Cleveland’s $3.5B plan for riverfront kicks off
Of cials break ground on Cavs training facility
By Joe Scalzo
About 30 minutes before he stuck a gold-plated shovel in the ground on the east bank of the Cuyahoga River, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb looked out over the water and thought back to Carl
Stokes, who was the city’s mayor when the river caught re in 1969.
“Fifty years ago, one of my predecessors — the rst black mayor of a major American city — was confronted with a crisis where this river caught on re,”
Bibb said.
Fifty- ve years later, Bibb joined a delegation of o cials from the city, county, Cleveland Clinic and the Cleveland Cavaliers to o cially break ground on
the 210,000-square-foot Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center, the rst vertical development for Bedrock’s $3.5 billion Cuyahoga Riverfront Master Plan. e facility is expected to open in 2027.
“ is groundbreaking is a symbol of not just Cleveland's comeback, but America's comeback — and this (public-private)
Grant is rst step in lakefront development
DOT awards $60M to build land bridge from downtown
By Kim Palmer
Cleveland has been awarded $60 million in federal funding to support the city's plan to build a 120-foot-wide land bridge from downtown to the lakefront, marking a critical step in the
redevelopment plan for Cleveland’s lakefront.
e Department of Transportation (DOT) announced Wednesday, Oct. 16, that the North Coast Connector project will be the recipient of the money as part of the Nationally Signicant Multimodal Freight & Highway Projects program (known as the INFRA program).
“ is is a really big rst step in allow-
ing us to re-imagine the lakefront,” said North Coast Waterfront Development Corp. Director Scott Skinner. e proposal, which will redesign a two-mile segment of the Memorial Shoreway (Route 2), was one of 28 such projects across the country to receive funding under the Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant program.
Swagelok and library team up for new space
Innovation center in Solon will focus on job skills
By Dan Shingler
Solon is known for punching above its weight when it comes to manufacturing and the employment it creates, thanks to the presence of a seemingly endless number of small industrial parks and one stand-out company, Swagelok.
And Swagelok apparently wants to keep it that way.
e Swagelok Foundation is providing the Cuyahoga County Public Library system with $500,000 to build a new innovation center and makers’ space at its Solon branch.
"At Swagelok, innovation is one of our core values and we are thrilled to support CCPL with the launch of its new facility in Solon and continue to advance smart manufacturing initiatives in the region,” said Swagelok Chief Human Resources O cer Hannah Delis, announcing the support.
e library says the space will focus on job skills, including some that Swagelok needs its employees to have, but the space will help users learn and perfect skills that can be used in a variety of workplaces — and learn them for free.
Browns tackle Jack Conklin’s property, with a main home, two guest houses, tennis court and pool, hits the market for $9.5M. PAGE 6
A patron of the Cuyahoga County Public Library sharpens their skills at one of the innovation centers and makers’ spaces. CONTRIBUTED
A group of of cials join Cavaliers players in the ceremonial groundbreaking for the Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center on Oct. 14. | CONTRIBUTED
Former Cedar Fair execs get raises after merger with Six Flags
By Scott Suttell
Six Flags Entertainment Corp. (NYSE: FUN), which in July completed its merger with Cedar Fair L.P. of Sandusky, has disclosed compensation details for the former Cedar Fair executives now running the amusement park giant. All are receiving boosts in base salary.
Charlotte-based Six Flags in a Tuesday, Oct. 15, ling with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission made the compensation disclosures for President and CEO Richard Zimmerman; Brian Witherow, the company's chiefnancial o cer; Tim Fisher, chief operating o cer; Brian Nurse, chief legal and compliance o cer as well as corporate secretary; and Monica Sauls, chief human resource o cer.
All worked at Cedar Fair prior to the merger, and all carried the same titles.
Zimmerman’s employment agree ment provides for an initial base salary of $1.1 million per year and participation in the company’s annual bonus pro-
gram at the initial target rate of 150% of his base salary. As Cedar Fair's president and CEO, Zimmerman had a 2024 base salary of $1 million, according to this filing with the SEC. e employment agreement "also provides that Mr. Zimmerman will receive an annual equity grant during the term of the agreement with a target value of $8,500,000 on the date of grant, with the terms and conditions of awards to be determined by the board," according to the SEC ling.
Witherow, the CFO, has an initial base salary of $670,000 per year at Six Flags, and he will participate in the bonus program at the initial target rate of 100% of his base salary. His base salary at Cedar Fair in 2024 was $607,100. With Six Flags, Witherow will receive an annual equity grant during the term of the agreement with a target value of $2.75 million.
Fisher, Six Flags' COO, has an initial base salary of $750,000 per year, and an initial target rate of 125% of his base salary for the bonus program. At Cedar Fair, Fisher
had a 2024 base salary of $681,300. Six Flags said in the ling that Fisher will receive an annual equity grant during the term of the agreement with a target value of $3.4 million, Nurse, as chief legal and compliance o cer/corporate secretary of Six Flags, has an initial base salary of $600,000 per year. His Cedar Fair base salary in 2024 was $500,000. Nurse's Six Flags employment agreement states he will receive an annual equity grant with a target value of $2.1 million.
Sauls, the chief human resource o cer, has an initial base salary of $440,000 per year at Six Flags, up from $412,000 at Cedar Fair for
2024. She will participate in the Six Flags bonus program at the initial target rate of 80% of her base salary. Sauls will receive an annual equity grant with a target value of $620,000.
Because of the timing of completion of the combination with Cedar Fair, Six Flags has not yet released quarterly nancial results that re ect operations as that of a merged company. On Aug. 8, though, it reported nancial results for standalone legacy Cedar Fair and standalone legacy Six Flags for the quarter ended June 30 — the day before the merger was o cial.
For the Cedar Fair operations,
net revenues totaled a record $572 million, an increase of 14%, or $71 million, from the like period a year earlier. ( e merged company noted there were 789 operating days for legacy Cedar Fair properties in the second quarter of 2024 compared with 736 days in the second quarter of 2023, primarily related to a scal calendar shift.) At the legacy Six Flags operations, total revenue was down 1% to $438 million, also a result of the shift in a scal calendar as the companies combined.
Six Flags has 27 amusement parks, 15 water parks and nine resort properties across 17 states in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Suits accuse CBIZ of providing incomplete info on acquisition
By Jeremy Nobile
CBIZ Inc. (NYSE: CBZ) is being accused by some shareholders of ling materially incomplete and misleading proxy statements in relation to its pending $2.3 billion acquisition of New York-based accounting rm Marcum, according to recently led lawsuits in New York.
In company lings, however, CBIZ said these claims are without merit.
e lawsuits are Katherine Finger v. CBIZ Inc. et. al and Catherine Co man v. CBIZ Inc. et. al. ose cases were led on Oct. 1 and Oct. 2, respectively, in New York County.
CBIZ announced its plans to purchase Marcum in a mix cash-and-stock transaction on July 31.
Plainti s allege that proxy statements led by CBIZ since then have omitted or misrepresented information that plainti s say is necessary to make an informed decision when voting on the deal on Oct. 23.
According to the lawsuit, specific instances where the company allegedly failed to provide detailed information that shareholders should have include nancial projections for Marcum and CBIZ and the “data and inputs underlying the nancial valuation analyses that support the fairness opinion” provided by New York’s Perella Weinberg Partners.
Perella Weinberg served as the nancial adviser to CBIZ in the deal and deemed the merger
agreement as fair. CBIZ has agreed to pay the rm $3.5 million in cash for its opinion plus an additional $14 million fee contingent on the deal being consummated as well as a possible $2.5 million in additional fees, according to Securities and Exchange Commission lings.
Material omissions cited by the plainti s include details related to nancial projections for the combined company of CBIZ and Marcum.
“For example, with respect to Marcum’s ‘Non-Synergized Marcum Forecast,’ the Proxy Statement fails to disclose the line items underlying Adjusted EBITDA, After-Tax EBIT and Free Cash Flow over the projection period,” according to the lawsuit.
Additionally, the plainti s allege that the opinion provided by Perella Weinberg — which references “estimates as to the amount and timing of certain cost savings and related expenses, operating e ciencies, revenue e ects,nancial synergies and tax benets anticipated” in the deal as a reason for deeming it fair — fails to disclose a summary of the aforementioned synergies.
e cases cite claims of negligent misrepresentation and concealment in violation of New York common law against the CBIZ and related o cials.
CBIZ disclosed some additional information with respect to synergized and non-synergized forecasts for Marcum in an Oct. 15 SEC ling, among other information.
In doing so, however, the rm emphasized in its public ling that while the company “believes that the disclosures set forth in the Proxy Statement comply fully with applicable law, to moot plainti s’ disclosure claims and to avoid nuisance, expense and delay, the Company has determined to voluntarily supplement the Proxy Statement with the below disclosures.”
“Nothing in the below supplemental disclosures shall be deemed an admission of the legal necessity or materiality under applicable law of any of the disclosures set forth herein,” according to the SEC ling. “To the contrary, the Company denies all allegations in the Matters and disagrees that any additional disclosure was or is required in the Proxy Statement.”
A spokesperson for CBIZ said the rm has no comments on these allegations beyond the details included in its SEC lings. An attorney for CBIZ is not yet listed in the cases.
e suit seeks a court order enjoining CBIZ and Marcum from consummating their deal until more information is disclosed, or, in the case of the deal going through absent of this, either rescinding it or awarding actual and punitive damages to the plainti s.
Plainti s in both cases are being represented by Richard Acocelli, a New York attorney with Acocelli Law PLLC.
Acocelli declined to comment on the case.
County Council members bristle over changes in jail design
By Kim Palmer
Members of the Cuyahoga County Council on Tuesday, Oct. 15, pushed back on recent height and scope design changes made to the proposed county jail.
Significant changes to the overall footprint and height of the facility were presented during a public safety and justice affairs committee meeting. The update came from the county’s public works planning and programming administrator, Nichole English.
The building is now three-anda-half football fields long and will have four floors, which is a change from earlier "best practice" guidance that the facility should have only two floors, English told council members.
English said the planned Garfield Heights site for the jail, which has 70 acres available rather than 40 acres at the initial jail site near downtown, offered a better fit for the current vision for the facility. The county council voted to pay $38.7 million for the 70-acre vacant Garfield Heights property last September.
A design workshop group that included sheriff staff and the county administration made the decision to go with the revised number of floors.
That change set off a few council members, who took note of previous guidance that fewer floors in a jail were safer.
“For five years, it has been
drilled in our collective skulls that two stories was the best practice, and then mysteriously it has changed,” said Councilman Michael Gallagher, the committee chair. He added, “It raises a red flag.”
Gallagher continued to blame constant changes for what he said is $90 million in excess costs. The extra costs were the fault of “foot-dragging” that he said could have been avoided because “we were ready to go almost two years ago.” (Planning for the jail began in 2019, with an original cost estimate of $500 million to $550 million, but that rose post-pandemic to about $750 million, Jeff Appelbaum of Project Management Consultants told the council last year.)
English said the planning group made the design changes because “we know more than we knew two years ago, and I would argue that we weren't exactly ready to go two years ago.”
Gallagher ended his comments by adding that the previous administration invited council members to sit on the design committee.
“We were all in the room and, in the end, as goofy as it got and as twisted as some people were in there, we came out with an understanding of where we wanted to go, and that seemingly has been balled up, thrown in the garbage,” Gallagher said.
Councilman Dale Miller expressed concerns about consis-
tency in messaging.
“These consultants said that we needed the extra land to build a low-rise facility that is more economical and easier to manage, and now we have a four-floor design and extra transportation costs,” he said.
Another design change comes in parking for jail staff. The parking area now will be covered by a 200,000-square-foot solar array, after the county received a significant EPA grant. The covered parking for sheriff's vehicles and staff will reduce the wear of weather elements on the vehicles, and the installation is eligible for tax credits, English said.
Since May, there have been nine schematic design workshops.
Next up is a determination of a guaranteed maximum price, which is the upper limit a project owner will pay a contractor for a project.
“In February, we'll have our first actual cost estimate on the project that will come from the design build team and the criteria architect," English said. "They will both do a separate cost estimate, and then we'll compare and make sure that we're all on the same page."
The new jail is expected to need room for more than 1,900 inmates, including 100 expected from the city of Cleveland. A contract with the city is expected to come before both council bodies this month.
The current justice center complex in downtown Cleveland includes jails, the police headquarters and courts. ALAMY
Northeast Ohio getting 40 new EV charging locations
By Dan Shingler
It’s about to get easier to charge an electric vehicle in Northeast Ohio.
The Northeast Ohio Area Coordinating Agency (NOACA), which works on transportation and environmental planning issues, has begun installing 73 charging stations at 40 locations throughout the region.
The supplier of those chargers, a Canadian company called FLO that has manufacturing facilities in Michigan, and the installer, North Olmsted’s Alternalite Electric, say many of the charging units are already in place, and more will be completed soon.
“We have probably half the project complete,” said José Ramos Jr., Alternalite executive vice president and a co-owner of the company with his wife, President and CEO Gertrudis Ramos.
“We have seven fast DC chargers installed already,” Ramos said, referring to 50-kilowatt units that can charge most EVs to 80% of capacity in less than an hour. “We have seven of those installed, and we have about 27 Level 2 ports installed. Some of them, not all of them, are commissioned.”
Level 2 ports are more like chargers often installed at homes or some offices. They can fully charge a vehicle overnight, but also top one off while a driver is busy for a couple of hours or more.
The chargers, which NOACA is paying for with funds it gets from state and federal highway and transportation agencies, are mostly going into locations at or near local government offices, community colleges and area transit authority sites.
For instance, Ramos said he’s installing various chargers at three Tri-C campuses and has installed fast DC chargers at municipal facilities in Wadsworth and Rocky River, with Parma next in line to get an installation.
NOACA says it has identified 120 sites where it plans to install the chargers — the project has a
Phase II that’s not yet started — and EV drivers will see them on the applications they use to find charging stations as they come online.
A full list of sites NOACA has identified for installations is available on its website.
Travis Allan, FLO's chief legal and public affairs officer, said the sites will be powered up soon and more are coming.
“We expect to have all 40 locations installed by the end of the year,” Allan said.
In the chicken-and-egg world of EVs, where drivers are often worried about the range and ability to charge their vehicles, such installations are important, Allan said.
“If you talk to most EV drivers in Ohio, they’ll tell you they do 70% to 90% of their charging at home,” he said. “But people still want to know that they can charge in public, or that they charge on a longer drive. ... They want to know there’s a network of charging stations in place.”
FLO's chargers are made for cold climates, such as Ohio’s (and Canada’s), Allan said, and they work with all makes of EVs on the road today. The company makes its most advanced chargers in Auburn Hills, Michigan, produces other chargers in Canada, and has sold more than 115,000 charging stations across the U.S., he said.
For Alternalite, a small, eightperson firm, EV charging stations have become a specialization that accounts for half of the firm’s annual revenues of about $2 million, Ramos said.
Ramos said he got his initial training to be a commercial electrician through training with Local 38 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Cleveland. He has since gone on to get EV-specific training from various EV manufacturers.
The work has taken him all over the region, but, lately, the growth has been closer to home.
“We ... did charging stations for fleet garbage trucks for the city of Pittsburgh. We did car-charging
Westminster Capital, Geis joint venture sells warehouse for $40M
By Stan Bullard
A joint venture by Westminster Capital Group Chicago and Geis Cos. of Streetsboro just netted a $40 million sale of a 430,000square-foot building it had built on State Route 43.
The new owner is an affiliate of EQT Exeter, a Wayne, Pennsylvania real estate company which acquired the property on Sept. 27, according to Portage County land records. The property sits on about 30 acres with a street address of 10242 State Route 43.
measure of the profitability of a commercial real estate investment. Westminster operates as a private equity investor and the developers also had a bank loan on the project.
Westminster and Geis were 50% partners in the joint venture, as Crain's reported in 2020, as the partners readied plans to build the structure even without having a tenant in place.
David Stecker, a JLL Inc. managing director in its Cleveland industrial practice, said the brokerage had "a lot of interest" when the local office of the global brokerage and JLL Capital of Chicago took it to the market for sale.
Westminster noted it had a 14.7% internal rate of return on the property.
"It was a successful project," Stecker said.
stations at dealerships in Indiana. We’ve even gone as far south as Cincinnati to install EV chargers,” he said. “Right now, the market is better in Northern Ohio ... so we’re honing in and focusing on Northern Ohio.”
At a total project cost of more than $3 million, the NOACA contract is Alternalite’s biggest yet, he said.
More may be coming, too.
NOACA officials could not be immediately reached, but the agency’s website has information on the project, including Phase II.
“Phase 2 comprises design and construction of charging stations at approximately 70 sites throughout the region,” the site states.
“Through partnerships with local municipalities, transit agencies, park systems, and others, charging stations will be located on publicly owned and accessible properties, including municipal centers, parkand-ride lots, parks, and public parking lots. Many of these sites are in Justice40 Initiative communities, NOACA-defined Environmental Justice Communities, and will support Minority-OwnedBusinesses and Woman-OwnedBusinesses.”
Phase I is already supporting one minority- and woman-owned business: Alternalite.
The chargers eventually might support more than just the companies that build and install them. Site hosts will get revenue from the chargers — essentially, whatever they make from the revenue they take in, after paying for power and maintenance, Allan said.
“The stations are being funded through the NOACA program and the site hosts are able to collect the revenues from charging,” he said. “If the capital costs are covered, most charging stations should run at a profit.”
FLO hopes that at least some of those host sites will come to find that their stations are both popular and profitable and will use their profits to build more.
That happens a lot, Allan said, noting “Our number one source of customers is repeat customers.”
However, what makes the deal valuable is the rent its tenant pays. According to a report of the sale on Westminster's website, the property is occupied by FNS, Inc., a McAllister, Texas-based third-party logistics firm, which leased the entire building for a 7 ½ year term in September 2023. Westminster noted it had a 14.7% internal rate of return, a
EQT Exeter owns or manages about 2,000 properties around the globe.
Westminster's website said it has about $1.25 trillion of investor capital deployed in industrial and several other commercial property types.
EQT Exeter and Conrad Geis, president of Geis Development, did not reply, respectively, to an email and phone call by 4:25 p.m. Monday, Oct. 7.
One of the DC fast chargers that was recently installed in Rocky River by Alternalite with NOACA funding | crAIN’S cLeVeLAND bUSINeSS
Browns OT Jack Conklin's home hits the market for $9.5M
By Alexandra Golden
Have you ever wondered what athletes' homes are like and how they live? If you have that curiosity, are a Browns fan and can spend $9.5 million, then the property at 332 Timberidge Trail in Gates Mills would be perfect for you.
Browns offensive tackle Jack Conklin and his wife, Caitlyn, listed their 43.3-acre property on the market on Oct. 7 for $9.5 million. Conklin’s current contract with the Browns runs through 2026. (According to Spotrac, Conklin's cap hit for the Browns this season is $10.56 million.)
“They’re looking to simplify,” listing agent Adam Kaufman of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services told Crain’s.
“The ultimate property,” Kaufman described it, includes a main home, attached guest house, detached guest house, tennis court, in-ground pool, pole barn, attached threecar garage, two additional garages and an outbuilding that used to be an art studio. He said that there is room to store 15 cars with all the space.
The three homes total 18,930 square feet and between them have a total of eight bedrooms, nine full bathrooms and three half bathrooms. The main home accounts for five bedrooms, six full bathrooms and three halfbaths. The attached guest house has one bedroom and one full bath, and the detached guest house has two bedrooms and two full baths.
The first floor of the main home includes access to the attached three-car garage, three half-bathrooms, two dining rooms, two living rooms, laundry room, kitchen, family room, two dining rooms, a pantry, wine cellar, bar area, sitting room, and the primary suite. The primary suite includes the primary bedroom, full bathroom and two walk-in closets.
Asked what sticks out about this home, Kaufman had a quick answer: “Everything.” He then added, “The quality and attention to detail are just incredible, specifically, all the use of wood, glass and natural stone.
“There is so much detail to this
house,” he said. “There’s so much texture to this house, it's like a house that's alive. It's just got so much, it's just so unbelievable.”
The second floor of the main home houses most of the bedrooms. Of the four bedrooms, two of them have staircases that lead to additional loft space.
The basement is mainly unfinished with storage space, a furnace room and a full bathroom.
“The focus is on the main part of the house, not the basement,” Kaufman said.
For the attached guest home, there are two entrances: through the main house, or its own dedicated entrance.
The attached guest home is “great” for those who have an au pair, nanny or family members who come and stay “that want their privacy, but still want to be attached to the main house,” Kaufman said.
The first floor of the guest home includes a full kitchen and a living room. The second floor includes a suite featuring a bedroom with an attached full bathroom and closet space.
The two-story detached guest house, which Kaufman called “unbelievable,” includes a great room, a “state-of-the-art kitchen,” a screened porch, a first-floor suite with a bedroom and bathroom, a second-floor suite with a bedroom and bathroom, and a lofted library.
The Conklins bought the home in October 2021 for $2,329,620. The $9.5 million asking price reflects all the upgrades made in the last three years. The property is “totally rebuilt” and “essentially all-new,” Kaufman said.
“Renovated is an understatement,” he said.
The shell of the properties remains, but everything else was redone by the current owners. The property is the work of local architect Charles Fazio and Associates and Snake River Interiors of Jackson, Wyoming.
The next owner of this property would be someone who “truly wants an in-town estate,” Kaufman said.
“It is the most beautiful,” he said. “It is just beyond description. It is so cool.”
The bedroom and bathroom in the attached guest house One of the suites in the detached guest house
The kitchen and family room in the main home of the property at 332 Timberidge Trail in Gates Mills, which was put on
An overview of the 43.3 acres of property which includes a main home, attached guest house, detached guest house and three garages.
The primary bedroom on the first floor of the main home
Ohio real property tax reappraisals, challenges and the new law
“Sticker shock” might be the best way to describe the reactions of many residential and commercial property owners when they recently received noti cation of their new property values for tax year 2024, to be paid in 2025. In counties across Ohio, property values have been on the rise, and property owners are seeing that trend hit their pocketbooks as Ohio’s counties reappraise or update their values for tax year 2024.
Ohio requires counties to reappraise properties for tax purposes every six years. In the interim three years, counties update those values based on information and directives received from the State. For those counties conducting a reappraisal or update for tax year 2024, most property owners have or will soon receive notice of their new property values. The new value will determine the amount of taxes the property owner will be required to pay for the next three years. Twenty-four Ohio counties will be conducting reappraisals or updates for tax year 2024, including Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain, Lucas, Portage and Stark.
Co-Managing Partner
Sleggs, Danzinger & Gill Co. LPA rdanzinger@sdglegal.net 216-771-8990
Robert represents taxpayers in property valuation complaints across Ohio and throughout the U.S.
Under Ohio law, property owners have the right to le complaints challenging the value established for their property. Importantly, the deadline to le a complaint is March 31, 2025. What happens next? e complaint is scheduled for hearing
Associate Sleggs, Danzinger & Gill Co. LPA etaylor@sdglegal.net 216-771-8990
Elizabeth represents owners in property tax matters in all Ohio counties, before the Board of Tax Appeals and in all Ohio Courts.
before the local board of revision, which will review the evidence presented and issue a decision on the requested change. Because Ohio’s public school districts receive their funding predominantly from property taxes, Ohio is one of
the few states that permits school districts to participate in this complaint process.
In fact, a board of education may le a counter-complaint when a property owner seeks a value change of $50,000 or more. In some cases, a school district can le its own complaint seeking to increase the value of property in the district. Simply put, property valuation complaints are disputes between a school district seeking higher taxes and a property owner desiring lower taxes.
In 2022, the Ohio General Assembly passed legislation commonly referred to as H.B. 126, which brought major changes to the tax complaint process. One of the most signi cant changes relates to a school district’s ability to seek increases in value. Before H.B. 126, a board of education’s ability to seek an increase was not limited. Now, school districts can only le a complaint to increase the valuation of real property if the requested increase is based on a sale, with the requested increase being at least $535,000 and 10% higher than the county auditor’s value.
H.B. 126 also changed the appeal process itself. Ohio law previously permitted both property owners and school districts to appeal unfavorable decisions to the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals (BTA). With this new rule, school districts can no longer appeal board of revision decisions to the BTA, e ectively cutting o a school district’s appeal rights.
Understandably, there have been strong opinions from both taxpayers and school districts about the rami cations of H.B. 126. Challenges to the new law have been led in courts across the state, including a constitutional challenge that is pending in Franklin County. Changes are still on the horizon for the process of property tax complaints, and it looks likely that a decision from Ohio’s highest court will be required to provide much-needed answers and nality.
Case Western snags $4M to apply AI to solar energy
By Dan Shingler
Case Western Reserve University has won a $4 million grant to develop artificial intelligence so it can improve solar energy systems.
The university said it’s receiving the money from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop something dubbed ArgoPV, a generative AI system.
When people talk about AI and energy in the same breath, it’s usually about how much power AI is consuming now and how it will require much more in the future. But CWRU, and others, say it can also help us more effectively manage and generate power as well.
CWRU says its project is “an effort to modernize and upgrade the nation’s reliance on renewable energy using data science and artificial intelligence.”
The DOE says solar panel lifespan can be extended if AI is brought to bear on issues such as understanding the conditions that will lead to future breakdowns and reacting to extreme weather.
Solar is big and is going to get bigger, and so is AI’s role in the renewable energy source, predicts the World Economic Forum’s Centre for Energy and Materials and the International Energy Agency.
The Economic Forum cites the IEA’s prediction that investment
in solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is projected to exceed $500 billion worldwide this year. A report by South Carolina-based Indigo Advisors lists more than 50 potential applications of AI in the energy sector generally, with over 100 vendors participating — representing an estimated $13 billion in investments.
“Harnessing AI in solar energy applications presents a unique opportunity — and it can help overcome certain challenges facing solar energy,” the Economic Forum reports. “For example, solar panels’ reliance on the sun shining makes them a less reliable source of energy than nuclear
or gas. Extreme weather events, such as heatwaves or sandstorms, which are becoming more frequent, can also interrupt solar energy supply, while grid constraints limit the potential of solar projects.”
CWRU’s efforts will be led by Roger French, its Kyocera Professor in Materials Science at the Case School of Engineering and director of the university’s Solar Durability and Lifetime Extension (SDLE) Research Center. The university said in an announcement that SDLE Research Center is leveraging its expertise in data science modeling and its Common Research Analytics and Data Life-
CWRU assistant prof digs into rare earth element separation
By Dan Shingler
A researcher at Case Western Reserve University has won federal funding for her work in microscopy aimed at advancing the extraction and separation of rare earth minerals.
Dr. Lydia Kisley, an assistant professor of experimental physics at CWRU, has been awarded $875,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy to work on the project through spring 2029.
“The technologies I develop are microscopes used to look at separations of the elements,” Kisley said. “The microscopes we build are fluorescent microscopes or luminescent microscopes, so we use lasers, light and optics. We can shine light on our samples and then the samples will emit light of a different color.”
Currently, rare earth minerals are separated from other materials via harsh chemical methods, such as basically soaking them in kerosene.
“It’s a solvent-extraction process, and you’re mixing some pretty volatile solvents," Kisley said. “Because of that, the U.S. doesn’t want do that here.”
And, because of that, the U.S. is almost entirely reliant on China for the rare earth minerals needed to make EVs, wind turbines and other renewable technology, where the elements often are by being used to make permanent
magnets needed in those devices.
The U.S. does have rare earth minerals, and it mines them in some western states. But to get them in a usable form, the U.S. sends its mined material to China, where the rare earth elements are separated from any other materials in the mix and then shipped back. In other words, they twice cross the earth’s biggest ocean before they can even be put to use.
Kisley said other CWRU researchers, including Drs. Christine Duval and Julie Renner, are working on research to replace current separation methods with either porous materials that could separate out the desired elements like a filter, or green solutions that can remove them without relying on toxic or otherwise dangerous chemicals.
If her work succeeds, she will develop a microscope that can literally watch such chemical and
physical processes, as they happen at a molecular level. If an atom of an element such as terbium breaks free from other molecules or is stripped away from them physically, Kisley said the microscope will allow researchers to see it happen and see how it happened — and see how efficient and effective their process really is at the tiny scale at which it works.
To do the work, Kisley said two or three researchers will work with her at her existing CWRU lab. Her work, along with those of her fellow researchers at the school and others across the country, could help the U.S. achieve some independence in terms of rare earth elements, and make the technology most people think is green, really green.
“If you’re buying an EV or an electric bike — and I think we’ve seen how great the batteries have been improving — underlying the elements that are in those technologies are these hazardous extraction techniques that aren’t very green,” Kisley said. “We need to make that process green as well.”
Now that Kisley has won the grant, she expects to receive her initial funding around January to begin her work on the project.
There seems to be a worthy scientist on the case. Kisley already has developed technology in microscopy that has resulted in two pending patents since she came to CWRU in 2019.
computing at Dupont before joining CWRU in 2010, said the school is well-positioned for the work.
“AI always needs lots of data to train on, but we’ve run six or seven research projects here already,” he said, noting that the school's work in the field goes back more than a decade.
French envisions AI helping solar operators predict which of their panels should be replaced, when to shut down in advance of grid or weather issues or even how they should be arrayed and designed for specific applications.
cycle Environment, which provides high-performance computing to power these models.
“Taking advantage of our large repository of photovoltaic data and results, we can train a NeuroSymbolic AI to learn from PV systems across their whole life,” French said in announcing the project. “ArgoPV will make the relationships among materials used, PV module design, how much energy is then generated and how this relates to end-of-life accessible for decision-making. This opens up possibilities for new materials and design choices in the future.”
French, who spent 25 years working in solar and distributed
“What would be the performance of a power plant in Cleveland that uses one-axis tracking? We could know that even if we don’t have one here,” he said.
The four-year grant that begins in April 2025 is one of four the DOE committed for PV systems research and development, totaling $15.7 million.
“The selected projects will maximize the environmental benefit of solar energy technologies by increasing system lifetime and work to facilitate materials recovery once the system is decommissioned,” the DOE said. "Keeping solar panels in the field longer by making them more durable and easier to repair will slow and reduce the flow of solar panels into the waste stream.”
Case researcher lands $1.9M grant to develop tech for analyzing genome data
By Paige Bennett
If you didn’t know what ingredients were tossed in the blender, you might have a tough time identifying the individual components. Doctors encounter a similar problem when they cut a tissue sample from a tumor, and it contains different cell type mixtures.
It’s an issue Hao Feng, an assistant professor in the department of population and quantitative health sciences at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine, wants to address using a five-year, $1.9 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.
“Once you have that cup of smoothie, without knowing the underlying food types, can you use computational approaches to dissect this smoothie and find out its pure components and also the relative weight coming from those different components?” Feng asked.
He and his research team are developing computer software to analyze complex genome data, or data that describe a person’s DNA or genes. They are collaborating with doctors and clinicians to take tissue samples and use computational approaches to dissect pure components from the data.
Feng, who is also a member of the Case Comprehensive Cancer
Center, said clinicians then would be able to use that information to personalize medicine for patients.
Personalized medicine is a growing concept in health care in which clinicians use a patient’s genetic profile to customize prevention and treatment to them. Last year, another CWRU researcher landed a grant from the National Institutes of Health to lead a project that makes it easier for researchers to share genomic data.
Through Feng’s work, clinicians would be able to link specific cell type signals to disease outcomes, he said, bringing the data analysis to a more precise level.
“I think this is a very active research domain,” he said. “We actually have seen different researchers across the world, developing novel computational approaches to dissect those (cell type) signals.”
What differentiates this project from others in the space, Feng said, is that the researchers are also focused on growing the knowledge base. With the tissues they’re using, they’re hoping to retrieve personalized cell type signals that they can then link to patients’ health outcomes.
“We're trying to dig deep into this and find out more computational frameworks to help doctors and clinicians to computationally dissect the complex genomic signals,” he said.
Think about a smoothie.
Dr. Lydia Kisley
Avon’s Advanced Polymer Coatings nabs new contracts
By Dan Shingler
Advanced Polymer Coatings, which is expanding its manufacturing facilities in Avon, already has found some business to take up the new capacity it expects to have online next year.
The company recently landed big contracts for its protective coatings, said CEO David Keehan. One is for chemical tankers operating in the U.K. and Europe, and the other is for rail cars operated by Exxon in the U.S.
“It’s an exciting time right now,” Keehan said.
The company has not disclosed the dollar amount of the new contracts, but he said both represent significant new business. Keehan has said sales last year were north of $30 million and said the new deals will move the needle on revenues.
Advanced Polymer develops and manufactures specialty coatings meant to protect industrial assets from corrosive materials as well as the elements.
The company has been in the maritime market, with its MarineLINE coating, since the 1990s, but its new contract is a big one.
Keehan said Advanced Polymer is providing U.K. ship owner
Union Maritime with 170,000 liters of MarineLine. The British company will use the product, which is a polymer-based coating that cleans up easily and resists corrosion from chemicals like methanol, to line the cargo tanks of 16 chemical tankers that are being built now, Keehan said.
The smaller tankers have a dead-weight of about 18,000 tons and will be used to carry chemicals in Europe and the Middle East, he said.
“The biggest benefit for them will be the cleaning,” Keehan said. “I can’t sit here and say it’s a nonstick surface, but it’s
damn close.”
That said, he said MarineLINE also doesn’t contain PFAS chemicals that are in actual nonstick coatings and have recently become a health concern.
Advanced Polymer will start delivering its product to Union Maritime once the ships are ready for the coatings, probably in 2025, Keehan said. Meanwhile, the company has landed the EXXON contract. It’s a bit smaller, with an initial order of 15,000 gallons that Keehan said would be about enough of the resin-based coating to cover and protect a few hundred rail cars.
It’s a very significant deal for Advanced Polymer, though, because the product, TriFLEX, was only introduced in June and is the company’s first coating for exterior applications.
“We launched the product officially on June 1 of this year. We’ve been in the R&D phase for a little more than a year, actually two years,” Keehan said. “It changes the landscape a little for us, because we’ve always done interior stuff.”
TriFLEX’s advantage is that it promises to provide all of the protection of other coatings used on rail cars, including UV protection, in a single coat.
“The cost savings to the owners is that we can accomplish in one coat what our competitors do in three coats,” Keehan said.
Advanced Polymer has the space to fulfill the contracts with its existing facilities, but Keehan said he’s hoping to move some of the new work to a $10 million, 20,000-square-foot plant expansion the company is finishing in Avon, giving it 42,000 square feet of plant space.
Advanced Polymer is ordering equipment for its new space from overseas. It will be shipped soon, and Keehan hopes it gets to him quickly.
“We’re trying to make sure they route it either through the West Coast or Canada," he said.
Once that equipment’s here and in place, Keehan said he plans to get his new production space up and running quickly.
He might not be done yet, though. The new contracts and other growth have him eying yet another expansion, though he’s not fully decided to go forward with it.
If the business keeps growing, Advanced Polymer might build a new warehouse facility alongside its new factory space next year, Keehan said.
A rendering shows a Union Maritime ship using coatings from Avon’s Advanced Polymer Coatings. | CONTRIBUTED
Wrap Your Business
PartsSource moves HQ to Diebold Nixdorf's old building in Hudson
By Stan Bullard
PartsSource, the Aurora-based provider of remote monitoring and maintenance for high-tech health care equipment users, is about to move to 50 Executive Parkway in Hudson to accommodate a new hybrid work program for its headquarters sta of about 200.
Providing a striking example of how companies are moving to different locations as the workplace evolves, PartsSource is taking a high-pro le building overlooking the Ohio Turnpike. Diebold Nixdorf vacated the building last year as that company consolidated its headquarters in North Canton.
“ e space we had occupied did not meet the needs of a technology-focused company, said Kami Bond, PartsSource chief people o cer, told Crain's.
As PartsSource moves sta ers to the new building in waves throughout October, it also will launch a hybrid work program with three days in the o ce and two at the sta er’s choice across most of its units. Previously, its in-o ce policies varied throughout the out t.
According to Alex Gedeon, PartsSource’s chief operating ocer, the move is lateral in size, about 46,000 square feet.
PartsSource is redoing the postpandemic environment o ces that were updated a few years ago for Diebold Nixdorf.
“COVID-19 informed us about how we use space, so it’s not just about bringing people back to do what they were doing productively at home,” Gedeon said. “First was to work with our customers to develop real-time solutions for their needs, second, collaboration space to develop new solutions, and third ensure mission-critical teams and third, a physical layout that will create disruptive collision for our workforce.”
To accomplish that, PartsSource and its new landlord, Benedict Realty Group of Garden City, New Jersey, according to CoStar, transformed already updated space.
“If you look inside the shell of the building, it will be very di erent,” Bond said. “It could not be more di erent in look and feel. We also asked our people what they wanted to do their best work.”
e result is a primarily open o ce with about 15 conference rooms and phone booth-type rooms for people with a laptop who need privacy. Some conference rooms will accommodate up to 16 people from ve and even smaller “huddle rooms” for smaller groups. All will be equipped with seamless technology, including direct video and audio conferencing.
Shorter cubicles with glass partitions to provide more light through the suites will be standard, compared with taller, older cubicles at the Aurora o ce, including options for sit-to-stand desks.
Fewer o ces are designated for executives, about 10, and the suite o ers reservable private o ces for people who need to work alone after having worked at home or, Bond said, are neurologically diverse and need more privacy than others.
e new o ces are open, provide more transparency and are a big switch from the hodgepodge of colors, including hot pink, in suites PartsSource has occupied for 13 years.
“Most of our colors will be on brand with greys, shades of blue and a touch of teal in the phone booths,” Bond said.
Among the elements yet to be completed is a training center for employees and customers where they can learn about modern technologies or work on solutions for equipment. PartsSource provides aid for health care systems with online coverage for equipment such as CAT and MRI units and, for hardware work in the eld, about 5,000 vendors across the U.S.
“COVID-19 informed us about how we use space, so it’s not just about bringing people back to do what they were doing productively at home.”
Alex Gedeon, PartsSource’s chief operating of cer
Gedeon said the rm also stores parts at a warehouse in Rich eld so it can quickly ship them to customers.
Steve Ross, a CBRE vice president, said 50 Executive Parkway’s ownership is excited to bring PartsSource to its building.
“ ere are a lot of exciting elements to this as we work together to provide a workplace that is exciting and energizing, which builds on our existing amenities at the building,” Ross said.
Ross and CBRE represented the building owner in the PartsSource lease. PartsSource was represented by Dan Rose and Kristy Hull of JLL’s Cleveland o ce. A return phone call by Hull at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8, was missed.
Terms of leases in Hudson and Aurora were not disclosed.
PartsSource is adding more staff as it expands but does not provide revenue information publicly, Gedeon said.
PartsSource will be exiting its o ces at 777 Lena Drive in Aurora when the move is complete.
Gedeon said the Hudson location was popular with surveyed employees of PartsSource because of its central location and proximity to its existing headquarters.
Of ces that Diebold Nixdorf recently shed in Hudson are becoming the new home for the headquarters of PartsSource of Aurora. | COSTAR
North Point of ce complex assigned to special servicing
By Stan Bullard
e North Point complex, a two-building Cleveland landmark at 901-1001 Lakeside Ave., has been assigned by its lender to special servicing after a $90 million loan was not paid o in September.
Morningstar Credit Analytics LLC, which reports on loan changes, noted in its Friday, Oct. 11, email news ash that the shift had taken place, according to its October study of collateralized mortgage-backed securities remittance payments. e move follows what is considered a technical default, as the loan was not repaid when it became due on Sept. 6.
North Point is owned by Hertz Investment Group of Los Angeles, which owns about 50 o ce skyscrapers across the country, many already in nancial trouble. e company last month said in ling on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, that it may not be able to continue operations because of the o ce market's post-pandemic woes.
Morningstar Credit's email stated that cash ow last March at the o ce complex was 8% below the level it was when the loan was underwritten in 2019.
Moreover, the Morningstar Credit note said the building's occupancy was at 74% in March, the same level as when the loan was issued ve years ago. e loan was sold in two o erings and, in naming typical for CMBS loans, referred to as "GSMS 2019-GC42 & BMARK 2019-B13 | CMBX.13."
Tim McCarthy, a Hertz executive vice president who oversees its Cleveland buildings from Pittsburgh, con rmed the special servicing status of the buildings.
"We are actively working with the special servicer to negotiate terms of a loan modi cation that would extend the maturity date of the existing loan," McCarthy wrote in an email. "We are 100% committed to North Point and will continue to work diligently with our lending partners tonalize a mutually bene cial outcome for all parties."
In the post-pandemic o ce market, that is a victory of sorts, as the property has not lost occupancy even though business ap-
petite for o ce space has declined since the pandemic.
Cuyahoga County property lings only show one change in the property records in the past month. Cushman & Wake eld Cresco, an Independence commercial realty brokerage, on Sept. 17 led a broker's lien on the property because it had not been paid a commission of about $34,000 due June 19.
e commission was for the brokerage's representation of the Dinsmore & Sohl LLP law rm leasing an o ce at the building.
Nathan Kelly, president and managing director of Cushman & Wake eld Cresco, said in a phone interview Monday, Oct. 14, that the ling was "just paperwork" to protect the rm's fee because of the property's scal woes.
"We like the building and have done a lot of work there, and Hertz is a quality owner," he said.
e ling is signi cant because it signals a potential cash ow problem at Hertz due to the worsening condition of its portfolio of o ce skyscrapers around the U.S.
CoStar, the online commercial realty data provider, reports that its data ranks Hertz as the 25thlargest owner of downtown U.S. o ce buildings. Most of its holdings are in smaller metropolitan areas such as Pittsburgh and Jackson, Mississippi.
Hertz paid $95 million for the two North Point buildings in 2016, according to Cuyahoga County land records. at was part of a ve-building purchase of the property from Equity Commonwealth (NYSE: EQC), a real estate investment trust that is currently winding down operations.
North Point has scored major o ce deals at the expense of other downtown Cleveland ofce buildings the past few years. Among major new tenants are the EY accounting rm, which moved from what's now Oswald Tower, and the General Services Administration, which moved the downtown o ce of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services there from 200 Public Square.
e North Point loan was assigned to Dallas, Texas-based K-Star Asset Management, which declined comment.
The ve- oor North Point I and 19-story North Point Tower II | STAN BULLARD
Nordson to lay off 114 in Amherst as it shifts work to South Carolina
By Scott Suttell
Nordson Corp. (Nasdaq: NDSN), the Westlake-based maker of dispensing equipment for consumer and industrial adhesives, sealants and coatings, plans to lay off more than 100 manufacturing workers at its Amherst operations starting in December as the company shifts work to South Carolina.
The company disclosed the layoffs in a Monday, Oct. 7, letter to the state of Ohio that's required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.
Nordson said in the WARN notice that it "will be permanently relocating manufacturing operations" currently located at four addresses in Amherst: 555 Jackson St., 444 Gordon Ave., 100 Nordson Drive and 200 Nordson Drive. Non-manufacturing employees at those locations are not affected.
The company plans to move the Amherst manufacturing operations to a Nordson facility in Clinton, South Carolina, according to the WARN notice.
"We expect the transition to occur in phases, and separations will
begin on December 6, 2024, and are expected to be completed by the end of April 2025," the notice stated.
There are a total number of 114 affected employees, 101 of whom are represented by Local Lodge No. 1802 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM&AW). Employees represented by the IAM&AW "will have the opportunity to exercise bumping rights as outlined in their collective bargaining agreement," Nordson stated in the WARN notice.
A Nordson spokesperson issued the following statement to Crain's in response to an inquiry about the WARN notice:
"As originally announced on June 14, 2024, Nordson’s Industrial Coatings Systems (ICS) division has grown significantly over the past several years, outgrowing our current manufacturing footprint in Amherst, Ohio. Our business is out of space, and we are landlocked by a railroad and a residential community, making it difficult to expand manufacturing capabilities to meet our customers’ in-
creasing needs. Our ICS manufacturing, assembly and machining operations will move to a new Nordson facility in South Carolina, which will enable us to host all of the products currently manufactured across several buildings in Amherst into one location. "At Nordson, we remain committed to Northeast Ohio with over 70% of our local workforce remaining in Amherst and our global headquarters in Westlake, Ohio. We
greatly appreciate the commitment of our Amherst manufacturing employees and reached an agreement this summer with union leadership to provide resources that would ease the transition for impacted employees."
A phone call on Oct. 7 to Amherst Mayor Mark Costilow's office wasn't returned by 2 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8.
Nordson on Aug. 21 reported financial results for the fiscal third
quarter that ended July 31. Sales were $662 million, up about 2% from the prior fiscal year’s thirdquarter sales of $649 million. Net income was $117 million, or $2.04 of earnings per diluted share, down from earnings of $128 million, or $2.22 of earnings per diluted share, in the year-earlier period.
Nordson’s global total headcount is about 8,600 employees, the spokesperson noted.
Nordson manufacturing operations at 100 Nordson Way in Amherst | COStAR
LARGEST BANKS IN NORTHEAST OHIO
ResearchbyDavidNusbaum(david.nusbaum@crain.com).|Source:Financialdatacomesfromfdic.gov.Thislistincludesdepositsandlocalofficesin15counties:Ashland,Ashtabula,Cuyahoga,Erie, Geauga,Huron,Lake,Lorain,Mahoning,Medina,Portage,Stark,Summit,TrumbullandWayne. 1. WayneSavingsBancsharesInc.,theholdingcompanyofWayneSavingsCommunityBank,andMain Street Financial Services Corp., the holding company of Main Street Bank Corp., merged in May. Get much more at CrainsCleveland.com/data
LARGEST CREDIT UNIONS IN NORTHEAST OHIO
Community banks push back on brokered deposits rule
By Jeremy Nobile
A Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. initiative to revise regulations on brokered deposits is raising concerns among community banks, which are pushing back on the simmering proposal.
Put simply, a brokered deposit is any deposit placed at a bank by a third-party deposit broker. This contrasts with core deposits, which come directly from customers and encompass most checking and savings accounts.
Rules currently proposed by the FDIC, however, stand to alter the definition of what constitutes a deposit broker and brokered deposits and potentially broaden the scope of the terms.
If put into effect, the concern is that the proposed regulations might result in the re-categorization of a segment of core deposits that banks already hold as brokered.
“If this passes, I think it is going to be a challenge for banks,” said Wes Gillespie, president of ErieBank, a division of CNB Bank that operates in Northeast Ohio and Northwest Pennsylvania. “What they might call brokered deposits is just not really accurate.”
Banks that accept brokered deposits must already be wellcapitalized. But because examiners view brokered deposits as more risky and less sticky than core deposits, banks must retain greater capital reserves and pay higher insurance premiums to handle them.
So, if the FDIC’s proposed rules are put in place and a portion of a bank’s deposits are re-classified as brokered, those banks will pay more in relation to those deposits and be required to set more capital aside, all of which impacts the balance sheet.
This may not be as big of a concern for large, diversified regional banks. And not all banks use brokered deposits in general.
However, community banks that do rely on them could face increased capital requirements and higher costs associated with handling and monitoring those brokered deposits.
This may be manageable, but it will nonetheless be harder for smaller banks to swallow. In situations where banks are paying more to manage brokered deposits, those institutions likely will
pass on those costs to customers in the form of lower interest rates or higher fees.
While community banks are defined in part by having less than $10 billion, around 82% of Ohio’s community banks have assets of less than $1 billion, while 71% have less than $500,000, according to the Community Bankers Association of Ohio.
“The proposed changes by the FDIC regarding brokered deposits are a concern for our Ohio community banks,” said CBAO President and CEO Aza Bittinger Jr.
“This is yet again another example of ‘too big to fail’ oversight being reintroduced, which will adversely affect community banks, their rural communities and the small businesses in which they serve.”
The FDIC’s motivation in proposing its new rules on brokered deposits is to further shore up the banking system following the fallout caused by the failure of Silicon Valley Bank last year, the ripples of which could even be felt in Northeast Ohio.
Brokered deposits have been historically thought of pejoratively as “hot money” in the financial industry because they can move fast and aren’t as sticky as core deposits from traditional banking customers.
Tighter regulations could keep
that money from slipping away quickly in the event of future turmoil in the banking industry.
“The changes to the brokered deposit rule ... address the fundamental relationship between a bank, a depositor and a third party intermediary, and the risks the relationship may pose as illustrated by the recent failure of the nonbank deposit broker Synapse Financial,” FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg has stated. “The changes would also help strengthen the important prudential protections of the brokered deposit rule required by statutory restrictions and reduce the very serious risks that brokered deposits pose to less than well-capitalized (insured depository institutions) and the Deposit Insurance Fund.”
Another purpose may be to rein in relationships that banks and nonbanks may have with banking-as-a-service (BaaS) providers, which can be vehicles for money laundering.
But uncertainties with how the rules could take shape is where the worry from bankers like Gillespie comes from.
For example, some bankers are unclear on whether deposits held with companies like IntraFi would be classified as brokered deposits under new rules.
Following the SVB failure, com-
NAACP sets city center office move
By Stan Bullard
As part of a plan to be more centrally located and boost its profile, NAACP Cleveland plans to move in early November to the Innerbelt Building, at 2800 Euclid Ave., just east of downtown.
Edwin Hubbard, the chapter's executive director, said he feels the civil rights organization will benefit from a downtown location near the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections for its voting campaigns and hopes being near Cleveland State
University will help it land more interns for its projects.
"I'm excited because this will be near organizations we often partner with and will bring our technology into the 21st century,"
Hubbard said in a phone interview. "Our general meetings will continue to be held at locations throughout the community."
He said the new office in Suite 640 is about the same size as the group's existing office at the Fairhill Partners building in the Buckeye Shaker Neighborhood but will
have more usable space due to its layout.
The move was made possible with some of the proceeds of the organization's annual Freedom Fund Dinner this year, Hubbard said.
Cosmetic improvements are underway. Hubbard said the suite will have NAACP blue and yellow colors and display reflecting the branch and national group's history and future plans.
The Cleveland branch was founded 112 years ago.
including the now-defunct ShoreBank — who recently retired as the DEI and community outreach officer for JumpStart Inc.
Banks working in niche or underserved areas may not always have stable funding from those markets, which is why they may turn to brokered deposits for capital.
“If I’m a ShoreBank, I do brokered deposits, and my community is literally the underserved communities in Cleveland, I’ve got to be really careful because that is going to be expensive on my part,” Mackley said. “I’ll need to find opportunities to offset that expense at a margin where the risk is not going to be that high.”
“Knowing the critical role community banks play in the lives of underserved individuals, I’m alarmed by the proposed FDIC rule change regarding brokered deposits,” wrote Mackley in a comment letter to the FDIC.
munity banks in particular have been increasingly turning to companies like IntraFi — and their myriad competitors — to secure deposit insurance for customers above the FDIC’s $250,000 protection limit. This is done by spreading out deposits above the FDIC’s protection threshold across institutions in the provider’s network, which would be IntraFi in this case.
If those deposits are suddenly classified as brokered, it could create some headaches for smaller banks.
“Brokered deposits, for us, means you go find an aggregator and bring in deposits. We often call those corporate deposits,” Gillespie said. “But the other deposits (the FDIC) may be referencing, like IntraFi, those are relationship deposits. So, to call them the same thing is really, I think, going to be a challenge for banks. I think that would be an overall negative for community banks and very punitive for community banks.”
Making brokered deposits less attractive as a result of additional costs and compliance might also hinder the use of the funding source for particular small banks serving rural or underserved areas, said Lamont Mackley, a former president of three community banks —
“Just as businesses rely on community banks, community banks rely on brokered deposits,” his letter continues. “To unnecessarily restrict this source of capital for community banks is to unnecessarily restrict access to opportunities for the people they serve.”
While the impacts of the FDIC’s proposed rules on brokered deposits may not be dire, they may still have some negative impacts for smaller financial institutions.
And all this feels all the more frustrating for the banking industry after rules on brokered deposits were changed for the better — in the industry’s point of view — in 2020 after being untouched for decades.
“In 2020, the industry worked together with regulators and members of Congress to craft rules modernizing the broker deposit rules written back in the ’80s. The result was new rules that were a win-win for all sectors of the banking industry and consumers,” said Evan Kleymeyer, spokesman for the Ohio Bankers League.
“It is troublesome that the FDIC is attempting to roll back what has proven to be a successful modernization of the broker deposit rules," he added. "The impact of repealing these rules is Ohio consumers will pay more for very popular products designed to provide more FDIC insurance coverage no matter with which bank they do business.”
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) headquarters in Washington, D.C. bLOOMberG
RIVERFRONT
From Page 1
partnership is going to lead the way,” Bibb said on Monday, Oct. 14. “I look forward to seeing more shovels in the ground very, very, very soon.”
As part of the event, the Cavaliers announced a 25-year extension of their partnership with the Cleveland Clinic, which began in 1993.
The facility, which is being designed by Populous Studio, will be situated on 35 acres of the river, not far from Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. In addition to serving as the practice facility for the Cleveland Cavaliers, it will offer
LAKEFRONT
From Page 1
“This grant will allow us to re-imagine our waterfront access, transform outdated infrastructure, and build a safer, more vibrant connection between our residents, the lakefront, and the Port of Cleveland,” Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb said in a statement.
Still, Skinner said that $60 million is only a portion of the funds needed to build the connector and redesign the shoreway. He added that the connector project will include a complicated capital stack, but he believes the DOT grant will act as a catalyst to bring in other federal sources.
Skinner also said the project will look at projected revenue coming from the lakefront tax increment financing (TIF) as a means to fund the remainder of the project. That additional funding will include the creation of a multimodal station for Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority and Amtrak vehicles as part of the North Coast Master Plan.
The lakefront redevelopment received $1 million for a study
comprehensive care for the general public, including athletes of all sports and levels, the team said.
“Today is a historic day in the city of Cleveland,” Cavaliers playby-play announcer John Michael said. “Today we break ground on so much more than just a practice floor. We break ground on a new world-class high-tech facility.
“The Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center is going to promote and transform the look and feel of downtown Cleveland on one of the premier waterfronts in our nation, not only making it a destination for visitors here in Cleveland but a destination for current and future NBAers.”
The center will replace the Cleveland Clinic Courts in Independence. Koby Altman, the Cavaliers’ president of basketball operations, said he first broached the idea of a new practice facility with Cavs owner Dan Gilbert about five years ago, “and it would have been faster if it wasn’t for COVID.”
Gilbert had two stipulations, Altman said. First, it had to be located downtown, which was fine with Altman because he had already been dreaming about placing it on Collision Bend.
The second one? Dream big.
“It was important to him to revitalize this riverfront,” Altman said of Gilbert, who was unable to attend Monday’s ceremony due
to the poor weather forecast. “We knew we had to present to him something different, something unique, something special and something truly game-changing.”
The riverfront project was also a priority for Bibb. During his first meeting with Cavaliers CEO Nic Barlage, Bedrock CEO Kofi Bonner and the Cavaliers’ leadership team, he asked them, “How fast can we get shovels in the ground for this project?”
“I have to admit, I didn't expect us to have shovels in the ground in less than three years,” Bibb said “But we got it done. And the key to getting it done was a true public-private partnership.”
That partnership — the first large-scale waterfront tax incre-
from Cleveland Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam and $20 million from a one-time capital bill from the state.
“Historically Cleveland has punched below its weight class with competitive grants from the Department of Transportation,” Skinner said. “And it is exceedingly
rare to get this award on the first attempt,” he added.
The initial concept to build a park-like land bridge allowing pedestrian travel over the Shoreway from Mall C to the lakefront was first proposed by the Haslams. Since then, the Haslams have publicly released plans to either reno-
vate the Cleveland Browns' existing lakefront stadium for $1.2 billion or move the team to a $2.4 billion domed stadium in the city of Brook Park.
Skinner told Crain’s that the Haslams have been supportive of the redevelopment of the downtown lakefront.
ment financing district in Cleveland — will provide more than $4 billion over the next 30 years “to make sure Cleveland has one of the best waterfronts, not just in America, but in the world as well, too,” Bibb said.
By the time the facility is finished, Gilbert and his family will have invested more than $2 billion in the region, “with another $2 billion to $3 billion in the pipeline to come,” Barlage said.
“This facility … will not only serve the athletes we see on the floor every single night, but it will serve this community,” Barlage said. “It will serve as a heartbeat and to create vibrancy along this riverfront that's long been (lacking) and long been needed.”
“This is a great example of how we are moving forward with the master plan regardless of whatever the Browns stadium decision. We are not waiting around to do this work,” Skinner said.
In a letter to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg advocating for the funding, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, stated that the connector would have a $7.7 billion economic impact on the city.
“This project will allow for greater mobility between downtown Cleveland and Cleveland’s lakefront,” Brown wrote in his letter.
The connector project and other aspects of the lakefront redevelopment will be able to start before all of the funds are assembled, which is a function of the plan’s build design method.
The first phase of the project will begin with the demolition of the Main Avenue bridge between West Ninth Street and Erieside Avenue and the construction of a widened pedestrian and bikefriendly bridge at West Third Street.
“The goal is to have shovels in the ground by the end of 2026,” Skinner said.
The proposed design for the East Ninth Street intersection with the Shoreway | NORtH COASt WAtERFRONt DEVELOPMENt CORP
Clockwise from left: Renderings show the Cavaliers’ new practice court, locker room and weight room planned for the Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center POPULOUS
Case Western opens new $2.3M community center
By Joe Scalzo
After sitting vacant for almost a decade — and narrowly avoiding demolition — a 100-year-old house is getting reintroduced to Cleveland’s Magnolia-Wade Park neighborhood.
Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) held a formal ribbon cutting on Tuesday, Oct. 15, for its new Wade Park Community Engagement Center, which will house CWRU’s Office of Local Government and Community Relations and offer activities and programs for neighborhood residents and community groups.
until several years ago, according to The Land, and is located near Case’s Mather Park softball field. That area also includes university offices and private residences.
“One of our three institutional priorities is to enhance our engagement with the surrounding community,”
CWRU President Eric Kaler said in a statement.
from CWRU’s Office of PreCollegiate Programs; law clinics; and local small-business advising and workshops.
MetroHealth opens psychiatric ER following St. Vincent’s closure
By Paige Bennett
MetroHealth has opened a psychiatric emergency department at its Cleveland Heights Medical Center following this summer’s shutdown of St. Vincent Charity Community Health Center’s psychiatric emergency services unit.
The department, located in the Behavioral Health Hospital on MetroHealth’s Cleveland Heights campus, provides “round-theclock, on-site psychiatric emergency services to meet the community’s critical need for crisis behavioral healthcare,” according to a news release issued Wednesday, Oct. 16, by the health system.
ry care and behavioral health care in the city's Central neighborhood. Earlier this year, nonprofit The Centers purchased the former St. Vincent Charity Medical Office Building, which it plans to convert into its new headquarters.
MetroHealth says it will continue providing psychiatric care at its four emergency departments.
The space has the capacity to serve 13 patients and is staffed with psychiatrists and behavioral-health trained employees.
The space has the capacity to serve 13 patients and is staffed with psychiatrists, behavioralhealth trained nurses, nursing assistants and social workers. It marks the public health system’s latest investment in behavioral health. MetroHealth opened the doors to its $42 million Behavioral Health Hospital in October 2022.
The move comes nearly four months after St. Vincent Charity Community Medical Center announced it would be transitioning its psychiatric emergency services to Cuyahoga County’s safety-net hospital.
St. Vincent, a ministry of the Sisters of Charity Health System, closed its emergency department and ended inpatient care in November 2022. It shuttered its psychiatric emergency services unit on June 30.
St. Vincent continues to provide outpatient services such as prima-
The health system worked with the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board of Cuyahoga County to open the psychiatric emergency department. The board, an independent political subdivision of the state, is responsible for the planning, funding and monitoring of public mental health and addiction treatment and recovery services.
A spokesperson for MetroHealth said the health system had been planning to incorporate additional crisis services since it opened in Cleveland Heights, but the St. Vincent closure made the need for them more apparent.
Demand for mental health services has been on the rise nationally. According to an analysis from KFF, a health policy research nonprofit, nearly 23% of U.S. adults received mental health treatment in 2022, up from 19% in 2019.
The Health Policy Institute of Ohio’s 2024 Health Value Dashboard found that depression rates among adults had increased considerably between 2011 and 2022, with one-quarter of adults reporting they had depression in 2022. And 1 of every 4 Ohio adults who reported needing mental health treatment did not receive it.
EXECUTIVE RECRUITER
The 4,500-square foot home, which was built in 1924 and sits at 11310 Wade Park Ave., was restored with a $2.3 million investment from CWRU. Funding includes $200,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act (directed by Cuyahoga County Council Representative Yvonne Conwell) and $250,000 from The George Gund Foundation.
The two-story building was used as a church from the 1970s
“This center enables us to work each day alongside local residents, fostering more robust partnerships between us and promoting more effective collaborations that will strengthen our shared neighborhood.”
CWRU’s 20-member Neighborhood Advisory Council (NAC) will hold its monthly meetings at the center. The NAC includes community members, students and representatives from CWRU and local community organizations.
The building also will include a telehealth/interview room (for conducting job interviews or telehealth doctor’s appointments); health and wellness screenings and workshops; youth programs
“The center is a place where CWRU faculty, staff and students can come together with residents and community members,” Julian Rogers, CWRU’s associate vice president of Local Government and Community, said in a statement. “They can learn from each other while creating opportunities to enhance education, build relationships and improve outcomes.”
CWRU has invested millions into its campus in recent years, most notably on the $300 million Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building that's set to open in fall 2026.
Case also spent $110 million on its South Residential Village residence halls, $16.4 million on biology teaching labs, $9.4 million on its Human Fusions Institute (which takes up the third floor of the former BioEnterprise building), and $5.2 million on its Midtown Collaboration Center.
Case Western Reserve University President Eric Kaler speaks at the unveiling of the Wade Park Community Engagement Center. cONtrIbUteD
SWAGELOK
From Page 1
“What we’re teaching are skills that are applicable across the board,” said library Literacy and Learning Director Rebecca Ranallo. “For example, we teach 3D design ... and we teach the skills and principles of 3D design, not a speci c program or designing a speci c thing. We want them to be general skills.”
Many of those skills, including 3D design, are in areas that are in demand by many employers across the region, she said, and not just at Swagelok.
For Swagelok, this is one of several e orts the company has made in recent years to bolster the workforce, which it says is important to its business, other area companies with which it does business and the manufac-
PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
Somich & Associates CPAs
We are pleased to welcome John Godfrey to the Somich & Associates CPAs team as Tax Supervisor. With over 20 years of tax experience, John brings a wealth of knowledge in tax compliance, planning, and advisory services. His expertise will enhance our ability to serve clients with the highest level of professionalism and accuracy.
ENGINEERING / CONSULTING
Civil & Environmental Consultants, Inc.
Frantz Ward LLP
turing ecosystem generally. It works closely with several local school systems to support STEM education and raise awareness of career opportunities in manufacturing and also has a program to help veterans get into civilian work, for example.
“Swagelok proudly supports manufacturing and STEM initiatives in Northeast Ohio, Delis said. “And we eagerly anticipate the positive impact the CCPL's Swagelok Innovation Center will have on our community for years to come,” said Delis.
In addition to helping people learn new skills, the company has also adjusted its approach to hiring. It maintains that while skills are important, they are not as important as hiring good people who do good work generally — and it often hires people with the intention of training them in-house once they are employees.
For the library, innovation centers aren't new. e Solon branch will be the ninth in the library system when it opens in the spring of next year, Ranallo said. But this is the system’s rst center being built with corporate sponsorship, she said.
plastic and uses a vacuum to form the design that you have,” Ranallo said. “I think it’s going to be particularly useful to people who are prototyping.”
The library is geared up to help people develop new things as well as new skills, she said, and 3D printers, laser cutters and vacuum formers are perfect for people developing a new product but not yet ready for mass production.
Library CEO Tracy Strobel said the innovation centers draw many people to the library who might not otherwise come, especially people who own or plan to start a small business.
“They might not think of the library as a place that can support their businesses,” she said. “Then they come in and see that we can help them embroider shirts or print mugs or prototype new things.”
e library provides the equipment, instructions on how to use the technologies and machines it has available and usually some material to learn with and get started.
“What we’re teaching are skills that are applicable across the board.”
John’s dedication to delivering outstanding tax solutions aligns perfectly with our rm’s mission, and we are excited to have him join our growing team.
CONSTRUCTION
Marous Brothers Construction
Marous Brothers Construction, the award-winning, multi-generational construction company, is pleased to announce that Tom Garvey has been hired as Business Development Manager. With over 20 years of experience in commercial real estate and construction management, Garvey understands the complex challenges developers face.His client-focused approach and deep industry knowledge allow him to offer valuable insights that align with the needs of each project, ensuring smooth, successful outcomes.
HEALTH CARE
Crystal Clinic Orthopaedic Center
Matt Hammer, P.G. joins CEC as a Principal and Cleveland’s new Operations Lead. With his addition, CEC’s Cleveland operations now offer local environmental services. Matt has over 25 years of consulting experience for various markets, including public sector, energy, legal, commercial/ industrial, solid waste, and developer clients. He is a licensed professional geoscientist in Texas, a licensed professional geologist in Pennsylvania, and a Certi ed Professional in the Ohio Voluntary Action Program.
Eric Neumann, M.D., a fellowship-trained, board-eligible spine surgeon, has joined Crystal Clinic Orthopaedic Center. He is now seeing patients in Fairlawn and Wadsworth. Dr. Neumann specializes in the comprehensive evaluation and management of both adult and adolescent disorders of the cervical, thoracic, and lumbosacral spine. His areas of expertise include spinal tumors and infection, adult deformity, motion-preservation, revision spinal surgery, and minimally invasive surgery.
Frantz Ward welcomes Josh A. Friedman, who joins the rm as an associate. Josh is a member of Frantz Ward’s Labor and Employment Practice Group and is adept at navigating self-insured workers’ compensation claims. Josh earned his J.D., magna cum laude, from Cleveland State University College of Law and his B.B.A., cum laude, from the University of Cincinnati-Lindner College of Business. Frantz Ward welcomes Stacey M. Sanderson as an associate in the rm’s Labor & Employment Practice Group. Stacey advises employers on a wide range of employment issues, representing employers through administrative, federal, and state court actions. Stacey earned her J.D. from Cleveland State University College of Law and her B.A. from Kent State University.
LEGAL
Benesch
Kennedy Dickson has joined Benesch as an Associate in the rm’s Litigation Practice Group. She specializes in complex commercial litigation and white-collar matters.
Rebecca Ranallo, Cuyahoga County Library’s literacy and learning director
The Solon Innovation Center will be located in a new space being built as part of the expansion of the Solon branch of the library on Portz Parkway. That’s being funded by the library and the city of Solon, which is putting $1 million toward the $7 million project that will add about 4,000 square feet of new space to the existing library.
All of the library’s innovation centers include 3D printers and a makers’ space. Plus, most of them also include embroidery and printing equipment, and many even have lasers used for cutting a variety of materials, Ranallo said.
They often also have a standout piece of equipment that none, or at least few, of the other centers have, she said. For example, the Brooklyn branch of the library, which is opening its innovation center in November, will have a WAZER, a machine that uses extremely highpowered water jets to cut metal, glass, plastic and other materials.
The Solon Innovation Center will also have something different for patrons to use.
“We are adding a vacuum former to that space, which is cool. We’ve never done one of those before,” Ranallo said.
Vacuum formers work by taking a piece of pliable plastic, putting it over a mold that’s similar to a die that a metal stamper might use and then using a vacuum to suck that plastic up tight to the mold. The plastic is cured and when it’s done it permanently holds the shape of the mold.
“It basically takes a sheet of
Once users begin to move to commercial production, they can usually still use the machines but have to provide and pay for their own materials.
For example, the library would provide cloth and thread so that a patron could learn to use one of its 10-needle embroidery machines. But if that person then gets a contract to sell 1,000 embroidered shirts or caps, they’ll need to provide those items themselves.
Some have gone on to form companies and buy their own equipment after learning new skills at the library.
“We had a guy use our Garfield space until he got a contract with Walmart,” Ranallo said “He did that using our embroidery equipment.”
The gentleman ended up buying his own equipment and still produces products commercially, she said.
Ranallo hopes to have similar success in Solon, where she expects the innovation center to also attract some residents of nearby Geauga County.
Swagelok, in addition to money, is also providing volunteers to work with people at the library — something Ranallo said is also important.
“It’s that real person that shows the connection between a stem skill we might be teaching and actual jobs,” she said.
Strobel, who oversees 27 branches, said more innovation centers are coming in the future.
“We recognize the importance of having resources that maybe people can’t a ord themselves,” She said. “ at’s really why libraries exist … so it just makes sense for us to provide these resources.”
Sanderson
Instead of looking for trained workers, Solon-based Swagelok works to recruit people it thinks will be good employees and to develop talent in-house. SWAGELOK
