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1/29/2016
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VOL. 37, NO. 5
FEBRUARY 1 - 7, 2016
Business of Life
RNC: College prep Partnership is win-win for area schools
Clever transition
P. 4
AT WORK: Better vending
Insurance adjuster turns ‘rusty items’ into art
Healthier options are offered here
P. 18-19
P. 5
CLEVELAND BUSINESS
FOCUS: Workplace Employee wellness clinics are on rise P. 13-17
The List Region’s largest engineering firms P. 23
Huntington is sizing up state
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
A NASA composite of a single-aisle hybrid plane
FirstMerit buy will give bank largest market share in Ohio
BY CHUCK SODER csoder@crain.com @ChuckSoder
NASA Glenn Research Center is leading an effort to develop a hybridelectric airplane. And we’re not talking about some little two-seater: By 2025, NASA aims to create a single-aisle hybrid plane that could travel 4,000 miles with 150 passengers on board. Picture a Boeing 737, with smaller jet engines and a powerful electric fan on the tail. It’s a big goal, for sure. After all, the project’s lead engineer, Amy Jankovsky, says that “there are a whole bunch of problems you have to solve between now and whenever this sucker gets built.” But researchers at Glenn and other NASA centers already are tackling those problems. And Jankovsky says that they appear to be solvable. She and other researchers weren’t so sure that would be the case when the project formally began two years ago. Sure, they knew how to convert power from a jet engine into electricity that could be used to generate thrust. But building such a system
on an airplane requires adding more equipment — and more weight. At first, they thought the plane would weigh too much. But they went ahead and plugged the data they had into a computer model. The model spit out some numbers that surprised them. If their assumptions are correct, they should be able to cut fuel consumption by 12% for a 4,000-mile trip, Jankovsky said. That would be a lot, judging by the feedback that plane manufacturers have given Jankovsky and Jim Heidmann, who oversees several NASA programs that aim to improve the energy efficiency of civilian aircraft. “If you get a tenth of a percent, they’ll jump for joy,” Heidmann said. The hybrid plane also would produce less noise and less air pollution. Granted, it exists only in the form of a computer animation right now. But a few dozen NASA researchers — including 22 Glenn employees and the equivalent of about 10 full-time, local contractors — already are working on technologies that could bring the idea to life. Among other things, they’re studying the design of the motors
Entire contents © 2016 by Crain Communications Inc.
SEE PLANE, PAGE 6
jnobile@crain.com @JeremyNobile
Consolidation has stirred up Ohio’s banking sector in recent years, but this deal just gave it a good shake. As Huntington Bancshares Inc.’s acquisition of Akron’s FirstMerit Corp. is completed, the Columbusbased parent company of Huntington Bank will assume a new position as the dominant bank in Ohio by market share. Meanwhile, Huntington will step over PNC Bank to control the second-largest swath of the Northeast Ohio market, trailing only Cleveland’s KeyBank. So among a flurry of mergers and acquisitions, this combination is noteworthy for how it positions a native Ohio bank to continue chipping away at the competition. Of course, there are plenty of chal-
lenges to manage with an acquisition of this size, from the integration itself and the restructuring that brings for FirstMerit to the pressures of retaining both customers and talented staff. Those challenges for Huntington, though, should present opportunity for other banks, particularly those institutions in Northeast Ohio that will see one less bank to jockey with. “If you’re a competitor of Huntington or FirstMerit, you’re going to be calling on their clients and looking for an opening,” said Ken Marblestone, managing director at Detroit-based investment bank Cascade Partners LLC and an adviser for Thornapple River Capital, a Grand Rapids, Mich., fund that invests in banks, including some in Northeast Ohio. FirstMerit, at $25.5 billion in assets, may not have a lending portfolio filled with particularly large corporate clients, but it does offer a sizable book of small and midsize
businesses — a sector that Huntington has worked particularly close with. Those are the clients competitors large and small will look to target in the coming months in addition to bank staff.
By the numbers Huntington announced its acquisition of FirstMerit on Tuesday, Jan. 26, in a deal valued at about $3.4 billion that is expected to close in the third quarter of the year. With the absorption of FirstMerit, Huntington will capture 15.53% of the entire Ohio market, jumping from third place to first. U.S. Bank and Fifth Third Bank will trail just slightly behind with 14.9% and 14.45% deposit market share, respectively, according to most recent data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Meanwhile, in Northeast Ohio, SEE HUNTINGTON, PAGE 22
Firm heading for the Flats Accenture is leaving Public Square spot, will occupy former headquarters of Sammy’s restaurant BY STAN BULLARD STAN BULLARD
NASA Glenn takes aim at hybrid plane
BY JEREMY NOBILE
sbullard@crain.com @CrainRltywriter
Accenture, a global professional services firm, plans to trade its mainstream address on Cleveland’s Public Square for the former home of Sammy’s restaurant and City Life catering overlooking the city’s Flats. About 200 workers based at Accenture’s Cleveland office at 200 Public Square will begin working this spring at 1400 West 10th St. after the Dublin, Ireland-based publicly trad-
ed company leased the top floor of the three-story building. The building is being converted to a multitenant office by an investor group led by Scheer Real Estate Group of Chagrin Falls. It offers a loft-style SEE ACCENTURE, PAGE 6
“Rather than come in and see an old building, Accenture saw the possibility.” — Joel Scheer, developer