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CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM I JULY 11, 2022

‘THIS COULD BE A TURNING POINT’

Historic homes line a section of Forest Hill Avenue in East Cleveland, at the eastern edge of the district that city officials and the Cuyahoga Land Bank are targeting for redevelopment. | MICHELLE JARBOE/CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Cuyahoga Land Bank and East Cleveland plot 33-acre redevelopment near University Circle On vacant lots in East Cleveland, a few hundred yards from the bustle of University Circle, signs posted by the Cuyahoga Land Bank warn trespassers away.

Over the last seven years, the land

bank has amassed more than 200 properties in this district, at the Cleveland-East Cleveland border.

Now the quasi-governmental organization is serving as master developer for 33 acres, where preliminary plans

call for building hundreds of homes and luring commercial developers to a depleted stretch of Euclid Avenue.

That vision, with an estimated cost of $122 million, comes at a unique moment for East Cleveland,

a once-prosperous inner-ring suburb that now ranks as Ohio’s poorest city.

Public officials insist that the government is stable, after years of fiscal distress and dysfunction. And

| BY MICHELLE JARBOE

they have the bandwidth to consider long-term investments, thanks to an infusion of federal pandemic-relief cash.

See DEVELOPMENT on Page 21

New lives are set for Enrollment roller coaster continues Pandemic continues to affect Northeast Ohio universities’ recruiting efforts local office buildings

BY AMY MORONA

BY STAN BULLARD

As companies ponder the future of their office footprints and navigate the employee push for continued work-from-home options, another voice is entering the debate about the future of the office.

It’s the voice of the market. It’s that combination of million-dollar

spends, data studies and some old-fashioned thrusting a thumb in the air to detect which way change is flowing.

Consider the recent sale of the Commerce Park IV and Commerce Park V office buildings to an affiliate of Wangard Cos. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

See OFFICE on Page 20

NEWSPAPER

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The enrollment roller coaster looks to be continuing for some of Northeast Ohio’s colleges and universities.

Disclaimer: It’s early. Things can change, especially for less selective institutions. In fact, officials at several local Northeast Ohio universities say their recruitment cycle goes right up into the fall semester.

“It’s not over,” said Steve McKellips, the University of Akron’s vice provost for enrollment management.

“If people still want to come through, there’s still an opportunity, whether it’s here or most institutions around the country, to make that happen.”

To that point, McKellips declined to give any numbers. But he did share that the university expects enrollment to be flat this fall.

See ENROLLMENT on Page 20

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Students move in at Baldwin Wallace University last fall. Officials are forecasting a smaller group of first-year students this year. | BALDWIN WALLACE UNIVERSITY

7/8/2022 12:29:24 PM

AKRON

Artist has carved a commissioned career in Akron

BY DAN SHINGLER

In a cavernous space on the sixth floor of an old industrial building in Akron’s Canal Place, there’s a man who has spent decades bending metal to his will.

He walks among iron and steel dogs, bulls, dragons and other creatures of his own creation. They live amidst a forest of old tree trunks, ancient industrial parts and metal pieces of every size and shape imaginable.

Their creator, an average-sized man with curly hair, an unhurried gait and a straight back, practically lives there, too, smoking his cigars and hand-rolled cigarettes to the low sounds of reggae and Miles Davis while he ponders what to make next.

He has the rough, scarred hands of a man who has done real work with torches, hammers and tough materials for the last 50 years, but his easy, broad grin and smiling eyes trumpet the forever-young soul of an artist.

“It’s the joy of creating something” that John Comunale says keeps him going. And with almost as many raw materials lying around the joint as he has ideas in his head, he might be creating things for some time to come.

There’s the huge tree trunk that sits in a hallway outside of his main studio. It’s been there for about 30 years, Comunale said, waiting for him to start carving.

He said he has a plan for that old tree. It’s going to become a giant tooth, Comunale said, part out of whimsy but more as an homage to his father, Leonard, a well-known Akron oral surgeon who passed away in 2004.

The father wanted the son to be a dentist. But the son knew he was cut out neither for dental school, nor for going to an office every day and working on people’s teeth.

“I could no more be a dentist than I could fly,” Comunale said.

The carved tooth might help make up for that.

“It’s dry now,” Comunale said of the old stump, jokingly, after explaining that he got away from carving wood decades ago, because “it cracks.”

There’s also a huge old McDonald’s sign, old industrial parts and equipment, and myriad things Comunale couldn’t help but pick up because, well, you just never know what art will require.

Sometimes they get used quickly, sometimes they sit for years. Comunale’s mind seems to ride a fast train of thought, constantly seeking the platform where the next big idea is waiting for him.

Nearly ubiquitous If you didn’t already know Comunale’s name, that’s OK. How many contemporary sculptors can most people name anyway?

Comunale is more concerned that you see his work, and nearly everyone who’s been to Akron in the last two or three decades has done that. He is not only a godfather of public art in Akron, he’s also the most commissioned artist in town, if not the region or even the state, when it comes to corporate and institutional work.

“His body of work is so broad. I think people don’t realize how much work he has done around Akron,” said

more,” Comunale said.

He doesn’t seem to mind.

“I always enjoy doing commission work,” he said. “People come to me with a problem to be solved, and I like that.”

‘Epitome of the cool cat’

Comunale is surrounded by “critters” of his own making, including a stainless steel bull. | DAN SHINGLER/CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS PHOTOS

Downtown Akron’s new BLU-tique hotel includes signage that shows Comunale’s art-deco flair, left. The interior of the new Crave restaurant in the Bowery District, right, includes metal work by Comunale — just like it did at its previous location on E. Market Street.

Nicole Mullet, executive director of the city’s ArtsNow nonprofit and a longtime fan of Comunale.

Most recently, the sculptor did the centerpiece — blooming fountains of gleaming stainless steel rods — for the new Crave restaurant in town, which recently opened in the Bowery District. But his work is nearly ubiquitous in and around Akron.

Akron Children’s Hospital has a large Comunale piece — a triple-helix-like structure the hospital commissioned for its Considine Professional Building as part of a 2018 expansion.

The piece sits near the corner of Bowery and Exchange streets. You can’t miss it; it’s 8 feet tall and weighs about a ton, according to the hospital.

The statue of Zippy the University of Akron mascot at the McDonald’s near the school? Comunale’s. So are the bear statues at the Akron Zoo. He’s done signage that marks the entrance to the Towpath Trail in Akron, as well as signs around the city on major thoroughfares welcoming folks to town. The same goes for signage at Firestone Country Club.

Numerous libraries in and around Akron have works by Comunale.

The Mocha Maiden sign that greets visitors to Maiden Lane in downtown Akron’s Blu Zone, being developed by Tony Troppe as an arts-focused neighborhood within the city’s cen-

ter? That’s Comunale’s work, too.

He’s done signage for Bricco restaurants, among several others, including the original Crave location on East Market Street. He has carved sandstone letters that adorn the Akron Bar Association’s headquarters, fabricated signage for the United Building and its new BLU-tique Hotel downtown, created architectural metal work for the Mayer Building on East Market, and he made the big clock that hangs from the side of Troppe’s Everett Building downtown.

He even did the metal gateways that stand over the boardwalk at Putin-Bay.

Capturing commissions The list goes on and on. It can be tough to spot a real “Comunale,” too, because the artist is so diverse. He’s capable of free-flowing abstract works, like the Crave piece, and 6-foot-tall letters with razor-straight lines and perfect fonts, like those found on the United Building.

It’s not a line of work Comunale envisioned as a young artist. When he first returned to his hometown of Akron from living out west in 1977, he was a self-described long-haired former hippie. (Did we mention the reggae?)

“I came back to carve a totem pole, which I used to do,” Comunale said.

“Art was sort of a sideline back then. I worked a lot of construction.”

He soon left for more steady work in North Carolina, where he toiled in the film industry making props and scenery, such as a waterfall used in the film “The Last of the Mohicans.” He was mostly a glorified construction worker, Comunale said, but when a film needed a piece of actual sculpture, he did it and got paid more.

Eventually, though, Comunale “got fed up with the whole thing,” as capricious directors often insisted that he make something, only to throw it away unused. He still got paid; he just didn’t like the waste.

He came home in 1991 and soon found his current space in Canal Place, where he’s been working ever since.

His main studio there is a bit more than 3,000 square feet, and it’s bookended by two even larger spaces that Comunale also uses — though he shares one with a local roller derby team.

After arriving back, he soon found work doing commissions, beginning with work for Troppe. Today, that work is the mainstay of his business, Comunale Sculptural Concepts.

In fact, Comunale has become so in-demand for commissioned work, in which he often makes manifest the ideas and concepts of his clients, that he rarely does much else these days.

“I don’t have a lot of time for art any-

Crave was a recent example. Because the restaurant’s historic ceiling couldn’t be touched, even to hang lights, the restaurant had to get creative with its interior decor, owner Aaron Hervey has told us. Comunale solved that by making free-standing sculptures that seem to suspend themselves in the air — a project he said took three months to do.

Troppe, who’s known Comunale since the sculptor returned to Akron for the second time, in 1991, said he’s used the sculptor on nearly every development he’s done since. That started with Troppe’s development of the Pointe View office complex in Stow and has continued through his most recent development of the BLU-tique Hotel.

Like a lot of clients, Troppe first came to Comunale with a problem to be solved.

“I was getting ready to build a new office park out in Stow, and I had the idea to take our logo, which was a cattail emerging from a geometric form, and I said, ‘I want someone to help me sculpt this,’” Troppe recalled.

“I no sooner said that prayer when I saw an article in the paper about Comunale Sculptural Concepts.”

Comunale solved the problem with a sign that is part metal sculpture, part traditional signage. It still adorns the development today — and the two men have been friends ever since.

“John and I are brothers. He’s just awesome, man,” Troppe said. “He’s the epitome of the cool cat who takes ideas and turns them into three dimensional forms … every project I’ve done, I’ve worked with John.”

Troppe, who like Comunale seems to never run of ideas for things to build, says he’ll likely use Comunale on his future projects as well. He’s noticed that leases get signed when he unveils a new Comunale piece at a building’s grand opening, he said, and whether that’s by chance or not, he doesn’t want to risk losing out on the effect.

For his part, Comunale said he has no plans of stopping yet either. And, with Akron seeing more and more development downtown in recent years, he might have work for some time to come.

“It’s feast or famine” in the world of commissioned art, Comunale said.

But lately, it’s been mostly feast.

“It’s more steady now than it’s ever been,” Comunale said of his commissioned work.

The tree stump will get done eventually, he contends. It might be even more thoroughly dried out than it is today, though.

But even if he never did another piece, Akron would continue to feel the positive effects of Comunale’s work.

“He’s been around for a long time, and we all know him. He just kind of permeates your consciousness if you’re in the arts in Akron,” Mullet said.

Dan Shingler: dshingler@crain.com, (216) 771-5290

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HEALTH CARE

Pandemic, inflation weigh heavily on hospitals’ bottom lines

BY LYDIA COUTRÉ

The first quarter of 2022 was a financial challenge for health systems as they grappled with the pandemic, inflation, supply chain challenges and a workforce shortage — pressures Northeast Ohio hospital leaders anticipate continuing throughout the year.

For the first three months of the year, Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals and Summa Health all posted an operating loss despite each growing their revenue compared to the like period in 2021.

The region was not alone, with Omicron taking its toll across the country, said Erik Swanson, senior vice president of data and analytics at Kaufman Hall.

Margins in the hospital and health care space are already incredibly thin, he notes, and many started 2022 operating in the red.

“The bottom line is that this year is off to a very, very challenging start, and it doesn’t bode well for the rest of the year,” Swanson said.

As they dealt with rising hospitalizations and cases of COVID-19 during the surge of the Omicron variant, Northeast Ohio hospitals postponed nonessential surgeries and procedures earlier in the year, which affects their ability to bring in additional revenues. Hospitals are continuing to rein in discretionary expenditures like consulting, traveling and marketing as they have been throughout the pandemic. Increases across virtually every expense — salaries, wages and benefits, supplies, pharmaceuticals, facilities, contracts, services and various other costs — helped drive losses for hospitals.

“We’re in a landscape of anemic volumes, if you will, with elevated expenses that are ultimately driving these margins down,” Swanson said.

“And as of right now, there really is no additional stimulus type funding on the horizon. And so, you know, that helped keep hospitals somewhat afloat last year. That is effectively gone at this point. And so as we look forward to the remainder of the year, it’s going to be very, very challenging.”

While federal relief helped to offset some COVID-associated funds in the first couple of years of the pan-

demic, hospitals aren’t expecting those to continue.

The Clinic’s operating loss was $104.5 million for the first quarter of 2022 compared with $61.7 million in operating income for the first three months of the year prior. Its revenue was $3 billion in the first quarter this year, up from $2.8 billion last year.

Tony Helton, the Clinic’s executive director of revenue cycle management and continuous improvement and interim chief financial officer, said the problems the system faces are consistent with what other providers are seeing, and the key will be seeing as many patients as Helton is possible while managing overall expenses.

“Without that CARES funding in 2022, it’ll be a very challenging year for our operating performance,” Helton said. “But we have an extremely strong balance sheet that will allow us to weather the pandemic, inflation, Deveny the supply chain issues, that should enable us to continue to provide a high level of quality services to our communities, working on our strategic initiatives, and following our 2022 capital plan.”

UH posted an operating loss of $55.3 million for the first three months of the Szubski year, compared with an operating income of $1.4 million the year before. It reported $1.3 billion in revenue through March 31, 2022, compared to $1.1 billion in 2021, according to its latest financials, which were posted on Wednesday, June 29.

During the Omicron surge, UH’s daily COVID cases exceeded 800 for several days in January — by far the system’s highest throughout the entire pandemic, said Mike Szubski, UH chief financial officer. He cited heavy COVID cases, staffing challenges, postponed surgical cases and depressed patient volumes among the factors that impacted the financials in the first quarter.

Summa Health followed the same

pattern, with an operating loss of $7.9 million in the first quarter of the year (compared to $12.5 million in operating income for Q1 2021), on $283 million in revenue, which was up from $268 million for the first three months of last year.

“We knew going into 2022 would be tough when we had 300 COVID patients in hospital in January,” said Dr. Cliff Deveny, Summa president and CEO. He knew it would take a while to reset from that, but a reset hasn’t come due to a number of factors, he said, including patient volumes not returning as anticipated, “sicker people needing more resources to care for them, a much more expensive workforce.”

“We have unbelievable demand, but trying to get to it all is just very frustrating,” Deveny said.

Hiring continues to be a major need across systems.

“In my view, until the staffing issue is addressed, we’re all going to continue to have some challenges financially,” Szubski said, adding that he believes the struggles are likely to continue well into 2023.

Under the shortages, health systems have turned to contract labor and staffing agencies that offer traveling providers, which charge a premium and add significantly to labor costs.

It is a “unique period of time” for health systems that Szubski said he hasn’t seen in his 40-year career in hospital finance.

“It’s staggering how many health systems are losing money out of operations,” Szubski said. “If you add in the market conditions, we’re certainly not getting a lift on a non-operating basis, based on our investment portfolios. So you add that into the mix, and this is a very challenging time.”

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BY JOE SCALZO

The Browns aren’t the only team in Cleveland dreaming of a new place to play.

Cleveland State University has been working with a consultant on a facilities master plan, which includes a detailed look at whether to renovate the 31-year-old Wolstein Center or replace it with a smaller arena. A replacement could be built on its current 9-acre site or elsewhere on campus.

The master plan is expected to be completed during the 2022-23 school year.

“We’ve done quite a bit of legwork on updating the assessment on this building,” Vikings athletic director Scott Garrett said. “Things like, if we’re going to do a renovation, what is the cost? What is the menu of things we could pick from? And what’s the alternative to that?

“The plan that the university is working on deals with all university facilities, but hopefully it will give us some clarity on where we think we’re headed with this building.”

Garrett declined to say which plan is more likely, but a source familiar with the situation said momentum had been building toward replacing the building under former president Harlan Sands. Sands was replaced by Laura Bloomberg in late April.

The 13,610-seat Wolstein Center houses Cleveland State’s men’s and women’s basketball teams, as well as the NBA G League’s Cleveland Charge. It is the largest arena in the 12-team Horizon League by nearly 3,000 seats, although CSU reduces capacity to 8,500 by curtaining off part of the arena for Vikings and Charge games.

The Wolstein Center was constructed while the Cavaliers were still playing in Richfield and was rendered slightly redundant when Gund Arena (now Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse) opened downtown in 1994. Replacing the arena isn’t a new idea — a 2014 campus master plan said that even with a full renovation, “one may conservatively expect an additional 10-15 years of realistic productivity” — but there seems to be more urgency to address the building now than in years past.

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A renovation would include replacing the seats, replacing the sound system, adding a video screen and renovating the concourse, which would cost tens of millions without fundamentally changing the arena’s footprint or adding much in the way of premium seating.

A replacement arena would likely seat 5,000 to 6,000 fans, similar to the 5,900-seat Covelli Centre in Youngstown, which cost $42 million in 2005, or about $63 million in 2022 dollars.

For reference, CSU has studied two Pittsburgh-area Division I programs that recently faced the replace/renovate decision: • Atlantic 10 member Duquesne opted to spend $45 mil-

Cleveland State University is studying whether to update the 31-year-old Wolstein Center, or replace it with a smaller arena. | CLEVELAND STATE

lion to renovate 4,000-seat UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, which opened as the A.J. Palumbo Center in 1988.

That renovation was completed in February of 2021.

• Horizon League member Robert Morris spent $50 million to build the UPMC Events Center, which opened in 2019. The 4,000seat arena replaced the 3,000-seat Charles L. Sewall Center, which opened in 1985.

“I’m pretty optimistic that we’ll align toward a specific path at some point during this academic year,” Garrett said. “It’s ultimately about funding. If it’s a new building or renovating this arena, how do we deliver the financing to make a project like that successful?”

When asked if it would require a mix of public and private investment, Garrett said, “Not necessarily.

There are a lot of different strategies that could be pursued. It’s premature at this point.”

The future of CSU’s men’s basketball program will play a big role in the decision. Because the Vikings don’t have a football team, men’s basketball is the athletic program that drives the most fan interest, media coverage and donations to the Viking Fund, which is set to top $1 million in annual giving for the first time in program history. Not coincidentally, CSU’s men’s basketball program is coming off two successful seasons, having advanced to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in 2021 and sharing the Horizon League regular-season title and advancing to the NIT in 2022.

“The sustained success of the men’s basketball program is important to our future in Division I athletics,” Garrett said. “That’s what we’ve hitched our wagon to. What we’re seeing is there will continue to be access to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament for leagues like us. For us to continue to have a seat at the table as a Division I program, our men’s basketball program is going to have to continue to have sustained success.

“A facility is going to be a large part of that long-term success.”

The Charge, who relocated from the 5,200-seat Canton Civic Center before the 2021-22 season, would also fit better at a smaller arena. The team averaged 2,066 fans over its 17 home dates this winter.

“We do the best with what we have at the Wolstein Center,” Mike Ostrowski, the chief operating officer for the Cavs’ franchise operation, told Crain’s Cleveland Busi-

ness in May. “We’ll see what the future holds (with the building), but they’ve been great partners. We did a quick turn in terms of moving the franchise, and everyone with the university was really great.”

‘Better fit’ for the city The Wolstein Center is one of two downtown athletic facilities with an uncertain future, with the Browns reportedly considering a domed or retracted roof stadium to replace open-air FirstEnergy Stadium when the lease expires in 2028.

Just as an indoor football stadium could host more events than an outdoor one, a smaller arena would allow the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission (GCSC) and Destination Cleveland to bid on a wider variety of events. As it stands, many of the acts/events that fit the Wolstein Center would do just as well as a reduced-house show at RMFH. “Certain events just tend to fit better in terms of the size of an arena,” said David Gilbert, the president and CEO of Destination Cleveland and the GCSC. “A lot of that ends up being cost. It’s not a linear equation, but in general the larger the facility, the more expensive it is to operate. And an event that might have 2,000 or 3,000 fans may not have the look and feel you want, or have the economics that work well for a 13,000-seat facility.

“Having two larger arenas — purely from what we do, I’m not talking about Cleveland State’s perspective — isn’t necessarily a competitive advantage. If we had two different sizes, with different amenities and cost structures, that opens up more opportunities.”

Mike Mulhall, the GCSC’s vice president of business development, was more blunt when he discussed the issue at a Team NEO event in March. Although Mulhall called CSU a “phenomenal partner,” he said “the (Wolstein) building is tired, the building is dated.” The Wolstein Center served as the secondary arena for this year’s NBA AllStar events and needed six figures’ worth of renovations just to meet the league’s minimum standards, he said.

“I would advocate that 5,000 to 8,000 seats would be perfect for our needs,” Mulhall said. “There’s a lot more we could bid on if we had a more modern, downtown arena.“ Joe Scalzo: joe.scalzo@crain.com, (216) 771-5256, @JoeScalzo01

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SPORTS BUSINESS

‘Football still reigns supreme’ Youngstown-area company looks to boost USFL games in Canton

BY JOE SCALZO

In 1983 — the same year that the original United States Football League made its debut — a Youngstown West Sider named Steven Suhar pulled out a card and told his 3-year-old grandson, Jeff Ryznar, to pick three numbers.

Ryznar chose 8-9-8, and Suhar played those lottery numbers every day, investing the winnings so his grandson could buy his own truck and start a lawn care service at age 16.

“He wanted me to know that we all have gifts that God has given to us, and those gifts shouldn’t be squandered,” Ryznar said. “They should be shared to help others and serve others.”

Suhar died four days before his grandson turned 16, so he never got to see that dream realized, but Ryznar never forgot his grandfather’s gift — or his message. And when Ryznar started his own marketing firm in 2014, the name was already decided: 898 Marketing.

“Those numbers are very special to me and my family and who I developed into as a person,” said Ryznar, who now lives in Hudson. “The whole premise I’ve passed on to my team members is that their gifts are meant to serve others. And I’ll be damned if they aren’t good at it.”

The USFL agreed, choosing Canfield-based 898 Marketing over several other Northeast Ohio firms to serve as the agency of record for the league’s inaugural playoffs and championship, which were played Saturday, June 25, and Sunday, July 3, at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. The Philadelphia Stars played the New Jersey Generals at 3 p.m. on June 25 on Fox, with the New Orleans Breakers meeting the Birmingham Stallions at 8 p.m. that day on NBC. The Stallions played the Stars in the final on July 3 on Fox, with the Stallions winning 33-30.

“Engaging with a local agency allows us to not only support a local business, but also helps us connect with the community in a way that only an agency with deep roots in the region could,” said Nancy MacDonald, the USFL’s vice president of marketing. “898 Marketing came recommended by several respected companies in the area. After our initial meetings, we landed on 898 Marketing because of their digital expertise and Jeff’s comprehensive background in sports.”

898 Marketing is handling everything from the USFL’s traditional media buys to social media advertising to media relations for the games.

“The USFL is embracing the fact that it’s both a stepping stone to helping players get to the NFL, as well as an opportunity for players to continue to do what they love,” Ryznar said. “It’s our job to tell that story.”

That’s no easy task, considering the league played all of its regular

season games in Birmingham, Alabama, and is the first American spring football league to make it to the finish line since the original XFL in 2001. (Two recent examples: the Alliance of American Football lasted eight weeks in 2019 and the rebooted XFL went bust after five weeks in 2020.)

The USFL, which originally played three seasons between 1983 and 1985, was the only major spring football league to play this year, but it will go head-to-head with another XFL iteration next spring.

When asked how Canton is warming up to this year’s postseason games, Ryznar said, “Not having a team here is tough, but what they are seeing is that football still reigns supreme. That’s what drew them to Canton and Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.”

Added MacDonald, “(It’s) too early for definitive metrics, however we are pleased overall with the rapidly increasing interest and ticket sales.”

Attendance for the USFL’s regular season games was poor — the Stallions sometimes drew between 10,000 and 15,000 fans, but the rest of the games struggled — but the first season was always about drawing eyeballs, not fans. The games were split between Fox, FS1 and NBC, and the ratings have been meh, with the best Week 10 game (Birmingham-Tampa Bay, which kicked off at 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 18) averaging 649,000 viewers on Fox. That was higher than a 3 p.m. MLS game airing that day on ABC (Seattle vs. LAFC), but it had fewer viewers in the coveted 18-49 bracket (186,000 vs. 167,000) and barely more than a 1 p.m. Premier Lacrosse game on ABC (167,000 vs.

165,000).

The league’s other three televised games from the weekend averaged between 180,000 and 290,000 viewers on USA and FS1.

To build brand recognition in Northeast Ohio, 898 Marketing spent the first 7-10 days on awareness, both through media coverage and advertising. The USFL doesn’t have an Ohio team — the Michigan Panthers and the Pittsburgh Maulers are the two closest and it’s, uh, unlikely that Northeast Ohioans are going to warm up to either of them — so 898 Marketing pitched stories on all the players with Ohio ties.

(Two Stallions defensive linemen, Willie Henry and Johnathan Newsome, are Glenville High School graduates.)

“That was a big help, having those local ties,” Ryznar said. “It helped fans connect to the league.”

Ryznar has his own Cleveland ties, having served as the Cavaliers’ director of strategic marketing for four seasons (2007-11), helping to drive ticket sales and fan engagement during the last few years of LeBron James’ first stint with the team.

Jeff Ryznar, the former director of strategic marketing for the Cavaliers, is the founder of 898 Marketing, which is the agency of record for the USFL’s inaugural playoffs and championship game at Canton’s Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. | 898 MARKETING

“One of the things that the Cavs embraced was not just resting on the laurels of LeBron, but being strategic about every decision that we made,” Ryznar said. “I owe a lot to the people there like Tracey Marek, Len Komoroski and Dan Gilbert. They invit-

ed an outsider into the organization because they wanted to look at things differently.

“It was an absolutely incredible time period, with and without LeBron, and it opened my eyes to the intricacies in the world of sports.

The success I had with the Cavs helped pave the way for me to make a difference in the inaugural USFL season.”

Joe Scalzo: joe.scalzo@crain.com, (216) 771-5256, @JoeScalzo01

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GOVERNMENT

Ohio positioned well as trade deal enforcement ramps up

BY KIM PALMER

It’s in its second year, but the bipartisan United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) — a trade plan aimed at increasing products manufactured or processed in North America that also tightens regulations designed to close off the ability for China-made products to bypass duties — has not yet hit with full force.

When it does, proponents say, Northeast Ohio stands to be a beneficiary of the deal.

“The USMCA really hasn’t been taken out for a spin yet,” said Dan Ujczo, senior counsel of the international trade and transportation practice at Cleveland law firm Thompson Hine.

“There has been a period of what U.S. Customs called ‘restrained enforcement’ because during COVID they had just enough people to keep the lights on,” he said. “The agreement has been in effect since 2021, but we really haven’t seen enforcement largely because customs is focused on clearing the ports right now for supply chain issues.”

The USMCA — the 2.0 version of the North American Free Trade Agreement — passed Congress at the end of 2019 by a vote of 385 to 41, but it didn’t formally take effect until July 2021. The agreement creates a freetrade zone between the three countries where goods can be bought and sold without onerous tariffs or duties.

It was a signature accomplishment of former President Donald Trump, who during the 2016 election campaign talked about ripping up the existing NAFTA deal.

“Even NAFTA supporters knew that it was getting pretty rusty after 30 years,” Ujczo said.

NE Ohio strategically positioned

Proponents of the USMCA say it’s a better, more comprehensive agreement than NAFTA and benefits the Midwest, and Northeast Ohio in particular, with a focus on the steel, aluminum and automotive industries. It was negotiated in part by a Mahoning Valley native, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

The USMCA increased what is referred to as “the automotive rules of origin” — a requirement that 75% of the automobile’s value come from North America — by more than 12 percentage points from previous requirements. Enforcement of NAFTA requirements on this front were lax, Ujczo said, and ultimately only 43% of automobiles’ value on average came from North America.

“What we saw for years is that companies down the chain would just fill out paperwork testifying to the origin,” Ujczo said.

In addition to the 75% origin requirement, the USMCA states that 70% of steel used in auto production needs to be “melted or poured” domestically in an attempt to keep any steel or aluminum dumping at bay.

The major difference between NAFTA and USMCA, and what gives the new provision more teeth, is the level of documentation needed to prove origin requirements, Ujczo said.

“It went from being a certificate of origin to a certification of origin — from a noun to a verb,” he said.

“When it is in full swing, Customs is

going to want to see the homework.”

Goods also receive preferential duty and tariff treatment if they are “sufficiently transformed within the region” rather than “obtained in the region,” according to language from the U.S. Congressional Research Service.

The new trade plan also attempts to better combat some of the motivation for low-wage production to move to Mexico by putting higher thresholds on skilled manufacturing; tool and die production; and metal bending — “all of the stuff we are really good at in Northeastern Ohio,” Ujczo said.

The USMCA relinquished the drive to make everything in the U.S. and intentionally went after things the country only does or does better than low-wage paying places.

“There is a recognition there’s just some things we don’t make in North America anymore and the USMCA was intentional about what was worth fighting for,” Ujczo said.

Combating China

Beyond targeting and protecting goods made in the U.S., another main goal of the USMCA is to curtail the use of Mexico as a back door for Chinese vehicle components surreptitiously added to the supply chain disguised as Mexican-made automotive parts. The move to crack down on that back door is part of an overall effort to disrupt what critics see as America’s over-reliance on Chinese goods.

Although COVID came before the USMCA was ratified, the pandemic has validated the trade agreement’s goal of helping North American com-

“WE WERE IN A WORLD WHERE PURSUING THE CHEAPEST SUPPLY WAS THE NORM. WE ALSO REALIZED THAT THE SAME TIME THAT THE PANDEMIC HIT THAT THERE WERE STRATEGIC WEAKNESSES IN THE U.S. WITH RESPECT TO OUR SUPPLY CHAINS.” — Stephen Petras Jr., national director of the Canada-United States Law Institute at Case Western Reserve University

panies trade more with their neighbors, ultimately re-shoring manufacturing and shortening supply chains.

“We were in a world where pursuing the cheapest supply was the norm. We also realized that the same time that the pandemic hit that there were strategic weaknesses in the U.S. with respect to our supply chains,” said Stephen Petras Jr., national director of the Canada-United States Law Institute at Case Western Reserve University.

“China clearly controls that supply chain right now,” Petras said.

He said COVID has underscored how American industries were not making some goods needed for strategic security purposes and that the supply from Asia was not always reliable.

Manufacturing and import disruptions due to the pandemic have business leaders questioning how reliable both raw materials and semi-finished products coming out of China are, and the Trump administration trade wars had them questioning if those supplies could be turned off eventually for political reasons, Petras said.

The concept of “just-in-time manufacturing,” the popular model where items are created to meet demand without surplus, is, as Petras put it, changing to include “just in case” as warehouse inventories balloon.

Retaining workforce NAFTA was blamed for the migration of traditionally Midwestern jobs to Mexico, where companies were able to take advantage of a lower-paid workforce.

The USMCA requires that 45% of an approved vehicle needs to be produced with labor paid at least $16 an hour or higher. It’s a provision that Ujczo said ensures automotive suppliers keep production in places with abundant skilled labor in Northeast Ohio, Michigan and Canada from moving to Mexico.

The agreement also guarantees the right of Mexican auto sector workers to hold “fair” union elections by 2023 – a move to stave off corruption by companies. President Joe Biden’s administration already has brought four lawsuits in Mexico over the union election issue, which Ujczo said shows a commitment to putting pressure on the Mexican government to enforce labor rights.

USMCA enforcement

With the pandemic recovery in process and less pressure on the ports, Ujczo said companies in late summer and early fall could begin to see real crackdowns by U.S. Customs on regulations imposed by the USMCA. “With NAFTA and other trade deals there was at least a year, maybe two years, for the creation of what’s called the uniform regulations. Not with the USMCA; instead of two years, they had two months to write these codes,” Ujczo said.

A real rollout of the USMCA puts targeted pressures on purchasing and procurement managers at large manufacturers to make sourcing decisions.

“We don’t now necessarily fully understand how all of this is going to shake out, but we see that more companies want to be in the U.S. or in North America,” he added. “I think that is impacting bottom lines.”

Kim Palmer: kpalmer@crain.com, (216) 771-5384, @kimfouroffive

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AKRON

From park to farm to table

Cuyahoga Valley National Park provides farmers with a place to grow and conscious consumers with access to locally grown food

BY DAN SHINGLER

They could call it “Cuyahoga Valley National Park and Farms.”

Because our local national park has a program that none of the others do. While CVNP seeks to preserve nature, provide recreational opportunities and do all the other things national parks are known for, it also partners with a program that ensures the park supports local agriculture.

That includes providing land for farmers to use for homes, crops and livestock, as well as a market at which they and farmers from across the region sell their goods directly to the public.

The nonprofit Countryside Initiative helps CVNP lease out about 300 acres used by nine farms in the Cuyahoga Valley around Peninsula.

It also provides internships for those seeking to learn about farming, mentorships and assistance to farmers in the program — and a lot of pride for those working at the park and nonprofit.

“We just celebrated our 23rd birthday,” said Countryside CEO Tracy Emrick.

For Emrick, the mission includes being a farm advocate, but also being part of a movement toward locally grown and more healthy food.

“We’re trying to share the bounty of Northeast Ohio’s local food and we want to share that with everyone,” Emrick said.

That happens, in part, every Saturday at Countryside’s Howe Meadow Farmers Market. It’s held outdoors during the summer on Riverview Road in the park, and nearby in the Old Trail School when the weather turns cold.

Things have been a little slower the last couple of years due to COVID-19, but the market is still plenty busy, and regaining momentum.

“We’ve got 68 vendors now who are signed up every week. We normally have more but COVID dragged us down a little bit. It’s coming back well now though,” Emrick said.

True enough, on a recent Saturday the place was active with market stands staffed by local farmers and food producers, and plenty of local customers looking for fresh produce, meats and other items. Customers also can shop online and have their orders ready to pick up when they arrive, Emrick said.

At Howe Meadow, you’ll meet a lot of new farmers and some who’ve been doing it for generations, but they all take their business seriously.

Many work hard to differentiate themselves from grocery-store produce, and even one another.

“We truly believe food is medicine,” said Jimmy Myers, who along with his wife, Casondra Clawson, owns and runs Front 9 Farm in Medina County. It’s 10 acres on which they grow mostly vegetables, but also raise some chickens and lambs, he

said.

The farm uses organic methods and focuses on healthy foods such as firm and leafy greens, root vegetables and a variety of produce that changes over the season.

Myers used to sell greenhouses for a living. Clawson was a biomedical engineer. Between them, they had some knowledge of growing things and a lot of knowledge about health, he said. Seven years ago, they became first-time farmers. It’s now a full-time job for both.

Like just about every farmer you’ll meet at Howe Meadow or in the Countryside Initiative, Myers also gets his food to plates via a CSA. That stands for Community Supported Agriculture, but has become synonymous with a marketing model by which farmers take weekly orders from an established base of customers who either pick up their food or have it delivered.

He also goes to a lot of markets, he said, but Countryside’s Howe Meadow is by far his favorite.

“This market is amazing. I can’t say enough good things about Countryside; they truly help the farmers” Myers said. “It’s the best market around for us. The crowd they get is so food focused. It’s not just people who walk by and say, “your tomatoes look nice.’”

A few stalls down was Alexis Dragovich, who runs Mud Run Farm in Stark County. The 30-acre farm is certified organic. (A lot of farms use organic methods but aren’t certified as fully organic.)

Dragovich, who said she’s been coming to Howe Meadow since it began with just seven vendors many years ago, started by growing vegetables.

But selling vegetables has its own challenges.

“You have a lot of competition,” Dragovich said. “Not only from other vendors, but backyard gardens.”

So these days, she focuses on other crops to differentiate herself and to market the type of products few other small farmers grow.

“We primarily try to focus on grains now,” Dragovich said, behind a table filled with bags of ground corn, wheat and oats, and even some pancake mixes made from locally grown organic grain.

“We grow them and mill them,” she adds with pride.

If growing and milling grain sounds a bit old fashioned, well, that’s sort of the point. The farmers, vendors and customers at Howe Meadow aren’t interested in modern, processed food. They’re into minimally processed and transported foods that used to be the mainstay of the American diet.

The old-school approach can go pretty deep, too.

Some local farmers, such as Dragovich, still use horses to do part of the work. And at least one relies on

Mark Trapp with his Percherons, Dan and Doc, on his farm near Peninsula on Cuyahoga Valley National Park land that he leases.

Daniel Greenfield, left, checks the progress of his blueberries at Greenfield Berry Farm. Jimmy Myers, right, of Front 9 Farm in Medina County goes to a lot of markets,but Countryside’s market at Howe Meadow is his favorite. | DAN SHINGLER/CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

horses exclusively.

Near Peninsula, Mark Trapp farms just under 30 acres with his two friends and helpers, giant Percherons named Dan and Doc. Aside from preferring to work with horses generally, Trapp said they’re also the best way to work his land, which is hilly and not friendly to tractors. That means he has to take the time to care for the horses, in addition to about 300 chickens, some turkeys, geese and sheep.

Trapp said his big horses are worth the extra effort.

“I figure I have 500 hours of work caring for them every year. I get 500 hours of work from them. I think that’s a fair trade,” Trapp said. “And they age better than a tractor.”

Most of the land Trapp has leased from the park for 60 years is used for grazing, he said. But he grows a few acres of produce, too, which he sells directly to customers at the farm, along with eggs, dressed chickens and, at Thanksgiving, turkeys.

A good farmer in a good year can make $30,000 to $40,000 from an acre of vegetables, Trapp said, but it requires both luck and a lot of hard work marketing the produce so it can be sold directly to consumers.

“We’re not there yet,” Trapp said.

“But we’re close, and getting there.”

Down the road, Trapp’s friend and

fellow farmer Daniel Greenfield has taken an easier approach.

“I’m no Mark Trapp!” Greenfield says with a laugh, when asked about his tractor.

Heck, Greenfield doesn’t even pick his own crops most of the time. His customers do it for him at Greenfield Berry Farm, also on park land near Peninsula.

“The advantage of a modern-day berry farm is you don’t have to be open when there’s nothing to pick,” Greenfield said.

But that’s not now, he concedes.

The farm’s primary crop, blueberries, ripens in mid-summer.

Greenfield and Trapp are representative of a lot of farmers in the Countryside program, and of a lot of modern farmers generally. Trapp was an engineer for GE before he started his farm in 2012. Greenfield has a doctorate in the philosophy of environmental education and started the berry farm, his first, in 2006.

It’s no way to get rich, they both say. Greenfield goes so far as to advise would-be farmers to have some savings or, better yet, another source of income.

They do it largely for the way of life it provides for them, and in Trapp’s case, for his children.

“It’s a very fulfilling life,” Greenfield said, as he looked out over near-

ly 20 acres of blueberry bushes, mulberry trees and Aronia berry shrubs.

Trapp agrees. He said he especially likes that his kids are growing up on a farm, surrounded by fresh air and knowing the value of work and real food.

But it comes with its sacrifices, too.

Farming, as it’s always been, is a dawn to dusk job, and in Northern Ohio that means long hours during the peak summer season.

“When I left engineering, I wanted to be closer to my family, and I am,” Trapp said. “But a lot of times I miss dinner and bedtime.”

But “it’s worth it,” he said.

A lot of others agree with him.

Countryside’s Emrick said the initiative was designed to provide land for new farmers like Trapp and that their efforts have become more important to consumers hungry for good local sources of food.

If anything, that need has only become great recently, Emrick contends.

“People saw the reality of our broken food system during COVID and we’re also more conscious about health,” she said. “The biggest hill we need to climb is to make this food more accessible.”

Dan Shingler: dshingler@crain.com, (216) 771-5290 JULY 11, 2022 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 7

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PERSONAL VIEW

Middle market leaders confident in own companies, not economy RICH WILLIAMS FOR CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

BY KELLY LAMIRAND

EDITORIAL

Chipping away I

t should be of little comfort to anyone to recognize that the full extent of Ohio’s big bet on Intel Corp. relies to a large degree on the compromise abilities of the U.S. Congress.

The Santa Clara, California-based tech giant, which plans a multibillion-dollar microchip manufacturing facility near Columbus that stands to benefit suppliers throughout the state, at the end of June delayed a ceremonial groundbreaking that had been set for July 22. The reason? Uncertainty over federal legislation called the CHIPS Act — in the acronym-for-everything political world, it’s the “Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act” — that would provide about $52 billion in incentives to reshore microchip manufacturing to the United States. Demand for chips worldwide is booming; domestic production, though, has yet to catch up.

Intel was careful to say the groundbreaking ceremony postponement wasn’t an indication that it plans to push back or cancel construction of the facility itself, which starts as a $20 billion project and, if all goes as planned/hoped, could reach $100 billion.

But as Intel spokeswoman Linda Qian told Cleveland. com, “As we said in our January announcement, the scope and pace of our expansion in Ohio will depend heavily on funding from the CHIPS Act. Unfortunately, CHIPS Act funding has moved more slowly than we expected and we still don’t know when it will get done.” She made those comments at the end of June, and as of last Thursday, July 7, nothing had changed.

The CHIPS Act actually was passed about 18 months ago as part of a national defense bill. (Microchips are used extensively in defense hardware in addition to consumer products.) But as Bloomberg pointed out, House and Senate versions of bills that would appropriate funds for measures outlined in CHIPS haven’t matched up, and lawmakers are still trying to reach a compromise “that would get the money flowing.”

In a closely divided Congress heading into midterm elections, this isn’t so easy. Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell is using the funding — which has support in both parties, though there are sticking points on

issues including immigration and a broader package of federal dollars for research and development — as leverage against Democratic budget plans that are highly unpopular with the GOP. We understand the political gamesmanship here.

There’s also an argument to be made, for the few remaining budget purists, against this kind of federal largesse for a particular industry. (In Intel’s case, it’s also getting about $2 billion in tax credits, infrastructure spending and other incentives from Ohio.) But the framework for this deal has long been agreed to, and we ultimately share the position of Gov. Mike DeWine’s administration, both of Ohio’s U.S. senators and others that the country needs a CHIPS deal fast, given the centrality of microchips to the economy and America’s vulnerability in relying too heavily on international sourcing.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, was part of a bipartisan group of 14 state AGs that last week called on Congress to pass the incentives for microchip production. It’s a self-interested group, given that their states stand to benefit from chip production. Still, they raise fair points.

“Increasing domestic production will not only ease supply-chain issues for consumer products, it will also serve to ensure that the equipment our nation relies on to defend itself and its allies is available when we need it,” the attorneys general wrote in a letter sent to congressional leadership. They added, “Our states and many others stand to benefit directly from increased investment in domestic microchip production. Indeed, every U.S. state and territory benefits when our national security is not dependent on the whims of a foreign nation’s microchip production and exports.”

Timing matters in this case. We’re already approaching mid-July, and Congress will go into recess in August. A change in control of Congress if Republicans win the House and/or Senate this fall, as looks likely, could lead to a CHIPS reset if a compromise isn’t worked out by then.

The desire to bolster U.S. chipmaking capacity is real. Now it needs the political will to get there.

Executive Editor: Elizabeth McIntyre (emcintyre@crain.com) Managing Editor: Scott Suttell (ssuttell@crain.com) Contact Crain’s: 216-522-1383 Read Crain’s online: crainscleveland.com

The prevailing sentiment in the middle market continues to be optimism — but with an important caveat. As COVID-19 concerns continue to subside, most middle market executives characterize the financial outlook for their enterprises as very good or excellent.

Yet, doubts about the overall U.S. economy remain, due to inflationary pressure, interest rate hikes and the possibility of Lamirand is recession. Despite these broader econom- market president ic concerns, as well as lingering supply and commercial chain issues and labor shortages, middle sales leader with market businesses are investing in growth KeyBank in and approaching the second half of 2022 Cleveland. with confidence.

In its second quarter 2022 survey, KeyBank asked 400 owners and executives of middle market businesses — defined as those in the $10 million to $2 billion range — for outlooks on inflation, supply chain and talent recruitment and retention. In addition to revealing the overarching mood of middle market businesses, the survey uncovered some interesting contrasts when comparing industry sectors.

Executives have more confidence in their own companies than in the economy Continuing the optimism expressed in first quarter 2022, 78% of middle market business leaders described the outlook for their company’s financial performance over the next 12 months as excellent or very good. Companies in construction, manufacturing and retail are particularly optimistic, with more than 80% of executives in each of these sectors expressing an excellent or very good outlook. AMONG THOSE WHO Middle market executives also reported good news about the WERE SKEPTICAL impact of the COVID-19 pan- ABOUT THE HEALTH demic on their businesses: More than three-quarters said OF THE ECONOMY, their companies have fully or INFLATION, THE COST partially resumed normal operations, while only 67% were OF RAW MATERIALS approaching normalcy in the AND A POTENTIAL first quarter of 2022.

Yet, with regard to the RECESSION WERE THE broader U.S. economy, middle market sentiment is decidedly BIGGEST CONCERNS. less positive. Only 55% of middle market business leaders characterized their outlook for the economy at large as excellent or very good, and nearly a quarter (24%) said it was fair or poor. Among those who were skeptical about the health of the economy, inflation, the cost of raw materials and a potential recession were the biggest concerns.

Over the next 12 months, business owners foresee similar factors presenting challenges to their organizations. Asked which issues they anticipated having a negative impact on their operations, an overall increase in inflation (38%), higher prices for oil, gas and energy (35%) and higher labor costs (31%) topped the list.

See MIDDLE MARKET, on Page 9

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.

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8 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | JULY 11, 2022

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OPINION

Ten-X: July 25th

MIDDLE MARKET

From Page 8

Inflation emerges as primary economic concern Middle market business owners — especially those who were skeptical about the health of the economy — continue to be apprehensive about inflation. Among the 46% with a less favorable impression of the U.S. economy, overall inflation was a key factor contributing to their outlook. Among those with a negative (fair or poor) outlook on the U.S. economy, 76% cited inflation as a reason for their concerns.

As the Federal Reserve looks to continue raising interest rates to curb soaring inflation during a tight labor market, the possibility of a recession or other negative effects on the economy are top of mind. Of the middle market executives with a good, fair or poor outlook on the economy, 54% are concerned about the potential for a recession — an increase from 48% in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Middle market enterprises in growth mode Despite inflation and recession concerns, many middle market businesses are in growth mode. More than half (51%) expect to expand their use of technology and automation within the next six months. In the health care and retail sectors, 69% and 65% of middle market companies, respectively, anticipate making investments in technology and automation before the end of 2022.

Almost as many middle market companies (48%) plan to add full-time, part-time or contract employees. Forty-five percent plan to introduce new products.

Finally, the number of businesses expecting to enter new geographic markets in the next six months increased significantly between the first and second quarters of 2022, from 27% to 35%.

Attracting, retaining talent is easier for some businesses When it comes to attracting and retaining talent, middle market executives are generally optimistic about their prospects. However, some are still feeling the effects of the “Great Resignation” and navigating a pervasive shortage of skilled workers in their industries.

About half (51%) of business owners and executives anticipated that it will be easy or very easy to fill job vacancies in the next six months. However, the percentage reporting that it was very easy to retain talent declined from first quarter 2022 to the second quarter, reflecting a labor market that remains skewed in job seekers’ favor.

Among middle market businesses that plan to hire new employees within six months, 80% said they will be looking for skilled workers — a 14% increase over last quarter. On the other hand, only about half of those middle market businesses anticipated hiring new managerial employees, down from 62% in Q1. The construction and health care industries reported the highest demand for skilled and professional workers, with 92% of construction businesses seeking skilled workers and 82% in the health care field seeking professional employees.

For the 31% of businesses where leadership anticipates difficulty in hiring new employees, a lack of qualified available workers was by far the biggest challenge cited across employee skill levels (skilled, professional and managerial). The top approaches middle market enterprises are implementing or considering to help attract and retain talent include bonus programs, flexible working hours, comprehensive health and wellness benefits packages, competitive wages/salaries and the option to work remotely. In addition, the number of middle market businesses who considered offering childcare reimbursement or profit-sharing to retain talent doubled in the second quarter to 18% and 23%, respectively.

Continuing tale of two perspectives During the second quarter of 2022, middle market business leaders expressed mounting concerns about the direction of the U.S. economy — in particular, the Federal Reserve’s ability to raise interest rates and curb inflation without ushering in a nationwide recession. Nevertheless, executives and business owners reported a positive outlook for their own companies as the effects of COVID-19 on their operations continue to recede. Companies are leveraging their balance sheets; investing in growth via new technology, products and people; and expanding into new markets.

Whether you’re gearing up for an acquisition, or seeking to hedge against looming uncertainty, your banker can provide customized insights and real-time counsel to guide your decision-making.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Regarding recent speculation that the Cleveland Browns are considering building a new, possibly domed stadium: I’ve seen this con game too many times before.

The ducks are lining up for a new stadium, paid for by the public.

But it will be beyond a mere stadium. You can’t make enough money from 10 or 12 football games a year. You need much more. So you must build something that can be used to attract many other events.

To me, this is not a football stadium It should not — for the first test — be treated as a sports stadium, which in Ohio is property tax exempt.

Indeed, there should be a taxpayer lawsuit against the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, which is much more than a sports arena and should be so taxed.

This is a minimum that needs to be considered and debated before anything is done to subsidize another major event facility. They are not simply sports facilities.

They should immediately pay their property taxes, as they have not done since the 1990s.

Second and most important, a new stadium, whether it costs $1 billion or more, cannot be financed by the city of Cleveland or Cuyahoga County. The local taxes must be spread among at least six counties surrounding Cuyahoga, as they should have been done when the Gateway complex was built in the 1990s. The regressive sin taxes have been paid by the residents of Cleveland

KEN BLAZE FOR CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Who pays and who benefits amid stadium speculation?

and Cuyahoga County,many of whom are low-income.

Among school systems, the Cleveland schools have alone borne the loss of property tax revenue from the unwise decision to exempt sports facilities from property taxes. It has cost the Cleveland schools tens of millions of dollars.

It must be changed.

Roldo Bartimole Cleveland JULY 11, 2022 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 9

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SEEKING SUPPLIER DIVERSITY Supplier diversity is a vital aspect of DEI initiatives locally, even as organizations aim to improve program outreach, scalability.

MINORITY BUSINESS

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AID WHERE IT’S NEEDED MOST Black Restaurant Accelerator Program offers help often missing for minority business owners

BY JEREMY NOBILE

The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on Angela Sharpley’s small business.

Her Pipe’N Hot Grill seafood restaurant, founded in 2010, had just opened in a new East Side location in the business incubator at Glenvillage

a few weeks before pandemic lockdowns shuttered dining rooms.

Surrounded by retail shops that remained closed even after the restaurant reopened for takeout a couple of months later, foot traffic remained poor.

Then, she had to deal with construction woes as the city dug up

their street for several months, which reduced their community visibility and kept customers at bay.

This brought Sharpley to focus on her budding brand of Bamba iced teas, which she continues to work on scaling up to stock in retail stores and some other locations that are in the works.

S A

Regardless, cash flow creeped to a trickle. So, Sharpley sought financial relief from a number of areas. But getting it would be yet another challenge.

The Restaurant Revitalization Fund never did her any good. Hers was among the two-thirds of applications requesting RRF dollars that never resulted in any money.

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m

FOCUS | MINORITY BUSINESS Cleveland Black Restaurant Accelerator Program graduates 2022 graduates Food With Purpose JB Grill Soulfood YumVillage Cleveland LLC Legends Seafood N Chicken I Love Granny K's Soul Delicious Kitchen LLC Vegan Vybez Pipe’N Hot Grill LLC Maraq Gourmet Soup Shop LLC Obtainable Elegance LLC Shea Restaurant LLC

Sharpley’s business bank — a large and prolific regional financial institution in this market that has touted their relationship with her but that she is reluctant to call out publicly — repeatedly declined her for a credit line of even a few thousand dollars because of her existing debt-to-income ratio.

And she ended up fighting with the Small Business Administration over an Economic Injury Disaster Loan, the full amount of which didn’t come until early this year. She first applied in 2020. The funds she did receive were immediately sent back out to cover existing debt payments that have never slowed down.

“Instead of being able to use EIDL for inventory, manufacturing or

something else to help accelerate the business, we had to catch up,” Sharpley said. “All the money we owe all these people, we had to use it that way instead of being able to create another revenue stream.”

She did end up collecting a few other micro loans and a couple thousand dollars from the Paycheck Protection Program, but all were small and provided only nominal relief.

Sharpley was treading water at best, which felt all the more frustrating at a time when so many other businesses seemed to be finding funding for meaningful capital improvements. She was fortunate enough to remain in business. But the struggles rarely let up.

“We tried to put out for funding that

made sense,” she said, “but there are just not that many options at all.”

Sharpley’s experience is often par for the course for small-business owners, especially Black and minority entrepreneurs who tend to struggle with accessing traditional sources of funding and credit.

That’s what makes efforts like the Black Restaurant Accelerator Program so meaningful.

What is BRAP? Created in a collaboration between the National Urban League and the PepsiCo Foundation, BRAP is offered in 12 U.S. markets. Its Cleveland iteration is produced by

the Urban League of Greater Cleveland and UBIZ Venture Capital.

The program was first launched in 2021 and will continue through at least 2025 in each city in which it’s offered.

The program is offered to a handful of participants each year. It begins around February, lasts three months and features a virtual curriculum.

Topics range from technical assistance to entrepreneurial coaching, explains Michael Obi — president of UBIZ Venture Capital and owner of a Little Caesar’s franchise — who wrote the curriculum. (Applications for the 2023 program are open now and will close around November.)

See AID on Page 16

2021 graduates Pearl’s Kitchen KB Culinary Creations The Cornerstone Lounge & Grille Kafe LA Lonnie’s Boy Soul Cookin’ DVToGo Mobile Catering Squash the Beef LLC On A Roll Atir Catering and Event Planning LLC Southern Cafe Arlene’s Catering The Cleveland Fish and Seafood Co. Capo Steaks* *Did not formally complete BRAP but was awarded a grant.

A look at minorityowned restaurants ` Nationally, four in 10 restaurant businesses are owned by minorities. ` 41% of restaurant firms are owned by minorities — compared with 30% of businesses in the overall private sector. ` 19% of restaurant firms are Asian-owned, 14% are Hispanic-owned, and 9% are Black-owned. ` In every state for which data is available, the restaurant industry has a higher rate of minority business ownership than the overall private sector. ` Hawaii (64%), Texas (59%), California (58%), Georgia (55%), Maryland (54%) and the District of Columbia (54%) have the highest proportion of restaurants that are owned by minorities. ` In Ohio, 21% of restaurants are owned by minorites: 4% are Hispanic-owned; 8% are Black-owned; 10% are Asianowned.

Our utility provides opportunity.

Get certified with us for greater opportunities for your business. Learn more and apply online: neorsd.org/opportunity

Source: National Restaurant Association data as of March 2022

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FOCUS | MINORITY BUSINESS

Supplier diversity a continued focus for large organizations

BY DOUGLAS J. GUTH

DEI initiatives are increasingly being woven into the institutional fabric of major companies nationwide.

Supplier diversity is a vital aspect of this ongoing effort locally, even as organizations seek to improve program outreach and scalability for historically underserved businesses.

KeyBank had 180 diverse suppliers on its rolls in 2021, representing contingent labor, facilities, technology and more. Contingent labor consists of independent contractors and consultants, while Key brings in minority-owned construction, janitorial and snowplow operations to meet its facilities’ needs.

Trade show promotional products are sourced from these businesses as well, reflecting what Key head of diversity supply Jason Cwiklinski called “a dynamic and varied” commitment to inclusiveness.

“Creating less competition within diverse suppliers allows us to do more business with different companies,” said Cwiklinski. “If we were concentrated in one area, our suppliers would be competing with each other for that business.”

A diverse supplier is a business that is at least 51% owned and operated by a traditionally underrepresented individual or group, according to the Council for Supplier Diversity. Although common classifications encompass minority-owned enterprises (MBEs) and women-owned-enterprises (WBEs), that definition has expanded to include veterans, individuals with disabilities and the LGBQT communi-

ty.

Organizations interviewed by Crain’s require minority-status certification from any prospective supply partner. Businesses can obtain accreditation from groups such as the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) or the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council. Key is affiliated with the Ohio office of NMSDC, utilizing the council database to identify businesses and foster outreach. Officials also confer with industry colleagues about suppliers they may not know about.

“Supplier diversity is not something where we’re competing for market share,” Cwiklinski said. “We talk to our peers to see who are the top 25 diverse suppliers they’re working with. We can do that research and uncover a new name.”

Building a supplier ecosystem Last summer, Cleveland Clinic signed an “impact purchasing commitment” alongside 11 other U.S. health systems to increase spending with minority- and women-owned businesses. The Clinic has spent more than $1.2 billion with diverse suppliers over the last decade. Per the new agreement, the goal is to double its $80 million spend from 2020 to $160 million by 2025.

In 2021, the health provider reported $94 million in diverse supplier spend following a pandemic-driven reduction in overall capital spending.

Today, a total of 450 minority-owned businesses are “spend authorized”

Cwiklinski

Rogers

with Cleveland Clinic for potential contracts. Of those, the Clinic has worked with 299 over the last 17 months. Companies brought in by the hospital also must commit to spend at least 20% of the contract value with diverse businesses.

Berlon Hamilton, the Clinic’s director of supplier diversity, said his office conducts quarterly vendor reviews to ensure these metrics are met.

“We hire and buy locally, and suppliers are hiring within the communities we serve,” said Hamilton. “It’s created an ecosystem where we empower suppliers to help do that lifting for us.”

The Clinic has 73 product and service categories under its minority contractor umbrella — from equipment used in daily procedures to partners providing transportation and distribution for the hospital system. Some of these enterprises were forced to transition during the first months of COVID, helping the Clinic increase diverse spend in some areas.

“Our suppliers are very resilient,” Hamilton said. “Many of these companies were able to get their hands on PPE when our primary suppliers were selling out.”

Key spent about $71 million with first-tier suppliers in 2021, giving an

additional $13 million to non-diverse second-tier companies. Similar to the Clinic’s inclusiveness endeavors, Key’s Tier II partners are contractually obligated to give minority suppliers opportunities on the bank’s behalf.

However, underrepresented entrepreneurs still face two distinct challenges when connecting with large corporations, noted Key diversity supply lead Cwiklinski: For starters, suppliers sometimes have difficulty finding the right contact person at their client of choice, making targeted DEI outreach a must. Additionally, a large regional corporation like Key may have supply chain needs that reach beyond a candidate’s current footprint.

“Scalability is an issue,” said Cwiklinski. “Their services are not scalable enough for a company like Key.”

A mutually beneficial partnership That doesn’t mean all is lost for minority proprietors aiming to crack the big time, Cwiklinski added. Key will point owners to the national and regional nonprofits whose reason for being is scaling up marginalized companies.

Case Western Reserve University is busy strengthening its community touch points, an effort that includes making inroads into diverse vendors. A student-run neighborhood advisory council, for example, may have minority contacts that the university does not, said Julian Rogers, Case Western Reserve assistant vice president of local government and community relations.

A university procurement officer,

meanwhile, mentors minority suppliers about data analytics, cash flow and other metrics vital to operations. Rogers said keeping an eye toward social justice means spending money in previously excluded communities.

“Part of our effort is to reverse that trend, with a renewed focus on how we’re identifying the companies we’re using and who we’re hiring,” said Rogers. “The entire institution is looking at how it can do business to better support the neighborhood.”

Third-party certification from a group like NMSDC is a necessary first step for any minority business owner, said Hamilton of the Clinic.

Just as crucial for these entrepreneurs is developing a rapport with big-ticket clients.

“Be patient, because this is not going to happen overnight,” said Hamilton. “I meet suppliers at events that want to do business with us tomorrow. That won’t happen with large organizations — you have to build relationships with the correct decision-makers. Don’t be afraid to start small.”

If a diverse workforce is an innovation driver for companies, then an inclusivity-centered supply chain can be advantageous for all parties involved, said Key’s Cwiklinski.

“These programs help both sides grow,” he said. “If we can find someone that’s scaling up and offering the services we need, we can build a mutually strategic partnership.”

Contact Douglas J. Guth: clbfreelancer@crain.com

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FOCUS | MINORITY BUSINESS

Chef-on-demand service CookinGenie lands $2M investment

BY SCOTT SUTTELL

CookinGenie, a Hudson company that connects customers with personal chefs, has received a $2 million seed investment from Houston-based Allison Wood Ventures that will enable it to expand to new markets nationwide.

Allison Wood Ventures, which describes itself as “a global investment company focused on creating growth opportunities for industry game-changers,” announced the investment in a news release issued June 29.

The firm’s founder, Allison Wood, in a statement called CookinGenie “a company dedicated to integrity and customer commitment, making it a fantastic fit for us.” She said CookinGenie’s leadership “identified a need, created a game-changing solution, and is currently customizing and scaling the business to ensure success. We are thrilled to invest in such a creative and forward-thinking startup.”

CookinGenie was founded in late 2019 and started with a focus on Northeast Ohio. It since has added service in the Columbus and Cincinnati areas.

Sabah Drabu, who co-founded CookinGenie with a friend, Abhijit Ganguly, said in a phone interview that the company’s goal in the wake of the investment is to launch service in at least one big city outside Ohio before the end of this year, and then to continue to identify potential expansion markets. She said CookinGenie also is working to build out its technology and improve the platform customers use to book chefs.

CookinGenie, a company that connects customers with personal chefs, has received a $2 million seed investment from Houston-based Allison Wood Ventures. | COOKINGENIE/FACEBOOK

COOKINGENIE AIMS TO LAUNCH SERVICE IN AT LEAST ONE BIG CITY OUTSIDE OHIO BEFORE THE END OF THIS YEAR. (The company made the initial contact with Allison Wood Ventures via connections on the tech side of its operations, Drabu said.)

The Allison Wood Ventures release stated that Drabu and Ganguly “were inspired by talented home chefs to

RECRUIT WHERE THEY ARE

create a network that allows private chefs to take their creativity to customers’ homes on a per-event basis.”

CookinGenie gives clients the option to hire a personal chef — or “genie” — for an event. Customers choose from a menu of available meals and schedule a date and time. The company handles shopping, meal preparation, cooking and cleaning.

Drabu, a food enthusiast, engineer and native of India who came to the United States in 2000 to work on a master’s degree at Kent State University, said the company’s goal is to “change how people think of personal chefs.”

She said CookinGenie at present works with about 20 chefs — primarily recruited through job boards — who bring different skills and diverse menus to the platform. Users of the CookinGenie site can click on a

chef’s profile to view food options and build the menu for their event.

CookinGenie started not long before COVID-19 hit hard in the U.S., and it paused as the pandemic limited in-person gatherings. Demand has picked up rapidly in recent months, Drabu said, as customers “have a strong desire to come together over good food.”

Scott Suttell: ssuttell@crain.com, (216) 771-5227, @ssuttell

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FOCUS | MINORITY BUSINESS

Hiram grad cooks up simmer sauce business

BY JUDY STRINGER

The tomato-based, all-natural marinade has an authentic Ghanian When his Hiram College team flavor, according to Takyi-Micah, couldn’t come up with a business and can also be used as a salsa with proposal during an entrepreneur- chips or a simmer sauce for meats, ship competition at Ashland Univer- tofu and veggies. He likes to brush it sity in 2011, Nana Kwamena on chicken set to broil and use it Takyi-Micah pitched them on an when sautéing shrimp.

“One of the nice things about Suidea that had simmered in his mind preme Sauce is how versatile it is,” “for several months.”

“There are virtually no African he said. “It is also gluten-free and a products in U.S. grocery stores, so I very low-sodium product. Your avshared the idea of turning my moth- erage (marinade) has over 200 millier’s red sauce into a marinade for grams of sodium, but ours only has 20 milligrams of sodium, beef and chicken,” said and it’s still delicious.”

Takyi-Micah, who came to Takyi-Micah said ingreNortheast Ohio from Ghadients for the sauce are na for Hiram’s business sourced locally. The commanagement program. pany outsources manufac“We didn’t win, but that turing and bottling, but competition was a lightotherwise he and his wife, bulb moment.”

Natasha, run day-to-day After several years of operations of the company recipe testing and tasting, with a little help. They work Takyi-Micah’s Mayfield Takyi-Micah with an established disHeights-based Micah Specialty Foods launched Supreme tributor, for example, to get the Sauce Marinade in 2014, using product into stores and marketing $10,000 from the entrepreneur’s professionals who help with social own savings. Today the 12-ounce media. bottles — which come in “mild,” “medium” and “spicy” varieties — Winning recipe can be found at Acme Fresh Market, Dave’s Supermarket, Giant Eagle’s While Takyi-Micah contributed Market District stores and Zagara’s the bulk of startup investment for MiMarketplace, and online at mi- cah Specialty Foods — his “day job” is chaspecialtyfoods.com and Ama- in the insurance industry — edging zon.com. out other business plans at competi“We also recently just started sell- tions has helped bootstrap the coming at Heinen’s,” he said. pany. He won the Urban League

Micah Specialty Foods’ Supreme Sauce Marinade comes in “mild,” “medium” and “spicy” varieties. | CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS

Pitch competition in 2018 and the I-Corp Plus competition in 2019. Just last month, Citizens Bank awarded Micah Specialty Foods $10,000 as one of 30 small businesses chosen in its 14-state Community Champions competition.

Takyi-Micah declined to disclose revenue figures, but said the company currently ships several hundred cases of Supreme Sauce each month.

Product sales, he added, have doubled in the last two years, buoyed in part by COVID and the proliferation

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of people cooking at home during the shutdown and as the pandemic lingered.

Micah Specialty Foods was not alone in getting that boost. Billy Roberts, a senior food and drink analyst with Mintel, said overall the cooking-sauces segment saw an unprecedented 23% pandemic surge, climbing from $6.1 billion in 2019 to nearly $7.6 billion in 2020.

Roberts said sales of sauces and marinades remained more than 20% ahead of their 2019 levels last year but were “essentially stagnated.” He anticipates a slight correction this year “as consumers more fully return to dining out,” adding that “betterfor-you” sauces and those with “international cuisine flavor” are areas of potential gains, particularly among millennials, parents with children in the home and hybrid workers with more flexible time for meal prep.

According to Mintel’s September 2021 survey data, only 50% of Americans currently buy cooking sauces, leaving a gaping market opportunity.

Takyi-Micah, for his part, plans to add a line of Ghana-inspired fruit drinks to Micah Specialty’s portfolio.

He’s also looking to hire a handful of part-timers to speed word-of-mouth promotion of Supreme Sauce via instore demonstrations and farmers market stands.

The company, he said, is committed to recruiting within its neighborhood and the surrounding areas, including “formerly incarcerated individuals who have gone through the community re-entry program and other young people who have a passion to work with a growing business.”

Contact Judy Stringer: clbfreelancer@crain.com

14 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | JULY 11, 2022

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FOCUS | MINORITY BUSINESS

AID

From Page 11

Site visits from program administrators are part of the deal. Graduates who complete the program are then awarded grants of $10,000 each.

About $250,000 has been granted to companies over BRAP’s first two years in Cleveland. The funding comes from the PepsiCo Foundation, with a match from local sponsors led

by Westfield Group.

Sharpley, who completed this year’s program, said the coaching was helpful, but the value of the financial support can’t be understated. She’s using the money to hire a marketing team, purchase inventory and procure a small piece of equipment.

The program has also been impactful for fellow 2022 BRAP graduate Carasai Ihentuge, who owns the Afro-Caribbean restaurant YumVillage Cleveland in Cleveland State University’s Campus District.

Ihentuge opened his shop in December and is grappling with the same challenges facing all restaurants, including inflation gouges on meat and produce and growing rent costs.

Angela Sharpley, owner of Pipe’N Hot Grill, and her daughter, Stésià Swain, who is CEO of the restaurant. | CONTRIBUTED

Through BRAP, Ihentuge said he learned more about managing financial statements, hiring and payroll,

among other things. The $10,000 grant, he said, will largely be applied to helping him defer inflation costs

I employ Y.O.U. youth “because it’s an opportunity to shape our future by giving our young talent a strong start by guiding and investing in them. I am honored to help new talent feel proud about the work they are doing.”

Tondi Allen Young Adult Opportunities Program Employer Co-Founder of Urban City Codes Invest today in Northeast Ohio’s future workforce • youthopportunities.org

on the non-GMO and specialty food items he uses. “(BRAP does) cater to an additional source of funding versus referring to a traditional bank for lending purposes,” he said. “This helps our minority-based communities to thrive in areas where we did not thrive in the past.”

YumVillage Cleveland is an expansion of the first YumVillage locations opened by Ihentuge’s brother, Godwin, in Detroit, where seemingly nothing comparable to BRAP exists.

He hopes the success of that program could inspire others like it.

“It’s programs such as this that help to remove the stigma that Black restaurants cannot thrive,” Ihentuge said. “That stigma is soon being erased.”

“businesses owned by people of color often face more financial and operational challenges than their whiteowned counterparts but often were less successful at obtaining the funding needed to weather the effects of the pandemic.”

Sharpley’s and Ihentuge’s experiences with banks and the SBA — for all the good that it may do — seem to be part and parcel of that.

“There is obviously a racial inequality wealth gap between minority businesses and other small businesses alike, and I do know personally that I have faced some of those very same barriers when starting the YumVillage Cleveland brand. With a program like BRAP, this provides access to capital for Black-owned businesses requiring startup funding or even capital access for the typical 10% to 20% down required from banks if approved for a Racial disparity traditional loan.”

John Barker, president and CEO of There is no doubt that minority business owners overall have faced a the Ohio Restaurant Association, harder road to entrepreneurship notes that programs like BRAP should compared with their white counter- help influence the launch of other inparts and an outsized toll from the dependent and government-backed initiatives targeted specifically toward pandemic.

They also simultaneously face minority groups in light of the unique greater challenges with accessing struggles they often face.

“Clearly, minorities have had a sources of funding and support. harder time developing businesses for an ex“WE HAVE A VISION TO HELP CLOSE tended period of time,” THE WEALTH GAP IN CLEVELAND IN he said. “I do think and more proTHE BLACK AND BROWN COMMUNITY.” more grams are aimed at try— Michael Obi, president of UBIZ Venture Capital ing to improve that.

BRAP falls in line with “Black individuals are much less that, and that is critical. But helping likely to be entrepreneurs than their those businesses survive, especially white counterparts,” according to re- the last couple years, is something search by the Federal Reserve Bank of completely different. Once you get St. Louis. “Part of the explanation is past your first couple years, these that, for centuries, Black Americans businesses tend to change lives. They were prevented from becoming busi- help people move into the middle ness owners through violence as well class and become important compoas racist regulations and unofficial nents of the local community.”

“We have a vision to help close the rules.”

The disparate racial impact of the wealth gap in Cleveland in the Black COVID-19 pandemic has been docu- and brown community,” Obi said. mented by the Economic Policy Insti- “Strong entrepreneurship and strontute, which has pointed to the conflu- ger businesses — businesses of scale ence of racism and economic — are realistic tools to helping close inequality as key reasons why minori- that gap. When we do that, owners of ties were hit so hard by the global that business will come out of poverty in Cleveland, which continues to be health crisis.

The Federal Reserve System’s the poorest city in America.”

“Small Business Credit Survey 2022 Report on Firms Owned by People of Jeremy Nobile: jnobile@crain.com, Color,” published in June, finds that (216) 771-5362, @JeremyNobile

16 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | JULY 11, 2022

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SPONSORED CONTENT

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION: MINORITY BUSINESS Convened by the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District

We need to make sure we’re spreading dollars out across our community and giving folks an opportunity to share in the economic prosperity our work provides.

— Constance T. Haqq, chief administrative officer, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District

Building opportunities, removing barriers Experts and stakeholders discuss the importance of including minority-owned businesses in public infrastructure projects

By Conner Howard Crain’s Content Studio-Cleveland

I

t’s often said that small businesses are the backbone of the United States economy. Many of those small businesses are owned by minorities, women and other marginalized groups — all of which can be overlooked when it comes to large-scale public works contracts.

MEET THE PARTICIPANTS

Such contracts are typically awarded to national corporations, creating fewer opportunities for businesses with roots in the communities these projects affect. This ongoing issue was at the core of a recent roundtable discussion convened by the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD), which featured a panel of influential stakeholders with deep knowledge of the challenges facing minority-owned businesses.

Among the participants was state Sen. Vernon Sykes, D-Akron; Brian Hall, senior adviser on equity and inclusion for the Greater Cleveland Partnership; Constance T. Haqq, chief administrative officer with NEORSD; and Frederick Douglas, president and founder of Cosmos Technologies, a regional engineering consulting firm based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

The group quickly reached a consensus that small businesses — particularly those owned by minorities — often face an uphill battle to be taken seriously in the public works sphere.

“There are stereotypes about small businesses, and there’s a type of thinking that only large, established companies can move the load, so to speak. It’s important that small businesses are seen as innovative,” Douglas said. “The people who run small businesses, the majority of them, are extremely proud of the work they produce and they strive to produce a quality product that is better than the large companies.”

“In principle, I think that more thought needs to be given to inclusion of small businesses on a national level, because that’s going to be the source of innovation,” he added. “There should be more emphasis on making sure that small businesses are given opportunities by reducing the size of the projects and giving them the chance to participate.”

Brian Hall

Senior adviser, equity and inclusion, Greater Cleveland Partnership

State Sen. Vernon Sykes D-Akron 134th General Assembly

Chief administrative officer, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District

Frederick Douglas

President and founder, Cosmos Technologies

certification process that routinely stymies and filters out eligible small business bids on public works contracts. Last year, Sykes, along with state Sen. Kirk Schuring, R-Jackson Township, introduced Senate Bill 105 — a bipartisan economic development effort. He hopes that similar legislative efforts can address this institutional roadblock.

forward to the challenges that remain to be confronted. Hall commended the progress made in the public sector by NEORSD and the state of Ohio, but centered the private sector as an area of improvement. He pushed back on unfounded assumptions that small businesses aren’t capable of meeting the demands of large-scale engineering projects.

Hall, who also is a founding member of the Presidents’ Council Business Chamber, echoed this sentiment. He pointed to onerous certification processes as a clear example of systemic biases that have excluded racial minorities from business opportunities for decades.

“Frankly, those are all false excuses because study after study has shown that minority businesses are more competitive, more innovative and provide value,” Hall said. “If you add to that the benefit to the region … having a community that’s prosperous and educated because minority businesses are hiring minorities in that community, it’s going to bring a better region about. So, it’s nothing but a win.”

“People like to feel our society is not racist today because, in most cases, individuals are not racist, but our systems, unfortunately, are,” Hall said. “Trying to eliminate the systemic issues like certifications … is just vitally important.

The fight isn’t over yet. The playing field is not level. It’s simply not. You’re beginning the race a lap behind.”

Data supports the narrative that minority-owned businesses have historically been left out of chances to improve the infrastructure of their communities, said Sykes. Research conducted to spur economic development in the Akron area has indicated that including minority-owned businesses would have a positive impact on job growth.

Haqq added that, as a public utility, NEORSD has a responsibility to take active steps to address these historic inequalities. She pointed to the sewer district’s business opportunity program, which in addition to easing the regulative burden on minority-owned businesses, it specifically targets local companies owned by women and minorities to ensure they are included in large-scale public works investments.

“One of the major findings that they discovered was that the minority community was being systemically excluded from economic development activities in the greater Akron area,” Sykes said. “They indicated that that was a major, major problem – particularly since, in Akron, 30% of the population is African American. If you exclude 30% of your population from being able to contribute, how can you maximize productivity?”

“In our process, we have minimized some of the difficulties that folks have in certifying, so if you come to us and you already have a certification from the county or from the state, then you have a very simplified certification from us so you don’t have to do all of the onerous work all over again,” Haqq said. “So, the business opportunity program allows us to set goals for small businesses, minority-owned businesses and women-owned businesses on each of our large projects.”

Additionally, Sykes pointed to findings that one of the major barriers to minority business inclusion is the restrictive

LOOKING AHEAD

HONING IN ON THE PROBLEM

Constance T. Haqq

Sykes added that the private market is an imperfect entity and does not always account for what is best for local communities.

“We have to start from the understanding that the business model itself is a competitive model. It’s there to promote the private interest of those business entities. And that’s ingrained,” Sykes said. “But when we look at trying to maximize society’s interests and the productivity of the whole community, we’ve got to make sure that when we’re dealing with the private interests, it’s not going to be negative or derogatory to society’s interests.”

Haqq emphasized that there will be an ongoing challenge to incentivize large-scale undertakings to include small businesses, local partners and minority-owned companies.

“We need to make sure we’re spreading dollars out across our community and giving folks an opportunity to share in the economic prosperity our work provides,” she said.

With the important work far from done, the panel looked

This advertising-supported section/feature is produced by Crain’s Content Studio-Cleveland, the marketing storytelling arm of Crain’s Cleveland Business. The Crain’s Cleveland Business newsroom is not involved in creating Crain’s Content Studio content.

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CRAIN'S LIST | EMPLOYEE BENEFIT SERVICES FIRMS Ranked by number of full-time benefits professionals in Northeast Ohio RANK

COMPANY LOCAL OFFICE

LOCAL BENEFITS PROFESSIONALS 6-1-2022

6-1-2021

TOTAL LOCAL STAFF

COMPENSATION STRUCTURE SERVICES

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE

1

OSWALD COS. (UNISON RISK ADVISORS) 1100 Superior Ave., Suite 1500, Cleveland 216-367-8787/oswaldcompanies.com

153

157

335

Fees, commissions

Employee benefits strategic consulting, group benefits brokerage, human capital strategies, health and wellness management, retirement plan consulting

Robert J. Klonk, chairman, CEO

2

SELMAN & COMPANY LLC One Integrity Parkway, Richmond Heights 440-646-9336/selmanco.com

151

148

155

Fees, commissions

Administration of life and health insurance programs for employers, insurance companies, financial institutions and affinity groups

David L. Selman, president, CEO

3

CBIZ INC. 6801 Brecksville Road, Door N, Independence 216-447-9000/cbiz.com

132

147

285

Fixed fees, commissions

Group health benefits consulting and administration, retirement plan services, payroll services, property and casualty, talent and compensation solutions

Jerome P. Grisko Jr., president, CEO

4

WTW 1001 Lakeside Ave., Suite 1500, Cleveland 216-937-4000/wtwco.com

130

120

140

Project, commissions, fixed fees, hourly, retainer

Benefits strategy, design and pricing; pharmacy benefit management consulting; benefits administration and exchange; communication and change management

Gina Kashuk, managing director, market leader, Ohio Pittsburgh

5

GALLAGHER 323 W. Lakeside Ave., Suite 410, Cleveland 216-623-2600/ajg.com

80

—

85

Commissions, fixed fees, project work

Brokerage and consulting in health and welfare, retirement, wellness, human resources, compensation, health care analytics, benefits compliance

David D. Kempton, Ohio president

6

ONEDIGITAL 4200 Rockside Road, Independence 216-520-3300/onedigital.com

79

80

100

Commissions, fixed fees, fee for service, contract based

Health, financial and HR consulting, benefits services and online administration, wellbeing, workforce strategy, analytics, compliance

John J. Wain, principal, financials and operation; Kevin Mackay, principal, mergers and acquisitions; Dino Sciulli, principal, sales and retention; Tim Paradiso, principal, strategy

7

THE FEDELI GROUP LLC 5005 Rockside Road, Fifth Floor, Independence 216-328-8080/thefedeligroup.com

62

55

130

Commissions, fixed fees and consulting services

Plan design, consulting, compliance, wellness, self-funding, data analytics, voluntary and executive benefits

Umberto P. Fedeli, CEO

8

MARCUM LLP 6685 Beta Drive, Mayfield Village 440-459-5700/marcumllp.com

51

26

154

By project, commissions, fixed fees, hourly, retainer

Benefits, compensation, 401(k), Affordable Care Act planning and compliance, benefit plan audits, retirement plan design and administration

David Mustin, vice president - strategic consulting; Dani B. Gisondo, office managing partner, Cleveland (East)

9

TRINITY PENSION CONSULTANTS 202 Montrose West Ave., Suite 310, Copley 330-668-3747/trinitypension.com

46

43

52

Retainer, fixed fees, by Actuarial consulting, administration, plan design, plan project documents

Anthony J. Warren, CEO, partner

10

NFP 6450 Rockside Woods Blvd., Suite 250, Independence 216-264-2707/nfp.com

44

39

55

Fees, commissions

Corporate benefits, property and casualty, private client group, HR technology solutions and retirement services

Brian Hirsch; Jim Dustin, managing directors

11

USI INSURANCE SERVICES LLC 1001 Lakeside Ave., Suite 1200, Cleveland 216-591-0088/usi.com

39

39

61

Commissions, fixed fees

Employee benefits strategic consulting, group benefits Matt Baird, president, Employee Benefits brokerage, population health management, retirement plan Cleveland consulting

12

J.P. FARLEY CORP. 29055 Clemens Road, Westlake 440-250-4300/jpfarley.com

35

39

35

Fixed fees

Health plan administration services, self-funded employee benefits, medical, dental, vision, custom solutions

James P. Farley, president, CEO

13

ASSUREDPARTNERS OF OHIO 3900 Kinross Lakes Parkway, Suite 300, Richfield 440-333-9000/assuredpartners.com

26

20

123

Commissions, fixed fees, project

Consulting, medical and pharmacy analytics, compliance, benefits administration, communication tools

William J. Beal Jr., agency president; Jon Smith, executive VP of employee benefits, Northern Ohio; Hallie A. Hakaim, director of employee benefits operations, Northen Ohio

14

DEFINITI LLC 3 Holland St., Erie, Pa. 800-882-4026/definiti-llc.com

21 1

—

23

Fixed fees

Administration and compliance, actuarial consulting, fiduciary services, outsourcing and recordkeeping for retirement and pension plans

Lisa Lowe, regional sales consultant

15

MGO ONE SEVEN LLC 24400 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 310, Beachwood 216-771-4242/mgo-inc.com

19

14

27

Fees and commissions

Plan design and consulting, plan investment selection and monitoring, fiduciary liability protection, plan administration, employee education and communication

Ronald S. Gross, president, CEO

16

VANTAGE BENEFIT ADVISORS INC. 6200 Rockside Road, Independence 216-642-7878/vanfinbenefits.com

18

18

62

Commissions, fees, project

Employer sponsored insurance programs, retirement plans, flexible spending arrangements, benefits technology, human resources, compliance and Medicare

William M. McCormick, CEO

17

MAGIS ADVISORY GROUP LLC 36711 American Way, Suite 2F, Avon 440-934-4102/magisadvisorygroup.com

18

15

20

Commissions, fees

Employee benefits strategic consulting and benefits brokerage including voluntary and worksite, retirement plan consulting, executive benefits

Philip J. Amos, president, cofounder; Aaron M. Marinelli, CEO, cofounder

18

PK FINANCIAL GROUP INC. 9261 Ravenna Road, Suite B4, Twinsburg 216-393-8182/pkfinancialgroup.com

17

17

24

Fees (percent of assets managed); commissions

Retirement plan consulting services for the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors

Pete Kaplan, president; Brian Petros, CEO

19

BUCK GLOBAL LLC 6000 Freedom Square, Suite 100, Independence 216-682-7600/buck.com

17

22

18

By project, commissions, fixed fees, hourly rates, retainer

Health and productivity, retirement, communications, compensation, benefit audits, benefit outsourcing

Tom Tomczyk, principal, market leader Cleveland and Pittsburgh; Audrey Cervas, director

20

NATIONAL ASSOCIATES INC. 22720 Fairview Center Drive, Suite 100, Fairview Park 440-333-0222/nationalassociates.biz

16

14

19

Fixed fees, hourly Actuarial, administration, compliance, plan design, rates, retainer, project consulting and document services for defined contribution and defined benefit plans

John P. Adzema, president

21

CHELKO CONSULTING GROUP 24651 Center Ridge Road, Suite 110, Westlake 440-892-2600/chelkogroup.com

16

16

18

Fee-based retainer, by Medical, prescription, life and disability plan management project services: data analysis, design, planning, vendor selection and reporting, stop loss, compliance, audits, wellness

Rick Chelko, president

22

AON 950 Main Ave., Suite 1600, Cleveland 216-623-4105/aon.com

15

15

72

By project, commissions, fixed fees, hourly rates, retainer

Employer health and benefits, executive benefits, global benefits, prescription coalition, private health exchange solutions

Victor W. Dolbin, health solutions practice leader; Gregory M. Hubbell, health and benefits leader; Brian Slife, market leader

23

MERCER 200 Public Square, Suite 900, Cleveland 216-830-8000/mercer.com

13

—

53

By project, commissions, fixed fees, hourly rates

Health and wellness benefits, retirement and risk management, investment consulting and management, HR strategies and digital transformation

Mike Ponicall, managing partner, Great Lakes office leader

24

HUNTINGTON INSURANCE INC. 200 Public Square, Cleveland 888-576-7900/huntington.com

11

25

46

Commissions, fees

Consulting and strategic planning in population risk management, on-site clinics, data analytics and predictive modeling, results-based wellness and health care reform

Mary Beth Sullivan, insurance president

25

HYLANT 6000 Freedom Square Drive, Suite 400, Independence 216-447-1050/hylant.com

10

11

54

Commission, fees, hourly rates, retainer

Brokerage and consulting, compliance, design, self funding, captives, collective bargaining, communications, wellness, data analytics, compensation, benchmarking

Kim Riley, president, Cleveland

26

ASSOCIATED UNDERWRITERS INSURANCE (AUI) 2876 S. Arlington Road, Akron 330-645-6338/auiinfo.com

10

—

20

Commission or hourly Health, vision, life, dental, disability, voluntary and other Chrissy Myers, CEO rates insurance benefits; HR consulting and fractional HR services

Research by Chuck Soder (csoder@crain.com) | When ties occur, firms are ranked by total local employees. Information is from the companies. Employment figures are full time. NOTES: 1. Includes employees who worked for Noble-Davis Consulting of Solon and Brewster & Brewster of Painesville, companies Definiti acquired over the past two years. Definiti closed both physical offices but maintains a nearby office in Erie, Pa.

Get 32 firms and more than 130 executives in Excel format. Become a Data Member: CrainsCleveland.com/data 18 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | JULY 11, 2022

P018_CL_20220711.indd 18

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OFFICE

From Page 1

Led by Stewart Wangard, a veteran office building broker and office building owner who has been active across several property segments, an affiliate of Wangard plunked down $7 million last month for the buildings near Chagrin Boulevard and Green Road.

The plan: Convert the eight-story Commerce Park IV building to 147 apartments with a rooftop patio and views of the Highland Park Golf Course and, on the horizon, downtown Cleveland. Meanwhile, the newer Commerce Park V building will get updates that Wangard describes as essential for the competitive marketplace, such as flawless technical services and flexible meeting spaces that are in demand by creative tenants and young professionals.

More fundamentally, Cyndie O’Bryon, a Colliers Cleveland vice president, and Wangard’s team will try to hang onto the remaining tenants at Commerce Park IV and sell them on a move to Commerce Park V. Wangard said in an online video interview that there were several reasons for the multifamily strategy.

For one, he said Cleveland is distinguished by an abundance of office space because it’s physically distant from other major office markets.

“In Milwaukee, companies with major office operations often choose Chicago. It’s considered commuting distance,” he said. “Much of the Cleveland office product is from the 1970s and rarely has asbestos.”

Conversely, Wangard was surprised by how old much of the apartment inventory is in the Beachwood area despite a very strong residential market and top-notch school district.

“With projects such as the expansion of University Hospitals nearby,

ENROLLMENT

From Page 1

“It’s weird to think of flat as being a great piece of information, but we are really excited about being on this side of the pandemic where things are starting to normalize a bit,” he said.

Twenty minutes away at Kent State University, officials say enrollment of its first-year class is trending 4%-5% above the previous year. Combined with a 4% gain from fall 2020 to fall 2021, KSU reports it’s nearing pre-pandemic enrollment numbers.

Many institutions nationwide and across the region saw drops during that time.

“This year really felt like a more normal recruitment cycle,” Sean Broghammer, vice president for enrollment management, said via email. “Students and families seemed more comfortable visiting campus and choosing Kent State early in the process.”

Baldwin Wallace University offered visits to its Berea campus throughout the pandemic, too. Coupled with things like streamlined messaging throughout the enrollment process and a scholarship calculator that guided students to clearly know what they’d pay, it made for a successful fall 2021 enrollment, according to Scott Schulz, BW’s vice president for enrollment management.

Last fall saw a first-year class of 727 students. A year later, this semester is on pace to see about 660 to 670 new students. It’s one of the biggest class-

there will be more people working in the area who will want to live nearby,” he added.

In the meantime, existing offices will be demolished by the new owner of an office building at 30041 Lakeland Blvd. for a self-storage center that will occupy most of the structure, according to Raymond Sack, the city of Wickliffe’s building commissioner.

The seller was an affiliate of Progressive Corp., which moved a training center that occupied most of the building to buildings that it owns near its Mayfield Village headquarters.

Although Progressive said it had decided to shed the building before the pandemic changed the proposition for office tenants, the change of use is startling for veteran office leasing agents as it eliminates the intrinsic value of the office setting.

Although the new owner, an affiliate of Kirchoff Cos. of Poughkeepsie, New York, has won city approval to recast the office space as a mini-warehouse operation, the strong highway visibility made it willing to pay $3.4 million for the 80,000-square-foot property.

Even another bidder, albeit unsuccessful, didn’t want the structure for continued office use.

Jason Laver, a senior vice president at Cushman & Wakefield Cresco realty brokerage, said he led an investor group that took a run at the structure for conversion to industrial use, partially because it was used as a warehouse prior to Progressive’s ownership.

“The industrial market is so strong in Lake County, we felt there could be a play there,” Laver said in an interview. In a sense, the hulking building is a bit of a chameleon. It was originally constructed in 1962 as a Spartan store, a long-gone discount chain.

The other factor shaping Commerce Park IV’s proposed future as an apartment is its design. es in the Ohio Athletic Conference, Schulz said, but still represents about an 8%-9% decrease from the previous year.

“We didn’t have, maybe, the same type of competitive advantage (this year) that we had last year,” he said.

Cleveland’s Case Western Reserve University expects to see a slightly smaller first-year class, too. That’s intentional, though. Officials said last fall’s group of 1,600 exceeded their goal. The upcoming semester is anticipated to have about 1,550 new students.

It’s projected to be the most diverse class in the university’s history, according to officials. Roughly one-quarter of students are from underrepresented groups, and 16% are international students.

It comes after an unexpected 35% spike in applications. The interest is thought to be due to more applicants learning about the campus and its University Circle neighborhood, including relatively recent additions such as the Health Education Campus between the university and the Cleveland Clinic.

The Clinic recently issued a statement saying it will “continue to support women and reproductive health while also following the law” after the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

It remains to be seen what, if any, effect the current climate could have on enrollments. Many local institutions already see the bulk of their students come from Ohio and/or nearby states.

But at Case Western Reserve, 66% of the university’s total undergradu-

Commerce Park IV looks today much as it has since it was built in the 1980s near Chagrin Boulevard and Green Road in Beachwood. | COSTAR

This is how Wangard Cos. of Milwaukee envisions Commerce IV in Beachwood after transforming it to an office building, with a new exterior with balconies. | CONTRIBUTED

Jim Heller, an architect who is now an economic development consultant for the city of Beachwood, recalled the objectives of the building’s developer, the late Kenneth Young, to

create a high-quality office building all the way down to its core. The structure is made of concrete columns and post-tension concrete floors instead of steel decks with con-

Students move in at Baldwin Wallace University last fall. | BALDWIN WALLACE UNIVERSITY

ates in 2021 came from outside of Ohio, and 14% came from outside America.

“Students consider a broad range of factors when picking a college, beyond the quality of the academic program, atmosphere of the campus and overall cost,” Robert McCullough, assistant vice president for enrollment and dean of undergraduate admissions, said via email when asked about the potential impact of the decision. “Those factors, and the weight given to each, are as unique as each student.”

Another national change that could impact local enrollments is a dwindling pot of federal relief funding offered during the pandemic.

Portions of those millions could be used to give students emergency grants to help pay for things like rent and food during the pandemic. The money may be gone, but those struggles could remain, offering a barrier for entry to enrollment.

“I think even as red hot as the job market is, we know the job market doesn’t serve everyone out there right now, and legitimately there’s still a group of folks that are struggling economically,” said Jonathan Wehner, vice president for enrollment management and student success, as well as dean of admissions at Cleveland State University.

As to the bustling labor market, Wehner said school officials are

crete on them.

As a result, the structure will be quieter than otherwise, which is valuable for luxury apartment use, both Heller and Wangard said. The other factor was that Commerce Park IV was constructed atop an underground 360-space garage, which will be attractive to apartment tenants.

Moreover, Heller said the underground garage was built to maximize the use of the site and leave enough surface area available to accommodate Young’s next project there, Commerce Park V. While downtown Cleveland’s residential neighborhood was developed by converting old office and warehouse buildings to hotels over the last 30 years, the body blow the pandemic gave the office markets across the U.S. has given strength to the movement.

RentCafe, an online apartment listing service, estimated that in 2021, adaptive reuse projects increased the nation’s multifamily supply by 32,000 suites, and 40% of those were in former office structures.

Jeremy Steiger, a partner at the Lee & Associates brokerage in Beachwood, said rising construction costs are a factor in deciding the next phase for some older suburban office buildings.

“Renovating office space for new tenants is expensive,” he said. “You can’t easily make up the cost given prevailing rent rates.”

Wangard also sees it as adapting office buildings to the demands of companies that will flourish in the current economy.

“Otherwise, they’ll shrink as tenants,” he said. “It may be better to take some of that office space, which is expensive to retrofit for new tenants, as something else.”

Stan Bullard: sbullard@crain.com, (216) 771-5228, @CrainRltywriter hearing stories from working students feeling pressure from their employers to choose employment over higher education in the short term.

Students who were struggling academically may choose to stop out and just work, too. It could be part of the reason why Cleveland State is forecasting its overall enrollment may be down “a little bit.”

Cuyahoga Community College believes its enrollment will follow suit.

Two-year publics were impacted the most nationwide over the past few years. People of color and women were disproportionately affected during the pandemic, and those groups make up the bulk of community colleges’ enrollments.

It’s moving the college to look at “how time matters to everyone,” according to Angela Johnson, Tri-C’s vice president of access and completion.

“People are thinking differently about their time and the use of the time, in terms of having shorter programs, getting a credential and getting into the workforce,” she said. “I think those things are starting to matter a lot more to individuals.”

The college is looking at adding more short-term offerings, as well as repackaging some of its current programs to add more clarity. There’s some time, as Johnson said the college tends to see more interest and decisions being made about enrolling in the fall tends to pick up after the Fourth of July holiday.

The enrollment roller coaster ride continues.

Amy Morona: amy.morona@crain. com, (216) 771-5229, @AmyMorona

20 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | JULY 11, 2022

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

DEVELOPMENT

From Page 1

JobsOhio, the state’s private nonprofit economic development corporation, is willing to put $1.5 million toward the land bank’s plan to turn a former car dealership on Euclid into a home for life sciences tenants. Last year, Gov. Mike DeWine announced the rollout of high-speed internet access to underserved parts of the city.

Meanwhile, the Cleveland Metroparks is in discussions about stepping in to manage East Cleveland’s Forest Hill Park, a 170-acre property that philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. deeded to the city in the late 1930s. The park is only a half-mile from the land bank’s target area.

“All of these relationships are peaking now,” said Michael Smedley, chief of staff to Mayor Brandon King.

“If we don’t take advantage now of this wave, it can ebb, and we miss people’s interest in wanting to invest resources in this community.”

East Cleveland City Council is evaluating a request to give $4 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to the land bank. Half of that money would pay for infrastructure, including streets, sidewalks and landscaping.

The balance would flow to the land bank’s first commercial project and provide construction subsidies for new homes, to keep sale prices modest.

The city also could allocate $2 million of its $26 million in federal rescue cash to the Metroparks, as part of a partnership to restore Forest Hill Park. That project has the potential to spur other activity, such as the demolition of a blighted apartment tower that looms over the park.

King sees a generational opportunity to change the narrative about the city. He’s aware that shifting perceptions, of everything from safety to schools, won’t be simple. But the future of East Cleveland, once 40,000 residents strong and now home to fewer than 14,000, rides on becoming a more appealing place to live and work.

“What’s equally important,” Smedley said, “is to demonstrate that if people make multi-million-dollar investments, that they can see a return here.”

proposed $3.5 million budget for the project includes a $950,000 county loan, a $50,000 county grant and the $1.5 million proffered by JobsOhio, according to public records.

Across Woodlawn, the land bank plans to demolish a two-story building in hopes of luring a developer to the corner. Conceptual renderings of the area show apartments on that property, facing the CircleEast Townhomes.

The land bank is crafting a development framework with Atlanta-based Kronberg Urbanists and Architects and RDL Architects of Shaker Heights.

That plan, which builds on studies released in 2015 and 2020, should be complete in August, Roberts said.

Infrastructure work is likely to start on Woodlawn next year, followed by construction of new homes in late 2023 or early 2024. The land bank plans to build the first five homes, to prove the market, and to bring on developers and builders to fill in one street, then the next, marching east.

“The beginning’s going to be the hard part, especially now with infla-

follow. The lull gave East Cleveland the chance to assemble a substantial portfolio. In 2016, the cash-strapped city transferred its overgrown lots to the land bank, which was able to cut grass, clear out trash and act as a safe repository.

The land bank added to that footprint by acquiring properties out of tax foreclosure and state forfeiture and, recently, by buying commercial real estate with help from local consultant Russell Berusch. Those purchases included the Mickey’s building at Euclid and Woodlawn Avenue.

That’s the old car dealership set to become a gateway to the neighborhood. Dennis Roberts, the land bank’s director of real estate development, said the organization is in serious talks with two potential tenants, one in the biomedical field and the other with ties to University Circle, and has carved out room for a first-floor coffee shop and community gathering space.

If the funding comes together, the land bank expects to start renovating the Mickey’s building this year. The

CLASSIFIED SERVICES

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Cleveland will require deep subsidies. “It’s going to be difficult,” he said, “unless someone’s willing to throw an awful lot of money around.”

Roberts didn’t dispute that.

“The private market’s not going to do it alone. That’s why it hasn’t happened,” he said. “If the public dollars are not there, this thing doesn’t go forward.”

‘This could be a turning point’ Carla Malone has lived on Lakeview Road, near Lake View Cemetery, for 26 years. Her house sits in the land bank’s target area, in a wedge of the district that’s actually in Cleveland.

She’s watched the waves of desertion and demolition. Now she’s working with the land bank to get a grant for much-needed home repairs — a key part of the organization’s revitalization strategy.

See DEVELOPMENT on Page 22

To place your listing in Crain’s Cleveland Classifieds, contact Suzanne Janik at 313-446-0455

CLASSIFIED SERVICES BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY The CircleEast Townhomes opened in 2012 on Euclid Avenue in East Cleveland. The two-bedroom homes rent for between $1,300 and $1,400 a month — high rates for East Cleveland, but much less than they would go for in neighboring University Circle. | MICHELLE JARBOE/CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

LIST

Cuyahoga Land Bank looks to build on East Cleveland land assembly effort The quasi-governmental land bank, formally called the Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corp., owns more than 200 lots in a sprawling target area northeast of University Circle. Nearly three dozen additional lots are on their way to the land bank or are in friendly hands, held by more passive land banks in East Cleveland or Cleveland.

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The city started laying the groundwork for development near University Circle in 2009. That’s when officials teamed up with the fledgling land bank, formally known as the Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corp., to raze dilapidated homes.

In the wake of the foreclosure crisis, city leaders decided to channel federal demolition money into the neighborhood northeast of University Circle — an obvious location for spillover development from Cleveland’s educational, medical and arts district. At that time, though, the once-neat residential streets had become a hotbed of prostitution and gun sales.

“People were hiding drugs or hiding themselves,” Smedley said. “We shut down that entire area. The only one that was left was a guy on Wadena selling nickel bags from his back porch.”

In 2011, new construction started to tiptoe east on Euclid Avenue.

Nonprofit University Circle Inc. and developer Wes Finch partnered to build CircleEast Townhomes, a 20unit rental project between Lakeview Road and Auburndale Avenue. The two-bedroom units leased up quickly upon opening in 2012. And they remain full, at rents of $1,300 to $1,400 a month, Finch said.

But other development was slow to

|

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‘The private market’s not going to do it’

tion and the interest rates rising,” said builder Bo Knez, who owns the nearby Hough Bakery property in Cleveland and is active in neighboring Glenville and Little Italy.

Knez confirmed that he’s talking to the land bank. He’s bullish on East Cleveland, which offers 100% property-tax abatement for 15 years on new homes. “I don’t know if it’s as big of a vision as people make it out to be,” he said. “I think there may be parts of Cleveland that are harder to develop than East Cleveland.”

The project must do more than sprinkle a few new houses across a gap-toothed neighborhood, Roberts said. The land bank is trying to think big and move fast. Officials are working with scads of partners to seek funding, including a $4 million federal earmark.

Cuyahoga County applied for that money, which Sen. Sherrod Brown added to his fiscal year 2023 requests.

Finch, who explored building a second phase of CircleEast but could not make the math work, said any meaningful development in East

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

JULY 11, 2022 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 21

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DEVELOPMENT

From Page 21

“I’m all for it,” said Malone, a 50-year-old assistant property manager. “It takes a lot out of you just to see abandonment. Where we stay at, it’s scary. East Cleveland is not like it used to be. You say East Cleveland, and people frown.”

The land bank has amassed $125,000 for repair grants so far. Gus Frangos, the organization’s president, also is a key cheerleader for state legislation that would let cities limit property-tax increases for longtime homeowners in places where development is driving up values.

Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, a local nonprofit, is leading the effort to get a tax-relief bill introduced in the General Assembly. A state policy change is essential to ensuring that elderly homeowners in East Cleveland aren’t displaced and that families can build wealth through rising equity without being forced out by soaring property-tax bills, Roberts said.

“This could be a turning point for the city of East Cleveland, this development. But we’ve got to make sure it gets done right — and make sure it benefits the people who have been here for 50 years,” said Nathaniel Martin, East Cleveland’s council president.

Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin, who represents Malone

and her neighbors, believes that the land bank’s project will reinvigorate an isolated sliver of his ward while relieving pressures in Little Italy and University Circle, where some residents feel beset by new construction.

Other major stakeholders are talking about ways to make the district more accessible. The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency recently awarded a $150,000 planning grant to East Cleveland and the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority to study Euclid between East 105th Street and the Stokes-Windermere Rapid station.

That study should begin this year and will be complete in 2023, said Maribeth Feke, the transit agency’s direc-

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

tor of programming and planning. The analysis will cover safety, ways to improve the curbside environment and transit-centric development prospects along the HealthLine bus line.

Lake View Cemetery also is launching a planning process. That longterm analysis involves looking at fences, buildings and land uses across the 285-acre site, said Katharine Goss, the cemetery’s president and CEO. Roberts hopes that the cemetery will add a pedestrian gate near Lakeview Road, as an amenity for residents of existing and new homes.

Goss said new access points are a possibility. But it’s too soon to make commitments.

“It’s very early, but we’re certainly

friendly with them,” she said. “And we’re delighted to be part of the conversations.”

Next door, the land assembly isn’t done. But with the land bank and East Cleveland moving from quiet acquisitions toward execution, community organizer Trevelle Harp hopes that residents will have ample opportunity to weigh in — and to shape the future through a transparent process.

Malone is optimistic.

“It’s changing for the better,” she said of her street. “I look past the roughness, and I see the diamond actually shining.”

Michelle Jarboe: michelle.jarboe@ crain.com, (216) 771-5437, @mjarboe

Advertising Section To place your listing, visit www.crainscleveland.com/people-on-the-move or, for more information, contact Debora Stein at 917.226.5470 / dstein@crain.com

ACCOUNTING

FINANCIAL SERVICES

FINANCIAL SERVICES

LAW

NONPROFITS

Apple Growth Partners

Ancora

Benesch

AGP proudly welcomes Dana Patterson, CPA, CGMA. Dana is a principal in the firm’s audit and assurance department, bringing more than 20 years of experience in audit, tax, and consulting services for clients primarily within Northeastern Ohio. Dana specializes in accounting, tax, and auditing services, including audit planning and testing, compilations and reviews, Form 990, and employee benefit plan audits. Dana is a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor.

Ancora is happy to announce that Rhonda Garrett has joined the firm’s Retirement Plans group as an Assistant Vice President of Client Service and Support.

Prior to joining Ancora, Rhonda worked in conflict resolutions and customer service for CVS Health Corporation. She has past experience in quality assurance and systems testing with AmTrust Financial Services and Black Knight Financial Systems as well as a background in operations support and client service management with LPS Field Services.

Applied Financial Concepts, Inc.

Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry

BANKING

Key Private Bank Veena Khanna was named Central Regional Executive at Key Private Bank, responsible for growing the business in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Western Pennsylvania. She has served Key Private Bank’s high net worth clients for more than 20 years in various roles. Veena also serves on the College Now and Say Yes Cleveland boards.

BANKING

Key Private Bank Michelle Kumar Perez has been named Senior Market Leader at Key Private Bank.

She is responsible for leading the sales and service efforts of the private banking teams in Cleveland, Pepper Pike and Westlake. She serves on the boards of Friends of Breakthrough Schools and Rainbow Babies and Children’s Foundation.

Ancora We are happy to announce that Paul F. Zickes, CPA has joined Ancora as an Assistant Vice President and Alternatives Analyst to support the research needs of our Alternatives group. Paul previously served as a research analyst at MAI Capital Management, in public finance investment banking with Stifel, Nicolaus & Company and in assurance with RSM US in Chicago. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from Xavier University, majoring in Finance and Accounting.

RECOGNIZE INDUSTRY ACHIEVERS IN CRAIN’S

Listing opportunities: Debora Stein at dstein@crain.com or submit directly to CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM/PEOPLEMOVES

Jennifer A. Wood has joined Benesch as Of Counsel in the firm’s Litigation Practice Group. Jenn has nearly ten years of experience serving as an attorney in the transportation and logistics industry. She has been an in-house counsel for a freight broker and a freight forwarder and has worked with shippers, carriers, and vendors in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

Jenn’s experience includes drafting and negotiating contracts and handling dispute resolution with both carriers and shippers.

The Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry Board of Directors has selected Maria A. Foschia, MBA, LSW, to serve as the nonprofit’s next President & CEO. Foschia has been a member of LMM’s senior leadership team for more than 12 years and brings more than 29 years of nonprofit management experience, serving and providing hope to the most vulnerable and marginalized in our community. Foschia exits her position as LMM’s Chief Operating Officer and begins her role as CEO effective in July 2022.

LAW

Kastner Westman & Wilkins The Fairlawn boutique labor and employment law firm added Karen Lefton, Of Counsel, to its attorney roster.

Lefton was most recently Principal of The Lefton Group, LLC. Prior to that, she was a Partner with Brouse McDowell and General Counsel for the Akron Beacon Journal.

She spent the first 18 years of her career as a journalist. Lefton’s practice includes representation of employers in all types of matters, including employment discrimination, retaliation and wrongful discharge.

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C O N TA C T

FINANCIAL SERVICES

This year the company celebrates its 40th anniversary of assisting clients in the areas of wealth accumulation, management and Minich transfer. A milestone is ® that Dave Minich, CFP , CLU® has been named President. He has been with the company since graduating from Wittenberg University in 2001. He earned his CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification in 2007 and Chartered Life Underwriter designation in 2011.

Jordan Howd, CFP®, CLU® was promoted to Howd Vice President and COO. In 2008, he received his BSBA in Finance with a concentration in Financial Planning from the University of Akron, after which he joined the company. He earned his CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification in 2014 and Chartered Life Underwriter designation in 2015.

Laura Picariello Reprints Sales Manager lpicariello@crain.com (732) 723-0569

22 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | JULY 11, 2022

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crainscleveland.com

Publisher and CEO KC Crain Group publisher Jim Kirk (312) 397-5503 or jkirk@crain.com Executive editor Elizabeth McIntyre (216) 771-5358 or emcintyre@crain.com Associate publisher Amy Ann Stoessel (216) 771-5155 or astoessel@crain.com Managing editor Scott Suttell (216) 771-5227 or ssuttell@crain.com Assistant managing editor John Kappes (216) 771-5359 or john.kappes@crain.com Web editor Damon Sims (216) 771-5279 or dpsims@crain.com Assistant editor Rachel Abbey McCafferty (216) 771-5379 or rmccafferty@crain.com Art director Kayla Byler (614) 312-7635 or kayla.byler@crain.com Senior data editor Chuck Soder (216) 771-5374 or csoder@crain.com Cartoonist Rich Williams

Thank You!

REPORTERS

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(216) 771-5479 or lcoutre@crain.com Michelle Jarboe, Enterprise reporter.

(216) 771-5437 or michelle.jarboe@crain.com Amy Morona, Higher education.

(216) 771-5229 or amy.morona@crain.com Jay Miller, Government.

(216) 771-5362 or jmiller@crain.com Jeremy Nobile, Finance/legal/beer/cannabis.

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Crain’s Cleveland Business is published by Crain Communications Inc. Chairman Keith E. Crain Vice chairman Mary Kay Crain President and CEO KC Crain Senior executive VP Chris Crain Chief Financial Officer Robert Recchia G.D. Crain Jr. Founder (1885-1973) Mrs. G.D. Crain Jr. Chairman (1911-1996)

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