Crain's Cleveland Business

VOL. 40, NO. 15

APRIL 15 - 21, 2019

Source Lunch

Akron An empty Beacon Journal building may be a challenge. Page 20

CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Jennifer Harris, executive director, Rainey Institute Page 23

The List Largest residential sales of 2018 Page 19

SPORTS BUSINESS

The Q by any other name

The facility soon will have signage that mirrors the above. (Contributed rendering)

Newly christened Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse has a new look, but will need a nickname

By Kevin Kleps kkleps@crain.com @KevinKleps

The Rock?

The FieldHouse?

The Launchpad?

The newly named Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse eventually will get a nickname, though gaining one as

A weathered silhouette is all that remains of the Quicken Loans Arena sign on Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse’s west wall.

(David Kordalski)

simple as “The Q” might be a taller order than finding a little-used reserve who is as revered as the retiring Channing Frye.

Len Komoroski, the CEO of the Cavs and Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, said he doesn’t have a preference.

“I’m sure something will evolve over time,” said Komoroski, who joined the Cavs in 2003 — two years

before Gund Arena became Quicken Loans Arena.

And while an arena moniker isn’t quite as important as, say, the Cavs faring well in the NBA lottery on May 14, there is value in having one take off — particularly for a corporation that is paying seven or eight figures a year for naming rights.

SEE FIELDHOUSE, PAGE 22

INSIDE

REAL ESTATE

Architects are at helm of rising contemporary studio. Page 12

Demographic, building trends mean big reno projects are here to stay

Focus: Real estate Retail-residential mix for Hingetown Page 15 Entire contents © 2019 by Crain Communications Inc.

P001_CL_20190415.indd 1

Home remodeling’s run to continue

By Stan Bullard sbullard@crain.com @CrainRltyWriter

Two big items in home remodeling are shiplap — boards with a groove cut into the edges so they overlap to fit together snugly — and nickel gap — boards installed with a space the width of a nickel between them rather than an overlap. Both are often used to produce a rustic exterior or interior feature wall.

“We can’t keep that stuff in stock,” said Avi Selva, sales and marketing manager at Cleveland Lumber Co. on

the city’s West Side. “If you run out of it, you get frowned upon.” He links the popularity of shiplap and nickel gap to the online design and crafts site Pinterest and its being featured regularly on the HGTV show “Fixer Upper.”

While the product itself may someday go the way of much-hated 1960s and 1970s-era wood paneling, the larger trend of home remodeling playing a bigger part in the building business is likely here to stay, with more staying power than a popular cable show or the current real estate cycle.

Terry Bennett, co-president of the remodeling unit of Bennett Builders of

Westlake, said that when he launched a dedicated home remodeling business in 1984, the move puzzled homebuilder colleagues and friends.

“It was like, ‘What, you’re doing remodeling? Can’t you stay busy building homes?’ ” Bennett said. “At that time, it was like home remodeling was a stepchild of the business. It’s 180 degrees different now. It’s a more professional business than in the past.” Moreover, he added, the pace of demand for remodeling work “is crazy” compared to the 1980s, and firms in the segment are swamped.

SEE REMODEL, PAGE 18

4/12/19 2:21 PM

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Foundation concentrating efforts on Akron Burton D. Morgan sees ‘a tremendous amount of opportunity’ for entrepreneurship in the Rubber City

By Lydia Coutré lcoutre@crain.com @LydiaCoutre

In hopes of helping to further the momentum of Akron’s growing entrepreneurial ecosystem, the Burton D. Morgan Foundation, an entrepreneurship funder, is placing a significant emphasis on the city for its adult entrepreneurship programming.

In recent years, the foundation has addressed entrepreneurship across Northeast Ohio with a broad brush.

Considering the “expansiveness and complexity” of the evolving ecosystem, the foundation is shifting to become more targeted and specialized in order

Hoover

Roszczyk

to maximize its impact, according to the foundation’s recently released strategic framework, dubbed Venture 2021.

“There is a tremendous amount of opportunity in Akron at this time,” said Deborah Hoover, president and CEO of the Burton D. Morgan Foundation. “We’re already a significant

investor in the growing Akron ecosystem, and we want to continue that work in a very concentrated fashion.”

The foundation will focus on Akron for at least Weintraub the near term, but Hoover said that could shift depending on where it sees the greatest opportunity.

“I feel like this sort of a public statement from an organization that is truly an expert voice in entrepreneurship throughout the entire region. It really shows support for the

work that we’ve been doing over the last few years, which is fantastic for Akron,” said Heather Roszczyk, innovation and entrepreneurship advocate for Akron. “I think that we’ve done a good job of laying a strong foundation in the ecosystem, and now there’s a lot of room for that to really flourish.”

About every three years, the Burton D. Morgan Foundation takes an in-depth look at its strategy. It spent the end of 2017 and all of 2018 taking stock of its work. The process included a learning tour with partners across the region; surveys and interviews with more than 140 grantees, stakeholders and colleagues; and a board-staff retreat to examine what

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they learned and find the best path forward, which they collected in Venture 2021.

Going forward, the foundation will focus on three main areas — grantmaking, ecosystem building and knowledge sharing — each of which will support the others.

The foundation plans to continue to support its youth and collegiate entrepreneurship programs through an application process. But for the adult entrepreneurship programming, all applications going forward will be on an invitation-only basis, with an emphasis on Akron. The foundation will provide targeted funding for “select” regionwide initiatives.

Also as part of the strategic framework, the foundation will this year launch the Morgan Scout Fund, an initiative that aims to design proactive and innovative solutions to gaps in the regional ecosystem.

Because this is now a transition year for the foundation, it will be accepting applications from current grantees only, with limited opportunity for expanded programming. For grant requests greater than $20,000, the foundation will resume accepting applications from new grantees Feb. 1, 2020, for a June decision. For grant requests of $20,000 and under, the foundation will resume accepting requests on from new grantees Jan. 1, 2020, for a rolling decision, according to Venture 2021.

The landscape for entrepreneurs has changed dramatically since a decade ago, when the ecosystem was in its infancy, with fewer players and less support, Hoover said.

“I think we as a foundation had to take a look at the size of our resources and our capacity as a regional foundation and just decide how we were going to best deploy those dollars to be most effective in the region,” she said. “And I think that means we’re going to have to be more targeted in how we invest those dollars in order to be as effective as we can be as an organization.”

Hoover cited the launch of downtown incubator Bounce Innovation Hub as a big piece of Akron’s current entrepreneurial ecosystem.

“We want to be part of that momentum,” she said.

Burton D. Morgan Foundation has already made significant financial investments in Akron, including into Bounce, where it contributed to the establishment of the Bit Factory, supported funding the networking café and also provided programming dollars, Hoover said.

Bounce relies on state funding, rent and support from its presenting partners, as well as “critically important” foundational support such from the Burton D. Morgan Foundation, said Doug Weintraub, CEO of Bounce.

“We’re just scratching the surface of where we can take this ecosystem in support of entrepreneurial companies,” he said. “So having additional funding for specific programs and resources that we can add allows us to continue to provide those services to these companies as they grow.”

Because Akron is sometimes viewed as “kind of a kid sibling to Cleveland,” there’s been a misconception that it doesn’t have a strong entrepreneurship community, Roszczyk said.

“And I think that this, again, very public show of support by Burton D. Morgan just really helps to demonstrate that that’s not the case, that there’s so much happening here and there’s so many opportunities here.”

4/12/19 12:40 PM

CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

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PA G E 3

New ownership strengthens Fosbel’s future “That attitude that started in 1985 is still very much in the DNA of Anderson today, in that we are, fundamentally, looking at businesses where we can help them improve the operations in partnering with the management teams.”

By Rachel Abbey McCafferty rmccafferty@crain.com @ramccafferty

Fosbel Inc. has been through a lot of changes in recent years. It’s welcomed new leadership and exited markets. And now, it’s under new ownership.

Fosbel specializes in ceramic repairs on ovens used in the steel and glass industries. It can repair the ovens while they’re in production, said CEO Eric Yaszemski, which means customers don’t often face much, if any, downtime.

Private equity firm the Anderson Group LLC is now the majority owner of Fosbel. The company’s senior management team, including Yaszemski, owns the minority share.

“That’s a testament to the fact that we believe in the future of the company,” Yaszemski said.

Prior to the acquisition, the majority of the company had been held by private equity firm American Capital Ltd., which was acquired by Ares Capital Corp. The senior management team bought in with the Anderson Group acquisition, which was finalized in early March.

The Brook Park-based company has been around since the mid1980s. Yaszemski said the company is a leader in ceramic welding, which uses the same materials the refractories, or ovens, are made of to repair them.

In addition to the “hot repairs” that make up the bulk of Fosbel’s work, it also offers what Yaszemski called

— Cory Gaffney, Anderson Group partner

One of Fosbel’s core competencies is ceramic welding, which is used to repair steel mill coke oven batteries and glass manufacturing furnaces while they’re still in operation. (Contributed photo)

“cold repairs,” which do require downtime and often take longer.

Yaszemski joined Fosbel in 2013, becoming CEO in 2014, and started a new strategic plan around that time.

The company began exiting some less profitable markets, such as China.

Companies in China are less focused on preventive maintenance, he said.

So instead of focusing resources on that market, Fosbel signed a licensing agreement with a Chinese company.

It also left the Australian market, where there’s little production in the industries Fosbel serves, and opted to enter into a licensing agreement there instead.

Today, Fosbel has a focus in India and Japan, as well as Europe and the Americas. In addition to its Ohio headquarters, it has facilities across the globe. The company employs about 500 full-time, and often works with about 1,000 subcontractors,

Yaszemski said. About 35 of its employees are in Brook Park. The company doesn’t share annual revenue.

Fosbel’s new management team has taken the company back to its core service business, said Anderson Group partner Cory Gaffney. And it’s developed some new technologies to approach rebuilds in a more efficient way.

“We just wanted to partner with them and unburden them from all these distractions that were involved in their business, provide them capital to go invest in all these new technologies and to build their infrastructure a little bit,” Gaffney said.

When the firm started in the mid’80s, the Anderson Group didn’t set out to acquire businesses it thought would have a straightforward growth

trajectory. Instead, it acquired companies it thought it could help improve.

“That attitude that started in 1985 is still very much in the DNA of Anderson today,” said Gaffney, “in that we are, fundamentally, looking at businesses where we can help them improve the operations in partnering with the management teams.”

The firm was founded in Michigan.

Though it’s now headquartered in St. Petersburg, Fla., Gaffney said it’s kept its “Midwestern roots.” It targets companies at the lower end of the middle market in manufacturing, distribution and industrial markets.

The Anderson Group LLC isn’t an institutional fund but instead invests the capital of its partners.

Today, Gaffney said the Anderson Group has 13 portfolio companies, of which Fosbel is one. He called Fosbel a “good company with a very bad balance sheet.” Gaffney declined to share the amount the Anderson Group invested in Fosbel.

That investment does strengthen Fosbel’s balance sheet and allows it to better implement its strategic plan, Yaszemski said.

Today, that plan includes capital investments, possible strategic acquisitions and further expansions into the markets it already serves.

Yaszemski said the company is developing a number of patented applications with some of its largest customers. He said he couldn’t share details, but they could be “revolutionary” in the ways some of the ovens are made and repaired.

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

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The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is reaching back in time as it lines up a potential $30 million expansion to give it more room to play with. The expansion also would serve as an enclosure to provide a weatherproof connection to the Great Lakes Science Museum and enclosed parking that serves the properties.

However, the Rock Hall needs to reclaim the rights to the acre parcel between the downtown Cleveland assets, rights that the city of Cleveland assigned in 2015 to a joint venture of Cumberland Real Estate Development of Cleveland and Dallas-based Trammell Crow Co. as part of a larger plan to make lakefront commercial development a reality.

Legislation terminating the Cumberland-Trammell deal to lease the site is pending before Cleveland City Council. The measure also would authorize Mayor Frank Jackson’s administration to negotiate a new lease for the site that would coincide with the Rock Hall’s current 45-year lease on its North Coast Harbor site. “This was the original plan,� Greg Harris, CEO of the Rock Hall, said in a phone interview last Thursday, April 11.

Harris noted that he often refers to a design by Cleveland architect Robert Madison to connect the two that was prepared when the I.M. Pei pyramidal design was being developed for the Rock Hall’s 1995 opening.

However, Harris said the Rock Hall let its original lease on the parcel lapse, and it was awarded to Cumberland and Trammell.

He said the Rock Hall several years ago was not in position financially to pursue an expansion, but that is no longer the case.

Cumberland president Dick Pace said he supports the switch. However, provisions of his development group’s agreement with the city precluded it from turning over its rights to the Rock Hall, so the city has to rescind it before undertaking the new Rock Hall deal. “I think it’s a great plan,� Pace said.

Pace

Harris

“It’s great for the harbor and the Rock Hall.�

Cumberland and Trammell originally looked at the site for a potential hotel, but Pace said they found it was too much building “to squeeze� onto such a constrained site, and other stakeholders in the harbor didn’t care for the idea.

“We’ve transformed out existing space. The next logical step is to secure this for our future and work on something that will further support Northeast Ohio and the hall.� — Greg Harris, CEO of the Rock Hall

“It would have been a great location for a hotel,� Pace said, as guests might flock to a lakefront site near the international attraction. “But from an urban planning and design standpoint, it was not so great.�

Harris said the potential cost estimate and 50,000-square-foot size of the Rock Hall expansion are tentative. The Rock Hall wants to fill out its plans after the city passes the measure, although it already has some strong ideas for what it wants to accomplish. “We’re very excited about this,�

Harris said, as the expansion will continue the Rock Hall’s focus on the visitor experience. “We would like some flexible space for events. Currently, we have to close the hall for events. That would let us keep it open and add smaller events. We need more classroom space, as we have 20,000 students coming to the hall every year.�

Edward W. Rybka, Cleveland chief of regional development, wrote in an email that he supports the switch. “The expansion will further enhance the Rock Hall Museum as a quality Cleveland cultural institution,� Rybka wrote. “The design will expose the interior of the museum from the pedestrian walkway around the Inner Harbor and allow for the museum experience to embrace Lake Erie.�

The legislation would require the Rock Hall to start construction of the site by 2021, unless the start date is extended by two years to allow more time for fundraising. The lease also calls on the Rock Hall to cover infrastructure costs of about $2 million associated with the expansion itself.

The lease would expire in 2042, although the Rock Hall could extend the lease on the additional lakefront land by another 49 years if it extends the lease for the site by that amount.

Harris declined to estimate when the expansion might be ready, noting the Rock Hall will have to prepare conceptual and detailed plans and conduct fundraising for the project.

The Rock Hall has fine-tuned its existing space under a strategic plan, he said, before looking at expansion.

The second floor of the Rock Hall has been gutted to create a place for visitors to play instruments and jam with family and friends, and a 130seat theater has been added that airs quality videos of Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. The museum’s cafe has been moved from the third floor to the first so guests don’t have to buy a museum “ticket to get a cup of coffee there,� Harris said, along with a change to a chef-driven, fresh, green menu. “We’ve transformed out existing space,� Harris said. “The next logical step is to secure this for our future and work on something that will further support Northeast Ohio and the hall.�

The pedestrian level between the science museum and Rock Hall will benefit from steps incorporated in their original designs. Harris noted the lower levels that face the proposed expansion area between the museums were even built as breakthrough walls.

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Craft breweries breathe new life into neighborhoods Growth of local brewing is repurposing old buildings, raising property values and transforming neglected pockets of NEO

By Jeremy Nobile jnobile@crain.com @JeremyNobile

Before it was a bustling neighborhood packed with pedestrians and millennial residents, the area around Great Lakes Brewing Co.’s flagship Ohio City location saw more crime and rubbish brewing than beer and business.

But as in many areas across the country, Ohio City is a prime example of craft breweries helping spur redevelopment of various pockets of Northeast Ohio by breathing new life into neighborhoods and repurposing old buildings that have sat empty for years.

In the 1980s, the lots surrounding GLBC — which marked its 30th anniversary last year and today is the 20th-largest craft brewer in the country — were filled with weeds, tires and dead animals. No trees or cobblestones adorned the sidewalks. There was a community bookstore across the way, but that later became a bar

where a couple of guys killed each other, GLBC founders and brothers Pat and Dan Conway recalled.

Pat said his cousin, a homicide detective, cautioned them about crime and “Jamaican drug lords” in the neighborhood and encouraged the pair to set up in a strip mall in Rocky River instead.

But that didn’t jibe with the Conways’ vision. They wanted to tap into the heritage of the area, where Cleveland immigrants had run a number of pre-Prohibition breweries. The original GLBC site was a horse stable supporting one of those, which they retrofitted for their inaugural brewery.

The property owner at the time didn’t want to rent to the Conways because he was hopeful the neighborhood would change so that he could sell the property outright.

“That’s when we said we would be the catalyst for change, because it’s not going to change unless we come,” Pat said. (The Conways later acquired the property in a sheriff’s sale in 1992 and then bought some other proper-

ties over the years as they grew, including most recently on the Scranton Peninsula.)

The day the Conways signed their lease, they drove their spouses past the future GLBC site.

“There were 30 people in the street throwing haymakers and bottles at each other’s heads,” Pat remembered.

“Our wives said, ‘What, do you have the brains of artichokes? You’re moving to this stupid block?’ We’re like, ‘You just got to use your imagination.’ ” Thanks in part to the Conways’ vision, Ohio City is vastly different today.

The street outside GLBC has a more European aesthetic. The surrounding neighborhood features a bustling mix of retail and residential property, offices, tech companies, hotels and restaurants. Compared to three decades ago, crime is way down. And foot traffic — of customers, not street fighters and drug dealers — is way up.

GLBC was early to the game in revitalizing Ohio City, said Sam McNulty, whose growing brewery-and-restau-

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rant empire planted its first stake in the neighborhood with McNulty’s Bier Markt in 2005.

Effectively a developer in his own right, McNulty also owns Market Garden Brewery, which opened in 2011, Bar Cento and Nano Brew Cleveland.

All are in the same area and a stone’s throw from the storied West Side Market, which McNulty longed to be near.

“If Great Lakes was just a beer bar, I don’t think it would’ve had the same effect,” said McNulty, adding that it was probably five years ago that Ohio City truly grew out of its sketchy vibe. “They kicked all this off 30 years ago.”

Higher property values According to the latest data from the Brewers Association, there were approximately 6,655 breweries in the U.S. as of last summer, reflecting growth of 225% since 2011.

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cording to the Ohio Craft Brewers Association. Now there are roughly 300, which would mean growth of 566%.

A recent analysis by BA chief economist Bart Watson found that in the continental Northeast, breweries are clearly spiking in numbers, with openings countrywide clustering around Ohio, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

And they’re eating up space.

A May 2018 report by real estate company and investment firm CBRE Group found 73 craft breweries in and around the Cleveland market were occupying 713,000 square feet of real estate — nearly 30% of the total space occupied by breweries across all of Ohio. (The Cincinnati and Columbus markets claimed 35% and 21% of craft brewery real estate in the state, respectively.) Between the end of 2015 and last May, the total space occupied by Ohio craft breweries grew 57% to about 2.4 million square feet among 238 brewing operations.

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Ohio brewing scene The craft brewery explosion has served as a catalyst for economic development in this state and elsewhere as local taprooms rehabilitate and repurpose once-vacant spaces and often spur neighborhood revitalizations.

Regional Brewpubs Microbreweries brewers Total Ohio

94 730,494 sq ft

134 824,397 sq ft

10 891,805 sq ft

238 2.4M sq ft

Cleveland

36 261,924 sq ft

33 189,136 sq ft

4 262,000 sq ft

73 713,060 sq ft

Cincinnati

11 144,619 sq ft

29 205,307 sq ft

4 514,107 sq ft

44 864,033 sq ft

Columbus

11 157,955 sq ft

30 234,476 sq ft

2 115,698 sq ft

43 508,129 sq ft

NOTE: Data are from the second quarter of 2018; Source: CBRE research

Great Lakes Brewing Co. has lent a European aesthetic to its Ohio City frontage. (Contributed photo)

The wind in the sails of that trend is craft brewing’s propensity for adaptive reuse, said real estate broker John Wagner, founder of Green Bridge Real Estate.

“If you look at these brewery spaces, most of them sat empty for a while until the breweries started showing up,” said Wagner, who often promotes the proximity of craft breweries when marketing sites, even for commercial properties.

There’s also growing evidence that being close to a craft brewery is good for property values.

Neil Reid is a professor of geography and planning at The University of

Toledo known as the “beer professor.” A study he published this spring analyzing properties sold between 2002 and 2017 in Charlotte, N.C., found that single-family homes in city-center neighborhoods saw a nearly 10% increase in value after a brewery opened within a half-mile of them. Condos in the same proximity saw increases of 3% over the same period.

A similar impact was not necessarily seen on commercial properties, suggesting that walkability to a brewery in residential areas had a positive impact on those values in particular.

“That means if a craft brewery opens nearby, it’s a good thing,” Reid said. “Craft breweries are a neighborhood amenity.”

He wants to apply the same research in other markets, including possibly Cleveland.

Although a comparable study has not been done in Northeast Ohio, McNulty said he thinks the impact in somewhere like Ohio City is much greater when considering the overall

turnaround there through the years.

“I’d be shocked if (growth of property values in Ohio City) wasn’t at least 30% to 40% in the last 10 years,” he said.

‘Right side of history’ Wagner worked on the deal that sold Platform Beer Co., one of the fastest-growing craft breweries in America, the property that houses its core production facility, next to I-90 at 3506 Vega Ave. Built in 1903, the property was once home to the pre-Prohibition Leisy Brewery. Downy Display used it as a woodworking shop before the economic lull that led to Platform co-owner Justin Carson purchasing it in the summer of 2014.

At the time, the site was a disaster and virtually impossible to sell. Windows were smashed, copper had been torn out, elevators were broken.

Trash and graffiti were everywhere.

“You couldn’t get rid of a building like this because of the liability, not

even for free, because the amount of money you’d spend on maintenance and stabilizing it would be a fortune,” Wagner said.

A creative deal eventually was worked out with Carson, who bought the 25,000-square-foot building for $125,000.

On the fringes of Ohio City is Platform’s flagship location on Lorain Avenue near West 41st Street. Carson moved his draft-line installation and cleaning company in Medina, JC BeerTech, to an upper floor there before launching Platform with his business partner in 2014.

“I grew up here and most of life, from the 1980s to the mid-2000s, there was just constant talk of decline,” said Carson, who is also repurposing an old Cleveland brewery for the Phunkenship sour-beer facility on Sackett Avenue. “So I always knew in the back of my head I would invest in Cleveland when I could.”

Now, Platform’s stretch of Lorain Avenue is seeing its own revitalization.

“Until they went in there with their brewery concept, there was nothing at 41st and Lorain for decades,” said Kevin Schmotzer, executive of small business development with the city of Cleveland. “Now there are cafes, restaurants and other things. Even some businesses that remained there have started putting money into their own respective places.”

Schmotzer said the city has been more actively working to help secure financing for startup brewery projects over the past five years in recognition of the segment’s growth and potential impact on the local economy. Financing can be difficult for breweries because they are generally considered high-risk businesses in

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the same category as restaurants, which worry banks.

“This is definitely more of a new business trend,” Schmotzer said, “so how can we capitalize on that? (Craft breweries) repair vacant buildings and bring people into Cleveland neighborhoods, especially in areas where there are very few people. And they’re creating jobs.”

While there’s a compelling story in Ohio City, other breweries are having similar impacts. And most go into once-vacant, repurposed spaces.

Noble Beast Brewing Co., on Lakeside Avenue, was once a maintenance shop for Brink’s security trucks, for example. Masthead Brewing Co., on Superior Avenue, was formerly a title bureau. “(They’ve) brought activity to a dead zone of Cleveland,” Schmotzer said. “It brings vibrancy and people to parts of the city where there wasn’t anything.”

In light of the potential impact, Schmotzer said the city is exploring opportunities to place a craft brewery on Cleveland’s East side.

“I think it’s a culmination of a lot of different factors that led to this,” McNulty said. “But we are on the right side of history in Ohio City because the younger generation wants to be in neighborhoods that are dense and walkable, that have thirdwave coffee shops, craft breweries, locally owned business, loft apartments and historic buildings.”

And in Cleveland, GLBC started guiding that transformation decades ago.

“The Conway brothers had a great vision some 30 years ago to take a chance on this neighborhood,” McNulty said, “and they were just crazy enough to be right.”

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Talk about taking advantage of two opportunities.

The Fairfax Renaissance Development Corp. (FRDC) has found itself ready with an ambitious development plan as it arrives at the intersection of the Opportunity Corridor and one of Cleveland’s Opportunity Zones.

Since at least the mid-1990s, the community development nonprofit that serves Cleveland’s East Side Fairfax neighborhood, has worked slowly to reverse the decline that has beset many of Cleveland’s neighborhoods.

A modest number of new homes were built and others rehabbed. The Cleveland Clinic, its neighbor to the north, began to rehabilitate the area along Cedar Avenue, most notably with the $19 million, 50,000-squarefoot Global Cardiovascular Innovations Center, which opened in 2010.

Then, in 2013, the state of Ohio committed to building the $300 million Opportunity Corridor, a new roadway that will connect the stub of Interstate 490 at East 55th Street, passing along the south border of Fairfax, to University Circle. The plan is to open up for redevelopment a wide swath of Cleveland’s East Side.

So Fairfax Renaissance went to work and came up with plans for two developments. One is an ambitious redevelopment of several residential blocks with single- and multifamily housing called Innovation Square.

For the other, on the eastern side of the new roadway, which turns into

East 105th Street when it reaches University Circle, FRDC has planned a commercial development called the New Economy Neighborhood.

The goal, said FRDC executive director Denise VanLeer, is to create a neighborhood of mixed-income housing that includes an employment center within walking distance.

Construction is underway on the Opportunity Corridor, and a portion was recently completed at the east end of the corridor in Fairfax.

“We’re along the first phase of the Opportunity Corrdor and this New Economy Neighborhood we refer to as a technology district because of the (nearby) Clinic,” VanLeer said, “and you’re a five-minute bike ride to Case (Western Reserve University) and University Hospitals.”

Then, last year, new federal tax reform law created tax breaks for investments in economically distressed census tracts. FRDC’s two projects sit in a designated census tract, making investors in the area eligible for tax breaks.

To showcase Fairfax and other areas of Cuyahoga County eligible for the Opportunity Zone tax breaks and attract investments, the two projects are included on a digital portal created by a group of Cuyahoga County economic development organizations, the Opportunity CLE website.

“This is an opportunity to present the best of Cleveland to national (and local) investors,” Ted Carter, Cuyahoga County’s chief economic development and business officer, told Crain’s last month as the program was kicking off. “Hopefully, the opportunity will be to jump-start, strategically, new capital into the

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Cleveland Wealth Management Team Fairfax Renaissance Development Corp. plans two developments along the new Opportunity Corridor: the residential Innovation Square (on the left) and the commercial New Economy Neighborhood (right). (Jay Miller)

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Even before the new tax law, Ex- hind. Because of deteriorated or plorys, a health care data analytics abandoned housing, FRDC, with company spawned by the Clinic and support from the city of Cleveland now owned by IBM Corp., plopped and Cuyahoga County’s land banks, its 43,000-square-foot headquarters controls 48% of the property in a fiveon the Opportunity Corridor in the block area between Cedar and QuinNew Economy Neighborhood. Van- cy avenues and East 97th and East Leer said several similar buildings 105th streets.

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get,” VanLeer noted. “But we’d go to to the sheriff ’s sale and buy properties in strategic places.”

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“It just seems like a great, underutilized neighborhood,” said Knez Homes owner Bo Knez. “You’re a ubs.com/team/cwmt minute’s walk from Cleveland Clinic and the Opportunity Corridor is going Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. owns the certification marks CFP® and Certified finanCial Planner™ in the U.S. CIMA® is a registered certification mark of the Investment in right behind it. You’re within walkManagement Consultants Association® in the United States of America and worldwide. ing distance of some great amenities.”

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The long-term plan, said VanLeer, ©UBS 2017. All rights reserved. UBS Financial Services Inc. is a subsidiary of UBS AG. Member calls for 500 housing units — everyFINRA/SIPC. CJ-UBS-1195171386 thing from single-family homes to townhomes to four-story rental buildings that take advantage of the university and the medical centers.

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Opinion From the Editor

Amid measles outbreaks, we should believe the science

Editorial

In the bag Cuyahoga County is a little late to the party in attempting to ban the use of disposable plastic bags and non-recyclable paper bags by retail businesses. While the environmental benefits of such a move are relatively modest, it’s still, on balance, the right thing to do, and such bans have been implemented in about 200 cities nationwide, and in states including California and New York, without harmful economic impact.

Last week, Cuyahoga County Council members Dale Miller and Sunny Simon co-sponsored legislation calling for the banning of disposable plastic bags. The legislation stated that the bags “are a major source of litter, pollute our open spaces, harm and kill wildlife, clog storm drains resulting in localized flooding, end up as debris in our neighborhoods and waterways, and contribute to blight.” The ban would apply to supermarkets, convenience stores, department stores, restaurants or other sales outlets, who would face fines for noncompliance. There are some exemptions, such as allowing the use of plastic bags that customers bring with them to retailers, or for dry cleaning, perishable items such as produce and meat, and for pet waste.

It’s easy to pick nits with this kind of legislation. Paper bags that are 100% recyclable are allowed, for instance, but they, too, pose some environmental challenges. Production of more reusable bags offsets some of the carbon benefit of banning plastic. And if plastic is so bad, why have any exemptions at all?

But we’d rather not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

As Scientific American pointed out in an analysis of plastic bag bans, plastic “can take hundreds of years to decompose and releases toxins into the soil and water in the process,” and because Americans “throw away some 100 billion plastic grocery bags each year ... we are drilling for and importing millions of barrels worth of oil and natural gas for a convenient way to carry home a few groceries.”

Miller and Simon in fall 2017 proposed to address the issue by implementing a 10-cent fee on single-use plastic and paper bags, but that idea went nowhere. This measure, which if passed would take effect in October, doesn’t impose direct costs on us-

ers, and the time frame would give consumers time to adjust — and help thoughtful nonprofits undertake educational campaigns and distribute reusable bags widely to those who can’t easily obtain them.

It’s a reasonable step that gives citizens a chance to participate in creating a more ecologically sustainable future.

Make room

And then there were 17.

Democratic presidential candidates, that is, when U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Youngstown jumped into the race on April 4 — at least until Rep. Eric Swalwell of California did the same, raising the number to 18. And there likely are more to come.

It isn’t necessarily great for either party, or for voters, to have this many contenders for the White House. Real messages get lost amid the jockeying simply to meet polling and other qualifications for the debate stage, and some of the candidates are running just to raise their profile for book or TV contracts, or to better position themselves for their next gig. Still, these big fields appear to be the new normal.

Ryan is a long shot. He’s smart and ambitious, though, and while we take no positions in party primaries, we hope his entry into the race injects into the discussion the perspective of Northeast Ohio workers who are being left out of the economic good times.

Ryan’s district, of course, includes the General Motors assembly plant in Lordstown that was idled in March, and he has been critical of President Donald Trump for not doing more to save the plant. His primary concerns as a candidate focus on renegotiating or enforcing trade deals; punishing Chinese currency manipulation; and advancing workforce development.

Ryan could do his party, and everyone, a service if he gives voice to workers whose frustrations have made economic progress so spotty in our region.

Publisher and Editor: Elizabeth McIntyre (emcintyre@crain.com)

CLEVELAND BUSINESS

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Managing Editor:

Scott Suttell (ssuttell@crain.com)

Contact Crain’s:

216-522-1383

Read Crain’s online: crainscleveland.com

Well, science certainly had a week, didn’t it?

I don’t know about you, but I gasped last Wednesday after seeing the first-ever image of a black hole, a doughnut-shaped ring of fire surrounding a pitch-black cylinder of nothingness. I frankly couldn’t stop staring at it.

Turns out that, once again, Albert Einstein was right. His general theory of relativity — that gravitational forces so great exist that not even light can escape them — has been proven.

To think that Einstein theorized these facts a century ago without the technology we have today is almost incomprehensible.

Elizabeth Science truly is a wonder. Theories built McIntyre on prior knowledge then tested again and again until proven correct. It might take decades, like Einstein with his bold thinking, or years.

It’s hard to imagine, then, when proven science is disregarded because of irrational fears and rumors.

Contrast the black hole news with other science-related info reported last week. New York City declared a public health emergency and is now mandating vaccinations in a Brooklyn neighborhood after 285 confirmed measles cases have been reported in Brooklyn and Queens since October.

Measles outbreaks this year have also been reported in Michigan, Washington, Texas, Illinois and California.

As of April 4, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported 465 measles cases so far this year. Consider that the CDC officially declared the eradication of measles in 2000 and that the largest outbreak of measles since then was 667 cases in 2014, this is alarming.

The anti-vaccination movement has grown recently, fueled by social media — not science. The anti-vaxxers fear vaccines are unsafe, that they can cause harm such as autism. Scientific study after scientific study has debunked those myths.

What is unsafe is avoiding vaccination. Worldwide, the number of measles cases has increased 30% since 2016. The World Health Organization now lists “vaccine hesitancy” as one of the top 10 global health threats of 2019.

Science is under attack on a lot of fronts these days, but as business people, we depend on numbers and data to make decisions. The numbers, the data, the science concerning vaccinations are irrefutable. Two doses of the current measles vaccine are 97% effective in preventing the disease. The CDC estimates that for children born in the United States from 1994 to 2013, vaccination will prevent an estimated 322 million illnesses, 21 million hospitalizations and 732,000 deaths over the course of their lifetimes.

You can’t argue with the facts. The scientific research behind immunizations is solid. That’s what Ethan Lindenberger of Norwalk, Ohio, discovered when he began researching the issue. He was troubled knowing his friends were being vaccinated but he wasn’t because of his mom’s anti-vaccination beliefs. After turning 18, Lindenberger in December “walked into an Ohio Department of Health office in Norwalk and received a cocktail of vaccines for hepatitis A, hepatitis B, influenza and HPV,” according to The Washington Post.

Good for him. But it’s so sad that so many other young people are still trapped in a black hole of parental misunderstanding.

The solution? Believe the science.

Write us: Crain’s welcomes responses from readers. Letters should be as brief as possible and may be edited. Send letters to Crain’s Cleveland Business, 700 West St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland, OH 44113, or by emailing ClevEdit@crain.com. Please include your complete name and city from which you are writing, and a telephone number for fact-checking purposes.

Sound off: Send a Personal View for the opinion page to emcintyre@crain.com.

Please include a telephone number for verification purposes.

4/11/19 4:03 PM

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Analysis

U.S. can shrink the racial wealth gap with ‘baby bonds’

By Matthew Boesler/Bloomberg

Wealth inequality — and specifically the yawning racial wealth gap (the median black family has about one-tenth the net worth of a white household) — is a thorny challenge for U.S. policymakers. One solution increasingly discussed by progressive politicians but seen as lacking popular support would be for the government to pay reparations to black Americans for the wealth lost during generations of slavery and discrimination.

Duke University professor William “Sandy” Darity and his onetime student Darrick Hamilton, currently serving as director of Ohio State University’s Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, have proposed an interim step dubbed “baby bonds.”

The bonds, averaging $25,000 but rising to as much as $60,000 for the poorest children, would be federally managed to increase by a guaranteed annual rate of 2%. The cost of up to $100 billion would be less than 3% of the U.S. budget. As they explain, the bonds would seek to minimize the wealth disparity between the richest and the poorest, regardless of race.

Bloomberg’s Matthew Boesler: What are baby bonds, and how would they work?

Sandy Darity: The language “baby bonds” is kind of a cute touch that was inspired for us by the late (Columbia University professor) Manning Marable. But really what we’re talking about is a trust account — a federally funded trust account — for each young person that they could access when they reach young adulthood.

Darrick Hamilton: It basically is about setting up an account at birth, seeded with an endowment, based on the wealth position one is born into. That can be used when you become a young adult toward some asset-enhancing endeavor, like a debt-free education, or as capital to purchase a home or start a business.

The source of inequality is, especially at the median, determined by the fact that some Americans have access to some seed capital to put into an asset that will passively appreciate over their life. And I think the key word is passive. It has very little to do with something behavioral. They have some capital with which they can take part in the financial markets.

Boesler: How does race play into this?

Darity: Well, it doesn’t necessarily have to play into this at all. You could have a policy that’s race-neutral, or universal, but it might be race-conscious in the sense that it could disproportionately benefit a group that’s more significantly deprived of the resource. It might go some way toward mitigating the racial wealth gap, but it’s not going to close the racial wealth gap.

Hamilton: Usually, when we talk about the racial wealth gap, it’s examining the median position of a group. Now, it is the case that wealth is so unevenly distributed in America that, at the mean, we would definitely need something specific and even more dramatic than baby bonds if we were to close the racial wealth gap at the mean.

Darity: And that’s where I think a program of reparations comes into play, that if your target is the overall wealth gap between blacks and whites, then you need a reparations program. The baby bonds program would not be sufficient.

Boesler: The Federal Reserve and other institutions have been publishing more and more data on racial disparities in economic outcomes. Is this feeding into the conversation?

Hamilton: It’s a combination of the quality of data and the specificity of certain types of data: Simply having a data point like $8 in net worth in Boston for the typical black household (vs. $247,500 for the median white

P011_CL_20190415.indd 11

household there, according to a 2015 report from Duke, the New School, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston) can reverberate in many settings, including the halls of Congress. So, when Elizabeth Warren cites that statistic, I’d say that that is an indicator of success.

Boesler: Where did the idea for the baby bonds proposal come from?

Hamilton: I focused exclusively on middle-income blacks and found that poverty in the family was a drain on their ability to acquire wealth relative to white families. We both went to elite environments but were in networks of poverty. Our peers were receiving support from their families, whereas we’d have conversations around all of the checks we’d have to write, the issues in our families. The resources were going the other way. So rather than receiving support, we were offering support. It led to the work that Sandy and I have been doing around the role of one’s birth position in the ability to generate assets, which is a big source of economic security. If we really want to address racial wealth gaps, it really is tied to the family position into which an individual is born.

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Darity: Racial wealth inequality is actually far more pronounced than general inequality, but general inequality in wealth is atrocious as well in the U.S. What’s the figure? A tenth of a percent of the persons in the overall wealth distribution own 40 percent of the nation’s wealth? I think that’s absolutely outrageous. So in a way you could argue that the baby bonds proposal is a dramatic change from the status quo, but it’s not going to dramatically overturn the wealth distribution.

What it will do is create a different floor for the resources every young person has.

Boesler: How would it be paid for?

Darity: I am somewhat of an enthusiast for the MMT (Modern Monetary Theory) perspective. From that standpoint, the real barrier to expanded government spending isn’t tax revenue (because the U.S. government can print more money). It’s the inflation risk. A carefully designed program would take into account the potential dimensions of inflation risk, and I think that risk is lower to the degree that the focus is on asset-building as opposed to designing the funds so they’re utilized for immediate expenditure.

As the MMTers see it, the companion argument is that the expenditures could ultimately generate the taxes Helonof Ad-3-11-Final.indd to support the activity. So they do the flip: Instead pay-as-you-go, you go, and you pay.

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Boesler: How has the African-American community been affected by economic policy relative to the white community in America over the last 50 years?

Darity: On virtually any indicator of relative position, there really has not been any significant change, particularly if it’s an economic indicator. And over that 50year period, I think our best estimates of the wealth gap indicate that it actually has worsened.

Boesler: Baby bonds are a debt instrument. Do you connect the idea of baby bonds to the idea that it’s literally and figuratively an obligation of society to a specific group of people based on what came before?

Hamilton: Given that America is not ready for race-specific policies politically, what can we do about the racial wealth gap? Like Sandy, I’m an advocate of reparations, and I think that it will happen. But there’s actually stuff you can do that is race-neutral but will have disparate racial impact. And I would say that it is very much couched in a lot of the policies that came about from the New Deal, as well as post-World War II, including assistance in homeownership, etc. We need to be race-conscious in a way that’s the opposite of what those policies were. They were exclusionary toward blacks.

4/11/19 3:43 PM

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Focus

H w T a (K

REAL ESTATE

HORTON HARPER ARE ARCHITECTS OF THEIR OWN QUICK GROWTH A pair of young architects helm a rising contemporary studio known for its eclectic portfolio

By Douglas J. Guth clbfreelancer@crain.com

Architecture is sometimes called “an old man’s profession” where designers, by unwritten rule, must spend years toiling for others in preparation for opening their own independent studio.

Architects Michael Horton and Westleigh Harper bucked that trend, collaborating on separate projects while employed at local firms, then striking out on their own when barely out of their 30s. Today, the duo are principals of Horton Harper Architects, an award-winning contemporary studio known for an eclectic portfolio of custom residential, multifamily and mixed-use ventures.

Headquartered in the Caxton Building downtown, the practice has six employees and a 30% year-overyear growth rate since its 2011 launch. Specializing in urban residential design, Horton Harper sketches out townhomes and single-family residences for a growing list of builders and homeowners.

A drive through Tremont and Ohio City reveals more than 100 units carrying the studio’s stamp, including a series of cube-shaped townhomes in Cleveland’s emerging Duck Island neighborhood. New Horton Harper

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Horton

Harper

designs are also appearing in Chagrin Falls, Beachwood and Shaker Heights, coinciding with out-of-state endeavors such as a 100-unit apartment complex in Green Bay, Wis. Considering the burgeoning scale and variety of their recent work, the partners voice no regrets about taking a slightly skewed professional path.

“We didn’t stay at firms until age 40 or develop relationships with big clients to take them with us,” said Harper, a Mentor native and Kent State University graduate. “We decided early on this was something we wanted to do in our own way. Luckily, the economy grew around the same time we were trying to take that step.”

Growth by word of mouth After founding the studio in 2011, it took three years for Horton and Harper to focus on the practice fulltime. Their first project was Deane’s

Horton Harper’s work includes distinctive townhomes in Cleveland’s Duck Island neighborhood.

(Christian Phillips for Crain’s)

House, a private residence in Tremont built for retired attorney Deane Malaker. Located on a triangular parcel on West 10th Street, the steelskinned, single-floor domicile won

honorable mentions from the American Institute of Architects and was featured in Arch Daily.

Other projects followed — among them the Duck Island townhomes — allowing the pair to leave their 9-to-5 gigs and open an office in Slavic Village in 2012. Two years later, the firm moved to the Caxton Building, where it's currently expanding into an adja-

cent office space.

KSU grad Horton of Avon Lake said builders and homeowners simply having conversations about Horton Harper’s work led to fast development for the studio.

“Our clients live and work in close proximity to each other, so we grew organically by word of mouth,” he said. “It’s been a fluid overlap for us

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be ready to expect different results, he added. For example, the Deane’s House being sited on an oddly shaped lot near a one-way alley tested the studio in ways that took time to understand.

“Once we executed a few of these projects, the phone started ringing from clients that have the same challenges,” Horton said. “That shaped our thinking.”

On their own terms

Horton Harper’s first project was Deane’s House in Tremont, designed for retired attorney Deane Malaker.

(Kevin Reeves for Crain’s)

in working on single-family houses and transitioning that to multifamily projects.”

Horton and Harper feel fortunate to fit their contemporary stylings into some unique and interesting buildings. Although they can’t point to a favorite, approaching each assignment with a fresh set of eyes carries its own joy.

“The next project is always the most exciting in many ways,” said Horton. “It may evolve into something you didn’t anticipate on the original design. There’s something exciting about taking on a new challenge.”

As every site has its special limitations, the design team must always

Andrew Brickman, a 20-year real estate veteran and owner of Brickhaus Partners, recently partnered with Horton Harper on the Twenty Four Hundred townhome project in Beachwood along with six contemporary residences in Chagrin Falls.

His three years working with the studio has revealed a gifted team of designers skilled at planning economically viable properties for Northeast Ohio buyers.

“Mike and Wes are two of the most talented architects in the region,” he said. “We gave them an opportunity, and they exceeded our expectations.”

Brickman is happy to see young designers flourishing, particularly a pair able to glean the multidimensional scope of the complicated projects undertaken by Brickhaus.

“As a residential developer going into many different environments, we need to adapt to fit the fabric of a particular neighborhood,” Brickman explained. “(Horton Harper) translates our vision into reality so it’s not only a pretty picture on paper. I expect more great things from them in the future.”

After launching the studio in their 30s, Horton and Harper expect their 40s to include increased prosperity and more work emphasizing quality over quantity.

“We’re not going to be taking everything that comes our way. We want to do fewer projects a year, but they’ll be better projects,” said Harper. “We won’t grow for growth’s sake.

It’s going to be on our terms, which is how we’ve approached this from the beginning.”

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Van Aken District weighs next steps

By Stan Bullard

RMS Investment Corp. president Luke Palmisano shows off one of the apartments in Upstairs at Van Aken.

(Stan Bullard)

sbullard@crain.com @CrainRltywriter

Like the final brushstrokes on a painting, the last few pieces are going into Van Aken District, the $100 million, mixed-use apartment, office and retail complex developed by RMS Investment Corp. and Shaker Heights at Chagrin Boulevard and Warrensville Center Road.

Luke Palmisano, RMS president, said about 14,000 square feet of the 80,000-square-foot retail area and just 4,000 square feet of the 66,000-square-foot office space are left to lease. And at Upstairs at Van Aken, which consists of four floors of apartments over a wing of groundfloor retail space, 90% of the 103 suites are leased.

It’s been a busy year as the group of five new buildings constructed as a transit-oriented development next to the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority’s Warrensville-Van Aken train station were finished and a cadre of tenants turned on the lights at the region’s first food hall.

Yet RMS already is turning its eyes to what’s next.

“Everything was designed so that this could be expanded,” Palmisano said of the layout of buildings and three new streets in the development, all named after architects who designed major parts of Shaker Heights: Meade, Tuttle and Walker. RMS is starting to develop concepts for an-

Mitchell’s Ice Cream fronts a park-like common area in the center of the Van Aken District.

(Contributed photo)

other apartment building across Farnsleigh Road.

The city-owned site is likely to have four to five floors, but Palmisano said it’s too early in the planning to put a number on how many suites it might contain.

Meantime, RMS has launched the marketing of what could be at least a 100,000-square-foot office building with CBRE Group that would be located on the south side of the district, on the northeast corner of Chagrin and Warrensville. RMS wants to lease at least half of the proposed office building before starting to construct it, Palmisano said. The size of the building also could be expanded, he added, with additional floors to accommodate a larger anchor tenant.

(CBRE’s schematic of the potential building shows it as four floors above ground-floor retail space.)

Van Aken South, as the proposed office building is named, is being proposed as the East Side comes off its biggest burst of office construction in more than a decade. New office space also opened last year at Pinecrest in Orange Village and Chagrin Highlands Centre in Beachwood. All told, more than 200,000 square feet of rental office space hit the market. However, the market avoided oversupply as demand was strong enough that vacancy in the eastern suburbs increased little, to 12.9% at the end of 2018 from 12.6% in the like period of 2017, according to statistics from the Newmark Knight Frank real estate brokerage.

“We were helped by the attached parking garage,” Palmisano said.

The garage was designed so tenants on the upper levels could enter their floor of the office building directly from the adjoining floor of the garage.

Meanwhile, the Van Aken Market Hall, as RMS dubs the 21,000-squarefoot food hall, incorporates a variety of offerings that range from Scorpacciata Pasta Co. to Craft Collective, which sells a variety of craft brews.

Tenants range from 100 to 1,000 square feet in size.

The food hall is designed to be distinctly different from the traditional mall food court: The stores are spread throughout the space, as are a variety of tables and seats, from wood or metal to couches.

SEE VAN AKEN, PAGE 17

Ancora

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Overall Morningstar RatingTM out of 389 small value funds as of 02/28/2019

Overall Morningstar RatingTM out of 290 multisector bond funds as of 02/28/2019

Fund Manager Richard A. Barone, Ancora’s Founder and Chairman Emeritus © 2019 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete, or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

For each fund with at least a three-year history, Morningstar calculates a Morningstar RatingTM based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a fund’s monthly performance (including the effects of sales charges, loads, and redemption fees), placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of funds in each category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. (Each share class is counted as a fraction of one fund within this scale and rated separately, which may cause slight variations in the distribution percentages.) The Overall Morningstar RatingTM for a fund is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five- and 10year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics.

The Ancora Special Opportunity Fund was rated against the following numbers of U.S.-domiciled Small Value funds over the following time periods: 389 funds in the last three years, 342 funds in the last five years, and 233 funds in the last ten years. With respect to these Small Value funds, The Ancora Special Opportunity Fund received a Morningstar Rating of 4 stars, 5 stars and 5 stars for the three-, five- and tenyear periods, respectively. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Morningstar Rating is for the I share class only; other classes may have different performance characteristics.

The Ancora Income Fund was rated against the following numbers of U.S.-domiciled Multisector Bond funds over the following time periods: 290 funds in the last three years, 222 funds in the last five years, and 130 funds in the last ten years. With respect to these Multisector Bond funds, The Ancora Income Fund received a Morningstar Rating of 3 stars, 5 stars and 5 stars for the three-, five- and ten-year periods, respectively. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Morningstar Rating is for the I share class only; other classes may have different performance characteristics.

Carefully consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risks and expenses carefully before investing. This and other information can be found in the Fund’s prospectus, and if available, summary prospectus, which may be obtained by calling 1-866-6-ANCORA or by visiting www.ancorafunds.com. Read the prospectus carefully before investing. Investing involves risk, including possible loss of capital.

Ancora Holdings Inc. is the parent company of three registered investment advisers with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission; Ancora Advisors, LLC, Ancora Family Wealth Advisors, LLC and Ancora Retirement Plan Advisors, Inc. In addition it owns Inverness Securities LLC, a FINRA & SIPC member broker dealer. A more detailed description of Ancora, its RIAs, management team and practices are contained in the firm brochure, Form ADV Part 2a. Qualified prospective investors may obtain the ADV Part 2a by contacting the company at: 6060 Parkland Boulevard, Suite 200, Cleveland, Ohio 44124, Phone: 216-825-4000, or by going to www.ancora.net.

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Hingetown needs a retail-residential mix

By Mark Oprea

beer bike-tour company — recent research on the neighborhood backs up his and Shioiri-Clark’s observations. That is, more residential space equals more foot traffic equals bigger and better businesses. And, according to a 2016 report by National Real Estate Investor on development in Chicago’s “formerly distraught” Lakeview neighborhood, a better quality of life overall.

clbfreelancer@crain.com

“They dug the 13-foot garage in just a week,” Graham Veysey said, looking out the second-story window of his office on the corner of West 29th and Church Avenue in Hingetown, a portion of Ohio City at the “hinge” of the Warehouse District, the Market District and the Gordon Square Arts District.

Just months earlier, the developer had begun construction on a 158unit luxury apartment complex called Church + State, which will be the enclave’s ninth residential building since Veysey and his wife, Marika Shioiri-Clark, moved close to Hingetown eight years ago.

“We’ve got hundreds of contractors,” he continued. “All this will be up and ready in about a year.”

Besides Veysey’s and ShioiriClark’s continuous push for all things residential in the neighborhood, their 1-acre, two-structure complex will add something else the ever-growing hub is in dire need of: more retail.

Despite pushback on the couple’s latest project from longtime residents — signs reading “My Community is NOT Your Commodity” still front houses nearby — and scrutiny from the alternative press, there seems to be a newfound agreement between builders, community development corporations and neighbors

Defining ‘gentrification’

The Church + State complex, combined with other area developments, may grow Hingetown’s population enough to meet national retailers’ density requirements for locating there. (Contributed rendering)

Marika Shioiri-Clark and Graham Veysey (Contributed photo)

about Hingetown’s near future. In short, more Discount Drug Mart, less organic tea shop.

“A lot of people have been asking about more types of retail,” Shioiri-Clark said in a meeting room in the couple’s Ohio City Firehouse.

“They’re saying, ‘Well, what about a clothing store? Maybe a drugstore?’

But we just need to look at the density for those companies to succeed.”

Veysey agreed. The most recent businesses to tag along to luxury apart-

ments have been a doughnut shop, a dog-food eatery and a vintage store.

“I personally have been talking to people about a more universal appeal, more utilitarian things,” he added. “We want to be cognizant of all our neighbors. I mean, a Walgreen’s, for example, is something everybody would be excited about.”

Although many involved admit there was initial backlash to Hingetown’s growth — Veysey claimed it was mostly due to the “noise” from a

This spring, the community development corporation Ohio City Inc. will publish the final version of a “Retail Plan” it previewed last year. For it, staffers interviewed more than 1,000 residents, through focus groups and text-message blasts, about what they hope to see in Hingetown.

Ashley Shaw, economic development and planning manager at OCI, said the majority of those surveyed stated that what they want are “hardware stores, drugstores and higher-end retail.”

She pointed out that apartments in development will bolster the population density needed to attract a national brand such as CVS. As an example, she cited The Quarter, a complex that opened last October on Detroit Avenue, which “is now at 92% capacity within eight months of finishing their first 200 units.” She added that she believes that rate will only continue to climb.

SEE HINGETOWN, PAGE 17

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Ohio county auditors explore blockchain The technology could make commercial real estate transactions faster and more secure

By Douglas J. Guth

A simpler transfer

clbfreelancer@crain.com

Blockchain is a digitized, distributed ledger that its developers say is virtually hack-proof despite its availability to large groups of people or organizations.

Built as an accounting system for the bitcoin virtual Harold currency, blockchain has the potential to transform industries such as government services, health care and real estate, its advocates maintain. Locally, auto dealer and entrepreneur Bernie Moreno is leading the high-tech charge, launching a blockchain-centric startup from his Ownum LLC tech incubator to evolve the titling process for automobiles and other registered vehicles.

In real estate, transactions travel through multiple county offices for approval before becoming public record. The majority of title data are stored at the local level — sometimes only on paper — resulting in fragmented, outdated information that is difficult and expensive to access.

Using a blockchain, a digital title could include a property’s history, location and title details, speeding up a transfer process otherwise hampered by paper-driven or out-of-date electronic recordkeeping.

Working group member Wayne County currently uses a paper system where titles are physically walked to each office. While those offices are close to one another, that doesn’t eliminate the irritation stemming from the 30%-40% of deeds needing correction.

“If something is askew or a form is off, it’s going to be frustrating for us and the title company,” said auditor

Efforts are underway to turn Cleveland into a center of blockchain technology, thanks to the Blockland Cleveland initiative as well as startups using blockchain-based software to limit the paper trail produced through any number of data transactions.

According to proponents of the technology, the commercial real estate industry could harness the nascent platform’s versatility to make property dealings more organized and secure.

A County Auditors’ Association of Ohio (CAAO) working group has partnered with Columbus software provider SafeChain to study how blockchain can streamline the transfer of property deeds at the county level. As many of these transactions take place on paper in Ohio, the working group views the new technology as a huge leap beyond the current, antiquated system.

The group consists of 13 Ohio county auditors, who will test the execution of real estate transactions on a blockchain, ideally creating a decentralized audit trail that can never be lost or stolen. CAAO president and Stark County auditor Alan Harold said the goal is to get auditors thinking about how they deliver real estate services to the taxpayer.

“It’s a way to make the process more efficient for the end-user and improve the working relationship across different city office-holders,” Harold said.

Underwood

Kovack

Jarra Underwood. “Transferring electronically, we can just send the deed back to the title company and say, ‘This is the problem.’ ” Eliminating paper from a property handover unlocks a host of other cost-effective, secure real estate transaction options, observed SafeChain CEO Tony Franco. Under SafeChain’s guidance, Perry County discontinued physical stamping of documents that moved between the county engineer, auditor and recorder. That slashed the length of the process from 48 hours to just five minutes.

The company worked with Washington County officials on automating paper copies of property conveyance tax forms, allowing data to pass easily to other government entities or internal databases. Franklin County, meanwhile, recently completed a sale of forfeited properties through blockchain. (Franco said that Cuyahoga County declined to join the working group project following a query from SafeChain.)

“We’re doing a process map of the working group, then we’ll deploy the technology in counties where it makes sense,” Franco explained.

“There’s no set timeline. The purpose is to see if we can offer (county audi-

Marrie

Franco

tors) better, more efficient service.”

Blockchain also introduces increased security against ransomware attacks, where a hacker blocks access to a computer system unless payment is made. In Licking County, officials relied on backups rather than pay a ransom during an attack on their network. A blockchain-backed system would require successful infiltration of dozens of decentralized databases at once, presenting an imposing dilemma for data thieves, Franco said.

‘The way of the future’ Ohio continues to position itself as a hub for blockchain adoption. Last year, the state amended its Uniform Electronic Transactions Act to recognize data stored and transacted on a blockchain. Under the act, electronic signatures secured through blockchain have the same legal standing as any other electronic signature.

Ryan Marrie, president of Ohio Real Title, was convinced enough by blockchain’s potential to join SafeChain as a minority investor. Marrie views blockchain as a forward-thinking technology for an industry sometimes slow to change.

“Blockchain is not going to get rid of title. It’s a database to consolidate

information in one place,” Marrie said. “We’re not scared off by it. My interest in working with this is having a shared database between public and private companies to eliminate redundancies and help with turn time.”

Medina County auditor Michael Kovack, another member of the working group, said that while blockchain is still in its infancy, a day will come when most real estate transactions are processed through the platform.

“It’s the way of the future — either we do it now or get in and do it later,” said Kovack. “We’re already doing electronic transfers in Medina, so we’re ahead of the curve.”

While real estate records in Medina are still available on microfiche, a blockchain database saves personnel and residents from tracking down outdated documentation.

“You can just type in a property’s ID number and have that at your fingertips,” Kovack said. “The ability to research and find records is going to be huge.”

Wayne County’s Underwood said blockchain may be a tough sell for government officials accustomed to physical documentation. For some counties, a high level of modernization will take a reorientation of thinking.

“It’s a philosophy change, and we still have to see where the stumbling blocks are with SafeChain,” said Underwood. “But as a medium-sized county, I want us to be on the cutting edge. Taxpayers deserve the best public services offering the latest and greatest technology.”

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HINGETOWN CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

Church + State includes eight 1,000-square-foot, ground-floor retail spaces. (Contributed rendering)

What about rising rents and commercial displacement? “Being priced out was not a worry we heard from business owners,” said Shaw, who is an Ohio City resident. “But it all depends on the room you walk into. Some never want to see a national business here, others wouldn’t mind seeing something like a Taco Bell — those who just want to feed their families.”

According to The Riddle Co., the economic consultants with whom OCI worked, Ohio City as a whole would need roughly 5,000 more residents to greenlight something like a chain hardware store. That might be difficult with a 1% growth rate from 2000-18.

However, with current vacancy being extremely low — and rents staying relatively high — both Shaw and the Veysey/Shioiri-Clark duo feel confident

that Church + State, combined with West 25th’s 260-unit Market Plaza apartments, could grow to meet retailers’ density requirements. That might even happen fast enough to fill Church + State’s eight 1,000- square-foot, groundfloor retail spaces by the end of 2020.

As for luring in competition for local businesses, existing specialty shops in Hingetown don’t seem to be tearing their hair at the idea of a bitesized Whole Foods setting up shop.

Kelly Brewer, the owner of Bigmouth Donut Co., which opened in Hingetown last August, suggested that the neighborhood’s innate brand, appealing to small business backers, would safeguard most niche shops from bigbox pressure. At least he hopes so.

“I guess I would be Switzerland (in that fight),” Brewer said with a laugh.

“I kind of see both sides on the whole old and new thing. Actually, the main challenge with my friends is first of all, ‘What is Hingetown? Where ex-

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actly are you?’ ” After all, the neighborhood only acquired its name a few years ago.

While Veysey and Shioiri-Clark continue to prop up the enclave’s brand, whether through the art initiative Hingetown Culture Works or advocating for pathways to the lakefront, they both maintain a firm, positive stance on the area’s perpetual makeover, denying any negative assertions about gentification. After all, Church + State, just like two of Hingetown’s other luxury complexes — The Quarter and Mariner’s Watch — is being built on an old, unused parking lot. To them, all development is a win-win.

“It’s not as if bulldozers are coming in and getting rid of housing,” Veysey noted. “I mean, what is the definition of gentrification? Does it mean equal displacement? Or is it merely the fact that you’ve got additional dollars coming into a community that you haven’t had before?”

VAN AKEN CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14

While Van Aken has few national retailers, such as Bonobos men’s store; Shinola, the American-made luxury goods maker; and glasses retailer See Eyewear, the emphasis is on what Palmisano calls “a curated collection of the best” local retailers.

The result is shops that offer a variety of products, from spices to soaps.

At Van Aken Upstairs, the apartment building, the seven penthouses atop the structure are all leased at $4,000 to $5,000 monthly, while two-bedroom suites on other floors carry rents of about $3,200 a month.

Palmisano estimated that about 75% of the tenants are from the area, including empty nesters who have downsized from homes, while 25% hail from out of town.

Although Van Aken District has risen from the ground over the past three years, Shaker Heights Mayor David Weiss prefers to recall almost 20 years of spadework that went into making the redevelopment of the former Van Aken Shopping Center a reality.

“RMS has done a wonderful job, but what we have is what was called for in our master plan almost 20 years ago,” Weiss said.

A series of community forums helped RMS shape what the project might entail, and the city rejiggered the six-way intersection next to the former plaza to a conventional intersection to ease traffic movement and create a larger site for the redevelopment. The redesign also helped ensure the mixed-use project would be pedestrian-friendly.

Weiss said one of the most satisfying parts of the project for himself is seeing people walking to Van Aken District from nearby neighborhoods.

“You only get one shot at these types of things,” he noted. “You want to make sure you get them right.”

Weiss said additional developments

by RMS at the remaining parcels will continue to help redevelop the city by bringing in more residents and businesses as well as adding density for the retail part of the project. He also plans to build on that momentum to aid redevelopment in other parts of the suburb.

Although Van Aken has been developed with the style and density of an urban project, Palmisano said, it also had to bow to the realities of the Cleveland marketplace and the prevalence of cars. There are more than 700 surface and garage parking spaces at Van Aken. However, its layout is such that it can accommodate both people who love to drive and apartment residents or visitors who prefer to use public transit, he added.

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REMODEL CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Increasingly, building concerns with substantial staff counts of 20 or more are developing in the residential remodeling business. Consider Payne & Payne, the custom home-building and remodeling firm based in Chardon. Two years ago, Dave Payne stepped down from the presidency of the firm’s home-building business, leaving that to his brothers Eric and Mike Payne, to lead and develop a home renovations wing for the firm.

“The first years we were in operation we did home remodeling,” he recalled.

“We’ve always done some home re-

modeling, but we got away from it during the housing boom to focus on home construction. Being fidgety in my career, I wanted to focus on this.”

Today, the company runs homebuilding and renovation as separate businesses with their own profitand-loss ledgers. On its website, you will find equal billing between the two segments.

An insight drove Dave Payne to push for the separate ventures.

“One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen in my career and in the industry is taking a one-size-fits-all approach,” he said. “It’s all very similar-looking, but home-building and renovation are very different.”

Payne explained that while both

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pursuits may use plumbers and carpenters, building a home is quite distinct from renovating one. A new home is a blank blueprint, but a renovation job works around what exists in the home, which he said requires very different skills.

Even though he has decades of building experience, Payne spent three months contacting well-regarded home remodelers around the country — where he wouldn’t be a potential competitor — to find best practices in the industry and improve work flows for renovations.

A major item Payne and other remodelers mention is that the contractor is moving into a client’s home for some time, which is not the case in building a new house from the ground up.

“Some people take it for granted that you’ll have dust as part of a remodeling job,” Payne said. Now, Payne & Payne spends as much as a day sealing off the project area from the rest of the house to contain the dust, which is typical in some other markets.

The other big change is emphasizing the ordering of appliances, fixtures and cabinets well in advance of when they’re needed at a renovation.

“That way you don’t have the project sitting idle,” Payne noted, and clients seeing the slow-down, which is different from the longer delivery schedule for building a new home.

Payne & Payne now has a dedicated staff of about 20 focused on renovations and more than 30 in homebuilding, and both arms of the company use construction subcontractors for the physical work. Renovations account for about 20% of revenue, including the cost of materials, although Payne declined to disclose actual sales figures. The concern builds about 40 homes a year and renovates about the same number.

Priming the pump In the same way, James Justice, who owns Medina-based Architectural Justice with his wife, Darlene, said he was interested in building homes when he launched the remodeling company 33 years ago, shortly after he graduated from high school. But he found himself following a different path.

“Building spec homes was a real challenge,” Justice said. “We had trouble keeping the exterior crews.

We were staying so busy with the interior guys we decided to specialize in renovations and additions.”

Fast-forward to today and Archi-

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tectural Justice has revenues of more than $6 million a year and a staff of 50 that includes nine interior designers.

The firm opened a cafe last year in Strongsville that also serves as a secondary showroom and a location for selling the firm’s own furniture. It also has its own cabinet-making, granite, sawmill and concrete-casting shops, among other operations.

“We like to control as much of the process as possible,” Justice said. “I’ve always made cabinets, since my first job installing a kitchen for $1,500.”

And these may not be small undertakings. Architectural Justice has projects ranging from a few hundred dollars to a $1 million job finishing the interior of a new home in Medina. At Payne & Payne, the projects range from gut-to-the-studs, wholehouse renovations for upward of $250,000 to kitchen and master bath projects. Most of its jobs are in the $75,000 to $85,000 price range.

The nature of Northeast Ohio’s residential market primes the pump for the home remodeling business. Payne said he felt there was opportunity in remodeling because of the large number of older homes — many of them great homes — in the region.

Although specific local figures aren’t available, that’s a trend sparking the rise of home renovations nationally.

The Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University found in its latest housing report, “Improving America’s Housing 2019,” that the nation’s home remodeling market has increased 50% in terms of expenditures since 2008, and reached $425 billion in 2017, the last year for which such housing data are available nationally.

With home building remaining at a pace below historic norms, the report said, 40% of the country’s 137 million homes are at least 50 years old, which contributed to increased spending on home remodeling every year since 2008.

Justice said he regularly hears from customers that they are spending on renovating their existing house because they like the neighborhood and their neighbors and “don’t want to gamble” on whether they will like a new-home community as much.

Rising tide lifts all projects While the resurgence of the existing-home market has pushed up prices and the availability of home equity to fund projects, the Harvard study said projects costing $50,000 or fewer are typically paid for with savings. Several builders and remodel-

ers observed that the rising cost of constructing new homes is aiding the reno business.

Buyers of existing homes, especially young couples buying in Lakewood and Rocky River, Selva said, are investing in remodeling because they want to put their imprint on their first home and tailor it to their specific needs. The Harvard study said the aging of baby boomers will also aid remodeling for the long haul because many boomers hope to age in place and may need to adapt their homes to be handicapped accessible or simply add a first-floor master.

Another factor is that spending on home remodeling projects is increasing, not just because of rising material and labor costs, but due to heightened interest in eye-popping renovations fed by HGTV programs, Pinterest and online remodeling information.

“There are a lot of bigger projects now than in the past,” Judge said.

“People don’t seem hesitant anymore.

Those discussions of ‘Maybe I should wait’ seem to be less common.”

Selva said what was once a $5,000 home renovation project may cost $15,000 now because customers demand higher-quality fixtures and finishes. He said a 10-by-20-foot expansion has given way to 20-by-25 expansions.

“We sell a lot more laminated veneer lumber beams,” Selva said. Cleveland Lumber recently doubled its inventory of the product because demand is so strong from people removing arches in older homes and turning them into open-concept layouts.

“In the past, with exposed ceilings, you would see a beam wrapped in drywall,” Selva said. “Now, people will wrap it in cedar or paint it with a regal finish to make it pop.”

Due to the internet, Judge noted, many customers now come prepared with ideas for what they want to do, “so we have to meet them with our ‘A’ game.”

Payne said the HGTV programs have “demystified” the remodeling process for many people. However, he added that sometimes prospective clients want to add so much to an existing home that his staffers have to ask them to consider whether they are being too aggressive.

“Sometimes,” Payne said, “you have to ask if they are doing too much to change a home. ‘Are you overinvesting?’ If it’s too much of an investment for the house and neighborhood, they may not be able to get their money back. If they can’t accept that, (that job) might not be a good fit for us.”

LIST ANALYSIS

Haslams bought another home

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About a year ago, a trust managed

by Jimmy and Dee Haslam quietly bought a mansion in Bratenahl — and it’s right next door to the one they purchased back in 2012, when they bought the Cleveland Browns.

The trust acquired a stately lakefront home on Lake Shore Boulevard for nearly $3 million. The seller was an LLC formed by George and Maria Glyptis (he’s the “George” behind Famous Gyro George restaurants).

It was the sixth-priciest home sale in the seven-county Greater Cleveland area last year, according to our Largest 2018 Residential Sales list.

The Haslams appear to still own

5/14/18 8:34 AM

their existing home, which hasn’t changed hands since they bought it for $4.1 million in 2012. Their daughter, Whitney Haslam Johnson, is listed as the trustee for a townhouse unit across the street. She and her husband, James Wood Johnson III, were slated to move to Northeast Ohio last summer when JW Johnson became an executive vice president with the Browns. (Whitney Haslam Johnson is an executive at Pilot Flying J, the reststop chain owned by the Haslams.)

But a Browns spokesperson noted that they don’t live in the same neighborhood as Jimmy and Dee Haslam.

He declined to give more details.

A few other local sports executives appear on the full digital list, which includes 82 home sales. In the buyer column are Cleveland Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman (No. 29),

Browns general manager John Dorsey (No. 37) and former Browns offensive coordinator Todd Haley (No. 51).

This list often includes sports executives and players, who not only make good money but often change cities when they change jobs. But it also includes other prominent local executives. Consider the historic home at No. 2, bought by Jason and Lanee Lucarelli, the family behind Minute Men Staffing, and sold by a trust tied to the Embrescia family.

And fans of the movie “Anchorman” might notice that the Avon Lake home at No. 3 was sold by a company named after Ron Burgundy. The home was sold for $3.5 million — “kind of a big deal,” as Mr. Burgundy might say. We’ve never been inside, but we assume it smells of rich mahogany.

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THE LIST

Largest 2018 Residential Sales Ranked by price THIS ADDRESS YEAR COUNTY

SALE PRICE

BUYER

SELLER

SQUARE FEET YEAR BUILT

SALE DATE

1

41777 Burton Trail, Gates Mills, 44022 Cuyahoga

$6,125,000

Burton Trail LLC

Lake Iroquois Ventures LLC

8,186 1979

2/2/2018

2

12 W. Hanna Lane, Bratenahl, 44108 Cuyahoga

$4,995,000

Jason S. and Lanee Lucarelli

Judith A. Embrescia (trustee)

14,984 1910

5/25/2018

3

32696 Lake Road, Avon Lake, 44012 Lorain

$3,500,000

Iron Will LLC

Ronburgendy Ltd.

17,817 2008

6/29/2018

4

2916 Nottingham Lane, Hunting Valley, 44022 Cuyahoga

$3,357,500

PJK Family Management LLC

Susan M. Greig (trustee)

9,754 2005

5/14/2018

5

21620 Avalon Drive, Rocky River, 44116 Cuyahoga

$3,300,000

Steven C. and Jennifer L. Glass (trustees)

Michael A. and Dawn M. Lehnowsky

6,548 1929

8/14/2018

6

10401 Lake Shore Blvd., Bratenahl, 44108 Cuyahoga

$2,965,000

James A. Haslam III and Susan Bagwell Haslam (trustees)

GPOR Investments LLC

9,962 1925

4/6/2018

7

18200 S. Park Blvd., Shaker Heights, 44120 Cuyahoga

$2,625,000

Monalee S. Erter (trustee)

Matthew F. Embrescia

8,894 1937

8/24/2018

8

19201 S. Park Blvd., Shaker Heights, 44122 Cuyahoga

$2,500,000

Mark William and Sara S. Midkiff

N.P. Dodge Jr. (trustee)

8,908 1928

7/2/2018

9

19650 Frazier Drive, Rocky River, 44116 Cuyahoga

$2,415,000

Betty J. Kemper (trustee)

Mark Richard and Megan McCallister Pfaff

5,704 1995

5/16/2018

10

7445 Old Mill Road, Gates Mills, 44040 Cuyahoga

$2,150,000

LPC Bridge LLC

Lois A. Loconti (trustee)

3,209 1980

6/14/2018

11

130 Lakehurst Drive, Bratenahl, 44108 Cuyahoga

$2,050,000

Soisi LLC

Constantine and Marth S. Mavroudis

6,591 2002

3/15/2018

12

572 Marina Drive, Akron, 44319 Summit

$2,000,000

Janeen M. Williams (trustee)

David P. Zito

6,252 2014

10/16/2018

12

Shaker Boulevard, Hunting Valley, 44022 (1) Cuyahoga

$2,000,000

The Colleran Family Foundation

Eastern Ohio Holdings LLC

NA (1) NA

7/12/2018

14

17852 Lake Road, Lakewood, 44107 Cuyahoga

$1,900,000

JNLM5 LLC

Louis and Cynthia M. Keppler

4,072 1928

4/26/2018

14

15 Colony Lane, Bratenahl, 44108 Cuyahoga

$1,900,000

William and Karen Brace

Jace Stephen and Kathryn J. Mallon Jones

6,002 1999

8/16/2018

16

32136 Lake Road, Avon Lake, 44012 Lorain

$1,780,000

Bernard Karr

Mark D. and Mary K. Crist

5,315 1967

6/1/2018

17

31824 Lake Road, Avon Lake, 44012 Lorain

$1,775,000

Ellen Burns

Michael Knall

8,858 2006

12/14/2018

18

1010 Merriman Road, Akron, 44303 Summit

$1,768,000

Denis and Lisa Rondeau

Jack W. Jeter (trustee)

9,621 1925

1/16/2018

19

21 E. Hanna Lane, Bratenahl, 44108 Cuyahoga

$1,700,000

Brett R. Lindsey and Teresa Hack

Michael Hilton

6,456 2000

10/15/2018

20

29202 Lake Road, Bay Village, 44140 Cuyahoga

$1,691,500

Thomas W. Stockette

Larkin Hill Clark

4,415 1995

9/11/2018

21

17 E. Hanna Lane, Bratenahl, 44108 Cuyahoga

$1,650,000

Eric H. Beck and Alexander P. Venizelos

11801 Properties LLC

11,525 1911

3/16/2018

22

645 Club Drive, Aurora, 44202 Portage

$1,625,000

Justin T. and Katrina Lynn Amundson Binns

Nancy Lou Dambrosi

7,273 2008

8/29/2018

23

13700 County Line Road, Chagrin Falls, 44022 Geauga

$1,510,000

John D. and Deborah M. Rathbun

William C. and Harriet B. Mulligan

5,830 1948

10/1/2018

24

945 Cimarron Oval, Aurora, 44202 Portage

$1,500,000

F. Scott B. Geneva (trustee)

Ujith G. and Tamara A. Samarasinghe

5,298 2005

11/8/2018

24

20942 Avalon Drive, Rocky River, 44116 Cuyahoga

$1,500,000

Elliott Dean Fisher

Colette M. Gallagher (trustee)

4,040 1929

5/30/2018

24

3050 Chagrin River Road, Hunting Valley, 44022 Cuyahoga

$1,500,000

Next Lap Holdings LLC

Eastern Ohio Holdings LLC

NA NA

7/12/2018

27

29128 Lake Road, Bay Village, 44140 Cuyahoga

$1,485,000

Catherine A. Suever (trustee)

John G. Harknett (trustee)

5,227 1912

7/18/2018

28

755 Club Drive, Aurora, 44202 Portage

$1,420,000

Robert Edward and Kelli Ann Murray

Prestige & Premier Co.

4,912 2016

8/27/2018

29

12 Colony Lane, Bratenahl, 44108 Cuyahoga

$1,400,000

Koby Altman

Charels E. and Cynth Dana

4,793 1999

7/16/2018

30

266 E. Washington St., Chagrin Falls, 44022 Cuyahoga

$1,395,000

Cindy A. and John S. Ellis

Lynn Steiner and Keith Paul DeGreen (trustees)

4,086 1968

5/18/2018

31

60 S. Lane Drive, Moreland Hills, 44022 Cuyahoga

$1,375,000

Anne and Martin A. Smith

40 East LLC

8,305 1992

10/9/2018

32

65 Quail Hollow Drive, Moreland Hills, 44022 Cuyahoga

$1,342,500

Margaret Singerman (trustee)

Pinyon Management LLC

6,466 1975

9/19/2018

33

1080 Top of the Hill, Akron, 44333 Summit

$1,335,000

Neil Malhotra and Neema Mahendra Patel

Julie M. Stacy (trustee)

9,191 1988

8/30/2018

34

21799 Avalon Drive, Rocky River, 44116 Cuyahoga

$1,325,000

Jeremy Thompson and Andrea Kerzner

Juliana M. Bell (trustee)

4,774 1966

12/14/2018

35

7777 Eagle Creek Court, Willoughby, 44094 Lake

$1,295,000

Bernie and Allison Cowan

John Iskra and Annie Iskra

5,446 2010

6/27/2018

RESEARCHED BY CHUCK SODER (CSODER@CRAIN.COM)

To get all 82 home sales on this list in Excel format, become a Data Member: CrainsCleveland.com/data

This list includes individual home sales over $1 million for Cuyahoga, Summit, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Portage and Medina counties. Data is from county records. The list excludes vacant land sales, sheriff's sales and non-arms-length transactions (sales categorized as "not valid"). Send feedback to Chuck Soder: csoder@crain.com.

(1) County records do not include an exact address or building details for this property.

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AKRON

Empty Beacon building may be a challenge

By Dan Shingler dshingler@crain.com @DanShingler

There’s a big hole about to appear in downtown Akron, and how and when it will be filled is anyone’s guess. And it’s likely to have a major impact on the city’s core.

It’s the Akron Beacon Journal building, a historic sandstone edifice on an East Exchange Street site that occupies an entire city block between South High and South Broadway streets. The building has been the home of the city’s daily newspaper since 1938, not to mention the nursery of a 20th-century media empire run by John S. Knight and his family.

The paper has said it will move its staff sometime this summer to another location in downtown Akron, and now the building is up for sale.

With a dramatic tower at the corner of Exchange and High, the building is three stories tall on the west side and two stories tall on the east.

The building, constructed in 1929 during an era of classic architecture, has 230,000 square feet of space. By comparison, the city’s $42 million Bowery Project has less than 50,000 square feet of mixed-use space and 100 apartments planned. The Law Building’s $26 million residential conversion entails about 200,000 square feet.

The Beacon site’s size, both as a

The Akron Beacon Journal said it will move its staff out of its historic downtown building this summer. The building, owned by Black Press Media, is now for sale. (Shane Wynn for AkronStock)

building and a parcel, might be part of the challenge in finding what comes next, and that’s becoming a question on the minds of city officials and downtown advocates.

“That’s a great question. That’s a big building,” said Jerry Fiume, managing partner of SVN Summit Commercial Real Estate Group in Akron.

Fiume said he’s been through parts of the building, but not all of it.

He’s seen enough to know it will be a huge project if a developer comes along with plans to renovate or re-

purpose it.

“The location is great. It’s just the size of the building in this market,” he said. “That’s going to be tough to repurpose. Maybe what happens with that building is something comparable to what happened with Goodrich, where Canal Place is.”

He’s referring to an even bigger potential boondoggle turned boom: B.F. Goodrich’s plant on South Main Street. It was built out in the early 1990s and now boasts more than 2.5 million square feet of leased office,

industrial and storage space.

But Fiume is quick to point out that Canal Place was no overnight success.

“It took a lot of years to get there, and that’s probably what’s going to happen with this one,” he said.

The Beacon building might have another challenge, too: It’s very construction. To say “they don’t build them like that anymore” would be an understatement in stone. The structure was purpose-built to house a newspaper, including huge printing presses that once pumped out Pulitzer-winning editions of the Akron Beacon Journal. It looks more like a Federal Reserve Bank than any building likely to be put up today.

“From my understanding, some of those floors are incredibly thick. They were built to hold up presses and things. … It’s built like a tank, but it might be harder to customize because of that,” said Jason Segedy, Akron’s director of planning and urban development.

But the entire site is also flexible, in part because the Beacon Journal tore down a parking deck that once dominated much of the block.

“That was probably a good move in terms of the potential reuse of the building, because it gives more possibilities to the site. … And we have a lot of parking nearby, so I think if someone was to reuse the building they could build an expansion where that deck used to be if they needed a

different configuration,” Segedy said.

The building was previously for lease but is now for sale, said Rick O’Connor, president and CEO of Black Press Media near Vancouver, Canada. Black Press once owned the Beacon Journal, building and all, but sold the paper to GateHouse Media in 2018. It still owns the building.

Black Press decided late last summer to sell the property and has had some interested parties, but no sale to announce yet.

“We’ve had a couple of almosts, but nothing finalized yet. It’s obviously a big piece of property,” O’Connor said.

Some interest in the building has come from developers seeking to repurpose it, said Jason Laver, senior vice president of Cushman & Wakefield | Cresco Real Estate in Cleveland and one of the firm’s team members who are marketing the property.

Cresco is not listing the building with an asking price, but Laver said he expects it to sell for “about $4 million.”

“It’s really set up as a single-occupant building, but a lot of the folks we’ve had through the building are looking at it for mixed use,” Laver said.

He said the building’s robustness also might be a positive in that it means the structure could support light manufacturing alongside office or residential space.

Residential sites are hot in Akron, SEE BEACON, PAGE 22

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ArtsNow hires liaison to bolster business ties

By Judy Stringer clbfreelancer@crain.com

Since its inception, ArtsNow has been tasked with acting as the connective tissue between businesses and the Summit County creative sector.

That has been a challenging assignment at times, executive director Nichole Mullet admitted, especially given the Akron-based organization’s countywide footprint and the fact that fostering business relationships is one of “about four significant goals,” she said.

And, oh yeah, Mullet has been doing most of it alone as the 4-year-old nonprofit’s only full-time staffer.

“It has been like a constant act of prioritization,” she said. “One of those jobs where you always feel like you are letting somebody down because you just cannot be two places

at once or focus on so many different projects simultaneously.”

Mullet now has backup. Earlier this month, Grace Myers began her tenure as ArtsNow’s new corMyers porate and community liaison. In that role, Myers will be responsible for engaging the private sector and working with businesses to see how they might support and utilize local artists and cultural institutions.

Neither being a liaison nor working in Akron is new to the Cuyahoga Falls native. Most recently, Myers was hired as the project coordinator for the eBay Retail Revival program when it swept though the Rubber City last year. She worked closely with the cohort of

small businesses chosen by eBay to ensure they had access to community resources available to them, as well as eBay-specific resources.

Before that, Myers launched the startup New Territory, an augmented-reality design studio based in the Bounce Innovation Hub, with her husband, Bill.

“Going into the eBay position, I thought I knew a lot about Akron, but it was a great learning experience,” Myers said. “Even I, as a startup owner, did not realize all the resources and all of the incredible small business owners that exist in this city.”

Myers added that in her new position she looks forward to diving “deeper and deeper” into Akron, connecting not only with corporations but with artists and arts organizations that are businesses in their own right. The role also will help her “branch out,” she said, beyond Ak-

ron’s borders into other areas of Summit County.

Meanwhile, having Myers on board frees up Mullet to dive deeper herself — into other ArtsNow projects, according to the executive director. Among those projects are artbased initiatives in Cuyahoga Falls and Barberton and a collaborative program with advocacy organizations from Cuyahoga and Lorain counties that focuses on conveying the importance of art education and supporting art educators.

In addition, ArtsNow is working with an organized group of artists called Vibe Collective to host “resource” workshops that help area creatives with issues such as tax preparation and social media marketing, and to present seminars that explore how art, cultural and environmental forces can work together to address social issues such as inequality. Then there’s

the ongoing effort to better understand and communicate the economic impact of the creative sector in Summit County and, more broadly, in Northeast Ohio.

“We don’t need to be lobbyists, but we need to be smart in how we advocate, in the same way that right now a lot of people are advocating for public education,” Mullet said.

Mullet said Myers’ job is primarily funded via a Knight Arts Challenge grant. In 2017, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation awarded ArtsNow a $100,000 matching gift to get the fledgling corporate liaison program off the ground. The foundation released the first half of that gift at the end of last year after ArtsNow raised its $50,000 through cash donations and in-kind support, including new Main Street office space and various pieces of office furniture donated by Summit County.

SEE ARTSNOW, PAGE 22

Advertising Section

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

To place your listing, visit www.crainscleveland.com/people-on-the-move or for more information, please call Debora Stein at (917) 226-5470 or email dstein@crain.com.

EDUCATION

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Walter | Haverfield is pleased to announce that Alejandro Cortes has joined the firm as an associate in its Public Law, Litigation and Labor and Employment groups. Cortes has extensive experience representing public entities in northeast Ohio. He previously served as an Associate General Counsel for the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority and as an Assistant Director of Law for the City of Cleveland.

For more information, visit www. walterhav.com.

Walter | Haverfield is pleased to announce that David Grillo has joined the firm as a partner in its Intellectual Property group. Grillo’s practice includes patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret matters. As a registered patent attorney, he has extensive experience preparing and prosecuting patent applications in software, electrical and mechanical fields for Fortune 100 companies, startups and individual inventors. For more information, visit www.walterhav. com.

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RCF Group is pleased to announce the promotion of Anna Lang to Director of New Business Development in its Cleveland office.

Anna’s focus has been the development and management of existing, large corporate accounts. Her new role will expand to include development of new business strategies and pursuits to add to RCF Group’s corporate accounts portfolio.

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Pascu focuses his practice primarily in the areas of Federal, State and Local Tax Planning and Controversies, Mergers and Acquisitions, Estate Planning and Probate and Trust Administration. He earned his J.D. from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, where he was articles editor of the Journal of Law and Health. For more information, visit www.walterhav. com.

Walter | Haverfield is pleased to announce that Douglas Eppler has joined the firm as an associate in its Litigation Services group. Eppler’s experience includes a wide variety of civil, commercial and probate litigation. In addition, he has extensive experience in all aspects of commercial loan enforcement, including foreclosures, breach of finance lease actions and fraudulent conveyance claims. For more information, visit www.walterhav. com.

The National Structured Settlements Trade Association (NSSTA) is pleased to announce that Michael W. Goodman, Esq., CSSC, has been named President-Elect. Goodman is Co-Founder and President of NFP Structured Settlements with experience as a structured settlement consultant since 1991. NFP Structured Settlements is one of the nation’s largest structured settlement firms with more than $2 billion in annuity premiums placed for the benefit of injured parties.

Northeast Ohio Medical University is pleased to announce the promotion of Roderick L. Ingram Sr., M.B.A., to chief marketing officer. Ingram joined NEOMED in 2015 as executive director, the Office of Marketing and Communication. He serves as the principal strategic marketing and communications adviser to the president, university board and members of the leadership team. Ingram has held senior leadership positions at Newschannel 5, the Ohio Lottery and CWRU’s Weatherhead School of Management.

STAFFING & SERVICES

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Ancora Ancora is happy to announce that Mr. Kevin Gale has joined the firm as a Managing Director of Fixed Income. Kevin will be assisting in the management of the firm’s various fixed income strategies as well as the individual portfolios for institutional and high net worth accounts. Prior to joining Ancora, Kevin served as Head of Taxable Fixed Income for Key Private Bank and has held various positions with KeyBank since 2000. We are pleased to welcome Kevin to Ancora and the Fixed Income team.

P021_CL_20190415.indd 21

TalentLaunch TalentLaunch, a nationwide network of independentlyoperated staffing and recruitment firms under common ownership, recently announced Doug Dandurand as President. In this role, Mr. Dandurand will be responsible for the overall strategy and growth of our network companies. Previously, he was the President of Advantage Resourcing North America, a $430M staffing company owned

by Recruit Holdings. He has also held several leadership positions with international staffing firms.

4/12/19 2:15 PM

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FIELDHOUSE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

“I don’t think it means anything to a team’s bottom line, but it’s one of those things that fans can catch on to,” said Matt Balvanz, a senior vice president of analytics at Navigate Research, a Chicago-based firm that measures the value of such deals.

“Think about social media — there’s a lot of value for sponsors being driven there,” Balvanz added. “If fans are saying it and people can associate the nickname with the sponsor, that kind of organizational value can take off.”

Since Rocket Mortgage, a fully digital mortgage option introduced by Quicken Loans in late 2015, is part of the Dan Gilbert family of companies, the Cavs have more invested in the long-term deal than a typical naming rights sponsorship.

When the new name for the arena was introduced on April 9, Gilbert acknowledged that fans might be resistant to another name change, but the owner said he thinks a moniker will develop “naturally.”

Eric Smallwood, the president of Apex Marketing Group, a St. Clair, Mich.-based firm that negotiates naming rights deals, said an arena nickname can be good for a team from a marketing perspective.

“The Rock is rocking — if you can intertwine something like that into a game broadcast, it can help the team,” Smallwood noted.

Gilbert and Komoroski aren’t tipping their hands, and social media has a way of bringing an unexpected moniker to the forefront, but you don’t need to be part of the Cavs’ leadership team to figure out which way they might be leaning.

The Quicken Loans name isn’t going away, CEO Jay Farner said after the April 9 announcement, but “you’re going to hear that (Rocket) brand more often moving forward.”

There are also Rocket Homes, a Quicken Loans sister company; Rocket Loans, a Rocket Mortgage affiliate; and Rocket HQ, a Rocket app.

All are part of Gilbert’s Rock Holdings umbrella.

Biggest NBA naming rights deals Scotiabank Arena, Toronto Raptors: 20 years, $639 million, runs through 2038 Chase Center, Golden State Warriors: 20 years, $300 million to $400 million, through 2039 Barclays Center, Brooklyn Nets: 20 years, $200 million, through 2032 American Airlines Center, Dallas Mavericks: 30 years, $195 million, through 2030 State Farm Arena, Atlanta Hawks: 20 years, $175 million, through 2038 Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee Bucks: 25 years, $150 million, through 2043 Little Caesars Arena, Detroit Pistons: 20 years, $125 million, through 2036 Golden 1 Center, Sacramento Kings: 20 years, $120 million, through 2036 TD Garden, Boston Celtics: 20 years, $119.1 million, through 2025 Staples Center, Los Angeles Clippers and Lakers: 20 years, $116 million Spectrum Center, Charlotte Hornets: 20 years, more than $100 million, through 2028 Capital One Arena, Washington Wizards: 10 years, $100 million, through 2027 United Center, Chicago Bulls: 20 years, $100 million, through 2034 Toyota Center, Houston Rockets: 20 years, $95 million, through 2023 FedExForum, Memphis Grizzlies: 22 years, $90 million, through 2024 Note: The Staples Center deal was originally struck in 1999 and was extended “in perpetuity” by AEG in 2009 — a move that likely resulted in a more lucrative contract. ... Of the 15 deals listed, all but six — those of the Warriors, Bucks, Kings, Hornets, Rockets and Grizzlies — are for arenas that also are home to an NHL team.

Source: Crain’s research, published reports

About that name ...

Smallwood said he always tells clients during naming rights deals that “the more words there are, the name becomes an acronym.”

The best-case scenario, he said, is a two-word name for a facility, “but with corporations, that’s not what you usually have.”

It’s the third word — FieldHouse — of the new name for Cleveland’s NBA arena that is unique, and not just because of the capital “H.” Of the four major U.S.-based professional sports leagues, the only team that plays in a “fieldhouse” is the Indiana Pacers. And Bankers Life Fieldhouse soon will have a new name, as the Pacers and CNO Financial Group announced last year that they would not be extending a deal that expires on June 30. (Since such a description is an Indiana tradition — think Hinkle Fieldhouse of “Hoosiers” and Butler University fame — it seems a safe assumption the Pacers

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will continue the theme in their next naming rights agreement.)

The Cavs and Rocket Mortgage went with FieldHouse in another attempt to connect a pair of billion-dollar businesses.

“We help people with their home,” Farner, the Quicken Loans CEO, said.

“This is the house you go to to watch your favorite team or your favorite concert. We thought there was a nice connection.”

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

“We’re in the second year fundraising, although I am extremely optimistic that we can get that done again, and in good measure,” Mullet said. “So many people recognize the value of that connective tissue for the community.”

Today, she added, art and cultural interests have a louder voice in Akron political and economic circles than they did 10 or even five years ago.

ArtsNow doesn’t just hear about new development projects or economic initiatives after they have been

BEACON

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“We help people with their home. This is the house you go to to watch your favorite team or your favorite concert. We thought there was a nice connection.”

and that’s attracting some interest in the building as a result, Laver said.

“The city and the mayor are really focused on reurbanization, and there’s a lot of pent-up demand for residential downtown. … I know that the Bowery Project has a number of people on the waiting list already, and they’re not even at the leasing stage yet. People are just calling with interest. So, that’s a good sign,” Laver said.

He also noted that because of the building’s age, it could qualify for his-

4/11/19 10:43 AM

But why the capital “H”?

“I think we were really trying to emphasize the house part of it,” Farner said.

The formula for naming rights deals — which usually extend for more than a decade — can be pretty simple, Smallwood said.

“It’s about the revenue and how it aligns with the team in future marketing,” the Apex Marketing Group president said.

In the Cavs’ case, the Rocket Mortgage deal, according to sources, is a longer-term extension for a contract that recently had been reupped with Quicken Loans.

The original deal, which took effect in August 2005 (about seven months after Gilbert purchased the Cavs for $375 million), was estimated at more than $3 million per season.

The latest transaction is another between Gilbert-owned businesses, but the NBA doesn’t want such high-profile contracts checking in at discounted rates.

“You can talk to Len about this, but I’m sure we’re market-plus,” Farner said. “Everything is at arm’s length (between the businesses).”

Komoroski would only call it “a fair agreement between the both of us.”

The deal, a Cavs source said, is classified as marketing revenue, and the funds are credited to the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse side of the business, not the Cavs’ portion.

Regardless of how the bookkeeping is done, naming rights deals, while significant, might only cover the annual cost of an average NBA salary.

According to Crain’s research, there are at least 15 NBA naming rights deals that are worth $90 million or more. Three others — deals involving the arenas in Denver, Indianapolis and Miami — are expiring, and one, in Cleveland, was just redone.

Ten of the 15 are for at least $6 million per year, with recent deals struck by the Toronto Raptors (20 years, $639 million with Scotiabank) and Golden State Warriors (20 years, an

estimated $300 million to $400 million with JPMorgan Chase) being the outliers.

Three others — at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.; Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.; and State Farm Arena in Atlanta — are valued between $8.75 million and $10 million annually. The remaining 10 are worth $4 million to $7 million per season.

Financial details for the Cavs’ deal with Rocket haven’t been revealed, but Balvanz, who analyzes such agreements for Navigate Research, said $4 million to $6 million per year is “probably the right range” for a team that plays in an arena that has only one major tenant.

Nine of the 15 naming rights deals that have a total value of $90 million are for arenas that also house an NHL team. Of the six that don’t include an NHL club, five — deals struck by the Sacramento Kings, Milwaukee Bucks, Charlotte Hornets, Houston Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies — fall in the $4 million to $6 million annual range mentioned by Balvanz. (The Warriors, again, are the exception.)

The Cavs’ next-door neighbors, the Indians, are in Year 12 of a 16-year, $58 million deal with Progressive Corp. for the naming rights to a ballpark that debuted six months before the former Gund Arena in 1994. The Browns, meanwhile, are in the seventh year of a 17-year deal with FirstEnergy Corp. that was estimated at $6 million annually.

“They can make that much hosting a couple of playoff games,” Balvanz said of annual naming rights payouts.

What teams are looking for in such agreements, he said, is “a true partner” that, among other things, can help them improve the fan experience.

Rocket Mortgage is entering the equation as the Cavs get set to celebrate their 50th season and debut the finishing touches of a two-year, $185 million arena renovation.

The timing, Komoroski said, “was absolutely perfect as we make this transition into the fieldhouse of the future.”

Next up: figuring out a nickname.

launched, Mullet said. Her organization has a seat at the table, thanks in large part, she said, to leaders from the city of Akron, the county and the Greater Akron Chamber who understand the role that art and culture plays in making communities a place where businesses want to settle and bring their employees.

“But we still have a lot of work to do, which is why I’m really excited that Grace is going to be tackling this,” said Mullet.

Along with macro issues, such as economic development, Myers said she looks forward to working oneon-one with area businesses. Part of that effort will be to encourage and

support the smaller — yet significant — impact they can have by, for instance, commissioning a local painter or sculptor for office artwork, sourcing employee gifts and awards from an area artist or craftsperson, or holding an event at one of Akron’s cultural gems such as the Akron Zoo or Akron Civic Theatre.

“My goal is to meet the businesses where they are at,” Myers said. “We don’t want to force partnerships that are awkward, but with any business there are typically needs for cultural and environmental assets, and we want to be the resource so that business can come to us with those needs.”

toric tax credits that could help it be redeveloped.

As Fiume suggested, it might take some time for any developer and others to figure out what will become of the building. In the meantime, though, one thing is for sure: The planned move of the Beacon Journal from the building later this year will be a sad milestone for a city with a proud journalistic tradition.

Not that the Beacon still won’t be pumping out quality news — it will.

But like nearly every daily newspaper in the nation, the size of its staff is greatly diminished from what it was years ago. Newspaper buildings all

over the country are too big for their staffs these days. “The city’s perspective on the building itself is that it’s an incredibly important part of our history.” Segedy said. “It’s where John S. Knight built his empire, and the Beacon’s been very important to Akron for a very long time.”

Segedy said he’s also optimistic the building will be part of Akron’s future, especially if the Bowery and other downtown mixed-use projects are a success and help attract more investment.

“If you get a creative developer, it’s amazing what people can do with old buildings,” Segedy said.

‘Market-plus’ agreement

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

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SOURCE LUNCH

Jennifer Harris Executive director, Rainey Institute With her performance experience limited to singing and dancing in her own home, Jennifer Harris was initially hesitant to apply to the executive director position at the Rainey Institute, a nonprofit focused on the growth of Cleveland’s youth through education and participation in the visual and performing arts. ¶ But knowing she could bring to bear her experience with programming, education and incorporation of the arts, Harris decided to apply and was ultimately tapped as the next leader of the organization. ¶ She began in January after spending the previous decade leading the Oberlin Early Childhood Center. She had a list of checkboxes for her new dream role: a larger nonprofit that was financially healthy and worked with children using a philosophy and belief system that aligned with her approach to serving kids. ¶ The Rainey Institute, where the organization’s past leader, Lee Lazar, was retiring, was a perfect fit. ¶ Harris sat down with Crain’s to discuss her work. The conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity. — Lydia Coutré

The Harris file Hobbies “I’m not an artist, but I love to sing and dance and play with my kids.

When all three of those are put together, it’s so much fun.”

Favorite children’s book “The Dot,” by Peter H. Reynolds

Leadership advice “Don’t think you have to have all the answers. Ask all the questions you can.”

Lunch spot L’Albatros Brasserie + Bar 11401 Bellflower Road, Cleveland 216-791-7880

The meal L’Albatros burger and iced tea; pasta du jour and iced tea.

The vibe This upscale restaurant offers a cozy space for lunch or dinner. Featuring contemporary French cuisine, the menu offers a range of unique options.

The bill $45.80 with tip

Can you explain to me Rainey’s work?

Rainey was founded in 1904 by Eleanor B. Rainey. It was a settlement house for immigrants that were settling on the East Side of Cleveland, and it functioned in this capacity until about 1966, when the immigration settlement slowed down. They made the decision to focus on the arts. So Rainey has a variety of programming in the facility and in the community, but Rainey’s not just an arts organization.

It’s also a social service organization.

In order for children to come and be prepared and learn and engage, and learn how to play violin or to act or to dance, we have to meet social needs that they have. So when children come to our program, they get a full meal and then they have homework time. We have homework help available for them, and then they start their arts and dance and music programming.

Tell me more about the social service aspects of what you do.

As I learned about Rainey through the interview process, I learned that it’s not just like a music program.

The kids don’t just go and dance.

They focus on the other needs of the children to help make them successful in their music, in their drama, singing, whatever they’re doing. I always kind of use the description that every child comes with like a backpack. And that backpack includes all the different experiences from their lives. And it could be they come from a two-parent household that makes a living wage, they have all these positive things in their backpack. Or

it could be they come from a single home, divorce, poverty, homelessness, and it’s up to us to understand what’s in each child’s backpack so we can understand how to support them. And it’s through building relationships with them that you begin to understand where they’re coming from and building relationships with the parents. But unless you have the opportunity to engage and learn about the children, build those relationships, you don’t really understand their needs.

What were your goals going into the position?

The board has really supported the transition and has really set it up for success by having Lee stay on board for three months. So my goal was to learn as much as I could about who Rainey is through talking with the staff, meeting with the key funders, the key collaborators, parents, children, and in that process, really understanding the strategic goals and creating, you know, either revising those or to move forward into the work that I’ll do with my team over the next couple years. It has really been a blessing having Lee there. I would have figured it out, but it would have taken me a lot longer and it would have been a lot harder to develop relationships.

What do you see as the major opportunities for Rainey going forward?

I think there’s a great opportunity for us to craft our story and tell it to more people, because Rainey creates such an impact on the lives of the children and families we

serve. Capturing that impact, telling our story in hopes of connecting us to additional resources. There’s so many stories that I’ve heard that I want to capture and be able to tell that story to more people in hopes of creating even more connections and bringing in additional resources and artists. Cleveland is so rich in endless resources when it comes to the arts and has so much talent.

Tapping into that and bringing it to our programming, either as teaching artists or to showcase for the children, and also having our children out in the community.

Going forward, what do you see as the biggest challenges facing Rainey and its arts programming?

Funding is, I think, an ongoing challenge, as with every nonprofit.

And just making sure that we’re diversifying our funding streams so that in the case we lose funding at some point, our programs don’t have to feel that effect.

What keeps you passionate about what you’re doing?

Knowing that I’m creating impact in the lives of children and families, and the challenge to just do it better. I have this desire to want to continue to learn and grow — whether it’s through interactions with people or reading. I think the vision and the goals that Rainey has set, knowing that I know I can help get us to where we want to be. I truly enjoy working with people, alongside with them, and inspiring them to do better and want to do better and to learn more.

CLEVELAND BUSINESS 700 W. St. Clair Ave., Suite 310 Cleveland, OH 44113-1230 Phone: (216) 522-1383 www.crainscleveland.com Twitter: @CrainsCleveland Publisher/editor Elizabeth McIntyre Group publisher Mary Kramer Managing editor Scott Suttell Sections editor Michael von Glahn Creative director David Kordalski Web editor Damon Sims Associate editor/Akron Sue Walton Assistant editor Kevin Kleps Senior reporter Stan Bullard, Real estate/construction Reporters Jay Miller, Government Dan Shingler, Energy/steel/auto/Akron Rachel McCafferty, Manufacturing/ energy/education Jeremy Nobile, Finance Lydia Coutré, Health care/nonprofits Senior data editor Chuck Soder Cartoonist Rich Williams Events manager Ashley Ramsey Marketing coordinator Megan Lemke Integrated marketing manager Michelle Sustar Managing editor custom/special projects Amy Ann Stoessel Associate publisher/Director of advertising sales Lisa Rudy Senior account executives Dawn Donegan, John Petty Account executives Laura Kulber Mintz, Loren Breen People on the Move manager Debora Stein Office coordinator Denise Donaldson Pre-press and digital production Craig L. Mackey Media services manager Nicole Spell Billing YahNica Crawford Credit Thomas Hanovich Crain’s Cleveland Business is published by Crain Communications Inc.

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THE WEEK Ready to Rocket

Maybe next time

When Cleveland’s basketball arena opens its doors for the 2019-20 NBA season, it will be one of the league’s six oldest venues. But the Cavs have said the facility formerly known as Quicken Loans Arena will look and feel new after a two-year, $185 million renovation.

The team figured a name change was in order, and it didn’t have to go far to find a partner.

The Cavs announced April 9 that The Q is now Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The deal with Rocket Mortgage — introduced in 2015 by Dan Gilbert’s Quicken Loans as the first fully digital mortgage option — is, according to sources, a longer-term extension of a naming rights deal with Detroit-based Quicken that recently was extended.

See more, Page 1.

Don’t expect another big downtown Cleveland adaptive-reuse project of a large historic building to get aid from the latest round of Ohio State Historic Preservation Tax Credits.

That’s because none were submitted for the latest quarterly round in the fiercely competitive program by its March 31 deadline. However, a total of seven projects from Northeast Ohio went into the mix, according to a list of applicants released on April 10.

P023_CL_20190415.indd 23

It’s a go

Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse soon will have new signage, as shown in this rendering. The facility’s two-year, $185 million renovation should be finished by late September. (Contributed rendering)

Construction of Convergent, a two-building office complex at the I-90/Crocker Road interchange in Westlake, is underway as it landed an anchor tenant from Lakewood: the U.S. headquarters of IMCD NA, a Rot-

terdam-based distributor of specialty chemicals and food ingredients.

IMCD US will occupy a 26,000square-foot suite in the first of two buildings proposed as Convergent.

The buildings will rise near the Equity Trust Co. headquarters building, 1 Equity Way. The Desich family, which owns Equity Trust, is developing the multitenant building at 3005 Clemens Road.

Lead chair The Cleveland Foundation announced that Sally Gries, a board member since 2012, has been elected as its new chairperson. She succeeds board chair Rev. Dr. Stephen Rowan, who is retiring as a board member.

Gries is founder and nonexecutive chair of Gries Financial Partners, a registered investment advisory firm.

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