P 500 did the same — your portfolio would have been up by 172.5% as of last Tuesday, Nov. 30. That jump compares to a gain of only 74.5% for the S&P 500 during the same period, said Lakefront senior vice president and portfolio manager Brent Luce. Mr. Luce noted that some of the biggest companies in the region helped boost the index’s return. “The index is price-weighted, so higher-priced stocks do have more influence over the index performance,” See STOCKS Page 22
GCP favors new HQ in Theater District
Commercial real estate appears to hit bottom Office, industrial downsizing leads to more vacancies By STAN BULLARD sbullard@crain.com
Uncle Sam may have declared the Great Recession over, but the economic reckoning the downturn spurred battered Northeast Ohio’s commercial real estate markets again this year. That’s the picture afforded by Grubb &
Ellis Co.’s forecast of Northeast Ohio’s office and industrial markets at year-end. Vacancies produced by PNC Bank emptying a total of 374,000 square feet of office space at multiple rental buildings throughout downtown Cleveland and the region’s suburbs, plus other downsizings, will push regional office vacancies to 22% at the end of this year from
Move necessary with temp casino on deck By JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com
See BOTTOM Page 8
TOTAL INDUSTRIAL VACANCIES 2010 estimate
Year-end 2009
12.4%
11.2% MARC GOLUB
PNC Bank has brought many far-flung workers into its downtown PNC Center, at the expense of other bank properties.
DOWNTOWN OFFICE VACANCIES 2010 estimate
Year-end 2009
Year-end 2008
22.2%
21.1%
19.8%
SUBURBAN OFFICE VACANCIES MARC GOLUB
The closing of Chrysler’s Twinsburg Stamping plant has hurt the industrial real estate market.
48
ALSO INSIDE: Ferro Corp. eyes move from downtown to suburbs. Page 3
2010 estimate
Year-end 2009
Year-end 2008
21.8%
20.5%
18.8%
■ Two container companies expand in Glenwillow. Page 7
SPECIAL SECTION NEWSPAPER
6
71486 01032 0
STAN BULLARD
The LS Brand Building, which the Greater Cleveland Partnership is eyeing for its new headquarters.
LEGAL AFFAIRS Area attorneys say requests for social media policies rise with employee usage ■ Page 15 PLUS: LOCAL FIRMS GROWING ■ PATENT REFORM ■ & MORE
The Greater Cleveland Partnership has zeroed in on a new headquarters site for the city’s chamber of commerce group. It’s in the PlayhouseSquare district at 1240 Huron Road, two sources told Crain’s Cleveland Business. With the move, GCP would part ways with Positively Cleveland, its shared services partner in the Higbee Building on Public Square. GCP and Positively Cleveland, the region’s convention and visitors bureau, are moving to allow for a temporary casino to take over their current space on the first two floors of the Higbee Building. GCP and its sister organization, the Council of Smaller Enterprises, would move their roughly 100 employees to the top two floors of the five-story building at 1240 Huron, which was constructed in 1905. It will share the building with the Liggett Stashower advertising agency, which moved in 2009 to the first three floors of the building. GCP president Joe Roman declined See GCP Page 20