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1/22/2010
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$1.50/JANUARY 25 - 31, 2010
Vol. 31, No. 4
Investment real estate sales drop drastically
Proposal to end elections for high court gains steam Governor would select judges, who then would stand for retention vote By JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com
Cleveland attorney James Robenalt interviews judicial candidates as a volunteer with Judge4Yourself.com, a joint bar association program that rates candidates who are running for judgeships in Northeast Ohio. But even he isn’t always sure he knows the candidates well enough to make intelligent decisions on Election Day. “Sometimes I’m at the voting booth and I’m wondering to myself, ‘Which Russo is this one? Which McMonagle is this?’” Mr. Robenalt said. So it’s not surprising that the Thompson Hine lawyer thinks a new plan to end the election of Ohio Supreme Court justices, and replace it with a system the plan’s proponents call merit selection, is a good idea. The plan, which is not yet in its final form, was proposed late last year by Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Moyer, the League of Women Voters and the Ohio State Bar Association. Since the plan would involve a change in the Ohio Constitution, it eventually Moyer would need to come before voters — a step that could happen as soon as this year, say supporters who plan to ask the Legislature to put the issue on the November ballot. It’s too early in the process for all the interested parties to choose sides, but the proposal is receiving some support from interest groups across the state that are focused on getting the best judges. However, because the proposal arguably chips away at voting rights, it could get a strong negative reaction from other constituencies, which would hurt its chances for success. Rather than Supreme Court justices running for election to six-year
Dollar value of bigger deals down 78%, hurt by lending environment By STAN BULLARD sbullard@crain.com JASON MILLER PHOTOS
Metrics Marketing Group uses eye-tracking technology to show clients what elements of an advertisement catch the eye of their customers. Here, Cathy Zapata, Metrics’ vice president for research and customer experience, stands in one of the company’s two conference rooms where clients can watch a study as it’s happening.
AN INSIDER’S VIEW Westlake interactive marketing company offers clients a unique perspective on customers’ habits By CHUCK SODER csoder@crain.com
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he key to Metrics Marketing Group’s future will be to help its customers learn as much as possible about their own customers. The interactive marketing firm in Westlake at the start of the year opened a lab that will allow the company’s clients to follow the eye movements of test subjects looking at anything from computer screens to advertising displays to greeting cards. Metrics Marketing’s high-tech gear includes a mobile headset that can measure eye movements even while a test subject is walking through the aisle of a store looking See VIEW Page 5
Take $129 million. In 2008, that pile of cash bought the North Point office tower in downtown Cleveland for Boston-based HRPT Property Trust. In 2009, the same amount of dough would have covered the purchase of all investorowned commercial and INSIDE THE industrial property that sold NUMBERS for more than $5 million in Northeast Ohio — and left you According to data with change. from NAI Daus and So it goes when sales of Real Capital Analytics, investment property dry up so investment sales of much that you can count all more than $5 million the big deals on two hands, were way down in said Alec Pacella, senior vice 2009 compared to president of the NAI Daus years earlier: realty brokerage in Beachwood. ■ $118 million in 2009; And Mr. Pacella means that, literally. A just-completed ■ $538 million in 2008; study of Northeast Ohio prop- ■ $1.68 billion in 2007; erty sales by Mr. Pacella and ■ $1.18 billion in 2006; Real Capital Analytics, a New ■ $1.25 billion in 2005; York realty data consultancy, estimates just 10 properties ■ $721 million in 2004; changed hands for more than $5 million last year, for a total of $118 million in sales. That’s a 78% drop in dollar volume from $538 million in sales in 2008, when North Point was one of 29 deals with a dollar value of more than $5 million. The reason for the falloff is the real estate credit crunch and a spate of bank and insurance company failures that have put a further crimp on lending for property deals. “It’s one thing to know day in and day out that no one, See SALES Page 17
INSIDE NASA Glenn aims to better use space Metrics Marketing Group employee Matt Wisniewski demonstrates a mobile eye-tracking device used to collect data from a real world environment, such as a grocery aisle.
The research center is seeking developers willing to take over a lease Glenn holds on its 18.9-acre North Campus, in Fairview Park. Read Jay Miller’s story on Page 3.
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FINANCE Federal Reserve check program allows banks to save money, enhance efficiency ■ Page 13 PLUS: SMALL BUSINESS LENDING ■ HEDGE FUNDS ■ & MORE
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