Crain's Cleveland Business

Suit centers on height of

building

BY STAN BULLARD

Bigness has de ned most parts of Crocker Park, the 120-acre mixed-use project in Westlake designed to be a mini downtown with a network of streets serving storefronts below buildings ve and six stories tall, with a few exceptions.

A tiny grass-covered parcel fronting on Crocker Road with a trio of Crocker Park buildings on its other sides, including the American Greetings headquarters, was envisioned as a site for a six- oor building. However, developer

Stark Enterprises of Cleveland wants to put an Erie Bank branch on part of the parcel, designed to look like a two-story building. It would also have a surface parking lot, while

Developer, city ght over site St. Vincent campus is still taking shape

Filling space left by inpatient closure will be ongoing engagement process

BY LYDIA COUTRÉ

e health campus and services that will ll the space left by the closure of inpatient services at St. Vincent Charity Medical Center is still taking shape.

Sisters of Charity Health System, St. Vincent’s parent organization, announced in September that the downtown Cleveland hospital will cease operations as a traditional acute care hospital on Nov. 15, resulting in the elimination of 978 positions. In shifting to outpatient care as an ambulatory health services provider, it will focus on social determinants of health and serving community needs in Cleveland, and speci cally, the city’s Central neighborhood.

NO MORE DIGGING FOR SPARE QUARTERS

Cleveland looks toward a plan to modernize, redesign street parking

BY KIM PALMER

Beginning in the summer of 2023, the streets of Cleveland will begin to see the removal and replacement of more than 2,000 antiquated, coin-only parking meters — part of City Hall’s street parking modernization plan.

Details of the strategy have yet to be nalized, but earlier this month, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb’s administration released an 85-page request for proposal (RFP) looking for a vendor “to modernize the operations of (the city’s) entire on-street parking management system.”

According to the language of the RFP, “ e city intends to transition from the coin-only individual parking meters to … (ones that accept) onstreet parking transaction payments at pay stations and via mobile payment app.” e upgrade has been a long time coming and has been met with almost universal support, said Bonnie Teeuwen, the city of Cleveland’s chief operating o cer, who will help oversee the vendor selection.

“It’s one of those things where you might think people are not that concerned about parking meters, but it can be frustrating when you want to park but don’t have any quarters,” she said.

Teeuwen, who had three decades of experience in civil engineering and public administration before joining the Bibb administration, said the proposed budget for the parking modernization plan ranges from $3 million to $4 million. It’s a cost the city estimates will be recouped within four years through more e cient collection of parking payments.

“IT’S ONE OF THOSE THINGS WHERE YOU MIGHT THINK PEOPLE ARE NOT THAT CONCERNED ABOUT PARKING METERS, BUT IT CAN BE FRUSTRATING WHEN YOU WANT TO PARK BUT DON’T HAVE ANY QUARTERS.” —Bonnie Teeuwen, the city of Cleveland’s chief operating o cer

Teeuwen

Akron is a real estate matchmaker for development

DAN SHINGLER

Akron can’t magically create addi tional land within its borders — but that hasn’t stopped city o cials from nding more property they can re purpose, acquire or otherwise make available for residential and industri al development.

e city has worked with Akron Public Schools to turn former school property into new residential devel opments, and opened new land to development with changes to zoning and other regulations.

Most recently, Akron dramatically expanded its industrial-park proper ty in Coventry Township to the south of the city.

Akron announced Sept. 20 that the city has purchased 66 acres in Coven try, on the north side of South Main Street where it meets Killian Road.

e city paid $1.6 million for the land, which sits next to the Interval Brotherhood Home and is tucked into a neighborhood with a mix of homes, businesses, forest and farm elds.

at more than doubles the size of the city’s presence in Coventry, where Akron has long had a 34-acre industrial park on North Turkeyfoot Road, about a mile and a half from its newly acquired land.

Along with the purchase came a new agreement with Coventry for the Joint Economic Development Dis trict that includes the two properties.

“ is agreement does three basic things,” said Sean Vollman, Akron’s deputy mayor for integrated devel opment. “It extends the original JEDD for another 99 years. On top of what we had, it allows us to put addi tional land into the JEDD and the in come split will be 50-50 (with Coven try Township), instead of what we have now.”

at new 50-50 split would seem to show that such deals are getting more expensive as tracts of available green eld land, especially larger ones, become harder to nd in the region. Akron’s split with Coventry on the original industrial park is a 92-8 split in the city’s favor, Vollman said.

But Coventry held out for more this time.

“Being a township, the only way to generate revenue (is) through prop erty taxes and levies attached to the properties,” Coventry scal o cer Dave Gissinger said via email. “Our goal with the IBH JEDD agreement is to generate additional revenue for our Township. e additional reve nue will be used to pay for township services and improvements. We are using economic and employment development instead of generating revenue from township property owners through levies.”

Akron sees the site as a hot spot for new light industrial development that could help the city and Coventry increase their tax revenues, as well as boost Akron’s e orts to rebuild its population with jobs to support po tential new residents.

Vollman thinks the new land in Coventry will be attractive to indus try, though the city does not yet have a speci c project in mind for the site, he said.

“I think this will be a prime piece for future development,” Vollman said. “We get state entities and re gional economic development agen

| DAN SHINGLER/CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

cies reaching out to us on almost a weekly basis with new leads. Imme diately, we can include this new property in those searches.”

While he’s not making any promis es over things he can’t control, Voll man said he suspects the site might attract one large user. at’s because larger parcels like the city’s new land are hard to come by and in high de mand.

“Since Intel, every request for land we get is 50 to 200 acres,” Vollman said. “In a more urban area, that’s not as prevalent.”

Jerry Fiume, managing director of SVN Summit Commercial Real Estate Advisors in Akron, who works with many industrial clients, agrees the site will be attractive to someone looking to build a light industrial or manufacturing facility.

“It’s a good site and it has great highway access,” Fiume said.

More land, more deals

It’s not the only place Akron has identi ed for development, though.

On Sept. 21, Alpha Phi Homes broke ground on its Residences at Good Park development, an 89-unit project that will include townhouses and custom homes by Good Park Golf Course. at’s a private investment, expected to be more than $20 mil lion, that Akron made happen by working with Akron Public Schools to acquire and make available to de velopment the 17-acre site, which was formerly the site of Perkins Mid dle School.

Before that, in 2021, the city worked with Petros Homes to pro vide it with the zoning variance it needed to develop 197 townhomes on Akron-Peninsula Road in the Merriman Valley. at’s a project ex pected to cost more than $40 million.

Akron is also considering using some of its own land in the Merriman Valley, a 45-acre parcel of wooded land on eiss Road, for residential development.

And, perhaps most importantly, the city worked with the Develop ment Finance Authority of Summit County, private developers and a raft of other government agencies to get

Diverging Demand

O ce vacancies had been decreasing before the pandemic but have since taken a sharp upward turn as many people have been working from home. Meanwhile, demand for industrial space remains high as vacancy rates for that sector have continued to decrease.

redevelop some of the land that’s now vacant or has abandoned houses or other buildings on it in town, some thing she said she knows Akron plan ning and urban development director Jason Segedy has supported in the past.

A fairly new resident who moved to Akron two years ago, Lugo said it wasn’t “cheap new housing” that at tracted her to the area. Rather, it was the city’s historic homes — she moved to the Highland Square neighborhood — and its parks and green spaces.

“ ey want to bring new citizens into Akron. I’m a new citizen telling you this: the thing that makes me proudest to call Akron my home is the parks!” Lugo said.

its Bowery Project completed down town. at project is now nearly 100 new apartments, nearly all of them lled with new downtown residents.

e most recent big move came in September, when Akron City Council approved a conditional-use permit that will enable Akron developer Tri ton Property Ventures to buy nearly all of the city’s White Pond O ce Park, 65 acres, and use it for a mixeduse development with 189 town houses, along with retail stores, at a cost of more than $60 million.

Such moves make sense because there’s little demand for o ce space.

“O ce, across the board — in Ohio, the U.S., and Greater Cleve land, everywhere you look — ever since COVID began to impact the market, vacancies have gone up ev erywhere,” said Warren Blazy, senior vice president of JLL Cleveland, a commercial real estate rm.

JLL tracks the Akron market with quarterly reports, and its most re cent, for the third quarter, shows why the city needs to pivot from o ce to industrial and residential uses for its land.

“Vacancy grew 30 basis points to 20.8%, marking the highest vacancy rate in Akron’s o ce market in the last 20 years. is sits roughly 5.5% higher than peak vacancy during the Great Financial Crisis,” the report stated.

Meeting sti resistance

Using land for more attractive op tions has won the city praise — espe cially among developers and real es tate executives who say Akron has made real progress when it comes getting new housing stock built as it attempts to rebuild its population. Developers, including those behind the Bowery, say that’s been critical to spurring more residential construc tion in town.

But the city met sti resistance to the Riverwoods development, which residents objected to because they fear it will change the nature of the picturesque Merriman Valley and create tra c and environmental is sues. Some of those same people have been lobbying the city to not use the eiss Road property for de velopment for those same reasons, and seem to have cooled the city’s heels in terms of selling that proper ty.

ere are also some similar con cerns around the White Pond devel opment.

“If we need to build new housing in Akron, it should be in eld housing on existing lots — it shouldn’t be in green spaces,” said Meghan Lugo, an assistant professor at the University of Akron.

Lugo said she’s been disappointed that the city has not tried harder to

Segedy does not disagree that it would be great to recover and reuse more land in the city, but says that the resources to do that aren’t currently available. But the city has in fact re used some old property that had long been abandoned, including for its vaunted Bowery Project, which is made from six formerly dilapidated buildings downtown. It also reused the Perkins school, which Lugo said she supported.

Going forward, Akron will have to nd yet more ways to provide land for industry and homes if it’s to grow. e city says it’s continuing to work with Akron Public Schools to identify other sites where it might replicate the Al pha Phi project.

It’s also hoping more suburban governments will work with the city to expand industrial zones the way Cov entry has done, Vollman said. e city has invited surrounding jurisdictions to participate with it in expanding the city’s Joint Economic Development Districts, which are in or border Bath, Copley, Spring eld, Mogadore, Lake more and other communities.

“ e mayor reached out to all of the JEDDs about opening the discussion about expanding the JEDDs, and Cov entry was the rst township that took us up on those discussions,” Vollman said.

e city is still hoping others will follow suit, he said.

Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan, fourth from left, joins members of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity to break ground on a major housing development on the site of the former Perkins Middle School.

Bunker Hill

Why adding a retractable roof to FirstEnergy Stadium is a bad idea

BY JOE SCALZO

Ask enough people about FirstEnergy Stadium’s future and you’ll come across what we’ll call the Beyoncé solution: “If you like it, then you should just put a lid on it.”

Speci cally, a retractable roof, one that would spare fans from the worst of Cleveland’s weather (if not the worst of its football) in the late fall/early winter while opening up opportunities for the stadium to host more than 10-12 home football games and a concert or two.

Which begs the question: Has anyone ever actually done this?

In the NFL, no. Four NFL teams play in stadiums with retractable roofs — the Dallas Cowboys, Arizona Cardinals, Indianapolis Colts and Atlanta Falcons — but all of them were baked into the original design. Same with the seven MLB teams using retractable roofs.

But, it has been done. For ve straight years (2008-12), rain forced U.S. Open o cials to postpone the men’s singles nal from Sunday to Monday, which caused all sorts of problems — none bigger than the resultant low TV ratings. So, USTA o cials opted to put a retractable roof on Arthur Ashe Stadium, a $150 million project that was completed in 2016 with the help of Alliance-based Morgan Engineering, which has a kinetic structures division. While this wasn’t new to tennis — Wimbledon’s Centre Court started the trend when it added a retractable roof in 2009 — it would be a rst for a major North American sports team.

“It can be done; but, like anything, it’s all about money,” Morgan Engineering president Mark Fedor said of adding a roof to FirstEnergy. “Basically, we can’t touch the stadium. At Ashe, we don’t put any load on the stadium itself. ere’s a superstructure around it. It has big columns and a foundation around the outside of the stadium, then there’s like stainless steel garage doors o the roof of the structure that seal it up.”

e Browns would have to do the same thing, only on a much, much larger scale. Ashe Stadium is the

world’s largest tennis stadium, yet it seats just under 24,000, and you can t about 16 tennis courts inside a football eld. FirstEnergy, meanwhile, seats more than 67,000. Footprint-wise, this is like comparing a bunny to a brontosaurus.

“To do a structure overtop an NFL stadium, not to say it can’t be done — anything can be done — but what does it look like?” said Fedor, whose company helped build two retractable roof structures in MLB: Toronto’s Rogers Centre and Seattle’s Safeco Field. “ ere are a lot of factors to think about, including the foundation around the stadium. You have to be able to drive down into the bedrock to build the columns to support the structure on top.

“It would take a lot of creativity and a lot of engineering work to gure out, and I don’t think the structure would look very good. Architects are creative, but I’m not sure what it would look like after it’s all said and done. Would it look really nice, like what the Falcons’ stadium looks like or what the Cowboys have or Lucas Oil (in Indianapolis) or any of those newer stadiums? I don’t think it would have that feeling. It would just look like it had columns all around it. A roof looks better when the structure is designed to handle it.”

e other big factor? e cost. Fedor wouldn’t guess at the price tag for adding a roof — the post-pandemic price of materials and labor is changing by the day, he said — but “it’s gonna be a lot of money.”

“Again, it can be done, but I don’t know that it’s cost-e ective,” Fedor said. “And the thing is, with most of these retractable roof stadiums, they don’t open them much because it’s so hot. With the Browns, it’s only going to be nice for the rst four (home) games of the season.

“You think about the amount of money they put into them, if you don’t open it, why would you do it?”

Although the Browns reportedly prefer building a new domed or retractable roof stadium to renovating FirstEnergy when the lease expires in 2028, the team is currently more focused on a lakefront master plan that would connect the site to

downtown. Fedor is a Browns season ticketholder and doesn’t mind the current stadium, but he (like seemingly everyone else) hates that it’s so disconnected from downtown. He’d like to see the Browns build a new stadium at the current site of the convention center, then use the lakefront land for apartments, condos and a park.

“NFL Sundays are an experience for the fans and, as a season ticketholder, I think where the Browns get it wrong versus the rest of the NFL is that other stadiums have entertainment districts around them,” said Fedor, who typically makes one NFL road trip each year with his brother. “Look at Pittsburgh on the North Shore. ere’s all kinds of things to do. Restaurants. e casino is there. e entertainment environment around that stadium is really cool. Everything is together.

“You could put together a pretty nice package (in Cleveland) that gets the hotel connected to the stadium and some restaurants. You could put a really nice entertainment district around that thing. You’d have people walking from the South Side, the West Side, the East Side and all converging on the stadium from one location and it’s all tied into downtown. It would be amazing to do that.”

And if a new stadium isn’t feasible? ere’s one other option, Fedor said, and it’s already been used at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. Instead of a retractable roof, the stadium has a rooftop canopy made of durable clear plastic panels called ETFE. It’s a cheaper option and one that allows for an outside feel while protecting against precipitation.

“You could do that over Browns stadium; it’s more cost-e ective than putting millions of pounds of movable machinery over people’s heads,” he said. “At the end of the day, though, this (stadium project) is an opportunity to make an impact that can change the city for a long time. We can’t miss on it, so let’s take our time and make sure we do it right.”

Alliance-based Morgan Engineering helped put a retractable roof on Arthur Ashe Stadium, completed in 2016. MORGAN ENGINEERING

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Tap into

Cleveland Clinic’s pathogen center continues its growth

BY LYDIA COUTRÉ

Cleveland Clinic recently received a $2.9 million federal grant to study an emerging tick-borne virus pathogen — the latest funding secured by research occurring within the system’s Global Center for Pathogen & Human Health Research.

It’s just one of many recent examples of funding awarded to the pathogen center, which houses multidisciplinary research teams working to better understand the response of the human immune system to viral pathogens.

e center, announced in April 2020, took shape at the start of 2021 with the launch of the Cleveland Innovation District. e pathogen center became a cornerstone of the $565 million collaboration among the Clinic, University Hospitals, MetroHealth, Cleveland State University and Case Western Reserve University. e district combines $300 million from the Clinic, $110 million from JobsOhio, and $155 million from the state.

e infusion of funds has allowed the center to invest in building a larger home for its research — most immediately, a renovation and expansion project will add nearly 45,000 square feet to the core Lerner Research Institute building over the next year. Longer term, the Clinic’s capital plan includes the addition of two research towers that will house most laboratories on the Clinic’s 173-acre main campus.

“And it’s more than the space,” said Dr. Serpil Erzurum, the Clinic’s chief research and academic o cer. “It’s the partnerships around the city now, right? I mean, we’re meeting with University Hospitals regularly. ... at wouldn’t have happened without the state investing in us together. And the same with Case Western and Metro now, and Cleveland State.”

Dr. Jae Jung, director of the Global Center for Pathogen & Human Health Research, will lead the research team that recently secured the ve-year, $2.9 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). ey’ll study Severe Fever with rombocytopenia Syndrome Vi-

so to do this, actually, No. 1 is that we have to recruit outstanding investigators in many di erent areas.” Jung has recruited researchers and leaders in immunology, cancer biology, immune-oncology and pathogen research at a “remarkable rate,” Erzurum said.

Notable recruits thus far include Dr. Michaela Gack, director of Cleveland Clinic’s Florida Research & Innovation Center, and Ted Ross, director of vaccine development, a newly created role.

and a vaccine for an emerging tickborne virus.

“Money means work,” Erzurum said. “ ey’re not giving you money just to spend it on frivolous things. We have work to do. ... It’s an immense amount of work.” is is why the award from the state of Ohio for the innovation district has helped enable the growth, because it’s o ered a space for the Clinic’s researchers to do their work.

Also supporting the research infrastructure is the Cleveland Clinic BioRepository, which the system and Brooks Automation Inc. opened last year in the Fairfax neighborhood to increase and centralize storage capacity for biologic samples. e 22,000-square-foot facility is a resource for scientists across the region and aims to enhance the research of human tissue samples and ultimately, more rapidly translate laboratory discoveries into new treatments.

Serving as the technology foundation of the pathogen center is the Launched Discovery Accelerator with IBM, a 10-year collaboration to build the infrastructure to support big data medical research. rough the partnership, IBM plans to install and open in early 2023 its rst private-sector on-premises IBM Quantum System One in the United States at the Clinic. e rest of IBM’s such systems in the country are in its own facilities.

e Clinic is also part of a $577 million NIH research collaborative. NIAID awarded the funds earlier this year to create nine antiviral drug discovery research centers across the country. Jung and Shaun Stau er, director of the Clinic’s Center for erapeutics Discovery, are working with a multidisciplinary team based out of Scripps Research in La Jolla, California, which was awarded $67 million to create the Center for Antiviral Medicines and Pandemic Preparedness.

rus, which the World Health Organization has included on a list of emerging pathogens most likely to cause a future pandemic, according to a news release from the Clinic.

“ e goal of the Global Center is we want to prepare for future pandemics,” Jung said. “ at’s the goal,

In 2017 and 2018, Cleveland Clinic averaged $50 million in new awards from NIH, said Erzurum. Because the grants are often paid out over multiyear periods, the new awards each year o er a good metric of annual change. In 2019, that grew to $80 million, and in 2021, the Clinic received $140 million in new awards to its investigators, nearly tripling the gure from just a few years prior.

In 2021, Cleveland Clinic researchers were awarded more than $17 million in NIH grants related to pathogen research into COVID-19 vaccine candidates, development of broad-spectrum antiviral drugs

Jung and Stau er are receiving a combined $3.28 million for their projects. e team’s goal is to create drugs aimed at targeting viruses with high pandemic potential — speci cally coronaviruses and tickborne viruses, according to a release.

Being part of that research collaborative is “hugely prestigious,” Erzurum said.

“ ey trust us to be part of that network,” she said. “A lot of it is on COVID, but it’s also on the tickborne viruses, right? And monkeypox is here.”

With infectious disease, Jung said, today’s patient could be tomorrow’s 100 patients, or 1,000.

“ is is the reason that with infectious disease, as well as other medical data research … we cannot stop,” he said, comparing it to running a marathon. “And when you run a marathon, if you stop, it’s so very di cult to then restart that marathon, so we have to continuously expand the program.”

Crain’s is now in the app store.

Dr. Serpil Erzurum is Cleveland Clinic’s chief research and academic o cer.

Dr. Jae Jung is director of the Global Center for Pathogen & Human Health Research.

“THE GOAL OF THE GLOBAL CENTER IS WE WANT TO PREPARE FOR FUTURE PANDEMICS. THAT’S THE GOAL, SO TO DO THIS, ACTUALLY, NO. 1 IS THAT WE HAVE TO RECRUIT OUTSTANDING INVESTIGATORS IN MANY DIFFERENT AREAS.

Jae Jung, director of the Global Center for Pathogen & Human Health Research

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VIEW

Privileged access needs special treatment to protect company’s data

KELLY LAMIRAND

When it comes to data breaches and other cybercrime, advanced attackers often abuse privileged access creden tials to get to an organization’s sensitive data, infrastructure and systems. And with more and more companies relying on high volumes of data to run both front- and back-o ce operations, keep ing that sensitive information secure is mission critical.

Privileged access: the keys to the IT kingdom

Mike DeWine for governor

Governors know when they take the oath of o ce that they’re signing up for potential crisis duty. It’s proba bly fair to say, though, that the challenge Gov. Mike DeWine faced in March 2020 was quite a bit bigger than any thing he might have expected.

e pandemic that de ned our lives, derailed the economy and changed the social order for a time still has lingering ef fects, but things are largely back to normal. DeWine’s cool head in a crisis helped. We’re not here to argue that every thing about Ohio’s pandemic management was perfect, but it’s worth remembering, as voters gear up for Election Day on Nov. 8, that one mark of quality leadership is whether it holds up in bad times, and by that standard, Ohio’s governor passed.

DeWine, 75, a Republican who won his rst election in 1976 (as a county prosecutor), is our preference in this year’s gubernatorial race.

He’s a steady steward rather than an inspirational leader, but his administration has put Ohio on a path to post-pan demic economic growth through a combination of tax cuts, sound budget management (Fitch Ratings in September raised Ohio’s nancial outlook to a AAA rating from an AA+) and, of late, some big swings with mega-projects. If the econ omy is entering a recession, as looks likelier by the day, we trust DeWine at the helm to manage the state though the storm.

His opponent, former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, 46, is the rst woman ever to be nominated by a major party for the of ce of governor of Ohio. She has impressed us with her intel lect, policy detail and passion. In a recent appearance on our podcast, e Landscape, she argued persuasively that Ohio has been in long-term economic decline, and that DeWine, as one of the state’s longest-serving leaders, is in part respon sible for that — or at least hasn’t done enough to x it. A sense that if you “work hard and play by the rules, you can get ahead” has been lost in Ohio, Whaley said. at’s not unique to Ohio. But she speaks to a frustration many workers, espe cially young ones, feel these days, and Ohio’s next governor and its legislators would do well to focus on xing it.

Ohio has lagged on jobs, and its unemployment rate, while

at a low 4%, is still a bit above the national gure. ere are a lot of factors that go into boosting job growth, including sup port for education and training. Modernizing the mix of in dustries in the state is important, too, and the DeWine ad ministration of late is helping to do just that.

Honda Motor Co. and Korea’s LG Energy Solution Ltd. last week announced plans to spend $4.4 billion to build elec tric-vehicle batteries at a new joint venture southwest of Co lumbus, part of a project by the automaker to start EV pro duction at its plants in the state. Even bigger, Intel Corp. in January announced a $20 billion project, spanning nearly 1,000 acres near Columbus, for a giant chipmaking campus.

In both cases, the state is o ering big incentives — more than $150 million for the Honda/LG project, and $2 bil lion-plus for Intel. It’s worth remembering, too, that the state initially got excited about a deal to provide incentives for a big expansion of Peloton near Toledo, only to see that deal evap orate when that company’s business imploded. Intel and Honda are more solid bets, though, and they expand signi cantly Ohio’s presence in growing industries with strong long-term job prospects.

e DeWine record is not perfect. His involvement as a commission member in Ohio’s botched redistricting e ort undercuts his get-it-done image. He also has been cagey about discussing the FirstEnergy/House Bill 6 bribery scan dal, which underscores an unfortunate reality of Ohio poli tics: one party (the Republican Party) has controlled virtually everything at the state level for years, and that’s a strong con tributing factor to a culture of corruption.

One other thing has bothered us about the governor. His refusal to debate, while an understandable tactic as most polls show him well ahead in the race, is a disservice to voters. It’s reasonable to expect that the major party candidates should be able to stand together on a stage at least once during a campaign to give voters a chance to take the mea sure of the people who seek positions of power.

DeWine, in our estimation, has a good record to discuss. He should have been willing to do it, and share with Ohioans how he plans to build on the meaningful accomplishments of the last four years.

Executive Editor: Elizabeth McIntyre (emcintyre@crain.com)

Managing Editor: Scott Suttell (ssuttell@crain.com)

Contact Crain’s: 216-522-1383

Read Crain’s online: crainscleveland.com

Lamirand is market president and commercial sales leader with KeyBank in Northeast Ohio.

e term “privileged access” refers to special network access or IT capabilities above and beyond those that apply to standard users. A hu man user, such as an IT administrator, can have privileged access. It also can be granted to a non-human user, like an application. Common examples of privileged access include:

• domain administrative accounts, which provide admin istrative access to any workstation or server on a particular network domain;

• emergency accounts (also known as “ recall” or “break glass” accounts), which allow users to secure systems during an emergency; and

• privileged business users, who are not members of an organization’s IT team but need access to sensitive data and systems (for example, nancial or human resources professionals).

e sensitive information available to users with privi leged access requires the high est levels of security around these accounts. Privileged access management includes monitoring, securing and auditing all privileged identities — whether human or non-human — across your enterprise.

YOUR COMPANY’S PRIVILEGED ACCESS MANAGEMENT STRATEGY SHOULD BE ROOTED IN THE PRINCIPLE OF “LEAST PRIVILEGE.”

As a best practice, your company’s privileged access man agement strategy should be rooted in the principle of “least privilege,” meaning that users receive only the minimum amount of access they need to do their jobs e ectively. is approach reduces the risk of data breaches and cyberattacks by malicious insiders or external operatives, and helps you protect your organization’s most valuable data.

Growing importance of data privacy and security

In recent years, government agencies and well-known cor porations have experienced major data breaches in which cy bercriminals exploited privileged credentials to plan and exe cute their attacks. And as a growing number of organizations embrace the cloud, DevOps, automation and other advances in technology, the number of entities that require privileged access to keep their IT enterprises running smoothly has grown as well. e more people or applications to which your enter prise grants privileged access, the higher your risk of a breach — and the more critical it is to employ data security solutions that monitor privileged accounts for suspicious activity.

Write us: Crain’s welcomes responses from readers. Letters should be as brief as possible and may be edited. Send letters to Crain’s Cleveland Business, 700 West St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland, OH 44113, or by emailing ClevEdit@crain.com. Please include your complete name and city from which you are writing, and a telephone number for fact-checking purposes.

Sound o : Send a Personal View for the opinion page to emcintyre@crain.com. Please include a telephone number for veri cation purposes.

Cleveland

plan to grow the water economy

BY BRYAN STUBBS

We all know we are fortunate to live on a Great Lake. It’s the source of our drinking water, an active port, and provides us with an outlet for recreation. Living near more than 90% of the surface freshwater supply in the United States has obvious advantages. But what needs to be done to better leverage this freshwater asset to grow our local economy while protecting water quality? Technology, innovation and strategic private/public investments are the answer.

Built upon a mantra that improving water quality and growing the regional economy are not mutually exclusive, Cleveland Water Alliance (CWA) has accelerated our region’s water economy through collaborative partnerships with technology innovators, public utilities, research institutions, and the business community since 2014. e execution of our plan to grow the water economy has been met with nancial support from the State of Ohio and the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s “Build to Scale — Blue Economy” challenge award. As the only non-coastal recipient of that grant, it is vital that elected o cials continue to recognize and support our work.

We are forging the world’s largest digitally connected freshwater body right here in Lake Erie. is “Smart Lake Erie” includes a robust telecommunications network and testbed infrastructure spanning the lake and its various environments and allows innovators from around the world to trial, demonstrate and pilot their technologies in real-world water environments here in Ohio. As we scale up these opportunities, we know that more innovation and employment opportunities will follow.

e cutting-edge infrastructure we’ve built over the past several years has put Ohio on the map. Coupled with the concerted e ort of our local research, utility and business communities, we are attracting national and international companies to the region. For example, during a recent trip to Europe, our team attended IFAT, a trade fair for environmental water quality technologies, where we came home with a list of 70 active businesses interested in Cleveland as a potential partner and location to launch technologies into the North American market. Building upon that, CWA has 40 market validation pilots scheduled, completed or underway, in addition to $6 million in demonstration projects that address issues from water quality to supply chain

Stubbs is president and executive director of the Cleveland Water Alliance and a former member of the national Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee, an appointment of the U.S. Secretary of the Department of Commerce.

disruptions — all while creating jobs that can’t be outsourced.

We have a prime opportunity to grow the water economy here in Ohio, and the possibilities to accelerate it are seemingly endless. We are building a system of technology sensors that our public utilities can integrate to detect harmful bacteria. We are incorporating this technology into existing smart homes to monitor drinking water and detect lead in pipes without breaking ground. ese are just a few of the projects underway here in Cleveland, not to mention our laser focus on identifying ways of removing harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie and inland lakes in Ohio.

e critical nexus of our plan will be integrating the economic opportunity with investment in technology and innovation through public/ private collaboration. With an overarching goal of investing in nine to 18 water technology companies by 2024, we aim to build a network of informed investors, connect them to proven freshwater solutions, and provide capital and technical assistance to bring technologies to market. is year, we launched this initiative as the Freshwater Innovation Fund, and this fall, CWA received an additional $300,000 from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to assist us in growing our network of investors.

Time and time again, we’ve seen that collaboration is key — and harnessing the economic power of our lake to uplift our entire community is no di erent. Our regional water economy is one of the fastest-growing sectors in Greater Cleveland. Globally, digital water technology is experiencing annual double-digit growth. It is time to embrace our water as both an asset to protect, but also as an asset to grow and proudly support. Together, we can drive an inclusive and vibrant freshwater economic ecosystem that will pay dividends for our local economy.

Investment article publication was poor choice

In the Oct. 3, 2022, print edition of Crain’s Cleveland Business, the article “What would Jesus buy: Investor charts course for $2B fund” was republished from Bloomberg and highlighted the investment practices of Inspire Investing managed by Robert Netzly.

e article dedicates an entire page to outlining the practices of Netzly’s investing which is guided by his own interpretation of the Bible. An interpretation that, following the article, appears to be mainly focused on limiting LGBTQ+ advocacy and rights and women’s reproductive choices. If a company supports LGBTQ+ causes, reproductive choice, or even supports its employees accessing care that Netzly deems in con ict with his beliefs, it is not included in their clients’ portfolios.

e article compares these practices with those of ESG (environmental, social, governance) concerns which seek to make ethical investments and reduce harm. In contrast, rather than focusing on reducing harm, Netzly seeks to increase investments by supporting corporate autonomy and separating corporations from their role within communities allowing them to engage in practices that actively harm individuals, employees and communities. is is cloaked under the guise of religion. While making investment choices based on one’s personal beliefs is great; when those beliefs focus more heavily on stripping underserved or traditionally marginalized communities of basic rights and protections, one must question why a publication like Crain’s Cleveland Business would dedicate an entire page to highlighting this

company and its practices. e need to curtail investments that might support women and the LGBTQ+ community make up the majority of the concerns expressed in this rm’s investment practices, detailed in the article.

Crain’s Cleveland Business has established its support of women (Women of Note, Notable Women in Nonprofits 2019, Notable Women in Education 2019), the LGBTQ+ community (LGBTQ Business Directory, 2022 Book of Lists-LGBTQ-Owned Businesses, Notable LGBTQ Executives 2020), and other underserved communities (2022 Notable Immigrant Leaders, 2021 Notable Businesses Championing Diversity and Inclusion). is is why I was taken aback to see the amount of print space dedicated to this article which reads nearly as a paid advertisement with little comment on the impacts and implications of these investment practices.

I am writing to express my extreme disappointment in the editorial choices that led to this publication and the promotion of investment practices that appear to contradict the recent historical practices of this publication and the community support that exists within Cleveland — a city that can boast about having one of the oldest continually operating LGBTQ Centers in the United States and has a robust history of participation from women and the LGBTQ community in developing its neighborhoods and progressing the city forward.

Daniel Basil Hamilton, Director of operations, LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland; 2020 40 Under 40 Crain’s Cleveland Business honoree

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Although ergonomics has been on the radar for years, the tight labor market has brought increased attention to this study of work.

COMMUNITY COLLABORATION

Business is often about competition, companies working against each other to win contracts or customers.

But about 20 years ago, manufacturers in Lake County starting coming together to collaborate, to support one another and help each other solve problems. Now, the Alliance for Working Together Foundation is celebrating the opening of its new training center, a space designed to help educate young adults on careers in manufacturing and to help train individuals to work in the eld.

Mentor-based AWT got its start two decades ago as a way for busi ness owners to support one anoth er and grew to focus on the promo tion of manufacturing as a career.

e AWT Transformation Training Center will help it meet that mis sion, o ering training and educa tion for K-12 students, as well as adults in the workforce.

e space is a collaborative one, and it’s supposed to serve as a re source for the larger community, said Teresa Simons, executive di rector of the AWT Foundation. And it’s not training cut o from the workforce. AWT has a community of manufacturers to help connect trainees with jobs, she said.

e center also has gathered nancial support from a variety of sources: foundations, state and fed eral funds, and donations from in dividuals and companies.

“It’s fantastic,” said Roger Sustar, the founder of AWT. “It’s really hard to believe.”

Sustar, who is also the owner and CEO of Fredon Corp. in Men tor, has worked hard behind the scenes to earn this support for the center, reaching out to people de spite a steady stream of no’s over the years. But there were also plen ty of yes’s, as is evidenced by the center itself.

In many ways, this is, if not the culmination of decades of work by Sustar and his peers, a new peak. The foundation is truly about col laboration for the industry at large.

Sustar said it’s important that he do something to “help the next gen eration learn from us.” e center was designed to be as industrial as possible, he said, so it looks like a real manufacturing site. It was im portant to complement the pro grams already in the community, rather than compete with them, Si mons said.

RACHEL ABBEY MCCAFFERTY

The AWT Transformation Training Center on Tyler Boulevard in Mentor will o er education and training for all ages. | STEVEN DOHM, AWT FOUNDATION

Roger Sustar, founder of the AWT Foundation, cuts the ribbon on the manufacturing organization’s new training center.

A

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physical activity, support the mission of the American

Ergonomics can be a powerful tool

BY DOUGLAS J. GUTH

Hydraulic-powered lift tables, overhead rail systems and anti-fatigue oor mats are among the products changing the way manufacturing shop oors are run. ese innovations are also part of a larger methodology called ergonomics, with companies in the physically demanding industry designing jobs around the worker, rather than the other way around.

Although ergonomics has been on the sector’s radar for years, the

pandemic and its attendant tight labor market has brought increased attention to this “study of work” — as de ned by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Helping the region’s builders assess their ergonomic requirements is Cleveland’s Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network (MAGNET). Improved safety, increased productivity and employee retention are just a few of the benets in creating a proactive ergonomic environment, said Michael

Ground broke on the building back in August of 2021, and the ocial ribbon-cutting was Oct. 7. And the center at 8980 Tyler Blvd. in Mentor’s approximately 12,500 square feet will be full of activity soon.

Simons said some high school students from the Lake Shore Compact were expected to start training at the center in mid- to late October, and AWT’s apprenticeship program will move from Lakeland Community College to the center later this fall or winter, as well. Summer camps will follow, along with other programs.

Ready for the community

e timing of such moves has been tough to predict, in part because of one challenge that the manufacturers the center will serve know well: supply chain delays, particularly how long it can take to receive ordered equipment.

But at this time, the center already has CNC mills and lathes, as well as such equipment as 3D printers, robotics and measurement machinery. And, Simons said, there are “seasoned manufacturing professionals” who plan to help train in the center’s hands-on labs.

Simons said that ultimately, the

machining lab will be used by the Lake Shore Compact career technical program from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday during the school year. Apprenticeship classes will run in the afternoons, Monday through ursday. And the center will give AWT its own headquarters, as it had previously been located in Fredon. But the rest of the space — classrooms and conference rooms — will be used by the community.

“One of the things is, this building needs to be available for our members,” Simons said. at includes everything from manufacturers to education partners. For example, some smaller manufacturers might not have an adequate meeting space, but the training center’s rooms will be available to reserve. Or, Simons said, it would be open to groups like PTAs. Part of the challenge the center hopes to overcome is what parents think about manufacturing as a career for their children. People sometimes have an outdated view of manufacturing, and the center could serve as an example of what the industry looks like today.

Having a center like this in the community is “fantastic,” said Christine Weber, president and CEO of the Mentor Area Chamber of Commerce.

“I don’t know any other community that has something like this,” she said.

O’Donnell, vice president of operations at MAGNET.

“In any (ergonomic) analysis, a company can come up with easy things to do,” O’Donnell said. “ ey can put cushioned mats on the oor, or have a power screwdriver that helps with high-torque jobs like putting together an engine.

ese trends were occurring before COVID, but the pandemic accelerated the issue.”

Reducing worker injury will naturally improve productivity and morale, noted O’Donnell and other industry observers interviewed by Crain’s. Manufacturing enterprises that ignore ergonomics risk workers’ compensation claims around common musculoskeletal disorders — like carpal tunnel syndrome — caused by repetitive movements or sustained physical exertion.

Repetitive stress results from

prolonged activities where assembly line workers, as just one example, perform the same motions for hours on end. Frequent pushing, pulling, lifting or even bending to pick up items increases the likelihood of injury, according to OSHA guidelines. While common aches and pains may not have immediate impacts, over time a worker may lose joint exibility through tendinosis, or su er debilitating lower back or neck pain.

“You’re going to see these problems over a prolonged time,” said Dr. Drew Schwartz, a Cleveland Clinic physician with a concentration in wellness and preventative medicine. “Issues accelerate with certain jobs, because workers are doing the same motion over and over without a break.”

A training center like this is necessary, she added, as there are so many open manufacturing jobs in the region. e local higher education institutions do a great job of o ering di erent programs in this space, she said, but the new center will be able to o er technology the schools may not be able to a ord. And, at AWT’s center, students will be able to get involved at a much younger age and learn about manufacturing from kindergarten on, as will their parents. Oftentimes, students are already encouraged to know what they want to do when

they enter high school, well before it would be time to enroll in postsecondary education.

“But this gives a very good insight, I think, at a much younger age,” Weber said. “And we have such a huge baby boom retirement coming, we’re going to need these kids. And we need to start training them and get them interested, more than anything, at a younger age, to see if this type of career will work out for them.”

JAMIE KELTER DAVIS/BLOOMBERG

Teresa Simons joined the AWT Foundation as executive director in January. The foundation’s new center aims to be a resource for the community. ANTE LOGARUSIC

Property

ERGONOMICS

A company’s responsibility

ough many of Schwartz’s patients come from esports — where gamers are sitting in the same position for long periods — he knows well the wear and tear faced by the typical shop- oor worker.

“I always ask patients how much leniency they have at their work station,” said Schwartz. “Can they ip to the other side of the table to vary their position and give stretched muscles a break?”

Cushioned footwear is one simple option for people who work on their feet all day. Schwartz calls canvas sneakers a manufacturing nono, as even small irritations will compound themselves for a person walking back and forth across a factory oor.

However, the work safety onus should not be solely placed on the individual. O’Donnell of MAGNET said even smaller companies should implement ergonomic best practices that make the workplace safer and more e cient.

In manufacturing, ergonomics may equate to replacing a loader steering wheel with a joystick that puts less strain on an operator’s hands. Additionally, hydraulic pallets are increasingly common sights in factories, while foot-controlled lift tables keep workers from having to bend or reach.

“ e idea is to eliminate lifting, or have a conveyer that pushes the work down to the next person,” said O’Donnell. “Rather than having raw materials on the ground, have them

on a waist-high bench. You can get a roller conveyer with a 10% slope, then slide the materials down to waist height without lifting up and down.”

Ultimately, ergonomics considers body posture, speed of work and rest break frequency. During O’Donnell’s time at consumer products maker Rubbermaid, the company rotated shop workers through di erent tasks in order to relax muscles that might otherwise become strained through repetition.

Don’t get left behind

Brecksville-based Knight Ergonomic and Assembly works mostly in the automotive sector, counting Ford, GM, Honda, Toyota and Nissan as major clients. Vice president Joel Haller said a COVID-sparked “huge kick” around workplace safety has put ergonomics top-of-mind for many businesses.

“The cost of having a worker not able to work is a driving factor,” said Haller. “You also want to make your workplace more palatable so people will join your company. A customer may say we don’t want people lifting 25 pounds from the ground, so we’ll provide them with lift tables. Many of our accounts have been with us a long time, so we know the issues they face.”

What had been a rising conversation about ergonomics a decade ago is now in “hyperdrive,” Haller said.

As factory oors are no longer populated exclusively by men with football player builds, companies must nd a cost-e ective ergonomic sweet spot lest they be left behind by the company next door.

“ ese are solutions that their

competitors are using — if you do one or two of these things, you’ll see a return on investment there,” Haller said.

Automation will continue to transform manufacturing, with comprehensive ergonomics having clear cause-and-e ect outcomes around productivity. Comfortable employees, especially ones who don’t need to strain to complete tasks, will likely do their best work, said Michael Goldberg, a venture capitalist and entrepreneur serving as an associate professor at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management.

Alongside decreasing risk factors, an e ective ergonomics program helps establish standard operating procedures. What’s more, it can become a talent attraction and retention tool for younger generations expecting companies to keep them safe.

“ e Cleveland conundrum has always been keeping people here,” said Goldberg. “It’s a question of what satis es an employee about their workplace, and what companies are doing to bring folks in.”

Schwartz, the Clinic doctor, said the companies that continue to push boundaries in ergonomics will foster a culture that saves innumerable dollars in workplace-related disorders and compensation premiums.

“People are retiring, and lots of companies are hiring,” said Schwartz. “How do you bring in talent? Give them technology that shows you care about their well-being.”

Contact Douglas J. Guth: clbfreelancer@crain.com

Workforce development

Invigorating the workforce with young talent

Throughout Northeast Ohio and beyond, workforce development groups, community partners and employers alike recognize the value of offering opportunities that engage young people in the workforce, including in high-demand industries such as health care, IT and manufacturing. In these experiences, young people learn the importance of earning their own money while acquiring valuable skills such as communication, teamwork and accountability. Below are some initiatives that highlight the value of youth employment.

YOUTH EMPLOYMENT IN THE U.S.

About 55.3% of young people ages 16 to 24 were employed in July 2022. This rate was up from 54.4% in July 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The July 2022 gure is still below a 56.2% rate in July 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. July typically is the summertime peak in youth employment.

HOT SPOTS

While most summer youth employment programs are subsidized in the public and nonpro t sectors, private sector job placements are also a key pipeline for workforce development among young people, according to Brookings. New research shows that youth in private sector job placements see a positive impact on their academic performance, according to a July 18, 2022, Brookings report titled “How private sector summer employment programs are expanding bene ts for young people.”

MAKING AN IMPACT

Employers play a key role in creating jobs for young workers. Companies and industries who partner with Jobs for Ohio’s Graduates, for example, can participate in engagement opportunities such as mentoring, job shadowing, internships, hosting presentations and leadership in an annual career development and leadership development conference. JOG has served more than 30,000 at-risk youth since 1987.

A HUB OF CONNECTIVITY

The Greater Cleveland Career Consortium connects employers and industry groups with youth-centered organizations, including kindergarten through 12th-grade schools and higher education institutions, philanthropic entities and nonpro t partners. The consortium aims to work together to link students with high-growth, family sustaining jobs while building a diversi ed Northeast Ohio workforce.

FORWARD MOMENTUM

Creating income and workforce parity is a key component of the sustainable workforce development equation. Towards Employment has developed a Policy Action Plan that will focus on four key action areas between 2022 and 2025:

• Promoting proactive, data-informed strategies to remove career advancement barriers for people of color.

• Support policies and investments that favor equitable skill building and career advancement.

• Decrease the number of barriers that prevent employment for individuals with previous involvement in the criminal justice system.

• Advocate for holistic workforce programs that build engagement, retention and advancement in the workforce.

Employers’ involvement in youth employment and career exploration has a good return on investment

Talent shortage needs no introduction, as everyone reading this piece is, at minimum, aware of and is likely dealing with the unprecedented labor market challenges of 2022. At the same time a recent report published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that youth unemployment is still relatively high at 8%. And for African American youth, it is a staggering 15.9%. Meanwhile, Northeast Ohio is at a critical junction in our history as many opportunities are converging (e.g., new dynamic leadership throughout our community and a collective response to the pandemic highlighting Cleveland’s strengths).

The time is right for Cleveland to seize this unique moment in our history and truly generate a workforce pipeline that can be the engine of our economic growth for decades to come.

The solution is simple and has to do with long-term return on investment. If employers take the time to invest in the youth and young adult workforce, there is a win-win scenario. Employers can expose youth to actual opportunities and control the message about their industry. This is particularly important for industries like manufacturing, construction trades and information technology as youth typically do not have much exposure to these careers. Meanwhile, youth learn valuable skills, keep engaged and motivated and can test drive options for their future.

Community initiatives like the Greater Cleveland Career Consortium and Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s Planning and Career Exploration (PACE) program make it easier than ever for employers to engage with youth. These projects provide forums for employers to offer industry tours, job-shadow experience, or guest speaking engagements – all of which can be quite impactful to teenagers. And as capacity allows, hiring high school youth as workers and interns, especially over the summer, can have a very

CRAIG DORN President and CEO Youth Opportunities Unlimited

A Cleveland native, Dorn credits his mother for teaching him that education was his ticket out of poverty. He not only took that to heart personally but continues to dedicate his career to providing the same opportunities to economically disadvantaged youth.

powerful effect. A study by Case Western Reserve University showed that summer employment leads to 6% higher school attendance, 12% better high school graduation rates and more than 30% less involvement with the justice system.

These activities take time and energy. However, we wonder what the alternative choice may be. The business community needs to invest time now and have a proactive role in preparing tomorrow’s workforce. The return on investment is a skilled and educated workforce ready to drive Cleveland’s economy for the rest of the 21st century.

This

Advocates: Amid leadership change, Cuyahoga County must put more resources into housing

BY MICHELLE JARBOE

Cuyahoga County needs a high-level housing czar, a commitment to housing as a human right — and, after more than a decade of discussions, a fund devoted to creating and preserving affordable places to live.

Those are the top-line recommendations in a new report, released Monday, Oct. 10, less than a month before voters will choose a new County Executive. The 30-page paper, a blend of research and policy suggestions, was produced by nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners on behalf of a broad group of stakeholders focused on housing, poverty and economic stability.

Echoing other research produced since the Great Recession, the paper depicts a county with two distinct housing markets: One more-than-recovered from the 2008 housing bust, the other depressed, dragging down the well-being and wealth of neighborhoods on Cleveland’s majority-Black East Side and in close-lying suburbs.

e report suggests that county leaders can improve that situation through putting sta and funding

behind four priorities: Housing stability. Reduced barriers for wouldbe renters and owners. Stronger fair-housing policies. And equitable new investments.

e Cuyahoga County Housing Stakeholder Group hosted a discussion of those issues with both County Executive candidates, Democrat Chris Ronayne and Republican Lee Weingart, on Wednesday, Oct. 12. e event, one of a urry of forums leading up to the Nov. 8 election, took place at Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry on Superior Avenue in Cleveland.

The paper lays the groundwork for a refresh of the county’s first comprehensive housing plan, proposed in 2017 and adopted by Cuyahoga County Council in 2019. At the time, county officials and the Cuyahoga Land Bank, or Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corp., collectively committed $30 million to housing initiatives from 2020 through 2025.

at money, from casino-tax revenues and fees on delinquent property-tax collections, has helped reduce blight, support home renovations and spur programs to provide small-dollar home loans and modest home-repair funds.

But there still are deep disparities in home values, loan availability and access to clean and safe housing across the county — di erences that have ripple e ects on tax collections and government spending on social services and other needs.

“We’ve seen a lot of progress. … But there’s still a lot of work,” said Emily Lundgard, a Cleveland-based senior program director for Enterprise, a national nonpro t focused on improving access to housing.

Lundgard stressed that the new report is not a complete plan. It’s a list of potential strategies, informed by dozens of organizations ranging from the Akron Cleveland Association of Realtors and the Greater Cleveland Realtist Association to the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless and the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority.

One of the key planks is putting money behind a housing trust fund, something county o cials have talked about since at least 2008. In 2010, just before the county shifted to a new, executive-led form of government, the old board of commissioners approved the creation of a housing trust fund designed to boost the supply of a ordable housing.

But the county never allocated

money to the program. Elsewhere in the state, similar funds rely on hotel bed taxes, real estate transfer fees and excess city revenues. e Affordable Housing Trust for Columbus & Franklin County, launched in 2001, also is a federally certi ed Community Development Financial Institution and has access to federal grants and money from lenders and companies.

With new leadership in Cleveland, where Mayor Justin Bibb took office in January, and a looming C-suite change at the county, advocates see a chance to resurrect the conversation

“There’s a real potential, when we’re looking at the reoccurring housing fund, to be looking at that as a city-county housing fund,” said Lundgard, pointing to other models that support loans and grants for affordable housing. “That’s the gold standard that we’ve seen.”

In several areas, the report suggests a carrot-and-stick approach to developers, landlords and even cities where zoning regulations don’t allow rentals or multifamily housing.

For example, the stakeholders recommend that the county enact source-of-income protection legis-

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A house on Cleveland’s East Side needs repairs to where private lending is scarce and property values

lation to prevent rental applicants from being rejected purely because they rely on federal housing vouchers. ey also say that voucher programs should be easier to navigate and paired with support and nancial incentives for property owners.

“If you have 90% of landlords that aren’t accepting vouchers, that makes things hard,” said Ayonna Blue Donald, Enterprise’s vice president for the Ohio market.

A year ago, Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish announced a plan for legislation to provide countywide source-ofincome protection. But that legislation has not moved forward.

e county also should consider an ordinance that would bar local governments from limiting or banning rentals, the report states, while using state and federal money as incentives to encourage communities to accept a broader range of residential projects.

e paper touches on the need for better code enforcement, more robust home-repair programs, broader down-payment assistance for buyers and property-tax relief for longtime homeowners in locations where new development is driving up values.

Some recommendations echo recent policy proposals from the First Suburbs Consortium and Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, who are

hosting a county executive forum on Oct. 20.

e county’s work in those areas should be coordinated by a cabinet-level o cial who can transcend departmental boundaries, the housing-focused partners wrote.

“ e borders bleed. ey really do. … We’re talking about attracting

posits as a lever to push banks to lend more freely on the hard-hit East Side, the county has been less successful.

e upshot of the report is that the housing market remains extremely uneven.

And there’s arguably a bigger role that county government can play in

workforce, so having the types of housing and the places that meet people’s needs is really important,” said Ken Surratt, who served as the county’s in-house housing guru from mid-2015 to mid-2019.

He’s remained a member of the county housing stakeholder group, rst as an outreach manager at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and, today, as vice president of community investment and chief investment o cer at the United Way of Greater Cleveland.

Surratt gives the county and its partners high marks in some areas, such as combating blight through demolition and renovations with the land bank.

In other arenas, like using its de-

rebuilding.

“If you x the roof on grandma’s house now, in 10 years when maybe she needs to exit that house, it will be more a ordable for someone to buy. If we let that roof go now, then it’s one more blighted property, potentially dangerous, not worth anything, with no value passed on to the family,” Surratt said.

“To me,” he added, “that would be such a beautiful thing, to see investment in those Black and brown communities that have been historically redlined, to see those investments so that generational wealth can be passed down in housing.”

Michelle Jarboe: michelle.jarboe@ crain.com, (216) 771-5437, @mjarboe

“IF YOU FIX THE ROOF ON GRANDMA’S HOUSE NOW, IN 10 YEARS WHEN MAYBE SHE NEEDS TO EXIT THAT HOUSE, IT WILL BE MORE AFFORDABLE FOR SOMEONE TO BUY. IF WE LET THAT ROOF GO NOW, THEN IT’S ONE MORE BLIGHTED PROPERTY, POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS, NOT WORTH ANYTHING, WITH NO VALUE PASSED ON TO THE FAMILY.”

—Ken Surratt, vice president of community investment and chief investment o cer at the United Way of Greater Cleveland

Remote work shutters major building in Jackson Township

BY DAN SHINGLER

A big o ce building in Jackson Township has become vacant and available, thanks to the trend toward remote work.

Synchrony, which operated a call center and took up the entire 150,000 square-foot building it was using at 4500 Munson St., just north of Canton and west of I-77, went remote last year after polling its workers. It found they overwhelmingly preferred working from home.

“During the pandemic, obviously, everyone went to work from home. In September of 2020, we looked at a survey of our employees, and 86% said they’d like to work from home permanently,” said Synchrony senior vice president of communications Lisa Lanspery.

By the end of 2021, Synchrony had decided to do as its employees requested and went to a exible work structure under which people would work from home, which meant it no longer needed that big building.

e building’s owner, Envision USA, a real estate investment rm in

Great Neck, New York, is now looking to sell or lease the entire site, but is also considering converting it to apartments, said Envision founder, principal and CEO David Monassebian.

“We’re looking to lease it or sell it,” Monassebian said. “Synchrony has decided to vacate, and they’ve basically already vacated.”

Monassebian said Synchrony had been a good tenant and ful lled its lease, but losing a tenant is never easy, let alone one that took a whole large building.

“It’s not really positive for us because we own the building, and we’re looking for an o ce tenant,” Monassebian said.

But at least Synchrony left him with a nice space to market. e company had just nished updating its space when it decided to go remote, Monassebian said, so its former o ces are in brand-new condition.

“I would say it’s a Class A building — it’s in excellent condition,” Monassebian said. “ ey put in a lot of new furniture and equipment before COVID, then when the pandemic

started people started working from home — and before people went back to work, they decided to work from home full time. ... is is a really unique opportunity for a tenant, because someone built it all out for a call center and then walked away.” e building was constructed in 2000, and Monassebian said his rm purchased it in 2015. His rst choice now is to lease or sell the entire building, but he’s also considering other

options.

One such option is converting the building to residential.

“We’re actually exploring that possibility,” Monassebian said. “We’ve just started looking into the possibility of converting the building to residential. I spoke with a representative of Stark County, and they said there is a demand for housing in Stark County, so based on that need, we’re exploring the possibility of converting it

to residential. It depends on whether the economics make sense.”

But Monassebian points out he’s neither a local owner nor a developer, so he would need a local partner to proceed with a conversion.

“One of the things I’m looking for is a developer or general contractor who would be interested in partnering with us on a conversion,” he said.

IMPACT HONOREE

The building that formerly housed Synchrony is on the market, but could become apartments, its owner says. | CONTRIBUTED

Removing barriers, changing behaviors

How this year’s Deborah Vesy System Change Champion Award honorees are enabling more youths and adults to access family-sustaining careers

By Sara McCarthy, Crain’s Content Studio-Cleveland

In the world of workforce development, when an organization helps a person get on the path to a career, that is a win. When several organizations work together to remove pervasive barriers or address the root causes that are preventing many people from accessing family-sustaining careers, that is systems change.

To recognize and reward the organizations in Northeast Ohio that are doing this kind of work, the Deaconess Foundation established the Deborah Vesy Systems Change Champion Award in 2021. The award honors Deborah Vesy, who served as the Foundation’s president and CEO for 18 years and retired in 2020.

“The purpose of the award is to ensure the transformative work she seeded and championed continues for many years to come,” said Cathy Belk, president and CEO of the Deaconess Foundation, a private foundation committed to helping people build careers that sustain them and their families. “By highlighting systems change initiatives within workforce development, we make sure our community is aware of and supports efforts that are helping individuals access familysustaining careers and connecting companies to the talent they need to grow and be successful.”

Selected by Deaconess Foundation from a pool of applications, the winner of the award receives an unrestricted $50,000 grant. Learn more about this year’s nalists and winner below.

WINNER

College Now Greater Cleveland

In its early years, College Now focused on the speci c steps students need to take to get into college and how to pay for it.

“It was very successful,” said CEO Lee Friedman, who joined the nearly 60-yearold organization in 2010. “But it didn’t really address how you change the culture among students in communities where college or any kind of career is not the focus day to day.”

As College Now saw an increase in students without post-high school plans, including a lack of knowledge about the education and career opportunities available to them, it began thinking about how it could not only support students, but also those who work directly with students during the postsecondary planning process.

“When we think about systems change, we’re talking about a much deeper dive into addressing root causes and getting adults, in particular, to deal differently with the people we serve,” Friedman said.

College Now developed the Coaching for Careers Institute (C4CI) to systemically change how advising services are provided and to lead to a more youth-centered, education-to-career-focused culture in schools and in the community.

Through C4CI’s curriculum, youth-facing adult professionals learn improved techniques for how to understand and interact with students when helping them create plans for their futures, especially students who are from racial and ethnic minority groups and those who are experiencing economic disadvantages, as well as how to coach students to set and achieve aspirational education and career goals. It also provides students with opportunities to learn more about the variety of career options that are available to them, as well as the education or training pathways needed to get there.

College Now’s goal is for every student in Northeast Ohio to walk away from high school with a postsecondary plan, developed with an understanding of themselves and the options available to them, whether it be a four- or two-year college, an apprenticeship, certi cate program, career or the military.

“Our focus is on making sure every young person can reach their potential in a way that makes them feel ful lled,” Friedman said. “We know some type of postsecondary credential is still the best option for students to nd a career that will provide a living wage, but regardless of the path students choose to pursue, we are happy to play a part in helping them gure out their personal best t.”

During the 2021-2022 school year, the rst year for the institute, more than 400 youth-facing adult professionals, including College Now staff, Cleveland Metropolitan School District staff, facilitators, and local employers, received or began the training. More than 200 are expected to receive or begin the training this school year.

FINALISTS

New Bridge

Finding time to pursue the education or training needed to move up in a career can be dif cult while working full-time. And yet, the training can be hard to pay for without a job or a steady source of income. New Bridge, a trauma-informed, social emotional learning center focused on helping students identify and pursue educational and career pathways that lead to ful lling lives, has sought to remedy this paradox.

In 2021, New Bridge partnered with University Hospitals (UH) to create a new Medical Assistant program and training model for incumbent workers. The 10-month program results in a nationally recognized credential and starting wages of more than $37,000. To ensure the program is offered at no cost to the students, New Bridge worked with UH and others to cover the training costs, bringing together tuition reimbursement from UH and state and philanthropic funding.

Those who go through the program are employed by UH as full-time medical receptionists. They work two days a week and receive training the other three days but are paid for a 40-hour week at $16 an hour. UH provides workplace coaching and New Bridge covers the academic and SEL training.

UH received more than 90 applications in the rst 72 hours of launching the program. In the rst six months of 2022, there have been more than 750 applications for 150 training slots. The rst cohort, which will graduate 16 medical assistants in October, has a retention rate of 80%. The second cohort has 22 students and a 100% retention rate so far.

Deeply held beliefs have been challenged by this program, said Bethany Friedlander, New Bridge president and CEO, including the beliefs that economically at-risk students cannot go to school and work at the same time, that online curriculum cannot be utilized effectively with economically at-risk populations and that 10-month programs are too long and will have signi cant attrition rates.

“People want to be upskilled. People want their employers to invest in them,” Friedlander said. “This model is beautiful in the ability to meet that need.”

Center for Arts-Inspired Learning

Fashion design. Hip hop MC-ing. Mixed media portraits. These are among the focus areas high school students can choose to apprentice in at the Center for Arts-Inspired Learning. But those who attend the six- to 12-week ArtWorks program walk away with more than a new artistic ability. They are equipped with the skills needed to be successful in the workforce.

For nearly 70 years, the Center for Arts-Inspired Learning has been providing critical access to arts education for students across Northeast Ohio. Its ArtWorks apprenticeship program, now in its 19th year, takes an arts-integrated approach to job training, coupling skill development in a particular art form with hard and soft 21st century job skills, such as public speaking, interviewing, networking, nancial literacy, use of technology and collaboration.

“ArtWorks looks at the world of work through the lens of the arts, opening up their minds to the possibilities of what their pathways beyond K-12 education could be,” said Emma Parker, senior director of arts education.

The program also provides students with a stipend. For many students, this is their rst paycheck.

“The youth nd ways to expand on the tools we give them,” Parker said. “One fashion design apprentice went out and bought herself her very rst sewing machine. … Other youth are just happy to support their families or are putting the stipends into savings accounts.”

The Center for Arts-Inspired Learning partners with other organizations, including College Now, Young Adult Resource Center and the Better Business Bureau, based on the needs of the students each year.

“When we think about systems, we recognize that we’re not the only cog spinning,” said Shef a Dooley, president and CEO. “It’s not enough to hand a student a check. They still need to be able to get there. They still need to eat when they get there. We are trying to support all those needs. That’s why we strive to connect more with community resources.”

Deborah Vesy

College Now Greater Cleveland

New Bridge

Center for Arts-Inspired Learning

Baldwin Wallace is putting more emphasis on students’ second year

Colleges have lots of di erent op portunities for new students to get engaged. “First-year” is a popular adjective, attached to programming like rst-year orientations, rst-year seminars, rst-year courses and rst-year experiences. And as a higher ed career winds down, there’s more of a focus on nishing up those upper-level courses and getting a job.

at second year, though, can be more murky. In fact, one education consulting rm dubbed it just that: the murky middle.

“No one talks about how, espe cially with today’s college students of Gen-Z, there’s such a need for in tentional engagement to go up the ladder from that rst year of devel opment (and) guring out college to your sophomore year of really gur ing out who you are in college,” said Timeka Rashid, vice president for student a airs at Baldwin Wallace University.

It’s that thought that’s pushing Baldwin Wallace leaders to begin to evolve those experiences for their sophomores. e move is grounded in research, according to Rashid, like one 2018 academic article that noted “little attention has been giv en to an intentional design of the second-year experience to chal lenge and support students.”

Persistence rates, which look at college students who return to any institution for a second year, are thought to be a good marker of over all student success, per the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. e group found that 75% of students who started college in the fall of 2020 returned for a second year.

Data provided by Baldwin Wal lace shows 659 rst-year students enrolled full time on its Berea cam pus that semester. About 82%, or 539 students, returned for a second year, and 482, or 73%, came back for a third year.

ose numbers stayed on a simi lar path track the following year. In 2021, 727 students began at BW. About 82% of them, or 599, came back for a second year.

“Retention is one thing, but we’re about matriculation and student ex perience here at BW,” Rashid said. “So how do we think innovatively about really cultivating that group, that one year, that population that can sometimes be at risk of falling between the cracks?”

Rashid said this new focus isn’t tied to enrollment from her stand point. But the university, like its peers across the region, as well as the country, has seen declines am pli ed amid the pandemic. Fulltime total enrollment reportedly fell about 2% from fall 2020 to fall 2021 at the Berea campus.

If the institution truly wanted to innovate, Rashid told university president Robert Helmer, creating a new position could help.

“A lot of institutions have what you call a director of rst-year expe rience or something like that,” Rashid said. “We took it a little step further and said, ‘Let’s make sure that they are connected with sopho mores, as well.’”

e university tapped Claudine Grunenwald Kirschner, a BW alum, as its inaugural director of rst-year and sophomore experience. Her rst few months in the role have in cluded lots of listening with fami lies, students and other campus constituents “just to get a better gauge of where our sophomore stu dents are and where we can kind of develop some really good pro grams,” Rashid said.

Other colleges nationwide al ready have sophomore-speci c pro grams. Kentucky Wesleyan College, for example, o ers a slate of work shops and retreats called the “Soph oMORE Experience.” Southern Utah University noted an increase in sec ond-year retention rates after intro ducing its own sophomore-focused program in 2019.

In Northeast Ohio, Kent State University doesn’t currently o er any speci c sophomore retention initiatives, but is in the beginning stages of creating a committee to fo cus on that work, per a spokeswom an. All sophomores at John Carroll University undergo meetings with advisers to talk about things like ac ademic pathways and career inter ests. e University of Mount Union o ers a “Halfway ere Fair” each spring for sophomores, o ering stu dents a way to connect with campus resources as the second half of their college career unfolds.

Rashid said she’d like to see Bald win Wallace move in the direction of the work Ohio State University is do ing in this space.

e state’s agship has an o er ing called the Second-year Trans formational Experience Program, which goes by the acronym STEP. It o ers students regular meetings with peers in the same year, as well

as faculty mentors.

Students spend the fall develop ing “community building, goal set ting, personal growth and identity exploration through engaging dis cussions and activities,” per OSU’s website, and the spring working on a project in areas like community service or undergraduate research.

Baldwin Wallace piloted its rst sophomore-speci c o ering earlier this summer. e focus was on do ing something “small and intention al, bringing a group of sophomores together in a very non-conventional way in a space where they can get to connect and build and network to gether,” according to Rashid.

e result was a sophomore “bridge” experience o ered through the campus recreation department. It included two days of team-build ing activities on campus before heading to West Virginia for out door activities.

“Studies show that learning through avenues like camping, raft ing, rock climbing and hiking can build a strong sense of belonging, help students face challenges, im prove problem solving and decision making, build skills in indepen dence and con dence, and increase communication skills and resil ience,” Christine Varga, assistant di rector of campus recreation, said in a September article on BW’s web site.

Only seven students participated in this initial o ering, a number Rashid said was kept small due to the pilot nature.

Rashid said the hope, ideally, is for those students to take the skills they learned during that time and apply them to other campus organi zations, their classrooms and other interactions with their fellow soph omores. e semester’s only seven weeks in, though. It’s early. ere’s tentative plans to circle back with the group to see how they’re doing now and what they want to do for the rest of the year, Rashid said.

For BW o cials, the rest of the year will include thinking of more ways to build out these o erings. Rashid said that could include things like developing an advising concept that’s more peer-based, where students can help each other nd their niches, as well as poten tially o ering a living-learning com munity speci cally for second-year students.

AMY MORONA

Students

Baldwin Wallace University attended sophomore-speci

summer.

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In the war for accounting talent, allowing remote work is table stakes.

Almost every company on Crain’s annual Accounting Firms list said they allow remote work — which by one measure might be the most commonly employed tactic in their fight for talent.

Of the 35 companies that submit ted data for the list, 31 said they let most Northeast Ohio employees work remotely at least some of the time. In response to a separate op tional question, two of the other four said they do allow some degree of remote work.

It has almost become a necessity for recruiting and retention, ac cording to a few firms on the list that spoke with Crain’s.

Zinner & Co. of Beachwood, No. 29 on the full digital version of the list, asks employees to come into the office at least two days a week and strongly encourages them to come in on Thursdays, said manag ing partner Robin Baum.

If Zinner required them to be in the office five days a week?

“I probably would’ve lost at least five members of my staff,” Baum said.

Many other local firms have em braced remote work for that reason, judging by how they answered this question on the list survey:

nearly all rms on list allow remote work

Over the past 12 months, what actions have you taken to address recruiting challenges?

Of the 12 companies that respond ed, 11 picked “permanently allowing remote work part or full time” — making it the No. 1 choice out of nine options. It was even ahead of this classic: 10 companies picked “raised salaries beyond cost-of-living in creases.” Many selected both.

And the third-most-popular choice is related to the rise of remote work: Seven rms picked “recruiting from new geographies.”

at last one highlights one reason why remote work hasn’t solved the years-long sta ng challenges ac counting rms nationwide have been facing.

In some ways, the rise of remote work has been a double-edged sword: If you can recruit people from anywhere, so can your competitors.

at’s something Jim Dascenzo understands well. His Can eld-based rm, HBK CPAs and Consultants, has lost a few of its best employees to rms in Atlanta and New York. us, HBK, No. 20 on the list, needs to al low remote work. But it’s not just out of necessity. e ability to hire re motely has helped the company nd uncommon skills, Dascenzo said.

“It’s hard to nd those specialists,” he said.

It’s pretty hard to ll all kinds of positions, judging by how rms an swered this question:

Over the past 12 months, has it become easier or harder to nd and recruit talent whether those jobs are entry-level, mid-level or senior positions?

No one said it’s gotten easier — nor did they when we asked them this question last year. Of 16 re

spondents, one firm picked “little or no change,” and everyone else said it’s gotten harder. The most popular choice was the most dire: Eight firms picked “significantly harder.”

We also asked this open-response question:

What’s the most creative tactic your rm has used to solve sta ng challenges?

Zinner has started doing “stay in terviews” designed to gure out what the rm can do to retain employees. What the rm learned in the process drove Zinner to create a more struc tured bonus program and give out midyear bonuses designed to make up for in ation, Baum said.

She said employees care about time o and quality of life as well, and al lowing remote work adds to both. But Zinner still sees value in having em ployees in the o ce for the sake of learning, collaborating and relation ship-building, she said. Still, the com pany hasn’t ruled out the idea of hir ing some totally remote employees.

“Do I see that in the future as a pos sibility? Absolutely,” she said.

is past tax season, 415 Group of Canton, No. 24 on the list, started out sourcing some tax lings and audits to a U.S. rm with an overseas sta . e company did about 1,500 hours’ worth of work that way this past year and the quality was good, so 415 Group is planning to at least double that gure next tax season, said man aging partner Richard Craig.

But he’d do that work internally if he could nd the sta .

“ ere’s just a at-out shortage in public accounting,” Craig said.

Chuck Soder: csoder@crain.com, (216) 771-5374, @ChuckSoder

Finding, training and keeping the right people

By Vince Guerrieri, Crain’s Content Studio-Cleveland

It’s become a common refrain over the past couple of years as employers struggle to ll positions: “nobody wants to work.”

But that’s not entirely true, said Eric Dillenbeck, director of work experiences for Youth Opportunities Unlimited, a Cleveland organization dedicated to nding jobs and opportunities for teens and young adults.

“It’s not that people don’t want to work,” said Dillenbeck, one of three panelists in the latest installment of the “How to Grow Your Business” webinar series targeted toward small business owners, this one focused on hiring, talent retention and leadership. “I think COVID created an environment that reset employees’ expectations.”

Another panelist, Jennifer Osborn, owner of TalentSENSE, a provider of human resources and recruitment services, said this staf ng shortage should be a moment of introspection for companies – and not necessarily just when it comes to salary.

“A lot of organizations have looked at what it takes to improve their culture,” she said. That can take the form of a variety of incentives, particularly when it’s a small business that can’t necessarily compete on higher salaries. It might be some kind of work-from-home or hybrid schedule. It might be more ex time or paid time off.

“I’m not saying that the solution is remote work,” she said. “The point is to nd ways that the company has a good culture and people want to work there. What can you offer that’s attractive to get people in?”

Recruitment can be dif cult as well. Osborn highlighted LinkedIn, but realizes that not everyone is on that social media network. ZipRecruiter can work as well, but Osborn advised

caution in the case of Indeed, even though it’s possibly the most popular job site available.

“I nd that I get 100,000 unquali ed candidates for every quali ed candidate on Indeed,” she said.

Some companies are leery of hiring people of a certain age group – and that can be to their detriment. Dillenbeck said there are companies who don’t want to be someone’s “ rst real job,” denying themselves a potential employee who is creative and passionate about their work.

Conversely, there are companies that try to avoid hiring older workers, fearing they can’t grasp the technology of the job. And those companies can miss out on experience and a strong work ethic, said Sandra McKnight, vice president of access, learning and success and workforce partnerships at Cuyahoga Community College.

But getting people through the door is only part of the equation.

Companies should nd employees that are willing to stay, and make sure that willingness continues. Too many employers go through what’s called “churn-and-burn,” making a high quantity of hires and then replacing them after their quick departure.

Dillenbeck said that small businesses are particularly important in the development of other entrepreneurs, because of the variety of experiences employees can have – and McKnight agrees.

“I think that’s one of the opportunities of being at a small business,” she said. “You can wear so many hats. You can diversify your portfolio and skill set.”

Osborn encouraged regular feedback with employees, noting that even tough and awkward conversations can be opportunities for growth. She also said it’s important to have regular one-on-one meetings with employees to make sure they’re satis ed.

“Just like an employee should know if they’re at risk to be red, a manager should know if someone’s going to resign,” she said.

“Who are your ight risks?”

Small business owners can look to a variety of examples of effective leadership. McKnight said that when Tri-C selected Michael Baston as its new president earlier this year, he went on a listening tour with students, staff and faculty, offering his time in a casual and trust-building manner.

“The most effective leaders recognize the value of employees’ opinions and input, and can incorporate that to create momentum and stability in their workplace,” McKnight said.

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KeyBank launches program for nancing home repairs

When KeyBank was awarded a fouryear, $3.2 million banking services contract by Cuyahoga County in spring 2020, it made a number of commit ments to the region, including expand ing the Challenge Fund Loan Guaran tee Program — which has been exclusive to homeowners nancing home repairs in Cleveland Heights for decades — across the county.

Key looks to make good on that promise and expand access to nanc ing for home improvement projects in the local market with the launch of its Key Cares Loan Program, which it says replaces and builds on the Challenge Fund program.

Managed in collaboration with the nonpro t Home Repair Resource Cen ter (HRRC), the Key Cares program of fers unsecured home improvement loans in a range between $5,000 to $15,000.

HRRC has long overseen the Chal lenge Fund, which primarily served individuals who struggle to access con ventional bank nancing. To qualify for a Challenge loan, a borrower had to be denied a loan by another lender rst.

With the Key Cares program, loans will be available to borrowers across the county at any income level and re gardless of whether they were previ ously denied credit.

e loans may carry interest rates in a range between 8% to 15%, said HRRC executive director Keesha Allen.

ey are geared toward signi cant home improvements that are not su per cial. A kitchen remodel wouldn’t qualify, but installation of a new fur nace would, for example.

A Key spokesperson said the bank’s agreement with Cuyahoga County commits the company to this program for 10 years.

“Owning and maintaining a home not only brings pride to individuals, families, and communities, but it’s also one of the best mechanisms to build wealth,” said Eric Fiala, KeyBank’s head of corporate responsibility and community relations, in a statement. He said the program “will drive invest ment in neighborhoods in Northeast Ohio and give neighbors and commu nities a tool that will create wealth by easing the burden of home repairs and maintenance.”

Allen said the Key Cares Loan Pro gram o ers a valuable product. She expects it to be popular and applauds the county and Key for its rollout.

“We are looking forward to being able to help more people,” Allen said.

How the Challenge Fund worked

Since its launch in 1971, defaults in the Challenge program have been around just 5%, according to a 2017 re port by the Greater Cleveland Rein vestment Coalition.

At a bit more than 1,000 loans made over the decades, the program was not immensely popular, though it was available only to a speci c demograph ic: homeowners in Cleveland Heights who couldn’t access traditional nanc ing for home repairs.

A hallmark of the Challenge pro gram was HRRC’s assistance to and heavy involvement with homeowners, said Frank Ford, a senior policy adviser with the Fair Housing Center for Rights and Research and chair of VAPAC (Va cant and Abandoned Property Action Council).

HRRC would review a customer’s nancial wherewithal to repay a loan, counsel borrowers if they were falling behind on loan repayments, provide assurance that the repairs or improve ments someone was seeking were truly needed and ensure that the borrower was working with a reputable contrac tor.

A contractor wouldn’t receive nal payments for work nanced through a Challenge loan until after a nal in spection by HRRC. Ford touts that ele ment of the program as a meaningful consumer protection, which is absent under Key Cares.

HRRC took these steps in large part to protect itself because Challenge loans were guaranteed by the nonprof it itself. But all that oversight, according to Ford and Allen, had the added bene t of making the program a success in terms of that low default rate.

A lot of these features are built into the new program, though some are not.

How Key Cares works

Under the Key Cares Loan Program, HRRC’s role is still crucial but di erent compared with the Challenge pro gram.

Borrowers must rst go to HRRC to secure a recommendation for a Key Cares loan. HRRC will review the ap propriateness of the loan and the cus tomer’s ability to repay at that step,

which includes a comprehensive nancial screening and a home assess ment.

With a recommendation in hand, about 90% of the work is done, Allen said. e borrower then can take the recommendation to any Key bank branch and complete the loan request.

Once a check is cut to the customer, though, there is no requirement for them to continue working with HRRC, like they would have been expected to under the Challenge program.

HRRC’s classes and counseling will still be available and highly encour aged. e nonpro t secured county funding to hire additional people to administer the program for the next few years.

ere’s just no requirement for cus tomers to work with the agency after they get their money.

If the borrower wants to handle a contractor on their own versus choos ing one referred by HRRC, they can do that. And while HRRC will o er loan counseling and classes on home re pairs, which help homeowners to not be taken advantage of by contractors, the borrower doesn’t need to follow through with any of it. All of those extra services are voluntary.

“We are still going to make every ef fort to do followup with the borrower even though it is not mandatory,” Allen said.

is means some, but not all, of the handholding built into the Challenge loan program that helped facilitate its success is absent with the Key Cares Loans.

is dynamic with Key Cares gives more liberties to borrowers than exist ed with the Challenge program, but it’s some of these missing pieces that may raise some concerns.

FLEXING MUSCLES: Private jet ser vice Flexjet Inc. of Richmond Heights announced it plans to go public via a merger with blank-check rm Hori zon Acquisition Corp. II in a deal that will value the combined company at about $3.1 billion, including debt. e deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2023. Directors for both Flexjet and Horizon have ap proved the proposed combination.

Flexjet said its shares will list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “FXJ.” Proceeds from the deal would be used to fund eet, program and geographic expansion, as well as to improve maintenance support fa cilities and private terminals.

CUTS COMING: University Hospitals said it’s laying o 117 administrative employees, and will eliminate 326 un lled administrative positions, as the health system contends with sti

nancial headwinds. None of the employees or positions being elimi nated provide direct patient care, UH said in a statement. A ected employ ees “will receive a severance package commensurate with their positions and length-of-service,” the system said. UH also said it will “undertake other non-labor expense reductions” that weren’t speci ed. In total, the system said, the moves “will lower expenses by in excess of $100 mil lion.” Such a major cost reduction is

“

e thing that bothers me is once you get the money, nothing attaches you to HRRC anymore,” Allen said. “We can take a picture of your house or so licit followups from you, but there are no real ties once someone receives funding, unfortunately.”

ere is no longer any inspection by HRRC required before nal payments are made to the contractor.

And because the customer’s nan cial assessment is frontloaded into the lending process, with followups being voluntary, HRRC will not necessarily be aware if a borrower is falling behind in payments, at which point they would typically look to provide target ed counseling.

Now, Key Cares borrowers are not necessarily going to have checkered credit histories like borrowers did un der the Challenge program.

However, the distressed neighbor hoods that housing advocates like Ford say tend to bene t the most from these home-repair lending programs often have property owners who bene t from the extra guidance.

“With this new program, both Key Bank and Cuyahoga County deserve credit for taking a major step forward in meeting home repair credit needs,” Ford said. “But I’m concerned that the program will not include two of the components of the original Challenge Loan program: there will be no nal inspection by HRRC to ensure the re pairs were done properly, and HRRC won’t be noti ed if a borrower falls be hind on payments and thus no oppor tunity to o er assistance.”

“As we move forward,” he added, “my hope is that other banks will step up to partner with HRRC and include all of the features of the Challenge Loan program.”

necessary, UH said, because through the rst eight months of 2022, the system “experienced a net operating loss of $184.6 million.”

FAREWELL TO THE MARKET: First Industrial Realty Trust Inc., a pub licly traded owner and developer of industrial real estate, sold o its last Cleveland-area assets in a roughly $100 million transaction. e Chica go-based company unloaded six buildings in late September, though

What about defaults?

ere are also some questions about what happens if a customer defaults on their loan and who is on the hook for that.

“What happens to the homeowner in that regard is what Key is trying to gure out,” Allen said. “It would be hoove them to have some kind of fail safe plan because it doesn’t seem like they have one as of now.”

e loans are guaranteed by the county via its loan loss reserve fund.

“If a borrower defaults on a Key Cares Loan, KeyBank will follow its standard business practices to re coup the outstanding balance, in cluding notifying client of default,” said Key spokesman Matt Pitts. “A re quest for payment from the Reserve would only be sent to Cuyahoga County if those processes did not re coup the funds.”

So if a borrower is 90 days delin quent, and Key asks the county to cover the loan payment, does the county have any plan to recoup that cost?

at part is unclear.

Cheryl Stephens, a Cuyahoga County councilwoman and chair of council’s Community Development Committee, was not immediately available for comment about ques tions like this or her thoughts on the lending program overall.

Pitts also notes that Key o cials will be meeting with the county on a quarterly basis to review the state of and progress with the Key Cares pro gram and any issues that may come up.

Jeremy Nobile: jnobile@crain.com, (216) 771-5362, @JeremyNobile

most of the transfers still don’t ap pear in public records. e new owner of the portfolio is EQT Exeter, the real estate arm of Swedish pri vate-equity giant EQT. e total price was “just north of $100 mil lion,” said Chris Simons, an EQT Ex eter leasing and acquisitions o cer in Columbus. e 1.2 millionsquare-foot portfolio, in Glenwillow and Twinsburg, is valued at less than half that amount for property-tax purposes.

“We are eager to see what this looks like.”

However, Allen also described the Key Cares program as a “good faith ef fort that comes with some imperfect categories.”

JEREMY

A home for sale in the Collinwood neighborhood. | MICHELLE JARBOE/CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

CROCKER PARK

most of Crocker Park has parking in an urban model, on the street or in parking garages.

Harking back to development plans put in place 20 years ago when Crocker Park was in the design stage, both the Westlake City Planning Commission and Westlake City Council, in separate summer ses sions, unanimously rejected mea sures that would have let the bank branch go forward.

Stark Enterprises and CP Land, the investor group that owns the land, sued to overturn the decisions in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. e case, assigned to Judge Joan Synenberg, is going through its preliminaries.

Although Stark and CP Land asked the court to intervene with an ad ministrative appeal, it is not the only venue for resolution of the matter.

Michael Maloney, Westlake law di rector, said in a phone interview that the city and Crocker Park’s lawyers, sometimes joined by Stark Enterpris es CEO Ezra Stark, are negotiating to seek a solution.

“So far, they are fruitful,” Maloney said. “ e city holds the stronger and superior legal grounds. Planning act ed appropriately. Council followed planning’s recommendations. ere were not su cient reasons to change the original development plan. at said, we are keenly interested in reso lution. Without some agreement, you’re left with a vacant lot, which no one wants.”

Attorney John Slagter, who heads a trio of Tucker Ellis attorneys on the case, in court documents called city rejection of the developer’s requests “unconstitutional, illegal, arbitrary,

capricious, unreasonable, and un supported.”

e complaint led for Stark and CP Land said the court has the ability to act under Ohio law to provide the developers what they seek.

In Westlake, city council may ap prove or reject the recommendations of the city’s planning commission.

e developer and landowner made a strong e ort to do just that at the May 18 council meeting.

According to video of the meeting

on the city’s website, Slagter called the planning commission action “shocking.” e video also makes clear the developers were getting prepared to litigate, as Slagter pro posed — and the council rejected — a request to swear in anyone who spoke about the issue.

e video also shows the rationale for the big switch in direction. e testimony is telling, as Ezra Stark did not return three phone calls on the case by 3 p.m. ursday, Oct. 13. Sta

cie Schmidt, a spokeswoman for Stark, declined comment on the law suit.

In the course of the session, sever al members observed that the Erie Bank plan was a dramatic change from “the original vision” for Crocker Park and a dramatic dilution of den sity permitted at Crocker Park but not at other locations in the suburb.

e plan calls for a 2,300-squarefoot building on the site across from American Greetings, which would

for businesses still struggling to re cover from remote work and pan demic shutdowns.

appear to be as tall as a two-story building. e bank would also be served by surface parking lots next to it.

Kristopher Payne, director of tenant coordination at Stark, said, “We don’t have a tenant looking at six stories. is is the tenant we have.” He said there are multiple examples of single-story buildings the city al ready has permitted to go in, from a Cheesecake Factory to two restau rants and a nancial service building on the far northern, or opposite, side of Crocker Park.

Moreover, Payne said the city would be treating the bank sought for Crocker Park di erently than other banks in the city have been treated. He noted three one-story banks are already on the opposite side of Crocker Road from Crocker Park.

Steve Coven, executive vice presi dent of asset management at Stark, said at the session, “We’ve worked on this pad for seven years. If we had a six-story o ce building or big-box retailer, we’d have brought it. e of ce world has changed. I don’t think a lot of companies are in the position that we would need to proceed with a six-story o ce building. Retail has sta ng issues and is going omni channel. So the usual pool of sus pects has shrunk.”

e case may mean more than just what happens with the bank.

ere is one other small empty side for commercial and apartment use left at Crocker, which could be shaped by the outcome of the current matter. It also could potentially un dercut the value generally of city or dinances designed to shape major mixed-use projects over an extended period of time.

Stan Bullard: sbullard@crain.com, (216) 771-5228, @CrainRltywriter

nership’s senior vice president of ma jor projects and real estate develop ment.

Replacing the coin-only meters with web-enabled meters or kiosks where drivers can pay with a smart phone, personal credit or transit card are some of the options other cities have selected and might work in Cleveland.

“Another big part of the plan is to work closely with the vendors to identify opportunities for more park ing revenue and look at compatible parking rates with other communi ties our size,” Teeuwen said.

Metered on-street parking is not quite the moneymaker some might think. e meters brought in a little more than $2 million in revenue to the city in 2017, dropping to about $1.8 million in 2018 and only about $654,000 in 2019.

Teeuwen said revenue streams can be improved through more-e cient, cost-e ective enforcement; higher fees, including surge pricing during high parking demand; and an in crease in the number of on-street parking spaces overall. Based on a former parking study, she said the city should be able to add about 300 on-street parking spaces.

“Our city is diverse, and something that works in Ohio City might not work somewhere else. is RFP was written in a way where we are keep ing all those options open,” Teeuwen said.

Cleveland is currently using about 2,500 coin-only parking meters, which are no longer in production, so the city has had to resort to harvest ing spare parts from out-of-commis sion-meters to x those in use. at

situation leaves some with a ques tion: Why has it taken so long to re place them?

“Cleveland is behind just about ev ery other major city in the industrial ized world that has a system where drivers can pay by card or phone,” said Steven Rugare, who teaches ur ban history and theory at the Cleve land Urban Design Collaborative. “It

is good to see that the new adminis tration is tackling the parking meter issue because it will de nitely help businesses that rely on our on-street parking. ere’s a value there that’s hard to quantify, but it is very real.”

Although the new parking system is sure to make life a bit easier for drivers who do not carry around rolls of quarters, the real bene t may be

“Certainly these smarter systems near retail, the ones that allow you to pay remotely, are a huge bene t. Anything that makes it easier to get out of the car, leave it and walk around is really helpful for those businesses,” said Rugare, who also is an assistant professor at Kent State University’s college of architecture and environmental design.

Bringing more people into retail areas and giving them the option to stay longer in a spot could help elim inate the perception that it is “hard to park downtown,” which can drive away visitors, he said.

“We’ve all had the experience of not being able to nd a parking place where we wanted. And that tends to lead people to think that there’s not enough parking when often it’s just that the parking is not very well ar ranged,” Rugare said.

By modernizing on-street parking and making it more attractive to visi tors, Rugare hopes that huge sur face-area lots, which are extremely pro table but take up a lot of other wise developable space, might de cline in numbers.

“ e other piece of the puzzle is to, in some way, provide incentives for converting surface parking into other uses. It can be really di cult to de velop lots due to the low overhead and high pro tability,” Rugare said.

Beyond the revenue increases for the city and the better foot tra c for Cleveland retail and businesses, streamlining on-street parking opens up more “curbside real estate” and just plain looks better, said Debbie Berry, the Greater Cleveland Part

“With parking, it is a constant ght between the aesthetic and the practi cal,” Berry said. “All those meters along the streets create a barrier. With most of them removed, we can clean up the sidewalk a little bit. at is another plus.”

Berry, who has a tra c engineer ing degree, said the new parking plan is a positive step in managing areas where new, multi-modal means of transportation are competing for the same, somewhat limited curb space.

“Now you have not only personal vehicles, but Amazon and Uber Eats deliveries that need space, e-bikes and scooters, and we’re looking to in stall electrical vehicle chargers in dif ferent locations,” Berry said. “ ere needs to be a lot more thought given to this eventual transition. Getting rid of the old meters will really help the city manage the very limited space along the curb.”

Eventually, Berry said, she could see the parking meter and kiosk in formation used to understand park ing patterns across the city, which could help with dynamic pricing or inform retail site selection.

e RFPs are due in early Novem ber. Part of the plan includes the ulti mate resting place for the defunct meters. To date, there is no word on whether they will be recycled, put up for public auction or re-purposed for an urban art project. Teeuwen said she thinks at least one or two should be kept by the city, as a type of “his toric souvenir.”

kpalmer@crain.com,

A parcel originally viewed as a home for a six-story building at Crocker Park could be used for a freestanding single-story bank branch in a dispute that has the developer and City of Westlake at loggerheads. | STAN BULLARD/CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Parcels owned by Sisters of Charity Health System & Ministries

Rented parcels

For this work, the system estab lished a new nonpro t among its family of Catholic ministries: St. Vin cent Charity Health Campus, which is embarking on a long-term vision to transform the Sisters of Charity’s property along East 22nd Street.

St. Vincent Charity will provide outpatient mental health services, addiction medicine services through Rosary Hall, urgent care, primary care, internal medicine and specialty clinics. Speci c community pro grams and what facilities will house those — and which will require new builds — have not yet been decided.

But one big question was an swered when St. Vincent’s Psychiat ric Emergency Department (PED) received approval for funding through 2023 from the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Ser vices (ADAMHS) Board of Cuyahoga County at a special meeting of the board of directors. Following the rec ommendation of Scott S. Osiecki, ADAMHS Board CEO, the board ap proved $4,447,412 in funding and au thorized any necessary contractual agreements with St. Vincent Charity Medical Center.

e ADAMHS Board has provided funding for St. Vincent’s PED — one of two such facilities in Ohio — for de cades. Following the announcement that St. Vincent would end inpatient and surgical care in November (in cluding the loss of inpatient psychiat ric beds and residential treatment and inpatient detox beds at Rosary Hall), there was lack of clarity on the contin ued operation of the PED.

“ is support and funding was never in jeopardy as the PED is a vital part of the crisis continuum of care in Cuyahoga County,” Osiecki said in a provided statement.

In a statement, Sisters of Charity Health System president and CEO Janice G. Murphy extended the “deep gratitude” of the health system, the medical center and the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine.

Next steps for the PED will be eval uating needed operational changes required for the mid-November tran sition when it’s no longer attached to a hospital, said Michael Biscaro, vice president of behavioral health ser vices for St. Vincent Charity Health Campus. Lab, imaging and emergen cy medical services are on-site today.

“And after November 15, you know, those things are gonna change — we don’t know exactly to what de gree all of that will change,” he said. “Hospital administration’s still trying to gure out how do we have some lab services? How do we have some of the basic things that we need to make some, some critical decisions, but it’s really also about community partnerships.”

For instance, operationalizing facil ity transfers for those who need to be admitted — on average about 25% of the 3,000 to 4,000 patients seen in the PED annually. Biscaro said they’re in the process of guring out transfer agreements and similar details.

e leadership-approved budget for the health campus is between $50 million and $200 million, said Heath er Stoll, senior vice president of strat egy and innovation for the St. Vin cent Charity Health Campus.

St. Vincent expects the majority of capital costs to be funded by a capital campaign.

e second-largest por tion of capital costs will be nanced, with the rest made up in grant and public funding, she said. For opera tions, she expects revenue sources

from services to make up the largest portion of the budget, with the rest coming from grant funding, philan thropy and partner resources. In both the capital and operations bud gets, Stoll notes that she anticipates partners to also contribute to cam paigns or nancing for projects.

e lack of rigid boundaries in de ning the future of the health cam pus is by design, its leaders say.

Its development will be an iterative process that heavily involves the community, Stoll said. And impor tantly, she’s hearing from residents that they want a say in future ser vices, programs and partners for the neighborhood, which has seen a lot of initiatives come and go, she said.

“ ey just kind of get delivered into a community versus the com munity being a part of it,” she said. “And that takes time, that takes col laboration, that takes work to make sure that we’re walking side-by-side with community. ere were a lot of questions on this announcement.

Rightly so, as residents heard the an nouncement, and I think we are do ing the best we can to continue to re spond to those questions and provide vehicles to communicate.”

Sisters of Charity announced plans for a new health system in summer 2021, at which point it engaged MASS Design Group, a Boston-based global design collective, to help shape a vi sion for the Central neighborhood.

MASS, Sisters of Charity Founda tion of Cleveland and Cleveland Central Promise Neighborhood (a collective impact initiative for which the Sisters of Charity is the lead funder) have spent the past year en gaging the community to better un derstand the needs of the neighbor hood and Cleveland more broadly, said Christopher Kroner, lead princi pal at MASS (a Model of Architecture Serving Society).

ey identi ed the programmatic needs the health campus will address alongside St. Vincent Charity’s am bulatory services: behavioral health; youth and families; food and nutri tion; workforce development; physi cal activity; transportation; housing; learning and education; and arts and culture.

But engagement wasn’t a one-time process. Rather, it will be an ongoing dialogue to help shape the develop ment of the health campus. e end of inpatient services — a decision made separately from the health campus development — also pro vides a lot of space in the medical center for possible renovation, Kro

ner said.

e nonpro t health campus is al ready launching pilot programs in physical health through ambulatory care; youth and families; food and nutrition; and behavioral health cri sis and recovery.

As the pilots are rolled out, St. Vin cent Charity Health Campus plans to connect with community partners, examine best practices nationally and explore what could be brought here to support local needs and ll gaps, said Richaun Bunton, vice pres ident of community engagement for the health campus.

“We have very strong partners in the community who are working in areas like food access, and family, but really, it is about visioning to gether,” said Bunton, also the manag ing director for Cleveland Central Promise Neighborhood. “So what are the gaps that exist, and then vision ing from there to say, how can we best partner? How can we all align our work, streamline our work to meet the needs based o of the gap?”

Biscaro is leading one such pilot, launching in October, focused on Crisis & Recovery Services to expand the continuum of care for mental health and addiction crisis.

e pilot program already has three sta onboard and plans to hire two more — an outreach coordina tor, an operator to take calls and re ferrals, and it will have three case managers. Biscaro said the pilot aims to move care upstream and be more preventative in nature by addressing social determinants of health, as well as provide a more robust response to crisis on campus to make sure people who seek emergency psych services get to — and can continue to gain ac cess to — the next needed step in care so they can realize recovery goals, Biscaro said.

e success of and lessons gained from these pilots — and other con tinued community feedback — will help inform the development of the campus, Kroner said. With design and construction taking each at least a year for any buildouts elected to move forward beyond that, “the ear liest you would see anything is a cou ple of years out,” he said.

“Before you would actually maybe even see anything physical in terms of a change of the site, particularly, I think we’re working with partners to try to imagine what those most need ed things are, and how can we start to implement even tests of that so that we can get them built up with the in frastructure to operate something

CommunityCollegeAvenue

A B C D E F G H I J K L

West building

Chapel building

Laundry building

Ambulatory care

Ground oor of hospital Hospital Towers

Back of House Research Building Surgery

Sisters of Charity Health System corporate o ce, Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland, St. Vincent Charity Medical Center occupational health and physician o ces

Mary’s Home

Joseph’s Home

longer term,” Kroner said.

What comes next continues to be a learning process with trust, relation ships and open, honest dialogue at the center in order to help the com munity continue to be a part of the vision, Bunton said.

“What continues to be a learning

space or opportunity for us all is how do we overcome — how can we be bold enough to overcome challenges that we experienced in a communi ty?” she said.

Lydia Coutré: lcoutre@crain.com, (216) 771-5479, @LydiaCoutre

For example, spear phishing, when attackers incorporate their victims’ personal information in emails and text messages to com mit fraud or identity theft, is one way malicious actors exploit pri vate data obtained via privileged access. Any organization that col lects personal information about employees, customers or other in dividuals can be a target. Fortu nately, businesses can protect themselves: Privileged access man agement tactics such as a zero-trust framework can reduce the financial impact of a breach by more than 40%, according to IBM’s 2021 Cost of a Data Breach report.

Educate and protect privileged access users

Given the growing number of cy berattacks that leverage privileged access to organizations’ private

data, companies need to be more vigilant than ever about these cre dentials — especially when a breach has the potential to signifi cantly disrupt business. These and other privileged access manage ment best practices can help com panies educate privileged access users and protect their data:

• Educate your privileged access users on current cyber threats and best practices, including using unique strong passphrases for all their accounts

• Require multi-factor authenti cation for privileged access ac counts, including SaaS, admins and privileged business users

• Maintain a centrally managed, digital vault to hold well-known in frastructure accounts; regularly and automatically rotate passwords after each use

• Vault any privileged accounts used by third-party applications

• Conduct “red team/blue team” simulations, where members of your IT department role-play as at tackers and attempt to exploit secu

rity weaknesses in your systems. In this way, you can identify the weak nesses and address them to guard

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

ARCHITECTURE

Van Auken Akins Architects LLC

Van Auken Akins Architects LLC is pleased to welcome Jimmy Cicero as our new Marketing Coordinator, effective August 19, 2022. Jimmy joins us in supporting all marketing related efforts primarily focused on proposal evaluation, writing and compilation. Additional duties include researching new project opportunities, creating rm quali cation brochures, developing advertising materials, website and social media management. VAA is proud to welcome Jimmy to our team!

LAW Hahn Loeser & Parks

The Firm announced the promotion of Cheryl Mosback to a new role as Estate Planning & Business Succession Practice Group Manager. In 20 years at the Firm, Mosback has played a key role in the growth of a practice group that includes 30 attorneys in six cities. She is a mentor to many staff members on a team that assists clients in developing comprehensive plans for the management of assets, the protection of assets in the event of disability, and the tax-ef cient transfer of wealth at death.

LAW

Sutter O’ Connell

Sutter O’Connell is pleased to announce that Stephanie M. Farah has recently joined the Firm as an Associate. Ms. Farah will concentrate her practice in the areas of commercial litigation, premises liability defense and products liability. She will be primarily located in the Firm’s Cleveland location. Ms. Farah received her Juris Doctor from Case Western Reserve University School of Law where she graduated with cum laude honors. She is a member of the Ohio and Arab American Bar Associations.

Advertising Section

against real attacks. In the context of privileged ac cess management and data privacy,

OFFICE

From Page 18

the old saying holds true: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

NONPROFITS

United Way of Greater Cleveland Cleveland Eye Bank Foundation is pleased to appoint Sandra Fletcher to its Board of Directors. Ms. Fletcher, a Northeast Ohio native, is a Senior Associate Director, Corporate Philanthropy at United Way of Greater Cleveland. Her expertise in nance and advancement, along with her passion for the mission, will take CEBF far. Ms. Fletcher states, “Raising awareness about eye donation is important to our family to ensure others get involved as well, especially in Black and Brown communities.”

REAL ESTATE

Cushman & Wake eld | CRESCO Real Estate

Cushman & Wake eld | CRESCO Real Estate is delighted to announce Conor Coakley has joined our team as a Senior Vice President. At his previous rm, Conor was continuously ranked among the top producers in NE Ohio, and in 2021 ranked #1 in the region overall, and #7 in the entire Midwest for of ce brokers. Conor focuses on multiple sectors of commercial real estate with an emphasis on of ce leasing, tenant representation and property sales.

e property itself is a good one, said Dan Spring, president of NAI Spring, a North Canton real estate rm. Spring is not involved with the building, but specializes in indus trial and o ce space in the region and has seen the former Synchrony building since it was vacated.

“He’s exactly right,” Spring said of Monassebian’s glowing description of the building. “Truthfully, it looks brand-new on the inside; it’s in credible. It’s a nice space and well laid out.”

Spring said that while the o ce market has softened nationally and across most of Ohio, it’s held up better in Canton than most other places.

“Around here, our o ce (sector) has still been pretty good. I haven’t seen that market change too much,” Spring said.

tion,” Spring said. “ ere’s no city income tax there, which a lot of companies like. ere’s an airport, highways, lots of restaurants — it’s in a great place.”

Perhaps a Synchrony employee could live there. e company says it’s leaving the building but not the market.

Synchrony has not only kept the employees who were working at its Canton o ce, as well as another near Dayton that also went to re mote work, it has told state o cials it plans to add 300 new employees in Ohio over the next four years, said Lanspery.

e company does not disclose how many people it employs by state or location, but when it closed its location in Kettering near Day ton — which has since sold for $7.5 million — it reportedly had 1,900 employees there, and Lanspery did not dispute that gure. In total, the company employs more than 18,000 people, nearly all of them in the U.S., she said.

SERVICES

BeneSys, Inc.

BeneSys is pleased to announce that Laura Rudibaugh has joined the Plan Management team as a Plan Manager in our Youngstown, OH of ce location. Laura is a graduate of Robert Morris University and her career includes over 26 years of experience with Taft-Hartley Bene t Plans ensuring quality service to build long-term relationships with Boards of Trustees and Fund Professionals throughout the country.

“But the big spaces are tougher,” Spring added, and 150,000 square feet is a huge space for Canton and Jackson Township.

“ e di culty with a space like that is there are not a lot of 150,000-square-foot users. It’s a matter of splitting it up or nding a big user,” Spring said. “If he goes down to the 30,000-square-foot size, there are some people looking at that size.”

As for a residential conversion, Spring said that’s an interesting idea and one he’s seen employed elsewhere around Canton — and it’s been a big part of development in Akron and Cleveland.

But those developments have mostly been in downtowns, while the Munson Street building is in a suburban location. But it’s a loca tion where a lot of people want to live.

“I haven’t seen as much (resi dential conversion) in the suburbs

but he’s got a phenomenal loca

Instead of two much larger facilities near Cleveland and Dayton, Synchrony in Ohio is centered around a new 50,000-square-foot of ce in Columbus. While its employees mostly work from home, that central “hub” serves as an o ce for any workers who want to use one, and also provides space for meetings and other collaborative e orts, Lanspery said.

Allowing its employees to work from home has made it easier for Synchrony to attract new employ ees in an environment where workers were hard to find, and also to keep them, she said. The company also raised its own min imum wage to $20 an hour, but it’s the remote work she cites first as a reason applications are up 30% from where they were before em ployees were allowed to work from home.

“Employees are seeking exibili ty and choice when it comes to work. So, by Synchrony o ering this option, we are seeing an increase in applications across the board,” Lanspery said.

Dan

“THE DIFFICULTY WITH A SPACE LIKE THAT IS THERE ARE NOT A LOT OF 150,000-SQUARE-FOOT USERS. IT’S A MATTER OF SPLITTING IT UP OR FINDING A BIG USER.”

—Dan Spring, president of NAI Spring

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