Crain's Cleveland Business

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VOL. 37, NO. 19

MAY 9 - 15, 2016

CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Cleveland’s new lake and river love Economic opportunity | Fun on the water | Living on the shore SPECIAL REPORT | Pages 15-23

Entire contents © 2016 by Crain Communications Inc.

EXCLUSIVE

Jacobs unveils Nautica development plan with office towers, apartments Page 4

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Saying it is time to move the vision for the west bank of the Cuyahoga River from entertainment district to residential mixed-use district, Nautica developer Jeffrey Jacobs has unveiled a Nautica master plan calling for new towers upwards of 10 stories — with some as high as 20 — and 664 rental apartments.

The new plan would retain major features of Nautica, such as its massive former railroad powerhouse and amphitheater, but add an estimated $405 million in additional real estate development to the 22acre riverfront site.

“When we first started out, the idea was to bring young people back to the city with an entertainment district,” Jacobs said in an interview Thursday, May 5. “Now young people are excited about living in the city. We will move to a live-workplay development. We’re excited to be able to complete the painting.”

To that end, Jacobs, the chairman and CEO of Jacobs Investments, said he has renamed the Nautica Entertainment District as the Nautica Waterfront District.

The new master plan calls for a much denser development of the site with seven, and perhaps eight, buildings ranging from 12 stories in height near Center Street to as much as 20 stories near the Nautica boardwalk next to the river.

The plan also calls for construction of three parking garages to service the development. Jacobs said an initial garage would go in near the Nautica powerhouse to serve guests of the aquarium, Windows on the River and Nautica Queen, perhaps as early as 2017. The initial garage would allow construction of buildings on parking lots near Main Avenue; the others would go in as various phases of the project go forward.

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boutique hotel. The other newly proposed buildings would be devoted to residential uses.

“We will design them to be converted to (for-sale) condominiums in the future,” Jacobs said, “but I don’t think the downtown market is there yet for condos.”

Jacobs acknowledged the risk of proposing a hotel at a time when the downtown hotel market is almost doubling in size, with additions of the 600-room Hilton Cleveland Downtown Convention Center Hotel and the new Kimpton and Dury hotels.

However, the Windows on the River at the Powerhouse complex hosts several weddings a week, and Nautica constantly fields requests about where bridal parties and guests may stay nearby.

“It’s risky, but it’s an important component to complete the mosaic of a waterfront district,” Jacobs said of the hotel. “The benefit of the hotel might not show in its books but would show up in other results in the development.”

Time will tell Absent from the plan are more entertainment uses or additional retail space.

“We feel there’s adequate entertainment and restaurant use at the site,” Jacobs said.

The lack of additional selling space also reflects lessons learned: The Powerhouse and Nautica’s Sugar Warehouse originally had several retailers, but they closed or relocated elsewhere over time.

The proposed office building would proceed only if preleasing for half the structure is in place, Jacobs said, adding that Nautica would be interested in participating in a joint venture with a large office tenant.

Over time, the west bank of the Flats has been inhospitable as an office district. The best example of that is that prolific downtown apartment developer and office building owner K&D Group of Willoughby lost its Stonebridge Office Building to the lender after it was vacated by tenants and new tenants were scarce during the Great Recession. s Cleveland Bus sines ss Volume 37, Number 19 Crain’s (ISSN 0197-2375) is published weekly at 700 West St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland, OH 441131230. Copyright © 2016 by Crain Communications Inc. Periodicals postage paid at Cleveland, Ohio, and at additional mailing offices. Price per copy: $2.00. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Crain’s s Cleveland Bus sines ss, Circulation Department, 1155 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, Michigan 48207-2912. 1-877-824-9373.

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While Ernst & Young Tower filled quickly after Wolstein Group and Fairmount Properties completed it in 2013 in the Flats East Bank Neighborhood, it’s on the east side of the Cuyahoga River and abuts the downtown office market.

Although the top tier, or Class A, part of the market is tightening, tenants have multiple alternatives in existing buildings available, including eight floors in Key Center, an empty space one analyst privately labeled “downtown’s next office building.”

At the same time, tenants who require more space than the market can easily provide might spawn a new structure.

“I guess we’ll find out,” Jacobs said of the office market’s appetite for a west bank office building.

About the financing …

Jacobs Investments has shared a drawing of the proposed Nautica Waterfront District master plan with the mayor’s office, but it plans to engage in additional talks soon. Jacobs said his firm needs to know that the infrastructure on the west side will be adequate for new development and that it might need a tax increment financing district to make the vision a go.

Jacobs said Nautica opposes a plan that has circulated among the city of Cleveland and Ohio Department of Transportation to close the eastbound entrance to the Shoreway at West 28th Street, which has been the scene of several wrong-way traffic accidents. He said the eastbound access is important for Nautica and for its future residents.

“We did the Powerhouse with a UDAG,” Jacobs said of the former Urban Development Action Grant program the federal government operated in the 1980s and 1990s that aided commercial redevelopment in urban areas with low-interest rate loans and flexible terms.

“We’ll probably have to have some JeffDAGs to make this go,” he added.

Jacobs Investments has also seen the evolution of downtown Cleveland’s residential market firsthand.

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The 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte was good for some businesses, but “was not an evenly spread peanut butter,” said Charlotte Center City Partners president Michael Smith. (Getty Images)

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National political conventions can make stars out of more than the candidates, an electrifying speaker and the occasional pundit. It can happen to a restaurant, as it did four years ago in Charlotte, N.C. 5Church had been open three months when the restaurant took off thanks to the notables who attended events booked there during the four-day Democratic National Convention.

Among the first visitors were Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi, actress Jessica Alba and actor Zach Braff. Local media and bloggers noticed, spreading the word.

“Once people came back into town after the convention, they had to take a look at our restaurant,” said Alejandro Torio, a partner in the ownership group. “We were doing a good business, but once the convention hit, it catapulted us to a new level.”

The buzz hasn’t subsided. Residents still pile in hoping to see NASCAR drivers and NBA players.

Sometimes basketball legend Michael Jordan will be inside.

The partners have opened a companion spot, Nan and Byron’s, in Charlotte and are spreading the 5Church brand to Charleston, S.C., and Atlanta.

But for every 5Church, there are businesses that don’t catch a windfall from the political conventions.

“This was not an evenly spread peanut butter,” said Michael Smith, president of Charlotte Center City Partners. “Everybody thought this would be another holiday season, but it was lumpy. It’s like anything else, it’s the demand of the consumer.”

Kirsten Ellenbogen, now CEO of Cleveland’s Great Lakes Science Center, got a close-up view of the convention’s fickleness to business.

She was a director at the Science Museum of Minnesota in 2008, when the Republican Party held its convention in St. Paul.

“Our plan was that we would shut down for a couple of weeks,” she said. “Ideally, we would rent it out to a media company that would want to put their facilities in there. We never got anything like that.”

Best-laid plans The vibe on the street, tight security and the unforeseen can affect business in the center city during a convention week. Organizers of the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, taking place July 18-21, are promising a lively downtown and minimal traffic problems here. They said it will be up to individual businesses whether to close for the week or encourage workers to take vacation days or work from home on convention days.

Security was heightened when Republicans visited Tampa in 2012.

Dozens of protesters had been pep-

per sprayed and arrested on St. Paul’s first day.

“Delegates who had been there were hyper-focused on security,” said Christine Burdick, president of the Tampa Downtown Partnership.

“We matched their concern. We were quite prepared.”

But not for Hurricane Isaac. The threat caused by the storm banging away in the Gulf of Mexico forced cancellation of the convention’s first day. The rest of the week, the heat was stifling.

“It was sodden,” Burdick said.

“They poly-wrapped walkways between some venues and air conditioned them.”

The heat and safety concerns kept many delegates off the streets during the day. Downtown office workers were further put off by warnings of traffic congestion.

Yet all was not lost.

“At night, there were lots of parties. Spaces that had never had parties before had them,” Burdick said.

A two-block public park was covered by a tent for ticket-only parties.

An empty four-story building was cleaned up and had parties. The building has not been used since.

Cities come to life Democratic Party conventions have had livelier city centers during the past two election cycles. The reason: Obama. Expect a Republican resurgence this time. The reason: Trump.

SEE RNC, PAGE 29

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS z MAY 9 - 15, 2016 z PAGE 7

Erieview owner considers apartment plan

BY STAN BULLARD sbullard@crain.com @CrainRltywriter

Another jaw-dropping project to convert part of an office building to apartments is shaping up in Cleveland, this time at the 40-floor Tower at Erieview, downtown’s fourthtallest skyscraper.

RAIT Financial Trust, a Philadelphia-based commercial real estate lender and owner, which owns the building at 1301 E. Ninth St. and most of the attached, glass-topped Galleria, plans to convert one-third of the building to apartments.

Andres Viroslav, RAIT’s spokesman, wrote in an email that the firm is formulating its plans for Tower at Erieview. “One plan under consideration is the conversion of a portion of the tower’s office space into luxury apartments which would also include renovating the tower’s main office lobby and other common areas and major systems,” he wrote.

The plan would produce 82 apartments, but Viroslav said no more details would be available until its plans are complete.

Scott Schaefer, RAIT’s CEO, has said the company likely would sell the property after converting the office

One-third of Tower at Erieview could contain apartments. (Stan Bullard) building into a “mixed-use/live-work style urban property,” according to a Seeking Alpha transcript of the publicly traded company’s most recent conference call with investors and analysts, on Feb. 15. Viroslav returned calls placed to Schaefer and other RAIT executives.

Although RAIT’s spokesman

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keeps its options open, Cleveland’s brokerage community is using the opening as a potential feeding frenzy, lining up tenants for representation with the building owner or to take space in other buildings if they don’t want to remain in Erieview.

Tenants are aware of the plan, and talks about moving within the struc-

ture to clear space for the apartments are underway.

Steven Wasserman, a name partner at the Chernett Wasserman law firm, said he has been told by the building staff that his firm would not have to move from the 33rd floor. However, it may see some changes there as office tenants within the middle section of the building are shifted around, which may affect his firm’s floor.

“There seems to be a lot of excitement among those of us that have been here a few years,” said Wasserman, whose firm was the first that the prior owner — an affiliate of Bethesda, Md.-based Minshall Stewart Properties — put in the building after acquiring it in 2001.

RAIT’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings show it took control of Tower at Erieview and most of Galleria as it “completed the conversion of one commercial mortgage loan with an unpaid principal balance of” $67 million as of Dec. 31, 2015. The firm now holds Tower at Erieview on its books as a $63 million asset, but noted it has not completed the accounting on the deal. Cuyahoga County land records do not show any such transfer of assets.

Werner Minshall, the former owner of Tower at Erieview, did not return five calls to discuss the change

in ownership. With 20% vacancy in the downtown office market, according to Newmark Grubb Knight Frank’s March 31 survey, the most recent available, it’s easy to see why the building’s new owner would consider a partial conversion to apartments.

The 834,000-square-foot office tower dates from 1964, when it was constructed as part of Cleveland’s plan to remake the area east of East Ninth Street as an urban renewal area. About 325,000 square feet of the building is available, and the building has a stated vacancy rate of 36%, according to CoStar, an online realty data provider.

Much of the attached Galleria shopping center, which was added in 1986 when the building was owned by affiliates of Richard E. Jacobs Group, is vacant or has been converted to office space.

The just-completed Parker Hannifin Downtown Cleveland YMCA is owned by Cleveland YMCA as a condominium-style unit in the complex.

During Minshall’s ownership, when he donated the retail space to the YMCA for its new fitness center, each step forward was accompanied by a step backward as the structure would land a big tenant only to have it pulled out of the market in a larger corporate transaction.

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z MAY 9 - 15, 2016 z CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Onosys is acquired — again LivingSocial sells online food ordering business to Splick.it

BY CHUCK SODER csoder@crain.com @ChuckSoder

LivingSocial has sold Onosys to another small, online food ordering company — one with “world domination plans,” as Matthew Benzel put it.

The Cleveland company was bought by Splick.it of Boulder, Colo., in an all-cash deal last month. The price was not disclosed.

LivingSocial had been hunting for a buyer: The once high-flying daily deals company has been selling off assets and laying off employees in recent years in an effort to reach profitability and revamp its focus.

That focus did not include Onosys. Thus, the Cleveland company should be able to grow more aggressively under Splick.it, given that it’s 100% focused on developing software that chain restaurants use to take orders via the Internet, according to Benzel, director of engineering at Onosys.

Onosys’ president stayed on staff at LivingSocial’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. Splick.it, which has 13 employees, also made “minor changes” to Onosys’ local team, said Benzel, who wouldn’t go into detail.

Onosys has 21 employees today.

That’s down from 27 local employees at the start of the year, according to a Crain’s list that ranks the largest

software developers in Northeast Ohio. However, it’s unclear when or why those employees left.

Regardless, Benzel expects the staff to grow.

“There’s most likely going to be some open positions in Cleveland,” he said.

Combined, the two companies will be in a stronger position to take advantage of the “massive shift” to online ordering, according to Splick.it CEO Robert Taylor.

The companies complement each other well, he said: Onosys serves large chain restaurants like Papa John’s Pizza, Applebee’s and Outback Steakhouse. Splick.it focuses on smaller ones. Many of its customers have between 20 and 50 locations, though it does serve some well-known companies, like Moe’s Southwest Grill and Pita Pit. Their technologies are different, too. The Onosys platform is designed to be heavily customized, whereas Splick.it’s software is designed for fast, easy implementation, Taylor said.

Thus, Splick.it plans to keep the Onosys brand for the time being.

“For us, they filled a lot of holes, certainly at the enterprise level,” Taylor said.

Splick.it will provide back-office services to Onosys — services that had previously been provided by LivingSocial, Benzel said. The two companies should be able to help

each other in other ways as well, Taylor said, noting that Onosys might benefit from Splick.it’s expertise related to mobile apps.

Dorm room success story Onosys began life in 2003 as a web development company founded by three Case Western Reserve University students. They shifted their focus to food ordering software a few years later.

That move paid off: LivingSocial bought Onosys in a cash-and-stock deal in 2012 — just before it started laying off employees and selling assets. LivingSocial had 4,500 employees in November 2014, but it will employ only a few hundred people once it completes a new round of layoffs announced in March.

For the most part, Onosys has been sheltered from those problems, according to an interview Crain’s previously conducted with co-founder Oleg Fridman, who left Onosys in 2014. The Cleveland company’s performance allowed it to operate with a fair amount of independence, even if it couldn’t grow as fast as it originally had hoped, Fridman said in April.

LivingSocial tried “to keep the people in Cleveland’s best interests in mind” while selling Onosys, Benzel said. He said he’s excited to join a company that’s more willing to invest in the business.

“We’re willing to take a risk and try to conquer this market,” he said.

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z MAY 9 - 15, 2016 z CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Opinion From the Publisher / Editor

All the world’s a stage for those with talents

Editorial

Above water Our lake and river are changing.

Decades of environmental cleanup efforts have helped transform Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga River from toxic dumping grounds into waterways that can be enjoyed by the general public, not just industry. After decades of just talk, the city of Cleveland is moving forward with plans to redevelop a prime piece of lakefront real estate near FirstEnergy Stadium with the help of hometown developer Dick Pace, who along with Trammell Co. of Dallas, envisions an extensive mixed-use development. And despite some inconveniences for commuters, particularly on the West Side, infrastructure upgrades are making the city’s waterfronts more accessible.

And to stunning results, the Cleveland Metroparks has taken on the management of several hundred acres of critical lakefront real estate. In many cases, gone is the debris that littered public lakefront beaches and forced visitors to tiptoe through the sand if they wanted to experience our great lake.

As detailed in Crain’s special report this week on our lake and river, the positive momentum surrounding our waterways is obvious, though challenges remain. None is greater than the health of our lake and river. Any effort (or lack thereof) that could offset that environmental progress should sink — even it comes at a considerable cost.

Painfully so, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — the group responsible for dredging the Cuyahoga River — continues to ignore science. The Corps, of course, argues that it’s safe to unload dredged sentiment into Lake Erie, whereas studies have shown it would be safer to store it in costlier land-based confined disposal facilities. Dredging, of course, is critical. Without it, the river would become too shallow for commercial ships.

Secondly, the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District is considering raising its rates by 9.5% annually from 2017 to 2021 to help foot the bill for a $3 billion effort pushed by the feds to reduce the amount of sewage flowing into Lake Erie. Rate hikes, of course, are painful, especially given that many Northeast Ohioans are still feeling the pains of the Great Recession. However, the health of our lake is a shared responsibility and critical from an economic development perspective.

Last week, we got a painful reminder of our toxic past when the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency sounded the alarm over a 2-square-mile blob containing hazardous material that is creeping toward an intake pipe supplying Cleveland’s drinking water.

City officials stress the blob, which is the product of material dredged from the Cuyahoga River and dumped untreated into Lake Erie decades ago, poses no immediate threat. However, it serves as a gentle reminder that while we’ve made significant progress, we can’t turn our back on the health of our waterways.

City officials, environmental activists, developers, the park system — they’ve all given our lake and river votes of confidence, given the surge in activity along the waterfront.

Now, it’s time for Northeast Ohioans (for those that haven’t already) to share in the optimism and put aside any preconceived notions that our waterways — once prone to catching fire — aren’t blemishes on Cleveland’s reputation any longer.

So grab a paddle at The Foundry, a drink at Merwin’s Wharf or lease an apartment in Battery Park. It’s never been a better time to touch the water.

PUBLISHER AND EDITOR: Elizabeth McIntyre (emcintyre@crain.com)

CLEVELAND BUSINESS

MANAGING EDITOR: Scott Suttell (ssuttell@crain.com) SECTIONS EDITOR: Timothy Magaw (tmagaw@crain.com)

I never realized the depth of talent in Northeast Ohio’s legal community until recently. Sure, we’ve got plenty of lawyers who can write a persuasive legal brief, deliver a compelling closing argument or negotiate a fair settlement.

But who knew how many of them could rap like Alexander Hamilton a la Lin-Manuel Miranda, belt out pitch-perfect high notes and do a wicked imitation of Donald Trump? I certainly didn’t until I sat through the satirical skits, shenanigans and silliness that make up the annual Grand Assize put on by the fictional “Court of Nisi Prius.”

Nisi Prius isn’t your typical court. It’s more of a social exercise, where members, mainly corporate lawyers and judges, gather weekly from November to April for lunch and song.

That work culminates in an annual performance and feast, called the Grand Assize. Nisi Prius court members — or more accurately, court jesters — perform for friends and famElizabeth ily on a Friday night in April and for clients McIntyre and other movers and shakers on Saturday.

No one is safe from the skewering — politicians, corporate bigwigs and especially fellow lawyers and judges. It’s an impressive display of talent, from the witty writing and over-the-top imitations to the heartfelt singing and attempts at dancing.

You don’t have to rent out the ballroom at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel and contract with the Cleveland Play House for wardrobe to show off your talent, though. It doesn’t have to be a huge production like that put on by the lawyers of Nisi Prius.

Talent can be the ability to solve a problem, to balance a spreadsheet, to communicate, to fix a broken machine, to bring a smile to someone’s face. And as I saw the lawyers putting their talents on display, it got me to thinking: What good is talent if you can’t share it, sometimes to entertain, as our legal community did, and sometimes to enrich, as many people in Northeast Ohio are doing in the “encore movement.”

In this week’s issue, reporter Lydia Coutré shows us how valuable sharing talent can be and how it is on display in the encore movement taking root in Northeast Ohio, thanks to a grant from the Cleveland Foundation.

Encore gives business people a chance to reimagine a second career in middle-age or after they retire. The beauty of these career shifts is that they benefit not only the individual, but our entire community. It’s a very big stage. And the second act may be the best.

Encore allows people to bring their talents — talents that may have been hidden throughout their work lives — to a second career. Nonprofits, which do so much with limited resources, can reap the benefits of a retired professional who wants to stay engaged without the time-commitment of a full-time job.

Coutré introduces us to five people who were matched with local nonprofits for encore fellowships through BVU: The Center for Nonprofit Excellence. Through its Encore Cleveland Initiative, the fellows are provided a $20,000 stipend to compensate for their 1,000 hours of work in a year.

People in the encore movement could work helping to improve the literacy of children, fostering entrepreneurship, bettering the environment or helping a nonprofit brand itself and accomplish its mission.

Those who share their talents in this way put in a series of performances every day that are worthy of a standing ovation and a collective cry from the community: “Encore!”

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 letters@crain.com. Please include your complete name and city from which you are writing, and a telephone number for fact-checking purposes.

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Personal View

Exports should be top of mind

BY WILLIAM D. FRIEDMAN

In his column in the April edition of American Shipper magazine, economist Walter Kemmsies suggests that U.S. transport policy favors imports over exports.

This is an extremely important point that gets perennially overlooked. Anyone involved in ocean shipping knows U.S infrastructure is geared for the import trade, especially consumer goods. Meanwhile, the companies, workers and farmers who produce the exports that generate wealth for America struggle to get their goods to U.S. ports for overseas shipment. Policymakers seem to be unconcerned or unaware of the issue.

Today, trade policy is un- Percentage of freight der the microscope more moved by water than ever. I hope Washing- within the EU ton continues to foster an open system of international commerce, but it will not help American competitiveness in the marketplace without an efficient logistics system to get our goods to market. Washington must fix this situation with more resources and a comprehensive policy.

Late last year, Congress provided new tools in the FAST Act for improving freight and port infrastructure. The Department of Transportation likely is receiving more than 1,000 applications for highway and freight-related project funding. We may see in the awarded projects how U.S. exports are considered in the coming decisions.

In recent years, billions have been invested in channel deepening, container terminals, intermodal corridors and terminals, inland ports, distribution centers, highway projects and so on. The export trade may make use of some of this, of course, but how much have these investments actually benefited exporters? To what extent are exports considered in planning such investments? Not much in my view.

Take the case of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway — my neck of the woods. This magnificent navigation system allows ocean-going shipping 2,300 miles into one of the most productive economic regions in the world. If the eight states and two Canadian provinces bordering the Great Lakes were a country, it would be the third-largest economy in the world, with GDP exceeding $5.5 trillion. Manufactured goods and agricultural and natural resource commodities from this region literally built much of America and continue to feed the world.

Yet, little is exported today via the Great Lakes/Seaway system largely because U.S. and Canadian policies get in the way. Winter closure, tolls, pi-

lotage fees, lock size, inadequate icebreaking and subsidies to land modes create steep barriers to entry that most ocean carriers choose to avoid.

Our European business partners can’t fathom why the U.S. and Canadian governments don’t encourage use of the Lakes/Seaway, as Europe does for its inland waterways, and instead put up obstacles. More than 45% of freight is moved by water within the EU. Compare that with 3% or so in the United States.

Remove the non-market barriers, and costs and shipping via the Great Lakes/Seaway system would look much more like the Baltic, the Bosporus and other thriving inland lanes of the world. The same applies to the shallow-draft inland waterway system, which should be a super-efficient conveyor belt for U.S. exports, but instead suffers Percentage of freight from chronic underinvestmoved by water in ment and disrepair. the United States What is the potential? The Port of Cleveland is pioneering a small but significant solution for exporters with the establishment of the Cleveland-Europe Express (CEE), the only scheduled liner service from the Great Lakes direct to Europe. The CEE, operated by Netherlands-based ship owner the Spliethoff Group, is a faster, greener, more efficient way for Midwest exporters to ship to Europe and markets beyond. Heartland exporters can dramatically cut overland transport time and cost by loading virtually any cargo type, including containers, aboard multi-purpose ships at our docks in Cleveland.

Why truck a 200-ton turbine made in central Ohio to Houston when it can be loaded to a ship in Cleveland? Importers bypass congested East Coast ports and intermodal rail corridors by choosing the CEE. The result? Substantially faster door-to-door transit times. Our investment in the CEE could be leveraged to provide even greater value to Great Lakes and Midwestern exporters with the cooperation of policymakers, and our situation is not unique. We are a large, consuming nation but we are an even greater producing nation.

When President Barack Obama announced an ambitious goal to double exports during his first term, we in maritime and logistics were eager to see what policies would follow. Years later, our country continues to produce quality goods ready and waiting to go global. Unfortunately, we still lack the transportation system and policies that can help make America more competitive overseas. This is simply too fundamental to our economic future to continue overlooking.

45% 3%

William D. Friedman is president and CEO of the Port of Cleveland.

Web Talk Re: Kasich ends campaign

Re: Colleges to hire more full-time faculty?

America lost. — Peter Jensen

It has been the experience of every faculty member at the University of Akron, and those at other Ohio institutions of higher education, that the administration will continue on its trajectory of fewer and fewer tenure track faculty hires. There is no realistic reason to limit hires to non-tenure track positions, but that is exactly the case here. Administrations believe they reserve some kind of flexibility when they deny tenure to full time faculty. A casual glance at the record will show the vast majority of non-tenure track faculty will stay employed for decades. Thus they work an entire career without real academic freedom. Imagine working for 20-30 years, yet not knowing if you will be employed after the current semester. Despite all the administrative hot air, this is the real effect of hiring policies these days and is no way to instill institutional pride or loyalty. — Dave Witt, emeritus professor, University of Akron

Re: Augie Napoli in at United Way Wow! They don’t get any better than Augie Napoli. What a terrific hire for United Way. — Donald Sinko I remember being taught by Augie while in business school at CWRU. He was a great teacher and professional.

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BVU: The Center for Nonprofit Excellence

The second act can be just as meaningful “A lot of people are looking forward to getting out of the grind, but they don’t see themselves for 15 years watching TV and playing golf.”

BY LYDIA COUTRE lcoutre@crain.com @LydiaCoutre

— Robert E. Eckardt, executive vice president of the Cleveland Foundation.

What was once three to five healthy years after retirement has become 15 or 20 years. That shift means a drastic change in how people plan for their retirement, both in terms of how to afford it and how to spend that time.

“I think as a society we haven’t really helped people think about what should they do with that period,” said Robert E. Eckardt, executive vice president of the Cleveland Foundation. “A lot of people are looking forward to getting out of the grind, but they don’t see themselves for 15 years watching TV and playing golf.

They’re looking for something with more meaning.”

A grant from Cleveland Foundation brought the Encore Fellows program to Cleveland. Encore is a national effort to connect organizations addressing community needs with the vast experience of people leaving a decades-long career.

The Cleveland Foundation has committed to supporting the program for three years, providing a $20,000 stipend to fellows who commit to working at a nonprofit for 1,000 hours in a year, or about 20 hours per week. Right now, the grant supports several fellows a year.

BVU: The Center for Nonprofit Excellence facilitates the application process and matches people looking to transition to a new career or ease into retirement with nonprofits in the region who need those skills, but otherwise wouldn’t be able to tap

Leonard D. Young, right, on his reasons for volunteering at the Care Alliance Health Center: “It’s extremely important for me to continue to stay mentally challenged.” (Nick J. Cool/The Image Works) into such knowledge.

“What the fellows bring is expertise, work experience, life experience, leadership skills,” said Elizabeth Voudouris, BVU’s executive vice president. “These are folks with proven professional achievement so they can

come in and really provide leadership role in accomplishing a project.”

The hope is for businesses and nonprofits to see the value in this investment and help fund or partially fund positions and keep the program sustainable after the Cleveland

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Foundation’s grant. Already, KeyBank has funded a fellow.

It’s a “natural extension” of KeyBank’s commitment to the community, said Kate Terrell, KeyBank’s chief human resources officer, noting that many employees have al-

ready volunteered regularly throughout their career.

“Employees want to share their skills,” Terrell said. “They do it while they’re employed here with volunteerism, and to the extent that they want to continue and that leveraging the deep subject matter expertise that they have and experience, this is a good opportunity to help with that.”

The application and matching process requires both the fellow and the nonprofit to commit to one another. So far, Terrell said, KeyBank has funded one position because there’s only been one match, but if there were another, KeyBank would provide funding for more than one fellow, she said.

Eckardt said he hopes to see more partnerships like KeyBank’s to ultimately grow the number of fellows who can participate. There are plenty of retirees who want to give back in a meaningful way, but just don’t know how. And plenty of issues in Cleveland that could use some additional resources, he said, such as school performance, grant-writing or just capacity to expand what a nonprofit already is doing.

Statistics aren’t available locally for what fellows do at the end of the program, but nationally, about onethird of the fellows continue working with that or another nonprofit, onethird decide to volunteer or do parttime work in the nonprofit sector, and the remaining one-third retire.

“The projects are huge and they’re high-impact, but also, we’re keeping these great people here and introducing them to the nonprofit sector,” Voudouris said. “It’s really exciting.”

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BVU: The Center for Nonprofit Excellence Stephanie Allen

Dennis Kucler

Leonard D. Young

Lynn Berner

Elisa Ross

Fellow since January 2016 Background: design, marketing, consulting and some nonprofit work Nonprofit: Gordon Square Arts District Project: Help the organization ramp up its work with arts and cultural initiatives

Fellow since November 2015 Background: technology, sales and sales management Nonprofit: Boys and Girls Clubs of Cleveland Project: Develop a program to help youth find careers after high school — and build the necessary community relationships to make it sustainable.

Fellow from April 2015 to April 2016 Background: corporate law Nonprofit: Care Alliance Health Center Project: Smooth and manage the transition as Care Alliance saw tremendous growth including a new facility and doubling its staff from 60 to 120 employees

Fellow through April 2016 Background: law, policy, foundations Nonprofit: Linking Employment, Abilities and Potential (LEAP) Project: Prepare LEAP to be responsive — from a policy level and a service level — as Medicaid changes

Fellow since September 2015 Background: medicine, communication Nonprofit: Neighborhood Family Practice Project: Prepare training manuals internally and write/present health education materials to the public

A few years back, Dennis Kucler retired and jumped into different volunteer activities. After a while, he decided he wanted to do more. While day-to-day volunteer work is vital and worthwhile, he said, he wanted to have a more tangible, longterm impact on a nonprofit. “This was an opportunity with the Encore program to come in and really become part of the organization,” Kucler said. Having the chance to build from the ground up a new program within the Boys and Girls Clubs of Cleveland was perfect for Kucler, who has always been interested in new ventures, ideas or startups. The 20-hour-a-week time commitment was the perfect balance between commitment-free volunteer opportunities and entering a new career. It’s a project with a defined time frame. What began as a really interesting project has become a passion. Kucler said the right project, especially for those who haven’t been in the nonprofit world, provides an “incredible opportunity to do something unique.” “This has been more than I expected,” he said. “It’s been exactly what I was looking for.”

Leonard D. Young had a hard time retiring.

After more than three decades as a corporate lawyer, he left that world. But he was still “looking for a reason not to retire,” he said. He worked for another three and a half years as the director of technology transfer for Cleveland State University before he retired. He traveled and played a lot of golf. Still, he needed some daily structure. In came the Encore program, which was “extremely enlightening and satisfying.” “It was important for me at this stage of my life, my career to do something which was not traditional for me,” Young said. He’d never worked in a medical setting or with the mission of taking care of the homeless and the underserved — which actually made him the perfect fit for Care Alliance. He provided a third-party objective perspective. And in return, they helped him finally really retire. “It helped me transition because what it made me understand is that it’s extremely important for me to continue to stay active, to continue to stay mentally challenged,” Young said.

And of course, some of those more traditional retirement activities: travel and golf.

Agency comment: “It’s been good for us, because we’ve had somebody that could dedicate their time and energy to an initiative that we just weren’t ready for from an internal standpoint. We did not have the bandwidth to get this started. I don’t think it would have happened.” — Ron Soeder, president of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Cleveland

Agency comment: “Frankly, it would have moved forward, but it wouldn’t have been as smooth as his participation with us, because he was the point person who was a central figure. People liked working with him, people trusted him. He was able to help us gather a lot of information.” — Francis Afram-Gyening, president and CEO of Care Alliance Health Center

Stephanie Allen left San Francisco about five years ago to move to Cleveland, where she found a robust nonprofit network she wanted to dive into. Knowing she didn’t have much training, Allen enrolled in Cleveland State’s nonprofit management program, where she learned about Encore.

“The Encore Fellowship program really was a perfect fit for me, for somebody who had some experience and a set of skills,” Allen said. “It allowed me to come in at a place where I could have an impact in an organization and contribute right up front.” Gordon Square Arts District was a good space for her to apply her “mixed bag of skills,” Allen said. In becoming an Encore fellow, she was hoping to get to know the community, transition into the work environment and ultimately, open doors to work for local nonprofits. Allen, who graduates from CSU in June, said it would have been really hard for her to step into Cleveland’s nonprofit circles without the transition that Encore provides. “This really did give me a chance to prove both to myself and to others what I’m capable of doing here and how I can contribute,” Allen said.

Agency comment: “I think it means a lot more things will happen a lot sooner. We’ll be able to do more. All nonprofits look to do more with less. We’re all trying to fundraise and some of that fundraising goes to salaries and if you don’t have to put it to salaries you can put it back into community to projects that you want to get done. “ — Judi Feniger, president and executive director of Gordon Square Arts District.

After about a year-long break from work, Lynn Berner started looking for her next step. She knew she wanted to stick with the nonprofit world in some way, but didn’t have the specifics. “I needed a flexible way to test out some new skills and brush off some old skills,” Berner said. Encore gave her that chance. Knowing how easy it is to come out of any one-year commitment or project, particularly part time, without being able to finish things, she wanted to do something that was “tangible.” She helped put together a day-long forum to educate about 150 organizations about the ongoing changes in Medicaid. And though her fellowship was up at the end of April, she has more time to continue her work at LEAP, which is keeping her through the rest of the year with the help of a grant Berner helped secure. And then, who knows? Encore is helping her figure out what area she’ll focus on for the next 15 to 20 years she expects to be working. “Sometimes you end up having kind of a range of different kinds of experience and you really don’t know what you’re best at,” Berner said.

“You want to kind of home in on what you do better.”

Agency comment: “I wouldn’t have been able to fill the position and be able to hire somebody who had the depth and breadth and knowledge and ability to truly be an independent and functioning person. I wouldn’t have been able to afford that level of person. I mean, she’s got a law degree. And she’s making $20,000 a year with me. Are you kidding me?” — Melanie Hogan, executive director of LEAP

Dr. Elisa Ross wanted to retire as an obstetrician-gynecologist at the Cleveland Clinic early enough to be able to step into another career in nonprofits. She still works at the Clinic for a half day each week, but puts in her 20 hours a week with Neighborhood Family Practice, where the Encore program has given her firsthand experience in a small nonprofit to “see how everything works, from hiring personnel to the financing to community outreach to quality assurance and to actually have a seat at the table for a lot of these things that otherwise you’d have to be an executive in the organization to get that close access,” Ross said. Through her work at Neighborhood Family Practice — where she’d love to continue helping after her fellowship is up — she’s come across many other small organizations she hopes to work with in the future.

“How it really helps me is now my resume has all these projects on it and references, people that I can call who can say what a good job I did in the various aspects of running a nonprofit — and I didn’t even have to go to business school for it,” Ross said.

Agency comment: “We get someone of exceptional quality at an amount that we can afford so that we can focus in on some projects that might be high priority, but that we don’t have the same kind of professional resources that we would need to complete that work.” — Jean Polster, president and CEO of Neighborhood Family Practice

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3-D printing spurs niche legal practice

BY JEREMY NOBILE jnobile@crain.com @JeremyNobile

Benesch copyright lawyer Mark Avsec likens the 3-D printing phenomenon sweeping the manufacturing sector to the way the Internet reshaped the music industry.

It’s a natural comparison for Avsec, who may be more widely known as the voice behind Donnie Iris and the Cruisers and has a vested interest in copyright laws. In the same ways the web and file-sharing applications that gained prominence in the 1990s forever changed

the recorded music business, 3-D printing is leading monumental change in manufacturing.

“There’s going to be distortion.

There’s going to be change,” Avsec said. “But there’s also a lot of opportunity. And this is really just the beginning.”

Benesch is among a few law firms in Northeast Ohio promoting a practice in 3-D printing, a veritable wild blue yonder in today’s legal world.

Its practice, based in Cleveland, is led by Avsec, vice chair of the firm’s 3iP (innovations, information technology and intellectual property) group.

Benesch is growing the practice here for the same reasons the

Northeast Ohio region is positioned to see a boom in additive manufacturing: an inherently large and sophisticated manufacturing base; a slew of large and innovative companies; a world-class health care industry; and a university-centric training system prepping a specialized workforce.

As additive manufacturing grows here, could Northeast Ohio also become the intellectual epicenter of this evolving area of law?

Benesch seems to think so. That’s why it’s investing so much time, talent and energy in developing that business here.

“Right now, IP (law) is just the same old laws. It’s just now being

applied to this new technology,” Avsec said. “Over time, we may find that some laws need to change, or new laws need to be enacted. It’s an area we should understand to our clients, even if our clients aren’t even thinking about it yet.”

Benesch isn’t alone. Other firms are dabbling in 3-D printing legal issues, too, even if they’re not basing whole practices around it.

It’s not all large, national and global law firms breaking into this area of law, but smaller and regional outfits centered on Cleveland.

Walter | Haverfield partner Craig Marvinney has done some 3-D printing work, but it’s not a full-blown niche practice area, yet. The firm in-

tends to develop that area further.

“You’ve got a tremendous polymer industry here, which 3-D printing is well-suited for. You also have a medical device industry that’s a wonderful match for this,” he said.

“And in that sense, Northeast Ohio is a very solid candidate to be one of the leading, if not the leading, 3-D printing tech areas in the country.”

Developing that practice at any Cleveland firm would be a natural fit.

“We are well-suited for it and interested in this area,” Marvinney said, “and we’re making investments toward that direction.”

But which firms will take the lead?

Which will follow suit?

SEE 3-D, PAGE 28

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Focus EMBRACING THE LAKE AND RIVER

Cleveland’s finally rolling on the river — and the lake

The city’s waterfront flourishes with developments and optimism

BY TIMOTHY MAGAW tmagaw@crain.com @timmagaw

“Burn on, big river. Burn on.”

Randy Newman’s smoldering ode to the Cuyahoga River from the early ‘70s recounting the 1969 fire that saw oil and other debris ignite on the water near the Republic Steel mill helped cement the river’s reputation in the public consciousness as a slow-oozing wasteland. Moreover, the iconic image of the river’s most aggressive blaze, captured in 1952, influenced opinions of Northeast Ohioans and outsiders alike for decades that Cleveland’s waterways were to be avoided.

Likewise, in the 1960s, the terribly polluted Lake Erie was characterized by many as a “dead” lake.

But since then, spurred in large part by U.S. environmental movement that sprung up from the 1969 river fire, industry groups, environmental advocates and other stakeholders have helped restore the Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie to the point where the waterways can be enjoyed — even embraced — by the general public.

Today, the lake and river are focal points for millions of dollars in public and private investments. New residential units are rising along the lakefront. New restaurants and bars dot the riverfront. Infrastructure upgrades, like the West Shoreway overhaul, are improving lakefront access. And perhaps most importantly, Northeast Ohioans are discovering new ways to interact with the waterfront — an effort significantly buoyed by the Cleveland Metroparks. The park system has taken the lead on managing several hundred acres of prime waterfront real estate, and in 2014 even opened Merwin’s Wharf, an eatery along the river in the Flats.

“At Merwin’s Wharf, cameras come out when a freighters and rowers come by,” said Jim Ridge, a self-described waterfront advocate who SEE WATER, PAGE 22

REBECCA R. MARKOVITZ

WATER BIZ - P. 16

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RECREATION - P. 18

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EMBRACING THE LAKE AND RIVER

Economic groups highlight water in job attraction push

BY JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com @millerjh

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Water has always been critical to the Northeast Ohio economy. First, the Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie made the region a nexus for shipping and trade. Then, large quantities of water made the region’s manufacturing economy boom. You can’t make steel — you can hardly manufacture anything, actually — without water.

While manufacturing ebbs and flows, activity along the waterfront is making a resurgence. The Cleveland-Europe Express, the only regularly scheduled freight service on the Great Lakes, is showing promise of reviving the lakefront docks.

And on the old Cuyahoga River channel, the shipyard of the Great Lakes Group hired 20 new employees in the first quarter of 2016 and is looking to hire an additional 50 employees to meet the demand for its new tugboats. Not to mention the stone, salt and iron ore shipping that have been the backbone of the region’s water industry for decades.

Now, though, the region is adding a third leg to its water-reliant economies — the business of water.

Northeast Ohio actually has been in the water business for a long time.

It’s only recently that the economic development community here and elsewhere has begun to look at water as an industry cluster as the world tackles issues of water scarcity and aging water infrastructure.

“Clean water will be a driver in the world economy,” said Bryan Stubbs, executive director of the Cleveland Water Alliance (CWA), a young economic development group focused on the water industry. “It’s not selling our water to parched parts of the world. Rather, its developing technologies that can conserve water and clean dirty water.”

The Cleveland Water Alliance was created in 2012 and is a collaboration of Northeast Ohio corporations, academic institutions and public agencies. Its mission is to make the public aware that the region already has 200 companies in the water cluster and to increase that number.

David Beach, director of the Green City Blue Lake Institute at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, has been a longtime water advocate. He believes that there is a need around the world to take better care of water, on both the treatment side and the conservation side. The know-how to do that already exists in Northeast Ohio.

“We have a lot of experience in caring for water here in Cleveland and that’s technology and engineering and everything else that goes along with cleaning up a Great Lake and a river and in understanding wetlands ecology,” he said. “If we can pull that together as an industry cluster that gives us some kind of critical mass, then it’s a kind of service that Cleveland can send around the world.”

In 2012, NorTech, an economic development organization now a part of Team NEO, identified 54 organizations in Northeast Ohio that

Fairmount Santrol depends on water for its work. (Contributed photo)

“Clean water will be a driver in the world economy.”

— Bryan Stubbs, executive director of the Cleveland Water Alliance

were already active in three areas of water technology: controlling and automating the systems that treat waste water and distribute clean water, corrosion protection systems and sorbents, materials that absorb oil and other liquids and gases in water. NorTech projected that by 2019, those three sectors could generate more than 3,500 direct jobs in Northeast Ohio.

Making the pitch In another segment of the water business, Team NEO, which is the nonprofit that leads the effort to attract new businesses to Northeast Ohio, is taking on the water cluster.

It’s looking first at ways it can sell the region to water-intense businesses — companies like food manufacturers — that are looking for sites for new operations.

It believes the region is a good place for these companies for several reasons: There’s room near the water for new businesses; the water quality exceeds national standards; it’s available in large and predictable quantities; and area water and treatment operators have significant available capacity to meet any potential demand.

“It is a strong cluster that we could potentially promote,” said Camille Billups, a Team NEO senior director.

“Right now our water ideas are focused around figuring out the sites that have water infrastructure. Then, with gas and electricity and if it’s shovel-ready, then that’s an awesome site to promote to those industries.

“It’s a competitive advantage when all other things, like workforce, are equal,” she said.

CWA is looking beyond in another direction. Carol Caruso, the nonprofit’s chair, said CWA believes the target can be broader. First, she said,

CWA agrees with Team NEO that the region can sell itself to businesses, like a beverage maker, a brewer or a paint company — companies that use a lot of water.

The public-private partnership also believes that the region can be attractive to companies that work in the technologies that turn waste water into clean water — firms that make sensors and water quality monitors — and firms that make equipment to manage storm water overflows.

In its 2016 strategic plan it cites a Water Environment Federation study that forecasts that the use of some kinds of water technologies, such as storm water control, are growing at 20% annually.

In fact, the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, like many other older sewer operators, has identified more than $200 million in capital improvements it needs to make in its storm water management effort.

Ebie Holst, CEO of Splashlink.com, a Beachwood software company that operates an online marketplace for the water industry, believes Northeast Ohio is a logical place for these water industries to flourish.

“The fact that we had a burning river back in the late ‘60s, we have a whole legacy of embedded (water) expertise in the region,” she said, referring to a fire on the Cuyahoga River in 1969. “In the late ‘60s because we had a lot of industrial contamination, we ended up evolving water expertise around water remediation and treatment and that was 40 years ago and the expertise has evolved.”

That river fire and the efforts to clean it up led to the Clean Water Act, the federal legislation that has triggered billions of dollars in water cleanup projects.

Holst points to the expertise developed by companies such as Fairmount Santrol, a company that provides sand and other water and oil and gas filtration materials; Oatey Co., a maker of plumbing chemicals and testing equipment; and Swagelok Co.; which makes hydraulic fittings such as flow sensors, leak detectors and valves.

“These are some of the things that translate into exporting our expertise,” she said. “When you think about places like China, where they have been industrializing very quickly, and things are only starting to hit a tipping point for significant problems (with their water supply). We’ve done it, we’ve cleaned our water.”

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Developers give rise to housing with a view

BY STAN BULLARD sbullard@crain.com @CrainRltyWriter

When Dick Pace, a partner with Dallas realty developer Trammell Crow Co. talks about their $700 million plan to redevelop the shoreline at East Ninth Street, he points to a “unique view” it will have of Lake Erie and downtown Cleveland.

With a shoreline site one-third of a mile from the north edge of Cleveland’s skyscrapers, he said the closest comparable lake views are in Vermilion and Fairport Harbor. Pace, CEO of Cleveland-based Cumberland Development, and Trammell won the city of Cleveland OKs to build apartments, offices and a little retail on a site created by decades of dredging and dumping that created a lip of land almost level with the lake.

Otherwise, steep clay cliffs dominate most of the region’s waterfront.

Those promontories are increasingly becoming sites for new residential developments capitalizing on the resurgence of city living and low interest rates. Prized lake views also make higher costs associated with building for-sale housing or rental apartments more palatable in Northeast Ohio’s low-cost housing market.

Andrew Brickman, managing director of Brickhaus Partners of Cleveland, estimates a lake or river view hikes the value of his projects more than 20%.

However, more than a view is needed to make a project go. Brickman is preparing to break ground on 95 Lake, a group of 10 townhouses at that address that has Edgewater Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks across the street. The planned townhouses will follow a saw-toothed design that affords each townhouse costing upward of $479,000 a view of the park and the lake.

“Absolutely essential,” is the way

Brickman describes views of Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga River at another project he has in the works.

That one is on the northwest side of the Hope Memorial Bridge at Duck Island, a section of Ohio City bordering Tremont.

Currently 14 floors tall — the maximum height the city allows, though Brickman hopes to go higher — the two buildings will have a total of 500 suites. Besides the views, the project is near downtown, the West 25th Street rapid transit station and the West Side Market. It took Brickman three years and more than $1.7 million to buy 25 properties to assemble the project’s five-acre site, but he believes it will be worth it.

More than a view However, a lake view is not the only thing a successful project requires.

The lake view was the reason Brian Koch landed at West 32nd Street and Detroit for Mariner’s Walk, a 62unit apartment. Originally conceived as a condominium project in 2005, it emerged in 2015 as a rental.

However, Koch also felt he needed to distinguish the new property from the city’s legion of garden apartment buildings. They lack amenities, so he added luxury features such as underground parking, a fitness center and a party room he calls “the sky lounge.”

With a combination of balconies plus porches wrapping around corners of the building, the design maximizes the ability of each tenant to see the lake. However, 12 suites lack lake views. So Koch used a prime location in the building — one he could rent for $3,200 monthly — on the top floor overlooking the lake for the exercise and party rooms.

“If a lake view is not in your budget,” Koch said, “you have it there.”

Meantime, in the adjoining Detroit-Shoreway Neighborhood, the benefits of a lake view helped the

The Battery Park community includes 150 townhouses. (Stan Bullard) Battery Park residential development, where the first townhouse sold for about $200,000 in 2006, to weather the housing bust.

Chip Marous, managing member of Willoughby-based Vintage Development Co., said that as the condo market dried up, Battery Park was able to sell about eight units annually thanks to the attraction of the lake view and its park proximity. However, Vintage coped by trimming plans for tall loft buildings to low-rise townhouses.

Today, Battery Park is a community of 150 sleek, modern townhouses that stretches between West 73rd and West 76th Street next to the lakefront railroad tracks and West Shoreway.

Economic recovery has jumpstarted sales. The development is on pace to sell 40 homes this year, according to Stephanie Termine, who oversees Battery Park sales as a vice president at the Keller Williams Golden Heart Real Estate Group.

There might have been a far different look to the site. The site was originally available because a factory where Eveready batteries were once produced had closed. An out-of-town developer hired the Marous familyowned construction firm to convert

the old industrial buildings to lofts because they had scarce lake views.

After the out-of-towner bailed out, Marous undertook the project with a different vision.

“Our forefathers put a lot of industrial property along the bluffs because it was next to the railroad,” Marous said. “The whole thought was to tear that out and make it a lifestyle community that benefits from the location.”

The major building on the site, a massive six-story building, walled off the neighborhood from the lake.

“If ever there were a place to take down a building in Cleveland,” Marous said, “this was it.”

In the end, 28 buildings were demolished; the only one retained was a powerhouse that once provided electricity for the plant, now home to the Cha pizza shop and the sales office for Keller Williams.

A rebounding market The rejuvenated for-sale market has amped up the size of buildings and units at Battery Park. Construction workers are finishing up The Edgewater, a four-unit townhouse facing Lake Erie near the West 76th

pedestrian tunnel connecting to Edgewater beach. Three have sold for more than $400,000 and the last may go for more than $550,000.

Plans call for a site near the northeast end of Battery Park to become “Park Place,” a five-story building with first-floor parking. Two-bedroom flats will go for about $230,000 in the 40-unit structure, while penthouses will go for about $700,000, Termine said. Site work is underway, and units should be available in 2017.

Also in the works is another phase of townhouses called Lakeview with 17 three-story units with rooftop decks.

Suites have bamboo floors, granite countertops and other features. However, Termine noted the first question she hears is, “What is the view?”

Vintage also is preparing to jump West 73rd to expand beyond the old factory’s grounds. Vintage has acquired six acres on the east side of West 73rd. Plans for 350 rental apartments and retail space there will get city and local reviews this year.

Other factors also contribute to the Cleveland’s spurt of lakefront development, which includes nearly a dozen projects.

A big one, said Scott Wolstein, a partner with his mother Iris Wolstein and Fairmount Properties of Cleveland in the Flats East Bank Neighborhood, is that rents have climbed nearly 50% from the historic averages in the Cleveland area. The Flats at East Bank opened last year with 285 suites facing the river or lake, joining a hotel and office building in a massive waterfront development.

However, history may also be helping Cleveland overcome its legacy of lakefront neglect and geography.

Tom Yablonsky, executive vice president of the Downtown Cleveland Alliance, said he believes the new projects show Cleveland is starting to follow a path trod by other cities that had to rejuvenate: waterfront areas rebound first.

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Recreation thrives along waterfront

BY JEREMY NOBILE jnobile@crain.com @JeremyNobile

Whether watching concerts on the beach, playing in the water, exploring the parks or biking along Lake Erie’s scenic coastal trails that connect everything together, there’s never been more to do along Cleveland’s waterfront.

Visitors have certainly noticed.

And they should. After all, much of the work either completed or in progress was predicated by surveys years ago by park officials who wanted a sense of what the public wanted out of their park system.

“I think we can all say the attention given to the lakefront is not only long overdue, but very exciting as well,” said Sean McDermott, chief planning and design officer for Cleveland Metroparks. “We’re starting to make improvements and seeing those utilized the day they’re opened. It’s fair to say there is a pent up demand for lakefront recreation.”

It wasn’t always this way, though.

In fact, a truly recreational lakefront has been generations in the making.

In Cleveland’s early days, lakefront development was driven exclusively by commerce and industry. As rail-

roads, factories and ore harbors sprung up, though, spurring the city’s economic momentum throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, the industrialized lakefront grew increasingly distant from anyone not working in plants and on docks.

But times have certainly changed.

Today’s redeveloped lakefront is as much about providing fun activities for park visitors as it is reshaping the city’s Rust Belt image by harnessing the potential of the region’s greatest natural resource in Lake Erie.

“It’s about creating a livable, wellrounded lakefront to match the growing city it serves,” said Pamela Carson, Ohio’s state director for the nonprofit Trust For Public Land, which has helped secure and protect more than 3,000 acres along the lakefront alone.

“The efforts that we can undertake through park and green space and related infrastructure projects are all contributing to the increased environmental sustainability of the lakefront, the Great Lakes, and as a result — the greater region and its people,” she added.

“It’s not just about industry, it’s about equitable access to drinking water, recreation, tourism and quality, livable neighborhoods with access.”

Engage the waterfront It’s been nearly 100 years since the first district in the Cleveland Metroparks was formed. The decades following its inception saw future park lands pieced together and reshaped by new investments.

Those efforts have continued non-

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stop to this day.

The lakefront’s modern form and many of the amenities it now offers probably wouldn’t exist if not for the Metroparks’ takeover of six lakefront parks from the city in 2013 in a transfer of land also coordinated by the state. Those areas have been critical to the present-day push for more

recreational opportunities along Lake Erie’s Cleveland shore.

Today’s projects at places like Whiskey Island, Rivergate and Edgewater parks and the trails connecting the other various Metroparks areas center on cleanup and planning. Yet, recent years have seen an almost countless expansion of recreational

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steps in order to achieve that goal of a lively, attractive and engaging waterfront,” McDermott said, referencing initial cleanup efforts and crediting the cooperation of numerous stakeholders from local governments to nonprofits in realizing progress and securing millions in investments.

“It’s a regional approach to increase our connection with our greatest asset, Lake Erie,” he added.

“And it’s incredibly exciting.”

Making connections

Edgewater Live happens Thursday evenings starting in June. (Kyle Lanzer/Cleveland Metroparks) activities, ranging from concerts at Edgewater and the East 55th Street Marina to weekly festivals at Euclid Beach.

“We need to take these incremental

Besides general park improvement and adding new activities and programs, a wider mission for the parks is connectivity.

The recently opened Lake Link Trail — to be renamed the Cleveland Foundation Centennial Trail — runs 1.3 miles from Hoopples Restaurant and Bar and the Columbus Road Bridge to Scranton Road. The longer-term goal is to expand that trail to Wendy Park at Whiskey Island. That’s at least two to three years away, though, McDermott said.

Meanwhile, the dilapidated Coast Guard station is being restored and reinvented.

The parks are currently looking to establish a partnership to bring youth sailing to the lake on the island through the station.

Kayak and stand-up paddle board rentals are being explored there as well. But before the parks can attract investors/partners, the place needs to look sharp.

So it’s a work in progress, McDermott said.

“We really need to show the public the potential this has,” he said.

From there, the parks want to establish a bridge to get over the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks to connect with the Centennial Trail.

When everything is completed, riders will be able to travel the Towpath Trial in Tremont, split off to the Centennial Trail, over the Scranton peninsula, through the west bank of the Flats, across the tracks (via that planned railroad bridge) and down to Wendy Park. That’s the Lake Link Trail project. Once finished — potentially around 2019 — the path will be about 2 miles long.

“When you’re trying to turn a city and make positive change, economics is the driver,” said Carson, a retired KeyBank corporate executive. “Moreover, I think this is about getting people back to Cleveland. We want to invite and recruit more people so we can compete on a global scale. One way to do that is to offer them amenities they can’t get anywhere else.”

The parks efforts bring new recreation to the lakefront is, in turn, having its own transformative effect, Carson said.

Businesses and factories close to the trails and parks being revamped are making their own upgrades. And new housing is being constructed.

And it’s all reshaping the city’s identity.

“Cleveland was the mistake on the lake for many years,” she said.

“We’re climbing out of that.”

Seven things to do on (or near) the water Edgewater Live

WHEN: 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. Thursdays, June 9 – Aug. 11 WHERE: Lower Edgewater Park at Lakefront Reservation COST: Free DESCRIPTION: Billed by the parks as a “new view on happy hour,” the weekly invites visitors to live music set against the backdrop of the Cleveland skyline at sunset. Includes a variety of food trucks.

Citizen’s Bank Cinema at Sunset

WHEN: Movie starts at dusk (usually around 8:30-9 p.m.)

WHERE: Presented in conjunction with Edgewater Live at Edgewater Park COST: Free DESCRIPTION: Family friendly movies are shown on a 15-by-20-foot screen near the kite field. Check with the parks for scheduled films.

Euclid Beach Live

WHEN: 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. Fridays, June 10 – Aug. 12 WHERE: Euclid Beach Park at the Euclid Creek Reservation COST: Free DESCRIPTION: A counterpart to Edgewater Live, the weekly event includes live entertainment and food trucks.

East 55th Street Marina Concert Series on the Lake

WHEN: 8-11 p.m. Saturday evenings, May 21 – Sept. 4 WHERE: E. 55th St. Marina COST: Free DESCRIPTION: A summer concert series on the lake, featuring acts such as Cats on Holiday (May 28), Madison Crawl (June 11), Shockwave (July 16), Rebels Without Applause (July 30) and several others.

Stand-up paddleboard and race festival

WHEN: Registration from 7:30 a.m. – 8:15 a.m. Event open until 4 p.m. Aug. 20 WHERE: Whiskey Island at the Lakefront Reservation’s Wendy Park COST: $40 for adults; $15 for youth (ages 10 and younger with participating adult) DESCRIPTION: Presented by the Cleveland Metroparks and Nalu Stand Up Paddle & Surf, the third annual event offers courses for everyone from beginners to advanced racers. The festival includes demos, music, door prizes and more.

Ride the water taxi

WHEN: Thursdays through Sundays running Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend. Rides will conclude at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturday and 7 p.m. on Thursdays and Sundays WHERE: The Flats COST: $2/day for unlimited rides DESCRIPTION: This year marks the return of a service popular during the 1980s and 1990s during the peak of Flats’ popularity. A 26-foot boat on the Cuyahoga River will ferry between the east and west banks of the Flats, with other stops as “opportunities develop,” according to the Metroparks. It’s not a “booze cruise” but a service designed to increase connectivity between the banks.

Take a Lake Erie kayak tour

WHEN: 6 – 8:30 p.m. June 28 WHERE: Wendy Park at the Lakefront Reservation COST: $35 (includes boats and equipment) DESCRIPTION: Enhance your kayak skills as we paddle sit-on-top kayaks behind the break wall to experience a new view of Downtown Cleveland. Paddling experience highly recommended. A late fee will be charged for registering after June 20.

Cleveland’s premier riverfront dining experience

East Bank of the Flats • 1785 Merwin Ave. • Cleveland • 216-664-5696 • merwinswharf.com

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Q & A: Aaron Marcovy Executive director, The Foundry Aaron Marcovy has watched the Columbus Road Peninsula evolve over the past few decades. Last July, he became executive director of The Foundry — an old industrial complex that now serves as a base of operations for students who row on the Cuyahoga River.

Marcovy has been visiting the Flats since he was 6 years old, but he really got to know the area well starting in 1997, when he joined the rowing team at St. Ignatius High School. He says the river is cleaner today than it was back then. And the peninsula is a much livelier place. Marcovy — who also rowed for the varsity team at Columbia University — aims to inject more life into the area over the next few years as the rest of the abandoned industrial site is converted into space for rowing, sailing and events. For instance, this year The Foundry plans to spend roughly $7 million on a new main entrance, a room for indoor rowing tanks, a locker room and infrastructure improvements. The project’s funders are MCPc Family Charities and the family of Mike Trebilcock, CEO of MCPc, a technology services company in Cleveland.

Through rowing and sailing, Marcovy believes that The Foundry can have a big impact on young people and the Flats itself. — Chuck Soder How did you get into rowing?

My dad did it for a little bit in college, and then took some time off, had a couple kids. He got back together with some other people here in town and they started the Western Reserve Rowing Association, which is still around. … But he really didn’t push it on me. I tried a bunch of different sports. I was not great at very many of them. I

tried football, tried swimming. I was just not great. I tried rowing and had some natural aptitude.

don’t think it’s anything terribly novel. It’s fairly obvious, but it’s really clear in this sport. If you push a little bit harder, your boat goes a little bit further. It’s very good instant feedback.

How did rowing benefit you?

How does it benefit other kids?

This sport took me all over the world, and all that was asked of me was to try really, really hard. …

(Success) doesn’t just happen.

You have to work really hard at it. I

You used to be director of marketing and communications at MCPc. What drove you to leave a steady job to run a nonprofit?

It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever done, for sure. But I hope it becomes one of the best. It remains to be seen yet. We have a long way to go, I think, before we really start doing what we want to do. I have a great deal of faith in sports like rowing and sailing to shape the lives of young people. That sounds like a canned answer, but I’ve noticed it in my own life. At

many times in my life I would’ve been lost without the routine this sport provided.

There have been a lot of developments along the river in the Flats in recent years.

Rivergate Park is fairly new, there’s a skate park, there’s Merwin’s Wharf restaurant and the Towpath Trail. There’re even

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Left, students carry a racing shell from The Foundry to the water before practice on the Cuyahoga River, above. (Rebecca R. Markovitz photos) on a river, that’s not a river that’s going to catch fire any time soon.

some plans for Canal Basin Park.

Has the atmosphere changed?

I think so. In a very positive way.

It’s kind of fun to be down here. …

It’s policed. It’s cleaner. There’re small parklands here, like Hart Crane park. And what we hope to do on the south end over here is to have a lot more public access.

It’s just kind of a cool, nice place to be down by the water.

What was this area like back when you were rowing for St. Ignatius in the 1990s?

There’s a lot more business going on down here. There are businesses that have moved in just up the block. … We’ve seen better city services here, roadways, etc. … I remember being young, middle school or high school, my dad being an avid rower, his car would get

pretty beaten up because the roads were poorly maintained because it was mainly industry.

Nowadays, you look out on Columbus Road, it’s practically a newly paved road. I think the city is paying attention, which is wonderful.

And the fact that it’s so different from the late ‘60s, early ‘70s type water, the butt of every joke, right? … If you see some high school kids

If you’ve got people rowing on the river, I feel like any problems with the river might get fixed a little bit faster, because now there are more stakeholders.

They’re fragile stakeholders — children. It’s been great just to hear that industry is partnering with the Metroparks. Industry is partnering with us. I know the executive director of the Cleveland Rowing Foundation, and he and I are both are attendees at these Marine Safety Task Force meetings. … Everybody comes in once every two months and is able to hash out concerns. And there is just such a blossoming of cooperation among all these people. … I can’t credit the Coast Guard enough for putting it together.

Tell me about efforts to expand rowing beyond the wealthier

schools that are more likely to have rowing teams.

Not every (school) has a swimming pool. And not everybody has bandwidth to teach them how to swim.

That’s the first barrier to entry.

Once our programming with the YMCA is completely formalized … our goal is to get groups of kids in. … We’ve also begun working with Urban Community School, and they’ve expressed interest in putting a program together. … And any kid who wants to row, they can row with the Cleveland Youth Rowing Association, which is the catch-all program.

So about 150 kids have used the Foundry so far, but I understand you have bigger goals.

I’d like to see 10,000 students through here in a year at a minimum and get it formalized to a point where it’s integral to part of the (physical education) curriculum at a school or two.

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WATER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

started Share My River, an organization that promotes the economic, recreational and social vibrancy of Cleveland’s waterfront. “That’s powerful stuff, especially when these people are posting it on social media and saying, “Look at all this happening in Cleveland.’”

For years, most of the waterfront development plans in Cleveland never went beyond the planning stages — foundered by political gridlock, economic turmoil or a combination of the two. Former mayors Michael White and Jane Campbell each unveiled plans to overhaul the lakefront.

White proposed an entertainment district anchored by a Ferris wheel, concert complex and a children’s museum. Campbell, who shepherded perhaps the most ambitious plan, called for nine miles of development that included a mix of industrial, residential and recreational spaces.

Mayor Frank Jackson, whose office declined to be interviewed for this project, is calling for a mixed-use development around FirstEnergy Stadium at North Coast Harbor. That proposal has some legs to it, as a team led

by Cleveland developer Dick Pace and the Trammell Crow Co. of Dallas are working on a project on 20-plus acres of city-owned land that could ultimately add more than 1,000 apartment units, 80,000-square-feet of office space and 50,000-square-feet of retail space. The first pieces of Pace’s development are expected to come online this summer.

“I think the reason we have succeeded is the political will to make it happen. That’s first and foremost. The

mayor has shown leadership in getting this done,” said Pace, of Cumberland Development. “With the mayor’s and council’s support, we’ve been able to move the project forward.”

He added, “They’re all in. They want to see this happen. It’s in everyone’s interest to create a vibrant neighborhood.”

Phase 3

Phase 2

Phase 1

A

Under construction

Changing views Truth told, it’s not as if Cleveland has historically ignored its waterfront. The city’s founding by Moses Cleaveland was, in part, due to its proximity to the water. Over the years, industry planted it roots along the water, making it unfit for recreation and habitation because of environmental concerns. As the city built up its infrastructure in the 20th century, the bulk of it — highways, utilities and even an airport — was placed along the lakefront.

“We really put infrastructure on the path of least resistance,” said Chris Ronayne, who served as Campbell’s planning director from 2002 until 2005 and now leads University Circle Inc. “It’s hard to believe 50 to 100 years later you would put a highway on the lakefront, but that’s what we did when we opened Interstate 90 on the curve out east.”

But at the turn of the millennium, the conversation started to shift and many began to see — or at least think about — the city as a waterfront community for the people, Ronayne said.

During Campbell’s term, Ronayne said the city held 136 public meetings to drum up ideas for the lakefront.

What resulted was a “movement to touch the water,” Ronayne said.

That movement has spawned a number of infrastructure upgrades.

Notably, the West Shoreway along Lake Erie is being remade into a picturesque boulevard to improve access

B

A: North Coast Harbor development planned in three phases; B: Pedestrian bridge that will connect the Mall to the water. (Contributed photo) to Lake Erie — a project that has already spurred housing developments to the south. Less visible, but also important, the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District is in the midst of a $3 billion, 25-year effort to reduce the amount of sewer water that flows in the lake by 4 billion gallons a year.

Another piece of infrastructure that some say has the potential to transform the public’s perception of the lakefront is the long-talkedabout pedestrian bridge that would run from Cleveland’s Mall to the water. The project was expected to be completed this summer for the Republican National Convention, but it was put on hold to prioritize the focus on the Public Square redo. The $33 million bridge recently received a $3.5 million boost from the state.

Joe Roman, president and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Partnership, said about 75% of the funds needed for the bridge have been raised, and an 18-to-24-month fundraising

push to secure the remaining dollars will go live later this summer. Roman expects a combination of public and private dollars to pay for the bridge. Selling naming rights to the structure, he said, could also help bring in the needed funds.

“I’ve been here 30 plus years and directly involved and indirectly involved with several lakefront plans, and the common feature of lakefront proposals by reputable designers and architects was the need to better connect the lake to downtown,” Roman said. “East Ninth Street is not a pedestrian-friendly accessway.”

One of the big controversies surrounding lakefront development is the future of Burke Lakefront Airport.

Mayor Jackson has firmly opposed closing the airport, which covers roughly 450 acres of coveted lakefront real estate. Critics have argued that the airport is underused and hinders further lakefront development.

However, Roman said that if

Burke were up for sale, the cost of upgrading the infrastructure to make the property suitable for housing and commercial development “would be an obstacle.”

“I think the better approach is to demonstrate through smaller-size projects on the lake and waterfront that the demand is strong,” Roman said. “If in a generation or whatever we’re in a position to consider (the property for development), incredible demand would have to be there.

We need to bite off the right size projects and make sure they succeed.”

More people are appreciating the waterfronts all the time, and more, in particular, are using the river, including the rowers associated with The Foundry complex. However, we still have a long way to go before we convince people that the river and lakefronts are amenities to be embraced, said Jane Goodman, the executive director of Cuyahoga River Restoration.

Fortunately, she said, there are many new initiatives afoot that are helping, and some good organizations, such as the Cleveland Metroparks, investing to make that happen. However, new apartments and bars might bring people to the waterfront — as is the case with the Wolstein family’s burgeoning Flats East Bank development — but getting them to touch and experience the water would go a long way to branding Cleveland as a water town.

“You’re still getting mostly people who are into being outside and into nature to begin with,” Goodman said about waterfront activity. “That is not the population we need to convince to come down to this newly living, wonderful river. The other populations will come down — we hope — as much as we can create opportunities and events to get them here.”

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS z MAY 9 - 15, 2016 z PAGE 23

Personal View

Advantage Cleveland: Water is an asset of increasing value

BY BRYAN STUBBS It’s heartening to see our city taking big steps toward better utilization of our priceless waterfront.

From the resurgent Flats East Bank to the downtown lakefront, projects have been completed or are planned that complement and feature our beautiful shoreline.

That’s all good, but there’s another very valuable component to the future use of our great lake that can be better utilized.

Water is becoming an increasingly valuable commodity globally.

Already, 36% of the world’s population lives in water-scarce areas.

Much of California doesn’t have enough water, and there are other places in the U.S. that are waterstressed.

There’s no rejoicing in any of that, because it presents serious issues on multiple levels for people who work and live in those areas.

But it’s fine — indeed, overdue — to celebrate the fact that Cleveland is blessed with a vast supply of fresh water. This natural resource can become a much more valuable economic asset than it is today. Properly managed, our lake can prime a pump of economic growth.

That’s why the nonprofit Cleveland Water Alliance (CWA) was formed in 2012. Our steadily expanding membership includes Northeast Ohio businesses, universities, nonprofits, foundations and much more. We provide what Cleveland never had before — a router capable of directing water-related ideas and concepts to the places where they stand the best chance of reaching job-creating fruition.

Cleveland can be an international center for water-related innovation and technology. We already have more than 200 water-centric businesses and organizations here.

The CWA wants to aggressively expand the scope of water-related pursuits — all with the goal of retaining and attracting good jobs here.

We are working with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, for example, to design more environmentally effective bulkheads for rivers and shorelines. Such bulkheads have the potential to have ecological benefits while reducing erosion — which would result in less clogging of our river channels and thus decrease the need for dredging.

We are also exploring the possibility of ultimately printing — yes, printing, on 3D printers — these bulkheads here in Northeast Ohio.

We are working with the University of Akron and our water infrastructure partners to develop sensors to monitor algal growth.

And we’re assisting NASA’s Glenn Research Center on techniques to clean water using non-chemical methods.

I’ve been gratified by the support the CWA has received in the three plus years since it was formed. I am constantly asked “Why wasn’t something like this started earlier?”

We, of course need continued support and we need to expand our base of partners regionally. Even though the name of our organization is the Cleveland Water Alliance, our efforts stand to benefit all of

Northern Ohio and — ultimately — the entire Great Lakes region and beyond.

We strongly endorse the continued and careful stewardship of our lake and river. The cleaner our water is, the better it is to market it for commercial, job-creating use, and clean water will also enhance our quality of life and tourism opportunities. However, we still have challenges. For many contaminants, Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga River are far less polluted than they were

36%

200

Percentage of the world’s population living in areas that are considered water-scarce

Number of water-centric businesses and organizations in Northeast Ohio

decades ago. However, since the mid-90s the concentration of algaeproducing dissolved phosphorus in the river and the lake has increased and this is helping to fuel harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie. The CWA

heartily supports efforts to address the algae problem and continue improvements on other contaminants.

Cleveland is a resilient town. We have dealt with changes, many of them internationally-driven, that ad-

versely affected our local economy in years past.

Today, we stand in the wheelhouse of an economic vessel that has unlimited potential for our community. We need to continue to work together, using water-centric innovation and technology to grow this segment of our local economy. Certainly we can all drink to that.

Bryan Stubbs is executive director of the Cleveland Water Alliance.

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PAGE 24

THE DISH: Lee Chilcote

There’s more brewing at Cleveland Hostel

BY LEE CHILCOTE

The Ohio City business owner is taking the next leg in his own entrepreneurial journey by opening Passengers Café next month in the hostel lobby.

Raymond recently completed buildout of the new West 25th Street café, which will have a coffee bar as well as indoor and outdoor seating.

The 700-square-foot venue will be aimed at hostel guests and neighborhood visitors alike. Expect a

Chilcote is a freelance writer and editor who has written for Vanity Fair, Next City, Belt and other publications. He is cofounder of Literary Cleveland.

Since opening the Cleveland Hostel three-and-a-half years ago, owner Mark Raymond has welcomed more than 10,000 guests from 60plus countries.

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place where you can grab an espresso or cup of coffee and relax while hearing foreign languages being spoken around you.

When it opens in a month or so, Passengers Café will offer tea, coffee, a variety of beverages, bagels and pastries. It also will sell travel items such as notebooks, toothbrushes and small carrying cases. And of course, free Wi-Fi will be available.

“I’ve always wanted to do something else with the lobby besides just a lobby and check-in, but I decided to focus on the hostel first and get that going,” Raymond said. “A lot of people who live in the neighborhood say, ‘I want to check out the hostel and go there, it’s really cool,’ but right now there’s no reason to. This will give them a reason … It will also get the word out about the hostel.”

Raymond’s business partner in the café is Trey Kirchoff, a restaurant industry veteran. He and his wife recently moved back to her hometown of Cleveland after living for a decade in New York City. Kirchoff previously worked for Gimme! Coffee, a coffeehouse based in Ithaca, N.Y., as the regional manager of the company’s three New York City locations.

The Milwaukee native moved to Cleveland to pursue his dreams of becoming an entrepreneur.

“Before we got here, I wanted to open a place in New York City,” said Kirchoff, who lives in Ohio City with his wife, Dana, and their son. “But in New York, it costs about half your soul to open your own business.

When I came here, that was the intention. I immediately wanted to do something.”

Since moving to Cleveland a year

Trey Kirchoff, left, and Mark Raymond are opening Passengers Café in the lobby of the Cleveland Hostel. (Lee Chilcote) ago, Kirchoff has worked at Jonathon Sawyer’s downtown ramen house Noodlecat as well as Lucky’s Café in Tremont.

Kirchoff said he’s most excited about bringing in specialty coffee from artisan roasters across the United States and educating guests about what’s in their cups. Onyx Coffee Lab out of Fayetteville, Ark., and Reanimator Coffee out of Philadelphia are among those that will be featured, along with Gimme! Coffee.

Passengers Café will also sell whole bags of beans. Kirchoff is excited about building off the great coffee options that already exist in Ohio City.

One of the café’s coolest design elements is the coffee and beverage station housed in an old phone booth. Raymond said the relic sat in his parents’ basement for 30 years before he reclaimed it for the hostel.

“I grew up with a phone booth in my basement. I thought everyone had one,” he joked. There will be a fridge

in the bottom and sugar and cream will be available in the top half.

If the café’s high ceilings, large storefront windows, rustic wood floors and blond wood accents aren’t enough, visitors will undoubtedly be lured by the chance to hang out on the hostel’s fourth floor roof deck. Previously, only hostel guests had access to the 700-square-foot outdoor space, which offers views of downtown and West 25th Street.

Kirchoff and Raymond don’t yet have all the details on the types of bagels, toast and pastries they’ll be offering. The café will open early in the morning and remain open until the end of the business day. Kirchoff plans to adjust the hours based on demand.

Kirchoff, a convivial host by nature, said he’s excited about opening a café in the neighborhood he calls home. “I believe coffee brings people together,” he said.

Email Chilcote at clbfreelancer@crain.com or follow him on Twitter @leechilcote.

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20160509-NEWS--25-NAT-CCI-CL_--

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS z MAY 9 - 15, 2016 z PAGE 25

Business of Life

Dogs think pet hotel and spa is the cat’s meow

BY LYDIA COUTRE When the entertainment industry took a turn in the late-1990s, Howard Perlmuter’s royalty checks from his work managing musicians dwindled fast. His assistant joked that if things didn’t turn around, he’d have to start putting his dogs to work.

He laughed it off at first, but then it dawned on him: They could be his best clients. They’d be on time, they wouldn’t talk back and he could keep 100% of the commission.

When looking for a place to board his two golden retriever puppies in Los Angeles, he couldn’t find a suitable place for his babies. They were models, after all, in film, television and print. Traditional boarding wouldn’t do.

“My pets had income,” said Perlmuter, who spent about 30 years in the entertainment industry. “They had money to spend and a lifestyle to maintain.”

And thus, The Barkley Pet Hotel & Day Spa was born. He returned to Northeast Ohio, where he grew up, to test out a luxury pet spa. It was a hit. Soon, he opened a location in L.A. And now, 10 years after his first Ritz-Carlton-style pet hotel in Orange Village, he’s planning to open two in Mumbai, India, by the end of the year.

The base of all visits to the Barkley is 24-hour onsite care and supervision. The list of add-ons ranges from grooming to a limo ride.

Guests can spend the day getting a relaxation massage, walking the red carpet to snap some vacation photos, ordering room service, video chatting with their family or creating arts and crafts. Sometimes their pet parents spring for a limo ride around town or through the drive-thru at McDonald’s, where dogs can grab a plain burger.

Fear not, cats aren’t forgotten.

Over in “Kitty City,” feline guests can get room service tuna. And after a day of luxury, an extra $10 can get that furry pal a gourmet bedtime biscuit, evening storytime and a tummy rub and tuck-in service.

The “why” behind these indulgences varies. Some senior pets have medical reasons for requesting a therapeutic bed upgrade or ordering hydrotherapy services in the Barkley’s indoor pet pool. Some pet parents want their pups or kitties to feel as relaxed as they do after a massage. And others just want their pet to turn heads.

“Some of them say, ‘Hey, my pet is a diva and needs a spring makeover because she’s gotta go walking through Chagrin Falls and look good,’ ” Perlmuter said.

Katie Schlesinger, owner of Fetch Pet Boutique and Spa, said many people who add on things like specialty shampoos or blueberry facials for their pups, but newly adopted dogs usually get extra pampered.

“People just love their pets,” Schlesinger said. “Honestly, that’s

Salvatore, a French bulldog, plays in his suite at The Barkley Pet Hotel & Day Spa in Orange Village. (Ken Blaze photos)

Joey, a Jack Russell terrier, takes a dip in the Barkley pool.

Spencer, a 6-year-old Tibetan Terrier, gets his paw printed for an art project. why the pet industry is thriving everywhere. Because no matter if people are falling on the hard times … they’re not going to scrimp on their pet services because they’re a part of our family.”

Les Wagenheim’s “best buddy”

Spencer, a 6-year-old Tibetan Terrier, has been a regular at the Barkley for more than a year since Wagenheim and his wife moved to a new apartment that limited them to two dogs. They worked out a deal with a landlord to have Spencer with

them and their two other dogs during the day, but they have to board him every night.

“We’re very fortunate to have an upscale arrangement for people like us that rely on those services as extensively as we do,” Wagenheim

said. “I think this is a new phenomenon in the most recent years, so we’re happy to have that in place.”

He and his wife can use the remote camera feed to watch Spencer play with his girlfriend, a miniature schnauzer. Wagenheim said he feels comfortable knowing Spencer has 24-hour care in case he has urgent medical needs — plus grooming services and a little pampering.

Last month during one of his visits to the Barkley, Spencer created some arts and crafts with the help of staff.

He pressed his paw into green ink and then onto a piece of bright orange construction paper in the space between two photos of him.

As staff stamped little blue dog bones around the boarder, Spencer padded out of the room onto his next adventure — and perhaps to find his girlfriend.

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z MAY 9 - 15, 2016 z CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

BUSINESS OF LIFE

Source Lunch Matt Brakey was born to be an expert on energy regulation.

No, really, it’s true. His father, Mike, practically invented the business from whole cloth, after becoming an expert at navigating complex electricity charges and plans for Johnson Rubber, where he was an engineer.

He formed Brakey Energy, which is now based in Shaker Heights, with Matt at the helm. Matt started working at the firm when he was just 23. Today, at 35, he has fully replaced his dad not only as the company’s president, but as a leading expert on Ohio’s energy regulations, at least as they pertain to electricity costs for large businesses.

Matt and his wife, Carolyn — an attorney and also an energy regulation expert — consult businesses ranging from large industrial plants to urban developments owned by Dan Gilbert. — Dan Shingler

You’re 35 and you’ve been running the company since you were about 30. What’s that been like?

Because my father started the business, I was able to sort of short-cut the cubicle. That’s been a good thing and a bad thing. Sometimes I think it might have been good to pay my dues a bit more before taking over the company at such a young age — but it seems to be working out.

You graduated from law school, but you did not become a lawyer. Why? Running Brakey Energy was always the track I was on. But given that energy is so heavily regulated, the law and energy are incredibly intertwined. So having a legal education really helps me in my job, but I’ve never wanted to put “esquire” next to my name or anything.

My legal education has really helped me to serve my clients, though, and that’s what’s important. … But I hardly knew what a kilowatt was when I graduated from college.

You were a political science major. What do you think of the election? Did you have a favorite candidate?

My brother Eric is actually the youngest state senator in the country. He’s in Maine. He endorsed Rand Paul, and while I’m not quite like my brother, I think I liked him more than anyone else.

When you started working with Brakey Energy, you’ve told me, it only had a few clients in the Middlefield area, around where your father had worked. How has it grown?

We have maybe around 85 clients now. Our largest clients now are the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (and) Dan Gilbert’s family of companies, which includes the Higbee building, Quicken Loans Arena and the Thistledown Racino.

Progressive Insurance is also a client.

You work in an industry that’s very complicated and seems to change constantly. Does that help or hurt you?

When my father started the business in a wholly regulated environment, and that was true when I joined the business as well. But when deregulation happened, I was there for its infancy in Ohio, and I think I was able to develop an expertise even beyond my father’s. That helped me to develop an identity, both within the company and within the industry. I was fortunate to be here for the start of that so I could develop a very broad expertise, even at a very young age.

Why does your business do well? Why don’t people just get rid of you once you’ve

given them a strategy for lowering their bills or negotiated their contract for them?

I don’t know anyone else who has our business model. … But the reason people don’t cut us loose is the industry is constantly changing. Not only are the issues we’re dealing with different than they were 10 years ago — they’re different in ways no one even imagined. … We also deal with natural gas, but natural gas is not nearly as complicated as electricity regulation. Natural gas you can store, so you don’t have as many complex regulations to deal with. In electricity, we’re able to provide continual value, because the regulations are always changing.

How about at home — what keeps you busy besides energy regulations?

Twins — nine months old. Grover and Beatrix. We also have two rescue dogs — Gobi, like the desert, and Megawatt — or Mega for short. We like to go for runs, take advantage of the restaurant scene around here. … People might get weirded out by it — but Lakeview Cemetery is a destination for our family when we have time. I think it’s probably one of the most beautiful places in Cleveland. …

Oh, and we have two cats — it’s kind of like Noah’s Ark.

Matt Brakey ENERGY

FIVE THINGS: FAVORITE PLACES Lakeview Cemetery, Forest Hills Park, Jack Casino and Quicken Loans Arena during Cavs games

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TV SHOWS

The meal

MUSICAL ACT

“Game of Thrones” is No. 1. Also, “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.”

MOVIES “I like to go to the Cedar Lee, but I think I might be a movie snob,” Brakey said. “I don’t like a lot of movies that most people like.”

RESTAURANTS Aside from the usual hot-chef eateries, Asia Town restaurants such as the Li Wah (for dim sum) and the Siam Café.

One had a six-egg omelet (that’s just how they do it) with cheese and spinach, bacon, pancakes, coffee and juice. The other: a six-egg omelet with cheese, sausage and spinach, strawberry pancakes, bacon, coffee and juice.

The vibe On any given morning, you’re likely to see the CEOs of big companies, bank presidents, and powerful local and state politicians having a power breakfast. Expect to wait, the place is full almost every morning, but the tables clear fast and the service is always quick and efficient.

The bill $48.94

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS z MAY 9 - 15, 2016 z PAGE 27

Cavs tickets just a text away

BY KEVIN KLEPS kkleps@crain.com @KevinKleps

Selling tickets isn’t a problem for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

In the limited instances in which seats on the primary market become available, however, the Cavs can send you a text message. The same goes for Dan Gilbert’s other sports properties — the Cleveland Gladiators and Lake Erie Monsters.

Via a partnership with Scottsdale, Ariz.-based ReplyBuy, Cavs fans who sign up for ReplyBuy’s service get a text when tickets are made available, and a simple reply results in a purchase being made in fewer than seven seconds.

Seven is a key number for ReplyBuy CEO Josh Manley, who says research by his data analysts shows that there is “7% attrition” for every second you make a customer wait — whether it’s to be redirected to another site or for a page to load.

“The idea of not making them click a link is absolutely key,” Manley said.

“It’s been critical to what we do.”

Instead, ReplyBuy’s customers — after signing up, giving payment information and selecting their favorite team — get a text. If they reply with a short code (“Buy Cavaliers 2” for two Cavs seats), they receive a confirmation text, an email is sent with a receipt and a link to print the tickets, and a bar code is instantly loaded onto their phones to scan at the gate.

For the Cavs, who have sold out every game since LeBron James returned in the summer of 2014, ReplyBuy is an easy way to send a mass text message to fans when seats become available hours before a game.

The Cavs use the service only for

holds — tickets that are reserved for the visiting team and the league. If the Cavs get tickets back from one or both of the parties, they give first priority to their season-ticket holders.

Step two is then a text, via ReplyBuy’s service.

During the playoffs, when the demand, and the prices, are higher than the regular season, it’s a step that’s usually not needed. The Cavs have used ReplyBuy only once in the last two postseasons — for the opener of their first-round series against the Detroit Pistons on April 17.

Then, fans were alerted that seats were available at a discounted rate — as low as $99 for tickets in the lower-level corners of Quicken Loans Arena.

Dionna Widder, the Cavs’ vice president of ticket sales and service, said “almost all” of the team’s ReplyBuy offers have gone out the day before or on game day. She said it’s a “completely seamless” transition from ReplyBuy’s text message to a

customer’s Flash Seats account. The tickets are there within seconds, Widder said.

ReplyBuy gets an undisclosed cut of the sale, and teams are able to dump tickets at the last minute, or offer hundreds of seats at discounted rates in an effort to drum up attendance.

That’s obviously not a route the Cavs need to take, but they do make more offers available for the other two clubs that are housed at The Q. Last week, customers were alerted to $22 lower-level seats, a price that included parking and a $5 concession credit, for the opener of the Monsters’ second-round playoff series on May 5, and there were texts sent out for $12 tickets, also with a $5 concession credit, for the Gladiators’ most recent home game.

“People have asked us for a long time, ‘Why not an app?’ ” Manley said. “Because there are millions and millions of apps out there.”

But the ReplyBuy CEO said there’s no comparable text service in the sports and entertainment space, which is why the company has partnered with a combined 18 NBA and NHL teams, plus three NFL teams, four MLS clubs and several major universities since ReplyBuy’s sports vertical launched in November 2014.

How ReplyBuy works Go to ReplyBuy’s website (replybuy.com) and pick a team. That directs you to ReplyBuy’s specific team sites. Enter your name, cell phone number and email address.

Confirm your invitation and give the company your credit card information. Once you’re signed up, you will get a text message when an offer becomes available.

If interested, reply with “buy,” along with the name of the team and the number of tickets you want to purchase — for example, “Buy Cavaliers 2,” for a two-ticket Cavs purchase.

That’s pretty much it. The tickets are sent to your mobile device, which you can use at the gate, or print out your tickets from home, via a link that’s provided.

Teams ReplyBuy works with NBA (11): Brooklyn Nets, Charlotte Hornets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets, L.A. Clippers, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Phoenix Suns, Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards

The Cavs’ partnership began a few months later, and it wasn’t long before fans responded. Manley said the total number of ReplyBuy signups for the Cavs is well above the five-figure range. Widder said the partnership has been extended into next season.

“People’s email inboxes are bombarded. Their phones are littered with apps,” Manley said. “But the one thing they do is they message.”

And they buy — now at the same time.

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20160509-NEWS--28-NAT-CCI-CL_--

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5/6/2016

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z MAY 9 - 15, 2016 z CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

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Cleveland Housing Network

Margaret Hewitt is now President of The Construction Green Team, a sustainability consulting firm that specializes in the construction industry managing the use of rating systems such as LEED and INVEST. She was formerly a Prinipal with HLMS Sustainablity Solutions after leaving her position as Vice President of Construction at University Hospitals in 2011.

LAW

Brian's practice has a concentration in the national defense of pharmaceutical companies in federal and state courts. His other areas of practice include general product liability, medical malpractice, and toxic tort defense. He has extensive experience in defending catastrophic personal injury claims and political subdivisions.

Matthew Selby Of Counsel Benesch

Justin Clark

Bryan represents clients in a wide range of commercial real estate matters, including acquisitions and dispositions, leasing, financing transactions, and development. Bryan received his J.D. with distinction from the University of Iowa College of Law where he was a member of the Iowa Law Review and where he received Dean's Award for Academic Excellence.

He received his B.S.B.A., cum laude, from the University of Southern California where he was a member of Phi Kappa Phi and was a Boeing Scholar.

Kevin Nowak joined Cleveland Housing Network on April 25, 2016. Most recently, Kevin was the National Equity Investment Manager of Key Community Development Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of KeyBank. He was responsible for both the new acquisition of community development investments and the asset management of KCDC's $1B investment portfolio. Prior to joining Key, Kevin was an associate in the commercial real estate practice of Thompson Hine LLP.

Richard J. Colella

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Partner

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Greater Cleveland Volunteers

Kelly Noll

Matt M previously the General Counsel for a motor carrier and broker where he was a member of the executive team providing advice and counsel on the company's strategic growth plan and business operations including motor carriage, drayage, cartage, warehousing and brokerage. Matt was also responsible for the management of litigation, insurance claims, employment matters, real estate transactions, grant procurement for alternative fuels and mergers and acquisitions.

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Associate Benesch Justin joins Benesch's General Practice Group as an associate.

Justin earned his B.A. from Otterbein University, his M.Ed. in Business Education from Bowling Green State University and his J.D. from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.

Kelly has experience effectuating conversions into Real Estate Investment Trusts, drafting leases and preparing for negotiations of retail and industrial space, parking agreements, rooftop agreements, purchase and sale agreements, and mortgage releases.

For more information or questions regarding advertising in this section, please call Lynn Calcaterra at 313-446-6086 or email: lcalcaterra@crain.com

3-D CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14

As the additive manufacturing sector matures, business services need to follow suit, and that’s where the legal sector comes into play.

If a new part is printed for a lawnmower, but the piece fails and a person is injured, where does the liability fall? What are the roadblocks to licensing and issues with commercializing and implementing new printed products and technologies?

What’s more, how can designs and patents remain protected? Are we nearing a point where a Napstertype file-sharing service could result in these cloud-stored schematics could be downloaded and ripped off by anyone? What happens then?

It happened in the music industry, and it would be naïve to think the same couldn’t occur in manufacturing, Avsec points out.

Emily focuses her practice in the areas of environmental law and litigation. Her environmental practice includes representation of clients in administrative proceedings, litigation in state and federal court, and environmental counseling in business, state and federal regulatory compliance, permitting, and legislative matters. She also performs environmental due diligence for corporate transactions. Emily's litigation practice includes commercial litigation, products liability, and class action matters. She has comprehensive litigation experience, managing her clients needs throughout the litigation process from pre-discovery through appeals.

Cleveland firms and IP lawyers are exploring the solutions to those issues. Others, whose firms aren’t even based in Northeast Ohio, are centering their 3-D printing efforts here.

Take Indiana-based Ice Miller. Alan Rothenbucher, a Cleveland-based Ice Miller attorney who does a lot of work in the plastics industry, identified a need for 3-D printing expertise a few years ago and is leading the development of the firm’s practice here.

“We want to be a cradle-to-grave provider of support services to a 3-D company, whether startup or existing,” Rothenbucher said. “We believe we’re ahead on all these issues.”

The market today “really is the Wild West,” he said, referencing the cutting-edge nature of the legal work.

“You may know what the general principles are, but this is such a disruptive technology. How do you deal with it? We’re positioning this to be a core practice group at Ice Miller.”

Other firms, unquestionably, see similar opportunities. And those who get involved now will have a leg

Mansour Gavin LPA congratulates John Monroe, a shareholder and member of the firms' executive committee, on his recent appointment as President of Euclid City Council. Mayor Kirsten Holzheimer Gail appointed Monroe in February when Euclid City Council was deadlocked over appointing her replacement. John is a lifelong resident of Euclid and previously served on Euclid Planning & Zoning Commission as both the Chairman and Vice Chairman.

up on the competition.

“Everyone is excited about this,” Benesch’s Avsec said. “You just have to be prepared for the risks, and we have to be abreast of those things.”

Northeast Ohio is a hotbed of activity in the sector in part because of America Makes, the national accelerator for additive manufacturing.

The Youngstown-based group focuses largely on research and development and has more than 170 members across the country — members who otherwise are competitors in the market.

That group was formed in Northeast Ohio because of the “DNA” here, said Rob Gorham, director of operations for America Makes. The materials used in 3-D printing and the products produced already are quite sophisticated.

“We’re not making rulers, pencils and toys,” he said. “We’re making the things going in cars, homes, airplanes and skyscrapers.”

The group helps companies with additive manufacturing, capturing

Greater Cleveland Volunteers is pleased to announce that G. Dwayne Jones has been hired as Development Director. Dwayne has 14 years of experience in nonprofit fundraising, most recently with the Boy Scouts of America. He will lead Greater Cleveland Volunteer's fundraising activities and help increase awareness of the organization in the community.

REAL ESTATE

Formerly a Managing Director with the firm overseeing all multifamily investments, Mr. Jones' role will expand to leading and executing the firm's investment strategy across all product types and markets.

Since joining Harbor Group International in 2002, Mr. Jones has sourced and closed $2.6 billion in multifamily investment opportunities, with Harbor Group International acquiring or providing capital to transactions totaling more than 34,000 multifamily units.

and sharing best-in-practice solutions while persuading those not currently using 3-D printing technology to adapt.

“We’re absolutely in position to do really, really great things,” Gorham said. “We need to get folks to recognize the gem they do have sitting right here and do something with it.”

The 2016 Wohlers Report, an analysis of 3-D printing and additive manufacturing, values the industry at $20 billion by 2020. Other reports vary, but offer similar strong projections, with values growing exponentially from there.

Ohio is expected to remain a major player. Some groups, like The Technology House in Streetsboro, have been 3-D printing for decades.

Thogus, a plastic injection molder based in Avon Lake, recently spun out its 3-D printing-focused rp+m division. While the concept of 3-D printing has been around since the 1980s, new technologies and other advancements have accelerated growth in the past few years, making

the technology more mainstream.

That new division for Thogus will lead the company into future growth.

The company is looking at ways clients can incorporate 3-D printing in their own businesses — and it’s changing everything.

Schematics, for example, are no longer on paper, but electronic files stored in the cloud that can be input into a printer to create the new part.

That marks more of an evolution than a revolution, said Thogus CEO Matt Hlavin.

As those additive manufacturers grow and more break into 3-D printing, the need for legal support will undoubtedly grow with it as companies face additional legal issues — including those that have not even come to light, yet. And that will remain a critical element in supportive business services to support their own growth and development.

“This will create new manufacturing process and new outcomes,” Hlavin said. “If you’re not doing this, you’re going to be left behind.”

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS z MAY 9 - 15, 2016 z PAGE 29

RNC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

Bruce James, of the Denver legal and lobbying firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, said the nomination of Barack Obama in his city in 2008 turned the atmosphere into “the Super Bowl on steroids.”

He forecasts something similar for Donald Trump’s arrival in Cleveland. “I think you’ll get people from all walks of life coming for this moment in history,” James said.

Joe Vostrejs, a partner in Larimer Associates that manages and develops specialized retail projects in Denver, said TV and radio stations were advising people not to come downtown during the convention because of the crowds and gridlock “I told them, ‘You’re crazy. It’s a blast,’ ” Vostrejs said. “It was a great deal of fun. There were throngs and throngs of people. Basically the convention is a giant party. It doesn’t make sense not to come to the party.”

Vostrejs said security was everywhere. “You saw all these security guys, with semi-automatic weapons.

It added to the scene of craziness,” he said.

Kelly Brough, president of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, said the city pushed back on some boundaries and restrictions planned by the Secret Service. In the end, people only had to go through security clearance when they were entering convention-related venues.

Denver rolled out a bike-share program at the time of the convention, and it is now one of the largest in the county. “We knew we had to get people around differently,” said Brough, who was chief of staff for the Denver mayor in 2008.

Tami Door, president of the Downtown Denver Partnership, said national conventions are where business and government “convene and collide.”

“You will have CEOs and top executives in your city,” she said. “They will be there because this is where business is going to be done.” Smith said Charlotte took advantage of the opportunity to show itself off.

“I think we changed leagues as a city. The economic development game is all about name recognition and trying to get a visit,” he said.

About those security zones …

For businesses and workers, though, the crowded uptown area and security provisions did cause in-

conveniences in Charlotte.

The dimensions of the top-level security perimeter were not announced until two days before the convention. That is about when Clevelanders will know for sure where our perimeter will be.

“Driving a car inside that perimeter was a really bad decision,” Smith said. “They used mirrors to look under cars and they had dogs.” (He said lines of cars waiting for inspection were long, and it took minutes for each vehicle to get cleared.)

Duke Energy and Bank of America, both headquartered in Charlotte, and Wells Fargo, with its East Coast headquarters there, created strategies to get through the week. Smith said the companies had many employees on the road or working from home.

Smith said delivery systems to business, restaurants, bars and hotels were arranged in advance with authorities.

On the attack St. Paul probably got the smallest economic rush from the recent conventions. While the GOP convened in that city, most delegates stayed on the other side of the Mississippi River, in Minneapolis. They were bused back and forth.

It keeps on hurting because the

REAL ESTATE Phone: (216) 771-5276 Contact: Lynn Calcaterra E-mail: CLBClassified@crain.com

gathering has always been called the Minneapolis convention, even when the media was reporting at the St. Paul venues.

Matt Kramer, head of the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, said traffic congestion was lighter than expected in St. Paul because those buses were penned in a holding area 10 miles away and many downtown workers were scared off due to the early protests and warnings about heavy traffic. He said the roads had a government-holiday type of feel.

Parking was tough, since a number of garages were inside the security perimeter and off-limits to regulars.

Kramer said people shied away from garages outside the perimeter for fear of getting stuck inside during demonstrations or when roads were closed as VIPS were ferried around the city.

Protesters arrested that first day were a group that broke off from a peaceful march of 5,000 people, CNN reported.

“There was a Macy’s downtown in 2008,” said Kramer, who was chief of staff for then Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. “It was close to but not in the security zone. For some reason, people protesting politics chose to attack women’s fashion. I could never understand that. They broke out some windows.”

PLAN CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

425 Lakeside and Worthington buildings in the Warehouse District, which include lofts on upper floors of old warehouse buildings with retail or office space on the first floor.

Jacobs said the company did not get an acceptable offer for the properties when it listed them last year with the Newmark Grubb Knight Frank brokerage, and they remain available.

However, when the company did those pioneering loft conversions in the 1990s, its initial rent was just 75 cents a square foot, said David Grunenwald, Jacobs vice president of development. Now newly constructed apartment buildings in the city and some rehabs are fetching the $2 a square foot needed to support new development with the city’s 15 year, 100% property tax abatements.

An important part of the plan, Jacobs said, is a water feature next to the Nautica boardwalk that would surround, moat-like, two towers.

“It will be large enough to attract attention,” Jacobs said, “but it won’t cost as much as (the multimilliondollar) water feature at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.”

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20160509-NEWS--30-NAT-CCI-CL_--

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10:22 AM

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WHE N S TOCK BROK E R S A R E CROOK E D, SOME THING HAPPENS TO THEM.

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20160509-NEWS--31-NAT-CCI-CL_--

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS z MAY 9 - 15, 2016 z PAGE 31

The List COMPANY THIS ADDRESS YEAR PHONE/WEBSITE

LARGEST INVESTMENT ADVISERS Ranked by assets under management locally TOTAL REGULATORY ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT LOCALLY (MILLIONS) (2)

TOTAL NUMBER OF LOCAL ACCOUNTS

MINIMUM INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNT (THOUSANDS)

PORTFOLIO ANALYSTS ON STAFF

COMPENSATION FOR SERVICES

CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER

(1)

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE

1

CBIZ Retirement Plan Advisory Services 6050 Oak Tree Blvd. S., Suite 500, Independence 44131 (216) 447-9000/www.cbiz.com/retirement

$7,926.8

600

$1,000.0

7

Fixed fees, percentage of AUM and hourly

Brian Dean

Luke F. Baum president

2

CAPTRUST 222 S. Main St., Akron 44308 (330) 535-4550/www.captrustadvisors.com

$6,016.1

200

$1,000.0

0

Fee only, percentage of assets under management

Eric J. Freedman

Steve D. Wilt senior vice president, financial adviser

3

MAI Capital Management LLC 1360 E. Ninth St., Suite 1100, Cleveland 44114 (216) 920-4800/www.mai.capital

$3,819.6

1,155

$500.0

12

Fee-only based on assets under management or set fee for non-investment services

John D. Zaller

Richard J. Buoncore managing partner

4

CM Wealth Advisors Inc. 30195 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 250, Pepper Pike 44124 (216) 831-9667/www.cmwealthadvisors.com

$2,471.2

380

$5,000.0

1

Percentage of assets under management, fixed fees

Cynthia G. Koury

James W. Wert president, CEO

5

Lincoln Financial Advisors/Sagemark Consulting 28601 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 300, Cleveland 44122 (216) 765-7400/www.lfa-sagemarkcleveland.com

$2,181.7

21,000

$250.0

6

Flat fee, commission and/or percentage of assets under management

Tim Johnson Ben Huddle David Downing

Brian R. Deal managing principal

6

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC (3) 3500 Embassy Parkway, Akron 44333 (330) 375-9480/www.sequoia-financial.com

$1,476.1

3,297

$0.0

4

Percentage of assets under management, hourly charges, fixed fees

Russell Moenich

Thomas A. Haught president

7

Fairport Asset Management 1350 Euclid Ave., Suite 400, Cleveland 44115-1833 (216) 431-3000/www.fairportasset.com

$1,410.1

1,696

$1,000.0

5

Fee only

JT Mullen John Silvis

Kenneth Coleman Heather Ettinger managing partners

8

HPM Partners LLC 600 Superior Ave., Suite 1000, Cleveland 44114 (216) 687-0700/www.hpmpartners.com

$1,343.3

160

$2,000.0

NA

Fee only from clients

Benjamin A. Pace

Irvin A. Leonard managing partner

9

Fairway Wealth Management LLC 6055 Rockside Woods Blvd., Suite 330, Independence 44131-2317 (216) 573-7200/www.fairwaywealth.com

$1,052.7

160

$2,000.0

5

Fee only, based on assets and/or scope of services

Mark S. Weiskind

Daniel R. Gaugler CEO, managing director

10

McDonald Partners LLC 959 W. Saint Clair Ave., Cleveland 44113 (216) 912-0567/www.mcdonald-partners.com

$871.8

1,952

NA

2

Fee and commission

Bill Hegarty

Thomas McDonald president, CEO

11

MGO Investment Advisors Inc. 24400 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 310, Beachwood 44122 (216) 771-4242/www.mgo-inc.com

$626.3

3,303

$15.0

2

Percentage of assets under management

Michael Bradford Moskal

Ronald S. Gross CEO

12

Cornerstone Capital Advisors 1640 Corporate Woods Circle, Uniontown 44685 (330) 896-6250/www.ccadvisors.com

$534.4

1,611

$100.0

4

Fee only

Mario C. Giganti

Mario C. Giganti Mark W. Fearigo principals

13

St. Clair Advisors LLC 6120 Parkland Blvd., Suite 306, Mayfield Heights 44124 (216) 925-5670/www.saintclairadvisors.com

$488.9

70

$5,000.0

2

Fee only, fixed or based on assets under management

David W. Sommer

Ronald E. Bates CEO

14

Landing Point Financial Group 36350 Detroit Road, Avon 44011-1506 (440) 934-7100/www.landingpointfinancialgroup.com

$454.0

2,470

$1.0

5

Percentage of assets under management

NA

Joe L. Flinner president, CEO

15

Aurum Wealth Management Group LLC 6685 Beta Drive, Mayfield Village 44143 (440) 605-1900/www.aurumwealth.com

$453.1

206

$1,000.0

2

Fee only

Michael T. McKeown

Eric N. Wulff Christopher D. Bart managing directors

16

Vantage Financial Group Inc. 6200 Rockside Road, Cleveland 44131 (216) 642-7878/www.vanfin.com

$429.0

1,942

NA

NA

Fee and commission

NA

Autumn A. Taylor senior vice president

17

Demming Financial Services Corp.

13 New Hudson Road , Aurora 44202 (330) 562-2122/www.demmingfinancial.com

$340.1

2,666

NA

1

Fee based with 95% AUM

David William Demming Jr.

David William Demming president

18

Scott Snow (financial advisors) LLC 1991 Crocker Road, Suite 210, Westlake 44145 (440) 871-7669/www.s2fa.com

$331.1

75

$2,000.0

1

Fee only

Scott P. Snow

Scott P. Snow managing director

19

Financial Management Strategies Inc. 9050 Sweet Valley Drive, Valley View 44125 (216) 642-1099/www.fmstrategies.biz

$237.8

622

$50.0

NA

Fee only, percentage of assets under management

Charles B. Elliott

Jeffrey C. Knox president

20

Paradigm Wealth Management LLC 159 Crocker Park Blvd., Suite 400, Westlake 44145 (440) 892-5900/www.investpwm.com

$126.2

65

$500.0

NA

Percentage of assets under management

Marnie Randel

Douglas C. Kuhlman managing partner

RESEARCHED BY DEBORAH W. HILLYER Source: Information is supplied by the companies unless footnoted. Crain's Cleveland Business does not independently verify the information and there is no guarantee these listings are complete or accurate. We welcome all responses to our lists and will include omitted information or clarifications in coming issues. Should your company be on this list? Send an email to dhillyer@crain.com to request a survey.

(1) Companies that are registered with the SEC as investment advisers but do not have full control over where their clients' money is invested are included in the Investment Advisers list. This criteria is in keeping with the standard used by our sister publication, Pensions & Investments. (2) As of the most recent ADV filed with the SEC. (3) Numbers as of January 31, 2016.

Tec Inc. widens ‘toolkit’ via W.E. Monks merger

BY STAN BULLARD sbullard@crain.com @CrainRltywriter

Tec Inc. Engineering & Design of Eastlake and W.E. Monks & Co. Engineers of Columbus will merge effective Monday, May 9, for longterm goals but will realize a short-term one immediately that reflects the current busy context of building-related engineering practices.

Russ Edwards, president of W.E. Monks, said, “We have more work

than staff. We’re hoping to leverage the strength of the combined firms and additional resources to reduce that and add more.”

He estimates Monks has six months of backlog, or work contracted but not yet begun, while Tec president Terry Kilbourne characterized his firm’s backlog of projects as “very full.”

Under the merger, Kilbourne said Tec gains added access to the large Columbus construction market that will allow it to increase its range beyond its current three-person staff in Columbus, primarily devoted to

Tec Studio, an affiliate devoted to lighting and technology design services.

“We have a similar culture with Monks,” Kilbourne said. “This merger is a strong strategic fit for both firms, as it gives us a bigger, better toolkit of engineering resources to offer our clients. Monks’ professionals are highly experienced, and they bring great expertise and depth to Tec’s existing practices.”

Monks gains the ability to compete with increasingly larger engineering firms in the Columbus market, Edwards said, a situation he

expects to grow with the plethora of such big mergers in the industry.

“We’re getting our share of work,” Edwards said, “but have a perception we would do better if we were larger.”

The merger takes Tec’s total of engineers and design professionals to 27 and brings the Columbus Tec staff count to 10. Beyond the shareholder additions, terms of the merger were not disclosed, nor were billings.

Monks will initially operate as Monks Engineers LLC, a Tec subsidiary, and Columbus operations

will combine in Monks office at 3073 High St. Edwards will be managing principal of Tec’s Columbus office.

Tec, founded in 1983, is a full-service mechanical and electrical plumbing firm, which also describes Monks, founded in 1960. Both firms serve the health care, higher education and industrial markets.

The merger also expands the markets the combined firm serves. Tec has broader commercial, retail and restaurant experience. Monks has more depth in state and municipal government projects.

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