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historic euclid avenue church deconstructed, elements to be repurposed
Developer Rick Foran has made a career out of saving buildings, yet his latest project involves repurposing elements of one structure that was beyond repair.

Foran was hired by the Episcopal Diocese of Northeast Ohio two years ago to evaluate the condition of the long-vacant Emmanuel Church at 8614 Euclid. After discovering that the building needed structural repairs, the diocese marketed the property, but no buyers were willing to reinvest in it. When the Cleveland Clinic bought it, approval for demolition was granted with the condition that some parts be preserved.

Today, Foran's crew is carefully disassembling the stone facade, numbering, photographing and cataloguing each piece, and palletizing, shrink wrapping and storing them for later use. The goal is to reconstruct the narthex facade at another location to be determined. Additionally, the Skinner organ, woodwork, baptismal font, French floor tiles and historic light fixtures also are being salvaged.

"Nobody likes to tear down a landmark church, but if the decision has been made, I'm pleased that we can repurpose artifacts of the church and give them a new life," says Foran. "By the time the demo occurs, many of the more distinctive features will have been salvaged and relocated. There's also been an effort to keep them in a religious environment, or to keep them in the city of Cleveland."

The baptismal font, French floor tiles and stained glass window have been relocated to St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Mentor. Light fixtures are being dispersed among various churches in Cleveland. The hand-carved lectern and bible stand are being added to the Cleveland Museum of Art's collection.

The Clinic plans to build a hotel on the site that will provide families a place to stay while a loved one is in the hospital. The Clinic's previous guest house was displaced by the new medical school building recently developed in partnership with Case Western Reserve University. Groundbreaking on the new hotel is expected to occur next year.


Source: Rick Foran
Writer: Lee Chilcote
holiday lighting display brightens public square with 375k energy-efficient bulbs
Public Square in downtown Cleveland will be even brighter and safer this holiday season thanks to new, energy-efficient lighting donated by GE Lighting and installed by the City of Cleveland.

The city has installed new lamp-top posts and LED lighting throughout Public Square. The new bulbs are twice as efficient as the old ones.

GE Lighting donated 372,000 long-lasting LED bulbs for the holiday display, and there are 56,000 individual lights on the holiday tree alone.

“With millions of people visiting Downtown Cleveland each year and thousands living and working in downtown, there are more feet on the street now than in decades,” noted Joe Marinucci, president and CEO of Downtown Cleveland Alliance, in a release. “With the new lighting, Public Square is now brighter and an even more inviting gateway to Downtown Cleveland.”

The new lighting was unveiled just in time for Winterfest last weekend.


Source: Downtown Cleveland Alliance
Writer: Lee Chilcote
girl's best trend boutique adds to madison ave's ongoing renaissance
Have you ever walked into a sweet li'l shop with a bevy of well-displayed merchandise and thought, Wouldn't it be fun to do something like this? That's exactly what artists Jen Buchanan and Colleen Bridegum always thought -- and they decided to act on it by launching Girl's Best Trend boutique this fall.

Girl's Best Trend, located at 17007 Madison Avenue, offers "art and accessories for you and your home," according to the tagline. The selection includes art, candles, glassware, pillows, clocks, frames, handbags, jewelry, scarves and perfume, all made by local artists and craftspeople.

"Colleen and I have known each other for 20 years, and we're both just really creative people," explains Buchanan. "We always thought on our own, 'Boy, I'd like to do something else.' We were talking one day, and both realized we were thinking about the same thing. Then we found the space, and boom, it all happened really quickly."

Buchanan works as an interior designer during the day, while Bridegum works as a home health care professional in the evenings, so they run split-shifts at the shop. Buchanan makes handbags and Bridegum is a painter. They hope to eventually offer interior design services out of the shop, as well.

Girl's Best Trend is about 600 square feet currently, but will expand to 1,200 square feet early next year when the space is fully renovated. Next door, a new pottery workshop is going in, and there are other galleries in the area.

"They're building up Madison now," says Buchanan of Lakewood's increased focus on that commercial strip. "There's a new Madison Arts District group that's going to start doing art walks in the summer."


Source: Jen Buchanan
Writer: Lee Chilcote
regulatory binder eliminates the mountains of paperwork from clinical trials
Researchers and hospitals literally can accumulate rooms full of paperwork documenting a single clinical trial. Rick Arlow offers a better method of document management without all that paper. RegulatoryBinder is an early stage software company focused on document management for medical clinic trials.
 
Arlow, who was earning a dual M.D. and Ph.D. a year ago, observed how much paper was wasted in clinical trials, came up with the idea to go paperless. So he quit his studies, formed RegulatoryBinder and joined accelerator FlashStarts in PlayhouseSquare.
 
“I have a tool that allows hospitals to store clinical trial data electronically,” explains Arlow. “Up until now, researchers would store paper in three-ring binders. There were literally rooms of paper.”
 
RegulatoryBinder’s Enterprise Document Management software provides up to a 33 percent increase in documentation productivity while standardizing the documentation system and saving researchers money. The biggest challenge Arlow encountered in developing a system of electronic records for clinical trials was efficiency and adoption.
 
“The large issue is, how do you do this in an efficient manner and still be compliant,” explains Arlow. “We had to find a way to provide the software, training and services and get people to adopt it.”
 
RegulatoryBinder is being used in pilot programs at University Hospitals and a number of other sites. Arlow says that so far people have been quick to adopt the technology.
 
RegulatoryBinder was one of six Northeast Ohio start-up companies to receive $25,000 from Lorain County Community College Foundation’s Innovation Fund. Arlow also recently received follow-on funding from FlashStarts. He plans to use the money to hire staff in customer support, marketing and sales, and to promote RegulatoryBinder to more markets. Arlow hired his first employee this month and plans to hire another before the end of the year. He anticipates two more hires in 2014.

 
Source: Rick Arlow
Writer: Karin Connelly
sports app is easiest way for athletes to get info they need to win
When remodeling a kitchen, people usually rely on friends for advice on contractors and architects. Brides use websites and friends as resources when planning their wedding. Entrepreneurs Brian Verne and Mike Eppich figured: Why not create a place where athletes can get advice on apparel?

So Verne and Eppich created Phenom, a mobile app where athletes can brag about the apparel and equipment they use to train. “Influences have a place,” says Verne. “Athletes are concerned with how they look and the products they are using.”
 
Phenom is designed to give amateur athletes a leg up on the decisions they make.
 
“Phenom connects athletes with the best gear, equipment and training opportunities based on what their peers are using right now,” says Verne. “From buying a new product to vetting a trainer, camp or combine, Phenom will become the easiest way for athletes to get the inspiration, advice, product information and professional reviews they need to win.”
 
Verne describes Phenom as “an app to promote your style and your hustle.” Users create a digital profile in a virtual locker to share what they like and are using. “The virtual locker has information on how they’re using that stuff, where they’re using it and how they’re training and competing,” explains Verne.
 
After first starting a successful performance apparel company, Verne and Eppich decided they needed to expand their vision. “We wanted an app that had a heartbeat, to capture things in real time – people getting ready to train and wanting to compare equipment,” says Eppich. “The whole idea is to see an athlete’s day or athletic career in every single segment, from the training they do to their post-workout after the game.”
 
Verne and Eppich have seven part-time employees in New York, a vice president of finance in Boston and are planning on hiring two to three full time developers in their Cleveland headquarters. On January 7, the two will head to New York to pitch Phenom to investors in First Growth Venture Network’s SecondGrowth.
 
To build awareness of the app, Phenom recently hosted an open house during a soft launch at their downtown Cleveland offices.

 
Source: Brian Verne and Mike Eppich
Writer: Karin Connelly
new york times travel section checks into new aloft
In a hotel review in the travel section of the New York Times, writer Erik Piepenburg checks into the new Aloft hotel on the East Bank of the Flats and files a glowing review.
 
"The Aloft Downtown gives Cleveland a major boost of bright, colorful and contemporary hotel design in an area -- and a city -- not known for style-centric accommodations," he writes.
 
The article covers the rooms, amenities and available dining options. "A Saturday night meal at Willeyville included delicious vegetarian options for me (grilled sweet corn, baked gnocchi), plenty of meat for a friend and a mind-blowing fried peach pie," he notes.
 
The bottom line, concludes the author, the new Aloft is a "terrific place for design geeks, foodies and fans of rust-belt chic who like their boutique hotel on the industrial side."
 
Read the rest right here.

new effort aims to 'meet the needs not define the needs' of local startup community
Startups @ City Club is a new collaborative effort between the City Club of Cleveland  and the Cleveland Startup Collective to bring the startup community together in educational, social and thought-provoking environments.
 
The first event was launched at Cleveland Entrepreneurial Week in November, with speakers on technology, product development, investing and the overall startup community in Cleveland. “The main goal of the entrepreneurial speaker series is to install the values of lean startup methodology, the entrepreneurial-driven startup community and mentor-driven startup development,” says Morris Wheeler, organizer and founder of Drummond Road Capital

Speakers included Chris Heivly, founder of MapQuest, venture partner and founder of TechPint Paul Singh and Alexis Giles, vice president of business development at MOX.
 
The Cleveland Startup Collective is a grass roots organization focused on lean startup methodology – launching a new product to market in as little as 10 to 12 weeks with as little capital as possible. “Life’s too short to build a product no one wants,’ says Wheeler. “A number of us over the past two or three years believe that at its core, startups and startup investing need to revolve around the entrepreneur. ”
 
Wheeler says entrepreneurs in cities like New York, Boston and San Francisco get together on Friday nights, drink beer and discuss issues around their businesses. While casual meetings are starting to take off in Cleveland, Wheeler says the city needs more.
 
“All of the other organizations like JumpStart are important to entrepreneurial success, but in our view we need to be meeting the needs of the startup community, not defining the needs of the community.”
 
Startups @ City Club plans to host four to six events a year, some of which will be partnered with other events like TechPint. “The idea is to have many different activities,” says Wheeler. “We’ll have dialogs, educational events, pitch events and social events.”
 
Source: Morris Wheeler
Writer: Karin Connelly
city of lakewood says madison avenue is next frontier for urban development
The City of Lakewood has issued 44 certificates of occupancy on Madison Avenue this year, and nine businesses are participating in the city's storefront renovation program. Planning and Development Director Dru Siley says these numbers show how much business interest there is along this traditional yet funky strip, which is seeing a wave of redevelopment activity spurred in part by Detroit Avenue's success.

"We want to reproduce the success we've had on Detroit, recognizing that Madison has unique character and flavor that make it distinct," he says. "Madison is a small business corridor. Of 300 businesses here, 95 percent of them are locally owned."

Siley says that Madison is home to independent restaurants and entertainment spots, professional services and service-oriented retail. Current vacancy rates hover around 14 percent, down from over 20 percent a few years ago. Lakewood is developing a new streetscape along Madison that will break ground fall of 2014. The city also is committing storefront renovation dollars to help attract businesses and redevelop properties.

Examples of new businesses attracted to Madison recently include Mahall's, a historic old-school bowling alley that has new ownership and added music, food and entertainment, and Barrio, a Mexican eatery. The streetscape project not only will resurface the street, but also reduce Madison to two lanes with a center turning lane to make it safer and accommodate bike lanes. No parking will be lost.

The City of Lakewood and LakewoodAlive hosted a forum entitled "Madison on the Move" on Wednesday, December 4th at Harrison Elementary School in Lakewood.


Source: Dru Siley
Writer: Lee Chilcote
artist quits her day job to open art gallery in 5th street arcades
Cleveland artist Jessica Newell recently quit her job teaching Psychology at Cleveland State University to open a gallery in the 5th Street Arcades. Jessica's Gallery, as it's called, functions as a studio, a gallery for the artist's work and a showcase for rotating local artists.

"I love to paint," Newell explains. "I began receiving a lot of commissions from friends and family, and pretty soon I began to realize, 'I can make a business out of this.' I inquired about a place in the 5th Street Arcades and discovered that there was retail space available. With its walkable traffic, I figured I'd make a go of it."

Newell opened two months ago, and she says she's been thrilled with the traffic so far. Downtown apartment dwellers and condo owners are a great market for unique, local artwork, she says. She enjoys painting in her studio during the weekday lunch hour, because that draws customers to come in and look around.

Newell's paintings feature abstract representations of the Cleveland Metroparks and images of the city that "capture what the city could be." Currently, Jessica's Gallery also features the work of local landscape artist Michael Greenwald.

"It's amazing how this place has turned around," she says of the 5th Street Arcades, which are nearly 100 percent leased now. "Between Small Business Saturday and Winterfest, an incredible amount of people came in. It was packed."

Newell has also completed several murals around town, most recently for Piccadilly's Artisan Yogurt on Lorain Avenue in Ohio City, which just opened.


Source: Jessica Newell
Writer: Lee Chilcote
givenext makes it easy to contribute to the causes of one's choosing
Dan Mansoor’s 30 years in nonprofit fundraising has taught him one thing. Well, it’s taught him a few things, actually. One is that people think they give to their favorite charities much more often than they actually do. Two: donor retention rates hover around only 40 percent. And three: 80 percent of charitable giving is still motivated by direct mail.
 
Mansoor thought there had to be a better way, one that makes it just as easy to make and track donations as buying a book on Amazon. So he created GiveNext, an online brokerage account of sorts that makes giving easy.
 
“It’s easier to buy a book than save a life,” Mansoor says. “The decision of making a gift is the hardest part. It shouldn’t be making the gift.”
 
GiveNext works for both donors and organizations. Donors simply sign up online, choose the charities of their choice and make donations. They can then generate a report of the year’s gifts for tax purposes. Nonprofits can register their causes, invite their donors to visit GiveNext to make a donation and receive timely donations.
 
With GiveNext, you’re one click away not only from helping a charity, but one click away from helping with any cause or emergency, says Mansoor. “How many of us wanted to help others after Hurricane Sandy, the Newtown shooting, the Boston bombing, the Philippine typhoon, or Illinois tornadoes? But we didn't because we did not know which charity to give to, or it was too cumbersome to give, or we were distracted by our busy lives. If all we had to do is get out our phone and type in an amount and hit ‘enter,’ more people would do more.”

Mansoor went through the most recent LaunchHouse Accelerator program and won first place and $20,000 in the COSE Business Pitch Competition on October 23. “It’s nice to know there are others out there who think the concept is somewhat worthy,” Mansoor says.
 
While Mansoor is the only GiveNext employee right now, he expects to have 30 to 50 employees in the next five years. He anticipates going live in the next two months.

 
Source: Dan Mansoor
Writer: Karin Connelly
museum of contemporary art boasts impressive first-year numbers
In an Art Daily feature titled "MOCA Cleveland releases metrics of strong inaugural year in new building, Uptown," the art publication shares impressive numbers from the museum's first year in its new building.

"In the first year in their new building, MOCA delivered significantly expanded audiences and benefits," says the article.
 
Among them:
 
55,997 visitors took advantage of MOCA’s offerings, up 284 percent from recent years
 
650+ new members, tripling membership in MOCA’s new home
 
The numbers also show how MOCA’s impressive new building at the corner of Mayfield Road and Euclid Avenue acts as a beacon to draw people to University Circle and Uptown.
 
82 percent of MOCA’s visitors are coming to University Circle specifically to visit the Museum
 
70 percent of MOCA’s visitors are eating at a surrounding restaurant
 
24 percent are shopping while in the area
 
Read about the rest here.

new study on regionalism comes at ideal time, says next city
In a feature titled "Three Lessons on Regionalism," Bill Bradley, writing for Next City, outlines the findings of a report recently released by Fund for Our Economic Future.
 
"Regionalism, from Paris to Portland, offers cities with closely woven outlying suburbs opportunities to broaden their tax bases, increase minimum wages and develop unified approaches to transit -- which could, in turn, give low-wage workers better access to jobs. Advocates have touted these benefits for years. Now, a new report explores how regional collaboration can help spur economic growth."
 
The Northeast Ohio-based Fund for Our Economic Future, which along with the Knight Foundation, released the report.
 
In sum: "Data is hugely important, investing in groups that find funding can enlarge your pools of grant money, and big thinkers must be instrumental in turning those grand ideas into reality."
 
Read the rest here.

genomic test helps men with prostate cancer choose proper treatment path
Eric Klein, chair of the Glickman Urology and Kidney Institute at the Cleveland Clinic, along with a team of researchers at the Clinic and Genomic Health, have developed a genomic test that determines the aggressiveness of prostate cancer and therefore helps doctors and patients decide the proper course of treatment.
 
“It’s a biopsy-based test that looks at how certain genes are turned on or off,” explains Klein. “Before it was developed we made an educated guess on how aggressive a man’s tumor was based on factors like age and health.”
 
Often there are multiple small tumors in prostate cancer. The Oncoptype DX Prostate Cancer test, developed for market by California-based Genomic Health, looks at the activity of certain genes within the tumor. Based on the results, treatment can range from surveillance to more aggressive treatment.
 
“We developed it in a way to tell what else is going on in the prostate,” says Klein. “About 20 to 25 percent of men who have this test are re-assigned to a different category of progression.”
 
Klein is pleased with what the test means for the treatment of prostate cancer. “First, it identifies those who have more aggressive cancer,” he says. “Second, it reassures those who choose surveillance.”
 
Klein has spent the past eight years developing the prostate genomic test. The University of California San Francisco spent three years validating the method, and it was released in May. The test is one of many advancements in genome-guided solid tumor analysis recognized by Cleveland Clinic Innovations as the number-two innovation in health care this year. Genomic Health has a similar test for treatment of breast cancer.
 
“This is the first foray into precision treatment for prostate cancer,” Klein says. “With this test a management decision can be made based on the characteristics of the tumor. It’s individual decision making based on that person’s disease. That’s’ where we want to be.”

 
Source: Eric Klein
Writer: Karin Connelly
heights libraries claim top rating from library journal fifth straight year
For the fifth year in a row, the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library system has received the highest possible rating in the Library Journal’s 2013 Index of Public Library Service. Library Journal is a trade journal that reports news about the library world and has a nation-wide circulation of 100,000.

The five-star rating is given to the top U.S. libraries each year. Heights Libraries has earned five stars in five out of the six years that Library Journal has published the ratings, starting in 2008.

Libraries are rated on four criteria: circulation, visits, program attendance and Internet terminal use (public computers).
“This shows what we’ve known all along: People in our community are using the library regularly,” says Heights Libraries Director Nancy Levin. “For many customers we’ve become that 'third place,' the place besides work and home where they like to be. We are always busy, and I don’t see that trend reversing anytime soon.”

Heights Libraries wasn’t the only other Cuyahoga County area library receiving Star Awards; other area libraries to win are Cleveland Public (4 stars), Cuyahoga County (5 stars), and Lakewood (4 stars).

Read the rest of the report here.
happy dog to open east side location in iconic euclid tavern in university circle
The Happy Dog in the Gordon Square Arts District is famous for tasty hot dogs with crazy toppings, live music and adventurous cultural fare, including members of the Cleveland Orchestra recording an album live in front of the racetrack bar. Now the successful venue is heading east; in the ultimate win-win, the owners are opening their first east side location inside the now-shuttered Euclid Tavern.

"We've been approached many times, and there are a lot of things we could have done," says Sean Watterson, co-owner of the Happy Dog. "To be a part of bringing the Euclid Tavern back to life was the thing that made us go, 'OK, maybe we could do another one of these, and this is the place to do it.'"

The Happy Dog signed a lease on the space this week with University Circle Inc., which bought the building last year from the previous owners. The Euclid Tavern operated continuously as a bar from 1909 until 2001, making it the second longest-running bar site in Cleveland, according to UCI Director Chris Ronayne. New owners re-opened it in 2008 and stuck with it until 2013. UCI began renovating the space and looking for a new operator earlier this year.

"We were searching for the right tenant to live up to the iconic reputation of the Euclid Tavern as a music venue," says Ronayne. "We were in courtship with the guys from the Happy Dog for a while -- they know food, music and programming."

The Euclid Tavern has hosted national acts Chrissie Hynde, Pavement and Green Day, and also served as home base for legendary local acts like Mr. Stress. The tavern was also featured in the 1987 film Light of Day starring Michael J. Fox and Joan Jett.

Although plans are still being shaped, Watterson says the new venue will operate as the Happy Dog at the Euclid Tavern. A similar menu will be available, but some hot dog toppings will only be available at the east side location, and vice versa. The owners also plan more cultural programming through partnerships with area institutions such as the Cleveland Institute of Music and Institute of Art.

The same partnership that owns the west side Happy Dog, including Watterson, Sean Kilbane and chef Eric Williams, will open the Euclid Tavern location.


Source: Sean Watterson, Chris Ronayne
Writer: Lee Chilcote
pay it forward: how shopping small reaps big rewards for the local community
It's a fact that $68 of every $100 spent locally returns to the community through taxes, payroll and other expenditures. We all know that shopping small is good for the local community, but what are the real and tangible benefits behind the movement? A closer look reveals how buying local feeds our region in ways both obvious and subtle.
advertising execs say 'hello' to entrepreneurship with new firm
Michelle Venorsky and Kate Davis have worked at some of the top advertising and communications agencies in town, recently at Marcus Thomas. But the dream of starting their own agency prompted the two, along with three other partners, to launch Hello! agency in September.

“We’ve had this idea brewing for a while now,” says Venorsky. “We absolutely love what we do and we’ve been working together for 10 years.”
 
Hello! focuses on developing close connections with their clients, Venorsky says, by engaging relationships and finding out what makes them tick. So it seemed only natural to name the agency Hello!. “When you think about any relationship, you have to introduce yourself,” says Venorsky. “We call ourselves an 'engagement agency' – we build relationships on insight and research.”
 
Davis, with a background in cultural anthropology, handles the research end – figuring out why people do certain things. Venorsky handles the public relations, marketing and social media aspects. Venorsky says it was the right time to take an “intelligent risk” and hang out their own shingle.
 
“There’s never been a better time or an easier time to build a relationship with your customers with so many media platforms,” Venorsky says. “We’re trying to be medianostic and build something that matters.”
 
Hello! is still looking for the ideal office space in Ohio City or Tremont, but in the meantime, Venorsky and Hall are busy signing on clients. They’ve landed four accounts so far.

 
Source: Michelle Venorsky
Writer: Karin Connelly
 
new grant program funds business incubator, other innovative community projects
A new grant program launched by Neighborhood Progress Inc., a nonprofit organization that provides funding and technical assistance to community development corporations in Cleveland, recently awarded $200,000 to five projects. The recipients include a new business incubation program in North Collinwood, youth programming in Ohio City and surrounding neighborhoods, an effort in Central to teach fourth graders about healthy, local food, arts-based development in St. Clair Superior, and a community engagement effort in Tremont.

"The program came to be when we, as an organization, made a decision to develop a program that all CDCs had access to," says Colleen Gilson, Vice President of CDC Services for NPI, of the Neighborhood Solutions grant program. "The idea was, let's not be prescriptive. Let's let CDCs tell us what their solution to a neighborhood problem is or a cool project in their service area."

The awards break down as follows: NPI awarded $45,000 to ActiVacant, a program to recruit entrepreneurs to vacant retail spaces on E. 185th; $45,000 to Near West Recreation to expand its network of youth programming, including baseball, soccer, softball, basketball and bowling; $45,000 to St. Clair Superior for its Urban Upcycle project; $45,000 to Burton Bell Carr for its Urban Farm Diet Program; and $20,000 to Tremont West for its efforts to engage residents in creating a community-based development plan around MetroHealth.

Gilson says the projects reflect "deep collaboration" and non-traditional approaches towards community development. For instance, Near West Recreation is an effort to engage and retain families in six neighborhoods on the near west side -- Ohio City, Tremont, Stockyards, Clark-Fulton and Detroit Shoreway -- and build "intergenerational mixed-income neighborhoods." ActiVacant, spearheaded by Northeast Shores, is a "new take on the American dream" and a "business incubation project on steroids" that will entice young retailers to fill empty spaces on E. 185th by offering them free or reduced rent for a period of time, access to mentors and other support, and incentives for meeting benchmarks.

"The process was pretty amazing," says Gilson, describing a Shark Tank-esque format in which finalists presented in front of a panel of community development leaders, who then ranked and voted on winners. "We invited other CDCs to come watch and learn from their peers, and it was a really good opportunity to learn."


Source: Colleen Gilson
Writer: Lee Chilcote
developer breaks ground on 20 new micro-apartments in university circle
WXZ Development recently broke ground on 20 new micro-apartments on E. 118th Street in University Circle, adding to the wave of new housing in the area. Developer Jim Wymer says demand remains strong for efficiently designed, higher-end rental units geared towards professionals and students.

"We realized the true market that was untapped was an upscale rental product that was suited to the demographics of the Circle," says Wymer, who previously built and sold 12 townhomes at Circle 118. "There are people looking for nice, unique housing that feels like a for-sale product, but they want to rent."

A few years ago, WXZ developed Hazel 8, a 59-unit apartment project on Hazel Drive that is nearly 100 percent occupied. The units feature hardwood floors and stainless steel appliances and rent for $1.85 per square foot, or about $1,100 for a 600-square-foot, one-bedroom unit, due to the premium University Circle location.

The newest units, located on land previously owned by RTA, are actually Phase II of 118 Flats, a project that already brought 10 new units to E. 118th and Euclid.

"The market is so unique," says Wymer of demand for the units. "We have people coming into the market from as far away as the Far East. There was a lot of Internet shopping with Hazel 8 -- probably one-third of our tenants did applications and made deposits without ever seeing the product."

The units at 118 Flats average about 800 square feet, but they are efficiently designed with high ceilings, little wasted space and plenty of natural light, making them feel less like cramped apartments and more like hip micro-units.


Source: Jim Wymer
Writer: Lee Chilcote
refugees play important role in region's economy, study shows
On October 28, the Refugee Services Collaborative (RSC) released its first-ever study of the economic impact Cleveland’s 4,500 refugees have made on the region since 2000. Refugees are legal U.S. residents who have come here to avoid persecution in their home countries.
 
"We felt there were a lot of negative misconceptions about refugees, so we commissioned the economic impact study to uncover the facts," says Luanne Bole-Becker, RSC’s special projects and data management coordinator.

The report, generated by Chmura Economics and Analytics and funded through a grant from the Cleveland Foundation, shows that refugees created and sustained 650 jobs in 2012 as a result of household spending, small business creation and through the agencies in place to help them. The total economic impact was $48 million in these three areas.
 
“Refugees bolster the population and their spending creates jobs in the economy,” explains Chmura’s Dan Meges, economist and business development manager. “Without refugee arrivals, this spending and economic activity would be occurring somewhere else in the United States. They also increase the demand for local housing by buying or renting homes, and they increase the socio-cultural diversity of the city, which has other positive spillovers.”
 
RSC was formed in 2011 and grew out of dialogue between the region’s many refugee service agencies. The report shows that while refugees typically find work in food service, housekeeping, sewing, factory production work and seasonal landscaping, they are also more likely to be entrepreneurs and start small businesses once they have settled in the area.
 
"Refugees are positive for Cleveland,” says Bole-Becker. “While they need some initial help, it's an investment in a group of people that don't take jobs; they make jobs. We hope to increase capacity so that more refugees can be resettled here, adding to Cleveland's growth."
 
Meges adds, “From an analytic viewpoint, what matters is their average family income, which is estimated to be about $31,000 annually in the Cleveland area in 2012.”
 
More than 17,000 refugees have settled in Cleveland since 1983.

 
Source: Dan Meges, Luanne Bole-Becker
Writer: Karin Connelly