OPPORTUNITY BREWING
Great Lakes Brewing Co.’s new CEOs see potential for growth in Ohio — and beyond
yB Jeremy Nobile
Amid shifting consumer habits and a shrinking beer market, Ohio’s oldest craft brewery faces some unique challenges that its new co-CEOs are primed to tackle.
Swarm of nonpro t executive changes
44 CEOs in the region have announced plans to step down since 2023
yB Paige Bennett
Northeast Ohio’s nonprofit sector has seen a noteworthy number of CEO resignations over the last year, according to a recent report.
Forty-four (and counting) nonpro t CEOs have announced plans to step down from their roles since 2023, according to Business Volunteers Unlimited (BVU), a Cleveland-based organization that provides board matching and consulting services to nonpro ts.
Elizabeth Voudouris, BVU’s president and CEO, said the organization began tracking resignations after noticing a surprising number of nonpro t leaders announce their departures over the last year. e moves are happening across the sector, ranging from arts and education organizations and health and human services.
So how does a 36-year-old craft brand in a market like this position itself for success in the decades to come?
See BREWING on Page 16
While Great Lakes Brewing Co. helped shape the modern identity of craft beer following its founding in 1988, the storied company — which appealed to lagerheads with its classic Dortmunder Gold and made Christmas Ale a household name in the Midwest and beyond — nds itself sandwiched between an older generation of drinkers who developed a erce loyalty for its suds and a younger generation of consumers who are increasingly ckle, less faithful to any particular alcohol brand or style and generally imbibing less.
A few notable leadership transitions taking place in Northeast Ohio’s nonpro t space include the retirements of e Diversity Center President and CEO Peggy Zone Fisher, Beck Center for the
How Cleveland escaped its ransomware attack
yB Kim Palmer and Scott Suttell See NONPROFIT on Page 16
Cybercriminals who staged a ransomware attack on the city of Cleveland in June asked for payment of millions of dollars. ey didn’t get it. Any of it.
Kim Roy Wilson, commissioner of Cleveland’s Information Technology & Services Division, con rmed at a Crain’s Cleveland Business Power Breakfast event on Wednesday, Aug. 28, that the city did not pay the ransom re-
quest in the attack, which shut City Hall for several days and hobbled many vital city functions for more than a week.
joined Wilson on a two-person panel at the event to talk about how the city handled the attack.
In many cases, governments, Criminals asked for millions, but the city didn’t pay
Not paying the ransom “is incredibly signi cant,” said Chris Prewitt, chief technology o cer of cybersecurity risk management rm Inversion6, who
SPORTS BUSINESS
Ohio’s Division I college football budgets include big Bucks — and everyone else.
PAGE 2
Prewitt also is the regional leader for the Ohio Cyber Reserve, a group of IT experts who train and respond to incidents such as Cleveland’s attack. (He said it’s “a bit like a group of vol-
unteer re ghters.”) Prewitt was part of the city’s e ort to get back online and safely restore services that were shut down when the breach was identi ed on Sunday, June 9.
See ATTACK on Page 18
Great Lakes Brewing co-CEOs Chris Brown and Steven Pauwels were tapped to succeed former CEO Mark King when he left the company earlier this year. | KEN BLAZE
BIG BUCKS
How OSU, other Ohio Division I college football budgets stack up
Long before he became Kent State University’s president, Todd Diacon spent 21 years at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where he spent eight years as the faculty athletics representative.
At the time, there was a signicant gap between the major conferences, such as the SEC, and mid-majors, including the Mid-American Conference (MAC).
It has since become a chasm.
Tennessee’s athletics budget in 2023 was $202 million. e Volunteers spent $59 million on football alone last year, which was nearly double Kent’s overall athletic budget ($30.4 million).
“Historically, being Division I was a marker of status,” Diacon said at a panel discussion called “Leaders in Education” in midJune. “All I can say is, the cost of maintaining that marker of status has risen exponentially — far beyond our capacity to keep doing it.”
Unlike Cleveland State, which is planning to take a “hard look” at whether it wants to continue as a Division I institution over the next few months, Kent State isn’t considering a drop down to Division II or III.
But with a $9.1 million football budget, the Golden Flashes also aren’t even trying to spend with the likes of state rivals Toledo ($11.8 million) or Ohio University ($11.2 million), much less Ohio State ($72.4 million), whose football budget has ballooned 57% since 2018.
As college football season begins, Crain’s Cleveland Business is taking its annual look at the football budgets, and overall athletic budgets, of Ohio’s nine public Division I programs.
a look at the overall athletic and football-speci c budgets for Ohio’s Division I football schools, as well as coaching salaries, based on information from the Knight-Newhouse database and USA Today. The FBS median for athletic spending was $89 million in 2023, a 42% increase since 2018. The median for total athletic revenues was $83.6 million, a 35% increase since 2018.
Eight of those compete at the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level, while Youngstown State competes in the Football Championship Subdivision. (Dayton also has an FCS program, but it does not o er scholarships.)
Cincinnati is the only other Power Four program in the state besides the Buckeyes, but the Big 12-member Bearcats ($24.8 million) are still in a di erent nancial universe from OSU. Ohio’s six other FBS schools compete in the MAC.
e FBS median for football spending is $23 million, which is up 22% since 2018.
Kent State and Akron continued to rank at the bottom of the MAC in football spending — and they got what they paid for in 2023, combining to go 3-21 overall and 1-15 in the league. Akron had the lone conference win, over KSU.
Kent State’s football budget in 2023 actually grew quite a bit over 2022 ($7.9 million) but it still lagged behind the MAC median of $9.8 million, according to the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database.
“We like to talk about the success that we’ve had with the resources we have,” KSU athletic director Randale Richmond, whose program won four MAC titles and competed for ve others last year,
told Crain’s in July. “Everyone is going to tell you that they have the lowest budget in the league. If it’s not Kent State, it’s either BG or NIU, but the success that we’ve been able to have is the story about our culture and our approach at Kent State. I need to nd ways to get even more resources, but four championships this last year and having a lot of teams punch above their weight class is pretty darn good.
“We’re having success here. I just need to gure out how we can get more resources and build upon our football program.”
Akron, meanwhile, spent $6,437,759 on football in 2023 — a 47% drop since 2018.
Zips athletic director Charles Guthrie told Crain’s in July that improving the football program is one of his main priorities. Akron has gone 7-47 since ring Terry Bowden following the 2018 season, but the Zips did show improvement last fall, losing three games in overtime (including a four-OT heartbreaker to Big Ten-member Indiana). Akron also beat Kent State for the rst time since Bowden’s nal season.
“Football is the staple of the FBS,” Guthrie said. “It’s very vital we get the needle moving in the right direction.”
e charts at left show the overall athletic and football-speci c budgets for Ohio’s Division I football schools, as well as coaching salaries, based on information from the Knight-Newhouse database and USA Today.
e FBS median for athletic spending was $89 million in 2023, a 42% increase since 2018. e median for total athletic revenues was $83.6 million, a 35% increase since 2018.
yB Joe Scalzo
As dozens take CSU
buyout, Bloomberg’s salary stays at
Joe Scalzo
More than 50 faculty and sta members have already accepted buyout packages from Cleveland State University — and the list will likely grow in the months ahead.
As of last month, 27 faculty and 27 sta members have completed the Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment (VSIP) process, meaning they have o cially left the university, a CSU spokesperson con rmed on Tuesday, Aug. 27.
e nal numbers are pending, based on employees who plan to o board in September and December, respectively.
e news was rst reported by Signal Cleveland.
e VSIP proved more popular than university o cials anticipated, prompting the executive committee of CSU’s board of trustees to approve an extra $6 million for the plan last month. CSU’s board originally approved a one-time reserve payment of up to $9 million, but now expects the plan to cost closer to $15 million.
e buyouts are part of CSU’s larger plan to close a projected $40 million budget gap.
e committee also approved a
ve-year contract extension last month for CSU president Laura Bloomberg, who has been in that role since the spring of 2022. e new contract ends on June 30, 2029.
Bloomberg’s base salary in 2024-25 will be $464,100, which is unchanged since last year.
Bloomberg has already agreed to forfeit a potential bonus from last year, which could have been worth as much as $116,025 — or 25% of her salary. Under the new contract, she will be eligible for future performance bonuses up to 25%, and the university will continue housing, a bene ts package (medical, dental, vision, term-life and long-term disability insurance) and a $1,000-per month automobile stipend.
Bloomberg’s base salary is in line with other public university presidents in Northeast Ohio:
◗ Kent State University president Todd Diacon, who was promoted to the job in July of 2019, has a $524,386 base salary.
◗ University of Akron president R.J. Nemer, who was promoted in May, will make $484,500 this year.
◗ Youngstown State president Bill Johnson, whose three-year contract began in March, has a $410,000 base salary.
Sequoia Financial inks partnership with accounting rm Eide Bailly
Jeremy Nobile
Sequoia Financial Group said that it is entering into a collaborative partnership with Eide Bailly, a Fargo, North Dakota-based accounting rm, allowing it to acquire its wealth management subsidiary in a deal that will increase Seqouia’s client assets by close to 10%.
According to deal terms, Sequoia is set to absorb Eide Bailly Advisors, which reported approximately $1.6 billion in regulatory assets under management (AUM) and 32 employees as of a public ling dated Aug. 12. is adds to the Sequoia network encompassing approximately $20 billion in regulatory AUM and 276 employees as of a public ling dated Aug. 22.
As part of this transaction, Eide Bailly will acquire an equity stake in Sequoia. O cials said that stake is anticipated to be less than 5%.
Financial terms of the deal, slated to close in the fourth quarter, were not disclosed.
With this partnership, Eide Bailly principal and wealth business leader Brad Kelley is to become an executive vice president of corporate development with Sequoia whereby he will lead joint initiatives between the two rms.
Notably, this deal follows Eide Bailly entering the Ohio market with a splash following its acquisition of Akron’s Apple Growth Partners earlier this year.
e deal with Sequoia appears to
free up Eide Bailly to focus more on its accounting-oriented business while also providing a broader depth of services for its existing wealth management clients under a broader company umbrella.
“With Sequoia Financial we can signi cantly enhance our o erings,” said Eide Bailly CEO and managing partner Jeremy Hauk. “We have found a partner with a strong cultural alignment and a broad range of services and expertise to support the complex wealth planning needs of our accounting and business advisory clients.”
“This
advisers his rm is picking up from Eide Bailly work across 16 o ces.
“As part of this transaction, Sequoia will not acquire Eide Bailly o ces but will have the opportunity to have Sequoia employees co-located in Eide Bailly o ces in a mutually de ned, strategic plan across the existing Eide Bailly footprint,” he said. “Speci c locations for co-location will be determined over the next few months.”
Sequoia’s current footprint spans 15 o ces in nine states, which are mostly east of Mississippi. e company has been growing
partnership is a key strategic move that will expand our wealth management footprint meaningfully, especially west of the Mississippi River, where Eide Bailly has a large presence in major wealth markets.”
Tom Haught, Sequoia CEO
“ is partnership is a key strategic move that will expand our wealth management footprint meaningfully, especially west of the Mississippi River, where Eide Bailly has a large presence in major wealth markets,” said Sequoia CEO Tom Haught. “Equally important, both rms measure success by client success. Together, we will help more businesses and families achieve their nancial goals.”
Haught notes that the roughly 30
aggressively through acquisitions, having completed 13 to date. Its rollups since 2013 included Karpas Strategies, AltruVista, Zeke Capital Advisors, Cirrus Wealth Management, A nia Financial Group, and M Capital Advisors.
Sequoia is backed by San Francisco private equity rm Valeas Capital Partners as well as Kudu Investment Management of New York. ose rms acquired minority stakes in Sequoia in 2022 and 2020, respectively.
HELPING YOU GET YOUR DUCKS IN A ROW
Premier League team is the latest target for Native American private equity rm
A few years ago, Ciano & Goldwasser co-founder Phillip Ciano was working on a deal with a longtime friend and client named Jake Zahnow when the conversation turned to an investment deal that Ciano’s law rm was pursuing in Major League Baseball.
Ciano, who has been a sports lawyer and an agent in Cleveland for 24 years, was increasingly getting asked to help syndicates put together investments in North America’s big four sports leagues — the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL — and Zahnow was about to bring him a life-changing opportunity.
“I told him, ‘Look, for a long time I’ve been trying to think about the way to catch these two trends in professional sports,” Ciano said. “One, the ever-increasing infusion of private equity and third-party capital into the stack of ownership. And the second trend being di erentiating that capital from the traditional billionaire/singular individual/family o ce that has that.
“And he said, ‘Have you ever considered Native America?’ And it just hit at that moment, ‘No, I don’t think anyone has ever considered it.’”
Zahnow introduced Ciano to Jim Laporte, a Native American businessman in Detroit who had experience in everything from entertainment to energy to construction to startup ventures. Laporte was connected to a host of potential Native American investors. Ciano, meanwhile, knew where the investment opportunities were — and how to get those deals done.
From that bright idea came Bright Path Sports Partners LLC, the rst private equity and advisory rm exclusively dedicated
to raising and deploying Native American capital into professional sports franchises, facilities and ancillary opportunities. e company is named after legendary Native American athlete Jim orpe, whose native name of “Wa-tho-Huk” translates to “Bright Path.” Ciano serves as the company’s managing partner, while Laporte is the head of community outreach and Zahnow serves as CFO.
“We hit the ground running about two years ago,” Ciano said, “and the rest is kind of history.”
Bright Path just completed its most signi cant investment on Aug. 13, acquiring 44% of Gamechanger 20 Ltd., the owner of Ipswich Town Football Club.
Ipswich will compete in the English Premier League in 202425 following back-to-back promotions from EFL League One and the English Football League, ending a 22-year absence from the top-tier EPL. Ipswich is just the fth team in history to earn back-to-back promotions.
“It’s like an NFL team going 0-16 team and winning the Super Bowl right after that,” said Nolan Gallagher, the president of the Cleveland Soccer Group.
e investment was rst announced in March, before Ipswich’s promotion. Bright Path then brought in two additional investors — Avenue Sports Fund and VSV ITFC — to bring the total equity investment to $154 million (£120M) — £15M more than Ipswich originally targeted.
Avenue Capital is led by Marc Lasry, who just sold his stake in the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks to the Haslam Sports Group. VSV ITFC is controlled by the Viola family, which founded the global trading platform Virtu Financial and owns the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.
“We had looked at a number of opportunities in global football
and once we went over to London and did our diligence and met with management and the board, it was a no-brainer for us,” Ciano said. “ e assembly of the CEO, the CFO and the player personnel people — they had something very special.”
Because relegation is a real possibility, investing in a newly promoted EPL team carries more risk than, say, NFL or NBA teams, whose values continue to go up and to the right. But the risk was worth it, Ciano said.
“It’s de nitely something you take into consideration as part of your diligence,” Ciano said of relegation. “But investing in sports is inherently risky, like every investment.”
Bright Path is working on some other opportunities — including one in MLB — but Ciano can’t share details because those transactions haven’t closed. But Bright Path’s investments won’t be limited to owning clubs or franchises.
For instance, there are various global venue investment opportunities, including one in Rome, he said.
“We’re trying to look at the investment structure from a very strategic point of view, and not just stay with club investments and team investments, but to spread the investor capital across the spectrum to give us broad exposure in the space,” he said. “And the thing that di erentiates Bright Path from other rms that have gotten into this space is we have a mission to bring these opportunities — these traditionally scarce, lucrative opportunities in professional sports — to an anchor like Native America and then marry that with non-Native investment capital.
“It’s an opportunity for a traditionally underrepresented class of investors and population. at’s really important to us.”
Joe Scalzo
Liverpool’s and Ipswich Town’s players ght for the ball during an Aug. 17 match at Portman Road in Ipswich, England. | GETTY IMAGES
Guardians to enter TV free agency — their options aren’t great
yB Joe Scalzo
is o season, the Cleveland Guardians will enter television free agency like a woman presented with a $25 engagement ring. ey can commit to a awed Diamond, or try to nd something better.
e Guardians’ contract with Diamond Sports Group — which owns its broadcast partner, Bally Sports Great Lakes — expires at the end of the 2024 season, along with the contracts of two other Bally teams: the Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers.
With Diamond still mired in bankruptcy proceedings — and with Amazon pulling back from its plan to infuse $115 million in cash in the regional sports network (RSN) operator — Cleveland will likely need to choose from two less-than-ideal options:
◗ Re-signing with Diamond for less annually than the $55 million Cleveland was earning in 2023
◗ Becoming part of Major League Baseball’s Local Media division — again, for less money
“ e Guardians are in this kind of box, and they’ve got some decisions to make,” media consultant and longtime Fox Sports executive Patrick Crakes told Crain's Cleveland Business. “And Bally has some decisions to make. My guess is they want to extend the life of their RSN and, in a perfect world, they would keep the Guardians.” at’s becoming more di cult as the bankruptcy hearings reach the 18-month mark. Diamond said it’s hoping to emerge from bankruptcy in early- to mid-November, a claim that drew an audible snort from MLB, which noted that Diamond’s nancial issues actually stretch back to 2021.
“ is is now the fourth season in a row that Major League Baseball is heading into the o season with a complete lack of information and clarity with respect to what’s going to happen,” James Bromley,
a lawyer for MLB, said in court on Tuesday, Sept. 3.
Diamond owns 18 RSNs under the Bally Sports banner and has nine MLB teams under contract for 2025. Diamond recently reached deals with the NBA and the NHL — both were approved by a judge on Sept. 3 — and those agreements call for Diamond to emerge from bankruptcy by April 1, per e Athletic. Cleveland’s original contract with Diamond ran through 2027, but the company attempted to drop the Guardians in summer 2023, arguing that it couldn’t turn a pro t at the $55 million-peryear gure. Cleveland reached a one-year deal with Diamond for the 2024 season, but likely had to lower its rights fees for 2024 by around 15% as part of this year’s broadcast agreement with Diamond. To provide relief, MLB and the Players Association agreed to a deal in July that allows MLB to distribute up to $15 million to teams that took a nancial haircut in their deal with Diamond,
e Athletic reported.
MLB’s Local Media division took over regional broadcasts for the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres midway through the 2023 season and added the Colorado Rockies for 2024, but for less money than they were making with Diamond. When MLB took over the Diamondbacks and Padres broadcasts, it promised to provide at least 80% of the original expected revenue.
On average, MLB teams make about 20% of their revenue through TV contracts, although it can be as high as 32% or as low as 12%, according to MLB's Players Association.
“It looks like Bally will have some room when they get out of bankruptcy, but I’d expect at the very best, the Guardians will be looking at a at deal,” Crakes said. “But that might be their best deal. And that’s a problem because these teams got used to their rights fees going up every year and now suddenly that’s changed because of the decline of the pay TV model. ese companies can’t a ord to do that anymore and the other (TV) options aren’t good.” e Guardians declined to comment for this story, but a source familiar with the team’s thinking said the club has already ruled out several riskier options, such as
starting their own TV network (something that’s only done by big-market MLB teams like the Cubs, Dodgers, Mets, Red Sox and Yankees) or moving to an overthe-air channel (which NBA teams like the Los Angeles Clippers, Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns have done in recent years).
Making things trickier, the Guardians also don’t own their direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming rights — MLB does — so they wouldn’t be able to make up lost revenue through, say, a $20-permonth streaming option like Bally Sports+.
at leaves Diamond or MLB, at least for the immediate future.
“That’s the right decision,” Crakes said of the Guardians’ thinking. “Teams like the Yankees and the Dodgers are not in the same box as the (Kansas City) Royals. That’s just the truth of the matter. It’s always been that way and it’s always going to be that way. And I expect the teams that went over-the-air to eventually pivot back to pay TV.”
Diamond said it has already paid more than 90% of its total rights fees owed for the 2024 MLB season — on time — and will have no issues paying the remainder.
But MLB is running out of patience with Diamond's bankruptcy plan, arguing that the uncertainty will limit free agent spending, something that hindered the Guardians last o season. And until it's settled, MLB clubs like Cleveland will have the same mindset this winter. Guarded.
The Cleveland Guardians’ contract with Bally Sports Great Lakes owner Diamond Sports Group expires at the end of the 2024 season. | BALLY SPORTS
Cleveland Hopkins passenger traf c soars to 15-year high
yB Crain's staff
More and more travelers keep coming through Cleveland's airport this year.
July 2024 was the busiest month for passengers traveling through Cleveland Hopkins International Airport since the waning days of the George W. Bush administration.
According to a news release, nearly 1 million passengers — 991,693, to be exact — passed through the airport during the month of July. That's the most since August 2008. While the data for that month is unknown, total passenger traffic for that year eclipsed 11.1 million.
In fact, Bryant Francis, director of port control, said that expectations for the month — which included an extended four-day Fourth of July holiday weekend for many — were actually higher.
late-July Crowdstrike meltdown that heavily impacted ights across the country for several days with a particular emphasis on Delta ights. at included dozens of cancellations and even more delays out of Hopkins.
David Gilbert, president and CEO of Destination Cleveland, told Crain's: “It’s very good news. Strong airlift is critical for everything we try to do with both the sports commission and Destination Cleveland. e number of ights and destinations that Hopkins has is very much directly related to the number of passengers. ese are business decisions by the airlines, related to, 'Do we have enough tra c to support routes?' To me, it’s nothing but good news than to have the highest passenger month in (so long).”
“It’s very good news. Strong airlift is critical for everything we try to do with both the sports commission and Destination Cleveland.”
David Gilbert, Destination Cleveland president and CEO
“External factors caused a slight hindering in our growth last month, but the month’s activity is impressive nonetheless,” Francis said in the release. “Year-to-date in 2024, passenger activity has increased 7 percent over last year and CLE remains on trend to meet our forecast of 10,250,000 for the calendar year.”
A spokesperson for Cleveland Hopkins con rmed to Crain's that the "external factors" Francis referred to included the
e July number was 4.4% over July 2023 and 2.2% compared to August 2019, the last full summer travel month before the COVID-19 pandemic. Of those July passengers, roughly 97% (or a total of 960,876) were domestic travelers while the remaining 3% (30,817) were international.
Through July, the number of passengers that have traveled through Cleveland's airport stands at just over 6 million (6,008,449), which puts it just over 4 million short of the full 2024 forecast (10,250,000).
If Hopkins were to finish 2024 with the same number of passengers as it saw in the final five months of 2023 (just shy of 4.3 million), it would eclipse that full-year forecast number by a few thousand passengers.
Solar eclipse had a bright economic impact on city
yB Kim Palmer
e sun was shining — most of the time — on Cleveland in April as more good news emerged about the economic impact two major tourist-drawing events had on the city and surrounding areas.
Based on data extrapolated from surveys of a dozen large total solar eclipse watch parties across the city of Cleveland — and stretching to Lake and Lorain Counties — the 2024 total solar eclipse generated an estimated $24.6 million in economic impact.
Predictions around the economic impact of the once-in-alifetime event were di cult to make, explained David Gilbert, Destination Cleveland’s president and CEO, but he is pleased with what he thinks is possibly a conservative gure.
“ ere was not a lot of history for us to go on with this,” Gilbert said. “We look at this as a really good guide for us but not as an exact gure.”
e regional solar eclipse visitor and spending data, collected and calculated by Tourism Economics from 12 planned events, found that $15.1 million of that nearly $25 million total came from direct spending. Direct spending is calculated by multiplying the number of visitors, determined by registration and tick-
eting, with per-person spending amounts.
Indirect and induced spending, which takes into consideration increased economic activity generated by businesses outside main event areas, accounts for the remaining $9.5 million, according to Tourism Economics. e sum of the direct e ects, the indirect e ects and the induced e ects are typically referred to as the total economic e ect.
“It was probably a higher number because what was not counted was the number of people who came here to visit friends, went to backyard parties and things like that,” Gilbert added.
e solar eclipse — which converged with Cleveland hosting the NCAA's Women’s Final Four on April 4–7 — helped drive increases in hotel occupancy across all three of the aforementioned counties, especially in Cleveland which set its all-time hotel occupancy record in April.
In a report released last week, the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission (GCSC) said the Final Four resulted in around $33 million of direct spending by fans attending the event.)
Cuyahoga County averaged 83% hotel occupancy over the nights of April 7 and 8, representing an 84% increase year-overyear compared to the same days
of the week in April 2023 (April 9 and 10).
Lake County saw similar numbers, with a 78% increase in occupancy over the same days of the week in 2023 and Lorain County hotels experienced a 82% increase over the same days of the week in 2023.
e incalculable gains, Gilbert points out, also are a big part of all the work Destination Cleveland did to make sure the world knew the total solar eclipse path ran through Cleveland.
“ e huge amount of national media who reported from Cleveland rather than other places in the country — since we had the good fortune of following the Women’s NCAA Final Four game — was de nitely a case of 1 + 1 equals more than 2,” he said. And in case you have somehow moved all the solar-pun named events out of your memory, here are the watch parties surveyed in Greater Cleveland: the Total Eclipse Fest at Great Lakes Science Center with NASA Glenn, Metroparks Eclipse Day, Rooftop Eclipse Party at Music Box Supper Club, Solarfest Weekend at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Wade Oval’s Total on the Oval, the Eclipse & Sips part at Fahrenheit restaurant, Total Eclipse at Children’s Museum Cleveland and near Cleveland Hopkins International Airport at the Aviator’s Solar Eclipse Party on the Runways.
Spectators watch the total solar eclipse at Voinovich Bicentennial Park in downtown Cleveland. GRACE MCCONNELL
Law rm attorney pool is smaller now than ve years ago
Remains consistent with last year but has shrunk over the last several years
In the last year, the population of attorneys working at Northeast Ohio’s top law rms has stayed effectively at, according to the 2024 Crain’s Cleveland Business largest law rms list.
e latest list, published Aug. 12, includes details on more than 70 rms.
While the annual list is not intended to be a fully exhaustive compilation of every rm in the region, it is nonetheless designed to provide a snapshot of the law rm legal community based on data submitted to Crain’s by most of the area’s large and midsize legal services providers as well as several other smaller rms.
ere aren’t any changes in terms of the market’s largest rms — as ranked by number of in-market attorneys — with the top spots continuing to be held by the likes of Jones Day, Benesch, BakerHostetler, Tucker Ellis and ompson Hine.
ose top- ve rms collectively represent 771 attorneys in Northeast Ohio, or about 27% of the 2,845 attorneys on the list. Last
year, that same group represented 757 attorneys.
With 2,837 attorneys accounted for in 2023, the total number of practicing attorneys across rms
in the list is e ectively unchanged, growing by just 0.3%.
Compared with 2019, however, the Northeast Ohio law rm attorney pool has shrunk by about 6.8%.
While these gures seem to point to a market that has shrunk some over the last several years but stayed relatively consistent with the prior year, Chris Schmitt,
who was recently installed as the newest CEO for the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, frames the trend in a more positive light.
“I think the big takeaway from that list and the lack of change (year over year) is that it’s showing stability,” Schmitt said. “ e legal market has really been upturned by COVID. If anything, four to ve years on, it is nice to see some stability, be that from large rms or rms further down the market.”
While not a perfect comparison, the overall legal profession has grown in Ohio over the last few years, according to the most recent data available from the Ohio State Bar Association and its annual pro les of the legal profession.
According to those OSBA proles, the number of attorneys registered with the Ohio Supreme Court who also have an Ohio business address increased by approximately 17% between 2019 and 2023 from 32,199 lawyers to 37,599. ose gures include all legal professionals, of course, not just attorneys practicing at law rms.
For the full ranking, head to Crain’s Data Center at crainscleveland.com/ businessdata/102/law- rms
Jeremy Nobile
Jones Day’s Cleveland headquarters is at the North Point Of ce Complex. The law rm has long been the largest in Northeast Ohio. | COSTAR
Shaker Square announces new cafe amid renovations
yB Alexandra Golden
Patrons of Shaker Square may notice the lack of a co ee shop — but that soon will change.
Cafe Indigo hopes to open by November, pending permits, owner Melissa Hirsch said Monday, Aug. 26, at a press conference updating developments at Shaker Square. Cafe Indigo will open in the space that has seen two other co ee shops depart in recent years: Dewey’s Co ee, which closed in May 2019, and Biggby Co ee, which closed at the end of 2022.
e new cafe will o er ice cream in addition to co ee and other traditional cafe items, such as sandwiches, soups and salads. Hirsch said Cafe Indigo will “feel a lot like a co ee shop,” but she’s adding the ice cream element as a “bonus to the community” because it’s not available in a nearby shop.
Hirsch also owns UnBAR Cafe, which serves co ee and wine and is located on Larchmere Boulevard. She said she originally wanted to pursue a Shaker Square shop when she opened UnBAR Cafe in January 2020, but it was unavailable at the time.
“I pick all my names very meticulously, (and) indigo means harmony,” Hirsch told Crain’s. “So from the standpoint of providing a space, curating a space for the community, I think harmony is a wonderful aspiration.”
e announcement of the new cafe was part of a press conference hosted by square owners Cleveland Neighborhood Progress (CNP) and Burten Bell Carr Development Inc. to o er updates on what they’ve accomplished in the two years at Shaker Square — and what they still hope to achieve. e nonprofits took ownership of the square in August 2022.
Patrons will see the new facade and awnings on the square, which Tania Menesse, CNP president and CEO, said is “really the most critical indication of the revital-
ized” space. Menesse said the awnings bring back the “historic view of Shaker Square” with the “beautiful facades against the brick buildings.”
e awnings are part of $5 million in investments in the square, some of which are more noticeable to tenants than to patrons, Menesse said.
Among those investments: preserving and maintaining slate roofs; replacing some old roo ng; installing new lighting; repairing stone and brick masonry; adding new HVAC systems, ornamental pediments and columns; repairing the woodwork to refresh the facade; paving and striping parking lots; plumbing and sewer maintenance; and refreshing the facades, walls, tunnels, woodwork and canopies.
She added, “We were really determined that we made the capital investment so that the square will
ICP snags Hudson of ce property for $2.5 million
Empty o ce buildings have lost much allure in the wake of changes in work patterns post-pandemic, but Industrial Commercial Properties of May eld Heights just snapped up a substantial building in Hudson for $2.5 million.
Chris Semarjian, ICP’s owner, said the changing market creates investment opportunities.
“It’s excellent real estate, a good building in a dynamic community,” Semarjian said in a phone interview about 280 Executive Parkway West, which takes its name from its street address. “It has high ceilings so I look at it as a prospect for tech users, exible o ce users or (a) traditional o ce.”
Moreover, the structure is near other o ce properties that ICP has turned around in the past few years in the Hudson area. e company has prospects for all or part of the building, but he wouldn’t identify them.
Jerry Fiume, managing director of SVN Summit Commercial Real Estate Advisors, told Crain’s that he believes ICP likely bought the single-story building because “It has a tenant in tow. Few would think about it with a tenant in tow.”
Most o ce tenants are uncertain how much o ce space they need as a hybrid workplace with popular work-at-home policies continues to take hold, Fiume said.
“We’re still leasing o ce space, but you are seeing companies
be strong for its next 20, 30, 40 years.”
ose kinds of investments are invaluable, said David Saltzman of Dave’s Supermarket. He said there was a point where it was hard for Dave’s to operate if there was heavy rain because poor roo ng would lead to a “swimming pool” in the store. Big rains also made the parking lot di cult to navigate.
According to Cleveland.com, the city of Cleveland signed o on a $250,000 forgivable loan to help with improvements. e money went to CNP and Burten Bell Carr to help pay for $700,000 in improvements that was negotiated as part of a ve-year-plus lease extension for the space.
On top of getting a new roof and parking lot, Saltzman said during the press conference that Dave’s will enhance the produce department, improve the prepared foods
department with a sub shop, and revamp the decor throughout the store.
“A lot of it for us was really needed to happen,” Saltzman told Crain’s. “It was at the point where if you’re a customer and you’re shopping at Dave’s, certain of these things that were totally out of our control were things that were sending people elsewhere.”
Preliminary recommendations for Shaker Square’s vision plan — which includes retail strategy recommendations and public space ideas — will be shared from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Sept. 19 with the community and presented by the consulting team at the future Cafe Indigo space. ere will be initial renderings, some merchandising mix recommendations and some of the ideas of what the square could aspire to be from a branding perspective, Menesse said.
After this, the nal plan will be
complete in December, giving the community a chance to provide feedback before it’s nalized, Menesse said.
Hirsch said she wants to be part of the resurgence of Shaker Square through the opening of Cafe Indigo. She believes that the owners are not just revitalizing the physical space, but are transforming it for a new era.
“I want to be part of creating that vitality,” she said.
Menesse said she is looking forward to using the space between the front door of the businesses to the street as ways that not only support the businesses but invite the community in. e area now is a hodgepodge of landscaping and benches where nothing matches or says “come be in this space,” she noted.
ere also are ideas to help with crossing Shaker Boulevard, which will allow people to use the green spaces on a more regular basis, Menesse said.
A struggle for the square is that second- oor spaces are not accessible for some patrons due to the lack of elevators, Menesse said. e owners were hoping to x that with funds from the state funds, but those did not come through. e spaces on the second oor are “perfect” for service businesses such as massage therapists and chiropractors, but the lack of accessibility turns them away, she said.
Another challenge is that the public space generates no cash ow, she said, but that potentially could change with pop-up stores on the square.
Menesse said the planning process is to launch the repositioning for a future owner.
“Typically, our charge is to acquire, stabilize and then reposition for a new owner, “ she said. “Most likely it will be a community-oriented owner who will then partner with some nonpro t entity ... that will manage and control the public space.”
take less space as a 10,000-squarefoot tenant moves into 5,000 square feet,” Fiume said. He puts o ce vacancies in the Akron suburb and neighboring communities at about 15%.
Semarjian said he believes there are o ce deals to be made in the o ce market.
“ e gravity is toward quality ofce space, and we’ll x it up to meet that demand,” he said.
e building was shed after its occupant consolidated its o ces and the seller, MG Investment of Mobile, Alabama, has sold ICP other properties, Semarjian said. e structure dates from 1998.
e seller, Boston Mills Partners LLC., had owned it since it paid $5 million for the structure in 2011. e building sits on a 10-acre site. ICP owns a portfolio of industrial and other properties and has long been an acquirer of corporate business properties for redevelopment.
Stan Bullard
Tania Menesse, Cleveland Neighborhood Progress president and CEO, and Melissa Hirsch, owner of UnBAR Cafe and the future Cafe Indigo, at a press conference in front of the future Cafe Indigo on Aug. 26. | ALEXANDRA GOLDEN
Brecksville in line for a new AC Hotel at Valor Acres
DiGeronimo Cos. is preparing to add to the mixed-use nature of its Valor Acres project in Brecksville with the addition of an AC Hotel by Marriott.
e 136-room hotel will be developed by a joint venture formed by DiGeronimo, real estate developer Crawford Hoying of Dublin, Ohio, and hotel ownership and management rm Shaner Hotel Group of State College, Pennsylvania.
AC Hotels are an upscale business brand that Marriott hopes will woo Millennial travelers with a boutique design and amenities.
e other AC Hotel in Cleveland is at the Pinecrest mixed-use project in Orange Village in the east suburbs.
Kevin DiGeronimo, a principal at DiGeronimo Cos., said in an emailed news release announcing
the proposed hotel, “Our goal is to create a destination where guests can enjoy world-class hospitality while being surrounded by the destination retail, ne dining, and luxury residential o erings. is boutique hotel is a key addition that enhances the upscale living experience and strengthens the sense of community that Brecksville is known for.”
DiGeronimo’s partners in the joint venture, Crawford Hoying and Shaner, have a track record with the AC Hotel brand.
e duo developed such a hotel at the Bridge Park realty development in Dublin and another in Dayton. Crawford Hoying and Shaner have previously developed 15 hotels together, according to the release.
e proposed ve- oor hotel, the release said, will feature meeting rooms, bars on its rst oor and
roof and of course a tness center.
DiGeronimo will handle the site excavation and its construction arm will build the property. e rm also plans to relocate its head-
Luxury car dealership owner buys Avon land for $10 million
A new luxury car dealership looks to be bound for land on the southeast corner of Chester and Jaycox roads in Avon after multiple land sales totaling $10 million.
Lorain County land records show that R7 Motors Inc., an a liate of the Ra h Auto Group of Toronto, purchased the sites, totaling 37 acres as one development location, adjoining the north side I-90 in two transactions on Wednesday, Aug. 21.
Ra h operates Mercedes-Benz and Porsche dealerships on the 28400 block of Lorain Road in North Olmsted. However, the dealership properties are owned by a liates of Apollo Global Management in Carlsbad, California, and leased by the big Canadian auto dealership chain.
Pam Fechter, Avon planning and economic development coordinator, said in a phone inter-
view that the new owner of the sites has not led plans with the city. However, she noted that the city allows new-car dealerships to be located on the parcels, which are zoned for light industrial and o ce use.
“I don’t know what their plans are,” Fechter said.
One of the sites was sold by the Connelly Family Partnership of Avon for $4.5 million. It consists of 17.5 acres and includes a single-family home dating from 1900, according to Lorain land records. e land sits on the corner of Chester and Jaycox Road.
e other parcel was sold by Chester Road Development LLC, an Akron-based investor group, for $5.57 million. It includes 19.7 acres and formerly housed a golf driving range, which was demolished.
Lorain County records for both parcels were signed by Terry Ra h, the CEO of Ra h Auto Group. Both documents direct
that future tax bills be mailed to a North Olmsted address near the Ra h dealerships.
e Porsche and Mercedes-Benz dealerships were previously owned by former car dealer turned U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno.
e Ken Ganley Auto Group of Broadview Heights purchased Ra h Auto Group’s Aston Martin, Bentley, Maserati and RollsRoyce dealerships in February.
ose dealerships are also on Lorain Road near the other Ra h dealerships.
A Ra h a liate also owns the former Sears department store and adjoining parking lots at Great Northern Mall in North Olmsted. However, Ra h has never proceeded with e orts to turn the east end of the mall into a multibrand dealership.
Two calls and an email to Terry Ra h by Crain’s Cleveland Business were not returned by press time.
hotel will be good for the market. “ is location will supplement lodging options available in Richeld and Macedonia for those visiting various businesses or the Cuyahoga Valley National Park,” Sangree said. “ e overall market is seeing improved performance and there is limited new supply currently.”
Other Valor Acres features include storefront retail, o ces, the Limelight coworking center, apartments and for-sale townhouses.
quarters to Valor Acres from its longtime Independence base.
David Sangree, president of the Hotel & Leisure Advisors consultancy in Lakewood, said the new
A large component of Valor Acres, which is transforming the former site of the VA Hospital in Brecksville, is the construction of the new Sherwin Williams Co. (NYSE: SHW) research and distribution center. e Brecksville building will replace the paint and coatings maker’s downtown Cleveland and Warrensville Heights research operations.
Retailers making millions from cash-back fees: CFPB
ree major retailers — Dollar General Corp., Dollar Tree Inc. and Kroger Co. — charge consumers more than $90 million annually via “cash-back” fees charged to access their own funds at a register, a US nancial watchdog found.
While the cost to merchants for processing cash-back transactions “may be a few pennies,” fees passed on to consumers are often far higher, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said in a report made public Aug. 27. Among the examples highlighted were Dollar General and Dollar Tree, which charge $1 or more when customers withdraw less than $50 in cash.
People living in rural communities or those without nearby bank branches commonly turn to retailers to get cash. Nearly 19 million people in the US were “underbanked” in 2021, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
e CFPB said cash is more often used by low-income consumers, racial minorities and older people.
“Many people living in small towns no longer have access to a local bank where they can withdraw money from their account for free,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement. “ is
has created the competitive conditions for retailers to charge fees for cash back.”
Dollar General provides the cash-back services to customers “who may not have convenient access to their primary nancial institution,” a company representative said in an email. “ ese services may also help customers save money on fees compared to alternative, non-retail options such as check-cashing locations or ATM fees.”
A representative for Dollar Tree said the merchant charges customers a “clearly disclosed” fee for a “convenient service” that helps o set the costs it incurs to o er it.
A representative for Kroger didn’t respond to a request for comment on the CFPB’s ndings.
e Biden administration has been targeting charges added to consumers’ everyday purchases, labeling many of them “junk fees.”
e CFPB has worked with the White House on the issue, in addition to the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Transportation.
e CFPB said it also surveyed the retailers Albertsons Cos., Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., CVS Health Corp., Walmart Inc. and Target Corp. and found none of them charge cash-back fees.
yB Stan Bullard
yB Stan Bullard
Paige Smith, Bloomberg
A rendering shows an AC Hotel by Marriott at Valor Acres. MEYERS+ASSOCIATES VIA DIGERONIMO COS.
BLOOMBERG BLOOMBERG
Victory Cruise Lines returns to Port of Cleveland
One of the grandest Great Lakes cruise lines is making a comeback in 2025 and promises to bring thousands of maritime tourists back to the Port of Cleveland.
e two Victory Cruise Lines vessels, Victory I and Victory II, will return to Cleveland after a yearlong hiatus. e 190-passenger vessels were out of commission in 2024 after their previous owners went bankrupt and were forced to sell the ships at auction in April.
e ships were operated by American Queen Voyages under the names Ocean Voyager and Ocean Navigator.
John Waggoner, who founded American Queen in 2011 but left the company a few years ago, came out of retirement to repurchase the vessels for a relatively cheap $1.9 million. He has since refurbished the ships and established the Victory brand.
"As long-time enthusiasts of maritime adventures, my wife Claudette and I are thrilled for the team to open reservations of the inaugural season and we prepare to sail these magni cent waters," Waggoner said in a state-
ment announcing their return.
"Our cruise experience will o er many special touches, including being the only cruise line to dock
at Chicago’s Navy Pier, and most of all, our ships will be a home away from home exploring all ve Great Lakes."
Most other Great Lakes cruises originate or end in Milwaukee, but the Victory line is unique in that it bookends in Chicago and Toronto. Itineraries vary by voyage, but the vessels touch all ve Great Lakes and make stops not just in Cleveland but also Mackinac Island, Sault Ste. Marie, Detroit, Niagara Falls and more.
Cruises are an increasingly popular way to explore the Great Lakes for those seeking an elevated experience and willing to pay for it. ere's the inherent beauty of the lakes and the surrounding nature, of course, but sailing back and forth between two countries is also a big selling point. Another driver is that vacationers are seeking "experience" travel. People also increasingly want to explore destinations closer to home. Companies therefore are signicantly increasing their investments in the region with new and larger ships, longer routes and more frequent service.
Victory will o er 36 voyages next season, though not all routes run through Cleveland.
"When they are sailing, they are one of the more frequent cruise lines that call on Cleveland and just about everywhere else on the
lake," said David S. Gutheil, chief commercial o cer at the Port of Cleveland. "Victory will make more stops than any of the other lines will."
e Victory boats were built in 2001. ey span 286 feet in length, which is small for cruise ships but necessary to navigate the Great Lakes waters. "None of the cruise lines on the Great Lakes are big because they can't be," a spokesperson for Great Lakes Cruises said. "If they're too big, they can't t through the canals and the locks that they have to go through."
Victory says the boats are "purpose-built to cruise on all five Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence Seaway, and the FrenchCanadian Maritimes, offering a refreshing alternative to river and ocean cruises. The size and maneuverability of these ships are perfectly suited for coastal cruising in this region.
e ships are currently registered in Nassau, Bahamas.
A nine-night cruise from Chicago to Toronto starts at $5,799 per guest, an 11-night cruise from Chicago to Montreal runs $6,999 and a 14-night roundtrip from Chicago costs $8,699.
Lakefront development nonpro t hires new director
yB Kim Palmer
e North Coast Waterfront Development Corporation (NCWDC) has doubled its sta ng number with the addition of Zoe Toscos as director of project management.
e nonpro t charged with the long-term development of the series of projects on Cleveland’s lakefront announced Friday, Aug. 23, that Toscos joined the organization in early August.
“She will be leading a lot of efforts,” said Scott Skinner, NCWDC's executive director, who will no longer be its sole employee. “She is an excellent communicator who understands how to work with the di erent stakeholders and part-
ners on these projects, so she will play a pivotal role.”
Toscos has deep political and governmental experience. Most recently, she served as special projects manager in Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne’s o ce. In that job, she managed the boards and commission process for the o ce of the executive while also working with the chief of sta on policy initiatives.
Previous to that, she was eld director for then-County Executive candidate Ronayne’s campaign after working in a similar position for now-Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb’s 2021 campaign as his West Side eld director.
Skinner said in the role of direc-
tor of project management, Tosco will deal with everything from submerged land leases and the infrastructure buildout of the North Coast Connector land bridge to informing the public and soliciting feedback as part of a community engagement process.
Toscos will focus on “near term activation of the lakefront” — programming and events at or near the lakefront that could begin as soon as this fall, or spring and summer 2025, Skinner said.
“We don't want to wait to get the general public from all neighborhoods to experience the downtown lakefront,” he said. “We are working with a number of partners to think through, creatively,
how we can activate and program that space around the lakefront on a regular basis.”
e NCWDC was created in fall 2023 following the release of the Bibb administration’s North Coast Master Plan. Skinner was appointed in March to lead implement the series of projects that make up the city’s lakefront development e ort.
e North Coast plan used $5 million in city and state of Ohio funding to develop a publicfriendly redesign of Cleveland’s downtown waterfront.
One of the crucial elements, the North Coast Connector, recently was awarded $20 million in onetime state funding. e city is awaiting word on a potential $268 mil-
lion grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Mega Grant Program.
Some questions remain to be answered about the plan, including whether the lakefront will continue to be home to a football stadium.
"I understand why Clevelanders have a healthy skepticism of a lakefront development actually happening,” Skinner said. “However, the administration has done a really excellent job at putting all the pieces in place and starting to build up the necessary infrastructure to ensure this version. e lakefront master plan and of the North Coast Connector are not just plans, they are executable.”
Jack Grieve
The dining room, above, and deck of a Victory cruise ship VICTORY CRUISE LINES PHOTOS
Two 190-passenger vessels are returning to the Great Lakes.
Enhancing education in Parma – and beyond
Enabling students and schools to thrive in a digital age
CHARLES SMIALEK, PH.D. Superintendent Parma City School District
Charles Smialek, Ph.D., began his tenure as the Superintendent of the Parma City School District in 2018. He comes to the Parma Schools a er serving as Superintendent of the Euclid City School District from 2016-2018. He earned his bachelor’s degree in history from Ohio State University and then his Master of Arts in Teaching from Kent State University..
ROB BRILL Vice President and Market Leader Cox Communications
Rob Brill is the Vice President and Market Leader for Cox Communications, Cleveland. In addition to his day-to-day responsibilities, he is also a board member of the West Creek Conservancy and an advocate for numerous community organizations across the Cleveland market. He has been with Cox for over 20 years and a resident of North Ridgeville.
The internet has changed the way we do pretty much everything, from how we stay in touch with each other to how we collaborate on a team to get work done. Nowhere have these new capabilities been more evident than in education, where the need for new and interesting ways to share lessons combines with a young, tech-savvy audience ready to put new technology to the test.
At the heart of all of this is the internet’s power to change the game when it comes to how students learn. e ways students connect with teachers are increasing, as well as deepening and enriching our ability to explain complex subjects more directly.
For instance, it used to be that the teacher would wheel out the video cart and you’d have an hour o from learning to watch a movie or documentary. Today internet access opens the door for a broader, more varied approach to how we integrate visual learning into education. Along the same lines, immersing yourself in di erent cultures and learning a new language is easier than ever thanks to
The Data Defender
a broadband connection and online instructional videos.
The bene ts of broadband e City of Parma understands intimately how important access to technology is for its students. As one of the leaders in 1:1 learning and
At the heart of all of this is the internet’s power to change the game when it comes to how students learn.
providing Chromebooks to its students, we’re proud of being innovators. Over the last few years, we have expanded that access by allowing students to take their devices home with them over the summer, which supports continued engagement with their school work, peers and teachers, while also ensuring their technology skills stay sharp.
However, the integration of technology and education requires a thoughtful approach to ensure we’re meeting students’ needs. Sometimes, cuttingedge tech isn’t as meaningful as simply having reliable internet access.
Cox is committed to digital equity by ensuring everyone has a reliable broadband connection. rough Connect2Compete, a low-cost, highspeed internet plan for families with students in grades K-12, they can access everything the internet enables in the classroom and at home.
For the City of Parma and Cox Communications, high-speed internet and high-tech devices are as important as pencils and lunchboxes. Find out more by visiting https://www.cox.com/ business/internet/resources/schools. html.
Wolstein family gifts $15M to UH for new facility
yB Paige Bennett
With a $15 million gift from Iris and the late Bert Wolstein, University Hospitals plans to add a “state-of-the-art” education and conference center to its main campus.
e health system announced Monday, Aug. 26, plans to construct a 30,000-square-foot facility called the Iris S. and Bert L. Wolstein Center at UH Cleveland Medical Center.
Construction is estimated to cost $30 million. UH says it intends to fund the project fully through philanthropy. A timeline for construction and the facility’s anticipated opening will be determined in coordination with fundraising. e health system anticipates breaking ground in 24 months, said Dr. Daniel Simon, president, academic and external a airs and UH chief scienti c ofcer, Ernie and Patti Novak Distinguished Chair in health care leadership.
e new facility will be in front of the Center for Emergency Medicine on Euclid Avenue and be equipped with audiovisual and re-
mote learning technology, simulation and training labs, breakout space, a cafe and a publicly accessible art gallery.
e space will have a light and modern design featuring lots of windows and public gathering spaces, Simon said. It’s critical for an academic health system such
New Bridge acquires Central School for Practical Nursing
New Bridge Cleveland, a health care workforce training nonprofit, has acquired Central School for Practical Nursing and plans to move the Independence-based organization to Cleveland.
New Bridge, which trains students as phlebotomists, sterile processors and medical assistants, intends to bring Central School for Practical Nursing (CSPN) to its new workforce training center and daycare at the former Case Elementary School at 4050 Superior Ave. e nonpro t says the move will help more students attain family-sustaining wages and broaden the scope of technical training available.
Bethany Friedlander, president and CEO of New Bridge Cleveland, said in a phone interview that the nonprofit took control of CSPN in early 2024 and that it was not a financial transaction.
e nonpro t hopes to bring CSPN to Cleveland by early 2026, Friedlander said.
Discussions about a potential partnership between the organizations started after the John Huntington Fund for Education, a funder of New Bridge Cleveland, brought them together.
Friedlander said CSPN saw enrollment numbers dwindle after the organization pivoted to online instruction during the pandemic. John Huntington asked
New Bridge to provide CSPN with technical advice, Friedlander said.
Meeting with the organization, Friedlander said she was “profoundly moved” by CSPN’s commitment to remaining open and preserving its legacy. e school has been around since 1937 and trains an estimated 100 licensed practical nurses annually.
“We are thrilled to be a part of an organization with the breadth, strength and vision that New Bridge fosters,” CSPN Board Chair Chandler Everett said in a statement. “With the recent added support from members of the NE Ohio hospital community, we believe the union will create an entity that will greatly broaden career opportunities and address personal objectives for our students as well as a number of our community’s needs.”
e two groups explored the possibility of a merger, but ultimately decided that an acquisition would work best, Friedlander said. Combining their e orts will enable the organizations to expand opportunities for students, she said, and serve New Bridge’s overarching goal of helping them reach family-sustaining wages.
Friedlander said New Bridge’s trainings are generally shorter and see students entering the workforce making anywhere between $36,000 and $42,000. Training for licensed practical
as UH to have a place to train the next generation of caregivers, he said.
“ e way that medical teams are built now with sort of multidisciplinary teams,” Simon said. “It’s important to have a place for those people to train together and to simulate those clinical situations.”
It’s also critical, Simon said, for UH to have a space to convene conferences. In 2023, the health system partnered across the pond with the University of Oxford to create the Oxford-Harrington Rare Disease Centre erapeutics Accelerator.
eir goal is to develop 40 new
“By joining forces, CSPN and New Bridge are not only expanding their impact but are also reinforcing our shared vision of paving a brighter path forward for countless well-deserving students.”
Anna Adams, the John Huntington Fund
nurses, on the other hand, takes close to one year, but those graduates typically start out in the $50,000 range.
“CSPN is committed to prepar-
treatments for rare diseases. Simon said their partnership has been bringing groups from around the globe together, making it necessary to have a conference space. Simon added that UH is “incredibly grateful” for the Wolstein family’s support.
Previous support from the Wolsteins helped launch UH’s $1.5 billion “Discover the Di erence” campaign. e family’s latest gift is adding to the health system’s $2 billion “Because of You: e Campaign for University Hospitals,” which was announced in September 2023. So far, it has raised more than $1.4 billion. “ is gift is profoundly meaningful to me and something that I know Bart would have been thrilled to do,” Iris Wolstein said in a statement. “UH is a worldclass health care system with unparalleled caregivers – they deserve a space to learn the best clinical practices available, re ne and innovate new care models, and then export those ideas, training others across the world. It is an honor and privilege to support UH in such an enduring way.”
dean of the Central School for Practical Nursing, in a statement sent to Crain’s. “Providing nursing knowledge as well as a focus on the student/faculty well-being are at the core of our culture.”
Friedlander said New Bridge’s and CSPN’s classes are stackable and that graduates of New Bridge can further their education by enrolling in CSPN. New Bridge believed its pipeline would respond well to the acquisition, she said.
Early numbers appear to re ect that. Forty-two students make a full class for CSPN. e organization has accepted 55 students for the class starting in September. Friedlander said some of these students may decide not to start next month because of daycare, transportation or nancial reasons. ose students will be encouraged to start in January. If the number is still above 42 by the start of the September session, then students will be waitlisted for January.
“By joining forces, CSPN and New Bridge are not only expanding their impact but are also reinforcing our shared vision of paving a brighter path forward for countless well-deserving students,” Anna Adams of the John Huntington Fund said in a statement.
ing the very best practical nurses in NE Ohio through a strong commitment to our students, faculty and the community that we serve,” said Anne Kolenic,
In July, New Bridge Cleveland announced it had acquired the ex-Case Elementary School building from the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and plans to convert it into a new workforce training center and daycare. e nonpro t published a public bid notice for architecture and engineering rms on July 3. It estimated the buildout would cost roughly $7 million.
New Bridge Cleveland is currently located in a space on Euclid Avenue.
yB Paige Bennett
A rendering shows the planned education and conference center at University Hospitals’ main campus. | LEVELHEADS INC.
Manufacturers: Delayed energy auctions send costs soaring
Dan Shingler
Ohio manufacturers have taken issue with delays in recent electricity capacity auctions that they say are helping to create a spike in utility prices, costing them — and consumers — billions in the form of higher rates.
Recent capacity auctions, known as Base Residual Auctions (BRA), held by the region’s grid operator, PJM, set pricing for power during times of peak demand in 2025. ey showed a dramatic increase from when those auctions were held in 2023.
e previous auction in 2023 returned a price of $28.92 per megawatt-day for this year, but the same auction in July saw prices jump by a factor of nine to $269.92 per megawatt-day, for 2025.
e spike in peak power prices will, as grid operators hope, attract more generation to the region, the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association found in a research report it contracted. But that new generation will be incentivized by billions in additional cost to ratepayers, including manufacturers, that the OMA says could have been avoided or reduced.
e OMA says the auction delays “could lead to a $12 billion increase for consumers” in the form of higher electricity bills.
At issue is whether the structure of the auction and the price signals provided by PJM have caused such high prices. While the previous price of $28.92 per megawattday was the lowest in 10 years, the more recent price of $269.92 was a new all-time high.
The industry news site Utility Dive noted that the difference between those two auctions amounts to more than $12 billion in new costs for consumers across PJM’s 13-state territory, which includes Ohio.
“Consumers across the PJM Interconnection footprint will pay $14.7 billion for capacity in the 2025/26 delivery year, up from $2.2 billion in the last auction,” the publication reported July 31 in the wake of the most recent auction.
At least some of that huge increase could have been avoided if PJM had been holding its auction three years in advance of when power would be needed, instead of just one year in advance as it did with its most recent auctions at the end of July, the OMA contends. ree years is really not enough time for investors to back new generation and bring that generation online in time to bid out new power, the OMA and others say, and one year is almost meaningless in that regard.
for power demand versus generation. at said, one could argue that the grid operator actually needs to plan for such scenarios.
But the delays are adding to the problem, Augsburger said.
“We do take some issue with that,” he said. “ is auction has been delayed for more than two years. In the past, you had PJM issuing these auctions three years ahead to anticipate what these markets would need. ... We think this is more costly than it needed to be because of the delay.”
Matt Brakey, a local consultant to heavy industrial concerns and other major power users, said delayed auctions are a problem for customers, but he doesn’t blame them for the recent high auction prices.
“The delay is very frustrating for customers, because they can manage their exposure to this high auction clearing price by reducing their consumption during these summer grid peaks.”
Matt Brakey, a local consultant to heavy industrial concerns and other major power users
e auctions are meant to lure new generation with price signals, and OMA President Ryan Augsburger says the recent skyhigh prices will no doubt do just that — but at too high a cost to manufacturers and other consumers.
“ at’s going to yield billions and billions of more dollars for power generators in the territory,” Augsburger said. “But customers are going to bear the brunt of that cost, and that’s what happened” in the recent auctions.
A report by the energy regulatory analysis group Runnerstone, commissioned by OMA, says PJM also sent out signals for pricing based on its worst-case scenario
“I don’t buy that the delay is the reason or even a signi cant reason for this price increase,” Brakey said.
He noted that previous auctions, including the 2023 auction that produced very low capacity pricing, also were delayed.
“ is wasn’t the rst base residual auction that’s been delayed. ere have been so many delays now that I’ve lost count,” Brakey said. “And the prior auctions that were delayed were producing dirtcheap auctions.”
But Brakey said there are other ways customers, especially those who use a lot of electricity as many manufacturers do, are negatively impacted by the delayed auction.
One major consideration is the amount of notice those customers get to prepare for next year’s potential peak pricing — the amount charged when demand on the grid is highest, usually on hot summer days.
What a customer pays during next year’s periods of peak demand is determined in part by how power they used during this year’s peaks when pricing is low, he said.
“ e delay is very frustrating for customers, because they can manage their exposure to this high auction clearing price by reducing their consumption during these summer grid peaks,” Brakey said.
“ e problem is the grid peaks that will set your exposure are based on your consumption this summer — and we just learned the result," he added. "So many of the grid peaks were set before this auction came out, so customers were totally unable to react to the auction pricing. So, the delay was de nitely unfortunate in that respect, but I don’t think it has an e ect on the auction clearing price.”
at said, Brakey’s still anticipating electricity prices to increase next year, by as much as 20% for some users. But he said that’s due mostly to increased demand for power from arti cial intelligence, and more data centers and cryptocurrency mines coming online.
For its part, PJM agrees that holding auctions three years in advance is far better than holding them just a year or two years in advance of when their pricing will take e ect.
“We would agree that the capacity market was speci cally designed to be three years forward to account for the time it takes to develop new resources,” said Je rey Shields, PJM senior manager for external communications, via email.
But PJM answers to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and Shields said that recent auctions had to be delayed to comply with the commission's rules.
“ e 2025/2026 auction (held in July) was originally scheduled to be held in May 2022, but auctions had been suspended while FERC considered approval of new capacity market rules,” Shields said. PJM hopes to get back to a threeyear schedule soon, he said.
“PJM has compressed its auction calendar to return to a threeyear-forward basis. e next BRA, for the 2026/2027 Delivery Year, is currently scheduled for December 2024,” he said in the email.
After that, the next BRA auction is set for June 2025 to set rates for 2027 and 2028, according to PJM’s website.
Until then, ratepayers are going to have to contend with potentially more volatile pricing and less time to plan for and react to price changes. No one seems to want that.
“PJM doesn’t want to delay these auctions. Generators don’t want them to be delayed. No one wants that.” Brakey said.
And, even if he doesn’t think the delayed auctions impact shortterm pricing, Brakey said the OMA is right to ask that the three-year schedule be reinstated. If the intent of the auctions is to incentivize new generation, then investors need more notice of future prices, he said.
“I do think the OMA has a good argument that holding these auctions further in advance gives a better signal to potential investors, particularly in new thermal (coal and gas) generation,” Brakey said. “Because it takes more than three years to build a power plant … but three years is a heck of a lot better than six months.”
Chicago-based group buys Cherry Tree Village for $60M
yB Stan Bullard
A Chicago investment group paid an estimated $60 million for Cherry Tree Village, a big Strongsville apartment complex, as Brook eld Properties shed another Northeast Ohio asset it obtained from buying former Cleveland-based Forest City Realty Trust.
e new ownership group is referred to as the Stern Family Investment Trust, and Todd R. Stern is one of its directors, according to a $45 million mortgage recorded Aug. 21 and led with Cuyahoga County property records.
Brook eld had held the property through the old name it carried in county records, FCE Cherry Tree SPE LLC, when Brook eld acquired the massive Forest City in 2018.
e county assigns the 444-unit complex a market value of $33 million for property tax purposes. When Brook eld bought Forest City and its properties, no sale price was recorded on the ownership change and none was recorded in the latest transaction. However, Forest City had paid $11 million for the properties in 2015, land records say. e properties were built between 1996 and 2015.
Land records direct the county to continue sending property tax
bills to Brook eld’s Cleveland ofce in Key Tower. at is also an indication Brook eld continues to oversee leasing and management of the complex, typical for institutional-grade property deals.
e property had been marketed since last October by the Barron, Burkons and Wintermute group of Marcus & Millichap’s Cleveland o ce, according to information Crain’s Cleveland Business obtained in 2023.
Dan Burkons, an executive managing director at Marcus & Millichap, declined comment on the o ering or the property trans-
fer in a phone call on ursday, Aug. 29.
e $60 million valuation on the deal is based on the $45 million mortgage placed on the property upon the closing of the transfer. Current lending ratios indicate the buyer would need to put about 35% of the sale price down, signicantly higher than lenders would have required a few years ago.
e sale price works out to $135,135 per unit, a rich price for a part of Cleveland where the only recent transfers indicate apartment values of $77,000, according to CoStar, the commercial realty
data provider.
CoStar puts vacancy at the complex at 5%, well below the 8% vacancy rate it reports for the Cleveland market. e transaction shows how the apartment purchase market has dried up for those needing to use debt to close deals and favors institutional buyers.
Bhavin Patel, a principal of Spark GHC of Solon, an investor group with interests in hotels and apartments, said institutional buyers are closing most of today’s deals — aside from older, lowpriced properties that trade for
cash — because smaller investors who need bank nancing can’t make the deals pencil with higher interest rates and higher cash requirements.
Patel said apartment building purchase prices have climbed along with most other property types in the region.
“Real estate is in a good place,” Patel said. “We have seen an appreciation in price across the board since the pandemic. In ationary pressures are pushing up most real estate values across the board.”
O ce properties, which have been plagued by changing o ce working trends, have not enjoyed the trend unless they are fully occupied with a strong rent roll. Brook eld previously similarly traded shares to other investors for the Easthaven apartments in Beachwood and Stratford Crossing in Wadsworth. In the end, the deals signify how the large fund operator can shed properties to well-heeled investors yet continue to bene t from management fees.
Cherry Tree Village’s local management did not reply to a phone message by press time.
A Brook eld spokesperson in New York said she was not able to provide comment by press time but would look into the matter.
A Chicago investor group now controls the sprawling Cherry Tree Village apartment complex in Strongsville. | COSTAR
Arts President and CEO Lucinda Einhouse and College Now Greater Cleveland CEO Lee Friedman. Sondra Miller, president and CEO of Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, stepped down from her post this past spring.
In a BVU poll of 500 nonpro t CEOs, nearly half of the 87 respondents said they planned on retiring within the next several years. Numerous factors could be at play, Voudouris said, such as delayed retirements stemming from the pandemic and the increasing challenges a ecting nonpro ts.
“It’s challenging to lead a nonpro t now,” she said. “ e funding pressures, the sta ng and talent pressures, the increasing demand. I mean, it’s a lot. It’s important and exhausting work in many instances.”
Earlier this year, Crain’s reported on the di culties facing nonpro ts, particularly those in health and human services. Nonpro t leaders said they had seen increased demand amid declining support, forcing them to do more with less.
What does changing leadership mean for Northeast Ohio’s nonpro t sector? It emphasizes the importance of having a strong board, said Julie Clark, managing director of leadership development at BVU.
Nonpro t boards should be thinking about what’s next for their organizations, she said. And it’s never too soon to be looking at succession planning.
to a close by the end of 2024. During Friedman’s 14 years as CEO, College Now saw significant growth. It went from an organization with a $4 million annual budget to a budget of nearly $40 million this year. College Now was gearing up for a new ve-year strategic plan when Friedman realized she was ready to retire from the organization.
“ e question was in my mind ‘Do I want to do another ve years for another strategic plan?’ ” she said. “I really just decided that my background and my skill set is in driving change or driving new initiatives. e organization was going to continue growing, but not in that kind of massive, new way.”
About 18 months ago, Friedman began working with the organization’s executive committee to start planning for the transition. From there, they created a committee to assess where College Now was at and what skills it needed from its leader in the next several years.
ey ultimately chose Michele Scott Taylor, who has served as the organization’s chief program o cer since 2010, to take the helm.
Taylor, Friedman said, has played a huge part in College Now’s growth over the last 14 years. She also has tremendous skills in advocacy and thought leadership, two areas the nonpro t’s latest strategic plan focuses on, Friedman said.
Friedman is remaining with the organization through the rest of the year. Taylor said she has been working to position
“It’s challenging to lead a nonpro t now. The funding pressures, the staf ng and talent pressures, the increasing demand. I mean, it’s a lot. It’s important and exhausting work in many instances.”
Elizabeth Voudouris, president and CEO of Business Volunteers Unlimited
“I think about the analogy ‘the best time to look for a job is when you’re not in need of a new job,’” Clark said. “It’s the same thing with succession planning. When things are going well, that’s the time, if you haven’t already done it, to be looking at succession planning.”
Less than half of BVU’s survey respondents said their organizations had a succession plan, with several categorizing their succession plans as outdated, vague or missing key elements.
Clark said nonpro t boards should periodically reevaluate their succession plans as elements change over time. An employee the board might have been eyeing as a possible successor may not be an option anymore. It’s crucial for the board to know that ahead of time rather than be surprised when it’s time for a leadership transition.
Friedman, the CEO of College Now Greater Cleveland, decided about two years ago to inform the organization’s board that she saw her tenure coming
BREWING
From Page 1
at’s where co-CEOs Chris Brown and Steven Pauwels come in.
“ e problem is a lot of the categories that we’ve dominated for so many years are categories that the next generation of consumer is not interested in,” Brown said. “So how do we change the portfolio to get the next group that’s going to be drinking beer for the next 35 years?”
“And on top of that,” he added, “how do we make ourselves relevant outside of Ohio? at’s like a piece of bread with a big pat of butter on it. e farther you go away, the thinner it gets.”
“We also want to be great employers,” Pauwels said. “ at is something we will never take our eyes o of.”
But in today’s challenging market, he emphasized, “our main focus is beer.”
“And if we can keep No. 1 in Ohio and keep growing every year, that’s great,” Pauwels said.
Period of transition
Brown and Pauwels were promoted to co-CEOs this spring following the resignation of Mark King. GLBC’s second-ever chief executive behind Bill Boor, King joined the company in October 2019.
King and other GLBC o cials have declined to elaborate on any motivations for his departure.
However, Bob Sullivan, founder of Sullivan Sales & Marketing Solutions and an independent GLBC board member who has been a longtime consultant to company founders Pat and Dan Conway, said King — who he recruited to the business — simply wanted to pursue other opportunities.
ble for those families,” he said. “Also, this is a great company. Why not help move it forward?
‘The football was passed’
Pauwels, 54, joined GLBC in spring 2022 from Boulevard Brewing Co., a craft brewery founded in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1989. He worked there for 23 years, serving his last several as brewmaster.
herself to succeed Friedman since she arrived at College Now. Last December, Taylor was promoted to president, becoming the point person to lead the organization’s latest strategic plan. She said the phased approach has given her the chance to nish out some of her current work as she prepares for her next position.
“It gives me a good amount of time to wrap up some things, close out some things and slowly move into the role,” Taylor said.
“(I’ve been) doing a lot of listening and learning so that when January 1 comes, I’ll be more prepared to hit the ground running.”
Bringing in new leadership can add fresh vision to an organization, Voudouris said.
“If they go through the right process in understanding where the organization is going and nding somebody who can lead the organization to the next level, I think they (will) nd the right person that can have a real positive impact on the organization,” she said.
With his resignation, the GLBC board elevated Brown and Pauwels to co-CEOs. Both were hired under King, with Brown eventually settling into the role of chief commercial o cer and Pauwels becoming chief operations o cer.
e duo continues to juggle those responsibilities while sharing CEO duties. is dynamic, with Brown overseeing sales and marketing and Brown managing brewing operations, is a perfect t that capitalizes on their respective strengths, Sullivan said.
“At the time it happened, it was just a good transition for everybody from a leadership perspective,” he said. “Mark had some things he wanted to do that had nothing to do with Great Lakes. So, it was kind of good timing.”
Brown has been with GLBC for four years and Pauwels about two and a half. As CEOs, each looks to carry on executing a strategy King developed.
“I know exactly what we need to be doing, and I’ve been working on it for four years. If someone is going to steer the ship, I wouldn’t want to hand over the keys,” Brown said. “Put me behind the wheel.”
Pauwels shared a similar sentiment.
“We have 220 or so families who depend on us. You feel responsi-
He said that his time there had simply run its course.
“I just felt like there was not much I could do there anymore,” Pauwels said.
He was drawn to GLBC because he liked the concept, how it was owned by two brewers in the Conways, its community focus, and its role in the craft ethos.
At GLBC, Pauwels now gets to ex his brewing chops in collaboration with sales. One of the beers he’s most proud of designing at Boulevard, by the way, is its Saison Brett, a complex dryhopped farmhouse ale.
Brown, 50, joined GLBC in August 2020 as vice president of sales. He was brought over from Sco aw Brewing Co., which was founded in Atlanta in 2015.
He had worked a bit less than three years there as chief marketing o cer and is credited with helping the business position itself as one of the country’s fastestgrowing breweries.
But Brown really cut his teeth in sales over a 15-year career with United Distributors. He was director of craft beer and spirits there when recruited to Sco aw.
While Brown wasn’t planning on leaving Georgia, he said Scolaw was simply not an ideal t for him.
Although he’s not a fan of cold weather — he’s originally from Southern California — he learned about a job opening at GLBC as he was weighing other opportunities and decided to pull that thread. He was already familiar with the brand from his time at United as he tried every holiday season to get Christmas Ale to Georgia. Together, Sullivan said Pauwels and Brown represent part of King’s legacy at GLBC as they pick up where he left o . King, Brown said, brought a “spark the company needed at the time” and a “new fusion of ideas.” “ e football was passed,” he said. “Now we’re just trying to gure out how to get across the goal line.”
Picking up where King left off
King brought a renewed focus on craft beer trends that will continue under this new leadership.
While GLBC had been historically known for its classic ales, lagers and seasonals, King revamped and invigorated the portfolio with a swath of new IPAs and other o erings, such as Strawberry Pineapple Wheat, Mexican Lager with Lime and Rocket Pop Hard Seltzer.
At the same time, core GLBC brands were being improved and stabilized.
Under King’s direction, the brewery also added a long-needed canning line, refreshed its image with vibrant new art on packaging and rebranded some products. Great Lakes IPA, for example, was re ned and repacked as Midwest IPA to boost its appeal in other states.
“King’s mentality was to just
Bartender Taylor Kemp pours a beer at Great Lakes Brewing Co.’s Ohio City brewpub.
do it,” Pauwels said. “And it’s worked.”
All these e orts helped GLBC achieve the di cult task of appealing to newer and younger consumers without losing its loyal fanbase.
“When Mark came in, he had a very, very clear strategy of what he thought he needed to do at Great Lakes. You’re talking about sustaining a 36-year-old legacy brand,” Sullivan said. “Companies need to evolve with the next group of consumers. And Mark was very clear on that.”
ese e orts are boosting sales for GLBC, the 17th-largest craft brewery in America, despite the craft beer category decreasing by 1% last year and the total beer market shrinking by 5%.
According to data from Circana Inc., the GLBC family of brands is currently the top-selling beer brand in grocery channels in the Cleveland market across all categories.
is puts the local craft brew-
ery ahead in its backyard of all the big national brands, including Molson Coors and AnheuserBusch InBev.
Across Ohio, Midwest IPA is the seventh most popular beer sixpack so far this year (the top by a wide margin is Rhinegeist Brewery’s Truth IPA). And in the overall IPA category, GLBC has the fourth-most sales in the state so far in 2024, with the top three comprising o erings from Rhinegeist, New Belgium Brewery and Columbus Brewing Co. — and Brown expects to overtake Columbus Brewing in that channel by the end of this year.
To put this into context, GLBC was barely a player in the IPA category just several years ago.
e CEOs aim to keep this kind of momentum going, which means continuing to re ne the beers out there now and developing new products that will resonate with the public.
is includes the newly released Cold Rush Premium Light
sell it, there’s no reason we should be making it.”
Planning for the future
As Crain’s described earlier this year, GLBC continues to grapple with some ine cient operations that the company is looking to address.
is includes trucking nished beer to Strongsville for canning and shipping, a setup that was only meant to be a temporary solution to boost o -premise sales when the space was acquired in 2020. is adds a lot of time and expense that could be avoided with all processes under one roof.
ere’s clearly a need for the company to build a new, modern production facility to support its long-term viability. Doing this at its current headquarters in Ohio City seems prohibitively challenging given everything that’s been developed around it, which is why other options are being considered.
Earlier this year, it was reported that the company was considering planting a new production facility and taproom on a 17.5-acre parcel in Avon.
However, that is now o the table.
e Avon property GLBC was looking at o of I-90 was recently purchased in a deal involving R7 Motors Inc., an a liate of the Ra h Auto Group of Toronto, which operates Mercedes-Benz and Porsche car dealerships.
“Do we need something for the future? 100%. We need to be more e cient. We all know that,” Brown said. “But we are making the best out of what we have currently. We are looking at any and all options and just trying to make the best decision possible for the company and the 220 people who work for it.”
Under inaugural CEO Bill Boor, GLBC acquired eight acres of undeveloped property on the Scranton Peninsula in the Flats that could be potentially used for a variety of purposes, including a production facility.
“ e company has been managing through its management transition over the last quarter. At the
same time, it has been re ning layouts of a potential new facility on the Scranton Peninsula, the land for which was purchased in the Spring of 2018,” said the Conways in an emailed statement. “ e Company received a Brown eld Remediation Program Grant in 2022 and is working to complete its infrastructure elements in cooperation with its residential development neighbors Silver Hills and NRP.”
In the meantime, Pauwels emphasized that “we have operations here that are not going anywhere,” adding that the company is planning to invest around $1 million next year to enhance existing brewing operations.
Ultimately, the top goal for GLBC at this point is to continue to bolster its place in the market. Any plans for a new facility will be secondary to that.
“All the leadership knows that in the future, they have got to solve those operational challenges. But if they are going to solve them, they have to have consumer demand,” Sullivan said. “ at is what Steve and Chris are jointly ensuring, that they don’t lose the heartstrings consumers have with their brand at any demographic level.”
“Whatever they end up doing for a new facility, you’re talking about a huge capital investment, and it’s more expensive than it’s ever been,” Sullivan said. “Wherever the money comes from, private or traditional or however you fund it, nobody is going to fund it if they don’t have confidence. And that’s why you need the core portfolio responding to the challenges and meeting the needs of the new consumer.”
is is why Brown and Pauwels remain laser-focused on the beer and company culture.
“ e beer industry itself, the craft beer industry, doesn’t look very rosy, at least not like it was 10, 15, 20 years ago,” Pauwels said. “But I am super optimistic. And this is a great group of people. at’s really what matters more than anything, that these people come to work, love their jobs and get rewarded for what they do.”
Lager — which could be thought of as a craft version of Michelob Ultra or Miller Lite — as well as bold IPAs and its growing line of zippy fruited wheat beers.
“What’s successful in the market right now is avor,” said Brown, pointing to the popularity of RTD cocktails like High Noon. “If the consumer is going to spend their money, they want something that impresses them or has more avor to it.”
“So, yes, a light lager is the opposite of that,” he said. “But on the craft side, we’re trying to lean into those bigger categories to try and improve what we already have — like what we did this year with the Lake Erie Monster Double IPA — making small tweaks and making things more drinkable but also really focus on that nuance of avors that make people want to come back.”
“ ere was a time when a brewer could dictate what was going to happen,” Pauwels said. “ ose days are gone. If we can’t
companies, institutions and other targets of ransomware pay the demand, which hackers seek in exchange for code that decrypts data.
Prewitt after the panel discussion said the ransom demand to the city of Cleveland was around $7 million to $8 million. e city has not publicly identi ed the group that claimed responsibility for the attack. Wilson also said during the panel that she could not “speak to why we (the city) were a target.”
As city officials discussed whether the ransom should be paid, they were receiving cold calls from companies offering containment and recovery services at the cost of $50,000 or more, Prewitt said.
After internal discussions among Cleveland City Council, tech o cials at the city, Mayor Justin M. Bibb and leaders of the administration, the city decided to not pay the ransom amount. at’s the preferred approach of law enforcement, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, whose Cleveland agent in charge, Gregory D. Nelsen, took part in a reside chat to kick o the event.
e o cial FBI position is don’t pay the ransom, Nelsen told the audience.
“ ose payments go directly to supporting the infrastructure and nancial means for the attackers to improve the malware and ransomware making it better at bypassing existing security measures,” he said.
While the city was successful in rejecting the ransom demand, Wilson told members of the audience — a large number of whom work in cybersecurity or have responsibility for cybersecurity functions within their companies or organizations — that the key principle in navigating through the attack was to “focus on putting yourself in the strongest position to be able to restore services.”
Getting to that position required quick action.
Wilson noted that she was being asked to “re-live the worst day of my life,” which began with a midday call on June 9 from a member of the city’s cybersecurity team that conveyed a simple message: “Ma’am, we have been breached.”
City tech leaders identi ed malware on a server and, as Wilson noted, made a quick decision to “shut down all systems.” e situation was “beyond nervewracking,” she said, but city tech workers worked calmly and eciently, and by Monday, June 10, were able to begin restoring phone services and some other systems. e city immediately engaged the FBI and other law enforcement, Wilson said.
Prewitt, similar to Wilson, was going about his day on June 9 when he got a call about the attack from Craig Baker, program administrator for the Ohio Cyber Reserve. “It’s never good to get a weekend call,” he said. And Baker’s message, like the one
delivered to Wilson, was direct: “We’ve got a live one, and it’s big.”
He said the Cyber Reserve’s focus is on “containment and eradication,” and volunteers worked with city employees to restore systems methodically and make sure data was safe.
“ e mayor and team were incredible to work with,” Prewitt said.
Both Wilson and Prewitt noted that the city is in the midst of a igni cant modernization of its tech functions, visible to the public through a new website and featuring more information stored
in the cloud. But that’s not a panacea, and it doesn’t make the city — or any organization — immune from attack.
Prewitt said big cities, including Baltimore and Dallas, have been attack targets, as have corporate giants such as Home Depot.
Although many cyber incidents go unreported, the number, type and cost of cyberattacks have surged in the last decade. e reason? “ ey work,” Nelsen said.
“We’ve graduated from one person behind the computer asking small businesses for $1,000, $2,000 ransoms to businesses worth millions with sensitive data used to extort larger amounts of money,” Nelsen said. “We’ve also seen the rise of cryptocurrency, which is much di erent from a typical wire transfer and very hard to track.”
The majority of cybercriminals perpetrating attacks work in Russia and Russian-supportive countries in Eastern Europe and the Balkan areas, places that don’t cooperate with the U.S.,
Nelsen said.
But the groups share information on what works, and they are organized primarily like a business.
“ eir goal is to make as much money as they can through extortion and then go on to the next company,” Nelsen said. “Not only what type of data do they own, but what type of data creates in the sense of emergency.”
e big takeaway about attacks, Prewitt said, is “not that it’s happening. It’s how we’re responding.”
Wilson said the city during the attack and now, in its aftermath, has tried to be “as transparent as possible.” The goal, she said, was to keep the public informed while operating with discretion to keep data safe.
How the FBI works with businesses
Nelsen said the FBI has 56 eld o ces that investigate cybercrimes and will notify organizations either being targeted or if a threat actor already has access to their system through a third party.
“We don’t disclose names of businesses. We don’t disclose who paid who didn’t pay. at’s not how we do business,” Nelsen said. “We don’t come out in blue jackets with big yellow FBI in the back. We are as covert as we can be, but we want to recover the data.”
e goal is information sharing — not publicly, but covertly, so that as with other forms of crime, the FBI can work from a place of knowledge. Nelsen said victims of cyberattacks can go make a report directly to the FBI using the Internet Crime Complaint Center website at IC3.gov, or by calling 800-225-5324.
e decision to pay or not pay a ransom — particularly when important data or critical services are on the line — is “tough,” Nelsen admits.
“We do not recommend paying, but if you do, we’re still going to be your friend,” he said. “We’re still going to come out and do what we do.”
City Hall was closed for several days and many vital city functions were hobbled for more than a week by a ransomware attack in June. | CITY OF CLEVELAND
Chris Prewitt and Kim Roy Wilson spoke Aug. 28 at a Crain’s Cleveland Business Power Breakfast event. PHOTOS BY EVERY ANGLE PHOTOGRAPHY
Gregory D. Nelsen is the special agent in charge of the Cleveland Field Of ce of the FBI.
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 2 | 4:00–6:00
