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israeli biotech firms flock to ohio
According to Michael Goldberg, founder and managing partner of Cleveland-based Bridge Investment Fund, state incentives and a venture capital fund dedicated to investing in Israel continue to lure biotechnology companies from that nation in record numbers. In the past eight years, at least 14 Israeli technology start-ups raised funds from Ohio-based backers, and at least six of these opened offices in the state.

"While many Israelis still look to Boston or Silicon Valley for support, Ohio has done more than other states to attract Israeli start-ups," Goldberg is quoted in the Bloomberg article.

Credit goes to the Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center, which invested at least $3 million during the last eight years in five Israeli health-sciences companies, and BioEnterprise, which helps connect the Israeli companies to capital, medical expertise, and management teams in the state.

One such success: Simbionix, a maker of medical devices, transferred its headquarters from Israel to Cleveland in 2002.

Read the full report here.

'opportunity homes' to market formerly foreclosed slavic village homes
And now for a small dose of good news from the foreclosure front: Two Slavic Village homes that sat empty for more than a year will be opened to potential buyers on December 16.

The homes -- on East 69th and East 75th -- were acquired from the banks that had taken them in foreclosure and fully renovated through the Opportunity Homes program, a joint venture between The City of Cleveland, Neighborhood Progress Inc., the Cleveland Housing Network and six Cleveland community development corporations.

"These are really good deals," says Stacy Pugh, housing director for Slavic Village Development, one of the six CDCs. The homes have been renovated top to bottom – everything is new, including the energy-efficient appliances. And yet they'll sell for well below the cost of those upgrades, which averages about $125,000, including acquisition, says Pugh.

"We're also willing to work with people," she adds, in light of how much more difficult securing a mortgage has become. Six-month lease-purchase deals are available for those whose credit might also need some renovating.

For details on the open house, contact Pugh at 216-429-1182 x 117 or stacyp@slavicvillage.org.


Source: Slavic Village CDC
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

commercial development key to shaker's economic sustainability, says plan
With their city's centennial coming up in less than 13 months, Shaker Heights officials will spend a lot of time in the new year preparing to celebrate history. But many are already looking much farther into the future, implementing the Economic Development Strategy adopted by Shaker City Council last month.

Crafted over several months with a consulting firm in Maryland, the plan outlines steps Shaker can take now and in the foreseeable future to ensure a stable and growing tax base. The fundamental step: "Instead of concentrating solely on the maintenance and improvement of Shaker Heights as a premier residential community, it must also aggressively encourage commercial development."

And not just retail development, which, the report notes, is important but less lucrative than offices. The plan names industries to target: health care and social services; design services; information systems; government and regulatory agencies; and small law firms.

The problem, the report notes, is that "Shaker Heights, similar to most first suburbs, has many commercial properties that are functionally obsolete. [The city] will need to create a climate of commercial property investment that will upgrade or replace existing facilities as well as catalyze the development of new office buildings suitable for modern tenants looking for space in a supply-rich leasing environment."  

Tania Menesse, Shaker's director of economic development, is looking at several ways to achieve this citywide renovation, including tax abatements, matching funds for building improvements, and partnerships with the community development departments of local banks.

"Everything," she says, "is focused on making the [office space] supply more attractive." Two areas of Chagrin Boulevard – near Lee Road, and near Warrensville Center Road – are especially promising, due to the commercials spaces available for lease or purchase there. She foresees many new and relocating small businesses moving into these areas, once buildings constructed for larger tenants have gotten new looks and floor plans.

"As a community, we've always done a good job focusing on our neighborhoods and parks and schools," Menesse says. "But we haven't done as good a job with our commercial districts."
 
The timing couldn't be better, what with the Shaker Launch House business incubator opening in a former car dealership in February. Says Menesse, "We want to be the east side place for people looking to start a company."




Source: Tania Menesse
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

 
cleveland's onshift gets $2.3M in venture funding
OnShift's employee scheduling software is designed for pain-free maintenance of shift, emergency, and on-call scheduling in the long-term healthcare industry. Clearly, hospitals and other long-term care providers have taken note, because the Cleveland-based company has been enjoying exponential growth of late. OnShift's customer acquisitions increased more than 500 percent year-over-year, and the software solutions company continues to add staffers.

A new $2.3 million venture capital investment will be used to accelerate OnShift's sales and marketing efforts while adding to its already expanding market share. This round of funding was led by Draper Triangle Ventures of Pittsburgh and involves all of OnShift's existing investors, which include local investors Early Stage Partners, JumpStart, Inc., North Coast Angel Fund, LLC, and Glengary LLC.

OnShift's software is used by hospitals and other long-term care facilities for automated scheduling, employee communications and automated call-off and open-shift scheduling. The company was recognized earlier this year by NEOSA, the COSE Technology Network, as Best Emerging Company.

Jonathan Murray, managing director of Early Stage Partners, notes that "OnShift has consistently delivered shareholder value by acquiring and serving customers and is on a significant growth trajectory." Bob Lauer, a partner with Glengary LLC, echoes the enthusiasm of other OnShift investors. "We are anticipating strong results in 2011 based on the use of new funding to expand and accelerate sales and marketing efforts," Lauer says.


SOURCE: OnShift
WRITER: Diane DiPiero





noaca to consider funding for non-highway transportation projects
Vast amounts of federal transportation dollars are poured into good old-fashioned highways; Americans aren't giving up their car-centric ways anytime soon. But some funding is available to "transportation enhancements," like bike lanes, pedestrian bridges and public transit improvements. In the Cleveland region, the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) decides which projects get a tiny piece of the federal pie.

On December 10, NOACA's governing board will consider 18 contenders, 10 of them from Cuyahoga County. They include:

• Streetscape improvements in the Warehouse District, north of Superior, between West 3rd and West 10th ($600,000); and on Larchmere Boulevard, from East 121st to East 130th ($587,000).

• A bus-only lane and related amenities from the east end of the Shoreway at Lake Avenue to the West End Loop at the Lakewood terminus ($600,000).

• Road reconfiguration and public art to complement the $2.7 million reconstruction of the University Circle Rapid station ($600,000).

• Acquiring and improving 2.25 acres on the Columbus Road Peninsula, along the Cuyahoga River, for Rivergate Park ($600,000). This is part of a larger project spearheaded by the Cleveland Rowing Foundation.

All of these projects have been recommended for approval, according to NOACA spokeswoman Cheryl Onesky. The governing board will also consider seven projects for Connections 2030, a long-range regional plan. Those proposals include:

• The HealthLine Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority is seeking $4.8 million for continued operation of the popular bus service, which runs on Euclid Avenue between Public Square and East Cleveland.

• The Lake-to-Lakes Bike Trail. The City of Cleveland applied for $2.3 million to construct a bike and pedestrian trail from Carnegie Avenue to Shaker Heights.

The governing board will meet at 10 a.m. on Friday, December 10, at NOACA, 1299 Superior Ave. Public comments can also be submitted to publicinv@mpo.noaca.org.




Source: NOACA
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

bloomberg dissects medical mart deal
In this somewhat skeptical article about the new Medical Mart and Convention Center, Bloomberg writer David M. Levitt dissects the details of the deal. While he posits no predictions nor conclusions, he addresses many of the concerns held by local residents.

"Cleveland, which has poured almost $1 billion into such projects as three sports stadiums and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, is on the verge of spending $465 million in an effort to remake itself as the epicenter for the sale of medical equipment and supplies," the article states at the outset.

Billed as the brainchild of Delos "Toby" Cosgrove, CEO of the Cleveland Clinic, The Medical Mart will be a 422,000 square-foot exhibition center for medical products.

Tim Hagan, outgoing Cuyahoga County commissioner, says he believes that the Med Mart will transcend those earlier civic construction projects by attracting the kind of high-tech jobs the area needs. "I don't think a baseball stadium or football stadium or even the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame really redefines a community," he says. "High-tech medical, biotech, that's going to be the new face of the community. What we hope is, when you think of Cleveland, you think of a medical center."

In their most recent update, Mart operators say they have 40 letters of intent for the facility's permanent showroom, plus another 16 letters of intent for conferences, conventions and trade shows. (Though it hasn't released the names.)

Examine the rest of the story here.


GE's newly installed streetlights to reduce east cle's energy use, enhance safety
If things seem a little brighter in East Cleveland these days, it may be because of the new streetlights gleaming along a block of Noble Road. General Electric bestowed its first local LED lighting installation on East Cleveland, where GE Lighting has had its headquarters for the past 100 years.

The GE Evolve LED Street Lights could reduce East Cleveland's energy use by several million watts a year, according to the lighting manufacturer. And because the LED lights shine bright, uniform light across a long swath of street and sidewalk, they offer enhanced safety along busy Noble Road. The lights have an estimated service life of 10-plus years.

GE Lighting Solutions recently received a best-in-class award for its Evolve LED street lighting from the U.S. Department of Energy's Next Generation Luminaires competition.

GE is pushing to secure a multimillion-dollar lighting contract for the City of Cleveland. Bids for the project were due to the city on December 1. Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson has vowed to tie energy-efficient lighting installation with job creation in Northeast Ohio by requesting that bidding companies agree to build a plant in Cleveland and bring 350 jobs there.

Could the East Cleveland installation serve as a kind of test drive for GE? GE Lighting president and CEO Michael B. Petra Jr. calls the Evolve streetlights "the perfect fit for the needs of urban municipalities."


SOURCE: City of E. Cleveland; GE Lighting
WRITER: Diane DiPiero
st. clair superior neighborhood scores two new businesses
The St. Clair Superior neighborhood welcomed two new businesses recently, a café and a coffee shop, both in former factories, and both indicative of the forces that have been driving development in the area in recent years.

The 30th Street Café opened in Asia Plaza at East 30th and Payne, serving selections from Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese cuisines. Owned by the Hom family, prominent local entrepreneurs, Asia Plaza is a two-story retail center that was once a manufacturing plant.

Across Superior, in a warren of brick buildings once devoted to elevator manufacturing, the aptly named Pulley's Coffeehouse is serving beverages and food from Artefino Café to the growing number of people working there. Now known as Tyler Village, the 1.2-million-square-foot, 25-building, 10-acre complex is one of the largest downtown redevelopment projects in the city's history, according to developer Graystone Properties. It currently houses a charter school, Digiknow, APG Office Furnishings, Analiza Medical Lab, Solutions at Work and an office of the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities, whose clients staff Pulley's.

"Tyler is definitely the biggest development [in the neighborhood], and it's driving a lot of the investment," says Jamar Doyle, project manager for the St. Clair Superior Development Corporation. But he adds that there's a history of entrepreneurship in the local Asian-American community, and points to the almost 40 Asian restaurants now serving the area.

St. Clair Superior Development also plans streetscape improvements next year, with grant money from the Northeast Ohio Area Coordinating Agency.


Source: St. Clair Superior Development Corporation
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

slavic village rail-trail earns national award
Slavic Village Development, Cleveland Public Art and Parkworks all claim their share of a national trail award.

American Trails, the world's largest online trails resource, held its 20th National Trails Awards on Nov. 16, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The awards program recognizes exemplary people across the landscape of America who are working to create a national system of trails to meet the recreation, health, and travel needs of all Americans.

Winning the "Trails and the Arts Award," which recognizes outstanding public art projects, interpretive signs, and other creative structures associated with trail improvements, were Slavic Village Development, Cleveland Public Art and ParkWorks.

The Slavic Village neighborhood's Morgana Run Trail boasts the first urban rail-trail conversion in Cleveland. Slavic Village Development, Cleveland Public Art and ParkWorks collaborated to develop a distinguishing marker for the East 49th Street trailhead: a 35-foot tall steel "flower" sculpture crafted by local artist Jake Beckman.

Read more about the award and award giver here.

artists fleeing the big apple for piece of the plum
Frank Sinatra crooned in his famous ode to NYC that, "If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere." But according to Crain's New York writer Miriam Kreinin Souccar, today's version of that song might very well go, "I'll make a brand new start of it -- in old Cleveland."

In an article titled "Artists Fleeing the City," the reporter cites the following problem: Artists can no longer afford to live and work in New York.

"Artists have long struggled in New York, moving into rough areas, gentrifying them and then getting forced out. But as the city has gotten increasingly expensive, there are few such neighborhoods left to move to, forcing a growing number of artists to abandon the city."

The result, she adds, is that "for the first time, artists fresh out of art schools around the country are choosing to live in nascent artist communities in regional cities like Detroit and Cleveland -- which are dangling incentives to attract this group -- and bypassing New York altogether."

So-called second tier cities like Cleveland are actively courting artists with incentive programs and housing deals. "In the Cleveland neighborhood of Collinwood, the Northeast Shores Development Corp. has bought 16 vacant properties and renovated them as artists' residences. All but four have sold, and the development company plans to renovate more properties.

"We thought we'd be attracting artists from Cleveland," says Brian Friedman, of Northeast Shores. "I had no idea we'd be getting contacted regularly by people from New York."

Start spreading the news here.

la bamba tortilleria cooks up fresh tortillas, local jobs
Along with her fiancé, José Andrade, Leticia Ortiz recently launched La Bamba Tortilleria in Ohio City. The minority-owned start-up has filled a gap in the Mexican foods market for fresh, local tortillas while at the same time growing jobs.
chef cooley, amp 150, cle marriott are green successes
Chef Ellis Cooley, AMP 150, and the Cleveland Airport Marriott all earned props in a recent feature in Green Lodging News, the lodging industry's leading environmental news source.

The article, titled "Local, Fresh Approach Goes Down Good at Cleveland Airport Marriott," states that exciting things are happening at the restaurant that should interest any hotel owner or manager looking to increase their business. Writer Glenn Hasek attributes much of AMP's success to Cooley, "who understands the power of social networking, community involvement, and using local, fresh, natural and simple menu ingredients."

The article discusses the chef's on-site vegetable garden, his dedication to local products and farmers markets, and his social media savvy.

Read the whole green article here.
state-of-the-art ahuja medical center to offer care, comfort, jobs
It's not that they want people to get sick, but University Hospital's Ahuja Medical Center in Beachwood is poised to capture a sizable patient population when it officially opens in January 2011.

Part of the attraction to patients obviously will be the quality care, but the 144-bed hospital also will likely turn heads with its technology. And not just for the comprehensive imaging center or state-of-the-art catheterization labs.

With input from physicians, nurses, employees and patients, Ahuja recognizes that people want high-tech amenities -- whether they're lounging in a hotel room or recuperating in a hospital bed.

Wireless internet runs through the hospital. Each private room has a flat-screen TV and a daybed so that a loved one can stay with the patient. Green and holistic design also play a vital role. Natural light is used to a maximum, and a healing garden provides a calm, inspirational place for patients and visitors to pause. These features not only look pretty, they are designed to promote healing and a positive outlook.

It isn't just the patients who will be well cared for at the new medical center; staff comfort and well-being also have been given top priority. For example, the seven-floor hospital features a step-sensitive design that will reduce fatigue for nurses and staff.

Details such as these will doubtless help draw in medical professionals, staffers and patients. When it opens, Ahuja Medical Center will employ about 400 people, and within two years, that number could more than double. Current open positions range from pathologists and ICU nurses to CT technologists and a food operations manager.


SOURCE: University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center
WRITER: Diane DiPiero

hope from feathers: poultry project helps families one chicken at a time
Through the Poultry Project, Lakewood resident Kelly Flamos has taken on the unimaginable tragedy of the African AIDS epidemic. She is helping one child at a time with the assistance of an unlikely flock of angels -- chickens.
east side entrepreneurs will be able to ‘borrow’ office space at shaker library
Whether it's an empty nook in their attic or a corner table at the local Starbuck's, home-based businesspeople are constantly searching for the ideal spot to do research, make phone calls or meet with clients. Come June of 2011, East Side entrepreneurs will be able to take advantage of specially designed space at the Shaker Heights Public Library's main branch on Lee Road.

The Community Entrepreneurial Office -- CEO for short -- will be a pilot program featuring workspace and services for home-based business owners. The Shaker Heights Public Library announced this fall that it had received a $37,645 grant from the state to set up the facilities.

An existing computer area on the library's second floor is being redesigned to make way for 10 workstations and a conference area, which will be available free of charge. Entrepreneurs will also have access to business software. Faxing, photocopying and related services will be fee-based.

"We see that people come here to do certain business and then they have to go elsewhere to finish," notes Margaret Simon, who will head up the library's CEO program. "So we said we'll be the finisher." Home-based entrepreneurs can think of the CEO as a one-stop resource for their businesses, Simon adds.

She says she would like to build a staff around the CEO program as it grows. "My hope is that it will become a self-sustaining business that will generate jobs."

The Shaker Heights Library is in proximity to Shaker Launch House, a business incubator also opening in 2011. Simon is set to meet with developers of Launch House to discuss ways each can help local entrepreneurs. "I think we have parallel services and we can make them intersect," she says.


SOURCE: Margaret Simon
WRITER: Diane DiPIero

college consortium has goal of training 2,700 people per year for hot HIT jobs
Health Information Technology (HIT) is a rapidly emerging field that will likely grow much faster than the average jobs, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Midwest Community College HIT Consortium is designed to ready a trained workforce for jobs in the HIT sector.

The consortium is comprised of 17 large community colleges in 10 Midwest states, and is being led by Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C). Last month, the consortium launched a new website to educate potential students and employers about the training offered through these community colleges. The website lists workforce roles within HIT and the training opportunities available at each community college and through virtual learning.

Executive director of the consortium, Norma Morganti, says that the website is another tool to help the consortium reach its goal of training 2,700 people annually for HIT jobs. "Studies indicate that as many as 50,000 additional HIT professionals may be needed over the next five years," she notes. The consortium was created to support national electronic health records implementation, Morganti adds.

Tri-C received the ARRA/HITECH Grant through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to be the lead college for the consortium. As a result, Tri-C created several short-term, non-credit training programs to fill HIT jobs such as implementation support specialists, clinician/practitioner consultants and technical/software support staff.

Applicants for the short-term programs at Tri-C should have IT or IS experience in a business or health care environment or related work with medical billing, health information management or medical records.


SOURCE: Norma Morganti
WRITER: Diane DiPiero

long a hidden gem, grand rockefeller building is reborn as a restaurant
When Cleveland Heights resident Michael Adams first got serious about making the switch from law to opening a restaurant, he looked at lots of forgettable locations -- "kind of cookie-cutter," he recalls. Then someone told him about a space on the second floor of the Rockefeller Building, at the corner of Mayfeild and Lee roads. For Adams, it was love at first sight.

"It's a gorgeous space," Adams says of the former bank, with its original, well-preserved stone floors, fireplace, plaster walls, oak rafters and soaring ceilings. "A space like that needs to be seen." And, thus, Rockefeller's was born.

The building, which now houses a Starbucks, sporting goods store and other retail on the first floor, was built in the 1930s by John D. Rockefeller Jr., as a commercial center for the family's residential development along the Cleveland Heights-East Cleveland border. Later, Ameritrust Bank occupied the second floor. After Ameritrust went out of business, a kitchen was added and for decades the site was rented out for parties and events.

A portion of the large space will be given over to a bar and lounge (with its own menu), while the rest will be reserved for more upscale dining. Adams, a first-time restaurateur, has hired Jill Vedaa as executive chef. Vedaa's resume includes stints at Lola, Flying Fig, Wine Bar in Rocky River, Mise and Saucy Bistro. Adams promises an American menu, with lots of local food and seasonal changes.

Rockefeller's is scheduled to open on January 11, 2011.


Source: Michael Adams
Writer: Frank W. Lewis
eaton corp. accelerates role in electric car market
Cleveland's Eaton Corporation is accelerating its presence in the electric car market thanks to a new collaboration with Mitsubishi Motors North America and Best Buy. Eaton will be providing the Level 2 home-charging mechanism for Mitsubishi's i MiEV electric vehicle, which goes on sale in the fall of 2011. Eaton also will provide infrastructural support and Level 2 chargers to all of Mitsubishi's North American dealerships.

Level 2 charging stations are installed in a home garage to help reduce the charging time of lithium-ion battery-powered vehicles.

Eaton will design and manufacture the Level 2 charging station equipment, which will be sold and distributed through Best Buy. In addition, Eaton will be the sole supplier and installer of the Level 2 charging stations required at Mitsubishi dealerships that will be selling the MiEV cars. The company has been developing innovative hybrid and electrical power systems, including electric-vehicle charging infrastructure for commercial vehicles, for more than 20 years.

Rich Stinson, president of power distribution operations for Eaton's Electrical Sector, says that this collaboration between Eaton, Mitsubishi and Best Buy will allow residential drivers "to confidently go about their daily business, without being worried about where and when they will charge their vehicles.


SOURCE: Eaton Corp.
WRITER: Diane DiPiero
as-yet-unopen market garden brewery already drafting buzz
Sam McNulty's Market Garden Brewery is still months shy of its grand opening, but that hasn't stopped the Ohio City establishment from attracting national attention. In the latest issue of Draft Magazine, the national brewing glossy ran a feature titled "12 breweries to watch in 2011." Claiming one of the dozen spots is none other than Market Garden.

After dubbing McNulty the "beer god responsible for Cleveland spots like the Belgian-laden Bier Markt and pizza-slinging Bar Cento," the article goes on to sing the praises of brewmaster Andy Tveekrem, formerly of the matchless Dogfish Head.

Brew fans can look forward to German-style bock, a Belgian tripel, a honey barleywine, and an American pale ale, says the clip. "But the pair won't stop with beer: Tveekrem will try his hand at distilling with whiskeys, infused vodkas and gin, while McNulty hones a menu of picnic-style eats, perfect for casual meals in the brewery's 3,000-square-foot cobblestoned American beer garden."

Drink up the whole feature here.


tribe swaps baseballs for snowballs in hopes of filling progressive field
You'd be forgiven for thinking that "Indians Snow Days" refers to contingency plans in the event of a repeat of 2007, when the home opener was delayed, and finally called, due to snow. In April. Actually, Snow Days is an entirely different first in Major League Baseball: an off-season theme park inside a stadium, with the theme being wintertime fun.

According to Rob Campbell of the Indians' communications department, Snow Days was inspired by the National Hockey League's surprisingly successful Winter Classic, an outdoor hockey game played each New Year's Day. In its first year, 2008, the game filled Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo, where the Bills play. The 2009 game, played at Chicago's Wrigley Field, set TV ratings records for pro hockey. Last year's match, at Fenway in Boston, was the finale of a Super Bowl-like week of events.

Lacking an NHL franchise, Cleveland would seem to have no chance of attracting the Winter Classic. Still, says Campbell, Dennis Lehman, the Indians' executive vice president for business, and Jim Folk, v.p. for park operations, were intrigued by the notion of opening the gates of Progressive Field in months when it's typically dark and quiet.

Campbell says that a great deal of market research went into determining what would lure folks downtown during the day in winter, a tradition that had gone the way of Higbee's and ice skating on Public Square. Some Metroparks offer snow tubing, and there's an outdoor skating rink at Wade Oval. But Snow Days brings these activities, and others, together in one place -- a place that's surrounded by restaurants and shops. And ultimately, says Campbell, making downtown a wintertime destination again is what it's is all about. Opening weekend attracted more than 6,000 visitors, and the team hopes for more than 50,000 before the whole thing wraps up on January 2.

"They're taking a huge step in [promoting downtown]," says Joe Marinucci, president and CEO of the Downtown Cleveland Alliance. "I'd love to see them expand it beyond the holiday season." That's definitely a possibility next year, Campbell says.

Snow Days was a hot topic at MLB's November meetings, Campbell adds. Once again, Cleveland is a national leader in creative reuse of vacant land.


Source: Cleveland Indians
Writer: Frank W. Lewis