Crain's Cleveland Business

FOCUS: Remote work gives rental industry a boost. PAGE 10

SUBURBAN STACK Suburbs closest to Interstate 271 again are wealthiest. PAGE 18

CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM I JULY 19, 2021

Black Futures Fund is first step

BY LYDIA COUTRÉ

With a dream of bringing a digital fabrication space to the heart of the Glenville neighborhood where she grew up, Sonya Pryor-Jones founded Fab House in 2019 and donated her family home to be repurposed into a lab where people can learn how to bridge the digital and physical world.

After the pandemic put her about a year-and-a-half behind, a recent $50,000 grant — Fab House’s most sizeable to date — from the Cleveland Black Futures Fund is “lifesaving” for Fab House, she said. It was one of 49 grants that the Cleveland Foundation and its partners awarded in June from the fund, which was founded in 2020 to support Cleveland-based, Blackled, Black-serving nonprofits.

The funds will help Fab House establish itself as an independent nonprofit. The grant was awarded through its fiscal sponsor, Fab Foundation, where Pryor-Jones works as chief implementation officer.

Mother Joan Southgate, an activist and member of the Fab House advisory board, works with youth ambassador Ayana Harvey.

DAVE HALL

Cleveland Foundation has amassed $4.3M to award in grants

See GRANTS on Page 24

Developers test ‘micro’ market

Cleveland firm can be ‘scout fund’ for VC bids

BY MICHELLE JARBOE

Developer Russell Berusch is standing in about 460 square feet, describing how this Cleveland apartment contains seven rooms.

A rotating wall, on hinges and large rubber wheels, separates the kitchen and living area from the bedroom, where a Murphy bed drops down from a bank of cabi-

nets. Flip up the bed and fold down a tabletop or two, and a home office appears.

Rotate that wall-on-wheels 45 degrees, and the living room grows. Part of it becomes a dining room, centered on a rolling table that doubles as a kitchen island or sit-to-stand desk.

Then, of course, there’s a bathroom. And a “laundry room” — a

MICHELLE JARBOE

Small, flexible apartments gain popularity Developer Russell Berusch gazes out over the balcony at an apartment at Mikros on Larchmere.

closet holding a stacked washer and dryer and a tankless water heater.

See APARTMENTS on Page 25

Comeback Capital says it will boost investments

BY JEREMY NOBILE

Buying into a sense of untapped opportunity in America’s heartland, venture capitalists looking beyond coastal hubs in Silicon Valley and Boston for lucrative gains are hungering for a piece of young and innovative Midwestern startups.

Offering them a seat at the dining table is Cleveland’s Comeback Capital.

“There are many more people out-

side this region who want to invest in early stage companies here than actually do because we don’t have good vehicles for doing so,” said Comeback founder Scott Shane. “Comeback is the vehicle for that. The idea is you get coastal VCs and others using us as a scout fund, which is a model that doesn’t really exist through much of Ohio or Northeast Ohio today.”

See COMEBACK on Page 24

VOL. 42, NO. 26 l COPYRIGHT 2021 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. l ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

NEWSPAPER

THE

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A CRAIN’S CLEVELAND PODCAST

7/16/2021 3:35:10 PM

SPORTS BUSINESS

Cavs fans could soon store NFTs in digital lockers

BY KEVIN KLEPS

During an “Art of Business” event at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in mid-June, more than 50 NFTs of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ locker room were given to corporate partners.

The digital collectible starts as a wide view of the home team’s locker room, before zooming in on a locker.

Viewers see the doors of the locker slightly move a few times, along with a reflection of the wider space.

In the coming months, if the Cavs’ plan comes to fruition, fans will have their own digital lockers, where they’ll be able to store NFTs that show off a wide array of memorable moments and collectibles.

The idea, Cavs senior vice president and chief information officer Mike Conley said, is to build “a community and engagement platform and an experience around the collectible concept,” instead of “just a drive-by, ‘Hey, we’re going to release some NFTs.’ ” NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are unique pieces of digital content — from artwork to songs, tweets and memes — that can be “minted.” When an NFT is authenticated, it lives on the blockchain, where it can be bought and sold, via a cryptocurrency called Ethereum, and its digital path can be tracked.

For individual teams, NFTs are more complicated, Conley said, because of intellectual property rights.

“Traditionally if you think about it, the fan journey and everything that leads up to the ticket itself is kind of team-owned,” the Cavs’ senior VP said. “The second that somebody gets into the venue and starts to take in the product inside the bowl, it has an NBA IP.” As of mid-July, the Cavs were one of seven NBA teams that had launched an NFT program. Conley said the league opened a “trial-and-error period” for teams to explore what’s possible with the collectibles. That ends on July 31, the Cavs’ CIO said, and clubs are expecting a new round of guidelines.

A league source told Crain’s that the NBA is still determining whether a new set of NFT rules are necessary.

NFTs on display

The “Cleveland Cavaliers Locker Room” NFTs were gifted to sponsors at a private event that included Daniel Arsham, an artist with a worldwide following who was announced as the Cavs’ creative director in November.

(The 40-year-old Northeast Ohio native received an undisclosed minority stake in the franchise as part of the deal.)

“IT’S TAKING A PIECE OF YOUR The team’s first public foray into digital collectEXPERIENCE AND BRINGING IT HOME ibles occurred after the AND OWNING THAT IN PERPETUITY IF Cavs acquired three NFTs from independent YOU WANT.” artists. The purchases, — Cavs chief information officer Mike Conley ranging from 0.25 to 0.3 Ethereum (or $475 to NFTs have soared in popularity in $570, based on the cryptocurrency’s the last year, and the NBA has been at $1,900 per-share value on July 15), the forefront. By May, Top Shot, the were made on Foundation, a platform NBA-affiliated NFT platform operat- that hosts auctions for digital art.

“TRANSCENDENCE” and “Brick ed by Dapper Labs, had surpassed $700 million in sales and one million Squad” were the first NFTs that Dillon Hutchins had minted. The 27-year-old users in less than a year.

The majority of Top Shot’s revenue Utah native was pleasantly surprised stems from a 5% seller’s fee for NFTs when he found out it was the Cavs who that are traded on the secondary purchased his work, and his excitemarket. Those funds are shared by ment increased when he learned of Dapper Labs, the NBA and the play- the organization’s plans for the NFTs. Hutchins’ creations, along with ers’ association.

“Brick Squad,” an NFT by Dillon Hutchins, is prominently displayed on the Canyon, a huge LED screen at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. | CLEVELAND CAVALIERS

“Lemon Dunk Tree,” an NFT by California artist Isaac Garcia, will be shown on the Canyon — an LED display that is four stories tall and features eight million pixels — at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

The three NFTs are now part of the Public Art Program at the recently renovated arena. The program, funded by Cavs owners Dan and Jennifer Gilbert, features more than 100 pieces and, according to Rock Entertainment Group president Nic Barlage, “is born from a desire to use our platform to authentically engage with the global, contemporary art community and its diverse fanbase.”

The Gilberts, according to a team source, have invested “well over seven figures” in the program, which is curated by Library Street Collective.

Hutchins, as the CEO and co-founder of Stylo Creative, a California studio, has been part of work that’s been featured by the likes of Roku. But “TRANSCENDENCE” and “Brick Squad” are

the first pieces that showcase his individual work to a wider audience.

“Just the thought that I could create something that would be involved in people’s experience and would stand up to an organization like the Cavs was really exciting and an honor,” Hutchins said.

Dynamic possibilities The digital creations of Hutchins and Garcia also are shown on the Cavs’ new NFT platform. There, fans can sign up to be notified when NFTs are released.

The plan for fans to own digital lockers traces back to the plastic binders that old-school collectors used for their trading cards.

“You would walk around with other collectors and you would bring your book with you and you would show it off,” Conley said. “The locker is kind of a digital concept of that.”

The Cavs envision their NFT marketplace as one on which fans can buy

and sell collectibles, and earn rare NFTs for attending a certain number of games and interacting with the team in a variety of ways. The team would partner with a company that would operate the platform and convert the proceeds to U.S. dollars.

That way, “we’re not caught holding on to assets of value that depreciate over time, or even appreciate over time,” Conley said. “We’re not looking at this as an organizational investment as much as a new application and new platform.”

The Cavs’ CIO views NFTs as leading the way to the future of collectibles, “because of the way that they are assigned back to the blockchain for authenticity.”

The NFTs can be shared, which could add to the collectibles’ value, and can be dynamic.

“So if we release a bobblehead on an NFT giveaway night, that bobblehead can be representative for that night and be one way, and then come the holiday season, he can be wearing a snowcap and snow can be falling in the background,” Conley said.

Other possibilities, according to the team executive, are championship rings that have color schemes tied to tiers that are based on fan avidity, and clips featuring classic calls by late broadcasters Fred McLeod and Joe Tait. The organization has even discussed creating digital concert posters as a way of boosting attendance at big-time events.

Many of the plans are in the early stages, Conley stressed, but the team is looking at NFTs in a much broader sense than something to buy and sell on a digital marketplace.

“They don’t just have to be in the venue to see that great 3D piece of art that we put up on the Humungotron or the Canyon or the Power Portal,” Conley said. “They can go out after that and potentially own a piece of that or own the item as a whole as it evolves. It’s taking a piece of your experience and bringing it home and owning that in perpetuity if you want.”

Kevin Kleps: kkleps@crain.com, (216) 771-5256, @KevinKleps

REAL ESTATE

Ex-Forest City execs launch medical-focused venture

BY STAN BULLARD

Take three senior executives from the former Forest City Realty Trust Inc. of Cleveland.

Combine with another principal with six years of experience in alternative investments as a portfolio manager at the big wealth manager Ancora, based in Mayfield Heights.

Mix with the go-go market for private equity in real estate. The result: Provider Real Estate Partners LLC, which has started raising a $100 million fund to invest in medical office buildings.

That’s the recipe outlined by Joseph Boehm IV, the Ancora alum and Provider managing partner who serves as the firm’s spokesman.

Longtime watchers of the former Forest City, now history after being absorbed by Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management in 2018, will recognize the names.

They are co-founders Bob O’Brien,

formerly Forest City’s chief financial officer, and Joseph Boehm III, formerly an executive vice president of retail leasing. (The Boehms are father and son.) Provider’s chief operations officer is Bill Ross, whose last post at Forest City was executive vice president of asset management in its onetime commercial division.

The trio left Forest City at various times. Except for O’Brien, who was there at the end, the others have held executive roles at other concerns that figure into the Provider approach. For example, Boehm III, the CEO of Provider, served as an executive vice president for retail leasing at QIC Global Real Estate, the Australia-based global investment concern, until he started working on Provider a year ago. And Ross was chief financial officer at Columbus-based The Daimler Group, a diversified realty concern with interests in medical office buildings.

Provider showed its hand last Wednesday, July 14, when it announced the purchase of its first two buildings: one in Little River, South Carolina, and the other in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The properties have a combined total of 28,899 square feet and are leased, respectively, by urology and gastroenterology practices.

Provider did not say how much it paid for its first two properties, both purchased from physician groups that were their prior owners, which explains the Provider Real Estate name.

However, Boehm IV said the firm is in the hunt for properties valued at $5 million to $30 million for its portfolio.

Boehm IV said that Provider held an initial closing of an amount it did not disclose that went toward the first two purchases. Its goal with an early closing is to acquire properties to build a track record as it works toward closing its initial fund for $100 million late this year.

Such a focused fund is a big departure for a group of executives with track records at a concern with office, mall and land development holdings.

The younger Boehm said Provider focused on the medical-office building space for several reasons. The sector remains highly fragmented and will benefit from the trend of physician specialists opening small specialty clinics outside of acute care hospitals, as well has general health care growth associated with an aging U.S. population.

Provider noted in its initial news release that Dr. Glenn Gangi of Atlantic Urology, which occupies the South Carolina structure, elected to reinvest a portion of his ownership in the Little River property in the Provider Real Estate fund, an option Provider offers physician real estate owners.

O’Brien, Provider’s CFO, noted in the release that Gangi choosing to become a partner in its fund is significant.

“His investment further aligns us

with our tenant and provides Dr. Gangi the ability to diversify his medical office real estate investment across a portfolio of high-quality properties on a tax-deferred basis,” O’Brien said.

Medical office building investments have flourished as they are seen as a likely winner in the property business despite the pandemic.

MOB investors, as they are known in the property business, have been active in Northeast Ohio. For instance, White Oak MOB REIT bought three such structures in the region for $21 million in February.

Provider also is not the first company in the region to focus on the MOB space.

Independence-based Woodside Health has been active in the sector since 2008 and has acquired more than $350 million of medical real estate across the nation, according to its website.

Stan Bullard: sbullard@crain.com, (216) 771-5228, @CrainRltywriter

2 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | JULY 19, 2021

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AKRON

Akron’s Research Foundation has acts waiting in wings

BY DAN SHINGLER

to make its product, she said, but doesn’t yet have its production faciliWhen Akron Ascent Innovations ty identified.

“We know how; we’re working on sold its assets to an unnamed “large, multinational technology company” the where,” Monty-Bromer asid.

She hopes RooSense wins some earlier this month, it was a win not only for its founding professor, Shing- new SBIR funding, as Ball predicts, Chung Josh Wong, but also for the and it already has received one grant.

University of Akron Research Foun- The same hope goes for another company she has helped start, called dation.

The foundation, known as UARF, MIC Monitor. (Ball thinks it’s likely had a minority stake in the company, going to win some SBIR funding about 15%, said senior fellow Barry soon, too.) MIC Monitor is developRosenbaum, who helps run the uni- ing a system for natural gas pipeline versity’s startup support and tech- operators to be able to monitor their nology commercialization arm. The systems to identify and treat mifoundation will get a share of the sale cro-organisms that otherwise would proceeds, which were not disclosed, corrode their expensive steel tubes.

Yes, there are germs that come and a portion of future revenue streams from the company’s technol- from the process of drilling for and delivering natural gas, and they can ogy, Rosenbaum said.

But it’s not the home run he’s hop- eat metal, Monty-Bromer said. She hopes preventing them from doing ing UARF will still hit.

“It’s not a lot of money. (Akron As- that will be a big business.

A third company that Ball said cent Innovations) was not a big acshould be a candidate for SBIR fundquisition,” Rosenbaum said.

UARF still owns a stake in Akron ing is PolyLux, which has been workAscent Innovations, and the compa- ing to produce new adhesives that ny could develop other products, he release under certain spectrums of said. What’s more, UARF has addi- light. The company is working on a tional companies in its pipeline that first application for medical bandagmanagers hope will break out in even es and then hopes to chase other markets, said PolyLux CEO Kaushik bigger deals.

UARF is not counting its chickens Mishra.

“We’re already working with a few just yet. But it does keep a close watch over the eggs it helps to care larger multinational corporations,” Mishra said. “We have two subsets of for.

“There are three going for (federal) materials. One is for medical adhefunding now, and based on the cor- sives, and the other is for industrial adhesives.” respondence I’ve seen, I’m PolyLux probably will pretty sure they’ll get it,” raise more money at the said Elyse Ball, UARF assisend of this year with new tant counsel and project investors, something it put manager. off through 2020 due to the She’s referring to funding pandemic, Mishra said. He from the National Science said it’s easier to convey Foundation’s Small Busiwhat the product does ness Innovation Research when it can be demonstratprogram. It awards grants ed on an actual person — a to promising startups, usu- Monty-Bromer tactic he also uses to conally in chunks of up to $256,000 or $1 million at a time, vince doctors to try the technology.

All of the companies, along with which can be meaningful for new ventures run on shoestrings, Ball others UARF is working with, have a few things in common. They all get said.

Two of the most promising com- help applying for state and federal panies backed by UARF have ties to a funding, as well as introductions to single former University of Akron local angel investors and professionchemical engineering professor, Dr. al service providers through UARF. Chelsea Monty-Bromer, who was let They also go through NSF’s I-Corps go during staff reductions last year training — a process Ball and others and has taken a position at Cleveland say forces entrepreneurs to refine their idea by talking to hundreds of State University.

She’s CEO of RooSense, an Akron potential customers early in the company developing wearable sen- startup process.

UARF is not a source of large sors, aimed at athletes, that will analyze a person’s sweat and provide amounts of capital, say those who them with data to better manage work with it. But that’s not its purtheir hydration and electrolyte bal- pose. Instead, they say, UARF prepares them to seek more capital elseance.

“We’re about a year away from go- where when they’re ready.

“Anything above a million bucks, I ing to market,” Monty-Bromer said in an interview last Wednesday, July 14. think, is out of UARF’s capabilities,” “Next week we should have our ini- PolyLux’s Mishra said. “But they’re tial beta prototype and then we’ll do very important to foster the right about six months of testing in an ex- people at early stages. For us, they ercise lab and testing on real ath- have been invaluable.”

Rosenbaum said UARF pays its letes.”

The company, which is looking for own way through its activities. But test-subject volunteers on its web- he’d like the foundation to be a site, hopes to have its product on the source of support for entrepreneurs market next year under the name from the University of Akron as well SweatID, available in the form of an as a significant financial support for armband or integrated into clothing the school itself. Time will tell if that made by an athletic apparel compa- happens.

“If we’re successful, we’ll help ny that has agreed to partner with fund the university,” Rosenbaum RooSense, she said.

“Hopefully we’ll go into full pro- said.

Beyond the school, UARF is an imduction in Q1 of next year,” Monportant part of the ecosystem that ty-Bromer said.

The company has determined how supports new startups in Akron gen-

Elyse Ball helps companies backed by the University of Akron Research Foundation with training from the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program. | CONTRIBUTED

erally, said Bill Manby, founding partner at Akron Fusion Ventures investment fund.

“I think they’re critical to it,” Manby said. “Not only do they bring technologies, they bring expertise, they bring access to state funding, they bring patent help. They have

people on staff that can help write grants, which all of these startups need before they can hire people to do that stuff when they reach another level” Manby is another person who’s pulling for companies in the UARF pipeline to succeed. They’re also a

source of potential investors for his firm and clients.

“We’ve done a few deals with them, and we have our eyes on the RooSense guys,” he said.

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

JULY 19, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 3

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GOVERNMENT

Energy efficiency financing program picks up the PACE

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The Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE, financing program in Ohio, a tool offering long-term, lowrate financing for energy-efficient commercial buildings, is gaining acceptance with lenders, developers and owners.

PACE became part of state law nearly 12 years ago but has taken hold in a bigger way in the last four or five years, said Jason Tiemeier, an attorney with Bricker & Eckler’s Public Finance practice group.

“For the first few years I was involved, there was a lot of the effort just getting people to understand that the program existed,” Tiemeier said. “And in the last few years, the awareness has meant more repeat customers, more lenders coming into the market able to serve customers at different price points, which has had a huge effect.”

The program, which came out of the Barack Obama administration, was designed to create a private investment market for alternative and energy-efficient projects. Tiemeier said the program gained acceptance with state lawmakers because it did not involve the creation of a government spending program and it opened a new market for private lenders.

Initially, the conventional wisdom was that the program would help spur large energy-generation projects, like solar arrays and wind turbines. But as lenders and developers have learned about it, PACE has been used as a part of a capital stack financing for energy-efficiency construction and rehabilitation projects of all sizes.

PACE funding involves private lenders using a long-term, low-rate tax assessment to pay the cost of Tiemeier most energy-generating or energy-saving projects.

The loan is added as a special assessment to the property, and the owner must petition the municipality where the project is located to create or be added to a special energy improvement district.

This type of financing Stika gives property owners a long-term, fixed rate with a lower-interest loan than they can get with more traditional financing, while the lender has a secure form of repayment that is collected with the existing property taxes, Tiemeier said.

The assessment also does not divert taxes from a city or school district. The financing can be used for renovations or new construction.

“There are ways that PACE can be used as a refinancing tool within a one-year to two-year timeframe,” Tiemeier said. “If there is a construction loan, when the owner is looking for permanent financing and if the outstanding debt is associated with eligible projects, they can use PACE financing to refinance that portion of the debt.”

The owners of Cleveland Rocks Holding, located at 2831 Franklin Blvd. in Ohio City, plan to spend about $500,000 to make the building more energy efficient. | KIM PALMER

Back in 2010, the Northeast Ohio Advanced Energy District created an energy special improvement district (SID) so property owners in 23 communities across Cuyahoga County could take advantage of the PACE program, said Jennifer Kuzma, the district’s executive director.

With the help of the district, 15 PACE projects have been completed to date, ranging in cost from thousands of dollars to $2 million. PACE can be used for a variety of projects, including energy-efficient machinery upgrades, roof and window replacement, and heating ventilation and air conditioning upgrades.

“What is really attractive to the first suburb cities and the city of Cleveland when we created this district is that those areas all struggled with older commercial building stock, (and) spaces that need rehabilitation,” Kuzma said.

“There’s not always programs that match that need.”

Kuzma said PACE “can really slide into the funding gaps because it’s so flexible. Many times we’re able to identify enough work to get a project over the finish line. Years ago, that funding would have fallen short.”

Identifying energy projects that are eligible for financing is where Nicole Stika, vice president of energy services at the Greater Cleveland Partnership, comes in.

GCP provides energy audits because, as Stika explains, “energy is a part of economic development and it’s not a silo.”

“We start with an energy audit so that we can get a baseline for how the building’s operating, where there are opportunities for improvement, and then we make recommendations about funding or available tax credits,” Stika said.

“Any energy improvement to a building that saves at least one kilowatt hour qualifies for PACE financing,” she said. (One category where PACE financing is not allowed in

“THERE IS A WHOLE MARKET NOW OF LENDERS THAT WORK PREDOMINANTLY IN THE PACE LENDING NOW.” — Jason Tiemeier, an attorney with Bricker & Eckler’s Public Finance practice group

Ohio: water conservation.)

Since the program’s inception, Stika said, more than 200 lenders across the country have committed to providing or accepting PACE financing, but education still is needed with some financial institutions.

She said any senior lender has to sign off on all PACE financing if there is still a mortgage on the property.

But with many Ohio lenders on board the last few years, Kuzma said, the state now has the second-highest number of PACE projects in the country, in part because of the commitment the Northeast Ohio Advanced Energy District and GCP have made to the program.

Stika said her group is working on three major renovations and two new construction projects that are set to begin before the end of the year.

In June, the new owners of a former Masonic Temple in Ohio City, Cleveland Rocks Holding, asked Cleveland City Council to sign off on the creation of an energy SID for a renovation project. Stika said the project is expected to make the facility, which is slated to be a rock climbing gym, about 60% more energy efficient.

Cleveland’s economic development director, David Ebersole, told council members that the new owner planned to spend about $500,000 on upgrades to the building’s lighting, roof, and heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.

“There is a whole market now of lenders that work predominantly in the PACE lending now,” Tiemeier said.

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

4 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | JULY 19, 2021

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GOVERNMENT

Will mold be the new lead?

A new bill that requires enhanced indoor air quality disclosures about toxic mold could lead to complications for property owners

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A bill introduced in the Ohio House would require commercial and industrial owners to treat the presence of mold as seriously as lead, radon and other environmental hazards when it comes to renting and selling a property.

Ohio House Bill 251, introduced

by Rep. Joseph Miller, D-Amherst, would require disclosure to a potential occupant or buyer of any knowledge or reasonable belief that mold is present in commercial or industrial properties.

The Ohio Indoor Safe Air Act grew out of conversations Miller had with those sickened by toxic mold, including Clevelander Brandon Chappo, a former air traffic controller who experienced health problems as a result of exposure while living in his apartment.

Miller was joined in proposing the bill by Rep. Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington. If passed, the bill would first require the Ohio Department of Health to create an awareness program regarding the health effects of mold resulting from damp and water-damaged buildings.

“We have to do a study of the adverse effects of toxic mold and then present that information to the public, so that building owners understand what toxic mold can do and its prevalence in a ‘wet state’ such as Ohio,” Miller said.

Mold is a microscopic organism that grows in damp conditions and results in spores that travel through the air and hurt indoor air quality.

Those sickened by mold often experience respiratory, vision and a host of autoimmune symptoms, according to the National Institute of Environment Health Sciences.

The bill in its current form goes beyond just directing state health experts in researching the threat and possible remediation of toxic mold. It also would require both residential and commercial owners

to disclose the existence or threat to a potential buyer, tenant or occupant — a stipulation that might thwart the eventual passage of the legislation.

“I applaud the public awareness part of the bill, but my concern is about the definition of ‘reasonable belief’ and when an owner has reason to believe there might be mold in a property,” said Matt Viola, partner and chair of the real estate group at the Cleveland law firm KJK. There is no law at present that requires disclosure of suspected environmental hazard in commercial real estate transactions, unless otherwise spelled out in the purchase agreement.

Commercial and industrial buyers and sellers have a higher threshold of mandatory reporting of issues such as lead, radon and mold since those involved are considered more experienced and “sophisticated” when it comes to real estate transactions versus residential buyers who may only buy property every few decades, Viola said.

“This bill creates more of an affirmative obligation to disclose, but it does not determine who would be responsible to remediate that obligation,” he said.

With a spelled-out requirement to disclose, Viola worries the legislation would create a “duty to investigate” the presence of mold by a commercial real estate owner who, under current Ohio law, can contractually sell a property “as is.”

Viola said the law most likely would lead to environmental inspection firms adding mold to preliminary “phase one” environment assessments, generating an additional cost for property owners.

There also would be an increased threat of litigation and liability claims if mold were found after a sale of a property.

The disclosure aspect is workable, Miller contends, and not overly onerous for property owners.

NOMINATIONS OPEN

“WE HAVE TO DO A STUDY OF THE ADVERSE EFFECTS OF TOXIC MOLD AND THEN PRESENT THAT INFORMATION TO THE PUBLIC, SO THAT BUILDING OWNERS UNDERSTAND WHAT TOXIC MOLD CAN DO AND ITS PREVALENCE IN A ‘WET STATE’ SUCH AS OHIO.” — Rep. Joseph Miller, D-Amherst

“It may come into play in the negotiating process, when you're negotiating the purchase of a building or a purchase of a home,” he said.

To date the bill has support only from Democrats, and any new business regulations face an uphill battle in the Legislature, which has a Republican majority. But with the quick movement of Cleveland’s 2019 Lead Safe Cleveland ordinance, requiring all rental properties certified as lead-safe by 2023, and with the post-pandemic awareness of indoor air quality and infrastructure funding available to help fund upgrades, Miller hopes committee hearings on mold will help move the conversation toward action.

“Building owners need to make sure that they are protecting their residents, their customers or whomever is going to enter that building,” Miller said.

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

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Peak Nanosystems uses extremely thin layers of polymers to manipulate materials in new ways. The company has two locations with 37 employees in Ohio. | PEAK NANOSYSTEMS

Peak Nanosystems makes region home for its cutting-edge nanotechnology

BY RACHEL ABBEY MCCAFFERTY

Peak Nanosystems LLC is using small-scale technology to make a big impact.

The company uses extremely thin layers of polymers to manipulate materials in new ways, allowing it to create products that can be lighter, smaller, more exact. It’s “engineering at the virus level,” CEO Jim Welsh said.

And it’s doing that work in Northeast Ohio.

Welsh said he wants Peak Nano to be the “world’s leading commercialization engine for nanotechnology.”

It’s getting its start in optics, but he sees opportunities in a variety of other industries, like electric vehicles or food packaging.

The company got its start in 2016.

Currently, Peak Nano has 54 employees, 37 of whom are in Ohio.

Welsh said he could see that growing to 250 to 300 employees in the next few years. The company does not disclose annual revenue.

The initial plan was to do development in Ohio and production in Texas, Welsh said. But the company soon found that it made more sense to do it all in Ohio. It was more economical to build out the necessary clean rooms in the state, Welsh said, and the development team was interested in keeping close to the manufacturing operation. Plus, Ohio had a wealth of experienced employees in the polymer and machining spaces.

“It was pretty much a no-brainer, where Chad (Lewis) and I just looked at each other and said we need to keep this thing together in Ohio,” Welsh said.

The gradient refractive index — GRIN for short — technology Peak Nanosystems is using mimics that found in nature in the eye. People were aware of it hundreds of years ago, but they couldn’t quite figure out how to replicate it, said Mike Hus, senior vice president of engineering. Researchers at Case Western Reserve University were able to

do so about 10 or 15 years ago.

That work became spinout company PolymerPlus, which Peak Nano acquired in the spring of 2020.

PolymerPlus was science-heavy and needed support on commercialization and manufacturing in order to scale. The two companies had worked together on optics technology, said Lewis, president for Peak Nano.

“It was just a perfect marriage,” Lewis said.

Currently, the company designs its technology and manufacturers films at an approximately 25,000-square-foot facility in Valley View. And it makes its optics products in Macedonia, which got up and running about six months ago.

The company is hosting an official grand opening there July 21.

Essentially, nanotechnology allows Peak Nano to do sophisticated engineering inside thin films or small lenses. On the optics side, that gives the company far more control over how the light traveling through a lens behaves, compared to traditional lenses.

On a typical lens, there are two surfaces. The light enters the lens, bends, travels in a straight line, and then bends again as it leaves, with its trajectory based on the refractive index of that lens. But Peak Nano’s lenses can contain up to 1.2 million nanolayers, with each layer specifically selected for its refractive index. That lets the company carefully tailor the focus and resolution, the transparency, the weight and more.

That applies to other potential applications, too. The company’s strength is both in the nanotechnology and the polymers it uses, said Wendy Hoenig, chief marketing and sales officer. The polymers in its films are specifically chosen for their properties in areas like strength or temperature. That means the products they’re making can be made lighter or smaller than comparable ones. Hus noted that nano-layered films could be used to

control the charge in a capacitor for an electric vehicle, spreading it out among the layers.

And the approach changes how recycled materials can be used. Recycled layers can be tucked in between virgin materials, retaining the properties of the new material, Hoenig said. Typically, products that contain a mix of recycled goods lose properties as those materials are blended together. This is a more intentional approach.

“That is a big strategic advantage for us,” Hoenig said.

The films produced in Valley View are used to make Peak Nano’s optics products. Hoenig said the company also plans to make the films available to customers in a variety of industries, whether that’s through direct sales or licensing agreements.

Peak Nano still is working out those business models. On the optics side, Hus said Peak Nano designs the entire system and integrates its lens into the product.

The Macedonia facility, a former steel warehouse, offered the physical stability needed for making the optics products, Hus said. It’s about 40,000 square feet, including about 8,000 square feet of office space. It also boasts a 10,000-square-foot ISO 7 clean room where the films are processed, layered and inspected. The typical roll of optical film is about 500 feet, and the refractive index is tested every 2 and half feet, Hus said.

There are 18 robots in the clean room, 12 of which are responsible for production. Hus said they can make up to 250,000 lenses a year.

The robots cut and stack the films in the clean room in Macedonia, and the lenses are compression molded and otherwise finished in Valley View.

Welsh said Peak Nano has invested about $40 million in the two Ohio locations. And he expects that investment to continue to grow.

Rachel Abbey McCafferty: (216) 7715379, rmccafferty@crain.com

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PERSONAL VIEW

Ohioans deserve more options for debt relief

GETTY IMAGES

BY DENISE DUNCKEL

EDITORIAL

Indians at the dish I

t’s time, yet again, in one of America’s poorest big cities, to talk about how much public money is going to be spent upgrading professional sports facilities.

This time it’s the Indians and Progressive Field, after Gov. Mike DeWine acknowledged last week that he plans to ask for state funding to help renovate the 27-year-old ballpark, which is owned by Cuyahoga County. DeWine didn’t say how much the state might kick in, though WKYC reported it could be as much as $30 million. In turn, the Indians would agree to a long-term lease extension, said to be 15 years, with the city of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County getting the option of two additional five-year extensions. The team’s lease expires in 2023, so adding a potential 25 years would keep the Indians at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario through 2048. (Surely enough time to win a World Series by then, right?)

But money from the state “would only be a small portion of public dollars that will likely be tied to a major renovaIDEALLY, PUBLIC tion” that the Indians’ ownENTITIES WOULDN’T ers, the Dolans, are seeking, OWN THESE FACILITIES. according to WKYC. Just how much isn’t known. The Indians for their part released a statement that called the lease “a complex, multi-faceted agreement for our public/private partnership” and said all stakeholders should “have the time needed to conduct a thorough review with the future in mind.”

We realize we’re in an era where public money is flowing freely to a variety of places, but this isn’t COVID relief. Even before the pandemic, though, Cleveland’s sports franchises have been making facilities upgrades that rely in part on public money.

Our sports business reporter, Kevin Kleps, crunched some numbers last week and noted that in the last six years, the Browns, Cavaliers and Indians each have completed a facility renovation. The total cost of those projects was about $352 million, with the teams picking up about two-thirds of the cost. The Indians and concessionaire Delaware North covered all $26 million of a renovation completed in 2015, while a $16 million scoreboard rolled out in 2016 was funded by

Cuyahoga County’s tax on alcohol and cigarettes.

The recent 67%/33% ratio of team vs. public spending should be a baseline expectation this time around, too. Compared with many (though not all) cities, Cleveland is doing well in getting teams to contribute a significant amount of their own money toward these projects. And yet there’s certainly no shortage of ways that public money could be spent that would make a more meaningful impact on the community.

Ideally, public entities wouldn’t own these facilities. A recent analysis in the Berkeley Economic Review found that while “the reasoning behind public financing of stadiums is predicated on a belief that new stadiums will create a significant impact on the local community through increased jobs in the short run and increased spending through tourism over the long run,” things generally don’t work out that way, and “the economic impact of these projects on their communities is minimal.”

The analysis found that public subsidies are a “power play used ... on local communities that are emotionally attached to sports teams, and a shift to making these projects private is going to be important moving forward.”

But Progressive Field is for now and the foreseeable future Cuyahoga County’s responsibility, and, with its 30th birthday coming soon, it needs to be maintained. Also in need of maintenance: the relationship of those guiding our sports facilities and the public. As Kleps noted in a separate piece last week, Gateway Corp., the nonprofit that manages Progressive Field and Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on behalf of taxpayers, hasn’t met since Dec. 9, or more than seven months.

Translation: Everything so far with respect to Progressive Field upgrades is happening behind closed doors. The public needs to be let in.

It’s the price we pay for being in the arms race of pro sports.

These sports teams are supported by successful owners who are capable of funding stadiums themselves, but that’s not how this market functions, and few people have an appetite for the team to leave. State and local officials must drive a hard deal to minimize the public portion of the renovation spending.

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 past year has been unprecedented for families across the United States.

While the trajectory of the country from both a health and economic standpoint is improving day by day, we witnessed a pandemic claim the lives of friends and loved ones, while tens of thousands of businesses were shuttered and millions lost their jobs. The livelihoods of thousands of Ohioans were thrown into tur- Dunckel is CEO moil as bills began to pile up on kitchen of the American counters across the Buckeye State.

Fair Credit One of the main impediments for Council, a many Americans is that while there are a nonprofit trade multitude of ways to get into debt, there association are precious few options to help Ameri- representing cans get out of it. For Ohioans, help is on debt settlement the way. Debt settlement could become professionals an available option for consumers who that advocates are struggling with overwhelming unse- for the rights of cured debt, thanks to new legislation consumers who are struggling that was just unveiled in Columbus.

For consumers across the U.S., debt set- with the burden tlement has provided a critical option to of debt. hundreds of thousands of Americans struggling under the pressure of mounting unsecured debt. Access to another debt relief option is especially important in Ohio, where individuals and families have been dealt a difficult economic hand with unemployment spiking to more than 17% at its peak and average household debt eclipsing $30,000.

Debt settlement works by allowing the private sector to work with clients to help them reduce their unsecured debt.

Debt settlement providers negotiate with the consumers’ creditors to lower the amount of money they owe and, by setting up personalized plans for each client, help them pay off the debt they have accumulated faster than they would have been able to do on their own. Most clients across the country can owe upward of $25,000 in unsecured debt and are behind on at least one, and, in many cases, all of the accounts they hold. Thanks to debt settlement, three out of four clients will have settled at least one account within the first four to six months of enrollment. Even among those who may not complete their full program, on average, debt settlement saves $2.64 for every $1 in fees paid.

However, debt settlement isn’t for everyone. Before a potential client is accepted into a program, they are vetted by the debt settlement provider to ensure they have the best chance to succeed through their personalized plan. Only approximately one out of 10 who apply are eventually enrolled.

Following enrollment in a program, at no point — at any time throughout the debt settlement process — can the debt settlement company remove any funds from the client’s account. These funds remain 100% under the control of the client at all times. In addition, due to strict regulations set by the federal government, only when a consumer accepts a negotiated settlement are they billed for any service. Moreover, should an individual at any time for any reason choose to end their partnership with a debt settlement company, they’re not charged a single fee.

Now more than ever, Ohioans must be afforded the tools to take control of their financial futures, and while debt settlement won’t solve every problem, it is the best opportunity to get many Ohioans back on track toward a path to financial security. If passed into law, this effort will pay off for consumers for years to come.

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

Sound off: Send a Personal View for the opinion page to emcintyre@crain.com. Please include a telephone number for verification purposes.

8 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | JULY 19, 2021

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OPINION

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Is your organization’s name hindering its ability to grow?

BY ANN KOWAL SMITH

Anthropologist and writer Zora Neale Hurston once wrote, “There are years that ask questions and years that answer.”

Last year was all about questioning — our beliefs, our ideas and our business as usual. And while 2020 did not bring perfect vision, it provided perspective and, for many, an opportunity to better prepare for change and uncertainty. After a decade of business growth, we seized that opportunity to change our name and emerge from the pandemic with greater clarity of purpose and process.

Reflection Point used to be called Books@Work.

It was never about the books, as our old name implied. Donnie Wells, president of Taylor-Winfield Technologies in Youngstown, describes the process as the “unique use of literature as a tool to broaden worldviews with small discussion groups.”

In the wake of COVID, these “intentional moments for reflection” allowed his team to be “hyper focused” on the elements of the business that they “could control: company culture, employee relationships, self-awareness and corporate strategy,” to “reframe the 2020 lull to drive necessary business improvement.”

Hence, our new name (yes, our clients helped us define it!) offered an opportunity to reshape the way we think and talk about our work in the service of our clients and the process of transforming the workplace at every level.

“Reflection” means holding up the mirror to examine our assumptions and how they impede our ability to see the bigger picture. But collective reflection engages colleagues to do this together: to listen humbly and broaden their perspectives by opening themselves to the experience and expertise of others.

Mindi Searle, division manager in human resources for Lions Clubs International, a global NGO, recently brought Reflection Point into Lion’s Clubs in Chicago and Mumbai, based on her experience with us at her previous company. At Lions Clubs, “we started to see other sides of our coworkers, to clearly see different perspectives. We normally look at things from the filters of the lives we’ve led. Seeing other perspectives helps us build better relationships with each other and connections with people on our teams,” she said.

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When we come together with open minds and open hearts, we build the collective intelligence and the emotional resilience to tackle whatever comes our way. Reflection Point creates spaces of honesty and psychological safety, spaces to “speak your truth” and learn about each other’s realities, grounded in reSmith is founder spect.

The pivot from Books@Work to and executive Reflection Point comes at a critical director of Reflection Point, inflection point in workplace history. COVID undermined our old ways a Clevelandof working and leaves us navigating based nonprofit the balance between remote, in-perwith global son and hybrid workplaces. Autoreach. mation has replaced some of our human colleagues and AI threatens to disrupt not only jobs but entire sectors and functions. And the pace doesn’t stop.

Just when it feels like we have little or no time to breathe, we must pause. We must intentionally create the spaces and the time to consider other viewpoints, to reflect together.

For some, reflection means to think deeply. For others, it means to consider past life experiences as we make sense of the future. We tend to think of reflection as a solo sport. But group reflection engages people in the relationship-building process.

In the new world of work, relationship skills must be nurtured and practiced to sustain a culture. These intangible skills include asking good questions, listening with humility, suspending your own beliefs long enough to entertain someone else’s reality. It’s about building the trust, respect and psychological safety that enables individual experimentation and organizational learning.

The impact of collective reflection we witness with our clients is key to a successful growth strategy — theirs and ours. It’s why we changed our name.

This was a hard thing to do — a little bit like renaming your child halfway through their adolescence. But our decision was ultimately about more than just a new name.

It’s about adaptability, evolution, growth and sustainability. It’s about business success — for us and the organizations we serve.

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CHANGING FACE OF DEVELOPMENT Diversity program designed to demystify the process

REAL ESTATE

PAGE 14

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HOME AWAY FROM HOME

Employees ability to work remotely is energizing the short-term rental industry

BY DOUGLAS J. GUTH

T

he beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 made “shelter in place” a household slogan, with nationwide shutdowns hammering the short-term housing rental market. Vaccines and the lifting of stay-at-home orders — combined with the proliferation of remote work — are bringing people out of their homes into temporary new digs for days at a time, if not longer.

A 2020 HARRIS POLL REVEALED THAT 74% OF RESPONDENTS WHO WORK REMOTELY WOULD CONSIDER OPERATING SOMEWHERE OTHER THAN THEIR HOME.

“When lockdowns and travel restrictions lessened, we saw people either going to second properties out of state or looking for a short-term rental,” said Leah Gibbons, east region vice president for Howard Hanna. “People realized they could social distance and work while being in another location. They looked for properties with pools and more bedrooms for multifamily get-togethers.”

As the economy reopens, Americans are giving a boost to the shortterm rental industry through so-

called “vaxications” that combine remote work and a hunger for new scenery. A 2020 Harris poll revealed that 74% of respondents who work remotely would consider operating somewhere other than their home for an extended period of time.

Through the first quarter of 2021, about 24% of bookings made through the Airbnb home-sharing platform were for stays of 28 days or more – up from 14% in 2019. Roughly half of all properties reserved were done so for stays of at least seven nights.

10 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | JULY 19, 2021

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FOCUS | REAL ESTATE

ed

e w d k g e

, h m p l r

Howard Hanna is experiencing a similar trend among investor clients that purchase rental properties. Individuals and families that would spend a week away from home are now booking month-long layovers.

Vacation rentals in the Lake Erie islands, as just one example, filled up apace with warmer weather, knocking typical seasonal trends out of their axis.

“You can’t find a rental anywhere,” Gibbons said.

“Usually people are renting from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Now we’re seeing rentals Gibbons through October.”

Flexible workplaces

GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO

Many landlords crushed

by COVID sold their rental homes during the height of the crisis, noted Edith Ross, a real estate agent with Russell Real Estate Services in Strongsville. Demand out- Ross pacing supply in traditional vacation rental markets — typically away from urban centers — is driving rate increases to most destinations. According to Transparent, a vacation rentals data company, Airbnb rentals in July and August are expected to average around $220 compared to $185 in Burns 2019.

“Someone traveling who doesn’t want to be in a hotel may do a shortterm rental at an Airbnb because it’s more convenient,” said Ross. “They’re getting a full house instead of a small room. There’s less physical contact with people and you can quarantine

yourself in your own environment.”

Travelers looking to avoid cramped hotel rooms is a trend that market observers don’t expect to dissipate alongside any continuing decline in virus cases. Even fully vaccinated individuals may choose to eschew crowds or places like hotels with shared common spaces.

“Though people are vaccinated, they still want to feel safe and be around family,” Ross said. “This type of (short-term) model gives them that peace of mind. They can get away and still feel like they’re home. That’s going to be a trend in the future even more than it is today.”

Many holidaymakers are mixing in a few days of work with travel, giving them options when it comes to length of stay, said Caroline Burns, head of public relations for HomeToGo, a vacation rental search startup. A “Return of Travel” survey conducted by the company earlier this year found that 71% of would-be vacationers planned to work remotely during at least one of their trips in 2021.

“The rise of remote work is a huge game changer for our industry,” Burns said in an email. “The pandemic accelerated an already underlying trend of workplaces becoming more flexible. And what would be better than a vacation rental to spend time working while the rest of the family can enjoy their leisure time? Imagine doing this in a one-room hotel room.

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“People realized they could social distance and work while being in another location. They looked for properties with pools and more bedrooms for multifamily get-togethers,” said Leah Gibbons, east region vice president for Howard Hanna. | GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO

Vacation rentals can literally make you feel at home, and this is acknowledged by our users.”

No drop in demand Demand for short-term rentals will continue to grow as more second-home buyers choose to live in those homes rather than rent them out, remarked Gibbons of Howard Hanna. In Northeast Ohio, the flexibility of remote work last winter sent families to rentals in warmer climes for three-month stays.

Gibbons said, “If people see toward the winter months that they can work remotely again, they might decide to change their surroundings and work

from a different area.”

The falling supply of available rental homes, coupled with increasing demand for lifestyle perks such as pools and home theaters, is allowing rental companies to challenge the market and then some. From a marketing standpoint, companies are pushing amenities during virtual tours, giving “digital nomads” a desirable snapshot of their hopeful home away from home.

“An option to spend a period of time away from home keeps the environment fresh for people, and offers them a lifestyle they may not have enjoyed previously,” Gibbons said.

“That’s something that will continue.

There’s more interest now in work-life

balance, or friends going in together to rent short-term. People just want to change things up and give themselves better quality of life.”

Burns predicts the normalization of remote work will attract new target groups for the vacation rental industry.

“We’re seeing many more individuals as well as entire families who want to attend virtual classes and work remotely for a few weeks,” Burns said.

“We’ve also seen more attention being paid by hosts to advertising their internet speeds and private workspaces within the home, where multiple people can be on calls at the same time.”

Contact Douglas J. Guth: clbfreelancer@crain.com

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Busy home-building market revives large land-site development

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Lance Osborne, president of Osborne Capital Group of Mentor, is about to start kicking dirt on his largest land development so far.

At the 150-acre former Rosemont Country Club in Fairlawn, construction crews will start digging trenches for utilities and shaping part of the property in August to become a development named Rosemont Greens, which will consist of sites for single-family homes, townhouses and a four-floor mixed-use project. He hopes to pave the road into the site by yearend. If all goes well, the first lots will be available to sell to homebuilders by early next year.

Osborne is working on the large-volume side of the land development business. It's a sector that during the housing bust was commonly thought to disappear after land prices collapsed. The worry as the first decade of the 2000s ended was that it would cost more to construct the infrastructure for new land subdivisions than the completed lots could command. Fast forward to 2021 as the new-home business benefits from a torrid existing-home market and low interest rates. Land development loans are available from lenders, unlike a decade ago. Builder worries now are construction costs and finding sites to build. But too few large developments are in the pipeline capable of pushing up home production to levels it might keep up with demand.

Other large land developments for new homes in Northeast Ohio criss-cross the land-rich outer fringes of Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage and Summit counties.

Among them is Perry Village, where an affiliate of Knez Homes of Concord Township is starting to carve the land for the first 30 sites of 200 lots at the former Booth Farm.

Luxury home builder-turned-land-developer Dino Palmieri of Solon has a 257-lot development underway in Painesville Township and more of similar size afoot in northern Medina County.

PulteGroup Inc. has a 308-unit development, called Renaissance Park, that consists of single-family houses and townhomes that is starting to open at the former Geauga Lake Park site in Aurora in Portage County and, among others, 174 homes planned for a former horse pasture near Great Lakes Mall in Mentor that will become Brookview Reserve.

In Columbia Station in Lorain County, Petros Homes of Broadview Heights is developing Emerald Woods with 587 lots on more than 300 acres. Ryan Homes has agreed to buy them all, and just opened its first model.

Meantime, in Amherst Township, Amherst Consolidated Land LLC and Consolidated Land LLC, a Lorain-based investor group, paid $2.5 million earlier this year for 264 acres bordering the Ohio Turnpike at SR 58. The land deal closed after the developers settled a lawsuit with Amherst Township last No-

Land developments for homes in Northeast Ohio criss-cross the outer fringes of Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage and Summit counties. | STAN BULLARD CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

vember. The proposed Sandstone development will include 30 acres of housing for senior citizens, a commercial district and 700 homes. That’s a big switch from the original proposal in 2019, according to the settlement, for 1,100 units, including 600 apartments.

A letter from Lorain County Metroparks supporting the proposed settlement noted it will take advantage of a trunk sewer system installed 20 years ago. In itself, that is a telling commentary on the region's housing market and home-building in this millennium.

However, in most cases the two years that Amherst and Consolidated Osborne spent getting to the starting gate is typical. In Osborne's case, he said he had a "great experience" working with Fairlawn, and it has taken him two years to get this far. Another portion of the Rosemont Country Club on the other side of Canton-Massillon Road is Petros still going through the approval process.

Palmieri said the process of gaining entitlements for land developments remains difficult.

"The bureaucracy has not changed," Palmieri said. "What did change was that the housing market exploded."

The other factor shaping land development is that it remains a highrisk endeavor. The lesson from the housing collapse was that a market shift could catch a builder with tens of unsold homes. Empty home lots from before the Great Recession slowed new land development for several years; builders could buy them at lower cost than they could create them.

Bo Knez, founder of Knez Homes, said the appetite for land grew over time as interest rates dropped, but finding the right land is a trick of finding the right location.

"We're seeing the appetite for large-scale development now but

less land has gotten through all the permitting process the last few years," Knez said. "It has created a real bottleneck."

Sam Petros, CEO of Petros Homes, said construction costs are affecting land development.

"It costs $900 a running foot to build a land development," Petros said. "It was $600 a foot just three years ago."

Osborne said his company began expanding into land development from the commercial realty business about five years ago.

"We got bullish on land development because we had the thesis the sector had been under-invested for a decade," Osborne said. "We knew there was pent-up demand for housing. COVID-19 has exacerbated it. But I think the housing shortage would have come along anyway."

The other risk is market timing. Petros said his company buys land from other land developers because they happen to control a site in a city, such as Westlake, where it wants to build.

In Osborne's case, he is holding his breath until early next year at Rosemont.

"We think it's a great location," Osborne said. "We think the market will accept it. But are the units priced right? Will interest rates stay low? We really won't know until the road is in and we see actual market demand." And Osborne has the advantage of commitments to take down land in phases from Ryan Homes and New Leaf Homes, an Akron townhouse builder.

Knez pointed to a bonus from developing land in this market.

"We have reached our capacity to build homes in our residential vertical," Knez said. "We have yet to achieve a cap on our land acquisition and development activities."

Stan Bullard: sbullard@crain.com, (216) 771-5228, @CrainRltywriter

12 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | JULY 19, 2021

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FOCUS | REAL ESTATE

New training program aims to change face of development

BY MICHELLE JARBOE

Seronica Powell was in her mid40s when she caught the real estate bug.

In 2019, she purchased a two-family rental out of foreclosure on Cleveland’s East Side. Then she acquired a vacant, city-owned lot next door.

Last month, she finally became a homeowner, in the Tremont neighborhood where she’s rented for almost two decades.

Now Powell, 47, is getting a crash course in real estate development through a national program that recently came to Cleveland. She is one of 30 students in the first local class of the Urban Land Institute’s Real Estate Diversity Initiative, a course exclusively for women, people of color and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals.

“I had wanted to do development just so that I could leave something to my children,” said Powell, a single mother who raised her son and daughter while working in social services. “I wanted to be able to leave a legacy for them.”

The training program, which is halfway through its 13week run, outlines the life cycle of real estate projects from due diligence through leasing or sales.

Students learn from experts, work through detailed financial analyses, and team up on a case study as their final project.

The diversity initiative Powell launched in 2009 in Denver, through the Colorado district council of the nonprofit Urban Land Institute. Since then, the program has spread to Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri and other states.

The local rollout coincided with a heightened national emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion. Last year, after George Floyd died under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, corporate America publicly committed to social change, with mixed results.

In Cleveland, civic groups, public officials and some real estate leaders had been talking for a few years about how to incubate more diverse development talent. The industry is dominated by white men, though

The Real Estate Diversity Initiative debuted in 2009 in Denver and has expanded to other cities. | ULI MINNESOTA

minority developers have started to pop up, particularly on the predominantly Black East Side.

“We’re in an age now where we’re looking at diversity really seriously,” said Anthony Whitfield, a consultant and community-development practitioner who co-leads the outreach committee for the local Urban Land Institute chapter.

In 2013, Whitfield was part of the second Cleveland class of Project REAP, also known as the Real Estate Associate Program. That national program, which trains minorities for careers in commercial real estate, debuted here in 2012. But it hasn't graduated a class since 2015.

Local broker Akil Hameed, who sits on Project REAP’s national board of directors, said discussions are underway about bringing the course back to Cleveland in 2022 or 2023.

Whitfield believes that the Real Estate Diversity Initiative appeals to a broader range of participants than Project REAP, which is open only to racial and ethnic minorities and aims to diversify the executive ranks at real estate firms.

The new development classes also are less costly for participants, at $300 for the series versus $1,000 for Project REAP. “We chose to do REDI because it does more,” said Whitfield, adding that he believes the two programs can coexist without competing.

In the spring, 50 people applied for 30 open slots, said Melanie Kortyka, district manager for the Urban Land Institute in Cleveland.

Chad Stephens, a 36-year-old organizer who works for the Sierra Club, landed a spot. He found out about the program on Twitter, where he solicited advice in March about how to buy vacant land in Cleveland. A fellow user reached out with a link to the application.

An environmentalist with an interest in politics, Stephens doesn’t have a real estate background. But he daydreams about developing high-efficiency homes. And he’s learning lessons that apply not only to buildings but also to solar and wind projects. "There are a lot of transferable skills," he said.

Classmate Glen Shumate, 61, has worked in the construction industry for years. Now he’s seeing real estate projects from the other side of the table. The executive vice president of the Construction Employers Association trade group, Shumate owns vacant land and a few rental properties. His interest in development is both personal and professional. He also hopes to apply his newfound knowledge to help small contractors and builders tackle preservation projects, in his role as a trustee at the Cleveland Restoration Society.

“It has to start somewhere,” Shumate said of opening paths into the somewhat cloistered development business. “I think the transfer of knowledge and, to a certain extent,

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A class in Minnesota participates in a discussion as part of the Urban Land Institute’s Real Estate Diversity Initiative.| REDI MINNESOTA

14 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | JULY 19, 2021

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acce ing Th star Virt den Aug sion “Th mak that onc Ros step cil’s nan pen Th incl help year bers ter Key Ben Clev land velo E men Clev pris for t “D that Blas you in g hard esta Sh

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access that the ... program’s providing could be a dealbreaker.”

The pandemic, which delayed the start date, also forced classes online.

Virtual sessions began June 1. Students won’t gather in person until August. The timeline for the next session hasn’t been set.

“There’s certainly demand for us making this a sustainable program that we would like to have at least once a year, if possible,” said Steve Ross, an office broker who recently stepped down as the district council’s chairman but leads its governance committee. “It’s going to depend on us getting funding.”

The program is run by volunteers, including mentors and educators. To help offset the costs, including a yearlong Urban Land Institute membership for the graduates, the chapter is relying on sponsors including KeyBank Real Estate Capital, the Benesch law firm, the NAACP’s Cleveland branch, the Greater Cleveland Partnership and Cleveland Development Advisors.

Erin Blaskovic, a client development manager at Mentor-based Cleveland Construction, was surprised and pleased to make the cut for the first session.

“Development is not something that you learn in school,” said Blaskovic, 36. “It’s not something that you go to college for. Even real estate in general, it’s something that’s very hard — if you don’t grow up in a real estate family.”

She wanted to gain a deeper un-

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derstanding of pro formas, the documents that investors use to evaluate the likely profitability of a deal. But Blaskovic, like other classmates, also has long-term visions of getting into development, albeit on a small scale.

“You need a really great network in order to make these projects happen, especially in Cleveland,” she said.

Powell, who works for the nonprofit Center for Black Health and Equity, said it’s striking to be part of a

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Graphic Arts Rubber pushed through crazy 2020 — and 2021 is hectic, too

BY BRUCE MEYER RUBBER & PLASTICS NEWS

Custom mixer sees tight labor market

Graphic Arts Rubber is a lot like many of the smaller players in the rubber custom mixing business.

The mixer in Cuyahoga Falls is focused on quality and service. It has diversified during its history when needed. The firm doesn’t try to be all things to all people.

And its 19-person staff can take on multiple roles to make sure that everything is done as the customer requests.

Graphic Arts, like most others in the rubber industry, also made it through a difficult pandemic-driven 2020, and is dealing with pricing and logistics issues that have made 2021 almost as crazy as last year.

Most of all, though, general manager Dave Corron said Graphic Arts Rubber is a company that is proud of its 50-year history and poised for what he believes is a bright future.

“I think our history speaks for itself,” Corron told Rubber & Plastics News, a sister publication of Crain’s Cleveland Business. “We’ve been around for a long time, and I see us being around for a lot longer. For the size company we are, I think we do a great job.”

BY BRUCE MEYER RUBBER & PLASTICS NEWS

Graphic Arts Rubber general manager Dave Corron shows off one of the mills the company uses at its factory in Cuyahoga Falls.

Expanding its focus Given its name, it follows that Graphic Arts started out with a focus on mixing elastomers for the printing industry in 1971, with a large percentage of its output for printing and rubber roller usage.

But as photo polymers came into play, rubber saw a shrinking share of that market.

“We decided we had to diversify, so we stretched out,” said Corron, who has a 23-year history with the company.

While it still mixes a good amount of rubber for graphic arts, printing and roll covers, other end markets have grown in stature. Those include mixing rubber for belt covers; pharmaceuticals and Food and Drug Administration compounds; general molded goods; military specified and ASTM compounds; fabricated articles such as bladders and hoses; cement and paint gums; and certain tire-related applications, including white and colored sidewalls, stain barriers and calendering of control and testing stocks.

Its 44,000-square-foot factory boasts three calenders, sizes 24, 54 and 66 inches, along with four 60inch mills, an 84-inch mill and a 42inch mill that Corron said was purchased when the company began receiving an increased number of requests for smaller batches.

“We can get orders as small as 10 pounds, up to 10,000 pounds,” he said. “It’s a broad thing for us. Bigger orders aren’t as frequent. But with the smaller mill, we can do that as well. Because of what we do, it’s all over the place.”

Graphic Arts uses a broad range of natural and synthetic rubbers in its mixing, and sees its ability to match a customer’s need for color

The custom mixer in Cuyahoga Falls also has calendering and coloring capabilities. | BRUCE MEYER PHOTOS

as one of its strengths. Corron said many times the color is specified, where the customer has to match a Pantone color, while others need a variety of light and dark shades.

In some applications, the colors are critical, according to the Graphic Arts GM. Some customers will dictate the type of compound and its hardness, using different colors to represent particular characteristics. Some belting firms will use different colors to designate wear levels, so when the material gets to a

certain color, the end user knows it’s near time to change the belt.

“The way we’re set up, we can do those colors quickly,” Corron said.

“We’re clean enough that we can go from one shade to the next in a matter of minutes on our equipment.”

Because of its work with color, Graphic Arts doesn’t use any loose carbon black in its compounds, ensuring there will be no cross-contamination.

For compounds that need carbon black, Graphic Arts uses black

masterbatch mixed outside its premises. The Cuyahoga Falls firm is owned by Rex-Hide Industries Inc., which owns a number of other rubber mixers that can provide what’s needed. Some of those sister companies include Dyna-Mix, Pinnacle, Rainbow Master Mixing and others.

“They all mix, but we’re the only one that does calendering as well,” Corron said. “Rex-Hide is a super company to work for and full of resources.”

Graphic Arts Rubber management tries hard to make its workplace enjoyable, knowing how much time the staff spends at the company.

General manager Dave Corron hopes the custom mixer’s flexibility leads to longer tenures at the Cuyahoga Falls company.

He said the firm did have a number of people on its staff with long histories at the 50-year-old company, but it was hit by a number of retirements, leading to a loss of institutional knowledge.

The staff of 19, however, still boasts a couple of people with more than 30 years at Graphic Arts, and some others with 18 to 20 years.

There also is a tier of four or five younger employees with fewer than five years of experience.

“They are just building their knowledge base. They’re coming along well,” Corron said. “After they get good in one area, we try to train them in another area. That helps them understand the whole flow of the shop. If they run a mill, they may wind up on a calender.

We like everyone to know as much as they can, because that goes a long way.”

Graphic Arts runs a tight ship and would like to add another one or two workers to the staff, but like other firms, it has had a tough time finding help.

“It’s frustrating because you know there are a lot of unemployed people, but it seems like we can’t get them in,” Corron said.

“We’ve tried, but we’re not having success.”

While there is a lot of talk about people not wanting to work because of the extra unemployment benefits offered during the pandemic, Corron isn’t convinced that’s the entire story.

“I see signs out there with good starting wages, and those signs aren’t coming down,” he said. “I just think there’s more to it, but I’m just not sure what.”

Corron hopes that as economic conditions improve as 2021 moves along, the situation will ease and the mixer will be able to find people to add to the staff.

“Here, everyone works,” he said. “There are no extra people.

Everybody is doing something.

We could use one or two more so every position is filled every day.”

16 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | JULY 19, 2021

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Setting itself apart Corron said the firm’s management has noticed that over time, customers come their way because they aren’t getting proper service from a previous mixer. He said they’re looking for some of the old-fashioned touches that aren’t as prevalent in today’s business world.

“They still want to be able to pick up a phone and call someone and get a response,” Corron said. “We are that type of company, 100 percent.

When you call here, you will get one of us on the phone.

“We have customers we probably wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for our service. Everyone is No. 1 to us. Everyone has to feel they are important.

Everyone has to know they are important.”

Corron sees the company’s 19 employees as being an “all hands on deck” kind of staff, doing whatever is needed to take care of the customer.

Even president Glen Hoffman will go out on the production floor and run a mill at times.

Likewise, everyone acts as a sales person for the company, because it’s their product and service.

“We get a lot of referrals by word of mouth,” Corron said. “We don’t have dedicated sales people. All of us are sales people. If we get an inquiry on the phone, we pick it up and take it.”

Surviving 2020 Sales were down significantly for Graphic Arts during last year’s pandemic-impacted marketplace. But Corron said the company was fortu-

“WE HAVE CUSTOMERS WE PROBABLY WOULDN’T HAVE IF IT WASN’T FOR OUR SERVICE. EVERYONE IS NO. 1 TO US. EVERYONE HAS TO FEEL THEY ARE IMPORTANT. EVERYONE HAS TO KNOW THEY ARE IMPORTANT.” — Dave Corron, general manager of Graphic Arts Rubber

One of the 19 staff members of Graphic Arts Rubber cleans up a mill at the end of a shift.

nate, having been deemed essential.

That enabled the firm to keep all of its staff employed.

“Everyone was willing to work and do what needed to be done,” he said.

“So we did our part and kept everybody on. It went well, all things considered.”

The company followed all of the necessary precautions and protocols.

There were a few who contracted COVID-19, including Corron, but none had what might be deemed a serious case, according to the executive.

Graphic Arts is close to being back to normal with its operations, he said, though it still limits visits to customers, seeing them only with an appointment made in advance.

“This year definitely looks much better, and everybody has pitched in to do as much as they can to help us try to keep up with (demand),” the GM said. “We have extended lead times, but our staff are all on board doing what they can to help satisfy the customers.”

Corron said the business is on pace to rebound to 2019 levels, and

possibly even exceed them, though he wouldn’t reveal the firm’s sales totals.

Crazy market conditions One thing that has been difficult for Graphic Arts, as it has been for companies in so many other industries, including rubber, has been the volatile logistics and pricing conditions that have been so prevalent in 2021.

The mixer has bought some items further out to make sure it has inventory to meet demand. But Corron

said that isn’t always an option, because certain things are on sales control. So if a history demonstrates that a certain amount of raw material is required, some vendors won’t allow purchase of more than that amount.

He’s at a bit of a loss to understand how things got so bad so quickly — including everything from ports that have been closed or overwhelmed, to shipment of freight and even common carriers having a huge backlog that’s causing even longer lead times.

“Nobody is immune to what’s going on,” he said.

But pricing has been the most difficult trend to deal with.

“Price increases are a daily thing.

It’s a challenge for us because we don’t have that buying power that a big company has,” Corron said. “I think it’s a ‘take it or leave it attitude’ out there, where the pricing and (logistics) go. I just feel we’ve seen immediate price increases come in with no notifications. That’s your price.

Take it or leave it.”

CALLING LOCAL TRAILBLAZERS! Crain’s Cleveland Business is seeking nominations for its 2021 class of 40 under Forty. We’re looking for today’s brightest under 40 who continue to make their mark within their company, their industry and their community.

Winners will be featured in a special section of the Nov. 22 issue of Crain’s Cleveland Business.

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JULY 19, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 17

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CRAIN'S LIST | WEALTHIEST SUBURBS Ranked by estimated median household income RANK

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

COMMUNITY 1

MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME

MEDIAN OWNEROCCUPIED HOUSING VALUE

HUNTING VALLEY

+$250,000 2

BENTLEYVILLE

POPULATION

HIGHEST DEGREE

HOUSING

POST-GRAD %

OCCUPIED UNITS

OWNER %

RENTER %

AVERAGE COMMUTE (MINUTES)

COUNTY

34.4%

47.6%

294

94.9%

5.1%

26.7

Cuyahoga, Geauga

4.4%

38.1%

46.2%

313

99.7%

0.3%

24.8

Cuyahoga

5,979

4.9%

33.5%

44.4%

2,228

98.4%

1.6%

22.1

Cuyahoga

3,306

3,320

-0.4%

35.9%

42.1%

1,377

92.7%

7.3%

22.5

Cuyahoga

$505,100

2,189

2,270

-3.6%

29.1%

43.6%

874

94.3%

5.7%

25.4

Cuyahoga

$137,083

$298,800

199

177

12.4%

21.7%

42.7%

77

100.0%

0.0%

24.3

Portage

HUDSON

$134,963

$345,500

22,263

22,262

0.0%

39.3%

32.2%

8,019

87.1%

12.9%

26.4

Summit

WAITE HILL

$122,000

$639,900

458

471

-2.8%

31.0%

29.2%

188

91.0%

9.0%

23.5

Lake

BOSTON HEIGHTS

$120,250

$397,500

1,071

1,300

-17.6%

33.5%

26.0%

417

88.5%

11.5%

26

Summit

SOUTH RUSSELL

$119,457

$335,100

3,776

3,810

-0.9%

44.6%

26.4%

1,400

94.4%

5.6%

27.6

Geauga

ORANGE

$116,823

$334,200

3,276

3,323

-1.4%

34.9%

34.6%

1,283

85.3%

14.7%

20.1

Cuyahoga

KIRTLAND HILLS

$112,679

$455,000

688

646

6.5%

29.9%

30.9%

267

91.8%

8.2%

24.1

Lake

AVON

$109,916

$296,900

22,999

21,193

8.5%

32.8%

21.0%

8,108

84.3%

15.7%

25.1

Lorain

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS

$109,818

$280,700

8,390

8,345

0.5%

28.5%

27.0%

3,215

94.5%

5.5%

22

Cuyahoga

SILVER LAKE

$108,958

$227,600

2,532

2,519

0.5%

36.2%

24.0%

977

97.1%

2.9%

25.4

Summit

BRECKSVILLE

$108,606

$283,000

13,537

13,656

-0.9%

34.0%

25.0%

5,539

85.2%

14.8%

23.9

Cuyahoga

SOLON

$107,286

$286,200

22,947

23,348

-1.7%

30.5%

30.9%

8,481

82.7%

17.3%

25.3

Cuyahoga

INDEPENDENCE

$106,413

$238,100

7,169

7,133

0.5%

30.4%

18.3%

2,736

93.2%

6.8%

22.2

Cuyahoga

PENINSULA

$106,250

$304,200

643

565

13.8%

38.4%

24.2%

247

81.4%

18.6%

30.3

Summit

BRATENAHL

$104,318

$289,300

1,379

1,197

15.2%

27.1%

39.1%

770

77.5%

22.5%

21.9

Cuyahoga

BAY VILLAGE

$103,582

$247,900

15,325

15,651

-2.1%

40.5%

26.5%

6,021

92.3%

7.7%

25.2

Cuyahoga

CHAGRIN FALLS

$101,691

$346,300

4,032

4,113

-2.0%

39.4%

26.8%

1,789

75.1%

24.9%

24.5

Cuyahoga

AURORA

$97,848

$272,300

16,026

15,548

3.1%

33.4%

18.2%

6,061

82.3%

17.7%

29.2

Portage

MACEDONIA

$97,440

$223,400

11,873

11,188

6.1%

27.5%

16.9%

4,610

93.0%

7.0%

26

Summit

VALLEY VIEW

$94,479

$256,000

2,024

2,034

-0.5%

24.4%

12.4%

751

93.1%

6.9%

22.3

Cuyahoga

RICHFIELD

$92,243

$240,300

3,650

3,648

0.1%

25.2%

14.2%

1,421

89.3%

10.7%

25.5

Summit

KIRTLAND

$91,683

$296,100

6,822

6,866

-0.6%

23.4%

17.6%

2,483

85.5%

14.5%

25.3

Lake

BROADVIEW HEIGHTS

$89,224

$228,500

19,195

19,400

-1.1%

29.1%

17.1%

7,622

81.9%

18.1%

27.9

Cuyahoga

BEACHWOOD

$89,190

$302,500

11,663

11,953

-2.4%

26.5%

37.0%

4,746

62.3%

37.7%

22.5

Cuyahoga

STRONGSVILLE

$88,176

$206,300

44,719

44,750

-0.1%

28.6%

17.9%

17,880

81.5%

18.5%

27.8

Cuyahoga

SHAKER HEIGHTS

$87,235

$229,500

27,387

28,448

-3.7%

25.2%

41.5%

11,200

63.1%

36.9%

23.4

Cuyahoga

WESTLAKE

$86,008

$258,600

32,275

32,729

-1.4%

32.6%

20.0%

13,809

72.2%

27.8%

24.7

Cuyahoga

WESTFIELD CENTER

$85,625

$211,600

1,212

1,115

8.7%

28.0%

15.9%

499

94.8%

5.2%

23.4

Medina

REMINDERVILLE

$84,354

$201,800

4,237

3,404

24.5%

27.3%

18.0%

1,669

86.9%

13.1%

28.2

Summit

GLENWILLOW

$84,167

$229,800

1,088

923

17.9%

17.7%

25.9%

340

90.3%

9.7%

26

Cuyahoga

AVON LAKE

$83,018

$256,400

24,030

22,581

6.4%

28.7%

21.8%

9,539

81.5%

18.5%

25.7

Lorain

5-YEAR ESTIMATE (2015-2019) 1

2010 CENSUS

$1,529,200

763

705

8.2%

$208,125

$591,700

902

864

PEPPER PIKE

$190,682

$440,600

6,269

MORELAND HILLS

$173,209

$435,000

GATES MILLS

$165,167

SUGAR BUSH KNOLLS

% CHANGE BACHELOR'S SINCE CENSUS 1 %

Source: U.S. Census Bureau 5-year American Community Survey (2015-2019). Compiled by Chuck Soder (csoder@crain.com) | The list includes communities in Cuyahoga, Lorain, Medina, Summit, Portage, Geauga, Lake and

Stark counties. NOTES: 1. All figures (other than 2010 Census population) are estimates based on surveys conducted between 2015 and 2019. Estimates for smaller communities tend to be less reliable. Margin of error information can be accessed through data.census.gov. 2. Income exceeds $250,000. Census database would not report a higher median figure. Average household income is $431,438.

Get 135 communities and historical income data in Excel format. Become a Data Member: CrainsCleveland.com/data 18 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | JULY 19, 2021

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INSIGHTS & ANSWERS

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Inflation: How it impacts your portfolio and what you should do about it

By KIM BONVISUTTO, CRAIN’S CONTENT STUDIO-CLEVELAND Inflation has been on the rise in recent months after not having been a concern for Americans in years.

Many investors are likely wondering what changes in inflation mean for their portfolio.

Pat Pastore, PNC regional president of Cleveland, said now is a good time for investors to check in with their financial advisers about how inflation might impact a portfolio’s performance and what steps to take — or not take – to ensure they are still in a position to reach their financial goals.

PAT PASTORE Regional president PNC Cleveland

Dan Brady, PNC’s chief investment strategist, recently outlined what investors can do to secure their portfolios and protect themselves in the current environment.

DAN BRADY Chief investment strategist PNC

1. Stay invested. Brady said the market is experiencing a “déjà vu” moment, going back to when the market was coming out of the last recession in 2009. But this is not a normal recession compared to prior business cycles, and the high inflation will not be long lasting like it was in the 1970s and 1980s. The

market is seeing transitory inflation that is a function of the lack of growth and economic restrictions from last year, along with disruptions to supply chains, created by the pandemic. Those dynamics will resolve themselves in the coming months as labor market conditions and supply-demand balances

Reactions to the prices of the underlying commodities will see these stocks level out as inflation concerns ease.

3. Think outside the box. A lot of focus is typically on U.S. stocks and the S&P 500. But the greatest opportunity for growth is outside the United

A lot of focus is typically on U.S. stocks and the S&P 500. But the greatest opportunity for growth is outside of the United States. normalize as the year progresses.

“It will all come together in the next couple of months,” Brady said.

2. Consider dividend growers. Get exposure to real assets – physical assets that pay attractive dividends, like dividend-paying stocks and real estate investment trusts in U.S. equities. Focus on quality stocks with “fortress balance sheets” that deliver consistent dividends. One area to avoid – energy and materials stocks. Calling them the “most overbought” stocks in decades, Brady warned that investors should not chase price performance.

States – think emerging markets in regions of Asia such as China, India and parts of Latin America. Emerging markets, Brady said, are on the strongest track for growth because these types of stocks have exposure to the best of both worlds – industries recovering from the pandemic and growth drivers within technology and consumer stocks.

4. Reconsider fixed income.

Consider how sensitive bond prices are to moves in interest rates. In this low interest rate environment, Brady suggests staying neutral to index duration. Taking on a lot of

duration risk just to pick up a few more basis points of yield or income doesn’t make sense. Interest rates are a function of monetary policy across the globe. Rates in parts of Europe and Japan are negative, which will keep a cap on U.S. rates. It’s also a function of slower economic growth.

The market will likely “breathe a sigh of relief ” in the next couple of months as inflation starts to calm down in the later part of the year, Brady said.

“We’ve been in a choppy market for the last month or so,” he said, adding that the market is beginning to show signs that it is moving beyond inflation fears. While it’s still showing up in pockets, overall the market will continue to drive higher earnings and come back strong.

“We’re still reopening the full economy as it is,” Brady said. “We’re not even at full capacity.”

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.

Solon Ohio WORKING | LEARNING | THRIVING TOGETHER

Solon named “Best Town to Raise a Family” for 2021 by NE Ohio Parent Magazine. photo courtesy of Gena Page Photography

Solon High School received a 2021 Gold Medal National Ranking and ranked #1 in Greater Cleveland and Top 5 in Ohio.

Parks and Recreation 10 tennis courts, 4 pickleball courts, 10 baseball fields, playground areas, two sand volleyball courts and a full-sized basketball court. Additionally, the Park offers a walking path/fitness trail and a large pavilion. Plus, 1,200 acres of Cleveland Metroparks.

Theatrical and orchestral performances and theater, art, dance and musical programming and exhibitions.

Community Center Indoor and outdoor pools, gymnasium, jogging track, meeting and banquet rooms, aerobics studio, free weight room, rock climbing wall and a fitness area.

Solon Business Community Home to 900 businesses from large corporations to our favorite mom-and-pop shops and 60 restaurants that cover every craving. Solon’s economy is perfectly suited for new and expanding businesses. Contact ashaker@solonohio.org for business development needs.

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EMPLOYEE BENEFITS OFFERING THE RIGHT MIX OF BENEFITS The pandemic and post-pandemic period have altered the way employers and employees assess the value of employee benefits. Companies and organizations increasingly are focusing on flexibility and offerings that cater to a hybrid workforce as they consider their employee benefits offerings, according to industry research and observations.

Here is a closer look at some of those trends:

MEETING EXPECTATIONS

A HOLISTIC APPROACH

BE FLEXIBLE

Overall, employees appreciate their benefits, according to a 2020 Workplace Wellness Survey conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute and Greenwald Research. Among the 1,028 American workers surveyed, 47% are extremely or very satisfied with their benefits package. About 58% are satisfied with their employer-sponsored retirement savings plan.

However, employers should be prepared to rethink how they consider employee health benefits. An increased focus on benefits that address the whole health of the person are gaining favor among employers and employees, including apps and programs that address mental well-being, coverage for mental health care and reimbursements for caretaking needs.

The hybrid workstyle is likely here to stay. As such, employers may need to offer more flexibility in their benefits.

Some employers have started to reimburse employees for costs associated with setting up a home office, as well as babysitting, grocery delivery and pet services, according to the Society for Human Resource Management. Providing more opportunities to participate in online benefits fairs and virtual enrollment will benefit both employers and employees.

PLEASED WITH HEALTH BENEFITS This same survey found worker satisfaction with health benefits have increased, with 55% of participants reporting that they were extremely or very satisfied with health benefits, which was up from 49% in 2018.

EXPANDED FINANCIAL SUPPORT The pandemic left many workers in a tough financial state. Among the current trends in employee benefits offerings include focusing on providing financial wellness benefits such as education and coaching, emergency fund programs and student loan repayment assistance.

SOURCES: BENEFITSPRO, EMPLOYEE BENEFIT RESEARCH INSTITUTE, SOCIETY OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

COMPILED BY KATHY AMES CARR, CRAIN’S CONTENT STUDIO-CLEVELAND

Best practices for getting the most out of your employee benefits MELANIE ROSS Senior Financial Advisor NCA Financial Planners mross@ncafinancial.com 440-473-1115, ext. 213 Ross, who received her bachelor’s degree in finance from Bowling Green State University, became part of the NCA team in 2000. Seeing the financial effects of improper planning for longevity, Ross opted to become highly trained in the field of long-term care planning. She holds the CLTC (Certified in Long-Term Care) designation, which provides her with the critical tools necessary to discuss the subject of longevity and its consequences on her clients’ family and finances.

M

any employers like to offer an enticing benefits package to retain employees, as well as attract new ones. The most popular employee benefit options include medical, life, disability and retirement. Unfortunately, most employees don’t fully understand what they are entitled to. So, how can you make the most out of your employee benefits? Let’s take a look.

MEDICAL INSURANCE: Most employers offer their employees several health plan options -- it’s a must-have these days. Does your employer also offer either a Healthcare Flexible Spending Account (FSA) or a

Health Savings Account (HSA)? If the answer is yes, start participating in it today.

Both these options offer pre-taxed savings, which can really help stretch your money when paying for things like prescriptions, co-pays, dental procedures and eye care.

LIFE INSURANCE: Group life insurance is another common benefit offered by employers, and it is typically free to you -all you need to do is sign up. Life insurance benefits are usually equal to your annual salary, with average coverage amounts ranging from $25,000 to $50,000. If the amount your employer is providing isn’t

enough to take care of your family should you pass away, more life insurance can (in most cases) be purchased through your employer’s insurance company for an additional cost with no medical exam needed -- a true “win-win.”

DISABILITY: Depending on the type of employment, disability benefits for employees can account for one-half to two-thirds of the employee’s pre-disability income. If you ever become disabled and are unable to work, this employee benefit will be invaluable to you and your family.

Employers may offer either short-term disability insurance or long-term disability insurance to their employees. With shortterm disability, a percentage of an employee’s salary is paid temporarily, while long-term disability can last up to 10 years or until retirement age. However, just like with life insurance, if the coverage amount from your employer isn’t enough, you may need to look into additional options to supplement it in order to protect you and your family.

plans (most commonly known as 401(k) plans). Regardless of the retirement plan type, the more money you can put away between yourself and your employer, the more growth there is during the years before retirement. Save as much as you can for as long you can. An employer-sponsored retirement plan is a great place to do it.

Employee benefits are wonderful, and they exist so that you can actually use them, so learn all you can about yours.

Securities offered through Royal Alliance Associates, Inc. (RAA), Member FINRA/ SIPC. RAA is separately owned and other entities and/or marketing names, products or services referenced here are independent of RAA. RAA does not provide tax or legal advice. Investment advisory services offered through NCA Financial Planners. 6095 Parkland Boulevard, Suite 210 Mayfield Heights, OH 44124 (440) 473-1115 (440) 473-0186 FAX www.ncafinancial.com

RETIREMENT: Retirement benefits are funds that are set aside to provide employees with an income when they retire. The two main types of retirement plans are defined benefit plans (also known as pension plans), or defined contribution

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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EMPLOYEE BENEFITS A FRESH APPROACH TO BENEFITS OFFERINGS Exhausted. Disconnected. Stressed. Isolated. Drained. These were some of the most common words used to describe the impact of the past year by members of the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a Washington, D.C.,-based nonprofit research organization. These senior-level executives of health benefits, retirement, financial service providers, associations and plan sponsors also described feeling overworked, anxious and adrift. On the flip side, positive aspects of the pandemic included spending more time with family, improving leadership skills and reflecting on what really matters.

The following trends highlight some of the pandemic’s impacts on the workplace, including a shifting focus toward whole person health:

THE IMPORTANCE OF EMPATHY About 59% of employees and business leaders acknowledge their organization has tried to prevent burnout, though 29% of employees wish organizations would act with more empathy, according to a study conducted in 2020 by The Workforce Institute at UKG, a human resources industry think tank.

ARE WE DOING WELL? Employers are reframing their wellbeing programs and focusing more on initiatives that support mental and emotional health, work/life integration and financial health, according to the Society for Human Resource Management.

JOB SEARCHERS PRIORITIZE WELL-BEING BENEFITS Well-being support is top of mind for job seekers who currently work at small organizations. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s 2021 State of Mental Health in the Workplace Report, 66% of employees feel better about their employer after using a well-being benefit, while 60% said mental health benefits will factor into their next job selection.

WELL-BEING PROGRAM INVESTMENTS The Virginia-based professional human resources membership organization reports that large companies are expanding their wellbeing budgets, with the total budget for these programs averaging about $6 million in 2021, an increase of 22% from $4.9 million in 2020.

A SHIFT IN WORK ETHIC Motivation has taken its toll, particularly among younger teleworkers. About 42% of workers ages 18 to 49 say it has been difficult for them to feel motivated to do their work since the pandemic started, compared with only 20% of workers ages 50 and older, according to the Pew Research Center.

COMPILED BY KATHY AMES CARR, CRAIN’S CONTENT STUDIO-CLEVELAND

SOURCES: EMPLOYEE BENEFIT RESEARCH INSTITUTE, PEW RESEARCH CENTER, SOCIETY FOR HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, “HINDSIGHT 2020: COVID-19 CONCERNS INTO 2021,” COMMISSIONED BY THE WORKFORCE INSTITUTE AT UKG AND CONDUCTED BY WORKPLACE INTELLIGENCE

Expanding employee benefits to encompass whole person health NICOLETTE RIOS President and CEO North Coast Administrators Inc. nrios@northcoastadmin.com 800-677-6690, ext. 114 Rios has worked for North Coast Administrators since 2016 in several capacities. Since assuming her current role in 2019, her focus has been on building relationships and utilizing industry-leading software that provides an innovative and personalized health and wellness journey for plan participants.

One of the most significant changes to the benefits industry brought on by COVID-19 has been the transition to focusing on the overall health and well-being of employees.

With isolating stay-at-home orders, job uncertainty, juggling work and family responsibilities and an economic recession, employees have experienced an uptick in anxiety, stress and loneliness that employers have tried to address in a number of ways.

Employers have quickly found that focusing solely on their staff’s physical health is not enough.

Employers and their benefits teams are tasked with keeping their workforce healthy. The idea of “healthy” employee populations is taking on a more

comprehensive meaning as we enter the post-pandemic world, including assisting with mental health and helping employees to manage stress. Increasingly, employees are expecting their employers to assist them beyond the traditional benefits package and support them in easing the strain of mental health struggles.

The emphasis on whole person health is no passing trend. In fact, 76% of employees agree or strongly agree that employers have a responsibility for the health and well-being of their employees, according to a November 2020 consumer survey by Alegeus. Additionally, 67% of employees say that mental health benefits are somewhat or very important to them. So how do employers who are looking to enhance their

benefits packages rise to meet this growing need?

When designing a benefits package to encompass whole person health, employers should look to data to help them determine where to fill in the gaps. Employee surveys can easily gauge where assistance is needed.

There are many ways to create comprehensive solutions. Employee Assistance Programs can be enhanced by pairing them with a lifestyle or wellness account. Both benefit accounts are flexible solutions incorporating assistance that is broad enough to help their entire workforce.

For instance, employers can design a lifestyle account that can be used by employees to offset the costs of a mental health counselor, while other employees may use it to pay for yoga classes or massage therapy to relieve stress.

These benefits give employers the ability to deliver financial assistance and perks that more closely align with what employees want and need.

employees on a financial and emotional level by offering these additional benefits, leading this trend toward industry-wide adoption.

With this shift, employees can expect companies to formalize their offerings and include them in open enrollment discussions as early as the 2022 plan year.

These initiatives could include lifestyle and wellness accounts, telehealth therapy, Employee Assistance Programs, hotlines and cultural initiatives that destigmatize mental health.

Employers have an incredible opportunity to be leaders in destigmatizing mental health challenges, creating cultures where employees feel safe in seeking assistance and ensuring that their teams have access to getting help.

Adopting these philosophies will drive outcomes to healthier teams, while attracting and maintaining talent and driving down benefit costs.

Many large employers already have implemented whole person health in 2020.

Apple, Starbucks and Target supported their

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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EMPLOYEE BENEFITS MEETING ON-SITE AND REMOTE EMPLOYEES’ NEEDS While last year’s open enrollment period largely was a virtual affair due to the work-from-home consequences of the pandemic, the upcoming 2022 open enrollment process foretells of a different reality: working with a hybrid workforce. Most companies and organizations will conduct their open enrollment between late November and early December, which affords a unique situation — and opportunity — to highlight their value and benefits packages. Employers will need to tailor their communication strategy accordingly.

MIXED MEDIA

COMMUNICATION IS KEY

HOME IS WHERE THE WORK IS

Companies and organizations will need to utilize different communication channels. Instant messaging apps such as iMessage and Slack are helpful and enable document sharing.

Certain social media sites such as LinkedIn provide another opportunity to disseminate important deadlines and benefits offerings.

Video conferencing software such as Zoom and Google Meet are useful for facilitating dialogue among employers and employees.

A thoughtful and intentional communication strategy also conveys clarity about work hours and other workplace expectations. Employees also see a consistent communication stream as a way to allay any uncertainties. They want leaders to listen and respond to them, while still being able to connect with colleagues, according to a global research study conducted by McKinsey & Co. in January 2021 on what employees want in a hybrid work environment.

As part of the same global survey of more than 5,000 full-time employees, 64% of respondents said they would like to work from home one to four days a week. The same study indicated many executives feel a combination of remote and on-site work will become far more common.

A FOCUS ON THE EMPLOYEE REMODELING TRADITION Employers may want to think about setting up benefits to accommodate employees in specific locations.

Structuring health plan networks around a company’s office location no longer may be appropriate, benefits advisers say.

STATUS UPDATES Remote workers will need to keep their employers informed about any residential location changes. Remote workers could face medical claim denials, for example, if they receive care from a health care provider who is outside of the plan’s existing network coverage.

SOURCES: EMPLOYEE BENEFIT RESEARCH INSTITUTE, MCKINSEY & CO., SOCIETY FOR HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

The health, financial, and remote work-life integration aspects of the pandemic presented some unique challenges that employees still are trying to overcome. As such, employees may be seeking enhanced benefits offerings that address their mental health and well-being.

COMPILED BY KATHY AMES CARR, CRAIN’S CONTENT STUDIO-CLEVELAND

Effectively communicating with employees in a hybrid environment BILL FISHER Senior vice president and practice leader Oswald Companies Bfisher@oswaldcompanies.com 216-367-3292 Fisher leads Oswald Companies’ Middle Market Employee Benefit Practice. He has extensive experience helping middle and large market employers for over 25 years with benefits, risk management and health management strategy and implementation, specializing in financial and technical aspects of employee benefits plan design and employee communication.

E

ffective employee communication and engagement is critical for all aspects of an employer’s business, not the least of which is as it relates to their employee benefits program.

As an employer looks at their balance sheet, the health insurance alone more than likely represents their second largest spend after payroll. The employee benefits package is a critical part of total compensation, serving as a recruitment and retention tool that employers use to attract and retain top talent in a diminished labor market.

Even though employers have increased their investment from a benefits standpoint,

employees are still confused about their benefits, often unintentionally making poor decisions that are costing them -- and their employers -- money.

Employees cannot place a value on something they don’t understand, so employers need to rethink their approach to benefits communications to assure that they are getting the proper return on their investment.

Employers have been working for years to overcome this obstacle, but it is not easy. One of the biggest challenges that employers face is the multigenerational workforce. Not surprisingly, each

generation likes to receive information differently, ranging from in-person conversation to the sole use of technology through email, text, video and apps. An effective employee engagement strategy needs to account for the wide array of preferences and utilize several different methods of communication.

How do we overcome this?

The global pandemic has challenged us all in many ways, putting an emphasis on the importance of effective communication to a workforce that is no longer under one roof.

Plato is widely credited with the saying “necessity is the mother of invention.” It has always been one of my favorite analogies to use when explaining why we must begin thinking and behaving differently.

Technology will play a critical role as a tool to provide effective, meaningful communication to all aspects of the multigenerational workforce. However, we cannot just assume providing a technology tool will be enough. Employers must actively take control of health care spending by focusing on health care literacy and guiding employees to make informed health care choices.

This should be accomplished through a year-round, proactive engagement strategy that deploys communications utilizing multiple mediums.

For example, the Oswald Connect system was designed to engage employees and their families where they need to be met. The program utilizes a Virtual Open Enrollment meeting, explainer videos, downloadable app with push notifications, postcards, fliers, emails and more. Oswald has over 200 clients on Oswald Connect, and since the start of the pandemic there has been a significant increase in engagement with almost 31,000 page views by over 12,000 unique users.

Finally, understand the reality that getting more engagement is only half the battle.

Whether employees work in a remote environment, return to a workplace full-time and all the real-life pressures in between, the most important aspect of your benefits program to individuals and families is ensuring a positive experience once they take that step to activate (likely when they need it most).

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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EMPLOYEE BENEFITS MAKING A GOOD SAVE The SECURE Act 2.0 legislation aims to encourage Americans to save more for retirement. If passed, the SECURE Act would significantly alter the retirement landscape.

The following data take a closer look at some current retirement marketplace attitudes and trends:

RETIREMENT CONFIDENCE REMAINS RESILIENT

FINANCIAL PAIN POINTS

The past year has taken its toll, but retirement confidence remains steadfast, according to a survey of 3,017 American workers and retirees that was conducted in January by the Employee Benefit Research Institute and Greenwald Research.

Yet, saving for the future remains a challenge for many working adults who face pressures of managing current finances. According to a recent AARP survey that explored the financial outlook of working adults, 55% of respondents indicated a lack of money (55%) and debt payments (44%) are the biggest barriers to saving more money for retirement. Nearly one in four respondents (23%) dipped into their retirement savings or stopped contributing to their investments during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over seven in 10 participants are at least somewhat confident in their ability to live comfortably, including three in 10 who are very confident. Eight out of 10 retirees are confident they have enough money for a comfortable retirement, including one in three who are very confident.

THE FLUCTUATING PERSONAL SAVING RATE

SPENDING PLANS Most retirees do not want to spend down all their assets, according to the report. However, just over four in 10 respondents ages 62 to 75 said they plan to spend down all or a significant portion of assets in retirement, primarily for lifestyle, discretionary reasons and health insurance.

COMPILED BY KATHY AMES CARR, CRAIN’S CONTENT STUDIO-CLEVELAND

As of February, the personal saving rate in the U.S. amounted to 13.6%, down from 19.8% in January. Personal saving rate is calculated as the ratio of personal saving to disposable personal income (the amount of money that an individual or household has to spend or save after income taxes have been deducted). A five-year examination of the rate fluctuation revealed this current amount to be nearly double the rate of 7.4% in June 2015, although significantly lower than the five-year peak of 33.7% in April 2020.

SOURCES: AARP, BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, EMPLOYEE BENEFIT RESEARCH INSTITUTE, KIPLINGER, STATISTA

SECURE Act 2.0: The potential impact to retirement plan landscape MICHELLE H. BUCKLEY Vice president, practice leader, Benefit Plan Group Meaden & Moore mbuckley@meadenmoore.com 216-928-5379 As a practice leader of Meaden & Moore’s employee benefits and consulting practice, Buckley has had extensive experience with qualified benefit plan audits, operational reviews, tax issues and the unique complexities of these engagements.

A

s part of a larger spending package that was signed into law on Dec. 20, 2019, Congress passed the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act, also known as the SECURE Act. The SECURE Act’s goal was to improve retirement plan access and make it easier for small businesses to manage group plans.

Today, Congress is considering passing a SECURE Act 2.0. Here are some highlights: AUTOMATIC ENROLLMENTS & INCREASES The original SECURE Act encourages employers to automatically enroll participants in their retirement plans.

Automatic enrollments tend to improve

participation rates for the businesses (which can reduce per-participant costs) and increase retirement savings for participants.

The SECURE Act 2.0 hopes to expand this feature by requiring employers to have an automatic enrollment feature for newly eligible participants. Participants would be automatically enrolled in these retirement plans at 3% of their salary unless they opt out. In addition to automatic enrollments, participants’ contribution percentages would automatically increase by 1% of their salary each year until their contribution reaches 10%. Just like with the automatic enrollment, employees would be able to opt out of automatic increases.

INCREASE RMD AGE Most retirement plans require participants to begin drawing from their accounts once they reach a certain age, called required minimum distributions. The original SECURE Act raised the RMD age from 70 ½ to 72. The SECURE Act 2.0 hopes to raise it to 75. This feature would get phased in slowly over the next 10 years. These changes would give retirees more freedom over their investment earnings. If they do not need the money, they can let their retirement savings grow tax-free for a few more years before pulling from their balance.

INCREASE CATCH-UP CONTRIBUTIONS The SECURE Act 2.0 proposes raising the catch-up contribution to $10,000 for those ages 62 through 64.

OTHER CHANGES • Retirement matching on student loan payments: Employers would be permitted to make matching contributions into employees’ retirement accounts based on those employees’ annual student loan payments. This would simultaneously encourage individuals to pay down student loans and help them save for retirement.

• Allowing part-time workers to participate in retirement plans: Currently, part-time employees who are working at least 500

hours per year for three consecutive years can participate in employer-sponsored plans. Secure Act 2.0 would decrease that down to two years.

• Establishing a national database for lost retirement plans: A national database for retirement accounts would make it easier for employers to find participants and for investors to track down their accounts.

• Expanding multiple employer plans: Multiple-employer plans, or MEPs, reduce costs for both participants and employers.

The SECURE Act 2.0 would allow 403(b) plans to operate as MEPs, as well.

• Simplifying plan administration • Simplifying annual disclosure requirements • Expanding the opportunities to selfcorrect mistakes • Making it easier to retrieve overpayments that were made to retirees WHAT TO EXPECT We cannot know for sure what this new bill will look like, but we expect it to include many of the provisions we’ve discussed above.

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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COMEBACK

From Page 1

Perhaps more importantly, investors feel the development of an outfit like Comeback could invigorate Ohio’s lackluster VC ecosystem, which many startups have fled in search of capital and support in past years.

“Historically, there just has not been a lot of VC dollars in places like Ohio,” said Chris Berry, president of OhioX, the state’s trade association for tech companies. “So something like this is much needed and very important for Ohio.”

VC funds invested $156 billion in U.S. companies in 2020, which was a banner year for the industry, according to data from Pitchbook. About 80% of that was concentrated on firms in the coastal VC hubs. Less than 1%, or about $1.1 billion, was in Ohio.

Activity is picking up this year, however, with nearly $1.2 billion invested in the Buckeye State through the first half of 2021, according to Pitchbook. Nonetheless, Ohio’s share of the VC engine remains paltry in the scope of the country at large in what could be another record-setting year for the industry overall.

“In the Ohio market and greater Midwest, there should be 10, 20, 30 Drive Capitals. But you need to create an environment of risk capital,” said Mark Kvamme, co-founder of Columbus’ Drive Capital, which raised $650 million in new VC funds in early 2020.

“If we did that, this region would just explode, in my opinion.”

With its early-stage focus, Comeback, Kvamme said, is a small step in that direction.

Through its debut demo fund in 2018, Comeback backed Path Robotics, a startup founded by Case Western Reserve University students (Shane also is an economics professor at CWRU’s Weatherhead School of Management) that is developing AI-powered solutions for robotic welding. Drive followed Comeback’s lead with an investment of its own, prompting the startup’s move to Columbus.

This spring, the business announced another fundraise — led by New York VC firm Addition and featuring Drive — amounting to $71 million raised for Path to date.

“What Comeback is doing, we need more of that,” said David Croft, an attorney with Meyers, Roman, Friedberg

From

Jeremy Nobile: jnobile@crain.com, (216) 771-5362, @JeremyNobile

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“It was not a situation where it was one or the other, but rather this was a movement that benefits and encapsulates opportunity for all, but leading the climate really was the Black community,” she said. “We felt like it was a timely response and alignment with the catalyst and the momentum happening nationally.”

Jose Feliciano Sr., chairman of the Hispanic Roundtable, said he believes the foundation should have a Black fund, but he questions why there isn’t also a Hispanic fund — and why he has to ask that question at all.

To Feliciano, the creation of the Black Futures Fund is an acknowledgement that the existing distribution system is ineffective and inequitable. But it is just the first step.

“They’re doing it because the current system is not working, and I think that they ought to be given credit for that, for the recognition that the current system is not working,” he said. “And so to me, it’s just logical that the job you have done is ineffective, and you’re trying a different way, and I applaud you for that.

But I just say that it needs to be much broader than the approach that

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Becoming Comeback Comeback’s name is a callback to the spring 2018 “Comeback Cities Tour,” which has been described as a sort of Rust Belt safari for investors from Silicon Valley, New York and elsewhere looking to meet local officials and promising startups in the Midwest.

The tour was designed to sell angel and venture investors on opportunities in regions like Ohio. According to the New York Times, which documented “coastal elites” longing to relocate to cheap homes in Detroit and South Bend, Indiana, its mission seemingly was a success. By the end of the tour, the Times reported, many investors had “caught the heartland bug.”

A few months later, Shane publicly unveiled Comeback and its debut $2.25 million demo fund for early-stage companies during a fall 2018 event at the Youngstown Business Incubator.

Many of Shane’s investors are from the coasts. Some of his limited partners include names like Bloomberg Beta head Roy Bahat and Long Journey Ventures investor Cyan Bannister.

The inaugural fund deployed its last bit of capital, which has flowed to portfolio companies like Path Robotics (Columbus), FloatMe (Texas) and Paxafe (Wisconsin), this May. On the luxury bus that made stops for the Comeback tour not just in Michigan and Indiana but also Akron and Youngstown — with congressmen including Ohio’s Tim Ryan and California’s Ro Khana in tow — was Patrick McKenna, founder of HighRidge Ventures, nonprofit One America Works and investment manager Facet Wealth.

McKenna recently joined Comeback as a general partner as it launched additional funds this summer. Those include a $10 million rolling fund hosted through AngelList and the $3 million Comeback Capital Ohio Pre-Seed Fund.

McKenna, who previously said he’s “a little over San Francisco,” feels the potential for big gains from investments in startups in Ohio and across the Midwest can’t be understated. And it’s something the broader VC community has only become keen to in recent years.

GRANTS

From Page 1

“For the Cleveland Foundation to take this moment in time (to) consider some of the ways in which as a city, we have been triumphant, but also understanding that we have not made the kind of strides that we should have by now for our African American community, I think it’s a tremendous asset to all of us,” Pryor-Jones said. “And I think if we can begin to ignite change, with these kind of resources and the kind of support that this grant signals, I think there’s a lot of impact that we can make on African American families and this community as a whole.”

The high-profile murder of George Floyd — shortly after the killing of Breonna Taylor and other cases — prompted unprecedented demands for change, amid a pandemic that was highlighting and exacerbating health and economic disparities.

The team at the Cleveland Foundation had to take a deep look at what it was doing to make sure it was listening, hearing and responding to calls the

AP

& Lewis who works closely with tech startups. “And we need many more funds like this if we want to change the investment mentality in this area.”

Barton

Feliciano

community was putting forward, said Courtenay Barton, Cleveland Foundation program director for arts and culture, as well as racial equity initiatives.

And out of these conversations, the Cleveland Black Futures Fund was born. It so far has amassed more than $4.3 million, and in the first round of grantmaking awarded $1.89 million, with another round planned this year.

“Philanthropy in and of itself has, talking on a broad level, has been inequitable for a very long time,” Barton said. “If you look broadly at what has happened in philanthropy across the country, grantmaking to Black-led organizations has been declining since the 1990s. At the same time, disparities and life outcomes for the Black community have been worsening.”

Scott Shane, pictured at his Shaker Heights home, is the managing partner and founder of Comeback Capital, a venture capital firm looking for early-stage startups in the Midwest. Comeback has launched two new funds and is poised to take advantage of growing investor interest in startups in the American heartland. | GUS CHAN/SPECIAL TO CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Comeback’s Pre-Seed fund, bolstered with a $1.5 million match from the state via the Ohio Third Frontier Commission, primarily will focus on accelerator studio companies. Those will be set up by gener8tor and The Brandery in Cincinnati, and begin with their fall cohorts. Its main focus is software companies with applications in business and health care.

The core $10 million fund will focus on slightly later early-stage companies in Ohio and across the heartland, which Comeback defines as pretty much anything between the coasts.

There will be a focus on Ohio, though, and Greater Cleveland in particular.

Shane indicated Comeback is close to investing in a couple Cleveland-area startups, though he’s not ready to announce those yet.

“We are seeing some companies, including in Cleveland in particular, that look so attractive to use we might invest from both funds,” Shane said.

America’s emerging market Though company valuations here are about half of what is drawn in stronger markets, the cost of doing business here is cheaper. Capital The Cleveland Black Futures Fund is just one step in a long-term process in the foundation becoming a more equitable grantmaker, Barton said.

To some community leaders, it is too narrow and insufficient of a step.

Gus Hoyas, president of the Hispanic Contractors Association, would prefer to see one large fund dedicated to minorities who have previously been awarded fewer grant dollars rather than segmenting populations into their own funds. Although he thinks the fund was well-intended, he was “shocked” the foundation was stepping into what he views as the political realm.

Hoyas said he struggles with the fact that the Hispanic population also faces racial inequities and unique vulnerabilities, but didn’t get a dedicated fund. National figures show that various minority populations historically have received smaller portions of philanthropic dollars, and to balance the scales, the foundation needs to address all those populations, he said.

“I think they’re taking a political view on this that they shouldn’t,” said Hoyas, a Hispanic advocate who has worked with several nonprofits.

stretches much further in Ohio than in California or Boston.

“You need $10 million just to get started in Silicon Valley,” McKenna said. “In Cleveland, if a startup has $1 million to $2 million, they can go much further into solving their problems.”

The Midwest also has problems to solve that are much different than those coastal regions.

With its focus on AI-powered robotic welding, Path Robotics is an example of a company built for the industrial Midwest, compared with businesses out West focused on internet and social media applications.

“From an investor perspective, investing in the U.S. heartland is a bit like investing in emerging markets,” McKenna said. “You know what you get in (Silicon Valley). You get some good returns. The heartland is a bit more volatile with lower prices but higher upside. Investors interested in that are the investors interested in Comeback.”

Sharing his thinking is Frank Amato, a private angel investor in Cleveland and co-founder of Block5, a blockchain capital investment firm.

“What fascinates me about Comeback is they are super early stage,” Amato said. “They’re investing at the

Fab House is hosting community events and pop-up maker events throughout the summer to teach residents how to use digital fabrication tools. | DAVE HALL

The social climate of the past year, especially following the murder of Floyd, made for a critical moment where the response had to be in line with the movement and push for social justice across the country within the Black community, said Keisha González, program manager of social impact investing and community development initiatives at the Cleveland Foundation. She added that leaders in the Latinx community were calling for the same rights.

idea stage, writing $100,000 checks for companies of $1 million to $3 million in valuation. They’re the grease that oils the initial wheels. That’s where Comeback is situated.”

Michael Cavanaugh, a Chicago venture capitalist and managing partner of Regiment Alpha, loaded up an RV for the six-plus hour drive to Youngstown with reps from six startups to network in Mahoning County during the 2018 Comeback tour.

He’s among investors hungering for exposure to early-stage Midwest companies and excited about the menu Comeback Capital will put together.

“I think Scott and his team at Comeback are positioned incredibly well for what I think is going to be a huge boom in Midwest VC, similar to how auto manufacturing found its way to other places because there was an economic edge presented in other geographies,” he said. “That’s just what Comeback is doing. They’re moving quickly. They found an economic edge. And it’s not just about the cost of living for employees. There is a whole bunch of factors that play into the Midwest being a perfect hub for a VC boom.”

24 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | JULY 19, 2021

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APARTMENTS

“It’s not going to appeal to everybody,” said developer Rick Maron, who dreamed up the design that he likens to a Swiss Army knife, compact and loaded with tools.

“If you have four kids, you’re not going to want to live there. But it does, I think, hit a niche market that is probably important — and that is probably going to grow.”

Builders in Cleveland have been talking about micro-apartments for at least a decade. But small living spaces have been slow to materialize in a relatively affordable Midwestern city. Now, driven by shifting demographics and high construction costs, micro-units are popping up on more floor plans, both for ground-up projects and redevelopment deals.

“They’re building all types of new units. So why not these?” Ralph McGreevy, executive vice president of the Northern Ohio Apartment Association, said of developers. “It just adds one whole other element of choice that people get to make. And I used to think it was an economic choice. I don’t think that so much anymore. I think it’s a lifestyle.”

The product that Berusch and Maron are pitching is particularly unusual. The units are small, yes. But they’re also furnished, built around that rotating wall, cabinets, that drop-down queen-size bed, the adaptable table and a fold-out couch.

“Basically, you move in with a suitcase, and that’s all you need,” Maron said.

The pair opened their first building, the eight-unit Mikros Smart Suites, in late 2019 in Glenville, just north of University Circle. Last spring, Maron finished off a second eight-unit project on West 14th Street in Tremont.

On Larchmere Boulevard, on the city’s East Side, the developers are stacking 29 units like Legos at a three-story building called Mikros on Larchmere. The apartments, either 476 or 563 square feet, some with patio doors and balconies, are scheduled to start opening in August.

With each project, Maron refines a template that he hopes to replicate on other sites in Cleveland — and to export to other cities.

“I’m trying to make it totally flexible so it can be anything,” he said. “It

can be a condo. It can be an apartment. It can be an Airbnb.”

Micro-apartments are a late-career passion for Maron. He stepped aside two years ago from MRN Ltd., the family-owned development company behind East Fourth Street downtown and the Uptown project in University Circle. His sons, Ari and Jori, now lead that business.

“He basically retired from MRN and, who knows, got bored in 15 minutes,” Berusch said of Maron.

“And said, ‘I’m going to invent a new housing typology.’ And this is it.”

Studios and one-bedroom apartments, which appeal to single renters and some couples, were leasing up fast at projects across the city. Maron saw that demand, but he found many small units to be inefficient or unattractive.

“The thing that always bothered me — basically, there was no storage in them,” he said.

“There was no bed place. You put your bed in your living room.”

So he designed a box filled with built-ins, with a 9-foot-high ceiling and a window at one end. The white, LED-lit space feels a bit like a marriage between an Apple store and Ikea.

“I think those small units, at 460some square feet, have more cabinet storage than my full-sized house,” said architect Daniel Sirk, who has worked with Maron for years.

The Glenville apartments debuted as short-term rentals operated by Airriva, a Columbus-based company that manages apartments, condos and boutique hotels for landlords.

During the worst of the pandemic, the units became convenient lodging for health care workers who didn’t want to risk bringing the novel coronavirus home.

Features that Maron wanted from the outset — wall-mounted heating and cooling units in each apartment, so there’s no shared air; wet roomstyle bathrooms with floor-to-ceiling tile and a detachable, magnetic showerhead — became selling points in a virus-wary world.

The Tremont Oaks project, built on a shallow site near the Towpath Trail, also is a short-term rental hub. Last

you’ve taken.”

In 2019, a study by a fellow at the Cleveland Foundation found that the foundation’s giving over the past 10 years to Latinx-serving organizations was not in proportion to its giving in other spaces, González said.

“So that provoked us to really start to lean in and start to look for what it meant to understand how we should be giving,” González said.

Now, the foundation is nearing the point of formalizing its strategy to make an investment in Cleveland’s Hispanic community, with “a regional understanding of the Latinx diaspora throughout Northeast Ohio,” she said.

As soon as the Cleveland Black Futures Fund was announced, donors came forward, which Barton said indicated to her that the fund was a vehicle for those who recognized the problem and wanted to be part of the solution but perhaps didn’t have the connections or know where to start.

The appetite came not just from donors, but from applicants. A seven-person committee of community leaders and foundation representatives, including Barton, sorted

through more than 220 submissions for the initial application period.

About 40% of those had never approached the Cleveland Foundation before for funding, and were doing work that was “unduplicated, innovative, interesting, urgent,” she said.

The committee was “overwhelmed,” Barton said, with the positive reception from the community with people saying they felt seen, appreciated and understood in a way they hadn’t in a long time. Through the process, the foundation learned that many nonprofits had assumed that their scale or size would have made them ineligible for funding from the Cleveland Foundation, or the foundation wouldn’t have been interested in their work.

Those organizations now seeing themselves as able to approach the foundation “is a big win for everybody,” Barton said.

Writers in Residence received a $50,000 grant from the fund, which will help the nonprofit bolster its internal capacity, hire more people and fulfill its mission of teaching creative writing to youth who are incarcerated and assist in their re-entry.

From Page 1

Above: A rotating wall with a mounted television serves as a divider between the living area and an office or bedroom at the micro-apartments. The units were designed around custom fixtures and furniture. Left: The micro-apartments can function as a single, open space, in this case configured as a kitchen, a living room and an office near the windows. In this layout, the bed is hidden inside the wall behind the television, near the windows. | PHOTOS BY SETH MYERS/VITALITY PICTURES

we have to offer people, especially people from other countries, is a lot of space. I felt like we were shortchanging our international guests,” he said. “But week, a unit advertised on Airbnb I think Russell’s onto something.” carried a nightly rate of $94 — for a Maron believes the model also has total bill of $166, with the cleaning potential to attract jet-setting retirCRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | fee, service fee and taxes. ees. What if, he asks, you could sell a Heading into the school year, Be- large suburban home, shed your berusch is transitioning some of the longings and buy three identical miGlenville apartments, close to Case cro-condos — and spend four Western Reserve University, to months in Cleveland, then in southern Florida, then overseas?

12-month leases.

“You could make the exterior arMikros on Larchmere will be a more traditional apartment project, chitecture anything you would want,” with monthly rents of $1,425 to he said.

He wouldn’t identify the two other $1,599 — including utilities, wireless internet access, parking, furniture sites he’s looking at in the city.

But in May, the Cleveland Landand a wall-mounted smart television.

Residents will have access to an elec- marks Commission approved a tric car- and bike-share program, three-story, 12 micro-unit building that Berusch and Maron proposed with a modest monthly stipend.

International students seem notably on Hessler Road in University Circle. interested so far, said Berusch, a former The developers declined to discuss Case development vice president who Hessler, where their plans were met with fierce pushback from neighbors. has experience with student housing.

Berusch said the eight-unit temMcGreevy was skeptical about the product before seeing the apart- plate, which can fit on a residential lot, could be one way to add density to ments in Glenville.

“If you come to Cleveland, one thing neighborhoods and, with the right fiZachary Thomas, executive director of Writers in Residence, said he hopes the dollars will help him attract further grants. Having a grant from a major funder like the Cleveland Foundation lends credibility and weight.

Funders “want to see you have results or other backing, but you’re trying to also get backing at the same time from them,” he said. “Money begets money. … It signals to others, ‘OK. They’re supporting this organization. We can support them too.’ ” Moving forward, Pryor-Jones, of Fab House, hopes to meet some of the other grantees to share best practices, learn from other leaders and find ways to collaborate.

“Any time that you can create a process that is really deliberate about going into spaces and speaking to people that aren’t the usual suspects is an opportunity for more networking and collaboration to be created, she said. “And I think all of the grantees that were funded by this process will benefit from that in some way.”

Lydia Coutré: lcoutre@crain.com, (216) 771-5479, @LydiaCoutre

nancing, offer more affordable housing at a time when rents and home prices are rising across the country.

“There’s not just insufficient affordable housing. We really have an undersupply of housing across the board, both single family and multiS E P T E M B E R 3 - 9 , 2 018 | PA G E 2 5 family,” said Mark Obrinsky, senior vice president of research and chief economist for the National Multifamily Housing Council in Washington, D.C. “Anywhere people are looking to live, we don’t have enough housing.”

Obrinsky hasn’t seen much research on micro-apartments or convertible designs like the ones Maron dreamed up. He characterized 400 to 500 square feet as a small studio — not a truly tiny space that might feel claustrophobic for tenants.

“It’s something that was talked about a lot more, say, four years ago or so,” he said of national discussions about pint-sized rentals. “And, at that time, the big joke was a micro-unit in Texas is 1,000 square feet. So it depends on the market.”

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

Advertising Section

CLASSIFIEDS To place your listing in Crain’s Cleveland Classifieds, contact Ainsley Burgess at 313-446-0455 or email ainsley.burgess@crain.com ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTING

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PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

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

ADVERTISING / MARKETING

LAW

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Sikich LLP

Adcom

Benesch Law

Sikich LLP, a global services firm specializing in accounting, advisory, technology and managed services, congratulates Lisa Denholm, CPA, on being selected for Leadership Akron Signature Class 38. Lisa is a senior manager at Sikich LLP, where she specializes in consulting and advising not-forprofit organizations on complex accounting issues. The Leadership Akron Signature Program is a 10-month program for the region’s top leaders who are interested in broadening their community impact.

Adcom congratulates Sarah Hall on her promotion to Account Director. Sarah built broad client experience and marketing expertise in Chicago and New York City, before joining Adcom.

Since then, Sarah’s tenacity has been integral to support Adcom’s client wins. If you know Sarah, you know her incredible smile. Her infectious enthusiasm and delightfully competitive spirit inspire those around her to be at their best every day. To learn more, visit engageadcom.com.

Christopher Pendleton has joined Benesch as an associate in the firm’s Labor and Employment Practice Group. Christopher concentrates his practice on the representation of businesses and individuals in a wide range of labor and employment matters. Christopher has defended employers against claims pertaining to all forms of employment discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wrongful discharge, and wage and hour claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state analogs.

Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP

FINANCIAL SERVICES

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Cleveland Ballet

Cleveland Ballet

Park Edge Group and McDonald Partners are proud to announce the promotion of Trevor Holway to Financial Advisor. Trevor joined the Park Edge Group in February of this year and has completed the process to become an investment adviser representative. In his new role, Trevor will focus on business development, while also helping serve the Park Edge Group’s client base. Prior to his current position, Trevor worked in the sales and marketing departments of the Colorado Avalanche and Cleveland Browns.

A Cleveland native, Melanie Davis joins Cleveland Ballet as the Production Manager following a tour with Donny & Marie and graduation from Cleveland State with a B.A. in Theatre. Previously a stage manager for Playhouse Square, Cleveland Playhouse, Karamu, Cleveland State University, and Cleveland Metropolitan School District, Davis brings a plethora of knowledge. Under her guidance, Cleveland Ballet will continue to tour Northeast Ohio and Florida while venturing into new territories.

Cleveland Ballet appoints Eduardo Permuy as Artistic Associate. Originally from Cuba with training at Pro-Danza, Laura Alonso’s ballet school, Permuy enjoyed a sixteen year career as a professional ballet dancer with Joffrey Ballet, Ballet West, Smuin Ballet, American Ballet Theater’s Studio Company, and Cincinnati Ballet. Permuy’s experience brings a diverse knowledge to his methodology that he will harness in building both Cleveland Ballet and its official school, School of Cleveland Ballet.

Porter Wright welcomes new partner Kirk Roessler.

Kirk focuses on corporate, real estate and commercial finance matters. He assists middle-market businesses with general corporate/business matters and M&A transactions.

He has over 30 years’ experience representing commercial lenders and borrowers in connection with both loan originations and troubled-debt workouts.

Porter Wright is excited to add Kirk’s broad-based practice and experience to its Cleveland office.

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Falls & Co. Falls & Co. announces the promotion of Kevin Ament to Vice President, Integrated Strategy. Over the past year, Kevin’s exceptional work ethic, leadership and expertise has been instrumental in the growth and success of many of his clients and the firm. In his new role, Kevin will continue to lead strategy for integrated accounts and further build a team responsible for content strategy, search engine optimization, and social media strategy and production. www.FallsandCo. com

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Falls & Co. Hannah Wineland joins Falls & Co. as Director of Search Engine Optimization after working with the agency as a freelancer for over a year. Previously, Hannah led her own firm, Root Digital, for six years; was an SEO strategist at Fathom Marketing; held communications roles at Eaton and University of Pittsburgh, but initially started her career as a high school English teacher. Hannah earned her bachelor’s degree from Ashland University and master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon. www.FallsandCo.com

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Ancora is happy to announce that Ms. Kortni Spates, CPA has joined the firm as an Assistant Vice President and Financial Accountant. Prior to joining Ancora, Kortni served as a staff accountant with Martinet Recchia. She has prior experience in accounts receivable and bookkeeping roles as well as client service experience. Kortni earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting with a Minor in Finance from Cleveland State University and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Laura Villwock joins Cleveland Ballet’s team as Director of Development. She brings an extensive background in fundraising, communication, and finance. Previously, Mrs. Villwock served as Manager of Development and Operations for the Center for Marketing and Opinion research. Most recently, she was with Direction Home Akron Area Agency on Aging, where she managed marketing and community relations. Mrs. Villwock earned her B.A. from the University of Akron and her M.B.A. from Ohio University.

Cleveland Ballet Cleveland Ballet is delighted to have Gabrielle Crandall join its staff as the Executive Assistant to the Artistic Director.

She is a recent graduate of Liberty University’s Theatre Arts program and has a multitude of experience in customer service management. She is looking forward to utilizing her expertise to serve in this new capacity, working to maintain and enhance the functioning of both Cleveland Ballet’s company and official school, School of Cleveland Ballet.

THE WEEK MARKET FORCES: The owner of downtown Cleveland’s ailing Tower City mall hopes to revive the property as a retail, dining and entertainment destination. Since buying the mall in early 2016, Detroit-based Bedrock has been trying to determine the right approach to the 366,000-square-foot center, which sits above Cleveland’s central train station and is bookended by offices, hotels and apartments. During an interview, Bedrock CEO Kofi Bonner said the company now plans to transform the space into a “marketplace,” home to a mix of local and national retailers, pop-up shops, restaurants and a wide range of events. He described the concept as something much broader than a mall, a sort of supersized market hall where entertainment will be a key feature. “We’re looking at bringing art into the space to really light it up differently,” he said.

STARTING FRESH: The developers of a proposed construction training institute on Cleveland’s East Side have scrapped plans to produce asphalt and concrete along the Opportunity Corridor. Norman Edwards and Fred Perkins confirmed that they’ve removed a concrete plant and an asphalt plant from their plans for remaking a 9-acre site off East 79th Street. Debate over the facilities was stalling their progress on the Construction Opportunity Institute of Cleveland, the school where they hope to train young people to work in the trades. The decision doesn’t mean that Edwards, the president of the Black Contractors Group, and Perkins, a retired contractor, are walking away from the plants entirely. Instead, they are looking at heavily industrial areas of Cleveland as possible manufacturing locations.

SEE WHAT DEVELOPS: The Greater Cleveland Partnership was awarded a five-year, $1.9 million federal grant to help create a Minority Business Development Assistance Center in Cleveland, the organization announced Wednesday, July 14. The MBDA Center will use the funds to support certified Minority Business Enterprises with revenues of $500,000 and more, in part by providing advisers to connect those companies with the statewide resources and programs necessary for accelerating growth, GCP said. Baiju R. Shah, president and CEO of GCP, said the center is “essential to advancing both growth and prosperity” in Northeast Ohio.

THAT’S SETTLED:The head of the Cleveland Teachers Union and a mysterious organization that waged an unsuccessful war last year to defeat a school levy settled a legal battle, effectively ending an effort to unmask opponents of the tax renewal and increase. A consent order filed with the Ohio Elections Commission resolves two complaints over the actions of Cleveland’s Future Fund LLC, the dark-money group behind anti-levy mailings and ads that appeared on social media platforms.

Both cases have been dismissed, according to archived video from the public body’s June 24 virtual meeting. Cleveland’s Future Fund did not admit to any wrongdoing as part of the settlement. The nonprofit limited liability company faced accusations that it distributed political communications bearing a fake address and a false name; sent out a mailing that omitted its name; failed to register as a political action committee; and skipped deadlines to file campaign finance reports and disclosures before the Nov. 3, 2020, election.

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CONGRATULATIONS 2021 WINNERS AND FINALISTS OVERALL EXCELLENCE, INDIVIDUAL P RIVATE CO MPANY Jennifer DiFranco, senior director, talent, Apple Growth Partners FINALIST Lesa Evans, chief human resources manager, MAI Capital Management FINALIST Donna Rhodes, chief people office, COTSWORKS, INC. FINALIST

Aug. 18 | 4 P.M. VIRTUAL EVENT

Crain’s Excellence in HR Awards will honor and highlight the full scope of work done by Northeast Ohio’s HR professionals, from companies large and small, and from all

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This year we are honored to host a thought-provoking conversation about diversity, equity and inclusion featuring a keynote conversation with Enlightened Solutions.

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RISING STAR LARGE (MORE THA N 50 1 EMPLOYEES) Lauren Ferguson,manager of human resources, Weltman Weinberg & Reis Co. FINALIST Amanda Calabrese, human resources shared services specialist, MetroHealth FINALIST Claire Holmes, global HR services director, Nordson FINALIST

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