VOL. 38, NO. 40
OCTOBER 2 - 8, 2017
Source Lunch
Akron University’s biomimicry researchers achieve a breakthrough. Page 32
Laura Culp, Sikich LLP Page 35
CLEVELAND BUSINESS
The List Top-paid CFOs at public companies Page 28
REAL ESTATE
Lakewood Hospital site has developer
SPORTS BUSINESS
LET THE REAL SEASON BEGIN Prolific campaign provides another big boost to Indians’ surging business
By STAN BULLARD
By KEVIN KLEPS
sbullard@crain.com @CrainRltywriter
A team of Lakewood city officials and residents has selected Carnegie Management & Development Corp. to partner with the city to redevelop the site of the former Lakewood Hospital as a multimillion-dollar mixed-use project. A letter from the team outlining why Westlake-based Carnegie emerged as its potential partner in an eight-month planning process is included on Lakewood City Council’s docket for a meeting on Monday, Oct. 2. Up next in the process: negotiating a term sheet and development agreement for the 6-acre site at Belle and Detroit avenues. The committee chose Carnegie, a residential, retail and office developer, for the project over a joint venture formed by Casto Development of Columbus and North Pointe Realty, a Mayfield Heights firm that operated office properties in Lakewood for decades. The remaking plan follows Cleveland Clinic closing the hospital in 2016 and donating its site to the suburb. A former medical office building on the west side of Belle has been razed for construction of a $30 million family health center by the Clinic. Lakewood Mayor Mike Summers said the committee selected Carnegie for what it felt was greater responsiveness to the city’s goals for the site. “One of the key differences is their personal sense of risk,” Summers said in a phone interview. “They asked for very little in terms of public investment, except the land for nothing or $1. This particular developer has a history of building and holding properties. We have a 50- to 100-year view of the project. We have to get this right. They take a long-term view of this project. That to me was very compelling.” SEE LAKEWOOD, PAGE 30
kkleps@crain.com @KevinKleps
By the time you read this, the Cleveland Indians will be getting set to face the New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins or Boston Red Sox in the American League Division Series. Maybe you’re hoping for the Yankees, since it’s always fun to take out one of the most storied franchises in sports. But even if it’s the much-less-exciting Twins, you’ll likely be watching — which, for the Tribe, continues a season-long theme. The Indians made significant gains on the business side in 2016, as a World Series run provided a 29% bump to their 2017 season-ticket base, and the club’s 14.6% attendance increase last
year was the second-largest in Major League Baseball. The TV ratings on SportsTime Ohio, meanwhile, were No. 2 in the game and the best for the franchise in 11 years. Well, it turns out a World Series appearance that’s followed by a celebrated, $60 million free-agent signing, the longest MLB winning streak in 101 years and the franchise’s first 100-win season in 22 years is really good for business. The signing of Edwin Encarnacion, coming off a thrilling playoff ride, was the gift that kept on giving for the Tribe. Within a few days of the deal, which was struck two days before Christmas, the Indians’ season-ticket base reached 10,000 full-season equivalents for the first time since 2009. The Tribe added more than 2,000 FSEs in the ensuing months and started the 2017 campaign with 12,300 — or 6,300 ahead of the Tribe’s 2012 total. SEE INDIANS, PAGE 31
The signing of Edwin Encarnacion resulted in a significant jolt to the Tribe’s season-ticket base. (Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
MANUFACTURING
GOJO is going beyond successful Purell brand By DAN SHINGLER dshingler@crain.com @DanShingler
Everyone knows what makes GOJO go — Purell. The hand sanitizer has, in the 21 years since it was introduced, become ubiquitous. A person can hardly go into a bathroom, office,
Entire contents © 2017 by Crain Communications Inc.
grocery store, doctor’s office, coffee shop — or likely their own home — without seeing Purell. If they don’t see it, it might be because they see a knock-off instead. The product is as successful as Kleenex or Xerox and has likewise virtually become its own pronoun. But, what’s going to drive growth the way Purell has for two decades, as
the company has gone from a small maker of mostly industrial and automotive hand sanitizers, to a 2,000-employee consumer products giant and an anchor of downtown Akron? More Purell, but it won’t just be the hand-sanitizing gel going forward. GOJO thinks it has developed new products that are intersecting perfectly with new threats, regulations
and consumer demands. “This is like the Super Bowl for GOJO. It’s the biggest launch in the company’s history,” chief strategy officer Carey Jaros said recently, speaking by phone as she snuck away from a crowded GOJO booth at the International Sanitary Supply Association (ISSA) Trade Show in Las Vegas in September. SEE GOJO, PAGE 30
Finance << The
war for accounting talent reaches a fever pitch. Page 13 Private equity firms grapple with the new normal. Page 14 Huntington guns for growth. Page 18