20160314-NEWS--1-NAT-CCI-CL_--
3/11/2016
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VOL. 37, NO. 11
MARCH 14 - 20, 2016
Business of Life
HIGHER ED: Akron University fights drop in enrollment
Fun mail
P. 4
Local companies will send you stuff other than bills
FOCUS: Big Fun Owner adjusts to Internet age
P. 22-23
P. 15
CLEVELAND BUSINESS
SOURCE LUNCH John Petures Jr. talks local giving P. 24
The List Employee benefit services firms P. 27
Avoiding the fall Bankruptcy filings plummeted in 2015, but will the trend continue this year? BY JEREMY NOBILE
DANIEL HERTZBERG
Mirroring a national trend, Ohio’s commercial and personal bankruptcy filings continued to plunge in 2015, hitting a multi-year low in response to factors including a generally stronger economy and a prolonged low-interest rate environment. But that could change this year, particularly for corporate filings tied to more unstable industry sectors, like oil and gas, which many businesses in this region are exposed to. According to the American Bankruptcy Institute, all filings in the United States fell 10% in the 2015 calendar year from 2014. That includes a 14% annual drop in commercial filings and 10% drop for consumers. Those 819,285 commercial and personal bankruptcies filed in calendar year 2015 are the fewest filings logged nationwide SEE BANKRUPTCY, PAGE 12
Global Center out to reduce vacancy BY JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com @millerjh
The Global Center for Health Innovation is hiring Colliers International to begin a “full court press” to fill the roughly 15% of its space that is vacant. Colliers, an international real estate brokerage and property management firm with a local office at 200 Public Square, was chosen at least in part because of its global
reach. It has more than 500 offices in 67 countries. Its job will be to lease the remaining 20,000 feet of vacant space in the four-story building, that, along with the First Merit Convention Center of Cleveland, comprise a $465 million investment by Cuyahoga County designed to boost tourism broadly, with a focus on bringing medical and health care meetings to Cleveland. The Global Center has yet to live up to the aspirations of its creators and has struggled to find a successSEE GLOBAL CENTER, PAGE 26
Entire contents © 2016 by Crain Communications Inc.
Local donors back Kasich Super PAC Businesses, execs give $1.3 million to New Day for America BY JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com @millerjh
Among the people Ohio Gov. John Kasich will have to thank if his campaign for president manages to survive Tuesday’s Ohio primary will be a group of Northeast Ohio businesses and business people — and a labor union — who made large contributions to the independent political action committee that has done the lion’s share of spending to get him elected the Republican Party’s candidate for president on the November ballot. A look at the top donors to New Day for America, a so-called Super PAC, shows a group of 15 Clevelandarea entities that have contributed more than $1.3 million to New Day,
according to Federal Elections Commission data analyzed by the Center for Responsive Politics (bit.ly/226yda6). CRP data is based on FEC filings as of last Monday, March 7. New Day has spent more than $10 million to help Kasich pursue his presidential ambition. Kasich for America, the official campaign committee, has spent $7.2 million. At the top of the New Day list of Northeast Ohio donors is Tony George, the owner of the Harry Buffalo restaurants, who gave $500,000 through George Pearl Rd Ltd. George is listed as agent and incorporator of that partnership on documents filed with the Ohio Secretary of State’s office. Also on the New Day list are three contributions of $100,000 each from three Ohio-
based gambling operations. They are Hard Rock Rocksino, owned by the Milstein family, Jacobs Investments Inc., led by chairman and CEO Jeff Jacobs, and Dan Gilbert, principal owner of the Horseshoe Casino Cleveland. The other top donor to New Day is Independence Excavating Co., owned by the DiGeronimo family. It gave $125,000. The union donor is Political Education Patterns, the political arm of Local 18 Operating Engineers. It contributed $40,000. The largest contributor to New Day was Boich Cos., a Columbus coal marketing firm. It gave $1 million to New Day. Super PACs have no limit on the size of contributions from corporations, unions and individuals, which SEE KASICH, PAGE 25