Crain's Cleveland Business, August 26, 2024

COMMERCIAL BANKRUPTCY FILINGS SOAR

With higher interest rates, in ation and a more challenging economy,

By Jeremy Nobile

Amid higher interest rates, increased in ation and a generally more challenging economic environment, more debt-saddled companies are going through bankruptcy this year, and experts suspect there is more to come.

ere have been 4,562 Chapter 11 commercial bankruptcy lings — the most common type of corporate bankruptcy, which provides a route for the reorganizing of debts — nationally between January and June 30, according to data from the American Bankruptcy Institute

prepared by Epiq AACER. at volume represents a 39% increase over the 3,282 comparable lings made through midyear 2023.

While not every company les for bankruptcy in a federal court in their home state, a similar upward trend is playing out in Ohio,

CSU shelves project to replace Wolstein Center Move shakes

University struggles to close $40M budget gap

By Joe Scalzo

Following one bad bounce after another, Cleveland State is calling a timeout on one of its biggest projects: replacing the Wolstein Center.

On Dec. 1, 2023, Rock Entertainment Group teamed with the Oak View Group and Geis Companies on a joint proposal

for a new multi-use, state-ofthe-art arena and basketball practice facility to replace the 33-year-old stadium.

e 5,000-seat arena would have served as the home arena for Cleveland State’s men’s and women’s basketball teams, as well as the G League’s Cleveland Charge.  It would have included ofce, training and practice facilities.

there’s more to come

where Chapter 11 lings are up about 29% at midyear compared with the like period in 2023.

“Commercial ling trends continue to show strong double-digit percentage increases in yearover-year lings, while individual lings increased at a much lower rate compared to commercial l-

ings in the rst half of 2024,” said Michael Hunter, vice president of Epiq AACER. “I expect a strong demand in individual lings ahead of us, especially considering the large increase in commercial lings, consumer debt

Pair of ICP execs jump to competitor

up local real estate industry

By Stan Bullard

At busy Industrial Commercial Properties of May eld Heights, Chris Salata and Keith Brandt worked on industrial real estate projects, especially mall makeovers to business parks.

But no longer.

e two have just joined Provider Real Estate Partners of Cleveland, a real estate fund management and advisory rm, as principals and co-presidents

O-HIGH-O

State surpasses $11.5 million in adult-use marijuana sales over the rst ve days. PAGE 2

of a new industrial segment to undertake similar deals. ough their turf will extend through the U.S. east of the Mississippi River, they will be competing with their former shop.

Salata was particularly high pro le as chief operating o cer at ICP and Brandt joined ICP 18 months ago to focus on retail conversions, long a bailiwick for ICP, especially with malls.

Both men praised ICP and their experiences there but said they felt it was time to add coowner to their resumes, which already include 20 years in commercial real estate.

“I was proud of the team at ICP and the projects we undertook,” Salata said. “I was ready to be a partner and start a new venture. at’s possible at PREP, where our focus is on the future in this partnership.”

Salata Brandt

Ohio surpasses $11.5M in weed sales in rst ve days

By Jeremy Nobile

Ohio logged more than $11.5 million in nonmedical marijuana sales across the rst ve days of adult-use business between Aug. 6 — when rec sales launched — and Aug. 10, according to data posted by the Ohio Division of Cannabis Control.

Industry operators indicate that sales were especially strong on the inaugural day and the following Saturday. Regardless of any ups and downs, that total sales gure points to an average of $2.3 million in rec sales per day across those rst ve days.

Medical marijuana sales over that same period totaled approximately $8.3 million, according to state data, or about $1.66 million per day on average.

Aug. 6 was a milestone day for Ohioans, who approved adult-use marijuana through a referendum last November. And despite severe weather that pummeled parts of the state that afternoon, patrons came out in force.

Andy Rayburn, CEO of Buckeye Relief and president of the OHCANN trade group, spent much of the rst couple of days of the adult-use launch talking with customers in lines outside his Amplify dispensaries in Cleveland Heights, Bedford and Columbus. “ e ow of people never stopped,” he said.

“ e activity was strong at our dispensaries, and I think the scene I’m describing was common throughout the state with lines out the door most of the ( rst) day,” Rayburn said.

Jason Erkes, a spokesperson for Cresco Labs, a Chicago-based multistate cannabis company — which is vertically integrated in Ohio with ve dispensaries in the state operating under the brand Sunnyside — said that sales “exceeded our expectations.”

“Any way you look at it, Ohio had an incredible performance in the rst week of sales that is on

par or exceeds revenues for other adult use launches, like Illinois,” he said. “Some of our Sunnyside stores saw as many as 1,250 customers a day for the rst week and sales that are more than double

what we were seeing with patients before the conversion.”

e rst ve sales days in Ohio resulted in 138,466 total transactions across the 98 licensed dual-use dispensaries in the state,

according to DCC data.

“Ohioans were clearly ready and excited for the historic end of cannabis prohibition in the Buckeye State," said Trip McDermott, chief operating o cer of

Chicago-based Verano. "Since the start of adult-use sales, foot tra c and transactions have already increased two- to threetimes across all ve Zen Leaf dispensaries statewide in comparison to previous medical-only operations, and we expect to continue seeing robust activity at our stores and via third-party wholesale sales of our products for the foreseeable future.”

Prices were elevated, but that was to be expected for a new adult-use market.

DCC reports that a "day unit” of cannabis ower in that initial ve-day period — which is onetenth of an ounce, or 2.8 grams — retailed for $26.59. Add to that a 10% excise tax and an average sales tax across the state of 7.2%, and that item cost a little over $31 out the door. at $26.59 price was about 20% higher than the average cost for the same amount of ower a week prior in the state’s medical-only market, which was right in line with expectations. at price may seem expensive when compared with neighboring states like Michigan, where an ounce of ower commonly retails for $70 pre-tax and an ounce of shake may be as cheap as $25. Of course, Michigan is dealing with a saturated market, which is driving down prices there.

“I think there are some customers who will continue to go to Michigan dispensaries despite the poor quality of product that is available and despite the inconvenience of spending hours in the car and really blowing a whole day to do that when they can drive 10 minutes to an Amplify dispensary or elsewhere to get it done,” Rayburn said.

“Unless you’re buying thousands of dollars of marijuana products at one time, the question is, is it worth it? I think some people will still do that,” he added. “But Ohio’s prices will come down across next year.”

What GetGo’s acquisition means for your myPerks account

By Scott Suttell

Your local GetGo store next year will get a new, international owner. Convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (TSX: ATD) of Quebec on Monday, Aug. 19, announced it has agreed to acquire GetGo Café + Markets from Pittsburgh-based supermarket retailer Giant Eagle Inc. Financial terms weren't disclosed. e deal will add to Alimentation Couche-Tard — which operates the Circle K brand, among others — about 3,500 employees and 270 GetGo stores in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland and Indiana. Alimentation Couche-Tard said the acquisition is expected to close sometime in 2025, subject to regulatory approval from the Federal Trade Commission and the satisfaction of closing conditions.

As part of the deal, Alimentation

Couche-Tard and Giant Eagle said the companies "have agreed to maintain and partner together" on Giant Eagle's myPerks customer loyalty program.

e deal announcement didn't describe how the loyalty program will work after the change in GetGo ownership. Representatives of Alimentation Couche-Tard didn't immediately respond Monday, Aug. 19 to phone and email inquiries about the deal.

A Giant Eagle spokesperson wrote in an email that while the company was "unavailable to make additional comment at this time," it looks forward to "exploring opportunities to expand the program to unlock even more value and discounts" for customers.

Giant Eagle CEO Bill Artman said in a statement that the deal "enhances our focus on our core supermarket and pharmacy businesses" while providing GetGo

with a "perfect partner" in the convenience stores space. He added, "We look forward to partnering with them on the myPerks loyalty program."

An FAQ about the deal provided by Giant Eagle stated that Alimentation Couche-Tard "intends to retain all dedicated GetGo store, operations and support team members as a part  of this transaction."

It was a busy day for Alimentation Couche-Tard, which also on Monday, Aug. 19 said it submitted what it described as a "friendly, non-binding proposal" to buy Japan's Seven & i Holdings, which operates 7-Eleven convenience stores globally.

Alimentation Couche-Tard has about 16,700 stores in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, central and eastern Europe, and Asia. It says it employs about 149,000 people across its global network.

From left: Amplify CEO Andy Rayburn, store manager Marvin Keyes, Cleveland Heights mayor Kahlil Seren and state Rep. Jamie Callender cut a ribbon at Amplify’s Cleveland Heights store to celebrate the rst day of adult-use recreational marijuana sales. PHOTOS BY GUS CHAN

Some of the two dozen people waiting to enter Amplify’s Cleveland Heights store on the rst day of adult-use marijuana sales.

Frank LaRose is in the hot seat again as election season begins

Kim Palmer

ings are heating up in Ohio as the November election gets closer.

A partnership of voting rights advocacy groups on Monday, Aug. 19, sent a letter to Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, threatening to go to court over the state's recent voter registration purge. e groups allege multiple violations of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993.

e letter from the Brennan Center for Justice and the Ohio Organizing Collaborative questioned whether LaRose's o ce complied with a federal law that requires states to automatically update voters’ registration addresses when they provide an updated address to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV).

In a “pre-suit notice letter” sent July 19, the advocacy groups requested LaRose’s o ce provide written explanation on a handful of procedures used to take voters o the rolls.

e letter also warned that if the secretary of state's o ce does not respond by Wednesday, Aug. 21, the groups will begin "formal proceedings to address" suspicions that the BMV and Ohio election o cials are

violating federal law.

More than 150,000 registrations were removed on July 22, according to the secretary of state’s o ce, as part of maintenance that periodically removes voters who move out of state or are deceased.

Tom Roberts, president of the Ohio NAACP, who has criticized the purge of registrations, said, “About 50% of the registrations purged came from heavily populated counties. ose removals are targeted in Franklin, Montgomery, Cuyahoga and Hamilton counties — so that 50% is coming from higher percentage Black-populated counties.”

e voting rights groups' concern is that in Ohio, voter registrations were removed after people updated the address on their driver’s license but neglected to cancel voter registration at the old address and then failed to respond to a con rmation notice sent by the board of elections.

Also, per a directive from LaRose, the state’s elections boards marked for removal of voter registrations deemed to be abandoned and inactive for at least four consecutive years, the voting rights groups state. at directive also violates federal law, according to their letter, because the law requires that two federal general elections pass after an

address con rmation mailing is sent before a person can be removed from the voter rolls.

Many of the voters that have been purged from the list, Roberts fears, are there legally but are not consistent voters.

“I think an individual has a right to choose not to vote,” Roberts said. “For some people, there is just not the right candidate for them to vote or the right issues to vote for, and that should be an option reserved to them."

He added that he encourages everyone to vote in every election.

LaRose announced over the summer that his o ce was planning to conduct a “multiphase, comprehensive audit of the statewide voter registration database ahead of the November general election.”

In early August, county boards of election were directed to remove hundreds of voters that his o ce claimed were noncitizens based on lings with the BMV and their failure to respond to mailed notices con rming citizenship status.

e Public Integrity Division, an oversight group within the secretary of state’s o ce that LaRose created in 2022, has been charged with investigating voter registration, campaign nance reporting, and any

election law violations.

In August, LaRose added three sta ers — one from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the others from the U.S. Secret Service and the Ohio State Highway Patrol — to the Public Integrity unit. He said he was bulking up the unit “to more e ectively nd and prosecute bad behavior.”

e group has been charged with looking into the citizenship status of voter registration records; referring cases for criminal prosecution; and making additional, ongoing voter registration removals.

e previous month, former Ohio Republican Senate President Larry Obhof joined as the secretary of state's o ce as chief legal counsel and deputy assistant secretary of state. LaRose in a statement said Obhof took on "this critical role in what’s becoming one of the most historic presidential elections in our nation’s history.”

Issue 1 drives debate

One of the rst election-related lawsuits in Ohio was led Monday, Aug. 19 by Citizens Not Politicians, sponsor of the anti-gerrymandering Issue 1.

e group is asking Ohio Supreme Court justices to order the Ohio Ballot Board to reconvene and replace the current language — penned and pushed by LaRose — with some "that properly and lawfully" describes the amendment. e anti-gerrymandering bill’s language, adopted the previous week is the "most biased, inaccurate, deceptive and unconstitutional ballot language ever adopted," according to the 146-page lawsuit.

State Republican o cials, including Gov. Mike DeWine, have come out against the citizen-initiated constitutional amendment aimed at removing political gerrymandering from the district drawing process by replacing an elected o cial, and GOP-majority, commission with a citizen commission.

LaRose spokesperson Dan Lusheck said any court decision will need to happen quickly, because military ballots go out in about four weeks, and early absentee voting begins in less than 50 days.

“We're reviewing the litigation, and we'll be working with the attorney general to le a response at the appropriate time,” Lusheck said. He added, “ e summary approved by the ballot board is fair and factual.”

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose casts his ballot during the special election last August. | FRANK LAROSE/TWITTER

Hundreds of Notre Dame College students nd new school homes

By Joe Scalzo

Jake Arnold started wrestling when he was 5, developed into a state quali er at Cloverleaf High School in Lodi and earned a scholarship from Notre Dame College, spending four years with a program that had won four national championships since 2010.

But he never grappled with anything like what he faced on Feb. 29.

Rumors had been swirling for years about NDC’s nancial problems, to the point where they had “just kind of faded out because they had been going on for so long,” Arnold said. NDC had just celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1922, and while Arnold didn’t expect the college to last another 100 years, he gured it would stay open long enough for him to use his fth year of wrestling eligibility and start work on his master’s degree.

But on Feb. 29, just as Arnold was nishing a biology lab, he noticed one of his professors was visibly emotional.

“I was like, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’ and she was like, ‘I just got word that the college is closing down,’ ” Arnold said.

pected to attend schools in Greater Cleveland.

Kent leads the way, having accepted 106 NDC transfers (93 undergraduates and 13 graduate students), although KSU won't have exact numbers until Sept. 15.

Hiram announced in April that it would serve the new location for rive, which provides support for students with documented learning disabilities.

Rachel Foreback, a senior education major from Niles, was one of the 36 NDC students who transferred to Baldwin Wallace after considering state schools such as Kent State and Youngstown State (YSU).

Arnold went directly to wrestling practice, then checked his email afterward, where he saw a message from interim President John Semtanka, instructing the school’s 1,200 students to meet in one of the auditoriums because he had a message for them.

“ at was the day we found out it was closing,” he said.

Like all NDC students, Arnold had to immediately shift from saying “What happened?” to “What now?” And, like a lot of those students, he decided to stay in Northeast Ohio.

Walsh University, a private Catholic liberal arts school in North Canton, which has 103 NDC transfers: 85 traditional undergraduates and 18 adult/graduate students. Of those, 55 were members of NDC’s men’s and women’s rugby team, helping Walsh attract its largest transfer class ever, and its largest incoming class overall since 2014.

Walsh was one of nine schools that were immediately chosen as Teach-Out partners for NDC, offering guaranteed admission to NDC students in good standing with comparable net tuition and transfer of all credits. Eight of those nine schools were in Northeast Ohio, with Mercyhurst the lone exception.

e private liberal arts school checked a lot of boxes, from academics (it accepted 109 of her 121 credits, putting her on pace to graduate next spring) to athletics (she and many other NDC bowlers are headed to BW, which just hired the Falcons' former bowling coach, Dave Johnson) to campus life (she wanted a school that offered more students and experiences than NDC, but she found KSU and YSU overwhelming in size and enrollment).

After brie y considering wrestling at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania, Arnold enrolled at Kent State University, becoming one of the 106 former NDC students (undergraduate and graduate) to enroll at either Kent’s main campus or one of its regional campuses. Kent is accepting 101 of his 105 credits, leaving him on the brink of a degree in biology, with a concentration in animal ecology.

“I decided I would like to nish school more than focusing on my one semester of sports,” Arnold said. “I looked at some out-ofstate schools, but I didn’t want to move things seven or eight hours away and have to come back after one semester,” he said. “Plus, I was able to move in with my friends from high school, which was a huge time saver because I didn’t have to look around for housing, and my mom went to Kent State, so she put in a good word with me.

“It kind of all matched up.”

While Northeast Ohio’s colleges and universities haven’t released o cial enrollment numbers, at least 400 former Notre Dame College students are ex-

ose early Teach-Out agreements proved crucial since Stark County’s two other private liberal arts schools — Mount Union (13 undergraduates, one graduate) and Malone (two undergraduates) — didn’t gain much traction. Same with the University of Akron, which has 10 NDC students enrolled as of ursday, April 15.

“ ere are advising appointments scheduled for the next few weeks too, so we might end up seeing more,” a UA spokesperson said.

Here’s how some of the other Teach-Out schools fared in attracting NDC transfers, based on information provided by those schools to Crain’s Cleveland:

◗ Cleveland State: 45 undergraduate students, four graduate students

◗ John Carroll: 36 undergraduate, eight graduate students

◗ Baldwin Wallace: 24 undergraduate, ve graduate students

◗ Lake Erie College: 43 undergraduate, four graduate students

◗ Ursuline College: 26 undergraduate, three graduate students

◗ Hiram: 29 undergraduates, including two who started this summer

Of Hiram's 27 transfers, 13 come from the rive Learning Center.

"When they told me it (NDC) was closing, it broke my heart and it still feels unreal that I'm not going back there after being there for three years," Foreback said. "But I really do feel like BW will be a good option for me, from the setup of campus to the fact that everyone has been great to work with, especially in admissions and guidance. ey've welcomed me with open arms.

"I'm really hoping BW will feel like home the way Notre Dame did. I hope the overall transition is smooth and everything goes according to plan."

Arnold is equally hopeful, but he’s still frustrated with how NDC's leadership handled the school's nal months. He felt especially bad for high school athletics who signed letters of intent with NDC on Feb. 7, only to nd out weeks later that the school was closing.

“ is (NDC closing) story is something that should be heard, just because there are other, smaller universities closing down,” Arnold said. “Students should know before it’s too late. Students should know years prior if a school is in nancial trouble or in the works of closing down. Education is already so di cult to begin with. You don’t want to have this lingering over you as well.”

Former Notre Dame College wrestler Jake Arnold has enrolled at Kent State University. | KENT STATE UNIVERSITY

City Club Apartments get new name, ownership

By Stan Bullard

e just-completed, 23-story downtown building that had been called City Club Apartments Cleveland has a new name — Skyline 776 — and a rejiggered ownership group.

Farmington Hills, Michiganbased real estate developer Jonathan Holtzman is no longer part of the ownership team. Stanley Dickson, a Detroit lawyer and accountant, said in a Wednesday, Aug. 14, phone interview that an investor group he leads has assumed the Holtzman stake.

Dickson declined to discuss why Holtzman is no longer involved, beyond con rming the switch.

Dickson also said an eight-story apartment building that was recently topped out at Cedar Road and East 105th Street in Cleveland will carry the name Skyline Stokes rather than Stokes West, which it was called when going through city approval processes in 2023.

Dickson said his group has been signi cant investors in both projects since their inception, though they were not publicly identi ed previously. e Skyline Stokes development is still led by ACRE Development of Atlanta and New York City, Dickson said.

Cuyahoga County land records do not directly show the shift in ownership in the downtown project, aside from indicating Dickson's rm in Detroit now receives the tax bills for the building.

However, Skyline 776 on July 9 replaced the former CCA CBD CLEVELAND LLC as the trade and company name for the property, according to a business ling with the Ohio Secretary of State’s O ce. e CCA CBD CLEVELAND name had been in use since 2020, about the time Holtzman surfaced with the project on the downtown site.

With the concept for City Club Apartments, Holtzman was trying to build a branded group of apartment buildings in multiple cities with similar amenities. Skyline, to a lesser degree, establishes a brand for projects in town with a similar ownership.

"It's well known that Jonathan is struggling," Dickson said, though he declined to amplify that statement.

Holtzman was not immediately available for comment.

County property records record less information about the project than is typically the case. ere is no recorded mortgage, which indicates Holtzman might have used private equity or a line or credit to nance the downtown project.

However, records show there were contractual issues, as about ve construction liens were placed on the property since construction began in 2021 and later removed after being paid.

When building started in the winter of 2021, the project was going in as construction and building material costs skyrocketed during the pandemic. In most such cases, real estate developers cure such issues with additional cash outlays. e surge in interest

Area home sales see a slight bounce back

Sale prices creep up

In July, home sales across Northeast Ohio saw a slight bounce back from June's rare "summer swoon," with average sale prices creeping up even as they didn't advance much over 2023 numbers.

But some signs of a potential thaw for buyers — the lowest average mortgage rates in two years — may be undermined by new realtor rules that were introduced earlier this month in Ohio. We'll know more about how the new rules a ect homebuying next month but, for now, here are a few key takeaways from July's data.

After June's dip, July saw a small bump in single-family home sales across Northeast Ohio. Sold listings increased 3.4% over June, for a total of 3,469 units. Condo sales remained at, up just 0.5% over June.

New listings also increased, with July seeing 4,816 new singlefamily homes hit the market, a 2.8% increase over June. Meanwhile, 435 condos went up for sale, a 3.6% increase.

But the average sale price favored buyers ever so slightly, remaining at, month over month. e average single-family home

rates in the Federal Reserve's quest to quell in ation at about the same time, followed by increasing bank caution on realty loans, also forestalled an added loan as a solution for many.

Regardless of the hows, Skyline 776 has been leasing since April,

sale price dropped around $100 from $280,378 in June to $280,280 in July.

Taking the long view, though, the average sale price nudged up in terms of year-over-year comparison. In July 2023, the average single-family home sold for $240,539 but in July 2024, that price rose to $257,991.

Year-over-year sales are at

So how does July 2024 compare to last summer? In terms of units sold, pretty at when it comes to year-over-year sales of singlefamily homes.

In the rst seven months of 2024, 21,526 single-family homes were sold, only four more than the rst seven months of 2023 (21,522).

at tracks with little growth in terms of listings, too. July 2023 saw 28,515 new single-family home

rooftop pool and private bar, boasting its own bartender for residents, is nearly complete.

McEntee said the 304-suite property is more than 40% leased, and he is con dent it will be about 90% leased by year's end.

However, that would be a stellar achievement, as at least one accomplished apartment expert, who asked not to be identi ed, said such a leasing level at this late stage of the summer makes it likely the building will not be stabilized until the leasing season resumes in full swing next spring.

For the ownership's part, Dickson said he is con dent the building will perform well.

"It's a cool building," he said. "It has a fresh look and a lot of amenities."

e amenities have been part of the project's program since the beginning, ranging from an onsite dog kennel to two restaurants, a tness center with a window-rich view of Euclid Avenue, and more.

e building also has multiple balconies and windows that open and close, McEntee said. Not all downtown apartments can boast that.

Seeing the realization of Holtzman's vision and the Cleveland Vocon architecture rm's execution of it at what is now Skyline 776 is as surprising as Holtzman advertised in the years-long run-up to the opening.

ere is a hotel-style lobby with soft furnishings, a mezzanine level that overlooks the lobby, and bright colors, multiple oral designs and other features throughout the building. e penthouse oors have about 20-foot ceilings, while lower levels are in the 16foot range.

and tenants are living in the place as construction workers put nishing touches on it.

Ryan McEntee, Cleveland sales manager for Skyline 776 for the Village Green management company of South eld, Michigan, said on a tour of the building that its

listings, while July 2024 saw 28,802, a 1% increase.

Cleveland is — reportedly — a seller’s

market

According to monthly national data from the online housing website Zillow, Cleveland is considered a "strong seller" market. e big reason? A big drop in inventory.

Zillow reports that since "before the pandemic," inventory in Cleveland has dropped 58.6%, the thirdbiggest among the country's top 50 markets behind Hartford, Conn., at a 67.2% drop, and Providence, R.I., at a 61% drop.

In that same period — the vague "since before the pandemic" — the average home value has increased by 49.8% in Cleveland.  at tracks with multiple listing service data. In July 2019, the average single-family home price in

One striking detail is that some walls are simply structural concrete, a big switch from the pallet of bright reds, yellows and blues throughout the place.

McEntee said the concrete and some exposed beams were left that way to give the building an urban feel, similar to lofts in old commercial buildings converted to residential use.

Northeast Ohio was $195,789, with 6,329 new listings and 4,619 sold listings. Compare that with the July 2024 numbers above and, yes, the numbers currently favor the sellers.

One factor to keep an eye on: in early August, the average mortgage rate across the U.S. dropped to its lowest point in two years. And now mortgage applications are surging. Most expensive property sold: $3.5 million

Sure, there's a $20 million estate on the market, but the most expensive home sold in Northeast Ohio in July was a far more modest $3.5 million.

e Westlake home was sold on June 28, but according to public records, the deed transfer o cially went through on July 1. e 7bedroom, 7.5-bath mansion sold for $2.5 million in December 2022.

Crain's Staff

City Club Apartments has rebranded as Skyline 776 as new ownership takes over the property at 776 Euclid Ave. in downtown Cleveland. | PHOTOS BY STAN BULLARD

Football’s starting, stadium drama’s picking up

The Cleveland Browns’ o -theeld activity this summer has been much more exciting than anything we’ve seen so far on the eld.

A city of Cleveland o er of $461 million toward a renovation of the current downtown stadium. e Browns’ formal unveiling of renderings of a potential $2.4 billion domed stadium in nearby Brook Park, surrounded by revenueproducing development. An inevitable backlash by partisans who want the team to stay in Cleveland, by the lake. An announcement by Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne and County Council President Pernel Jones Jr. that a Brook Park stadium “does not make scal sense for Cuyahoga County residents and taxpayers” and an assertion that “it is our responsibility and in the best interests of our community to prioritize reinvestment in existing public assets.”

So much for a sleepy August.

Real games are about to start, on Sunday, Sept. 8, when the team opens the 2024 regular season at home against the Dallas Cowboys. (Go Browns.) It will be a pleasure to focus on football again when it comes to the team. But make no mistake: is season will very much take place against a backdrop of stadium drama, as the team needs to make a decision soon on whether it’s renovating the current facility, where the lease expires in 2028, or is pursuing the Brook Park plan, which certainly appears to be its preference.

ere’s a lot we don’t yet know that will a ect how the decision plays out.

A major question — probably the major question at this point — involves the state of Ohio and how much Gov. Mike DeWine’s administration might be willing to commit in public funds for either the downtown stadium renovation or the Brook Park dome. Signal Cleveland reported that DeWine recently met with Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam, as well as with Ronayne and Cleveland Mayor Justin M. Bibb. e governor has yet to tip his hand, though, and the state support is crucial because the Browns essentially are looking for a 50/50 publicprivate split on either the $1.2 billion renovation of the existing stadium or the twice-as-expensive dome.

e 50/50 split is becoming a standard these days. As Bloomberg noted, “Many NFL arenas were built roughly three decades ago and the teams’ leases are set to expire, marking a race to secure funding for upgrades or a new home entirely.”

e Carolina Panthers, for instance, recently “secured $650 million of public funds for a $1.3 billion renovation of Bank of America Stadium. And the city of Jacksonville, Florida, is splitting the cost of a $1.4 billion renovation for the Jaguars.”

some local and state legislators, as well as other interested parties, including Crain’s Cleveland Business. It surely speaks to the team’s inclinations that the Brook Park plan got a splashy rollout and the renovation of the existing stadium, well, hasn’t.

It would be helpful to the public discourse if the team explained in greater detail how a renovation plan of the current stadium would proceed. We suspect people would see that it would produce a very ne place to play football for the next few decades. Whether that’s enough, though, is another big question. As professional sports teams adapt to changes and nancial demands in their industry, they’re seeking every opportunity to generate new (and non-football) revenue, and the model of the Brook Park plan looks like the future.

e Haslams’ response to the Cuyahoga County announcement was a statement in which they said any successful stadium project will take “deep thought, objectivity, innovation and patience” — characteristics not in abundance when the current stadium was built. ( ey called it “a rushed process that was not thorough.”) ey said they’re evaluating input from the city and county and that it would be “short-sighted for Northeast Ohio to rule out any options at this point for a long-term decision of this magnitude.”

e Haslams, to their credit, have not played the “give us what we want or we leave town” card that other owners, in pretty much every sport, have been willing to play. ey aren’t Clevelanders originally, but they understand the city and how the football team is woven into its fabric. It will take a continued commitment to negotiating in good faith to settle on a plan that works for the team and the public.

We have argued previously, and continue to believe, that while a move to Brook Park might cause short-term economic pain for some downtown businesses, it would give the city an opportunity to remake the lakefront with a fresh, stadium-free canvas, potentially to greater economic activity and bene t to residents. Would a Brook Park move be a challenge for downtown? Yes. But a fatal blow? Hardly.

Stadium subsidies are, generally, a very good deal for team owners, and a more dubious proposition (to be kind) for taxpayers. ey are, though, the price a community pays if it wants to be among the relatively few cities with professional sports and the quality of life and civic pride that status brings.

In Ohio, the state previously has provided support for stadiums, including

Progressive Field as well as Paycor Stadium, home of the Cincinnati Bengals. e size of potential state support for a Cleveland football stadium project will go a long way toward determining the next step for the Browns.

e public has not yet seen what a renovated (and non-domed) stadium on the current site would look like, though the team has shown plans to

So prepare to have dual focuses this football season. Cheer for the team, which got back to the playo s last season and, with some better injury luck, looks good enough to return. And be ready for a site announcement that won’t make everyone happy but, if the plan is structured right, locks the team into this region for the long term — and sets the franchise up for long-term success.

DAN SHINGLER

Games are about to start in the Cleveland Browns’ stadium (above) following the team’s unveiling of renderings of a domed stadium in Brook Park (below).

Ohio’s economic acceleration depends on digital evolution

We often talk about making Ohio more competitive, investing in talent and fostering the growth of new and existing organizations while attracting investment from companies outside our region. One way we can move toward achieving that goal is to take a hard look at how we operate our current organizations.

If I were to step into your workplace, would I be stepping into an organization that operates in today’s world, or would I be timetraveling to the late ’90s? Ask yourself: What year is it in your workplace? Currently, many organizations operate with outdated processes and legacy technology systems, both of which present employees with a frustrating and ine cient work experience.

Lack of technology modernization hampers these organizations from operating e ciently and sti es innovation. Collectively, this also puts our region at a competitive disadvantage. Innovation — in how our organizations run and operate — is key to our region’s economic acceleration.

Embarking on a digital transformation can be a difficult and risky journey for any company.  McKinsey research shows that 70% of transformations fail to deliver on expectations, a finding that is consistent with studies done by other research groups and consultancies. If that statistic shocks you, then reflect on the last time your organization engaged in a large technology transformation project. Point made?

Instead of delaying or abandoning your technology-enabled transformations due to the potential di culty and risk, I invite you to reconsider and reframe your perspective. Rather than viewing these as technology projects, view them as business, process and people projects that will address: Reliance on physical paperwork to conduct dayto-day operations

Employees struggling from not having the right tools, technology and organizational structure to excel in their roles

◗ Ine ciencies in operations and processes

Customer experience that falls short of expectations

Technology investments can and should make improvements to the business, its processes, its people and its customer experience — and are rarely successful unless they do.

How can Ohio organizations realize the bene ts of digital transformation?

To begin, narrow the focus. Organizations that try to attend to too many outcomes lose their way. It’s easy for the scope of digital transformations to grow too vast, and sometimes even venture into theoretical territory beyond the con nes of how the organization operates. Leaders need results, not experiments.

Based on my experience working with organiza-

tions that are thinking about or already engaging in digital transformation, the journey is most successful when it focuses on achieving the following outcomes:

◗ Digitized paperwork

Improved employee experience

◗ Streamlined processes

Improved customer experience

Organizations that concentrate on delivering tangible improvements in one or a combination of those four outcomes will see the performance needle move. And technology, incidentally, is not the star of the show. Technology should play a supporting role to facilitate the desired outcomes and provide the tools needed to transform.

Below are three points organizations must consider to ensure success:

Focus your digital transformation on people and processes instead of being xated on the technology. Spend time determining how to make processes better and how to enable your employees to excel in their roles. Otherwise, you’ll likely end up buying technology and putting your old, ine cient processes into a brand-new system, resulting in your employees dealing with the same challenges as before. By focusing on your processes and people, you can build your future-state processes and buy the technology that ts how your organization wants to operate.

Change management is a full-time job, particularly during a digital transformation. Di erent stakeholders — employees, contractors, suppliers, customers — will be a ected in di erent ways by the transition. If you have no dedicated change manager or similar in-house employee whose attention is solely on change management and the e ects of potential digital transformation decisions on each stakeholder group, then either hire someone or outsource this crucial role.

Digital transformations are di cult journeys, and you must have guides to steer you to your destination. Organizations often lack dedicated chief information o cers who are transformation-focused leaders experienced in spearheading and executing digital transformations. A shortage of talent continues to be a driving factor behind why organizations struggle with transformations, especially in the manufacturing, distribution, professional services, healthcare, construction and nonpro t sectors. IT executives all have di erent skillsets and strengths, but hiring one who has a strong background in digital transformation, change management and business process with board-level communication skills is critical.

I’ve seen organizations of all types — nonpro ts, governments and for-pro t organizations — invest in digital transformation and emerge as much more mature, competitive organizations. Ohio, don’t give up on the bene ts of digital transformation. Reframe your perspective and successfully navigate the journey by engaging in those transformations as business, process and people initiatives.

Team NEO’s CEO Bill Koehler to step down after 9 years

Bill Koehler has an impressive list of stats stemming from his nine-plus years leading Team NEO — a stint that's about to end.

During Koehler's time as CEO of the private, nonpro t regional economic development organization, Team NEO’s annual budget grew from $4.5 million to $7.4 million, and its sta from 27 to 37. e organization has been responsible for bringing in 846 projects resulting in businesses either relocating to or expanding operations in one of the 18 Northeast Ohio counties Team NEO represents.

On Wednesday, Aug. 14, Team NEO announced that Koehler, 59, will step down from the job, though there is not yet a speci c date for his departure. e organization said it will conduct a national search for Koehler's successor over the next six months.

Former Team NEO and JobsOhio board chair Bob Smith said Koehler's work will continue to have a ripple effect for the region's economy.

It is di cult to leave when things are going well, Koehler said, but he realized it was the right time following a series of conversations around succession planning and what leadership attributes would be needed over the next three to ve years.

Any strong candidate looking to take on the position would want to see a solid foundation and an opportunity to have an impact, Koehler said.

“ e best time for transition is when the organization is strong, and we are really strong right now. Visibility is up, impact is clear and strategies more focused than ever,” he said. “All the factors are in place to make sure that the organization can make a smooth transition, and I want our organization to keep building momentum."

“ roughout the JobsOhio network, he is considered a thought leader,” Smith said. "He has led a catalytic organization and allowed people to let go of the status quo, provided the analysis, and the help to garner resources to fund opportunities when they presented themselves."

Team NEO's strength comes from years of economic development work — identifying business projects eligible for JobsOhio funds but also the work of identifying opportunities and gaps in the economy that need attention.

“One of Team NEO’s roles is to highlight the critical mass of Northeast Ohio — the 25 higher ed institutions, $250 billion economy, the manufacturing base — to help people understand what we do here, but also to get our partners to collectively think across a bigger geographic scope and look at the big strategy issues that can't be addressed alone.”

“When you get the privilege of looking back nine years at what we’ve done, it’s a lot, but importantly, we’ve done it with a lot of other people willing to go on the ride.”

Bill Koehler, Team NEO CEO

e Team NEO projects during Koehler's tenure have created about 54,000 jobs and $2.5 billion in annual payroll, representing more than $13.9 billion in capital investment, according to the organization.

Koehler said that in talking about his plans to pass the torch as CEO, he wanted to focus on the collective accomplishments inside and outside Team NEO, by the sta , the board of directors and regional partners.

“When you get the privilege of looking back nine years at what we've done, it's a lot, but importantly, we've done it with a lot of other people willing to go on the ride,” Koehler said. “I like to think I've played my part, but there are plenty of people who, over that period of time, have seen value in collective action and who recognize nobody has enough resources to do it alone.”

e big strategy issues that Koehler and his team identi ed — in areas including attracting more skilled workers, developing more commercially viable land, and fostering growth industries — are the focus of the entire region.

“We identi ed the gaps. We built councils around each strategy, councils around each one of these, and also brought to the table stakeholders who had complementary interests, who wanted to have a voice in what we were trying to do,” Koehler said.

Most of his work and leadership skills have gone to building what he calls “the coalition of the willing,” which began with intentionally setting up a diverse board of directors.

e ultimate goal was to connect people who didn't know they had any connections, said Team NEO chairman emeritus Jodi Berg.

“He's just a humble leader with a laser focus on what collectively bringing the right people together to convene at a table can accomplish. ere's no hidden agenda, than what he is trying to achieve,”  she added.

Eric Sluss is CIO with Net at Work’s Fractional CIO & Advisory.

PIXABAY

Kim Palmer

Koehler

DON’T WAIT FOR A BREACH

share why businesses can’t afford to ignore

proactive steps to defend against cyberattacks.

By Judy Stringer Crain’s Content Studio

It’s tempting to dismiss the threat of cyberattacks as some other organization’s problem.

After all, cyber criminals only target behemoth companies that have headline-grabbing names and large, multimillion dollar payouts, right?

Not necessarily.

Cyber criminals are opportunistic, according to IT security expert Jason Collins. They exploit weaknesses like outdated software, inadequate authentication protocols, imsy network access points and human error. And although the large, global corporations are the ones that make the news when their security systems are compromised, these aren’t always a hacker’s rst targets.

“It’s all opportunity-based – it’s about low-hanging fruit,” said Collins, Chief Technology and Security Of cer at FIT Technologies, a Cleveland-based Managed Services Provider. “They are going to take the easiest path of entry because they will get the quickest return on investment.”

Collins joined Chris Prewitt, Chief Technology Of cer for the Westlake cybersecurity rm Inversion6, and Taft Partner and Privacy and Data Security Chair Scot Ganow in a recent conversation about the urgency of adopting a proactive digital security approach in today’s fast evolving threat landscape, where attackers are becoming increasingly more sophisticated and relentless. The discussion, co-sponsored by the panelists’ companies and moderated by Crain’s Cleveland Business Associate Publisher Amy Stoessel, provides vital insight into where vulnerabilities lie and how Northeast Ohio companies can mitigate their exposure.

“Being prepared unfortunately is something that is often overlooked,”

Collins stated, “because a lot of organizations feel like ‘It’s not going to happen to me.’”

Cyber risk = business risk

While massive data leaks grab headlines and sink corporate reputations, these security professionals said ransomware and business email compromise are growing and equally dangerous tactics – tactics that threaten companies regardless of whether they collect or store troves of sensitive information.

“While con dentiality of data remains critical, the greater security risk today is less about the data being taken as it is about the integrity and availability of a company’s information systems on which it is stored,” Ganow said, adding that a successful ransomware attack can lock up a company’s critical databases, applications or les “for weeks and months.”

“That is the question to ask yourself as you assess the business risk. Can you go of ine for two weeks and still access your suppliers? Would you still be able to provide your products or services?” he asked. “Because that’s what they’re doing now. They know you can often remain operational without the data or you likely have backups of that data. So, they focus on trying to shut you down and get you to pay this ransom so that you can operate again.”

Meanwhile, the interconnected nature of modern supply chains and digital ecosystems means companies can no longer focus exclusively on protecting the security of their own network environment. Prewitt said manufacturing, electronics, software, consumer goods and many other organizations rely on a vast number of specialized suppliers to bring their end products and services to market. When a critical vendor is attacked, the impact is far reaching.

“Just a couple of months ago, the big splash across the front page was that

Only human, after all As part of its 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), Verizon Business analyzed 30,458 cybersecurity incidents between Nov. 1, 2022, and Oct. 31, 2023, of which a record high of 10,626 were con rmed data breaches with victims spanning 94 countries. Among those breaches:

• 68% involved non-malicious human element, like a person falling victim to a social engineering attack or making an error

• 32% involved ransom wear or extortion, with a median loss of $46,000* per breach

• 15% involved a third-party or supplier, such as software supply chains, hosting partner infrastructures or data custodians

• 14% involved the exploitation of vulnerabilities as an initial access step, almost triple the amount from last year’s report

Ticketmaster got hacked,” Prewitt said. “But it turned out to be controls within [the cloud data company] Snow ake. And then it was Snow ake customer after Snow ake customer after Snow ake customer.”

Likewise, Collins said, the massive July 19 outage that grounded thousands of ights and crippled operations at banks, hospitals, government of ces and countless other businesses – was triggered by missteps from a cybersecurity vendor.

Ganow estimates that 70% of the security breaches he has managed within the last year emanated from

incidents involving a vendor that services a client, and not the client itself.

“That’s why third-party diligence becomes such a big deal,” he said. “To whom are you giving your data and trusting with it? You can delegate authority, but not responsibility.”

Step 1: Identify what needs to be protected and assess risk

A robust cybersecurity strategy begins with identifying the critical data and systems within an organization, the industry insiders noted.

“Business leaders want to jump to that third and fourth step before they go to that foundational building block of something like asset management,” Collins said. “The elementary step in any kind of security program is ‘What do you need to protect?’”

Collins recommends incorporating department leads to assist in identifying department-level vulnerabilities and forming a dedicated risk management team to prioritize risk across the organization. He and Prewitt also stress the importance of understanding what internal business processes are being supported by third parties.

“When we work through risk assessments with our clients, we drill down to how they will function if they or one of their vendors has a breach,” Prewitt said. “We typically ask, ‘Can your business function if one of your partners is down, and if not, what is your backup plan? Can you invoice? Will you be able to access cash? Would you be able to build and ship your product?’”

Security leadership should be part of these initial conversations as well. Ganow said that while the onus is often placed blindly on IT, especially within smaller organizations, security “is a very different discipline” with a “very different set of skills and training and behavioral assets.”

“There are people who keep the e-mail running, the laptops up and

“The elementary step in any kind of security program is ‘What do you need to protect?’”

— Jason Collins, Chief Technology and Security Of cer, FIT Technologies

“Most breaches are around credentials, identity management, and oftentimes it is a matter of poor passwords and/or lack of multifactor authentication.”

— Chris Prewitt, Chief Technology Of cer, Inversion6

“Organizations have to understand a violation of security can be as bad as an environmental mess up, as a nancial error, as discriminatory practices, because it has that legal, reputational and morale impact on your company.”

— Scot Ganow, Partner and Privacy and Data Security Chair, Taft

running, and then there’s people that secure them. You may not have the luxury of two people or two separate FTEs, we get that, but those security functions have to be accounted for somewhere,” he said.

Next: Employee training plan

Once a comprehensive inventory of assets and a thorough risk assessment is in place, companies should develop written policies and procedures to safeguard their critical infrastructure, the security executives said. Training and auditing are, however, where rubber meets the road.

Employees, Prewitt explained, are among any organization’s most vulnerable targets. According to Verizon Business’s 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report, 68% of network breaches worldwide, whether they include a third party or not, involve a non-malicious human action.

“Most breaches are around credentials, identity management, and oftentimes it is a matter of poor passwords and/or lack of multifactor authentication,” Prewitt said.

From a legal standpoint, Ganow stated, employee training protocols are one of the rst items requested by regulators during a cybercrime investigation.

“They want to see what you are doing to educate your employees, so they don’t click on the malicious link or send that wire transfer, which is unforgivably common these days,” he said. “Training is invaluable and doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive. But so many organizations don’t do it.

Additionally, simulations of potential issues can prepare teams to handle real-world problems more effectively.

“You don’t ever want the rst time that one of your staff reads an incident response plan to be when you’re in the middle of an incident,” Collins said. “That tabletop exercise

or some walk-through can so easily be done on a Friday afternoon in a conference room, stepping through your procedures to make sure everyone’s comfortable with who all the players and stakeholders are, when to involve legal counsel, and determine if a government entity should be involved.”

Continuous review

Creating a culture of security also entails annual reviews of cybersecurity procedures and having clear protocols in place to hold employees accountable for protocol lapses.

“Organizations have to understand a violation of security can be as bad as an environmental mess up, as a nancial error, as discriminatory practices, because it has that legal, reputational and morale impact on your company,” Ganow said. “It can take you out of business if you don’t take it seriously.”

The reliance on digital technologies and interconnectedness of systems, Ganow concluded, has made cybercrime a “bear” that no company will be able to outrun.

“And as I tell people, ‘You don’t have to outrun the bear. You just have to outrun the next person who’s a little less secure than you are.’”

AI at work: Proceed with caution

There’s evidence to suggest threat actors are leveraging generative AI to craft more convincing phishing emails and links to gain unauthorized access into corporate networks, but the cybersecurity professionals gathered for a recent roundtable discussion believe the real AI threat in the e-crime space comes from within.

“This technology gives me a little bit of pause,” said Scot Ganow, Partner and Privacy and Data Security Chair for Taft. “These threat actors are smart. They will nd any way possible to exploit not just the technology itself but your employees’ willingness to use it and engage it before you can put a policy or controls on it.”

Jason Collins, Chief Technology and Security Of cer at Clevelandbased FIT Technologies, suggested one “scary” scenario in which an employee takes “a client spreadsheet with the account numbers and throws it in the ChatGPT.”

“All of a sudden,” Collins stressed, “your data exposure is not in a great place, to say the least.”

As companies and staff delve into AI’s potential to enhance productivity, the panelists said business leaders should:

• Develop an acceptable use policy around AI that includes guidelines for data privacy and con dentiality and consequences of policy violation.

• Train employees to what extent and in what cases AI may be used. Consider limiting employees’ access to AI tools to prevent misuse.

• Utilize only veri ed, trusted AI vendors with an understanding of how they use – and don’t use –your data.

Northeast Ohio’s robust cycling trail system keeps growing

Dan Shingler

Many may not realize it, but one of the biggest advantages the Cleveland area has over other cities in the region — including our traditional rival Pittsburgh — is superior bike trails.

Greater Cleveland has far more trails, bike lanes and other biking infrastructure than Pittsburgh, said Matt Stewart, planning administrator for the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study, or AMATS, which does much of the planning for transportation infrastructure in Summit and Portage counties.

“If you look at a map of Cleveland/Akron versus Pittsburgh in terms of bike infrastructure, it’s night and day,” said Stewart, who formerly lived in Mercer, Pennsylvania.

ere’s never been a better time to be a Northeast Ohio cyclist. And Stewart and others note area cyclists — and even pedestrians — are bene ting from planning and development that was done decades ago

ere’s the 101-mile Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath trail that extends from Cleveland to New Philadelphia and crosses the length of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Much of that trail was developed decades ago though, in recent years, more connections have been added — with more to come.

There’s also the longtime Bike and Hike Trail that runs on the rights of way of old rail lines and connects Sagamore Hills to Munroe Falls while extending east to Kent, one of the first rails-to-trails projects in the nation.

And there’s the vaunted Emerald Necklace that still encircles Cleveland and crosses much of Cuyahoga County. It includes numerous trails and makes up a good portion of the county’s current network of 406 miles of trails and bikeways open to cyclists.

But more trails are needed to connect all of those assets so cyclists can form longer routes they can use for exercise, social riding and even transportation.

Expansion ahead

Many communities are working with Cuyahoga County’s Greenways Plan (formerly the East Side Greenway Plan).

“We’re envisioning 800 miles of multi-use trails and bikeways,” said James Sonnhalter, planning manager, design and implementation, for the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission.

Rather than building an addi -

tional 400 miles of trails to reach that goal, the county can connect existing trails and bikeways in the system. e Planning Commission and its partners at 59 communities across the county have identi ed 13.7 miles of “critical gaps,” that will make most, but not all, of the connections needed to tie together 800 miles of bike trails and right-ofway.

Just about every bicycling advocacy group and transportation planning entity in the region is focused on making the connections and closing the gaps necessary to link more trails, often working in partnership with the county.

“When connections come together like this, the bridges it makes mean you can now leave your home and just connect to a trail,” said Jason Kuhn, Communications & Events director for Bike Cleveland. “ en you can ride them all in peace and safety as a whole network.”

Two of the biggest connections cycling advocacy groups like Bike Cleveland are waiting for are the North Marginal Trail and the Slavic Village Downtown Connector.

e North Marginal Trail, set to begin construction this year, will connect E. Ninth Street downtown to E. 55th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive on the East Side via the existing Cleveland Lakefront Bikeway.

Right now, that ride requires navigating some busy roads, but the 2.7-mile connector will mean that cyclists can make the entire ride without being exposed to vehicular traffic, Kuhn said.

e Slavic Village Downtown Connector — made possible by a $19.5 million federal grant — will connect that neighborhood with the center of the city. It’s set to begin construction in 2026, starting with 1.7 miles of trail from East 14th Street downtown to Broadway Avenue. Future phases will then link up to connect Downtown with Washington Reservation and to the existing two-mile Morgana Run Trail in Slavic Village.

Kuhn said these urban connections are about more than just recreation. It enables people to use a bike for transportation, which can be critical to many residents.

“A solid 25% of Cleveland’s population lives below an income level where they can even a ord a motor vehicle,” Kuhn said. “People need to use bikes to get to work and things and we can make it so much safer for them.”

Metroparks makes connections

But those are just two of dozens of projects under development.

Cleveland Metroparks alone has roughly doubled the amount of all-purpose trail space it has open to bikes since 1995, with 126 miles of such trails available, up from 90 miles in 2012, said Metroparks Principal Planner Sara Byrnes Maier.

And, she adds, the system isn’t done yet. Its e orts are largely focused on making new connections between existing trails and parks — like the numerous reservations the organization manages — which have their own trails open to cyclists.

It’s also working to connect its trails and others to the Towpath trail and with local municipalities that want to connect their trails with the parks system.

“ ere might not be land available to expand or extend our reservations, so we’re connecting them through these greenways,” Byrnes Maier said.

Metroparks is currently working with Gar eld Heights on a connector that, when completed in 2025, will link the Towpath with the Gar eld Park Reservation.

It’s also working with Solon on a two-mile rails-to-trails project that will connect that city with an existing Metroparks trail on Chagrin River Road which runs into neighboring Chagrin Falls. at should be done and open next year, planners say.

One challenge, Byrnes Maier said, is pushback from residents, especially when trails go through areas adjacent to people’s yards. at new Solon project is already lined with “private property” and “no trespassing” signs in backyards along the route.

But such sentiments are fading because, planners say, more communities realize that trails are an amenity that residents typically want. And, once a trail goes in, it usually nds acceptance, even from those who might have opposed it.

“Once the project is open, they’re safe and well utilized and the issues diminish,” Byrnes Maier said. “People who are nearby end up using them even if they thought they wouldn’t.”

Cuyahoga County’s Mary Cierebiej said there’s often opposition to such projects, and she agrees it fades away once people realize a bike trail is an amenity and not a threat.

“ ere are three phases of psychology when it comes to putting in a trail, and the rst is opposition,” she said. “ en they love it … and then they say: ‘I’m so glad I thought of this!’”

Cyclists bicycle through Gordon Park on Cleveland’s East Side. CLEVELAND METROPARKS

County Executive Chris Ronayne and University Heights Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan joined

Bike shops ride out tough times

Dan Shingler

Don’t worry, there are still local bike shops, and your favorite will be around for at least the foreseeable future. Probably.

It’s been a tough time for the venerable LBS, as they’re known to many cyclists. People profess to love them, and nearly everyone too old to have grown up with an iPhone has fond childhood memories of a bike shop providing the best birthday gifts of their young lives.

But they’re not immune to the challenges of modern retailing, and they certainly haven’t been immune to recent supply chain challenges that, combined with a surge in demand during the pandemic, hit their industry hard.

Online sales by companies such as Bikes Direct, Canyon and others have played a part. But those factors were in place before the industry was hit by a rash of LBS closings after the pandemic.

e fatal blow for many, shop owners and operators say, came as a result of sky-high demand for bikes during COVID, which triggered a huge international shortage of new bikes. en, just as bike companies and local shops got back online and restocked with expensive inventory, the craze was over.

Also, the price of many bikes jumped. A top-name carbon road bike with the best components now costs $4,000 and up, with some top-end bikes now crossing into the ve- gure price range. ough many regular, family-oriented bikes are cheaper, some can cost upwards of $1,000.

Meanwhile, a lot of bike shop owners were aging out, and many decided to hang it up.

Locally, shops including Century Cycle, Fridrich Bicycle and Fleet Bike Shop either closed or sold locations. With them went a lot of history and countless local memories. Fridrich had been in business for more than 140 years, and Fleet had been open for more than 50.

“It’s the oldest operating bike shop in the United States. No one’s ever challenged that,” said third-generation owner Chuck Fridrich, whose grandfather opened the store in 1883 in the era of the high-wheel bicycle.

Fridrich, 84, said he’s simply ready to retire after working in the shop since he was around 11. If he can, he’ll sell the shop and its three buildings on Lorain Avenue to someone who wants to keep it open. But that’s a long shot, he concedes.

“ at’s a big maybe, which is one reason this has been drawn out,” Fridrich said.

Other shops also have disappeared, but more have remained in business, and some have even grown.

“I’ve seen all the bike shops come and go,” said Jason Kuhn, communications and events manager for the bike advocacy group Bike Cleveland, who previously worked for a couple of decades at Eddy’s Bike Shop.

“I’m old enough to remember when Century cycles began, which I think was in the early ’90s,” Kuhn said. “It’s a real loss to lose all those bike shops.”

But, he added, there are plenty of bike shops still left, including fairly new players such as Cain Park Bicycle, which opened in 2006 and is doing well selling family-oriented bikes in Cleveland Heights.

“So, you have older players who step away and new players come in, too,” Kuhn said.

Some bike shops have grown through the crisis by acquiring others. at includes Eddy’s, where third-generation owner Jimmy Ruggles now runs the more than 80-year-old company, which has become a chain of shops after starting in Stow in the 1940s.

“We bought Century Cycles back in April,” Ruggles said. “ at put us up to six (locations).”

Century, which began life in the 1990s, closed its stores in Medina and Shaker Heights shortly before Eddy’s bought it out and took over the former Century stores in Peninsula and Rocky River in March.

Ruggles said business is good, and so is the local cycling scene, with lots of trails opened in recent years, many more coming and, yes, plenty of local bike shops still around to serve riders’ needs.

“Northeast Ohio’s pretty fortunate when you look at the big picture of the cycling industry,” Ruggles said. “ e shops in our area are strong.”

Ruggles credits COVID with getting people interested in cycling again and says now many of those people are still riding but want di erent or better bikes. ey might be riding more or more competitively than they initially planned, or on roads or trails they didn’t think they’d use, he said.

“I think COVID did a lot of good for the industry. It got a lot more people out of their houses and looking for a way to burn o energy, and people nally got some downtime,” Ruggles said. “Having the bike stores open during COVID was huge, at least for Ohio bike shops.”

He doesn’t think that demand is letting up soon, either. Ruggles said he hopes to expand further but isn’t ready to talk about other shops or locations he might buy or occupy.

At Solon Bicycle — founded in 1987, and the rst bike shop anywhere to earn a Distinguished Service Award from the world-famous Park Tool Co. — longtime owner Dan Sirkin said he’s also doing well. Like Cain Park and Eddy’s, Sirkin focuses on family-oriented bikes, though he doesn’t get into some of the more expensive brands and models that Eddy’s still carries.

Under $1,000 is the sweet spot, Sirkin said. He still gets plenty of customers looking for bikes in that price range for their kids, spouses and themselves, including some folks who got their rst bikes from Sirkin years ago.

Sirkin said he gave up on brands such as Trek and Specialized years ago. eir bikes kept getting more and more expensive, and the companies themselves got more di cult to deal with, he said.

Instead, he sells bikes from companies such as Haro, which like Sirkin made its name on the BMX bike scene in the ’90s and has branched out into a broad variety of bike types and styles. He also sells bikes from Batch Bicycle, part of Miamisburg-based United WHEELS. Sirkin stocks enough bikes to have the selection his customers want, but not so much that he can’t adjust to their changing tastes and needs.

“I have learned that less is more,” Sirkin said. “We’re doing small, frequent reorders. ... I’m not doing these big pre-season commitments that all of the big brands force you to do.”

He gures there’s still a shop for nearly every type of rider in the area.

“At Bike Authority in Broadview Heights, it’s more of a road and triathlon shop,” Sirkin said. “At Gear Up Velo in Independence, they have a lot of road, gravel and cyclocross bikes.”

Ruggles said his best-selling bikes, outside of e-bikes that are becoming the most popular thing on two wheels, are gravel and hybrid bikes, usually priced between $1,000 and $1,300.

Operators who survived COVID and the whipsaw market that followed, like Sirkin and Ruggles, say they’re not planning to quit anytime soon.

“I still love it,” Ruggles said. “All my friends are envious that I have a job where I don’t say every day: ‘I don’t feel like going to work today.’”

Kids riding on the Whiskey Island Trail. | CLEVELAND METROPARKS

O.H.I.O. Fund getting off the ground with big plans

By Jeremy Nobile

e Ohio High Growth Investment Opportunities Fund, aka the O.H.I.O Fund—the latest endeavor of JumpStart Inc. founding CEO Ray Leach—is in motion after landing some key people and capital and making its inaugural investment last month.

ese milestones show that the private evergreen venture fund is positioned to move on investments across the state while staying on the fundraising trail.

“At this point, the O.H.I.O Fund has lots of opportunities that it is evaluating,” said Leach, president of the fund. “We do anticipate making a handful of investments this calendar year. We are about ready to become more relevant as it has pretty much been heads down preparing to be a real entity.”

With a $500 million target, according to investor materials, the O.H.I.O Fund’s North Star is to catalyze economic growth in the state and generate wealth through investments in startups, real estate, infrastructure projects and other funds.  Founders of the fund aspire to build something like Temasek, a behemoth sovereign wealth fund in Singapore founded in 1974 whose global portfolio has ballooned to $389 billion in value.

“We believe that Ohio has all these macro-economic advantages, whether it’s climate change, the history of making things, access to talent, solid infrastructure,” Leach said. “ ere are all these pillars we think are important to Ohio’s economic competitiveness.”

“But if we are unable to aggregate more private capital to invest in opportunities that come out of having these advantages, Ohio is not going to be able to fully realize all the opportunity, and companies and projects in Ohio will not be fully realized,” he continued. “We are super focused on addressing this capital gap.”

Details about the O.H.I.O Fund, including leading e orts by Mark Kvamme, cofounder of Columbus’ Drive Capital, started to come out in late 2022 during the fund’s formative stages.

Leach partnered with Kvamme to lay a foundation for the fund, setting the stage for him to peel away from JumpStart and launching a search for his successor—which resulted in the hiring of longtime MetroHealth executive Julie Jacono last fall.

A lot has taken shape since then.

“Imagine having access to some of the best investment opportunities across Ohio’s $861.4B+ economy,” reads an investor deck. “Now is the time to create an ‘impact fund’ inspired by Temasek focused on Ohio’s economic future!”

Earlier this year, the fund landed Mike Venerable, former CEO at venture out t CincyTech, and Jill Meyer, former CEO of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber. Venerable is serving the fund as director of health care and life sciences, and Meyer is lling the role of chief legal o cer.

Both those people give the fund a presence in the Cincinnati area while Leach and recently hired

principal Je rey Stern work from a base in Cleveland.

Stern is well-known in the local startup scene having been part of the founding team for Votem Corp., cofounder of Axuall Inc., an adviser with the Ohio Angel Collective and host of the “Lay of the Land” podcast.

Leach said Stern brings a “connection to community” that is “incredibly important because we want to nd not only great founders but investment opportunities we think cannot just generate great returns but also move the city and state forward.”

is summer, the O.H.I.O Fund reported raising $38.5 million from 19 investors, according to a July 2 ling with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Some involved indicate $108 million has been raised so far since then with another dozen investors joining in.

Leach said that the fund’s rst investment came with the approximately $10.8 million purchase of a 148-acre property located roughly a dozen miles outside of the estimated $28 billion semiconductor plant that is being developed for Intel in Central Ohio via New Albany. e site is part of the nearly 500-acre Sunbury Business and Technology Park and is poised for commercial development.

“It has to do with what is already going there,” Leach said, referencing the property’s proximity to Intel and adding that he’s “excited about what could land there.”

“We are buying that believing the land is going to have a signi cant economic return for investors,” Leach explained. “But also, it is going to be an important driver to rev-

New group aims to bolster investing in tech across Great Lakes region

Mark Sanchez, Crain’s Grand Rapids Business

A new industry association wants to bring venture capital rms in the Great Lakes closer together to benet the region and encourage growth. Partners at ve VC rms formed the Great Lakes Venture Capital Association to share ideas, best practices and investment prospects, as well as syndicate deals and address common issues the industry faces.

e group includes Kaleb Dumot of Cleveland-based Integrity Power Search, an executive recruiting rm for tech startups and venture capital-backed companies.

“We want to bring together all of the di erent venture funds that invest in technology companies right now. A lot of the funds are certainly friendly with one another and a lot of them do deals with one another, but there’s not anything formed to bring everyone together,” said Dumot, a founder and the managing partner of Great Lakes Venture Capital Association.

“We just think that collaborating, connecting, building trust (and) building partnerships will just help all the ecosystems and all the tech-

nology companies as a whole build that cohesiveness,” Dumot added.

“It’s all about forging new connections, strengthening existing relationships, doing deals together. Really, the line is ‘a rising tide lifts all boats.’”

In addition to Dumot, founders of the Great Lakes Venture Capital Association include Camila Noordeloos at Grand Ventures in Grand Rapids, Adrian Fortino at Mercury Fund in Detroit, and partners at Kentucky-based eGateway Capital and Re nery Ventures in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Organizers hope to enlist 50 members into the association by the end of this year and eventually grow to 75-100 or more members, Dumot said.

rough an association involving rms in the Great Lakes and Midwest states, founders hope to create cohesiveness among participating venture capital rms to address common challenges “and nd solutions together,” including sourcing deal ow and increasing investments in funds by large institutional investors, Noordeloos said. e idea behind the group “has been on people’s minds for a

enue and economic growth for North Central Ohio. So, it checked a lot of boxes for us.” is deal underscores how the O.H.I.O Fund isn’t just focused on startups, which some might reasonably assume given the expertise of the leadership group that’s been assembled.

“A lot of people presume that ... this is all focused on startups. It is absolutely not,” Leach said. “We are focusing on investing opportunities that can generate great returns and that re ect the entire economy, not just tech startups.”   e O.H.I.O Fund is, nonetheless, looking for Ohio companies that need growth capital at possibly Series B or C rounds or later.  is could help ll a void in the regional VC ecosystem, which tends to be more weighted toward early-stage capital. e availability of that capital could help keep or draw promising companies to Ohio.  is is something that venture veteran Bob Pavey, who has invested $500,000 in the O.H.I.O Fund, likes about it.

A former chairman of the National Venture Capital Association, Pavey partnered with the late David Morgenthaler on establishing Morgenthaler Ventures, which was seemingly the only rm of its kind when it was founded in 1969. Today, Pavey is a partner emeritus with Morgenthaler who runs his own family o ce, Pavey Investments.

“We have angel money. We have seed money, at least some,” Pavey said. “But we lack the later stage money, and that is where Ray is going to step in and ll the gap.”

“ ey are going to have a signif-

icant impact,” Pavey continued. “ e reason Silicon Valley developed as it did is because they ended up with some major winners. What we need are major winners here, and we don’t need them moving elsewhere when they need later-stage money. We want them to stay here, spin o new projects. It’s more winners in Ohio that will transform Ohio into a more exciting and even better place to do business and start companies.”

Regardless of how the fund deploys its capital in the state, its objective is to partner and co-invest with others. It’s not looking to compete with other Ohio investors and intends to only price rounds when existing investors are unable to do so.

Some of its prioritized industries include advanced manufacturing, biotech, logistics, enterprise SaaS and ntech.

On the real estate front, the fund is looking for “game-changing industry-related projects,” according to investor materials, which includes a focus on “land development to catalyze economic growth and returns.”

e investor support the O.H.I.O Fund has received so far is validating to Leach.

“People are curious and excited about this thesis, and there is a real belief that it can be successful,” Leach said. “And not in just in the near term. ere are these economic opportunities that will result in an ability to create a large pool of capital over time. It is going to take decades. But we are encouraged by the response and reaction we’ve been getting from folks.”

long time,” she said.

“Venture capital is a relationship business; it’s a people business,” Noordeloos said. “It’s really about just forging connections, about strengthening current relationships, expanding the VC community and making it stronger, because relationships are everything. at’s why we wanted to found an organization that brings all these VCs together and we can really count on each other.”

e association comes together as venture capital investing in the Great Lakes region has grown steadily over the last decade, although investments the last two years declined along with the rest of the U.S. industry.

VC investments in Great Lakes states totaled a collective $4.3 billion in 1,191 deals last year, according to data from PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association. Venture capital investing in the Great Lakes region peaked in 2021 at 1,437 deals valued at $17.2 billion.

As of September 2023, VC rms based in Great Lakes states had $43.3 billion in assets under management, about four times the amount a decade earlier, according

to the Michigan Venture Capital Association’s annual research report. e formation of the Great Lakes Venture Capital Association re ects the growth in VC investing across the region over the last several years and how prospects in the region now draw more attention nationally.

“We have become a lot more mature as far a region,” Noordeloos said. “We have seen great companies being created in the Midwest and the Great Lakes regions. We think there is still a ton of room to grow and make this region even stronger. ere are more and more VCs being created, so we need to continue to build the strength between all of us.”

Since publicly announcing the

formation of the Great Lakes Venture Capital Association on Aug. 6, founders have received a strong response from rms across the region.

Dumot called the response “overwhelming” and indicative of “a thirst to get everybody together.” Noordeloos said she’s received “a ton of responses and support and they said, ‘great idea, we’ve been waiting for something like this to bring everyone together to really discuss our shared vision to make this region stronger,’” said Noordeloos, a general partner at Grand Ventures.

e new association plans to host an inaugural two-day networking event next June at French Lick Resort in Indiana.

Leach

100 LARGEST EMPLOYERS IN NORTHEAST OHIO

ResearchbyDavidNusbaum(david.nusbaum@crain.com).|Source:Informationisfromtheorganizations,includingwebsitesandpublic lings,unlessotherwisenoted.Listedcitiesinmostcases representthelocationoftheorganization'sprimarylocalof ce,thoughafeworganizationsheadquarteredelsewherelistcitiesoutsideNortheastOhio.Inafewcasesthelocalexecutivelistedoversees the local operation but is not based locally. 1. Estimate based on Cuyahoga and Summa counties ACFR. 2. As of December. See the region's 100 largest employers and much more at crainscleveland.com/data

100 LARGEST EMPLOYERS IN NORTHEAST OHIO CRAIN’S LIST

ResearchbyDavidNusbaum(david.nusbaum@crain.com).|Source:Informationisfromtheorganizations,includingwebsitesandpublic lings,unlessotherwisenoted.Listedcitiesinmostcases representthelocationoftheorganization'sprimarylocalof ce,thoughafeworganizationsheadquarteredelsewherelistcitiesoutsideNortheastOhio.Inafewcasesthelocalexecutivelistedoversees thelocaloperationbutisnotbasedlocally. 1. TotalemploymentatClevelandEnginePlantandOhioAssemblyPlant. 2. AsofJune2023. 3. Informationfromannualreport. 4. InformationfromWayne County annual comprehensive nancial report. See the region's 100 largest employers and much more at crainscleveland.com/data

100 LARGEST EMPLOYERS IN NORTHEAST OHIO CRAIN’S LIST

ResearchbyDavidNusbaum(david.nusbaum@crain.com).|Source:Informationisfromtheorganizations,includingwebsitesandpublic lings,unlessotherwisenoted.Listedcitiesinmostcases representthelocationoftheorganization'sprimarylocalof ce,thoughafeworganizationsheadquarteredelsewherelistcitiesoutsideNortheastOhio.Inafewcasesthelocalexecutivelistedoversees the local operation but is not based locally. e. Crain's estimate. 1. Information from city of Ashland nancial report. 2. As of June 2023. See the region's 100 largest employers and much more at crainscleveland.com/data

100 LARGEST EMPLOYERS IN NORTHEAST OHIO CRAIN’S LIST

ResearchbyDavidNusbaum(david.nusbaum@crain.com).|Source:Informationisfromtheorganizations,includingwebsitesandpublic lings,unlessotherwisenoted.Listedcitiesinmostcases representthelocationoftheorganization'sprimarylocalof ce,thoughafeworganizationsheadquarteredelsewherelistcitiesoutsideNortheastOhio.Inafewcasesthelocalexecutivelistedoversees the local operation but is not based locally. 1. As of June 2023. See the region's 100 largest employers and much more at crainscleveland.com/data

Conservancy for CVNP receives biggest gift in organization’s history

Will be used to maintain and improve the Towpath Trail

By Crain’s Staff

e Conservancy for Cuyahoga National Park, a nonpro t that engages with the public to support the park, announced on ursday, Aug. 15, that it received its largest gift ever, which will be used to maintain and improve the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail.

e $3.8 million gift comes from the estate of the late James H. Hower, who, among other positions, served as the vice president of his family-owned Akron Selle Co.

Deb Yandala, CEO of the Conservancy, told Crain’s, “ is is really signi cant for us, in part, because it’s an estate gift. We really appreciate that people love the park so much that they’re remembering the park in this way.”

Yandala said the Conservancy will work with the National Park Service, adding the donation to the overall Towpath fund. en, the Conservancy can give the money to the Park Service when it needs nancial support for projects that it can’t fully support out of its regular annual budget (the Park Service receives funding from Congress).

“One of the things we’re seeing is that the federal budget funding is pretty at for national parks, but the expenses keep going up and we have been just ooded with visitation,” Yandala noted.

And while that’s overall a very good thing, it means that there’s more work to do and more upkeep to keep the park in top shape.

“More people are visiting and they’re visiting more often so the

resources are taking a hit,” Yandala added. “We love that people are coming, but we want to help make sure the park stays well-maintained and protected.”

e Towpath fund, she said, can be used to help restore the trail after heavy rains can wash away parts or even for additional staing to aid that upkeep as well as for more materials and any future improvements.

Out-of-town visitors are part of that growth, too, Yandala says, making the fund — and the record donation — that much more important.

“We recently hosted members of the National Park Foundation and they were blown away at how beautiful the park is — and that it’s only a half-hour from downtown Cleveland,” she pointed out, making donations like those by Hower’s estate so important.

Hower served as vice president of Akron Selle and was a volunteer re ghter and paramedic for 47 years. He graduated as part of Akron General Hospital’s rst class of EMT/paramedics in 1976.

Besides the donation to the Conservancy — when he died in 2022, his family asked for memorial donations to be given to the nonpro t — his estate has also donated to Akron Children’s Hospital. In March, several funds under the Hower umbrella donated a total of $6.6 million to the hospital, the second-largest in its history.

“Mr. Hower was an avid bike rider. He’d loved to bike the towpath trail, and he and his wife Claudia, spent a lot of time on the towpath which is why he included it in his will,” Yandala said. “He loved seeing families out there ... and wanted to make sure other people had a chance to continue to enjoy it.”

Med-tech company aims to reduce radiation exposure for clinicians

By Paige Bennett

When vascular surgeons perform procedures using the medical imaging technique uoroscopy, they wear lead aprons and other personal protective equipment to limit radiation exposure. Without this equipment, these surgeons would be exposed to harmful levels of radiation, but research has shown they may still be at an increased risk for cancer later in life.

It’s a problem that Centerline Biomedical, a Cleveland-based med-tech company, wants to address through its Intra-Operative Positioning System (IOPS).

e privately held company recently received U.S. Food and Drug Administration 510(k) clearance for its IOPS Viewpoint Catheter.

Used in conjunction with Centerline Biomedical’s IOPS software, the product can help clinicians visualize endovascular tools in real time and reduce their dependence on uoroscopy systems, according to the company.

“ ese caregivers are saving lives, but also because of the technology, putting themselves at risk,” Centerline Biomedical CEO Gulam Khan said. “ at just gives our company a lot of energy to stick with the challenges of developing a completely new way of doing these procedures. It’s not easy to change the current gold standard (...) but it’s really important also to help protect these caregivers.”

Khan, who joined Centerline Biomedical in 2022 and previously served as an executive at STERIS, said the company’s software makes a map of a patient’s vessels, similar to a cellphone GPS. e IOPS technology is based on electromagnetic track-

ing rather than uoroscopy, he said, which uses pulses of an X-ray beam to create real-time moving images of tissues inside a patient’s body. e company’s IOPS consists of a portable cart, electromagnetic eld generator, sensor interface unit, tracking pad and catheters and guidewires designed with integrated sensors.  Centerline Biomedical spun out of Cleveland Clinic in 2014. It was born out of a collaboration between Vikash Goel, a former Clinic researcher, and Dr. Roy Greenberg, a pioneer in the treatment of complex aortic disease at the Clinic. Greenberg, who died in 2013 at age 49 after a cancer battle, wanted to improve visualization during endovascular interventions.

And a documentary aired on PBS earlier this year called “Scattered Denial: The Occupational Dangers of Radiation.” It centers around the dangers of radiation exposure in operating rooms.

Too much radiation exposure would be an issue for anyone, but “it’s really a much bigger problem for the surgeons or the doctors, the cardiologists who are repeatedly doing these procedures because they’re exposed case after case over the course of their career,” Khan said.

The first generation of Centerline Biomedical’s IOPS has been on the market for several years. Khan said the company, which has nearly 50 employees, has been using early adopter feedback to make improvements to the system.

“These caregivers are saving lives, but also because of the technology, putting themselves at risk.”

Gulam Khan, Centerline Biomedical CEO

“(Fluoroscopy) is good at showing bony structure and problems with your bones and some other things, but it’s not very good at soft tissue type procedures,” Khan said. “And a lot of these procedures are working through the blood vessels, the vascular system.”

Not only does fluoroscopy offer clinicians a limited visual scope, but some researchers have raised concerns about potential health risks that continued radiation exposure has on surgeons. A 2022 study by researchers at Stanford Medicine found an increased prevalence of breast cancer among female orthopedic surgeons compared with the U.S. female population.

The Viewpoint Catheter, the latest of these additions, is designed to provide clinicians with three-dimensional navigation feedback.

“We’re releasing several new hardware items, new software, and then in 2025, a new cart,” Khan said. “Basically, through a series of releases, we’re upgrading every element of our system over the next six months and then beyond that.”

Along with mitigating radiation exposure, Centerline Biomedical says its technology can reduce time in the operating room. Khan said the company’s technology allows doctors to work more eciently because they can see more clearly.

In 2023, Centerline Biomedical tapped Indrani Egleston, who previously worked at nonpro t Signature Health, to serve as its chief nancial o cer. It closed on a $33 million Series B equity financing round in 2022.

Centerline Biomedical’s Intra-Operative Positioning System aims to help clinicians visualize endovascular tools in real time and reduce their dependence on uoroscopy systems. | CENTERLINE BIOMEDICAL

Long-awaited West Side senior housing-library project a go

By Kim Palmer

A long-awaited Detroit-Shoreway development combining affordable senior housing with a branch of the Cleveland Public Library has the green light now that one partner has acquired millions in gap nancing.

e project is slated to begin construction next year, with an opening in 2026.

e $23 million mixed-use Karam Senior Living apartments and $8.1 million Walz branch of the Cleveland Public Library (CPL) project was slated to begin construction as early as 2021, but pandemic closings and subsequent increases in construction costs stymied the timeline.

e hold-up stemmed from a nearly $7 million funding shortfall that Northwest Neighborhoods, Detroit Shoreway’s Community Development Corporation (CDC), needed to make up to begin construction of the project’s 51-unit a ordable senior housing component.

“In an alternative universe we would have moved forward this last year but things did not align,” said Bridget Kent Márquez, Northwest’s executive director. “We have the design and building permits. ere is a lot of coordination left now as we work through the

nancial closing side by side with the library, because it’s such an innovative building and there is an added layer of complexity.”

e CDC, which also represents the Cudell and Edgewater communities, has been on a fundraising campaign to add to the Ohio Housing Finance Agency’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credits awarded to the project in 2021.

Post-pandemic, the housing project tapped into a number of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) sources: $2 million from Cuyahoga County, $1 million in ARPA Transformative Neighborhood Project funds from Cleveland City Council and $2 million in ARPA gap funds from the city of Cleveland.

With the most recent award of

housing vouchers, for seniors who earn less than 30% and 50% of the area median income, from the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA), the project is set for construction next year and completion by 2026.

e four-story building spanning two parcels on Detroit Avenue eastward from West 80th Street is a unique partnership between the CDC and CPL.

Both buildings were demolished in 2022.

e west-most parcel where the two oors of the Walz library branch will sit is located on the former site of the CDC-owned Detroit Chateau apartment building. Whereas the eastern parcel, where the former CPL branch was, will

house the majority of the apartment units.

Library construction will need to begin before any construction on the Karam housing portion commences due to the individual nancing and construction agreements that are part of the project.

“We collaborated very closely on the design with Robert P. Madison International and Bialosky, but there will be a division of work with some shared costs,” said John Lange, CPL chief of operations.

“ ere will be two separate contractors. We are using Gilbane, they will build the foundation … Northwest contracted with the Marous Brothers.”

e Walz branch is part of CPL’s Facilities Master Plan to renovate,

expand, relocate or rebuild all 27 neighborhood libraries.

e West Side project is the second of its kind from CPL. e other mixed-use development — University Circle’s Martin Luther King Jr. branch and a corresponding 11-story apartment building — is slated to be completed in early fall. at complex cost-sharing agreement will need to be nalized before shovels go into the ground in 2025 and the library opens and the residences are available in 2026.

Kent Márquez said the KaramCPL project, when completed, will place the region on the forefront and is part of the CDC’s strategy to meet the needs of the community, by incentivizing a ordable housing development in a growing market, like Detroit-Shoreway, susceptible to surging home values that often force existing, longtime residents to leave.

“ is project is innovative and forward thinking and not typical in Cleveland right now, but these types of projects that meet community needs are part of a larger national trend that we are seeing,” she said. “We are comprehensively thinking about housing options and housing choices for all people because sometimes markets don’t organically make them available.”

CYBERSECURITY: What You

and Your

Business

Need to Know

Chris Prewitt CHIEF

The Karam Senior Living affordable housing project will be built with the Walz branch of the Cleveland Public Library. BIALOSKY CLEVELAND

BANKRUPTCY

levels, high interest rates and overall increased costs with relatively at household income. e timeframe from the onset of individual nancial stress to a bankruptcy ling is generally six to 18 months.”

Bankruptcy activity had been trending down virtually every year since the throes of the nancial crisis and the Great Recession. But that trend began to ip as a bankruptcy storm began to brew coming into 2023.

“A lot of businesses borrowed money when rates were very, very low and had cash to get through the di cult times that we all have had with high prices, but those chickens always come home to roost,” said Anna Rathbun, chief investment o cer for CBIZ Investment Advisory Services, who has been following this heightened bankruptcy activity.

While motivations for bankruptcy can be unique for each company, there is, of course, always a theme of debt.

In many cases, the recipe for bankruptcy largely boils down to rising interest rates on that debt coupled with a more expensive operating environment and downward pressure on sales.

Struggling sales could be due to any number of factors, including changing consumer dynamics and customer resistance to increased prices as companies strive to oset the costs of doing business. ese factors were at play in bankruptcies led this year by both Melt Bar & Grilled and Joann Inc., for examples.

“We are sort of entering an era where if you don’t have good discussions of keeping a healthy balance sheet — or even if you did — if there are weaknesses in your business, or if you’re a consumerfacing business and consumers

REAL ESTATE

From Page 1

For Brandt’s part, he said, “I was ready to do something a little different.”

e two, who described themselves as longtime friends, looked at opportunities separately and together and both opted for PREP because few Cleveland realty companies o er such a framework.

Joe Boehm III, CEO and PREP co-founder, said in the same interview that PREP was willing to add the duo to its partnership ranks because, “ ey both have wonderful experience. ey are versatile. And they have done business or worked with a lot of (existing partners) over the years.”

Brandt worked for 20 years with Boehm at the former Forest City Enterprises Inc. in Cleveland, and Salata has public company experience through a role at the former DDR Corp. (now SITE Centers Corp. (NYSE: SITC), a shopping center developer and owner-based in Beachwood.

Other partners at PREP from Forest City’s upper ranks include Bob O’Brien and Bill Ross. Originally, PREP focused on raising

National bankruptcy lings

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are having di culty with high prices, and wallets are shrinking in terms of purchasing power, they are going to push back on price increases,” Rathbun said. “And the question is, can you handle it?”

Government stimulus money from the years during and following the COVID outbreak helped keep many companies going despite challenges. But that’s all been burned through by now.

And with higher interest rates increasing the cost of capital, it’s becoming more challenging for businesses to secure nancing on reasonable terms to help them through duress.

“When money is cheap, alternative nancing is around,” said Elliot Smith, a partner at Benesch specializing in Chapter 11 bankruptcies and insolvencies. “When money is not cheap, your alternatives for dealing with distress become limited, and the availability of nancing is also limited.”

Smith suggests that challenges in the business world are even worse than ling activity may show because so many businesses try to restructure out of court to

dodge the attention and costs associated with bankruptcy. But sometimes, it’s unavoidable.

“As much as the data may tell you that Chapter 11 lings are on the rise, there is a signi cant amount of nancial distress going on behind the scenes because a lot of times either lenders or the business or their stakeholders don’t want to go the route of Chapter 11,” Smith said. “And I’m seeing a lot of nonbank-related distress as well, which is not as visible.”

And while banks may work with borrowers in many cases, the industry is not playing fast and loose with credit.

In terms of loans to businesses, banks reported “tighter standards and basically unchanged demand for commercial and industrial loans to rms of all sizes over the second quarter,” according to the Federal Reserve’s July 2024 Senior Loan O cer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices. ese tight credit standards and distress behind the scenes are some of the reasons why industry observers like Smith and Rathbun feel that bankruptcy ac-

tivity has yet to peak.

“I don’t think we are at the end of it,” Rathbun said. “ e beginning was a very slow ramp up, and that is because we had so much cash, but that has all run out. So, I don’t think (the bankruptcy storm) is over. e question is, does it ramp up faster, and that is unknown.”

“I think we are in the middle of the storm, and I don’t see it letting

investment funds and buying medical properties but has been interested in expanding into the industrial and mall makeover market.

“Health care was the catalyst that got us going,” Boehm said of PREP at its inception in 2021. “It o ered us this core plus strategy, situations that were both valueadd and opportunistic. Industrial clearly ts that strategy and so does retail.”

Boehm said PREP plans to raise

a $75 million fund from investors in the rst quarter of 2025, and industrial and retail projects will be “a signi cant chunk” of that fundraising. PREP got started with an $83 million fund for medical o ces and related properties. Fast forward to mid-2024 and PREP has purchased or served as an adviser on more than $100 million of stabilized medical outpatient building and ambulatory surgery center transactions.

Brandt said PREP o ered a

structure for himself and Salata, who will jointly shepherd PREP’s industrial vertical, with fundraising and operating structures, among other advantages.

For Boehm’s part, “When we all got into the room together the energy was palpable. We see the world in the same way but have di ering views, which is the beauty of a good partnership.”

Brandt said many opportunities remain available in the distressed mall space. He estimates about

up in the near term because it often takes time to truly deal with distress that has built up over a period of time,” Smith said. “One or two dominoes may have started to fall. I’m sure there are many companies out there trying to gure out how to solve for a nancial issue or lender issue or some other distress going on in their business, and we just haven’t seen it yet.”

450 malls are in “some level of decay” around the country.

“ ey may have to be reinvented or the amount of retail space reduced,” Brandt said. “Many are becoming mixes of uses, including hospitals and industrial.”

Salata said, “ ere are a lot of secular forces today that will keep the wind at the back of industrial projects that will continue to create opportunities for years to come.”

In exiting ICP, the duo left one of Northeast Ohio’s largest and most active commercial real estate concerns as it has a portfolio of 150 properties and some 46 million square feet of space. ICP is also owned by Chris Semarjian, who has separately participated in multiple deals over the years with Industrial Realty Group of Los Angeles.

Asked in a phone interview about the duo’s departure, Semarjian said, “I appreciate all the things they have done for us and wish them well. We’re continuing to grow.”

Semarjian said Salata’s duties as chief operating o cer have been spread among three di erent sta ers at ICP, which has a total sta of 40.

Chris Salata played a public role in the revitalization of the former Chapel Hill Mall into a business park. DAN SHINGLER

It would have attracted new recruits to CSU, as well as music and entertainment acts that had bypassed the city because it didn’t have a right-sized arena. And it would have cost a LOT of money, with the university needing to raise “several tens of millions” to help cover those costs, according to P. Kelly Tompkins, CSU’s interim chief nancial ocer and vice president of business a airs.

Nine months later, with CSU struggling to close a $40 million budget gap and its future as a Division I athletics program very much in doubt, it looks like the proposed arena will only see one basketball-related move.

A pass.

“It’s safe to say, for the near term, it is not something we’re going to pursue,” Tompkins said in an interview with Crain’s. “I can’t say long-term whether or not we might come back and revisit that, but from a timing standpoint, we have greater priorities.”

e biggest two, from a facilities standpoint, are the Fenn Tower residential hall, which will be closed for at least this academic year as CSU performs a structural engineering analysis, and its most iconic building, Rhodes Tower.

e university is exploring a range of options with Fenn, Tompkins said, from completely demolishing the building to spending tens of millions on structural enhancement to trying to nd a third-party developer that might be interested in renovating the structure.

Rhodes Tower, meanwhile, was supposed to undergo a renovation e ort last year, but the project has been delayed as the university tries to raise more funds. (It did receive Brown eld tax credits from Cuyahoga County.)

CSU also is working with outside consultants on a campus master plan designed to “optimize our existing footprint,” Tompkins said, an approach which may involve moving departments to di erent buildings in hopes of building better collaboration between departments.

But even if CSU solved all its facility issues — a huge hypothetical, considering it has about $350 million in deferred maintenance on its buildings, according to Signal Cleveland — the arena project would still be in limbo because CSU’s athletic future is still in limbo.

“ e Wolstein Center is linked in large part to what we do ultimately with CSU’s athletic program,” Tompkins said.  e university is sunsetting its CSU 2.0 plan over the next few months and has formed a strategic task force that will take a “hard look” at athletics, Tompkins said. CSU spends about $15.5 million per year on athletics, an amount heavily funded by student fees ($10.8 million) and institutional/ government support ($980,000).

NCAA Division I athletics are undergoing rapid change thanks

to conference consolidation (especially among the biggest, richest schools); Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) opportunities; unlimited transfers and increased facility costs, which is widening the already considerable gap between the haves and have-nots.

“ e NCAA is going through a lot of changes, and the implications to D-I programs like Cleveland State’s are signi cant,” Tompkins said. “Simply put, if we make the decision that we are going to remain in a Division I program, it implicates the facilities in a big way — and Wolstein in particular. It’s an aging building. It’s going to have building infrastructure challenges. Is it the right investment to put money in there? Well, we rst have to make the decision on whether athletics is a go or not.

“It’s not kicking the can down the road by any means. It’s very much a strategic decision.”

Tompkins said the university can adequately handle routine maintenance on the Wolstein Center, and would also x, say, a major HVAC issue.

“ e goal is to keep it operational, but obviously minimally invest in it,” he said. “We want the building to be safe and suciently comfortable for audiences, but there’d be no point in putting in a major investment until we make the crossroads decision on athletics.”

at’s a far cry from the $650 million master plan unveiled in 2022 that included plans to de-

molish the Wolstein Center and replace it with a new arena. e REG, Geis and Oak View proposal alone cost six gures, sources said. And while those companies understand that CSU’s situation has changed in recent months, they’ve also grown frustrated with the university’s lack of communication on the proposal, which included a cover letter cosigned by Geis President Conrad Geis, REG CEO Nic Barlage and OVG President Greg O’Dell.

Crain’s made a public records request for the proposal in February, and CSU nally sent a heavily redacted version on July 22, blacking out renderings, budget estimates and timelines.

Meanwhile, the Charge announced in June that it signed a six-year agreement with the city to play home games at Public Auditorium, a decision Tompkins said would not be a “materially negative situation,” on the school’s nances.

“ ere may even be some upside,” he said, referring to the chance for CSU to attract more events on key dates.

Neither Geis nor O’Dell responded to a request for comment. Barlage declined an interview request, but REG did issue this statement:

“Rock Entertainment Group is fully committed to creating and supporting impactful e orts that leave positive, lasting outcomes for our community. We believe in the role an arena like this can play for our community and we remain ready and willing to engage to

5,000- to 7,000-seat arena, that could be one hell of a home-court advantage. And you might even get more student participation just by virtue of it being so centralized to the campus.”

While a renovated Woodling Center wouldn’t do as much to attract Division I recruits as a new arena, that won’t matter if CSU chooses to drop down a division (or two). During a panel discussion in June, CSU President Laura Bloomberg admitted that while she believes in a “transformational student-athlete experience,” she also fears for the future of college athletics, citing the move toward classifying studentathletes as employees, the potential cost of paying athletes and the increased number of transfers at the Division I level as concerns.

help make this project a reality.”

But unless CSU can solve its scal woes, revisiting the arena project seems unlikely. Tompkins praised the work that CSU’s fundraising team has done in recent years but said the school would have needed to spend “virtually all” of that money to cover the cost of the arena project.

“To dedicate all that to one investment just would not be a scally responsible use of our capital,” he said.

A cheaper option would be to upgrade Woodling Gym, the 3,000seat building built in 1973 that served as the home of CSU basketball until the Wolstein Center opened in 1991. CSU recently completed Phase I of its Woodling Gymnasium Enhancement Initiative, including more than $1.5 million in planned improvements to the building, which is the home site for the school’s volleyball and wrestling teams.

“We have done some very highlevel exploratory evaluation of what could be done with Woodling,” Tompkins said. “You could make an argument that if you created a

“All of those things are, in my mind, maybe bene cial if you’re thinking about a semi-pro model, but they’re not bene cial or even feasible for us to think about the kind of transformational student-athlete experience that I believe in as an educator,” she said. “So although I am hugely supportive of D1 athletics, I do worry that the NCAA will make this untenable for many of us in the not very distant future.”

at leaves open the possibility of CSU moving to Division II (which o ers fewer scholarships) or Division III (which o ers none). Tompkins admitted, “We can’t just simply sit on our hands and wait.” But he also said university leadership can’t make a decision without taking into account where they think the NCAA is headed.

“We may conclude at the end of all of it that it doesn’t make sense to go down to D2 or let alone D3,” he said. “Or maybe we decide we could develop a much more robust intramural club sports program that might at the end of the day be more inclusive for more students. So that’s part of the balance.

“Ultimately, our North Star has to be our students and the quality of education we give our students. Recruiting, retention and graduating students is our rst and foremost priority, so we have to make sure we’re focused on that.”

Cleveland State University’s Wolstein Center CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY PHOTOS

A rendering shows an arena that was part of Cleveland State’s master plan as of late 2022.

Ex-employee suing Marcum Wealth freed from noncompete restriction

By Jeremy Nobile

A former managing director for Marcum Wealth, who is suing the rm over allegations of shareholder oppression and gender discrimination, has been released from noncompete and nonsolicitation restrictions related to her prior employment contract in a key development for a complex case that ultimately remains ongoing.

In a lawsuit led in January in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas

Court, which Crain’s previously detailed, Wendy Eldridge, an Avon resident who worked for Marcum Wealth between 2014 and 2023 in retirement plan management, accuses her former employer of manipulating nancial statements for business units under her purview, failing to provide to her certainnancial statements that she had requested — including details about how her pro t and loss statements were calculated — and refusing to buy out her shares in the company,

among other things.

e inability to divest her equity interests allegedly created a situation whereby Eldridge remained a member of the company despite no longer doing any work for it.

As such, Eldridge purportedly was subject to provisions in her employment contract that both prevented her from working at a competing rm or soliciting business from her previous clients, according to the corresponding complaint.

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FINANCIAL SERVICES

Ancora

Clearstead

“(Eldridge) is not working. She is not being compensated. And she cannot be employed,” Richard Haber, managing partner of Haber LLP and Eldridge’s attorney, told Crain’s earlier this year. “Under the status quo, she can never work in the industry she was worked in without a resolution to this dispute.”

However, according to an Aug. 13 court ling, Judge Hollie Gallagher has granted Eldridge a preliminary injunction enjoining Marcum Wealth from enforcing the nonsolicitation provision of a corresponding operating agreement.

is follows Marcum Wealth stipulating during earlier proceedings, including a settlement conference, that it will not seek to enforce a noncompetition provision, according to court documents.

claims that she faced gender discrimination as an employee and shareholder remain pending.

In a statement provided to Crain's through her attorney via email, Eldridge said, “Naturally, this has been a very di cult and trying time.”

“Marcum refused to purchase my equity and then insisted upon enforcing an unending noncompete and non-solicitation agreement,” Eldridge writes. “I am grateful to Judge Gallagher, who considered the issues very carefully and concluded that the evidence supported that Marcum was violating the operating agreement, the very same agreement they sought to enforce against me.”

Norris Brothers Company, an industrial contractor with over 150 years of history, announced today that Joseph B. Michael has retired from the position as President and CEO of the Company. Courtney Norris assumed the role of CEO/COO effective August 1. Mr. Norris is part of the fth generation of the Norris family to lead the Company. The Company provides a wide range of industrial contracting services including heavy machinery moving and rigging, machinery maintenance, repair, and overhaul, and a variety of specialized construction services. Mr. Norris said: “I am honored to take the role as CEO/COO of Norris Brothers. This is a great company with a great history.  We have a unique opportunity to build upon this strong foundation.”

Ancora is happy to announce that Jerry Thomas, CFP ® has been promoted to a Director of Insurance Planning. Jerry joined Ancora’s Estate & Wealth Planning team in 2023 and partners with our wealth advisors to assist clients in insurance planning strategies. Prior to joining Ancora, Jerry founded the Essential Marketing Team where he assisted brokerage general agencies with their marketing strategies. Jerry earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Marketing from Ohio University.

LEGAL

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Andrew Agati is a partner in Taft’s Commercial Litigation practice. He represents clients in a wide variety of industries in complex, high-exposure, and highly sensitive matters across the country. Over the past 15 years, Andrew has also developed a practice and a reputation for obtaining insurance recoveries on behalf of corporate policyholders. During this time, he has helped to recover approximately $420 million for his clients.

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NONPROFITS

Lake View Cemetery

ese two developments have enabled Eldridge to both secure new employment — she began working for Carnegie Investment Counsel in July — and re-approach her former clients.

In her ruling, Gallagher writes that Eldridge is “likely to prevail” on her claim that Marcum Wealth has “materially breached” the operating agreement at hand by failing to provide financial documents that Eldridge had requested in a “timely manner,” including during portions of time in 2022 and 2023.

Further, the defense “did not rebut (Eldridge’s) testimony that she has not received documentation for filing her 2023 taxes,” according to court documents.

The judge notes that Eldridge had already been absent from her field of work for a year and that Marcum Wealth has had plenty of time to serve her former clients.

Lake View Cemetery has announced the promotion of Andrew Bales, MSOL, MSM to the position of Chief Operating Of cer (COO). Since rst joining Lake View Cemetery in 2011, Bales has risen through the ranks, most recently serving as VP of Family Services. In this new capacity, Bales will be responsible for all cemetery operations including burial management, grounds maintenance, and sales.

“Now that Judge Gallagher has lifted my restrictions, I look forward to reconnecting with my former clients and establishing new client relationships with my new employer Carnegie Investment Counsel, though nothing can make me whole for what I have endured over the last year,” Eldridge concludes. “I look forward to moving the remaining claims forward and bringing this chapter to a nal resolution.”

Marcum Wealth, a Clevelandheadquartered subsidiary of New York-based accounting rm Marcum LLP, reported approximately 40 employees and $2.6 billion in regulatory assets under management (AUM) as of a public ling dated Aug. 12.

Notably, Marcum LLP is in the process of being acquired by CBIZ Inc. in an estimated $2.3 billion cash-and-stock deal announced in July.

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“(Eldridge’s) absence until the proposed trial date in May 2025 and possibly until the completion of an appeal would significantly impact (Eldridge’s) career,” according to court documents. “It would not just cause a reduction in income for that period but would likely impact the trajectory of (Eldridge’s) remaining career. The latter constitutes irreparable injury.”

“In contrast, the court nds defendants will not be unjustiably harmed by the injunction,” the ruling continues. “(Eldridge) spent several months transitioning her clients to other Marcum Wealth LLC employees, and defendants have had the opportunity to service those clients for a full year without any interference from (Eldridge).”

The judge states in her ruling on this piece that there was “no evidence that Ms. Eldridge will have an unfair advantage in competing with defendants for any clients.”

Importantly, although the noncompetition and nonsolicitation restrictions against Eldridge are no longer in play,

While CBIZ does already provide investment advisory and wealth management as part of its service o erings, Marcum Wealth is not included in CBIZ’s deal with Marcum LLP.

CBIZ o cials declined to comment on whether or to what extent this pending litigation may have factored into its decision to exclude Marcum Wealth from its M&A transaction.

Attorneys representing Marcum Wealth in the lawsuit with Eldridge include omas Mannion and Stephen Miller of the law rm Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, according to court documents.

Mannion, Miller and Tim Wells, director of content and communications for Marcum LLP, did not respond to requests for comment.

Marcum expanded to Cleveland with the acquisition of Skoda Minotti in 2019. Marcum Wealth was established the following year via the merger of Marcum Financial Services, Marcum Wealth Management and Aurum Wealth.

Besides Marcum Wealth and Marcum LLP, named defendants in Eldridge’s suit include Skoda Minotti Holdings, Marcum Wealth CEO Eric Wul and Marcum Wealth managing directors Christopher Bart and Steven Brett.

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(216) 771-5255 or jnobile@crain.com

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