Crain's Cleveland Business, October 23, 2023

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CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM I OCTOBER 23, 2023

City’s tourism numbers outpace Ohio, U.S.

By Kim Palmer

We’re not back to pre-COVID-19 numbers quite yet, but the region’s tourism and visitor rates are rebounding faster when compared to the rest of the state and the country, according to a new report from Destination Cleveland.

“We had these eight or nine years in a row, prior to the pandemic, of in-

creased growth in the number of people visiting here for leisure, business and convention travel,” said David Gilbert, Destination Cleveland president and CEO. “And we’re now picking up right where we were. We have seen good growth, but importantly, it’s growth above our competitors.”

In 2022, 17.9 million people traveled to Cuyahoga County for both business

and leisure visits, a 12% increase compared to 2021, according to data from Tourism Economics, a division of Oxford Economics.

Growth is always good, Gilbert points out, but the real positive is that the county’s visitation growth last year was double the state’s at 6% and slightly ahead of the U.S. domestic visitation growth rate of 11%. Comprehensive

data on visitation and tourism has more than a one-year reporting lag.

“We look at a city-to-city competitive set, usually Columbus, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Detroit. And right now both in terms of hotel occupancy and hotel rates, we’re also doing very well,” Gilbert added.

See TOURISM on Page 22

Legacy Village Carriage Houses hit the market

River Roots Barrel brings craft spirits to masses

General business-zoned parcel is being offered separately from the massive shopping center

The liquor-sourcing biz founded by 2 West Siders has backing from celebrity chef Michael Symon

By Stan Bullard

By Jeremy Nobile

See HOUSES on Page 22

VOL. 44, NO. 39 l COPYRIGHT 2023 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. l ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

JEREMY NOBILE

The Legacy Village Carriage Houses, a registered federal landmark from 1925 associated with the estate of Dudley and Elizabeth Blossom, have gone up for sale. The buildings have hit the market as an adjunct to First Interstate Properties Ltd.’s drive to sell the adjoining Legacy Village lifestyle center.

No asking price is listed for the Tudor Revival service properties.

They sit near Cedar Road behind a stone fence and are just west of the huge lifestyle center.

Cuyahoga County assigns the old garage, carriage house and two other buildings on a 2-acre site a market value of $1.9 million.

River Roots Barrel Co. co-founders Michael Boland (left) and Ryan Lintz.

With River Roots Barrel Co., some members of the Cleveland Bourbon Club are looking to bring to the public special spirits—some of the best in the country, according to these aficionados—that most imbibers may never otherwise have access to.

Founded by Cleveland West

Siders Ryan Lintz, 41, and Michael Boland, 40, River Roots is a new liquor-sourcing business with a budding distillery component, all of which is tucked in a refashioned storage space on West 121st Street.

While making their own spirits is a work in progress, River Roots’ See SPIRITS on Page 21

NOTABLE LEADERS IN COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

These leaders have track records of success and have taken new obstacles head-on, from pandemic challenges to inflation-related economic woes. PAGE 9

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Tony Troppe plans to inject more life into downtown Akron

By Dan Shingler

Developer Tony Troppe is not done building out Akron’s arts and entertainment district along Market Street east of Main Street, or what Troppe likes to call, “the Blu Zone,” after his Blu Jazz+ club and BLU-tique hotel there.

Troppe recently has been showing city officials and others his early plans to bring 25 residences, a jazz and R&B music venue, restaurant and outdoor seating and gathering places to the downtown district.

It all would be in and around the three-story Castle Hall building that Troppe owns and in a new six-story building he plans to build next door.

“We feel it’s time to move this project into high gear in ’24,” Troppe said, referring to plans he’s been working on to develop the Maiden Lane alley that runs north from East Market Street through a complex of buildings Troppe already owns between South Main and High streets.

“It’s going to be the destination to come to for dinner, come for the music and then stay the night,” he said.

The project Troppe’s launching would entail about 48,000 square feet of space, he said. About 18,000 of that is currently represented by Castle Hall and the remaining 30,000 square feet would be in the building Troppe plans to build on Castle Hall’s west wall, which faces a parking lot on Maiden Lane.

Troppe says the entire site will be made accessible by wheelchair, which is not currently possible in parts of Castle Hall.

The first floor of Castle Hall will include a new restaurant, Troppe said, while the third floor will become a live-music venue. Plans call for a lounge and cigar bar on the roof. The remaining floors will house 25 apartments, plus about five suites where visiting musicians and their guests can stay while they’re in Akron, Troppe said.

The project’s going to have in-

Developer Tony Troppe is planning a project in and around the three-story Castle Hall building he owns in downtown Akron. | COSTAR GROUP

put and ownership from two Black businessmen — Kevin Dorsey and Daniel Morgan — whom Troppe is partnering with on the project.

Both are heavy hitters in their respective industries — music in the case of Dorsey, and music plus coffee and tea for Morgan.

Troppe said he wants to use the project to involve Black entrepreneurs in downtown development.

“I’ve been inspired by what I’ve seen them do in Cleveland,” Troppe said, referring to the Cleveland Equitable Development Initiative that aims to spur and support Black developers.

“But Akron’s not going to play second trumpet.”

Dorsey, a former Akronite, is a well-known musician and composer whose credits include working with Quincy Jones on music for films such as “The Color Purple,” “Out of Africa,” “Glory” and “The Matrix.” Dorsey has also worked with artists including Mi-

chael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles as a musician, arranger and producer.

Dorsey said he’s envisioning a “present-day club out of the Harlem Renaissance,” which was the

school for the performing arts at the site.

“It’s going to be this generation’s version of ‘Fame,’” he said.

It’s also going to mark a homecoming for Dorsey, who grew up in Akron but found fame and fortune in California and is a Los Angeles resident.

Dorsey said he’s investing in the project after being introduced to Troppe and Morgan by his longtime friend from childhood, Gregory Edwards, a local deacon who also heads the Black Chamber of Commerce in Akron.

“I’m not relocating, but I’ll probably get a place here,” Dorsey said, explaining he intends to spend a lot of time on the project.

“Even though I’ve been away for 40 years, it’s still home.”

Dorsey will be investing along-

The entire project fits with Troppe’s long-held plans to transform Maiden Lane into a gathering place. home to the original Cotton Club.

“It’s going to be called Cotton Club West,” Dorsey said of his vision for Troppe’s project.

Dorsey said he plans to feature mostly big bands and current jazz musicians in the main hall on Castle Hall’s third floor, with smaller acts performing at lower volumes in an intimate lounge.

Dorsey also plans to include a

side Morgan, founder of Morgan-Baily Premium Coffee & Tea Co. in Los Angeles, as well as CEO of Rich Music Records in California.

Morgan said he’ll start a coffee company here called Blaguci Coffee. It will serve coffee, but he said its primary goal is to become a large roaster selling to retailers nationally. First, though, he said he’ll be opening a new restaurant in Castle Hall.

The entire project fits with Troppe’s long-held plans to transform Maiden Lane into a gathering place.

“Maiden Lane is an automobile connector. Now it will be an indoor-outdoor dining connector between the two establishments,” Troppe said, referring to Castle Hall and Troppe’s existing Blu Jazz club on the other side of the alley.

Troppe declined to put a price tag on the entire project.

Financier Arman Walker, president of S3 Procurement Services in Los Angeles, will work with Dorsey and Morgan for their part of the financing for their own businesses and as investors in the development.

Walker, who specializes in working with Black entrepreneurs, said that while it’s often tough to fund new minority startups, Morgan and Dorsey likely will have little trouble. The fact that they have track records in businesses related to their new ventures will make them attractive to investors, he predicts.

“A lot of capital funds are looking for clients just like this,” Walker said.

How much Walker needs to raise, though, has yet to be determined.

The timeline for the project also is a bit up in the air.

“I like to tell people I hope it happens in my lifetime. But we can be a bit more definitive than that,” Troppe said. “The construction timeline is about 16 months, but there are phases that will be opening sooner.”

He said he hopes to start next spring or summer.

Superior Energy fueling its rapid growth with propane

By Dan Shingler

Superior Energy Systems in Columbia Station says it’s experiencing rapid growth due to the increased use of propane as a fuel for vehicles and for heating factories, warehouses, schools and other facilities in rural locations where there are no natural gas lines available.

“We’ve grown on both sides of the business, but since we started autogas four or five years ago, things have taken off,” said Derek Rimko, Superior’s co-owner and vice president of operations.

Autogas, as its name suggests, is a vehicle fueling system. Superior makes and sells the system to its clients in the U.S. and Canada. In many cases in the U.S., it also installs and services the systems,

Rimko said.

Superior decided about five years ago to pursue vehicle refueling stations as a new line of business and, since then, it’s become a major driver of the company’s revenues, Rimko said.

“The autogas stuff has taken off since we started it. It’s probably a third of our business here now,” Rimko said.

And as autogas has grown, so has the company as a whole, he said.

Superior’s sales have gone from about $7 million to more than $10 million a year over the last five years as autogas has gained traction, Rimko said. The firm’s headcount has similarly increased over that same period, from about 12 people to 25 today, he said.

The company sells the vehicle refueling systems to schools, bus sys-

tems, and other fleet operators, which Rimko said are increasingly turning to propane as a fuel for their vehicles because it’s both cost-effective and has lower emissions than gasoline or diesel fuels.

Locally, the Cleveland School District is using a Superior autogas system, as is Lake County’s Laketran transit service.

That business provides a steady flow of revenue that helps Superior even out its growth, which can come in spurts when it does larger infrastructure projects, Rimko said.

But those larger projects are coming in more often, too, he said, as more manufacturing plants, warehouses and distribution centers choose to locate in more rural areas that don’t have natural gas lines.

That includes, Rimko said, big Amazon warehouses, and Superior has installed the infrastructure for two of those to use propane for heating.

About two-thirds of Superior’s business still comes from such installations, as well as from infrastructure at industrial plants and propane processing points, like rail transfer facilities that fill 60,000- and 90,000-gallon train tanks with compressed propane.

More propane is being used because more of it is being produced in the U.S., Rimko said. Propane is a byproduct of natural gas processing, and as the U.S. has dramatically increased its natural gas production in recent years, propane supplies have also increased.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the

amount of propane produced in the U.S., which was less than 20 million barrels a year for decades before 2010, has risen to more than 60 million barrels produced in 2021 and 2022.

Meanwhile, the price of propane has fallen, from a recent high of about $1.50 per gallon in 2022, to about $1 per gallon today, the EIA reports.

Rimko thinks the trends that are driving Superior’s business today should continue to fuel its growth, with vehicle fueling systems leading the charge.

“I don’t see any slowdown on the Autogas right now because it is country-wide if you will, and we do a lot in Canada as well where we don’t install them but we sell the equipment. It continues to grow every year,” he said.

2 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | OCTOBER 23, 2023

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FOR LEASE A “for sale” sign stands in front of a house in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood. Limited inventory and shrinking affordability are making it tough for buyers to gain a foothold. | MICHELLE JARBOE

September home sales slip, prices climb across region

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Home sales slipped in September as waning affordability and low inventory continued to weigh on the once white-hot market.

Across Northeast Ohio, sales of new and previously owned properties fell by 18.4% from the same month of 2022. Purchases also dipped from August as the weather cooled, according to a Crain’s analysis of data from MLS Now, a regional real estate listing service.

Prices, meanwhile, kept on climbing. The average sale price for a house in the region was $247,990 in September, up 3.4% from a year before. Condo pricing spiked, driven by the sales of two units at the high-end 700 Lake development in Rocky River.

State and national reports released Thursday, Oct. 19, paint a picture of ongoing scarcity. Existing homeowners who bought their properties or refinanced during the era of low interest rates aren’t enthusiastic about selling in a much higher-rate landscape. So there’s not much out there to buy. And the sharp rise in interest rates has severely crimped many buyers’ budgets.

“As we look at the market, interest rates are driving buyer and seller . . . confidence,” Akil Hameed, president of the Akron Cleveland Association of Realtors, wrote in a text message.

But the industry can’t afford to sit and wait for interest rates to fall back to 3% before deals happen, added Hameed, the bro-

ker-owner of FASS Real Estate Services of Shaker Heights.

“Getting more builders to build, lenders to lend and buyers to buy is vital,” Hameed wrote. “It will only happen by all of us communicating, providing relevant information and keeping the market informed about the process.”

The Ohio Realtors trade group reported Oct. 19 that statewide home sales were down 17% in September when compared with a year before. The state’s average sale price increased by 5.9% over the last year, to $275,461. That data includes new and previously owned homes.

gust, according to seasonally adjusted data released Oct. 19 by the National Association of Realtors.

The U.S. median, or middle, price for a previously owned home was $394,300 last month — up 2.8% from September 2022.

“For the third straight month, home prices are up from a year ago, confirming the pressing need for more housing supply,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the national industry association, in a news release.

First-time buyers now account for only 27% of purchases nationwide. All-cash sales made up 29% of transactions in September, the trade group said.

The Cleveland area remains one of the nation’s most affordable major housing markets. Homes in Cuyahoga County sold for as little $14,000 last month, according to MLS Now’s data. The cheapest sale in the listing service’s 18-county report was a $5,000 transfer in Columbiana County, along the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.

At the other end of the market, a buyer shelled out nearly $3 million for a condo at 700 Lake. A second unit in the building recently sold for $2.37 million, public records show.

Hameed doesn’t expect housing market conditions to change over the next few months.

“I see us holding steady through the new year, with similar stats,” he wrote. “So focusing on education and building consumer confidence is vital.”

“Getting more builders to build, lenders to lend and buyers to buy is vital.”

— Akil Hameed, president of the Akron Cleveland Association of Realtors, via text The organization’s monthly report carried a tone of tempered optimism.

“The housing market right now is getting back to normal,” Ohio Realtors president Ralph Mantica said in a written statement accompanying the statistics. “Interest rates and the number of homes for sale are becoming steadier. Home prices are still going up, showing that people think buying a home is a smart investment.”

Nationally, existing home sales were down 15.4% in September, when compared with a year before. Sales slid by 2% from Au-

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Flats East Bank tower foreclosure auction postponed again

By Michelle Jarboe

The office tower at the Flats East Bank project got another reprieve last week when a lender pushed back a looming foreclosure auction until mid-December.

That’s the latest update in the saga of 950 Main Ave., the former Ernst & Young Tower, which is at risk of a takeover by a New York-based mezzanine lender. The 18-story building, an anchor for a downtown Cleveland riverfront district, is the topic of discussions between Axonic Capital LLC and representatives for the Wolstein family.

Control of the tower was set to hit the auction block Friday, Oct. 20, at Axonic’s request.

Now that sale has been moved to Dec. 19. Uri Itkin, a lawyer for Axonic, and Brett Rosenberg, a senior managing director at the JLL real estate brokerage, confirmed the new date by email.

The tussle over 950 Main comes at a moment when office towers across downtown are teetering. Some are weighed down by debt that landlords can no longer refinance. Others are struggling to fill space as tenants downsize and hop to tonier addresses. A handful of buildings in the central business district already are in lenders’ or outside receivers’ hands.

The situation in the Flats stems from homegrown developer Scott Wolstein’s death. He died in May 2022, after a swift battle with aggressive cancer.

Lenders on the office tower view his death as a triggering event, one that spurred calls for repayment and notices of default.

Wolstein’s mother, Iris, and her team at Heritage Development Co. in Moreland Hills are handling talks about the tower’s future. Through an attorney, they declined to comment.

Iris Wolstein teamed up with her son and then-partner Fairmount Properties on the first phase of the Flats East Bank project, which also includes the Aloft Cleveland Downtown hotel, a garage, a gym and restaurants. A later wave of development added apartments, entertainment venues and dining to the 23-acre site, where there’s still ample room for construction.

The 950 Main tower is the subject of a potential Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) foreclosure. Axonic provided a $25 million loan to the landlord in 2018. That collateral for that loan isn’t the actual building, though. Instead, it’s the equity interests in the company that owns the building.

That means a successful bidder at an auction would step into the landlord’s shoes, taking responsibility for payments on a $75 million first mortgage on the property.

Axonic, which took control of the nearby Flats at East Bank apartment building through a similar process in January, is the likeliest suitor for 950 Main. But in a tricky market, lenders are treading carefully with office buildings. And the Flats tower faces vacancy hurdles as its anchor tenant, Ernst & Young or EY, leaves for the North Point complex off East Ninth Street.

UCC foreclosures don’t always move forward. Auctions get delayed — three times so far, in this case. And they get canceled if the parties can reach a resolution.

Court records indicate that Axonic and the Wolstein family are trying to work things out.

They’re also sorting through records related to Scott Wolstein’s assets at the time of his death.

On Oct. 4, a judge agreed to dismiss a lawsuit that Axonic had filed against Iris Wolstein in New York Supreme Court, a trial court where the lender was pursuing repayment of the $25 million loan from her under a personal guarantee. The case was dismissed without prejudice, so Axonic has the right to resurrect its claims.

In Cuyahoga County Probate Court, Axonic, a second lender and Harrison Wolstein, the executor of his father’s estate, have asked to delay a hearing until sometime during December.

That hearing is about objections to Scott Wolstein’s estate inventory – questions about whether the list of his assets is complete.

An initial inventory filed with the court late last year listed the estate’s total value at only $700,000. An updated inventory filed in early September revised that number to $10.8 million.

Creditors argue that Wolstein, the former CEO of Developers Diversified Realty Corp. and Starwood Retail Partners, was worth much more. In lawsuits filed in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in May, Axonic and Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Inc., another New York-based lender, are asking where the well-known developer’s other assets went.

The lenders point to a late 2020 balance sheet that listed Scott Wolstein’s total personal assets at nearly $106 million and his personal net worth at nearly $84.7 million.

Axonic and Apollo are seeking repayment based on the developer’s personal guarantees on debt for the Flats at East Bank apartment building. The guarantee agreements required Scott Wolstein to maintain a

Workers from Archer Sign Corp. start removing the Ernst & Young signs from the office tower at the Flats East Bank project in early October.

The building is now called 950 Main Ave. | MICHELLE JARBOE

certain net worth and a minimum level of liquidity.

The lenders allege that some of Wolstein’s assets were improperly transferred to related people, entities and trusts at or near the time of his death, leaving the estate near-empty.

The two lawsuits have been consolidated. In early October, at the request of all the parties, Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey Saffold agreed to give the estate until early January to respond to the lenders’ allegations. He also pushed back an initial hearing until late January.

That extended timeline will give the parties more time to analyze documents, continue their discussions and determine whether the issues raised in the litigation can be resolved, the lawyers for Apollo, Axonic, Harrison Wolstein and the estate wrote in a memo to the court.

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EDITORIAL

Yes on Tri-C levy and no to Jim Jordan E

fter three tries, Ohioan Jim Jordan didn’t become Speaker of the House, though the way things have gone with respect to leadership of the House of Repre-

sentatives, anything still might happen.

It’s looking less likely, but we could have a Speaker Jordan, soon or down the line. And that would not be a good thing, if you care even slightly about governing.

There are, traditionally, some advantages to having a Speaker from your state. It certainly makes it easier for some of those long-sought projects to finally materialize.

But you don’t have to be particularly partisan to recognize that Jordan, who represents Ohio’s 4th District when he’s not courting his true constituency — the national viewers of Fox News — should not be the leader of the House of Representatives. It’s bad enough that he heads the House Judiciary Committee, which provides a high-profile platform for his performative demagoguery.

It’s one thing to be a conservative. Jordan certainly is that. There are lots of conservatives we like and admire. But Jordan also is unprincipled, legislatively incompetent (not that he even tries), an election denier and a main practitioner of the politics of attacking people who don’t agree with you.

He’s fundamentally unsuited to the job.

We’re glad there were about 20 Republicans who blocked his path to the Speakership initially and hope they hold steady as Jordan and his allies twist arms in an effort to get their way.

The entire episode, starting with the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, gives the impression that House Republicans don’t actually want to run anything. They prefer being the opposition. It’s easier to take shots from the side than to try to get work done.

Jordan’s bid to be Speaker is emblematic of the tensions between people who are committed to governing — a group that still includes a fair number of Republicans, by the way — and those who just want endless culture war. The country deserves better. And it deserves better than Jim Jordan.

the pressure from benefits eligible employees to approve these drugs is real and therein lies the conundrum. GLP-1 drugs are currently delivered as injectables and are extremely expensive—between $10,000 to $15,000 per year. But the results have been encouraging and employees could lose weight and avoid costly claims and conditions, such as heart failure, stoke and kidney disease in the future.

For a fully insured health plan, insurance carriers make the decision for you but for self-insured plans, the onus is on the leadership of the company. Medical Mutual has strict guidelines around coverage for these drugs and requires a patient to have a BMI of more than 30 or more than 27 with co-morbidities like hypertension or type 2 diabetes.

“For our self-insured groups, only 10% of groups cover the GLP-1 drugs for weight loss,” said Kathryn Canaday, vice president of pharmacy at Medical Mutual.

Insurance carriers and plan sponsors have worked very hard to remove any barriers for people with type 2 diabetes so they adhere to their treatment protocol. As a result, GLP-1 treatment for weight loss built so much mo-

mentum initially because there was no pre-authorization required and the only difference between weight loss and diabetic treatment was dosage. Some plan sponsors are worried that type 2 diabetes compliance will now decline with the additional pre-authorization and step therapy requirements.

Clinicians recommend that if patients don’t see more than 5% weight loss after using the GLP-1 drugs for three months, they should stop using it. Adherence to them can be uncomfortable with 82% of patients reporting mild to moderate GI effects like nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and constipation. Rx Benefits, one of the largest pharmacy benefit optimizers in the country, said they discourage employers from covering these drugs for weight loss and have created clinical programs “to stem the tide” of over-utilization.

Some employees think that the denial of coverage of GLP-1 drugs for weight loss is counterintuitive if their employer’s goal is to reduce claim costs. However, balancing the cost impact for companies during a time of financial insecurity and betting on unrealized health benefits might be too much to ask.

CUYAHOGA COMMUNITY COLLEGE

veryone wants a good deal, especially these days.

But not every good deal is something that affects us personally, or even involves saving money. Some good deals involve spending a bit in the short term for a long-term reward.

Such is the case with Cuyahoga Community College, which voters have consistently supported over decades as it pursues a mission to guarantee high-quality, affordable education to Northeast Ohioans. Tri-C is seeking voter support again, this time for a 2.1-mill renewal tax levy and a new, 0.4-mill increase that will be on the Nov. 7 ballot as Issue 5.

We understand the sensitivity about any increase in taxes in Cuyahoga County, particularly at a time when inflation pressures household budgets and home values (and tax bills) are rising sharply. However, this is a case of relatively low cost and high reward, and in our mind, it’s clear: Vote in favor of the levy.

The ask is modest.

If Issue 5 is approved, residents’ property taxes would rise by a little more than $14 per year for every $100,000 of their home’s assessed value. What residents get for that investment is a school serving more than 41,000 credit and noncredit students annually, offering more than 1,000 credit courses in more than 200 career and technical programs, with a heavy emphasis on getting students ready for jobs in high-demand fields such as health care, information technology and manufacturing.

The school’s graduates stick around, too.

According to Tri-C data, about 85% of grads live and work in Northeast Ohio, which means the levy money spent on the front end helps contribute to the region’s economic growth.

Tri-C says it will use levy proceeds to keep tuition affordable — at $124.50 per credit

hour, it’s the lowest in the state — and to support technical education and workforce training.

Employers everywhere will still tell you how hard it is to find workers for open positions. Tri-C is a major component of Northeast Ohio’s pipeline to fill jobs in hospitality management, manufacturing technology, nursing, public safety and many more areas. As the economy has gotten a little wobbly of late, the job market has held up strong, and Tri-C is a significant asset to companies and institutions trying to meet their employment needs.

Tri-C has two current operating levies — the one on the ballot next month, and one that voters passed with about 64% support in 2019. Those levies have become more important than ever, as state support for higher education has declined and fees collected from tuition have fallen as enrollment dropped in the pandemic. (It has begun to bounce back at Tri-C but is still not at pre-pandemic levels.) Money from the levies accounts for about 56% of Tri-C’s 2024 general fund operating revenue of $222.1 million.

This is the first time Tri-C has gone to the ballot since Michael Baston took over as president in 2022. It’s “easy to explain why we need the support,” Baston told Crain’s last week. “What we do is about the real lives of real people. We’re about helping give everybody a shot.”

Tri-C’s commitment to affordable education is critical to providing those opportunities, for people of all ages and at all stages of life. It works with companies to create relevant, up-to-date training for existing and future workers.

A strong Tri-C is critical to bridging the skills gap and putting employment within reach of more people. The relatively small request of Issue 5 is vital in providing that.

Open configuration options

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PERSONAL VIEW

Wait on weight-loss drugs

H

drugs, like Phentermine or Alli, istorically, medications for where patients only lost 2% to 4% obesity have rarely, if ever, of their weight, GLP-1 drugs can been approved by insurance see patients losing 18% to 23% of carriers, while medications for diatheir body weight. betes have always been approved.

Since their introduction, paBut in 2023, the utilization of diabetients have been finding ways to tes drugs for weight loss has created access these drugs, both the a conundrum for plan sponsors.

FDA-approved GLP-1s for weight Companies want employees to lose weight, but at what expense?

Kate Hubben loss and others that are considered In June 2021, the U.S. Food and is an insurance “off label” (when an FDA-approved drug is being used for a non-FDADrug Administration approved a adviser with approved application). Moreover, new drug for the treatment of chron- NFP. when insurance does not cover ic weight management called Wethem, patients are finding ways to govy. Wegovy is in a drug class called GLP-1, or Glucagon-Like Peptide 1 Agonists, buy them, in cash, through compounding that has already been in the marketplace to pharmacies, diet clinics and online diet treat type 2 diabetes. The vice president of doctors. This market dynamic is forcing the NFP’s Rx Solutions, Nelly Rose, said utilization hand of insurance companies and plan of GLP-1 drugs increased by 90.1% during sponsors to make some tough decisions.

Companies make hard decisions at every 2022 and by an additional 35.6% so far in 2023.

Unlike the last generation of weight loss renewal—contributions, plan designs—but Interim Editor: Ann Dwyer (adwyer@crain.com) Managing Editor: Marcus Gilmer (marcus.gilmer@crain.com) Contact Crain’s: 216-522-1383 Read Crain’s online: crainscleveland.com

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 ClevEdit@crain.com.

Please include a telephone number for verification purposes.

6 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | OCTOBER 23, 2023

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Georgia Nix Miller (from left) and University of Akron president Gary L. Miller stand with Eddie Thomas, Maryann Street, Dave Thomas and Dr. James Mercer, the grandchildren of E.J. Thomas, at a gala to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall on the campus of The University of Akron. | CONTRIBUTED

Akron’s artistic renaissance takes city from rubber capital to cultural hub

By Gary L. Miller and Georgia Nix Miller

R

ecently, we joined hundreds of others from the greater Akron community for a festive evening to celebrate the 50th anniversary of E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall on the campus of The University of Akron.

The gala event featured student dancers and musicians from the University of Akron and the community, and was capped off by a stellar performance to a sold-out crowd by Tony Award-winning Broadway star Kristen Chenoweth.

The evening before the gala, in celebration of its 70th year, the Akron Symphony Orchestra performed original music by Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate and finished the evening with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony featuring the Firestone Symphonic Choir, the same piece they performed on their very first opening night a half-century before in 1973.

The occasion served to remind us of the impressive legacy of arts and culture in Akron and the surrounding area.

Akron, once known as the rubber capital of the world and home to some of the largest manufacturing companies in America, has always had a thirst for the arts.

A mere 38 years after the city’s founding in 1825, Celia Baker, wife of a prominent businessman, formed the Tuesday Musical Association. Anchored to that cornerstone – and still thriving – arts organization, the city of Akron enjoyed an extraordinary expansion of venues and organizations for the arts and music. The Art Department at the University of Akron, the Goodyear Theater, the Akron Art Museum, the Akron Civic Theatre, Weathervane Playhouse, Highland Square Theatre, the Chamber Ballet (which became Ohio Ballet) and the Akron Symphony Orchestra all arose between the city’s founding and 1970.

Spanning much of this time, Akron’s Howard Street, known as “Little Harlem,” became the Midwest jazz hub, counting among its performers such greats as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie and many more.

It was against this thriving arts and culture background that, in the 1960s, community leaders began to imagine ways in which the arts could be focused on enlivening the city and supporting the University of Akron, which became a state university in 1967.

From that energy, the idea for a grand communityUniversity performing arts facility was born.

The E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall, named af-

ter the then-president and CEO of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., opened with enormous community support and enthusiasm in 1973.

Now as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of E.J. Thomas Hall, we enjoy not only a deep regional legacy in the arts but also an expanding and ever more exciting arts ecosystem.

Extensive renovations of the Akron Civic Theatre and the Akron Art Museum, along with expansions of the arts and music programs of the University of Akron, began to fill out this very exciting ecosystem.

Other important developments included the naming of the Myers School of Art after Dr. Mary Schiller Myers, an ardent supporter of the arts in Akron and around the country. Also significant was the establishment of the National Center for Choreography at UA, with the generous support of the Knight Foundation and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Rubber City Jazz and Blues Festival, and the establishment of many nonprofit arts organizations.

Today, arts expansion continues. Guided by ArtsNow, the community-based arts coordinating group, and the Akron Cultural Plan, the community is organizing its arts and culture initiatives around priorities such as social justice, equity and inclusion, and workforce development. Dozens of nonprofit, government and University entities are involved.

There are also two large, creative projects underway. The first is an extensive renovation of Lock 3 in the heart of downtown which brings new outdoor performance spaces to the city. The second project, fueled by a $20 million gift from the Knight Foundation, reimagines the former Polsky department store — currently a University of Akron academic building — into The Knight Creative. This iconic building will become an architectural representation of the great arts and culture dynamic of Akron.

Like Cleveland to the north and Canton to the south, the industrial soul of Akron has always been nourished by art, theatre, music and dance. From the beginning, this great Midwestern city has centered its authenticity not only on hard work and innovation but also on expressions of the human spirit in all its wonder.

Come to Akron to be inspired, entertained and moved. Everyone is welcome.

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Gary L. Miller is president of The University of Akron. Georgia Nix Miller serves on the boards of ArtsNow and the Akron Symphony Orchestra.

OCTOBER 23, 2023 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 7

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OhioMeansJobs leaders advocate for transitioning group to nonprofit

By Kim Palmer

As the country experiences high job vacancy rates and businesses clamor for skilled workers, leaders of a joint city of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County workforce development organization want to transition to a nonprofit that they say will help bring more cohesion, efficiency and, ultimately, funding to the region.

Every year, about $20 million in federal workforce training dollars— dedicated to helping un- and un-

der-employed workers find jobs and businesses find skilled workers—flows to OhioMeansJobs, an organization run by both Cleveland and County Cuyahoga employees.

The unique and somewhat confusing structure is required as part of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), which distributes several billion dollars annually to states which then send the allotment of cash to specific workforce boards for training and services.

The federal WIOA funding is

based on the unemployment numbers of an area, in this case, Cuyahoga County.

If the setup structure sounds confusing, imagine working at an office where the co-worker next to you follows a different employee manual, has a different boss and pay scale and even has different days off.

“In 2006, the city and the county workforce development departments merged together, which was an improvement over having two separate entities,” the city of Cleveland-appointed executive

director of OhioMeansJobs, Michelle Rose, told Cleveland City Council members Oct. 10.

“But what came of the merger was a staff that has different policies, procedures and even holidays,” she explains.

There are 12 county and six city employees on staff at OhioMeansJobs. Members of the board, which is made up of 25 business, government and trade union representatives, each serve three-year terms.

Eight board members are appointed by the mayor, eight by the County Executive and nine jointly.

“Our accountability is unclear and our internal operations are inefficient,” said the county-appointed OhioMeansJobs deputy director and CFO, Laura Chalker.

“We have to staff operation

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through three different structures – the city, the county and our workforce development board,” Chalker said. “It is just very inefficient. In addition to that we are navigating two different accounting systems and procurement processes to do any of the work we want to do.”

The problem is so confusing, it makes it difficult to hire and, subsequently, take advantage of workforce programs that need to be set up in a short amount of time.

Chalker said it takes around six months to hire a new employee to handle a project, and that means forgoing programs that require funding to be used within 12 or 18 months.

“If we are going to hire a new staff person there are questions: Is it going to be a city employee or a county employee, and where is there an opening based on what funding has been allocated?” she said.

As federal and state workforce programs are developed to meet employer needs, the organization ends up turning those opportunities away because it cannot staff up quickly enough to take advantage of the innovative programs, Chalker added.

Another problem with having two different staffs, Rose adds, is that it can be hard to build a cohesive culture.

Rose and Chalker, who have both been at OhioMeansJobs for less than two years, are looking to expand the workforce training organization beyond just a service for those who are receiving unemployment benefits.

“Currently, we are limited to the WIOA funding and, as a nonprofit, we could accept funding from a much wider and diverse range of sources, creating leveraging opportunities to expand our offerings and serve more residents,” Chalker said.

The transition to a nonprofit also would allow OhioMeansJobs to move beyond only delivering services to positioning the organization as the anchor for a longer-term vision in workforce development.

Rose, a former U.S. Labor Department employee who worked with the Biden administration during the drafting of CHiPs Act and Inflation Reduction Act, secured $10 million in city American Rescue Plan Act funds to recruit, train and connect residents with jobs in the “built environment” — an umbrella term for residential, commercial, road, bridge, sewer and public transit construction.

Another selling point for Rose is that other local workforce boards have transitioned to nonprofit status, including Columbus. “This is something that I’ve worked on every day in my 15 months since I started the job,” Rose told the council.

In May, the OhioMeansJobs advisory board voted “overwhelmingly” to move ahead and request the move to a nonprofit organization.

If both the city and county approve the move, no staff will not be laid off but any employees wanting to leave and remain with the county or city will have that option before July 1, 2024, which is when Rose wants the new nonprofit operating.

The county council already has advanced it out of its Workforce Development Committee, and city council had another hearing on the matter on Monday, Oct. 16.

8 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | OCTOBER 23, 2023

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NOTABLE LEADERS IN COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

Here for you then...

Sleggs, Danzinger & Gill Co., LPA

Commercial real estate can be a tough business, especially now with the post-pandemic, inflationrelated economic challenges facing the industry. The 24 leaders noted here have track records of success and have taken new obstacles head on. Managing deals and clients both big and small, each has made great strides within Cleveland’s commercial real estate market, earning stellar reputations both as individuals and for their respective firms. Many have brokered deals for and developed the city’s most recognizable properties. Others are helping to steer industry groups that are fostering the next generation of leadership in commercial real estate. But each also continues to make contributions to his or her community, showing that the drive and dedication they bring to their jobs can inspire those around them as well.

Methodology: The honorees did not pay to be included. Their profiles were drawn from the nomination materials submitted. This list is not comprehensive. It includes only individuals for whom nominations were submitted and accepted after a review by editors.

To qualify for the list, nominees must be based in Northeast Ohio and have 10 years’ experience in their field. They must demonstrate an innovative approach to marketing commercial property and have worked on significant projects over the past 18 months. They must demonstrate accomplishment in their roles as well as the power to effect change and make positive and substantial contributions to their industry and community. They must hold a leadership role in industry and/or civic/community organizations.

Michael Cantor

Andrew Coleman

President, chairman and principal Allegro Real Estate Brokers & Advisors

Manging director, market leader (Cleveland & Akron) CBRE

Since Michael Cantor took the helm at Allegro in 2012, the firm has grown from 7 employees to 32. Allegro serves more than 80 clients annually with tenant representation, consulting and global corporate services.

Over the same time, it has achieved 20% average annual revenue growth. Moreover, Cantor grew a firm that disrupts typical compensation norms, for it has a salaried team structure and eschews individual brokerage commissions.

Cantor’s deals make headlines for headquarters projects for Medical Mutual of Ohio, American Greetings, MCPc and Middough Engineering. He has won a dozen Transaction of the Year awards from the NAIOP Northern Ohio trade group.

Among many civic contributions, Cantor is an alumnus of Leadership Cleveland and a board member of City Year Cleveland, The Music Settlement and The Jewish Federation of Cleveland.

— Stan Bullard

Andrew Coleman supervises the region’s largest real estate brokerage and services firm: CBRE has 350 full-time employees, including 70 brokers at offices in Cleveland and Akron.

Coleman was named market leader after heading CBRE’s office agency or landlord unit where he worked on international transactions, negotiated corporate headquarters leases and acquired or disposed of regional assets as well as consulting. Over his 20-year career, he won NAIOP Northern Ohio awards for Deal of the Year as well as the Traveling Gun for out-of-town deals.

Malia Robinson, clients services and marketing coordinator at CBRE, said that as market leader, Coleman is “motivational, inclusive, resilient, thoughtful and energetic.”

Coleman’s recent civic work included Holden Forest & Gardens, Cleveland 20/30 Club, NAIOP Northern Ohio and volunteering at the food bank.

— Stan Bullard

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OCTOBER 23, 2023 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 9

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NOTABLE LEADERS IN COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

$91,684 Average commercial real estate agent salary in Cleveland — ZipRecruiter

Dan Cooper

Steve Coven

Terry Coyne

Isabel DeRoberts

Ric

President Cooper Group

Executive Vice President of Asset Management Stark Enterprises

Vice Chairman Newmark

Senior associate Cushman & Wakefield | CRESCO Real Estate

Sen Goo LLC

It was a big win when Isabel DeRoberts, as a senior associate at Cushman & Wakefield CRESCO Real Estate, landed the K&D Real Estate Services account. She now is responsible for managing the marketing, leasing and tenants for the company’s more than 1 million square feet of retail and office space.

In addition, she completed nearly $21 million dollars in transactions this year alone, giving her one of the largest downtown office and retail portfolios, more than 4.5 million square feet in total.

Robert’s background in urban planning allows her to look at the work she does in commercial real estate differently. She has focused on projects that qualify for Historic Preservation Tax Credits and has helped redevelop 3 million square feet of historic property.

— Kim Palmer

R indu an i Goo Gro E com and of c exp two Gro Chi than T Ede com “R prof exte the are part Mar Chip

When it comes to commercial real estate, complex isn’t just a noun. It’s also an adjective.

Dan Cooper’s ability to navigate those complexities is a big reason why the Cooper Group has completed more than $1.5 billion in sales under his leadership, according to his colleague Jeff Zimon, the founder of Zimon LLC. “Dan’s unique skill and understanding of markets and trends is matched by his ability to navigate the complexities of legal requirements, banking and more to serve his clients at the highest level,” Zimon said.

The Cooper Group maintains a database of more than 45,000 real estate professionals, which allows the company to succeed when the market is challenging, Zimon said.

“The Cooper Group’s unwavering dedication and commitment to our clients keeps them at the forefront of the industry,” he said.

— Joe Scalzo

Steve Coven created Stark’s asset management division four years ago. But his work spans many departments as he oversees strategies for revenue generation, investor relations, strategic planning, leasing, commercial and residential operations and marketing.

Faced with a staff shortage amid the COVID-19 outbreak, Coven picked up the slack. His efforts helped the company emerge from the pandemic with an occupancy rate across its portfolio greater than 95%.

Currently, Coven is involved with Stark’s construction of a 400-plus unit complex in Florida, a project that has surpassed market expectations, according to his nomination.

“Steve’s visionary leadership and dedication drive our commercial real estate success,” said Stark CEO Ezra Stark.

— Jeremy Nobile

In Terry Coyne’s more than 25 years in the real estate industry, he has successfully negotiated more than 2,000 transactions totaling about $5 billion in value.

Last year alone, Newmark, where Coyne is vice chairman, completed 110 deals worth $746 million and representing nearly 7.7 million square feet.

Beyond his work managing a portfolio of more than 100 clients and a team of 12 staff, Coyne is the founder and chairman of the Habitat for Humanity development board. He also serves on the boards of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Village Capital Corporation, Innovate Ohio, Flats Forward, Greater Cleveland Food Bank and Magnificat High School.

“Terry Coyne has a long history of giving back to the community and investing in the future of young people,” Moira Clark said of him.

— Kim Palmer

Making a notable difference in the practice of law As a full-service business advisory and advocacy law firm, McDonald Hopkins understands the goals of our diverse client base and is committed to providing an integrated approach to practicing law. Our team includes attorneys well versed in real estate, development, contracts, construction, zoning, finance, tax, M&A, and restructuring law who work seamlessly with commercial real estate professionals to provide our clients with business-focused solutions to complex legal issues.

Learn more at mcdonaldhopkins.com 10 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | OCTOBER 23, 2023

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$88,816

Richard Edelman

Akil Hameed

Brian Hurtuk

Deb Janik

Senior Vice President and Principal Goodman Real Estate Services Groups LLC

CEO, Broker FASS Management Real Estate Services

Managing director Colliers

Senior vice president of business development Bedrock

Richard Edelman’s extensive industry knowledge has made him an integral part of the success of Goodman Real Estate Services Groups LLC. Edelman, who serves as the company’s senior vice president and principal, has almost 30 years of commercial real estate experience. He has represented two of Goodman Real Estate Group’s most prominent clients, Chipotle and Chick-fil-A, in more than 170 completed deals.

Throughout the pandemic, Edelman continued to prioritize the company’s growth.

“Richard’s energy and professionalism combined with the extensive market knowledge and the technology used by Goodman are key factors to our long-term partnership and success,” said Mark Heath, real estate director at Chipotle Mexican Grill.

— Paige Bennett

Akil Hameed is a Black entrepreneur who has become a force on the local commercial real estate scene with his company, FASS Management Real Estate Services. FASS bills itself as “the largest minority brokerage and management firm currently involved with Community Development work” in the Cleveland area.

With a team of more than 30 brokers, FASS oversees more than $50 million worth of real estate, Hameed reports.

That includes one site that he’s most proud of: Shaker Square. It’s Hameed’s hometown, where his company is based, and now one of the largest sites that FASS manages.

Hameed is the 2023 president of the Akron Cleveland Association of Realtors, representing more than 7,000 members.

— Dan Shingler

Brian Hurtuk launched the Colliers Cleveland office in 2012, bringing a familiar brand name back to Northeast Ohio after a two-year hiatus. Over the last 11 years, he’s turned what was essentially a start-up into a player in the often-cutthroat commercial real estate landscape.

Now, he’s preparing to step away. Hurtuk announced in September that he’ll retire at the end of this year. His successor is Kevin Malinowski, the office’s new executive managing director.

“Brian has taken a path of leadership and fellowship,” Shenan Murphy, a Colliers vice chairman who oversees the company’s Cleveland, Cincinnati and Dayton operations, wrote to Crain’s of Hurtuk. “He has used his resources to connect, influence and mentor many in the Cleveland community.”

— Michelle Jarboe

Deb Janik joined Bedrock in January 2022 to accelerate the firm’s development projects and strengthen its key relationships within the public-private and civic sectors.

Janik’s accomplishments include navigating Bedrock through its $3.5 billion Cuyahoga riverfront master plan. She also helped craft a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) plan for downtown public infrastructure improvements.

Janik is a key asset in Bedrock’s work throughout downtown as well as numerous city neighborhoods.

Prior to GCP, Janik served as chief of staff and chief development officer for former Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell. She also held leadership positions at the Cuyahoga County Port Authority and Cleveland Neighborhood Progress.

— Douglas J. Guth

Average commercial real estate agent salary in Ohio — ZipRecruiter

“Benesch is very aware of the value of time. When giving counsel, they cut through the clutter to highlight the most important issues. They don’t get lost in the weeds. In our highvolume fast-paced environment, that makes all the difference.

NOAM MAGENCE Principal, Executive Vice President and General Counsel NRP Group

MY BENESCH MY TEAM Learn more about our relationship with NRP Group at beneschlaw.com/myteam.

www.beneschlaw.com © 2023 Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP

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NOTABLE LEADERS IN COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

36.7% of commercial real estate agents in the U.S. are women.

— National Associations of Realtors

$24.7 trillion The projected value of the U.S. commercial real estate market in 2023 — Statista

$28.2 trillion The projected value of the U.S. commercial real estate market in 2028

GETTY IMAGES

— Statista

Frank Licata

Mackenzie Makepeace

Yoel Mayerfeld

Chr

President and CEO Flicore

Director of mixed-use development DiGeronimo Cos.

Co-CEO Chase Properties

Chie Indu

Frank Licata has a wide range of real estate experience.

He has participated in the conceptualization, site acquisition, leasing and development of retail, commercial and student housing projects in excess of 4.5 million square feet.

Licata began his real estate career after high school. He was an owner of LRC Realty in Akron for over a decade, where he developed more than 100 retail properties.

In 2021, he founded Flicore with partner Matt Kaulig, a continuation company that’s focused on growing its single and multi-tenant net lease retail portfolio. As president and CEO, Licata manages a $150 million existing portfolio and a $250 million development pipeline.

Licata is currently overseeing the redevelopment of the Shenango Valley Mall in Hermitage, Pennsylvania and the Parma Midtown Shopping Center.

— Paige Bennett

Mackenzie Makepeace is on the frontlines of DiGeronimo Cos.’ ambitious Valor Acres project in Brecksville.

The 189-acre, mixed-use development at the former Veterans Administration Hospital site will include homes, offices, stores, a hotel and a Sherwin-Williams Co. research-and-development center, in addition to DiGeronimo’s new headquarters.

Makepeace came to this role after working at The Max Collaborative, where she oversaw the Van Aken District II project, among others.

Previously, she had advanced from leasing agent to strategic initiatives director at Forest City Realty Trust. Outside the office, Makepeace supports the nonprofit Urban Land Institute, currently serving as vice chair of its Commercial Retail Development Council and a member of its Women’s Leadership Initiative Executive Committee.

— Judy Stringer

As the co-CEO of Chase Properties, a real estate investment platform, Yoel Mayerfeld had the vision to expand his firm by moving into the multi-family and industrial sectors.

He achieved that with a successful equity and debt capital raising plan, hiring experienced professionals and identifying effective partners.

The firm now has 35 employees who manage more than $700 million of real estate assets in 21 states.

Outside of his work life, Mayerfeld spent a decade volunteering for the Ohio State Teachers Pension Fund’s investment committee and previously served on the Jewish Federation of Cleveland’s investment committee.

“Yoel is a tremendous person, with high integrity, incredible intelligence, and impressive intensity,” said Umberto Fedeli, president and CEO of the Fedeli Group.

— Kim Palmer

In Indu LLC real then bas has mor of it to $ S wor Cen ties pro ove Akr men City Hei B as h Ben sha stud dev

Kevin Moss

Tori Nook

Jason Russell

First Vice President CBRE

Principal and founder Anchor Retail

Since joining CBRE less than nine years ago, Kevin Moss has made quite an impact at the real estate company. Named a “rookie of the year” in 2016, Moss has been promoted three times in as many years and attained the title of first vice president faster than any other CBRE professional in the Cleveland region.

Today, Moss is busy advising retail landlords, tenants, developers, landowners, hotels, restaurants, investors and sales via auction throughout the market. He’s also a Next Gen Cleveland board member for International Council of Shopping Centers.

Among some of Moss’ bigger wins lately is the listing of the Thunderbird Scranton Peninsula project. He’s also working on some other high-profile leasing assignments, including INTRO Cleveland.

— Jeremy Nobile

Tori Nook has been in real estate for two decades, a path that led her to launching Anchor Retail in 2016.

Nook’s firm specializes in investment real estate solutions as well as commercial brokerages, national retail and commercial property management. Nook represents prominent retailers, restaurants, landlords and developers.

A graduate of John Carroll University, Nook is a previous Crain’s 40 Under 40 honoree.

Additionally, she received recognition from the Panera Bread restaurant chain for securing the largest number of sites nationwide.

“Tori’s real estate career has been distinguished by her long-term exclusive relationships and high production of multi-state tenant representation, shopping center leasing and land sales,” her nomination stated.

— Douglas J. Guth

Vice president of operations and leasing Bedrock Jason Russell’s career highlights include managing the Van Aken District shopping center in Shaker Heights.

Russell is now harnessing that creative energy to handle leasing for the mall at Cleveland’s Tower City Center, where he helps attract budding entrepreneurs along with a diverse lineup of small retailers.

Besides leading growth efforts at the Van Aken mixed-use district, Russell also was a city planner for Lakewood, where he orchestrated the suburb’s Storefront Renovation Program and the Solstice Steps Project at Lakewood Park.

Russell, a former South Euclid councilman, earned a bachelor’s of urban studies at Lehigh University and a master’s of urban planning, design and development at Cleveland State University.

— Douglas J. Guth

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Chris Salata

David Stecker

David Stover

Matthew Wallace

Chief operating officer Industrial Commercial Properties

Managing Director JLL

In 2018, Chris Salata joined Industrial Commercial Properties LLC, one of the region’s busiest real estate companies. Since then, the Mayfield Heightsbased landlord and developer has doubled its headcount and more than quadrupled the size of its portfolio, from $880 million to $4 billion worth of properties.

Salata, an attorney who once worked for DDR Corp. (now SITE Centers) and Fairmount Properties, touches every one of ICP’s projects, including the makeovers of Chapel Hill Mall in Akron, the Geauga Lake amusement park site and the former City View Center in Garfield Heights.

But he still finds time to serve as head basketball coach for Benedictine High School and to share his expertise with law students and aspiring real estate developers.

— Michelle Jarboe

David Stecker carved out his place in Northeast Ohio real estate with big deals that have transformed the region’s industrial real estate market with new-breed warehouses and the jobs e-commerce brings.

Over a 17-year career, he has completed deals with more than $1 billion in transaction value involving the likes of Amazon, FedEx and Tractor Supply. His client list is a who’s who of developers such as Geis Cos. of Streetsboro and Westminster Capital of Chicago.

Joe Messina, JLL senior managing director, said Stecker, “has been instrumental in growing our Northeast Ohio industrial group’s market share.”

Stecker’s community activities include being a board member for Boys and Girls Clubs of Cleveland and mentoring in the True2U program which helps Cleveland students pick a high school.

— Stan Bullard

Principal and Executive Managing Director Hanna Commercial

Market leader Matthews Real Estate Investment Services

For a real estate broker like David Stover, selling commercial often means flying commercial.

International, too.

Over the last three decades, Stover has completed more than 1,000 real estate transactions comprising more than 30 million square feet in the United States, Europe, Asia, South America and North America, according to Hanna Commercial president Mac Biggar.

Stover is Hanna Commercial’s leading salesman and heads the company’s industrial department. In 2016 and 2017, he was named Industrial Broker of the Year for the Northern Ohio chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties.

He is also a member of the board of directors for the Northern Ohio Golf Association (NOGA), helping to plan and organize tournaments and raise money for NOGA charities.

— Joe Scalzo

Serving as market leader at Matthews, a national brokerage firm, Matthew Wallace manages the development of Matthews’ Cleveland office, including daily management and talent recruitment. He also is the firm’s national director of shopping centers and is responsible for the shopping center practice’s recruitment, deployment, and nationwide management.

Wallace leads 20 agents out of the Cleveland office across various product types, including multi and single-tenant retail, industrial, multifamily, leasing and capital markets. Over his career, Wallace is said to have completed transactions totaling more than $1 billion.

In his time at the company, Matthew has doubled the size of the Cleveland office while also leading the expansion of Matthews’ services into Columbus, Detroit, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

— Dan Shingler

The vacancy rate of the U.S. office market as of Q2 2023 — CBRE

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Guth OCTOBER 23, 2023 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 13

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NOTABLE LEADERS IN COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

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21.6% The vacancy rate of the Cleveland office market as of Q3 2023 — Newmark

Daniel Walsh

Gregory West

Diana Whisenant

William Willis

Founder and CEO Citymark Capital

Senior Vice President Hanna Commercial

Managing Director Hanna Commercial Real Estate

Daniel Walsh already had a prominent career before founding Citymark Capital, a private equity real estate investment firm, in 2015. He left a role with Huntington Bank as its Cleveland market president, in fact, in order to launch his own business.

Leveraging expertise and relationships in sectors from private equity to real estate, Walsh quickly grew Citymark, which has raised more than $400 million since inception and acquired 21 multifamily investment properties representing more than $1 billion in value.

In an ultimately prescient move attributed to a disciplined investment strategy, Walsh— who is known to appear on CNBC’s Squawk Box—sold assets in the firm’s second fund in early 2022 prior to the market dislocation that followed.

— Jeremy Nobile

Gregory West has become a big deal in Cleveland’s commercial real estate industry because of his ability to do big deals—and small ones, too.

He’s completed transactions ranging from $500-per-month leases for office space to $10 million-plus industrial sale-leasebacks. In addition to serving about 40 clients a year, he also manages eight office brokers at Hanna Commercial, Northeast Ohio’s largest independently owned commercial real estate firm.

West started with Ostendorf-Morris (now Hanna Commercial) in 2001 as a broker and now co-chairs the office services group and specializes in office and industrial properties.

One of his career highlights, he said, was securing the management and leasing assignments for the U.S. Bank Centre in Playhouse Square from Scott Wolstein.

— Joe Scalzo

Diana Whisenant’s team-building skills have contributed to her success in real estate.

As executive managing director at Hanna Commercial Real Estate, Whisenant manages the Global Corporate Services team, assisting companies in their occupied real estate.

Whisenant’s seven-member team handles sale and lease transactions for a portfolio of 2,000 properties around the world. The total volume attributed to her team in 2022 was about $33.5 million on 105 deals. She has assembled “a team of professionals that share the same value system, acting with integrity, honesty, transparency and putting their client’s needs first,” the nomination says.

Whisenant was named National Association for Industrial and Office Parks Broker of the Year in 2022 and International Broker of the Year in 2014.

— Paige Bennett

Senior director of development services Cleveland Development Advisors William Willis aims to change the face of the development business.

He joined Cleveland Development Advisors, the lending affiliate of the Greater Cleveland Partnership, in 2022. Willis previously worked at community development organization Burten, Bell, Carr Development Inc. and stewarded land assembly along the Opportunity Corridor boulevard.

Now he’s shepherding a new program to help small-scale developers of color grow.

“William is leading a pioneering effort that will be impactful for the community and ensure developers of color are ‘in the room’ – and have a seat at the table,” Yvette Ittu, CDA’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “William has convened key stakeholders on a cause important to Greater Cleveland. He is one of Cleveland’s rising stars.”

— Michelle Jarboe

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William Willis is about the people behind the transactions William Willis is all about the people behind the real estate deals.

At 35, he’s part of a rising generation of talent that’s trying to bring fresh perspectives, and new faces, to a business that – let’s be honest – isn’t easy to break into.

He’s the senior director of development services for Cleveland Development Advisors, or CDA, the lending arm of the Greater Cleveland Partnership. In that role, he’s leading the group’s work to elevate emerging developers of color.

With partners, CDA recently kicked off the Cleveland Equitable Development Initiative, a training and networking program. Willis also is stewarding a nascent collaboration among civic, public and private-sector organizations to improve access to funds and technical support.

In early October, he talked to Crain’s about his career path and hopes. This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

— Michelle Jarboe You were involved with workforce development before moving into economic development and real estate at Burten, Bell, Carr Development Inc. How did you end up in this industry?

I fell into real estate development by happenstance.

When I was at Burten, Bell, Carr, I sort of took that position

following Tim Tramble (the nonprofit’s former executive director, who now leads the Saint Luke’s Foundation). I knew about his reputation and his ability to get things done. I entered into the industry really starting as a learner. Learning how to do transactions. How to negotiate.

Being a forthright negotiator.

Not just paying attention to

the financials but also paying attention to the stories behind the transaction.

At Burten, Bell, Carr, you were responsible for land assembly along the Opportunity Corridor to create sites for large-scale development.

What did you learn from that experience?

You just want to make people feel whole and make people feel good about a transaction. You have to understand both sides of the equation. You have to work with people and operate with high integrity and have good character.

Because, ultimately, it’s not about what you have. It’s how you can relate to people and get people to want to work with you. It makes for a much better relationship when you have that and it’s not just a one-time transactional process.

You’re part of a developers working group that, for the last year or so, has been meeting with Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb’s administration.

Tell me about that.

It’s working together to get projects done but also trying to understand some of the changes

“I think Cleveland has a lot of opportunities, and I can see myself being a part of changing the landscape, or enhancing the landscape, across the city.” with a new administration. I think that’s what everybody wants. They want efficiency. People want to understand what’s going on. I commend Mayor Bibb and his administration for dedicating the time to not just listen but also give the opportunity for folks to provide input and feedback on how things are going. We looked at the tax abatement policy and what that looks like – and what that looks like in practice. Now we’re looking at things like the community benefits ordinance.

How does that impact a project?

What does the capacity look like?

We have this requirement. How can the city work with us to meet this requirement?

You’re working closely with emerging developers. What advice do you have for folks who are looking to get into the industry?

If you have a vision, you need to have numbers. You need to have

pro formas. You have to have a good financial structure.

Where do you see yourself going, professionally?

I’m still in this learning-whiledoing journey. Right now, I’m a convener and a connector. I like to connect people to other people, connect people to resources, just to ensure that things can move along. But I think, eventually, I will take on a development project or be part of a development team. I think Cleveland has a lot of opportunities, and I can see myself being a part of changing the landscape, or enhancing the landscape, across the city.

Assuming an audience of commercial real estate professionals is reading this, what else would you want them to know?

Let’s work together and just get stuff done. Solve problems. Get stuff done. It’s not rocket science.

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Lorain County Port Authority seeks Midway Mall proposals

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malls have made nice little business parks. And others have been replaced by new buildings.”

Euclid Square Mall, Randall Park Mall and Rolling Acres Mall all have become new Amazon warehouses. Meanwhile, Industrial Commercial Properties (ICP), the Mayfield Heights-based real estate owner and operator, has converted the former Chapel Hill Mall in Akron to a business park, and it remains in the hunt for mall redevelopment options across the country.

Tony Visconsi, a managing director and retail specialist at Hanna Commercial’s Cleveland office, said the development of big-box shopping centers in Avon, Amherst and Sheffield Village has shifted retail away from the mall.

Meijer and Menard’s already are represented in Lorain County, he said.

Northeast Ohio retail and industrial experts agree they see the best use of the site is as an industrial redevelopment. That’s because its location between Elyria interchanges on the Ohio Turnpike and Interstate 90 makes it an ideal logistical play.

George Pofok, an industrial broker and principal at Cresco Cushman & Wakefield brokerage in Independence, said in a phone interview that demand by industrial realty users remains strong even though rising interest rates and construction costs have likely stopped additional construction on a speculative basis.

“There’s the same lack of supply in Lorain County that there is throughout the region, with industrial vacancy as low as 2.5%,” Pofok said. “I’m very bullish on the location. There are different solutions, however. Some of the

A YF I

sponses will be how the proposals create jobs and expand the county’s tax base; contribute to the vitality of the mall and surrounding area; and provide the county and port an adequate return on its investment.

Connie Carr, the port’s legal counsel, said in the same Zoom call that the port will consider proposals holistically from the city and county’s points of view.

“If it’s a staged takedown of the property, or the respondents want one building over another, we will weigh what makes the best bang for the buck for the county,” Carr said. “At the end of the day, if you don’t have developers who want to pursue a vision, it’s wishful thinking.”

The port also asked project proponents to outline what types of incentives they might seek from the county or the port.

“There’s some remaining retail in the area, but for the most part, in my opinion, the highest and best use will be on the industrial side,” Visconsi said. “It’s a critical logistics location and makes a lot of sense for an industrial distribution center.”

Chris Seelig, a senior vice president in the retail unit of the Colliers Cleveland office, noted he sold the former Sears department store to ICP in 2019.

“I felt then that the whole site needed to be scraped (clean) and redeveloped,” Seelig said. “The retail market there has been slowly dying for years. And it’s getting tougher to fill those empty (department store) boxes. But it’s a great industrial site.”

ICP sold the Dillard’s and Sears properties to the port authority as it bought the remainder of the mall from Great Neck, New York-based Namdar Realty.

ICP said it believes the mall needed consolidated ownership to become a viable development.

ICP continues to own the former Best Buy building at the mall.

Johnny K’s Power Sports of Niles has a location at the former Macy’s, which it owns.

Midway Mall has had outsized prominence in the region.

The enclosed mall opened in 1966 as the former Jacobs, Visconsi and Jacobs of Westlake, now Jacobs Real Estate Services LLC, began the drive that would make it one of the nation’s largest mall owners. The empire was disbanded in a series of sales beginning in 2001.

M

The clock is ticking for real estate developers and companies that might want a shot at Midway Mall in Elyria, Northeast Ohio’s last distressed enclosed shopping mall redevelopment.

Insiders expect multiple bidders to pursue an industrial park play.

The largely empty super-regional mall’s owner, the Lorain County Port Authority, has set a deadline of 4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25, for online expressions of interest to buy or lease all or part of the nearly 58-acre site.

Amy Richards, chair of the port authority, said in a Zoom interview that the offering is designed to “throw a wide net” to capture the creativity of prospective real estate developers or companies interested in the site.

To that end, the port has created an online “data room” with everything from environmental reports on the property to aerial maps and a drone tour. The port acquired the property with a Lorain County government loan for $13.9 million last January, thanks to available county funds following the infusion of federal American Recovery Act money during the pandemic.

The port’s motivation was simple: to step in and take charge of most of the failed mall. The deterioration of the mall and loss of retail there worries area residents.

“We hope to get a lot of responses,” Richards said. “It is an important project for the city of Elyria and the county.”

Priorities for evaluating the re-

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CRAIN'S LIST | PRIVATE HIGH SCHOOLS Ranked by fall 2023 enrollment ACCEPT STATE VOUCHERS? TYPE (ROOM AND BOARD)

% GRADS ATTENDING STUDENT: 4-YEAR TEACHER # FACULTY/ RATIO % ADV. DEGREE COLLEGE RELIGIOUS?

HEAD(S) OF SCHOOL

$19,950 —

Y

Boys only; Day school

13:1

113 90%

99%

Y/Catholic

The Rev. Raymond P. Guiao, president

940 978

$14,450 —

Y

Coed; Day school

10:1

99 82%

99%

Y/Catholic

Fr. Christopher S, Fronk S.J., president

EDWARD HIGH SCHOOL, Lakewood 3 ST. 216-221-3776/sehs.net

869 915

$19,350 —

Y

Boys only; Day school

13:1

65 78%

96%

Y/Catholic

KC McKenna, president

ARCHBISHOP HOBAN HIGH SCHOOL, Akron 4 330-773-6658/hoban.org

835 800

$13,200 $4,700

Y

Coed; Day school

11:1

77 73%

89%

Y/Catholic

Chris DiMauro, president

PADUA FRANCISCAN HIGH SCHOOL, Parma 5 440-845-2444/paduafranciscan.com

750 730

$14,100 $7,500

Y

Coed; Day school

10:1

76 75%

99%

Y/Catholic

David Stec, president

MAGNIFICAT HIGH SCHOOL, Rocky River 6 440-331-1572/magnificaths.org

689 —

$18,500 —

Y

Girls only; Day school

9:1

83 70%

100%

Y/Catholic

Moira Clark, president

DAME-CATHEDRAL LATIN SCHOOL, Chardon 7 NOTRE 440-286-6226/ndcl.org

676 706

$15,900 —

Y

Coed; Day school

13:1

51 55%

97%

Y/Catholic

Dr. Jacqueline Hoynes, president Jodie Ricci, principal

JOSEPH ACADEMY, Cleveland 8 SAINT 216-251-6788/sja1890.org

673 685

$17,700 —

Y

Girls only; Day school

11:1

64 81%

97%

Y/Catholic

Kathryn H. Purcell, president

VALLEY CHRISTIAN ACADEMY, 9 CUYAHOGA Cuyahoga Falls

665 594

$12,500 —

Y

Coed; Day school

14:1

57 77%

97%

Y/NonJason Spodnik, president denominational Christian

VINCENT-ST. MARY HIGH SCHOOL, Akron 10 ST. 330-253-9113/stvm.com

655 661

$13,100 $8,500

Y

Coed; Day school

11:1

59 63%

88%

Y/Catholic

STUDENTS (GRADES 9-12) FALL 2023/ FALL 2022

TUITION BEFORE AID/ AFTER AID

IGNATIUS HIGH SCHOOL, Cleveland 1 SAINT 216-651-0222/ignatius.edu

1,409 1,427

JESUIT HIGH SCHOOL, Cuyahoga Falls 2 WALSH 330-929-4205/walshjesuit.org

RANK

SCHOOL

330-929-0575/cvcaroyals.org

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UPPER SCHOOL AND THE MASTERY 11 HAWKEN SCHOOL OF HAWKEN, Gates Mills

642 623

$32,330 $22,850

Y1

Coed; Day school

8:1

80 61%

100%

N

D. Scott Looney, head of school

NAME HIGH SCHOOL, Parma Heights 12 HOLY 440-886-0300/holynamehs.com

600 570

$11,300 $8,000

Y

Coed; Day school

15:1

39 67%

90%

Y/Catholic

Molly Krist, principal Shelbrey L. Blanc, president

HIGH SCHOOL WEST, Rocky River 13 LUTHERAN 440-333-1660/lutheranwest.com

562 507

$13,000 —

Y

Coed; Day school

14:1

40 33%

85%

Y/Lutheran

Chris Steinmann, superintendent, CEO, Cleveland Lutheran High School Association Joel Bahr, principal

ACADEMY, Gates Mills 14 GILMOUR 440-473-8050/gilmour.org

512 504

$32,592 $14,265

N

Coed; Boarding and day school ($18,800)

9:1

56 80%

100%

Y/Catholic

Kathleen C. Kenny, head of school

URSULINE HIGH SCHOOL, Youngstown 15 330-744-4563/ursuline.com

506 2 —

—

Y

Coed; Day school

—

— —

—

Y/Catholic

Matthew Sammartino, principal

CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL, Elyria 16 ELYRIA 440-365-1821/elyriacatholic.com

487 474

$9,400 —

Y

Coed; Day school

14:1

43 62%

96%

Y/Catholic

Annie Heidersbach, president

ANGELA-ST. JOSEPH HIGH SCHOOL, Cleveland 17 VILLA 216-481-8414/vasj.com

483 462

$10,700 —

N

Coed; Day school

13:1

40 50%

79%

Y/Catholic

Thomas M. Carone, president Lorenzo M. Jones, principal

CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL, Mentor 18 LAKE 440-578-1020/lakecatholic.org

450 450

$11,450 —

Y

Coed; Day school

12:1

38 72%

95%

Y/Catholic

Thomas McKrill, principal John Morabeto, president

RESERVE ACADEMY, Hudson 19 WESTERN 330-650-4400/wra.net

435 431

$46,000 $30,763

N

Coed; Boarding and day school ($25,250)

6:1

68 81%

100%

N

Suzanne Walker Buck, head of school

CENTRAL CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL, 20 CLEVELAND Cleveland

435 430

$10,500 —

Y

Coed; Day school

10.1

43 35%

50%

Y/Catholic

John Simon, president Sister Allison Marie Gusdanovic, principal

SCHOOL, Hunting Valley 21 UNIVERSITY 216-831-2200/us.edu

408 407

$30,668 $21,219

N

Boys only; Day school

8:1

50 90%

100%

N

Patrick T. Gallagher, head of school

MARTIN DE PORRES HIGH SCHOOL, Cleveland 22 SAINT 216-881-1689/saintmartincleveland.org

400 400

$20,000 $400

Y

Coed; Day school

11:1

38 39%

80%

Y/Catholic

Charles "Chaz" Napoli, president

HIGH SCHOOL, Garfield Heights 23 TRINITY 216-581-1644/ths.org

378 344

$12,407 $11,264

Y

Coed; Day school

14:1

36 48%

65%

Y/Catholic

William Svoboda, president, principal

HIGH SCHOOL EAST, Cleveland Heights 24 LUTHERAN 216-382-6100/lutheraneast.org

358 350

$10,550 —

Y

Coed; Day school

13:1

26 20%

90%

Y/Lutheran

Chris Steinmann, superintendent, CEO, Cleveland Lutheran High School Association Andrew Prusinski, principal

BROWN SCHOOL, Shaker Heights 25 HATHAWAY 216-932-4214/hb.edu

340 363

$38,600 $18,850

N

Girls only; Day school

8:1

59 71%

100%

N

Fran Bisselle, head of school

440-423-4446/hawken.edu

216-441-4700/centralcatholichs.org

Information is supplied by the schools. NOTES: 1. Mastery School only. 2. Information from Ohio Department of Education.

Get +260 school officials and additional details in Excel format. Become a Data Member: CrainsCleveland.com/data

18 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | OCTOBER 23, 2023

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Beachwood opens pickleball courts near aquatic center “It’s something the city has been asking for for a while and I think it’s going to be a great addition.”

By Joe Scalzo

Soon after the city of Beachwood finished construction on 86 fenced-in community gardens, it went to work on something showing even more growth: pickleball.

The city recently opened six new pickleball courts near the Beachwood Family Aquatic Center and tennis courts at 25125 Fairmount Blvd. It was the latest addition to the region’s growing pickleball scene.

“We might be a little late to the game, but we’re here now,” said Derek Schroeder, community services director for the city of Beachwood. “It’s something the city has been asking for for a while and I think it’s going to be a great addition.

“As long as we’re not wet, I don’t think the cold is going to keep anyone away.”

Beachwood’s pickleball courts are open to anyone and are available first come, first served. The city may set up a reservation system in the spring if the courts get too busy. The courts will include six benches with shaded seating, which match the shade shelters used at the pool.

The courts, which opened on Oct. 4, are part of a larger $1.4 million project that started with the gardens in May and included re-

— Derek Schroeder, community services director for the city of Beachwood

The city of Beachwood held the grand opening for its six new pickleball courts on Oct. 4. | CONTRIBUTED

pairs to the tennis courts this summer.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Schroeder said of the pickleball courts. “The city is ready for it and I’m excited to see what happens in the spring when it’s really open and the full complex all at once has nicer weather.”

The city is also nearing completion on sand and grass volleyball courts. The nets are up on the sand courts, while the grass court has been seeded but won’t be available to use until next year.

Beachwood also sought bids for

building additional basketball courts on the other side of the parking lot, but none of the bids aligned with its estimates, Schroeder said. The city will seek bids in the future, he said.

The next project? Replacing the playground.

“That’s gonna be a big one,” Schroeder said. “Hopefully we can get started here in the next couple (of ) months.”

In other pickleball news, about 240 people from 20 states have registered to play in December’s inaugural Pickle in the Land tour-

nament, which will take place Dec. 15-17 at the downtown Huntington Convention Center.

David Gilbert, president and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, said the organization believes it’s on track for 500 to 600 participants “to give us the critical mass we feel we need for a successful first-time event.”

The event will have 30 courts, with space for more than 600 players to compete for $25,000 in prize money. All skill levels are welcome.

The tournament is hosted by the

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Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, Rock Entertainment Group and Topnotch Events, which also host the annual Tennis in the Land tournament.

Pickle in the Land is projected to be one of the largest — if not the largest — pickleball events in Northeast Ohio.

Indoor facility delayed In June, we reported that Chris Haas, the president and CEO of All Pro Freight Systems Inc., planned to open the indoor Cleveland Pickleball Club in late 2023 at a warehouse in Westlake.

That project has been put on hold for the time being, with Haas now contemplating locations between Westlake and Avon Lake. Consequently, he is now looking at a April or May opening.

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OCTOBER 23, 2023 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 19

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10/20/23 7:56 AM

‘This is truly once in a lifetime’ Science center’s CEO says Total Eclipse Fest will be museum’s largest arts and science event When the sky goes dark for nearly four minutes in the afternoon of Monday, April 8, 2024, those watching will witness something that hasn’t been seen in Cleveland for more than 200 years: a total solar eclipse.

“People are prone to exaggerate and say something is once in a lifetime,” said Dr. Kirsten Ellenbogen, president and CEO at the Great Lakes Science Center. “This is truly once in a lifetime.”

The city won’t experience another total eclipse until 2444.

The Great Lakes Science Center, along with partners at NASA Glenn Research Center and the Cleveland Orchestra, will be celebrating the phenomenon with a three-day Total Eclipse Fest 2024, being held April 6-8, 2024.

Ellenbogen said the event will be the science center’s largest public activity that integrates science and arts, and it could draw an audience of as many as 50,000, according to estimates.

Ellenbogen recently marked her 10th anniversary as the science center’s president and CEO. She sat down with Crain’s to discuss the Total Eclipse Festival, the city’s plans to develop North Coast Harbor, her accomplishments and future developments at the science center.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

— Paige Bennett A total eclipse will cross Cleveland next year. What will that experience be like?

Cleveland is in the path of totality. That means on April 8, just before 3:15 in the afternoon, the moon will block the face of the sun, along this line that we call totality. You will experience total darkness, as if you’re in the middle of the night when there’s not a moon. It’s an eerie experience because it goes to total darkness very quickly.

So, we’ve been working with NASA on what we should do for the total eclipse since 2017. As that conversation expanded, we started working with Destination Cleveland and numerous partners throughout the region.

It was clear that there was an extraordinary opportunity because Cleveland is such an attractive place to visit. It’s such an easy place to get around. And we were in the unique position of not only being on the path of totality that Monday, but also that weekend preceding (is) the NCAA Women’s Final Four.

With all that opportunity to engage that large audience, we talked at length, ‘Who would be in a good position to do something?’

And it really became clear that Great Lakes Science Center (should). We’ve been through the (Republican National Convention). We’ve been through the NFL Draft.

Those experiences reinforced partnerships around the community and prepared our staff to take on this huge event of the Total Eclipse Fest, which we’re projecting as much as 50,000 attendance for it.

“It was clear that there was an extraordinary opportunity because Cleveland is such an attractive place to visit.”

It starts to get dark hours before, but that actual moment of darkness is a shock, not just for humans but for animals. And if you’re outdoors in nature, you’ll see animals reacting to it as well.

When I talk to people who have been through total eclipses, they talk about the eerie feeling, they talk about the hair on the back of their neck standing up. It’s really something to experience.

When did the science center start preparing for the 2024 Total Eclipse Festival?

We work with our partners at NASA Glenn Research Center constantly. We worked with them on the 2017 partial eclipse.

We’re on almost eight acres here at Great Lakes Science Center.

Every bit of space was covered with people watching the eclipse.

And that was just a partial eclipse, which is very cool, but it’s exponentially different from a total eclipse.

What will the Total Eclipse Fest entail?

We’re taking on about 23 acres here on North Coast Harbor, so it will extend from Voinovich Park across to the port property behind us and then all across the science center’s almost eight acres. The partners are fantastic.

It ranges from nonprofit partners in the community who are coming in and doing performances or doing STEM

Kirsten Ellenbogen recently marked her 10th anniversary as president and CEO of the Great Lakes Science Center. | GAYLE NORRIS

or arts activities, and they’ll be tented throughout the grounds.

There are also corporate partners, who have to meet the same criteria as our nonprofit partners in bringing some sort of activity or program or exhibit or display that will be engaging with the public. This is not a chance to hand out materials about your corporate activities. This is a chance to engage the public and get them excited about the future workforce, get them excited about STEM, get them excited about activities throughout the region.

You’ve been at the science center for 10 years. What would you say has been your biggest accomplishment?

Over the last 10 years, building a terrific team from the staff to the board is what I’m most proud of for Great Lakes Science Center.

Staff have a lot of ownership, from the strategic goals to the budget to the educational priorities. Having staff feel ownership over that makes a big difference, and our board is highly engaged. They show up, they ask great questions, they spread the word about what we’re doing.

How has the science center changed over the past 10 years?

We have achieved a mix of things. They’re all a combination of financial strength and educational excellence. So, in many instances, we have more in-depth programs that are life-changing, and that’s not a hyperbole. And they are financially sound. That’s a

contrast to the past, where we might’ve had something largescale that didn’t have the right financial approach or wasn’t necessarily sustainable. There’s an integration of goals now that’s gotten stronger.

We’ve gone from having field trips that were a one-and-done experience to a deep partnership with Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Every sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade classroom in CMSD engages in this intensive program called Cleveland Creates.

We also have a school here, MC2STEM, and we have an afterschool program that is booming.

It used to be for one season, now it’s all year. It used to be a couple of teams, and now we’ve got six teams in our robotics initiative and that includes the first allgirls cross Cleveland robotics team. So, the depth of that partnership (with CMSD) that has taken 10 years to develop.

What are your thoughts on Cleveland’s plan to develop the North Coast?

Great Lakes Science Center is one of the anchor institutions on North Coast Harbor. We’re delighted that all of the planning is keeping us close to the project.

If you’ve seen the design for the land bridge that comes from the mall to the lakefront, you’ll see how integrated it is into Great Lakes Science Center’s property. And the city has very appropriately kept us close in planning that. Not every city approaches development that encroaches on nonprofit property in the same way that Cleveland is. Cleveland is being

very thoughtful about it.

We’ve been on the lakefront since 1996. To see the investments over time in North Coast Harbor, and the change in audience numbers, it shows there’s huge potential to make North Coast Harbor and the downtown lakefront a real focal point for all Clevelanders and across the region as an exciting way to be able to interact with the lake.

The science center has a new gallery opening in February called The Cleveland Creates Gallery.

What will that include?

It really is an exhibition that grew out of programming and partnerships throughout the region. We’re focusing on emerging technologies, so you’re going to see a lot of that. Things like Internet of Things, artificial intelligence.

The gallery also reflects what I’d say is one of the hallmarks of what’s been going on over the last 10 years, which is very deep, thoughtful partnerships with corporations, with higher education and with other nonprofits around the community. For example, advanced manufacturing. How that’s changed over the years, what it’s going to look like in the future and the people who make it happen.

That’s one of the elements I’m most excited about. We are a workforce development partner in the community. That tends to really come out best in our programs. And this is going to be the first permanent gallery where workforce is a very strong focus.

20 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | OCTOBER 23, 2023

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SPIRITS From Page 1

focus right now is less on making liquor and more on selling bottles of whiskey filled straight from a curated selection of barrels acquired from Kentucky distilleries, which guests get to sample and select themselves.

“We know what good whiskey tastes like because it’s our hobby, and we have a lot of experience,” said Lintz, River Roots’ CEO. “We’ve been picking barrels the last several years. But we haven’t really seen anything in this area, the Midwest, about someone finding the best whiskey in the country and making it available to people.”

“Our business plan is made so that if you wanted to come in today and pick a barrel of whiskey, you can do that. If you want to come in tomorrow and do it again, you can do that,” said Boland, River Roots’ managing partner. “We are more so appealing to the everyday guy or group or bar or restaurant that doesn’t have the same connections to the reps that we have so that we can offer an experience that they might not otherwise be able to get.”

The roots of River Roots This business all begins with the exclusive Cleveland Bourbon Club, which has just 20 members.

Most are owners or representatives of local bars and restaurants.

times samples are sent to them.

Other times, members travel— usually to Kentucky—to taste single-barrel samples straight from the manufacturer.

Groups like the Cleveland Bourbon Club get special access to inventory like this that is not typically extended to the public. And when the group finds something that members really love, they can purchase that entire barrel—which might cost between $9,000 to $15,000—and bring it back to Ohio.

A barrel might typically fill about 190 (750 milliliter) bottles, Boland said. When the club picks a barrel, the bulk of those bottles will go to members’ respective bars and restaurants, and what’s left over is distributed among the rest of the group.

The whole idea behind River Roots is to make some of these special, single-barrel selections enjoyed by the club available to the public.

While commercial distilleries will sometimes bottle and sell

“We know what good whiskey tastes like because it’s our hobby, and we have a lot of experience.”

— Ryan Lintz, River Roots’ CEO So how did Lintz and Boland get in?

Boland is a restaurant consultant who has worked with and managed Michael Symon Restaurants for 12 years. So that’s his connection.

Lintz, meanwhile, is an IT specialist for the healthcare industry but a self-described whiskey nerd on the side. He has a social media presence as the “Bourbon Buddy,” which led to an invite to the club several years back.

Club members have almost weekly whiskey tastings. Some-

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not seeking additional capital or investors at this time.

The business has a lease in place at its current headquarters for two years. If the business succeeds in growing and scaling up, it’s possible River Roots could move into a larger facility in the future.

The owners would also like a space in an area that is a bit more publicly visible and that may better lend to foot traffic, possibly in downtown Lakewood.

“The goal is we keep ramping up, and this really takes off, then we get bigger, find a bigger spot, get more employees and be open evermore,” Lintz said.

“Maybe we’ll even have a front door,” he joked as River Roots is behind a gate and visits are currently appointment only.

While they’re planning to dabble in distilling—helping with that will be Tom Gray, an award-winning brewmaster at Rocky River Brewing Co.—the plan is to barrel age their own spirits. Naturally, it will be a few years out before any of their inhouse barrel-aged offerings are ready for consumption.

Pre-bottled offerings are making their way to a select few liquor stores, including Simone’s Beverage in Lakewood, Giant Eagle in Solon, Cap & Corks in North Olmsted and Minotti’s Wine & Spirits in Rocky River and Fairview. You can also read more about their inventory and shop online.

There are also plans to bottle a blended whiskey in the coming months that should hit retail shelves.

In the meantime, the focus continues to be on sourcing. And the hope is that River Roots collects a cult following of enthusiasts who seek them out for whatever they have to offer.

“Our aim is to find, curate and sell the best spirits that we can find, including bourbon, rye, rum, applejack, whatever we can find,” Boland said. “We want to turn people on to different things and sell what we’re proud of.”

Sampling bottles at River Roots Barrel Co.

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single-barrel whiskeys, their spirits are usually blended to fashion offerings with more uniform taste profiles.

“What we’re doing is the exact opposite,” Lintz said. “What we’re doing is saying, we like the exclusivity and the taste of each barrel. So people—or a restaurant or bar or club, whatever—can come into River Roots, taste these barrels and have something they can say was selected by them.”

At its West Side space, visitors can sample single-barrel whiskeys (and other liquors in the future), pick their favorites and have bottles filled to order with a personalized label.

As of its launch last month, River Roots has two core offerings, but their future lineups will expand and change over time and as they sell through inventory. Because their selections are unique, when one sourced offering is gone, that’s it.

In stock now are 25 barrels of a five-year, cask-strength, Kentucky straight bourbon clocking in at approximately 120-proof.

Visitors could try this spirit from different barrels and pick their favorite. A bottle of that is going for about $84.

The other offering is an even rarer, 140-proof, 13-year Kentucky straight bourbon aged in port wine barrels for an additional six years. That selection— picked by celebrity chef Michael Symon, who is a River Roots investor—is currently only available for purchase via online retailer Seelbach’s with a listed price of $275.

“We are beyond excited to share our passion for the best spirits in the world with fellow enthusiasts right here in the heart of the Midwest and beyond,” said Symon in a provided statement. “Thanks to years of exploring flavor combinations and distilling techniques in

travels across the globe, this team of owners are experts at identifying the top-quality spirits for a truly exceptional tasting experience.”

So where do these whiskeys come from, specifically?

While their current supplier is a prominent Kentucky distillery, the owners say they can’t discuss names publicly due to nondisclosure agreements.

Those savvy and motivated enough could probably figure it out, however, using the mash bills (which are listed online) as breadcrumbs.

Improving with age Lintz said the investment to launch River Roots was around roughly $500,000. The owners are

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TOURISM

bert said. “We want to attract groups who are relevant to the future of the city. Relevant because a change of their perception would leave them open to investing here, living here and having a long-term relationships with Cleveland.”

Recently, Cleveland was host to three events that brought in local, national and international — David Gilbert, Destination Cleveland president and CEO visitors.

Forbes under 30 “We are putting much more em- Summit, the Great Lakes Aviaphasis—beyond filling hotels and tion and Space Technology Allispending money—and on the at- ance Symposium and the 2023 traction part of our mission,” Gil- Leadership Summit of the Great

Lakes St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers filled downtown Cleveland hotels and restaurants for the week but, more importantly, Gilbert said, exposed first-timers to the city and the region.

“It is not just good enough to say, well, ‘Forbes Under 30’ had had their people here. What we also need to know who those people are so we can target them for other messages about Cleveland,” Gilbert said.

“These groups are here for a week but they could be really important people to the future of Cleveland—maybe not tomorrow, but perhaps in five years, 10 years, 20 years from now.”

In 2024, Cleveland will host the highly-visible NCAA Women’s Final Four, Pan Am Masters games and a meeting planning industry convention—the annual American Society of Association Executives Meeting and Exposition— which Gilbert said all pose opportunities beyond simply filling hotels and restaurants.

“For the Women’s Final Four, there’s going to be 1,000 national media here, we will have a lot of influencers here. We are already thinking about how do we get some of them to be talking about Cleveland beyond what’s on the basketball court? It’s a big opportunity,” Gilbert said.

The Tudor Revival garage (top) that was once part of the Blossom Estate, now part of the holdings at Legacy Village, is on the market with three other buildings. The massive Legacy Village shopping center (bottom) is also for sale, listed with a Chicago-based CBRE team.

“It’s certainly an interesting property for an office,” he said.

The properties, which include a greenhouse, have stone window and door features and a blend of bricks that date from the original design of the properties by Cleveland architect Abram Garfield, who designed many homes for the wealthy as they added homes east of the city.

The properties were connected by family roots long before the former Cleveland conglomerate, which built the headquarters on the adjoining Bolton Estate, began its headquarters project in the 1970s.

The late Elizabeth Blossom was a sister of the late Francis Payne Bolton, who represented the Cleveland area in the U.S. House of Representatives for 29 years after her husband, Chester Bolton, died in office in 1939, according to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History.

When the Boltons built in an exclusive subdivision, the Blossoms built (relatively speaking) next door, according to documentation filed with the U.S. Department of the Interior when the carriage houses were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

The same history notes that Elizabeth Blossom razed the original mansion in the 1940s after her husband died and replaced it with a Georgian-style home, later demolished by TRW. Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls is named for the family who for generations, were major patrons of the Cleveland Orchestra.

The CBRE listing for the Legacy Village Carriage Houses noted that the surviving properties have a total of 6,000 square feet of space. The listing said an additional building on the site could not exceed 15,000 square feet and must be one story.

Overall visit volume in the region is now at 92% of 2019 levels for both day and overnight visits.

Day visits represented 58%, while overnight visits were 42% of the total number of visitors to the region, which Gilbert said is consistent with the numbers the region has seen over the past three years.

The continued recovery of the travel and tourism sector for the county in 2022 saw $6.4 billion in direct sales, for a total economic impact of $10.6 billion, Gilbert adds.

In 2022, Cuyahoga County’s direct visitor spending came in at 101% of 2019 levels and a 19% increase from 2021, which again shows the region leading Ohio’s 13% growth and is significantly higher than the U.S. domestic travel spending increase of 6% in direct visitor spending.

Travel and tourism’s 69,200 jobs, which accounts for $3.5 billion in income for locals, last year experienced an increase of 5,200 jobs from 2021. Gilbert points out this represents a significant rebound for the lagging sector and brings the region within 99% of pre-pandemic employment (69,500).

BLOOMBERG

From Page 1

The estimates that the industry as a whole would will see a return to pre-COVID-19 numbers in the next year is on track, Gilbert said.

But he adds, “We are less concerned with getting back to our numbers from 2019 or if we will back to those levels by 2024 or 2025 as long as we are keeping in line with our peer cities, our competitors.”

It is not just how many people visit the region, Gilbert stresses, but what they come here for, what perception they leave with and what Destination Cleveland does with that data.

Years of research and data show

that visiting Cleveland dramatically changes negative perceptions and opens visitors to Destination Cleveland’s ultimate message of making Cleveland the place they want to live.

“We want to attract groups who are relevant to the future of the city.”

HOUSES The Legacy Village Carriage Houses are listed with Tom Flynn and Brendan Wasilko, brokers in CBRE’s Akron office. The general business-zoned parcel is being offered separately from the massive Legacy Village shopping center, which is listed with a Chicago-based CBRE team.

But the simultaneous marketing means they could likely be combined by the right buyer.

Mitchell Schneider, chairman emeritus and founder of First Interstate, wrote in an email to Crain’s that the carriage houses were listed separately “to be sure that the outlot was marketed fully as a potential for a larger group of buyers.”

The properties are currently unused, he added.

The Blossom mansion, technically the second Blossom home on the site, associated with the carriage houses was demolished by TRW in 1993 after it purchased the Blossom Estate as additional land for its headquarters.

When Legacy Village was constructed, the neighborhood east of the shopping center sought to retain the character of the properties as a buffer to the shopping center.

That was accomplished with deed restrictions and First Interstate added buffering mounds and landscaping east of the property as agreed, according to Lyndhurst Mayor Patrick Ward, who, at the time, represented the area as a member of Lyndhurst City Council.

Ward said in a phone interview the exteriors of the buildings would have to be retained as is, but the interior could conceivably be considered for residential use.

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From Page 1

22 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | OCTOBER 23, 2023

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