The Duck Island neighborhood, which is situated off Abbey Road between Ohio City and Tremont, got its name because characters used to "duck" in here to escape cops during Prohibition. At least that's the legend that local residents like to offer.

Somehow, despite the sea-change development that's occurred in Tremont and Ohio City over the years, Duck Island has kept its tucked-away identity. Some new projects were built here, but others were stymied over the years by local residents opposed to density. But that may change over the next few years.

As developers like Andrew Brickman, Knez Homes and Sam McNulty buy up land in Duck Island, the Tremont West Development Corporation is leading a process to engage residents and stakeholders in shaping the future of Duck Island. And that future will likely involve new development, in some fashion or another.

"There's a lot of development being discussed in Duck Island, and the goal is to get the neighborhood on board with what's coming and create win-wins," says Cory Riordan, Director of Tremont West. "We want to have the conversation in advance and be proactive about how the development interacts with the community."

To that end, Tremont West is hosting a community design "charette" December 5-7 at St. Wendelyn's Church. Kent State University's Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative will lead the process, which will result in a new development plan for the area, encompassing everything from housing to infrastructure to home repair.

"People rise to the bar that's set for them," says Riordan. "The planning process won't just focus on development -- we want to look at improving Abbey Park and giving seniors the ability to fix their homes -- but new developments are driving the need for it. The result will be a community vision for moving forward."

Currently, there are only six new for-sale housing units officially proposed in Duck Island, a townhouse project being developed by Knez. Yet Riordan confirmed that developable land in Duck Island could result in dozens of new units in the coming years. For example, developer Andrew Brickman owns the former Bridgeview Cafe on Lorain Avenue, and that site alone could hold a large development.

In other Tremont news, the Professor Avenue streetscape project is nearly done. Artist Olga Ziemska has created "Dendrite," a public art piece that will function as seating and a gathering place, at the plaza at the corner of W. 10th, Fairfield and Professor. She intends to install it by the end of November, weather permitting.


Source: Cory Riordan, Olga Ziemska
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Melissa Hale started Yates Apothecary -- a fragrance manufacturer -- on a bit of a whim. She and her husband, Quinn, just had their first child and had moved to Lakewood from Florida, when Hale decided to leave her job as a nuclear medicine technologist and start experimenting with perfumes.

“I spent my last five years as a nuclear med tech working directly with cancer patients and P.E.T. imaging,” recalls Hale. “Those five years took their toll on my emotional and mental state. I wanted to come home from work happy and relaxed and that wasn't happening.”
 
With a sleeping baby on her lap, Hale began experimenting with perfume notes that she bought online. With that, Yates Apothecary was born. The company is named after her beloved chocolate lab Yates, aka Pig.
 
Things weren’t easy at first, but Hale has turned Yates Apothecary into a thriving home-based business selling fragrances, lip balms and custom blended scents. With a recent move to a live-work loft on St. Clair, Hale has expanded her lab and is planning on creating a steam distillation lab to extract the oils herself. She also teaches blending classes and welcomes guests to stop by to purchase her products, chat or just share a cup of coffee.
 
Hale’s unique scents are all numbered after significant dates in her life. “I gravitate towards notes that one might think won't smell great blended,” says Hale. “For example, perfume oil No. 3456 is campfire, dirt and violet. I tend to stay away from the traditional blends and enjoy the unconventional. The challenge of making unusual notes smell appealing is very satisfying to me.”
 
Hale’s more popular blend -- and her favorite -- is No. 0398, her dear dog's birthday. The blend is made up of fragrances such as amber, cedar, vanilla, oak moss and coconut oil.
 
“He was a crazy chocolate lab who loved walks in the woods,” she says. “I wanted to capture that feeling of walking in the woods with him. I wanted to capture that emotion, and I wanted to capture those memories.”
 
Hale’s products are available on the Yates site and at a number of local boutiques.

 
Source: Melissa Hale
Writer: Karin Connelly

Team NEO, MAGNET, Wire-Net and Medina County Workforce Development came together as a group to secure a $1.8 million federal Make it in America grant, one of only 10 groups nationwide to receive such funding.
 
The money will be used to help local companies that show the potential to bring manufacturing jobs to the region.
 
“We will use the money to boost the growth of 25 medium-sized companies in Northeast Ohio in many areas, from product development to workforce development,” says Jay Foran, senior vice president of Team NEO. “We’re also hoping to attract new business to the region in support of those companies in biomedical, automotive and advanced engineering.”
 
The groups have been working together since March to apply for the grant. “So many partners saw opportunities for themselves that aligned with this grant,” says Laura Hudak, Team NEO’s vice president of finance and administration. “The opportunity to collaborate is equally important as the financial implications.”
 
Each group will have a different role in distributing the grant money. Team NEO will serve as administrator and work on attracting international business. WIRE-Net will work directly with the companies receiving the funds, building on its manufacturing experience. MAGNET will provide resources for job and business growth, while Medina County Workforce Development will coordinate services with area colleges and universities.
 
The Make it in America program is a $20.5 million Obama administration initiative designed around job creation and investment in U.S. businesses.

 
Source: Jay Foran, Laura Hudak
Writer: Karin Connelly

Cleveland Clinic Innovations (CCI) has named seasoned Health Information Technology (HIT) veteran Gary Fingerhut as its new executive director. Fingerhut has more than 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur in IT, co-founding a global software company and as a senior executive of a software development and technology consulting firm.

CCI is the commercial arm of the Cleveland Clinic, responsible for company creation and business development of medical technology developed by its doctors and researchers.

For the past three years, Fingerhut has served as general manager of IT commercialization for CCI, a position he will continue to perform in addition to his new executive director duties.
 
HIT makes up 23 percent of Innovations’ business, up from six percent when Fingerhut started with the organization. “I take credit for being part of a team,” Fingerhut says of the growth. “We’re a very collaborative group here: very dedicated, very focused in bringing products to market that will change lives. You can’t ask for a better role than that as executive director.”
 
Fingerhut plans to continue that growth in his new position. “I’m really heavily focused on inventor satisfaction as a key goal,” he says. “And I would like to see our Innovation Alliance grow considerably.”
 
And, of course, Fingerhut wants to improve care through technology. “Everything we do is focused on better patient care,” he says. “But we’re also focused on growth in Ohio. Since we began in 2000, we’ve created 1,100 jobs in Northeast Ohio and 66 spinoff companies.”
 
Fingerhut is a Cleveland native and has raised five children here. “This is an incredible institution and I’m really honored to be a part of it,” he says. “We take innovation seriously here, and I look forward to really making a difference.”

 
Source: Gary Fingerhut
Writer: Karin Connelly

There's so much pop culture ephemera floating through the average American brain, it's impossible to keep track of it all. No worries: Three Cleveland-based authors have recently published pop culture books on Superman, breakfast cereal and film, which take dead aim at our nostalgia centers.

Since 2008, the Cuyahoga County North Coast Opportunities (NCO) Technology Fund has been helping high growth technology companies thrive and create jobs, and the deadline for the latest round of funding is November 18.
 
NCO provides deferred loans ranging from $25,000 to $125,000 at an interest rate of five percent. Repayment is deferred for five years or until the company receives $1.5 million in follow-on funding. NCO offers six rounds of funding per year, awarding money to one company each round.
 
“The program was created to accelerate tech-based entrepreneurs and create new jobs,” says Greg Zucca, senior development finance analyst for the Cuyahoga County Department of Development. Since it started, the fund has invested $2.6 million in 26 companies. Those companies have gone on to raise $19 million in follow-on funding, created 77 jobs and added $4.6 million in annual payroll.
 
While Cuyahoga County provides the loans, JumpStart provides the assistance to help the companies grow and thrive. “JumpStart assists through programs like its Entrepreneur in Residence and makes recommendations for places the companies can go to get follow-on funding,” says Zucca.
 
The hope is to develop early stage companies that have potential to boost the regional economy. “It’s good for Northeast Ohio because there are a lot of early stage companies here,” says Zucca. “We’re really trying to feed the system and create a continuum for these companies as they are maturing.”
 
Source: Greg Zucca
Writer: Karin Connelly

Shaker Heights perhaps is better known for its handsome residential districts than its commercial areas. However, a new pop-up event aims to highlight local businesses in the Van Aken District, invite a few new ones to participate, and offer a new kind of winter market where people can shop close to home.

Pop Up Shaker will bring a range of local food and craft purveyors into Juma Gallery and Lucy's Sweet Surrender for a two-week run beginning Saturday, November 30th and going through Sunday, December 15th. Upcycle St. Clair's innovative Shop the Window event will brighten the windows of the vacant storefront between them.

"The goal is to encourage residents and others to look at Shaker as a great place to do business," says Katharyne Starinsky, an Economic Development Specialist with the City of Shaker Heights. "Construction on the Van Aken streetscape is starting next year. We want people to think about how great the future of the area will be."

Cleveland Culinary Launch and Kitchen will turn Juma Cafe into a marketplace for tantalizing foods; Cleveland Craft Connection will host a handmade market and teach crafting classes at Lucy's; and Shop the Window will allow visitors to purchase upcycled crafts simply by scanning the QR code with their smartphones.

"You can immediately purchase the gifts right then and there, and then they'll be available for pickup at Upcycle St. Clair, or they can be shipped," says Starinsky.

So far, everyone loves the idea, which has never before been tried in the City of Shaker Heights. "People are excited to be able to shop in their own community."


Source: Katharyne Starinsky
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Cleveland is home to a vibrant collection of women-owned businesses, many of which are in fields traditionally dominated by men. From manufacturing to moving, these heavy lifting ladies credit their success to hard work and a soft touch.

Shaker Heights entrepreneur Kai Wingo recently launched the Buckeye Mushroom Farm on a vacant lot on E. 127th Street off Buckeye Road. Wingo is growing oyster and garden giant mushrooms on beds and racks there. She also teaches classes and sells mushrooms under the moniker Kai's Kultured Mushrooms at the Coit Road Farmers Market.

"I'm a mushroom ambassador," she says. "I want people to know about benefits we get from mushrooms. I'm the only one I know of who's doing it at this scale."

Wingo began growing mushrooms four years ago, and launched her business when she got laid off from her job with the Cleveland Municipal School District. By then, she'd outgrown her home garden, so she applied for a vacant lot through the land bank. Recently, she also built a hoop house there to extend the growing season.

"Mushrooms are a powerhouse of nutrition," she explains. "The gardens also benefit because of the compost they provide. They're just a grand recycler."

Wingo says there is great untapped demand for local mushrooms, which are a high-value crop, and that her business and classes are taking off. "There's a long waiting list of farmers markets that would love to have mushrooms there, but there aren't any people to fill the niche, so that's why I'm teaching people."

Hough entrepreneur Mansfield Frazier also has tapped Wingo to grow 'shrooms at his new biocellar project. She can be reached via Facebook or by phone at 216-561-3200.


Source: Kai Wingo
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Predictably, Paul Benner and Justin Carson came up with their idea to launch a brewing incubator over a couple of strong pints at a local alehouse. Benner owns the Cleveland Brew Shop, a homebrew supply store in Tremont, and Carson runs JC Beertech, a company that installs and cleans draft beer lines.

Two weeks ago, JC Beertech moved its 40-person office from Medina to a renovated building in Ohio City. The company occupies the second floor of the Tomasch building at 4125 Lorain Avenue, which was built 100 years ago as a Czech social hall. Benner and Carson are now hard at work on renovations to the first floor, which by next spring will be home to Platform Brewing Company.

JC Beertech's new offices feature gleaming hardwood floors, the original bar from the Czech social hall, solar tubes that introduce natural light and windows that overlook Lorain. The stout brick building's exterior has been completely renovated with new storefront windows, and signage will be added when the project is completed.

Platform, a microbrewery and brewing incubator, will occupy 5,000 square feet on the first floor. The space, part of which was a former bowling alley for the Czech hall, has slender planked hardwood floors that are being restored. A 20-foot-tall garage door will open to a spacious new beer garden. The Plum, a cafe and sandwich shop opening next door, will provide food from a shared kitchen.

Platform will brew beer for consumption on premises and sale to restaurants, offer contract brewing services for restaurants that want to brew their own beer, and hold classes and other instructional programs for homebrewers who want to break into the industry. Benner says it's the only brewing incubator he's aware of in the country.

"We're excited about creating a new district in Ohio City," Benner says of Lorain Avenue between W. 45th and Fulton, which is considered part of SoLo (South of Lorain). "We'll have people here from seven in the morning until ten at night."

In spring, Benner will plant hops vines that will grow over trellises in the rear of the building and along the alleyway next to the building so that they're visible from the street.


Source: Paul Benner
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Ann Onusko doesn’t leave the house without first putting on some perfume. “I’ve always been a perfumista,” she says. When she travels with her husband to his native Holland, she hits the perfumeries. “When we go there, the first thing I do is search out the local shops. Same when I go to LA or New York. But Cleveland doesn’t have any perfumeries.”

The fact that Cleveland lacks a perfume shop with scents by small, artisan companies got Onusko thinking. After working as a nurse for 10 years, and then 20 years as general manager of a special events and floral design company, Onusko decided it was time to bring a perfumery to Cleveland.
 
On October 15, Onusko opened Indigo Perfumery in an historic building in Lakewood. The shop features fragrances not found in department stores. “Most often, when I’m placing an order, I’m talking to the person making perfume,” she says. “They’re very careful about where they want to sell.”
 
Onusko carries 120 perfumes in a variety of price ranges --from Cleveland’s own Yates Apothecary to Paris’ Jul et Mad. “I like these scents more because they have more character, more passion,” Onusko explains.
 
Onusko works with her customers to find the right scent for their styles and body chemistries. She also sells samples for $1. “I want people to take it with them and see how they like it,” she explains. “Two or three hours later it’s a different scent again.”
 
Onusko also sells scented candles and plans on hosting fragrance workshops and opportunities to meet the perfumers. She is in the process of hiring two additional perfumistas.

 
Source: Ann Onusko
Writer: Karin Connelly

The new kid on the block on historic Larchmere Boulevard sells everything from vintage longhorn antlers and Tory Burch sandals to designer jeans and mid-century modern Herman Miller chairs. That's just how Eclectic Eccentric rolls, which is a perfect fit for a street that is nothing if not both of those things.

Long considered the East Side's premier antiques district, the street still contains remnants of that, but now also houses a yarn shop, bookstore, soul food joint, bistro, barber shops, galleries and much more within a few short, walkable blocks. A new streetscape project, set to kick off next year, will make that walk even more pleasant when it wraps up in 2015.

Eclectic Eccentric owner Tracey Hilbert says that she got her start in retail at the tender age of 14, working in her father's drugstore. Last year, the Shaker Heights mom returned to her roots and opened a small store above Conservation Studios. Emboldened by its success, she pounced on a vacant storefront that became available earlier this year.

"I wanted the combination of a vintage store and new merchandise that's modern," she says. "People have always said I have a good eye, and I like the juxtaposition."

Hilbert, who is partnering with several other designers and clothing makers to turn Eclectic Eccentric into "more of a co-op space," says that she's tapping into a resurgence of interest in all things vintage and green. "There's a trend with people around the country taking what they like and incorporating a variety of different things into design," she states. "There aren't as many set rules any more."

Eclectic Eccentric is located at 13005 Larchmere Boulevard.


Source: Tracey Hilbert
Writer: Lee Chilcote