Crain's Cleveland Business

By STAN [email protected]

Thanks to empty nesterswho are buying again,builders say the embattled market for

condominiums and low- or no-maintenance cluster homesis staging a comeback.

Some builders cite the impactof the federal tax credits forhousing that expired April 30,particularly the first-time buyertax credit because such buyersgo for condos. Moreover, first-time buyers who purchased existinghomes freed many aging boomersto buy condos and downsize. How-ever, everybody says better salesnumbers are because the deals areso swell, and not just because oflow interest rates.

“It’s all about survival now,” said

Ken Lurie, one-time CEO of the former Rysar Homes who now ischief operating officer of apartmentfirm Orlean Co. Mr. Lurie also con-tinues working on Rysar projectssuch as Bluestone condominiumsin Cleveland Heights.

By ARIELLE [email protected]

Mike Ungar is quick to say there are some “outstandingpeople” serving as judges in Cuyahoga County.

But the new president of the Cleveland MetropolitanBar Association also will tell you some members of thebench were not the most qualified candidates on the ballot, and some contenders had no business runningfor judge.

In his year at the bar association’s helm, Mr. Ungarhas decided to take advantageof what he calls the “seachange” sweeping through otherbranches of county govern-ment to explore what changesmight be appropriate for thelocal judiciary.

The bar association cannotchange the system that is usedto select judges, who are nowelected. However, in Mr. Ungar’s view, the bar can playan active role in determiningthe quality of judges on the bench. So, Mr. Ungar has created a Judicial Excellence Task Force whose charge isto spur more competition for judge positions and toraise the caliber of those who end up on the bench. It willmeet for the first time this Wednesday, June 30.

“We have not created a pipeline for excellent candi-dates to run for judge. There’s a dearth of competition,”Mr. Ungar said. “There’s an unprecedented opportunity toget involved at the front end of the process.”

The bar association has a duty, he said, to encouragethe “best and brightest” to pursue careers on the bench.

“There’s an unprecedentedopportunity toget involved atthe front end ofthe process.” – Mike Ungar, president, ClevelandMetropolitan Bar Association

$1.50/JUNE 28 - JULY 11, 2010Vol. 31, No. 26

07148601032

626 SPECIAL SECTION

INVESTING GUIDEWe ask five people how their investments havechanged since the recession hit ■■ Page I-1PLUS: SUPERSTARS ■■ HEALTH CARE ■■ COLLECTIBLES ■■ & MORE

NEW

SPAP

ER

CrainsCleveland.com/30thanniversary

NOTICE TO READERSDue to the Fourth of July

holiday, Crain’s Cleveland Busi-ness will not publish an issue on Monday, July 5.

To stay up to date on all thetop business news and blogsin Northeast Ohio, checkCrainsCleveland.comregularly.

Bar’s leadersets goal ofupgrade tojudge ranksAssociation will be more activein encouraging some to run

See JUDGES Page 22

See CONDOS Page 6

See TECH Page 7

‘Tech belt’officials aimfor $130M infederal fundsMoney, while a longshot, would help group’sgreen technology effortBy CHUCK [email protected]

A group trying to spur the creationof a “tech belt” from Cleveland toPittsburgh is swinging for the fenceswith one of its first initiatives: a $130million grant application aimed atturning the region into a hub forgreen building technologies.

It’s a long shot: The federal govern-ment is giving only one green buildinggrant through its Energy RegionalInnovation Cluster program, androughly 40 groups have applied forthe money.

Nonetheless, it’s an example ofhow the organizations participatingin the TechBelt Initiative hope toleverage the combined strengths ofNortheast Ohio and western Penn-sylvania to build technology clustersrelated to green technology, life sciences and other high-tech indus-tries.

It’s also the biggest example. Twoof the 40 organizations participatingin the 3-year-old collaboration —NorTech, which works to developtechnology clusters in NortheastOhio, and Innovation Works, a Pitts-burgh-based nonprofit that investsin young technology companies —filed the application for the $130 million grant in May with the help ofGSB Consulting in Pittsburgh. Theyexpect to know if they’ve won the

WHERE THE CASH WOULD GO

Officials from Pittsburgh and Cleve-land have their sights set on $130 million in federal money. NorTech vicepresident Dave Karpinski says the application for the money, part of theregions’ TechBelt Initiative, wouldfund research-and-development projects in green building technology.

That would fit the TechBelt group’sgoal of creating clusters in green technology and other high-tech indus-tries.

JASON MILLER

Bluestone in Cleveland Heights has sold nine condominiums this year, thanks in part to price cuts ofas much as $80,000 per unit.

STAN BULLARD

Meanwhile, Coral Co. sold out its Westhampton unitsat Crocker Park in Westlake, thanks to price cuts of5% to 10%.

CONDO COMEBACKMultiple factors, including builders slashing prices,

lead to 85% uptick in sales in Northern Ohio

20100628-NEWS--1-NAT-CCI-CL_-- 6/25/2010 1:38 PM Page 1

The amount of time patients spend in an acute care hospital, referred to as “average length of stay,” has been decreasing steadily for nearly two decades,according to data included in a new report from the Cleveland-based Center forHealth Affairs. As a result, the segment of the health care industry that treatspatients who require a longer period of recovery has grown. Here’s how average length of stay has changed over the years, and how long-term care ispaid for:

over a century of legendary meetings

Drafting the United Nations Charter at The Fairmont San Francisco, 1945

G7 International Economic Summit at Fairmont Le Château Montebello, Québec, 1981

World War II Conferences of the Allies at Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, Québec, 1943–1944

John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Bed-in for Peace at Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth, Montréal, 1969

Photo: The Fairmont Copley Plaza, Boston

For more than a century, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has brought people face to face for legendary meetings in unforgettable settings. Whether you’re looking to make history or simply to offer your clients an unrivaled experience, trust Fairmont to deliver seamless service, state-of-the-art meeting spaces and top value—making your work that much easier.

22 CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM JUNE 28-JULY 11, 2010

REGULAR FEATURES

Best of the Blogs ..........23Big Issue......................11Classified.....................22Editorial .......................10Going Places..................8

Letters.........................10List: Largest public

companies .........I-6, I-8Reporters’ Notebook ....23What’s New ..................23

UPCOMING CRAIN’S EVENTS

We’ll honor our annual classof 12 leading businesswomenat a July 22 luncheon. There is limited seating available, so visit CrainsCleveland.com/WONtoday to register.

Women of note

Crain’s this fall will hand out its annual EmeraldAwards for sustainability efforts and its CFO of theYear awards. Nominate deserving individuals at CrainsCleveland.com.

Nominations open

Audit Bureauof Circulation

Subscriptions: In Ohio: 1 year, $59; 2 years, $102.Outside of Ohio: 1 year, $102; 2 years, $180. Singlecopy, $1.50. Allow 4 weeks for change of address.Send all subscription correspondence to Circulation De-partment, Crain’s Cleveland Business, 1155 Gratiot Av-enue, Detroit, Michigan 48207-2912. 1-877-824-9373or FAX (313) 446-6777.Reprints: Call 1-800-290-5460 Ext. 136

Keith E. Crain: ChairmanRance Crain: PresidentMerrilee Crain: SecretaryMary Kay Crain: TreasurerWilliam A. Morrow: Executive vice president/operationsBrian D. Tucker: Vice presidentRobert C. Adams: Group vice president technology, circulation, manufacturingPaul Dalpiaz: Chief Information OfficerDave Kamis: Vice president/production & manufacturingKathy Henry:Corporate circulation/audience development director

G.D. Crain Jr. Founder (1885-1973)Mrs. G.D. Crain Jr. Chairman (1911-1996)

Crain Communications Inc.

700 W. St. Clair Ave., Suite 310,Cleveland, OH 44113-1230Phone: (216) 522-1383Fax: (216) 694-4264www.crainscleveland.com

Publisher/editorial director:Brian D. Tucker ([email protected])Editor:Mark Dodosh ([email protected])Managing editor:Scott Suttell ([email protected])Sections editor: Amy Ann Stoessel ([email protected])Assistant editors: Joel Hammond ([email protected])SportsKathy Carr ([email protected])Marketing and foodSenior reporter: Stan Bullard ([email protected])Real estate and constructionReporters: Shannon Mortland ([email protected])Health care and educationJay Miller ([email protected])GovernmentChuck Soder ([email protected])TechnologyDan Shingler ([email protected])ManufacturingArielle Kass ([email protected])Finance and legalResearch editor: Deborah W. Hillyer ([email protected])

Cartoonist/illustrator: Rich Williams

Marketing/Events manager:Christian Hendricks ([email protected])Marketing coordinator:Laura Franks ([email protected])

Advertising sales director:Mike Malley ([email protected])Account executives: Adam Mandell ([email protected])Dirk Kruger ([email protected])Nicole Mastrangelo ([email protected])Dawn Donegan ([email protected])Business development manager &classified advertising:Genny Donley ([email protected])

Office coordinator:Toni Coleman ([email protected])

Production manager: Craig L. Mackey ([email protected])Production assistant/video editor: Steven Bennett ([email protected])

Graphic designer:Kristen Wilson ([email protected])

Billing: Susan Jaranowski, 313-446-6024([email protected])Credit:Todd Masura, 313-446-6097([email protected])

Circulation manager: Erin Miller ([email protected])Customer service manager:Brenda Johnson-Brantley (bjohnson-brantley@ crain.com) 1-877-824-9373

TIME KEEPS ON SLIPPING

Year Stay

2007 5.5 days Medicaid/other public funds 42%

Medicare 25

Out-of-pocket funds 22

Private insurance 11

2003 5.7

2000 5.8

1997 6.1

1994 6.7

1991 7.2

SOURCE: “THE CONTINUUM OF CARE: THE PIVOTAL ROLE OF POST-ACUTE AND LONG-TERM CARE INHEALTH CARE DELIVERY” BY THE CENTER FOR HEALTH AFFAIRS; WWW.CHANET.ORG

Method Percentage


By JAY [email protected]

Northeast Ohio companies, well-versed in playing the financialincentives game with governmentsin the 50 states, are expanding theirhorizons and looking for similar incentives in Europe.

“We’ve identified some opportu-nities to pursue,” said Randall Korach, president of RPM BuildingSolutions Group Inc., a subsidiaryof paint and coatings maker RPMInternational Inc. of Medina. “Wejust had confirmation from theBavarian regional government inGermany that (it will) invest with us

on the capacity expansion in ourplant in the Bavarian region.”

Mr. Korach said the Bavariangovernment will make a cash grantto assist with the expansion, thoughhe would not disclose the size of theinvestment.

The Building Solutions Groupplant makes building products,mainly an impregnated foam tapethat is used to insulate the joints oninstalled windows. Mr. Korach saidthe group does business throughoutEurope from five plants, includingtwo in Germany, and one each inEngland, France and the Netherlands.

While RPM is new to European

JUNE 28-JULY 11, 2010 WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS 3

INSIGHT

THE WEEK IN QUOTES“The whole goal is toget transformative,game-changing solutions into themarketplace.”— NorTech vice president DaveKarpinski. Page One

“Condominium salesare better now because it is less expensive housing. …For housing now, it’s aquestion of what people can afford andwhy.”— Developer Peter Rubin. Page One

“Nobody collects forcollecting’s sake anymore. … (Avid collectors) are 1% ofmy business; mostpeople collect for investment.”— Jim Irwin, Shaker Coin & Jewelry. Page I-5

“Hire professionals, bein broadly diversifiedfunds ... and if you really think there aregoing to be hugestructural changes inthe economy, react tothat.”— Ned Hill, dean of the MaxineLevin College of Urban Affairs,Cleveland State University. Page I-1

Lubrizol in enviable position: gobs of cashWickliffe company buys back stock, looks for strategic purchasesBy DAN [email protected]

So, what does a companywith a war chest of about $1billion do with its money?Ask Lubrizol Corp. chief financial officer Charles Cooley — everybody else has.

“If you’ve got a billiondollars in cash, people want toknow what you’re going to do withit,” Mr. Cooley said.

He’s got answers: Make acquisi-tions, expand capacity and, if theright deal can’t be found, continueto buy back shares on the openmarket.

The Wickliffe-based pro-ducer of lubricant additivesand specialty chemicals accumulated the hugecash stash in part becauseof a monster 2009 — a yearmost companies would pre-fer to forget. Not Lubrizol.

A confluence of timelydebt management, the

fruition of cost-cutting efforts andan environment in which its rawmaterial prices were plunging whileprices for its finished goods heldfirm produced a record profit of$500.8 million in 2009, even as salesfell 9% from 2008.

But, even with that wind in its

sails, Lubrizol manned the oars todeal with the debt it carried.

The company had $400 million in notes that were maturing last October. Planning ahead to pay offthat debt, Lubrizol in January 2009issued $500 million in notes —when many thought the market forcorporate debt was closed. Lubrizolfollowed that the next month by securing a three-year bank loan foranother $150 million.

But then cost-cutting and improvedmargins kicked in and cash startedto pile up. The company repaid thebank loan early, Mr. Cooley said,because “we just generated so

See CASH Page 6

Local outfits find successwith European incentivesPerks often available in Northeast Ohio provideboost for those looking to raise profiles overseas

BAD. GOOD.And judging by the current robust activity at box and pallet makers,

the local economy may be gaining steam as shipping picks up

“There is a ... double-whammy effect: product needed for current shipping needs plus product needed in anticipation of future demands.”

– Ken Mayland, president, ClearView Economics

By DAN [email protected]

When Suzy Hecht-Remer is busy, soare a lot of otherpeople and busi-

nesses — and she says her busi-ness is picking up.

Ms. Hecht-Remer might be agood indicator of the local economybecause her company, MidwestBox Co. on Cleveland’s West Side,sells boxes used by a number oflarge and small area manufacturers,which ship their own finishedgoods in them.

When Ms. Hecht-Remer sellsmore boxes, it only can be becausearea companies are shipping morestuff, she says.

It’s not a new concept — investors the world over look at themarkets for corrugated cardboardto gauge levels of production andeconomic activity — and there areeven cardboard indexes that allowinvestors to watch the world’scardboard markets. Ms. Hecht-Remer is merely a little closer tothe end markets because her company makes completed boxes,

See INCENTIVES Page 5

See BOX Page 5

Cooley


while, the company has found it cangrow anew in foreign markets andhas entered 10 countries, including In-donesia, Mexico and Thailand.

FeneTech, it seems, has found aniche.

That might surprise some whocan’t imagine those late-night TVwindow salesmen ponying up six figures for a new software package.The replacement window businesssounds easy enough — go out andmeasure the windows, come backand make new ones, snap ’em in.

That is, it’s easy until you multiplyone window by the 500 or more thata window company might make in aday, each one of them a little differentin size than the other. The companymust order and track 500 pieces ofglass, match its production and delivery with the production of 500frames, then get all the right piecesof glass into the right places on theproduction line, so that they comeup just as their vinyl casings areready for them.

That process, Mr. Crowl said, iswhy he’s been selling software rightthrough the economic downturn.

The company’s product, Fene-Vision, is an enterprise resourceplanning suite, Mr. Crowl said. It notonly takes and tracks orders andmanages production schedules, butit even tells users how to cut stockpieces of glass and vinyl for produc-tion, so the least amount of scrap isproduced along the way.

The game’s name is savingsThe recession hasn’t hurt FeneTech

as much as other companies in con-struction-related businesses becausethe downturn hit most heavily innew construction. In that realm,windows tend to be more standard-ized, and companies doing new construction aren’t a big part ofFeneTech’s market for software.

By contrast, efforts to make existingbuildings energy efficient have beenstepped up. That’s good for FeneTechand its customers because it meansmore replacement windows are sold.

Among FeneTech’s customers isIntigral Inc., a Walton Hills glasscompany that sells to replacementwindow manufacturers in the region.

“It does order entry, electronicdata interchange, it manages all ofour price books and it manages 100%of our scheduling,” said Intigral vicepresident DeAnna Negron.

Ms. Negron said her company hasbeen using FeneTech’s softwaresince it became available nine yearsago and that it uses it to run all threeof its plants, which employ 200 peoplein Cleveland, Toledo and Youngstown.

Intigral has bought FeneTech’smain product, as well as several customized modules. Ms. Negron saidit integrates easily with her customers’software, whether they are usingFeneVision or another vendor’s prod-uct, and saves the company money.

“Every single insulating glass unitwe do is a different size, that’s thenature of what Intigral does,” Ms.Negron said. “What (FeneVision)does is it allows us to be extremelyefficient and maximize our materialsand labor.” ■

By DAN [email protected]

Ron Crowl knows there’sbeen a heck of a recessiongoing on. But Mr. Crowlhasn’t felt much of it in hisbusiness, FeneTech, a small Aurora software companywhere 32 people help theworld’s glass and replacement window manufacturers keep track oftheir stock and trade.

“We’ve never had a year wherewe lost money,” Mr. Crowl said,adding that 2009 was his best yearsince the company’s launch in 2000.

FeneTech does not dis-close its revenues, but Mr.Crowl said its software sellsfor at least $80,000 per installation — and as muchas $1 million for large, mul-tiplant users. So far, thereare about 140 companiesusing it, according to Mr.Crowl. They also pay an

annual fee, which varies by the sizeof the user. Revenues grew by morethan 50% in 2008 and more than 60%in 2009, Mr. Crowl said.

During the past two years, theU.S. market has been fairly flat forFeneTech, Mr. Crowl said. Mean-


Volume 31, Number 26 Crain’s Cleveland Busi-ness (ISSN 0197-2375) is published weekly, exceptfor combined issues on the fourth week of May andfifth week of May, the fourth week of June and firstweek of July, the third week of December and fourthweek of December at 700 West St. Clair Ave., Suite310, Cleveland, OH 44113-1230. Copyright © 2010by Crain Communications Inc. Periodicals postagepaid at Cleveland, Ohio, and at additional mailing of-fices. Price per copy: $1.50. POSTMASTER: Sendaddress changes to Crain’s Cleveland Business,Circulation Department, 1155 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit,Michigan 48207-2912. 1-877-824-9373.

REPRINT INFORMATION: 800-290-5460 Ext. 136

Aurora firm’s trackingability a window to profit

Crowl


incentives, some companies haveat least a little experience.

In 2008, Parker Hannifin Corp.won tax incentives offered by thecanton of Vaud in Switzerland tocompanies that are developing newbusinesses there. Parker Hannifinagreed to build a 57,000-square-foot European headquarters in thecity of Etoy on Lake Geneva thatwould employ 150, according to anews release from the company atthe time. A Parker spokespersonhad not responded to a request formore information at press time.

The growing Europe incentiveopportunities have caught the atten-tion of two local consulting firms.

The LNE Group, a Cleveland

government relations firm, last yearopened an office in Berlin and hasbegun to help its clients, includingRPM and Ferro Corp., a maker ofspecialty materials and chemicalsbased in Cleveland, find govern-ment incentive programs in Europe.

“What we’ve done is find projectsthat already exist with our clientsand then try to find money forthose projects,” said Lee Weingart,LNE’s president. “In Europe, we’restarting to know all the players andagencies.”

Mr. Weingart said many Euro-

pean government financial incen-tive programs are similar to theOhio Third Frontier program,which provides grants to fund thedevelopment of high-tech products.

Cleveland-based Silverlode Con-sulting Corp., an economic devel-opment consultancy, earlier thisyear formed a partnership with PM& Partner Marketing ConsultingGmbH of Frankfurt, Germany, topursue European economic devel-opment opportunities for its U.S.clients.

Silverlode president Steven

Weitzner said because of restrictionsby the European Commission,which administers the grant pro-grams authorized by the EuropeanUnion, many of the incentives arelimited geographically.

“The focus is on less-developedareas with high unemployment andhigher poverty rates,” Mr. Weitznersaid. “There’s quite a bit of moneyavailable in those areas to make investments.”

Both Mr. Weitzner and Mr. Weingart said the incentives avail-able in European countries tend tobe cash grants for research andproduct development, though Mr.Weitzner said some countries dooffer wage subsidies and grants fortraining. ■

often designed and cut for specificcustomer needs.

For Ms. Hecht-Remer, businessstarted to turn around at the end oflast year and hasn’t let up. Even theautomotive supply sector, which often goes dead in June, has beenhumming, she said. Chemical pro-ducers, retailers, fastener makersand metal stamping companies allhave been increasing their orderswith Midwest.

Across town, Larry Fulton, presidentof Lefco Worthington LLC in Cleve-land, makes a variety of pallets, cratesand other products that manufacturersuse to ship their goods. He, too, saysbusiness is bouncing back.

While he doesn’t disclose his company’s revenues, Mr. Fulton saidorders are up about 25% this year,though still down slightly from pre-recession levels.

“We are seeing an uptick in differentindustries. We may see a decline in aparticular customer, but across theboard we’re seeing a nice increase,”Mr. Fulton said.

“We had one customer in the construction-related field where fora while we weren’t shipping themanything. Now we can hardly keepup,” Mr. Fulton said. “With one of ourfairly large automotive customers,we’re certainly seeing a large uptickand where we were making oneshipment a week, now we’re makingtwo or three shipments a week.”

Box scoresAll of this activity is good news,

economists say, particularly becausean increase in demand for boxes is aleading economic indicator.

“Absolutely,” says Ken Mayland,president of ClearView Economics inPepper Pike. “More goods to moverequires more packaging and freight-handling material. This is also a casewhere inventories were drawn waydown, so there is a virtuous double-whammy effect: product needed forcurrent shipping needs plus productneeded in anticipation of future demands.”

It’s been such a broad trend thatLongbow Research, a boutique insti-tutional research firm in Indepen-dence, put out a broad-based buyrecommendation on a number ofpublicly traded box and cardboardcompanies. Recent price increasesfor cardboard had been institutedand accepted, and demand continuedto increase, noted Longbow analystJoshua Zaret in a June 11 report.

Longbow predicts U.S. box ship-ments will increase by 3.5% in 2010,and then rise again by 1.5% in 2011, af-ter falling for five consecutive years.

But will the increase in businesshold up over the long run?

“I just don’t know whether it’s sustainable or if it’s just a blip,” Lefco Worthington’s Mr. Fulton said.“I suspect these are long-term(trends) and sustainable, and that’swhat all our customer are indicating,but they don’t really know either.”

At Ms. Hecht-Remer’s shop, theyhave similar worries.

“You might get a whopping ordernow for August or September, butcan you count on it? No,” said PaulRotman, a 30-year employee andtop sales producer at Midwest Box. ■


M Y T E A M

MY BENESCH

© 2009 Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP

Featured attorneys (left-right): James M. Hill, Joseph G. Tegreene, David W. Mellott, David R. Mayo, Richard F. Tracanna, Jessica N. Angney and Tamara L. Karel

“They understand the legal side,

the corporate side and my side.”

Ray Dalton CEO PartsSource, Inc.

Financial and legal matters can get complicated when you’re distributing replacement medical parts

in a global supply chain using a sophisticated pricing matrix. That’s why PartsSource relies on Benesch. Our team approach ensures

that our clients receive the best counsel on everything from mergers and acquisitions to vendor and customer agreements.

To learn more about our partnership with PartsSource, Inc., visit beneschlaw.com/myteam.

Cleveland Columbus Indianapolis Philadelphia Shanghai White Plains Wilmington

continued from PAGE 3


Box: Declineworries stilltop of mind

Incentives: Programs similar to lauded Third Frontier “The focus is on less-developed areas (in Europe) withhigh unemployment and higher poverty rates.” – Steven Weitzner, president, Silverlode Consulting Corp.


much cash” from operations throughthe year.

By the time 2010 came around,Lubrizol had $1 billion and an appetiteto invest it. So far, the acquisitionshave been of its own shares. Mr.Cooley said the company boughtback $60 million of its stock in thefirst quarter of 2010 and has continuedto buy more in the second quarter.

But it hasn’t been for a lack of trying that Lubrizol hasn’t bought

Mr. Lurie said his investor groupbooked a small profit on nine Blue-stone units it sold this year. However,he credits price cuts of as much as$80,000 per unit for the uptick.

While other price cuts are lessdraconian, reduced prices and therecently ended federal tax credits finally buoyed the condo market,which had suffered more than thesingle-family market since 2005.Statistics from the Northern OhioRegional Multiple Listing Service,which covers northern Ohio fromLorain to Ashtabula counties as farsouth as Columbiana County, illus-trate the situation.

Sales of condominium listings forthe year through May climbed 85%,to 1,063 from 575 in the like periodof 2009. A 55% hike in sales of single-family listings in the like period pales by comparison.

Bill Sanderson, vice president ofjoint ventures for Forest City Enter-prises Inc.’s land group who overseesland sales to builders in the region,said empty-nester housing “reallypicked up.”

“It was dead for a while,” he said.“Existing owners could not sell theirhomes or feel there was enough val-ue to sell. ... Now, we’re seeing thosebuyers come into the market again.”

Price cuts spur actionDeveloper Peter Rubin said his

company, Coral Co., has slashedprices by 5% to 10% on units fromCleveland Heights to Westlake thatcost in a range of $250,000 to$500,000. Those price cuts allowedCoral to stop waiting for buyers andto sell 24 units so far this year. Mr.Rubin credits the approach withenabling Coral to sell out its West-hampton units at Westlake’s CrockerPark — though plenty of emptyland remains there.

“Condominium sales are betternow because it is less expensivehousing,” Mr. Rubin said. “Forhousing now, it’s a question of whatpeople can afford and why.”

Mary Spenthoff, Ohio generalsales manager at Pulte Group, thenational builder with operationsthroughout Northeast Ohio, saidthe company’s single-family and

townhouse products usually per-form in tandem. But, she noted,“While the tax credit was going, ourtownhomes were outperformingour single family.”

Thanks to a mix of empty nestersjoining first-time buyers, she said,Pulte sold out its freestanding, lim-ited maintenance cluster homes inSchneider Reserve in Strongsvillethree months before forecast.

“A year ago, we would see emptynesters, but no one would buy without their home being sold,” Ms.Spenthoff said. “Now, people whoare in a position (financially) to doso will buy. Or they have reachedthe point they want to downsizeand get on with their lives.”

However, the condo market isnot out of the woods.

David Sharkey, vice president ofProgressive Urban Real Estate inCleveland, said challenges still dogcondo sales, such as the unwillingnessof some lenders to finance them.He suspects some of the condo salesboom came from the willingness ofexisting condo owners to slashprices to move on. ■


For more information, please call (216) 589-0900 or visit www.wesrespartners.com

June 2010

The undersigned acted as the exclusive

investment banker to the Bankruptcy Estate

of Schwab Industries, Inc. in this transaction

The Ready-Mix Assets and Eastern Cement Corporation of

have been acquired by

a division of

CRH plc

June 2010

The undersigned acted as the exclusive

investment banker to the Bankruptcy Estate

of Schwab Industries, Inc. in this transaction

The Assets of Schwab Materials, Inc.

have been acquired by

Concrete Results During Turbulent Times

Doing our partto keep ourGreat Lake great.The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District is proud to protect public health and our environment.

Learn more at wheredoesitgo.org

"Xchange For The Better" COMPLETE AUTOMOTIVE & TRUCK SERVICES

FOR ALL CARS, TRUCKS, VANS, SUV, LT/MED TRUCKSPECIALIZING IN TIRES, WHEELS, BRAKE, SUSPENSION,

FRONT END, & UNDERCAR SERVICES

ALL BRANDS & SIZES, OVER 10,000 TIRES & WHEELS IN STOCK

RETAIL / WHOLESALE / COMMERCIAL

1-877-551-TIRE (8473)ww.XTIREX.com

2 locations servingNE Ohio for over 50 years


Condos: Sales outdo single-family figures

Cash: Advanced materials segment can growcontinued from PAGE 3 something more.

Mid-size sweet spotLubrizol reportedly offered $4

billion to buy German specialtychemical company Cognis, but wasspurned last week in favor of a rivaloffer from Cognis’ German peer, BASF.

That deal would have been thelargest Lubrizol had ever done —much larger than its 2004 acquisitionof Noveon Corp. for $1.8 billion. Italso would have been a bigger dealthan most observers expect.

“I wouldn’t expect them to spendmore than $3 billion on somethingthat transformational,” Standard &Poor’s analyst Richard O’Reilly said.

Mr. Cooley wouldn’t comment onCognis, but he did describe the typeof deals Lubrizol might pursue next— and his description makes theCognis deal sound like the exception.

“The size acquisition that we’reprimarily focused on is in the $100to $500 million range in terms ofrevenues,’” he said, adding thatthere were few, larger exceptions thatcould be considered.

The more modest, mid-size dealswould do two things, Mr. Cooley said.

“They’re big enough to make adifference and they’re not so bigthat too much of their portfoliodoesn’t match with our portfolio” ofproducts, he said.

Bill Ridenour, president of Polymer Transactions, a companyin Newbury that helps chemicalcompanies with mergers and acqui-sitions, said Lubrizol “has a historyof buying high-quality, middle-

market companies — things that fitwell, and they’re very good at it.

Here’s why they’d buyLubrizol also has some internal

uses for its cash, said Mr. Cooley, including putting $200 million into anew additives plant in China andexpanding some of its U.S. plants.

Growth will come largely from Lu-brizol’s advanced materials segment,which Mr. Cooley said is the result ofits Noveon buy. The segment makesproducts ranging from ingredients formoisturizers and consumer goods toadvanced coatings and polymers.

Lubrizol’s additives business —which accounts for about 70% of itssales — is more mature, grows slowly,but is largely recession proof. Theadvanced materials business hasmore opportunities to develop newproducts that will grow sales andboost margins, Mr. Cooley said.

The key will be to sustain marginsin its additives business along theway, and KeyBanc Capital Marketsanalysts Michael Sison and EricSwanson think the company can dojust that — and said as much whenthey reiterated their “buy” recom-mendation on Lubrizol’s stock June 9.

“While Lubrizol has only one yearunder its belt with operating margins in the high teens vs. 10% onaverage for most of the last decade,we believe the consolidation of thelube additives industry into a nationaloligopoly, coupled with similar actions by its customers, can keepLubrizol’s profitability at currentlevels,” the analysts wrote. ■


grant in two or three months, saidNorTech vice president Dave Karpinski.

The money would go to fund research-and-development projectsthat could lead to major break-throughs in green building technologyover the next five years, said Mr.Karpinski, who leads NorTech’s Energy Enterprise initiative. The U.S.Department of Energy, which is providing the vast majority of themoney, wants to see commercializedproducts at the end of that period.

“The whole goal is to get transfor-mative, game-changing solutions intothe marketplace,” Mr. Karpinski said.

He noted that companies such ascoatings and specialty productsmaker PPG Industries of Pittsburgh,aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. ofPittsburgh, which has a plant inCleveland, and paintmaker Sherwin-Williams Co. of Cleveland have tech-nology and expertise related to theconstruction market. Universities inboth regions have knowledge of material sciences, architecture andother construction-related subjects.

The grant, if awarded to the Tech-Belt Initiative, also would involve theU.S. Department of Energy’s NationalEnergy Technology Laboratory (NETL),which has labs in Pittsburgh andnearby Morgantown, W.Va. Partici-pants in the TechBelt Initiative aimto bring that organization, as well asother groups in the Morgantown area,into additional projects in the future.

But wait, there’s moreOther TechBelt projects are under

way, some less formal than others. For instance, Case Western Reserve

University will include a letter of support from the broader TechBeltgroup — which is comprised of colleges, economic developmentgroups, foundations and nonprofits —when it applies for a $1 million SmallBusiness Innovation Research grant.CWRU would use the money to help companies that receive grants fromthe National Science Foundation andthe National Institutes of Health to commercialize technologies, saidNorTech president Rebecca Bagley.

“Sometimes it’s a very soft partnership, and sometimes it’s veryconcrete,” Ms. Bagley said.

It makes sense for the two regionsto work together not only becausetheir economies are similar and theirworkers can move or commute moreeasily across state lines than acrossthe country, but also because federalagencies like to fund projects that involve multiple states, Ms. Bagley said.

“When it makes sense, they reallylike to see it,” Ms. Bagley said.

BioEnterprise Corp., a nonprofit

For more info: www.ExecutiveCaterers.com and click on Corporate Club or call 440.449.0700

TUESDAY, JULY 13, 201011:30 am Registration • 12 Noon Lunch & Program

Co-Anchor,Fox 8 News

Moderated byBill Martin

Dr. Ronald BerkmanPresident, Cleveland StateUniversity


Tech: Agencies like collaborative projects continued from PAGE 1 that assists health care companies

in Northeast Ohio, spurred the creation of the TechBelt Initiativethree years ago by forming a part-nership with a similar organizationin Pittsburgh called the Life SciencesGreenhouse. BioEnterprise presidentBaiju Shah said that, when trying toconvince out-of-state investors tofinance area companies, it helps toshow them that there also are goodyoung companies in nearby Pittsburgh.

True believerThe venture fund Pete DeComo is

forming is an example of the synergies that can be created whenthe regions work together.

The Pittsburgh entrepreneur anda venture capital investor from that

region, Gary Glausser, have raised$5 million from the state of Pennsyl-vania for the “Corridor Ventures”fund, which would invest in biosciencecompanies along the TechBelt cor-ridor. The fund, which aims to raise$50 million, expects to learn aboutinteresting bioscience companies inOhio from groups such as BioEnter-prise and eventually may open anoffice in the state.

Mr. DeComo is a believer in theTechBelt effort. The two regions, inhis view, have a lot of resources,particularly in the biosciences, andare close enough to share them.

“There’s a tremendous amountof (National Institutes of Health)funding and innovation going on inthese two regions,” he said. ■

Register for free e-mail alertsand receive:

■ The Morning Roundup: Acollection of the day’s businessnews from Ohio’s daily papers

■ Breaking news alerts: Whenmajor news happens, you’ll know

■ Daily headlines: A collectionof Crain’s-produced news andblog items from the day

■ e!Cleveland: A weekly guideto arts and leisure in NortheastOhio

SIGN UP NOW AT:CrainsCleveland.com/register

GET DAILY NEWS ALERTSFROM CRAIN’S!



Achieve.ELLIS YAN

PRESIDENT, CEO & CHAIRMAN, TECHNICAL CONSUMER PRODUCTS

CLASS OF ‘82Learn how our alumni engage at:

www.csuohio.edu/alumni

GOING PLACESJOB CHANGES

EDUCATIONKENT STATE UNIVERSITY: WandaThomas to dean, Regional College.SPRING GARDEN WALDORFSCHOOL: John Patrick Bailey to administrator.

ENGINEERINGINTEGRATED ENGINEERING CONSULTANTS INC.: Matthew Setzekorn to principal; Jacob Hilstonto junior mechanical engineer.

FINANCEFEDERAL RESERVE BANK OFCLEVELAND: Timothy Dunne tovice president.FIRSTMERIT CORP.: Janice E. Focketo senior vice president, manager of commercial banking, Cleveland region; Gary Habeeb to vice president,business development officer, wealthmanagement services.

FINANCIAL SERVICEANCORA ADVISORS LLC: Susan

Johnson to executive assistant. MIDWEST INVESTMENT MANAGE-MENT LLC: William C. Grimberg tomanaging director.

INSURANCEH.C. MURRAY CORP.: F.D.McLaughlin to vice president; JoyceNesbitt Rogers to account manager.HYLANT GROUP: Scott Dillabaughto senior vice president, sales leader;Jackie Iwanski to corporate healthand wellness specialist. UNITEDHEALTHCARE OF NORTHERNOHIO: Bill Mechling to executive director.

LEGALWESTON HURD LLP: Todd G. Jackson to partner.

LOGISTICSALL PRO FREIGHT SYSTEMS:Susan Secrest to vice president, national account sales.

MARKETINGADCOM COMMUNICATIONS INC.:

Dan Reisinger to assistant accountexecutive.

NONPROFITGOODWILL INDUSTRIES OFAKRON: Michael R. Kisha to CFO.NORTH COAST COMMUNITYHOMES: Gretchen A. Greissing todirector of major gifts. SOUTHWEST COMMUNITY HEALTHFOUNDATION: Bobbie Simmermanto executive director.

REAL ESTATEALLEGRO REALTY ADVISORS:Jacob M. Sheridan to associate,tenant representation services.

SPORTSCAVALIERS HOLDINGS CO. LLC:Antony Bonavita to vice president,facility operations; Mozelle Jacksonto chief financial officer.

TECHNOLOGYATNETPLUS INC.: Jared Wesley toIT specialist.SKYCASTERS: Matt Vasko to salesengineer.

BOARDSBEACHWOOD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: Bill Mann (Joseph Mann& Creed) to president; JonathanBerns, Seth Briskin, Michael Grayand Richard Markwardt to vice presi-dents; Ingrid Halpert to treasurer;Heathyr Ullmo to secretary; David Cunix to immediate past president. CLEVELAND HEARING AND SPEECHCENTER: Grover C. Gilmore (CaseWestern Reserve University) to presi-dent; Maria O’Neil Ruddock and Terry Fox Stoller to vice presidents;David J. Abood to secretary; JimmyA. Forbes to treasurer. CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS: MarcW. Freimuth (Kurant Wachter Co.) topresident; Gayle I. Horwitz, David R.Hertz II and Dr. Paul D. Tolchinsky tovice presidents; Barry R. Chesler tosecretary; Gena Cohen to treasurer;Larry Goodman to assistant treasurer. CLEVELAND METROPOLITAN BARFOUNDATION: Frank R. DeSantis(Thompson Hine) to president; Raymond M. Malone to vice presi-dent; Ginger F. Mlakar to treasurer;David R. Watson to secretary.

AWARDSCLEVELAND METROPOLITAN BARASSOCIATION: Melissa L. Zujkowski(Ulmer & Berne LLP) received the 2010Justice for All Volunteer of the Year Award. CLEVELAND RAPE CRISIS CENTER:Richard W. Pogue (Jones Day) andJoanna Connors (The Plain Dealer)received 2010 Sing! Out HonoreeAwards.

Send information for Going Places [email protected].

DillabaughGrimbergThomas

SheridanSimmermanIwanski



At Calfee, we begin with a single objective:

to help our clients succeed.

Everything else stems from that objective.

From our extreme responsiveness

to our practical legal counsel

that helps clients take advantage of

business opportunities, a Calfee attorney

advice tailored to each client.

goes above and beyond. And backwards. And sideways.

A CALFEE ATTORNEY

Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLPw w w . c a l f e e . c o m

HEALTH CARE SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Learn more

Dr. John Mawhinney, CPIM, CTL412.396.1774 • [email protected]

• Industry guidance—leading health care executives helped design the program and provide ongoing advice• Rigorous curriculum—a collaboration of the schools of business and pharmacy

www.duq.edu/businessPittsburgh, PA

Crain’s again named Ohio’stop business publication

Crain’s Cleveland Business has beenhonored with eight awards, includingbest business publication in Ohio, inthe annual Ohio Excellence in Jour-nalism Awards competition conductedby the Press Club of Cleveland.

It is the second straight year, andfourth time in the last six years, thatCrain’s has won recognition as thebest business publication in the state.

In the competition among businesspublications, manufacturing reporterDan Shingler swept the general newscategory. Mr. Shingler won first placefor “An eye on spying,” a story on industrial espionage in NortheastOhio, and received second place fora story on how the prospects formore jobs at a local Ford plant wereat risk because of the unwillingnessof Ford’s U.S. workers elsewhere toaccept revised contract terms.

In the general feature category, assis-tant editor Joel Hammond won firstplace for “Can’t bear to watch,” a storyon how various Cleveland Brownsseason ticket holders were consideringthe drastic step of not renewing theirseat commitments with the strugglingteam.

Mr. Hammond and assistant editorKathy Ames Carr also swept the cate-gory of best multiple page designamong tabloid publications. Mr.Hammond won first place for Crain’s“Forty Under 40” section, and Ms.Carr received second place for thepaper’s “Twenty in their 20s” section.

Editorial cartoonist Rich Williams

Carr Hammond

Kass Shingler

won first place inthe best single cartoon categoryfor a cartoon onthe impact ofspecial interestson campaigns forelection of jus-tices to the OhioSupreme Court.

And finance reporter Arielle Kasswon second place in the category ofbusiness trends for “Going throughwithdrawal,” a story on how the deepand lasting recession was forcing people to dip prematurely into theirretirement savings plans.

The awards were presented June 18at the Cleveland Marriott Downtown.

Williams

20100628-NEWS--9-NAT-CCI-CL_-- 6/24/2010 11:48 AM Page 1

hen will our presidents startto get it?

I know, that’s a loadedquestion. But really, why can’t

President Barack Obama seize the BP oil platform tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico as his chance at history? Why does he instead cling to politics as usual, ignoringthe opportunity to make lastingchange for America, much likehis predecessor?

But as long as we’re askinguncomfortable questions, whydoesn’t Congress respond to what America wants, and put regulatory teeth where it’sneeded?

Back to our presidents. Recently, I spent a few days withan old friend (well, actually, alongtime friend who’s years my junior).He’s a conservative, thoughtful Republicanand an insightful watcher of currentevents of all sorts, from global to local. Aswe rode in the car, we discussed politicsa bit and he compared the current pres-ident’s mishandling of this oil crisis toPresident Bush’s botching the aftermath

of the Sept. 11 attacks on America.“Bush stood on that rubble in New

York and had the chance to change history by rallying Americans to a newenergy policy,” he said, with the disap-pointment clear in his voice. “Instead,we got a senseless war in Iraq that’s costing us billions and billions of dollars.

“And now Obama is spendinghis time beating up on BP exec-utives and waging this crazywar in Afghanistan instead oftackling the tough problem ofenergy.”

Let’s face it. We haven’t had apresident serious about energypolicy since Jimmy Carter, andtoo many people write him offas a policy wonk/nuclear engi-neer who couldn’t get anything

done. And Americans are their ownworst enemy in this as well, forgettingabout energy conservation as soon asgasoline prices come down.

Our country is still struggling with theeffects of a recession the likes of whichmost Americans only knew about in history books and stories from their

parents or grandparents. The Great Depression changed a generation; theGreat Recession is hurting a generation,but the worst thing might be that it doesn’tchange it.

I might be wrong (it happens fromtime to time — just ask my kids), but itseems that much of the economic trou-bles we’ve faced over the past two yearswere caused by a toxic combination ofregulatory laxity and human greed.

Oversight didn’t work, and now generations of Americans will be burdened by the enormous debt Americahas taken on to pay for this massive recovery plan. But has Congress doneanything meaningful to enact the kind ofregulation necessary to avoid a sequel?Nope.

Similarly, the stories are horrifyingabout the cozy connection between theoil drillers and oil companies and thefederal regulators that were supposed tobe overseeing their actions off ourshores. What are the chances that ourgovernment — administration and lawmakers — will do anything critical toavoid a future mega-spill? ■


Big dealE

xcuse us if we shed briefly the pessimism forwhich Clevelanders are famous, but we’restarting to get excited about the prospectsfor the planned convention center and

medical merchandise mart in downtown Cleveland.Our skepticism over whether this project ever

would come to pass began fading in late May withword that Cuyahoga County finally had gained control over the last parcel of land it needed tomake room for the complex. Our pulse quickenedwith the unveiling of a smart architectural designthat rests the medical mart in a glass-encased structure directly above a leg of the convention hall.

Then Crain’s reporter Jay Miller learned on a triptwo weeks ago to Chicago that the project’s developer, MMPI Inc., was busy leveraging its considerable connections in the trade show businessto line up prospects for both the convention centerand medical mart. MMPI owns the mammoth Merchandise Mart in Chicago, and that week wasusing a big gathering of contract manufacturers topitch a group of 40 exhibitors of furniture for hospitals,doctors’ offices and other medical facilities on takingshowroom space in the Cleveland medical mart.

As Jay reported, it wasn’t a casual sales job. MMPIwas offering the exhibitors a year of free space in themedical mart for every year of paid leased space.

MMPI senior vice president Mark Falanga saidthe company has signed letters of intent for 12 conventions and 24 showroom spaces in the plannedcomplex. Letters of intent admittedly are far fromfirm commitments, but they provide evidence ofoutside interest in the project and of MMPI’s effortsto make the meeting venue a success.

Potential competition for the Cleveland medicalmart still lurks in Nashville and New York, both ofwhich have announced their own med mart plans.However, the tens of millions of tax dollars alreadysquirreled away by Cuyahoga County for the meeting complex plus its expected groundbreakingin October should give Cleveland a jump on itswould-be rivals. Add an attractive yet functional design and an aggressive marketing effort, andthere’s reason to believe Cleveland’s meeting hallcould be the draw its promoters have envisioned.

Nice jobs

While we’re in a cheery mood, we’ll makenote of the e-mail we got last week fromChris Thompson, a former Crain-ite anddirector of marketing, communications

and civic outreach with The Fund for Our EconomicFuture. His subject line: “Man Bites Dog: Cleveland#2 in Job Growth.”

Sure enough, a chart attached to the e-mail showedCleveland was second only to Indianapolis amongthe nation’s 40 largest cities in the percentage of private-sector job growth from January to May. AsChris noted: “I’m not sure if these numbers will holdup over the long haul, but I doubt there was ever atime coming out of the last few recessions that Ohioand/or Cleveland were at the top of any such lists.”

Amen to that.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

LETTERS

BRIANTUCKER

Obama misses opportunity in spill

Inner Belt should have walk/bike access

Iam writing to urge Gov. Ted Stricklandto insist that the design and construction of the new Cleveland I-90 Inner Belt bridge, which is being

managed by Ohio Department of Trans-portation, serve the needs of customers(taxpayers) for at least the next 50 years.

The $450 million bridge replacementproject is being mostly funded with federal money, but ODOT is making thedesign decisions and building the bridge.Many of us in Northeast Ohio feelstrongly that the bridge should be builtnot only for cars and trucks — like theexisting 50-year-old bridge it replaces —but also should include safe access forpeople who walk and bicycle to school,work and entertainment.

We see a shift occurring in transporta-tion needs and habits and think our infrastructure should accommodate

healthy, friendly, efficient active transporta-tion. There are many reasons to considerthis shift as we replace older bridges inOhio. Access for active transportationbenefits economic development, publichealth and the environment. It also benefits national security by reducingour dependence on fossil fuels.

ODOT has not taken a business approach to evaluating the cost benefit ofaccommodating active transportation aspart of our new bridge. Early in the project, it did a cursory estimate of thecost of a bike/pedestrian path. The designcriteria used were not optimized and resulted in a number that equals about4% added to the cost of this project.

ODOT also has not rigorously estimatedhow much active transportation willgrow over the next several generations.In short, ODOT has failed to do an

appropriately thorough needs and cost-benefit analysis for this project.ODOT has given many reasons why abike/pedestrian path should not be considered. Some of the reasons onODOT’s list are just plain silly, but manyneed to be seriously discussed.

Design-build teams are now completingpreliminary designs and costs and a finalplan will be selected in the fall. Thegovernor should direct ODOT District 12to request that each design-build teambidding include a conceptual design andbudget cost estimate for a separatedbike/pedestrian multiuse path on thenew bridge. Although unlikely, these designteams could discover design synergies thatcould add this path without added cost.

ODOT has not accommodated activetransportation on any of its interstate

PUBLISHER/EDITORIAL DIRECTOR:Brian D.Tucker ([email protected])

EDITOR:Mark Dodosh ([email protected])

MANAGING EDITOR:Scott Suttell ([email protected])

OPINION

See LETTERS Page 11

W


LETTERS


LEE WAYClevelandI’m from Japan, so I waspulling for Japan. We lost,which kind of sucks, butthat’s about it. ... Yourfriends and everyone willbe talking about it, so youhave to catch up.

➤➤➤➤ Watch more people weigh in by visiting the Multimedia section at www.CrainsCleveland.com.

THE BIG ISSUEAre you watching the World Cup?

JESSICA BERESNorth RoyaltonNo, not at all. I’m busy, Iwork and go to school, soI don’t have time. I watchregular sports — Iwatched the Cavs season,I admit that.

TIM SCHULTZMiddleburg HeightsI have. I’m not a huge soccer fan, but when itcomes around, the WorldCup, I definitely follow it.... I actually watched (theAmericans’ comeback) like10 or 15 times.

SCOTT DILYARDClevelandI am watching the WorldCup, significantly morethan the last time around.... Yesterday I was atwork, with my Blackberry,announcing to everybodythe play by play.

Michael KapostasyPresident

CongratulationsMichael “Mickey” Kapostasy

Ohio Title CorpThanks you for leading our company through 8000 Title, Closing, Judicial and REO transactions this past year.

Mickey now serves third generation developers and lenders with billions

of dollars in commercial and multi-family transactions closed.

Robert J. Roe, SIORManaging Director+ 1 216 861 7171

www.us.joneslanglasalle.com/cleveland

© 2010 Jones Lang LaSalle IP, Inc. All rights reserved.

For real estate services:

Robert J. Roe, SIORManaging Director“2009 Of ce Broker of the Year”[email protected]

AJ Magner Senior Vice President“2009 Industrial Transaction of the Year”[email protected]

Joseph A. MessinaVice President“2009 IndustrialTransaction of the Year”[email protected]

Andrew G. ColemanVice President“2009 NAIOP Member of the Year”[email protected]

The National Association of Industrial and Of ce Properties (NAIOP) recognized best projects, real estate transactions, and individual performances for the commercial real estate industry in Northern Ohio in 2009.

Congratulations to our NAIOPAward Winners!

NAIOP 2010 Winners Ad Grid (2).indd 1 6/21/2010 1:41:15 PM

bridges. However, there are morethan 30 bridges in the U.S. that doaccommodate active transporta-tion. Many of them are interstatehighway bridges, and some havebeen designed by the very peoplewho are bidding on our Inner Beltbridge project. I further urge thatODOT have an expert agency create areport about traffic projections —including active transportation —for the estimated life of the bridge.

Only with good information canwe make an informed business decision about the cost benefit ofinvesting in a bike/pedestrian pathfor our new bridge. It appears thatODOT has prematurely made up itsmind on this issue without due diligence regarding design and costinformation.

ODOT seems to be relying onoutdated information used duringthe past 50 years of highway andbridge design. Relying on old datalikely will not result in the bestbridge for the next 50 years.

The governor should hold ODOTaccountable for making a businessdecision about the investment valueof a bike/pedestrian path for us, thecustomers, after obtaining appro-priate design and cost information.ODOT works for Gov. Strickland,and we are the customers. This is

too important and long-lasting tomess up.

Mike NeundorferFounder and chairmanNeundorfer Inc.

Max Hayes needs support■ Thank you for your June 21 story,“Area manufacturers have their say on new Max Hayes,” about the project to redesign the educationalprogram at Max Hayes High School,one of the Cleveland MetropolitanSchool District’s career-tech highschools.

This project began late last yearand has involved hundreds of volun-teer hours, site visits and discussionsto create a modern, innovative approach to career tech educationin transportation, construction andconstruction management, manu-facturing technology and IT.

For this approach to work, thenew school also will need integratedsocial and community services tosupport students’ needs and the capacity to ensure that partnershipswith industry and business createreal-world learning and the forma-tion of adult relationships that canhelp students succeed.

In addition to the manufacturerswhom you noted participated in


Member FDIC. A® and Huntington® are federally registered service marks of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated. Huntington. Welcome.TM

is a service mark of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated. ©2010 Huntington Bancshares Incorporated.

And now we’re closer to you to better serve your private banking and trust needs.

We welcome you to our newest offi ce location at 159 Crocker Park Blvd., Suite 330 Westlake, OH 44145-8132 Phone: 440-808-8433

You can never have too many great people working for you.

our June meeting, business leadersfrom three other clusters, as notedabove, also participated. Nearly 100joined us for our kickoff meeting inMarch, and we had over 50 peoplereturn for our June meeting.

IT, transportation and construc-tion officials, as well as communityorganizations joined with manufac-turers to create a framework for 21st-century education at Max Hayes. Inaddition, students and Max Hayes’teachers have weighed in on the criticalsuccess factors needed at the newschool.

The project would not succeedwithout the business and communitypartnerships that are forming aroundthe new Max Hayes learning agenda.

John ColmPresident and executive directorWire-NetCleveland

With state officialsfacing what could bean $8 billion budgetgap in their next two-year budget, aUnited Way agency in Cleveland thatfocuses on policy matters in healthand human services is taking theunusual step of recommending a variety of tax increases and spending cuts as a way to deal withthe expected shortfall.

The recommendations are foundin “Thinking the Unthinkable: FindingCommon Ground for ResolvingOhio’s Fiscal Crisis,” a report fromthe Center for Community Solutions.The center’s executive director andreport author John A. Begala saidthe study “seeks an analytical toneand unapologetically strays into acall for action.”

Mr. Begala said solving the budget crisis will take a “spirit of

collaboration incommon cause”to come up with

fresh solutions and to make cuts in“cherished programs.”

Among the tax increase optionsthe center recommends are restoring income tax rates on thewealthiest taxpayers to the levels ofthe early 1990s, raising the rate ofthe commercial activities tax onbusiness and temporarily increasingthe sales tax. Few areas of the budget are exempted from spendingcuts, which the study says couldrun 15% to 20% across the board.

The center recommends increased cost controls on Medicaidspending and gradually reducingthe state’s prison population by expanding the use of communitycorrections alternatives for nonvio-lent offenders.

United Way agency offers budget helpON THE WEB Story from www.CrainsCleveland.com.

WRITE TO USSend your letters to: Mark Dodosh,editor, Crain’s Cleveland Business,700 W. St. Clair Ave., Suite 310,Cleveland, OH 44113-1230e-mail: [email protected]



In October 2008, whenthe stock marketcrashed, Tom Bole gotout.

Months earlier, Mr. Bolewas “downsized” from thejob he had held for 30 yearsat a French oil company.

He had retirement moneyto invest, funds from his 401(k)and a pension. So with the help offinancial adviser Les Szarka, CEOof Szarka Financial Management

in North Olmsted, Mr. Bole putit all into a diversification planhe had “100% faith in.”

And then Mr. Bole lost hun-dreds of thousands of dollars.

Mr. Szarka asked Mr. Bole if hewas a long-term investor. If so, heshould keep his money in the market and wait it out, Mr. Bolesaid he was told.

“If you need to sleep at night,bail,” Mr. Bole said Mr. Szarka toldhim. “We bailed.”

While he missed some of the runup as a result of his move from equities into bond funds, Mr. Bolesaid he got out of the stock marketbefore it dropped too precipitously.An increase in the bond funds —though not as high as stocks —means he is “very satisfied” with

the move, Mr. Bole said. “It became very apparent

that our risk appetitechanged significantly,” hesaid. “The lesson in all ofthis is more personal responsibility. We’re payingcloser attention to what’sgoing on.”

For him, Mr. Bole said thatmeans more time researching investment options and reading.He is considering investing someof his money on his own, thoughhe said he is glad to be fully invest-ed with someone he trusts.

A chemist by trade, Mr. Bole, 58,now is the managing partner ofCanterbury Chemicals Interna-tional, a Westlake company heformed that represents chemicalcompanies. He said while he doesstill have some stock exposure andexpects to get back into the stockmarket, he still has “serious concerns”about the health of global economiesand is none too eager to reinvestuntil other countries improve.

“The issue of put it there, leave italone, everything will work outfine, I don’t have any faith in thatconcept anymore,” Mr. Bole said.“I can’t stomach any more cata-strophes.” — Arielle Kass

Crain’s 2010 Investing Guide

INSIDE

■ Our annual Superstar 10 listshows that investors hardly shiedaway from the Northeast Ohio companies that were able to drastically improve their bottomlines. Fairlawn-based Omnova Solutions, for example, saw its one-year return rise 220%. PAGE I-2

MORE CHANGING INVESTMENTS: Portfolio manager Brent Luce/Page I-2 ■Small business owner Roger Sustar/Page I-9 ■ Young investor Paul Noble/Page I-9

You’d think aneconomist, professor and college dean

would’ve seen the stockmarket crash coming.

You’d be right, at least ifyou were thinking of NedHill, dean of the MaxineLevin College of Urban Affairs atCleveland State University.

“We pulled completely out ofthe market three or four monthsbefore it crashed. My wife thinks itwas dumb luck, but I attribute it tosheer genius on my part,” he saidwith his usual sarcastic wit.

But, to be sure, there was someeconomic insight, combined witha startling observation behind theHills’ smart money move.

“I attribute it to a trip to Bordersbookstore. There was a whole wallof books about how to make moneyin real estate with no money down— I said, ‘The market’s about toburst, let’s get out,’” Dr. Hill recalls.“That was my holy-*&@% moment.My jaw literally dropped, and Isaid, ‘Oh my god, the market is going to crash.’”

So Dr. Hill took his money out ofthe market and put it in … real estate, of course. He and his wife

built the house in Mainethey’d been planning foryears.

But Dr. Hill points outthat wasn’t his long-termretirement money — andthat he doesn’t view thenew home as an invest-ment, but a purchase that

might decline in value over theyears like a car.

When it comes to his real nestegg — retirement savings that aresocked away in pension funds andother retirement accounts — hesays he invests about like everyoneelse does, or should.

“I don’t have enough time in mylife to pay attention to individualstocks. Anyone who does that, andis not a pro, is a hobbyist who likesthe stock market more than thecasino,” Dr. Hill said.

“Hire professionals, be in broadlydiversified funds — because youaren’t smarter than the market —and if you really think there are go-ing to be huge structural changesin the economy, react to that,” hesuggests. “Go into a fund wherethey don’t charge you huge fees,make sure the fund doesn’t churnyou and adjust the fund to whereyou are in life.” — Dan Shingler

APPROACHING RETIREMENT AGE: TOM BOLE ECONOMIST: NED HILL

Hindsight is always 20/20, and for manyinvestors the past two years havedriven home some important lessonswhen it comes to managing money.

Cleveland-based Spero-Smith InvestmentAdvisers senior vice president Jeff Malbasasaid the biggest thing he’s seeing from investorsis the realization that they miscalculated risk.

“It’s the realization that risk exists and thatthey need to be careful with what risk theyhave in their portfolio,” he said.

While Mr. Malbasa’s clients recognize thatthey need equities to grow their portfolios, he

said, many are more averse to nontraditionalinvestments and many are increasing theirholdings in bonds.

Mr. Malbasa said he did not expect the current aversion to risky investing to last aslong as it did after the Depression, but hethinks the “risk appetite has certainly cooledfor some people, and will for a while.”

“They’ve been burned,” he said. “They certainly remember that feeling.”

Looking back, many have re-examined theirfinancial strategies. Following are five profiles ofinvestors, and their takes on the market today.

Our yearly look at how the region’s public companies are faring and any trends and issues about which you should know.

■ Health careinvestors saythe overall impact of the Patient Protectionand Affordable CareAct, also known ashealth care reform, will likelybe a wash: The extra numberof insured people will providecompanies a bigger market, but atax on medical device sales included in the act will hurt thosecompanies. PAGE I-3

■ Led by this year’s biggest gainer,Beachwood shopping center-focused real estate investment trustDevelopers Diversified RealtyCorp., 45 of the 61 companies onthis year’s market cap list postedincreases. PAGE I-4

■ The collectibles market is notwhat it once was,so if you’re looking for a jackpot, you

might be plum outof luck. Some dealersare scrambling to keep their

businesses alive,though thosewho handle abroad array

of merchandise are making money. PAGE I-5

■ Our annuallargest public companies list,compiled by research editor Deborah Hillyer. PAGES I-6, I-8

■ Advisers: Just as the United States economy was turningaround, fears and misunderstandingaround the European economic crisis have stifled some optimism.PAGE I-7


II--22 CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS JUNE 28-JULY 11, 2010

Give us a call. Together, we can maximize your output in a single bound.

With Cox Business’ advanced products, you get invincible service and substantial support in a powerful combination of trust, loyalty and excellence. And having a dedicated partner means more time – and profit – to look after your business.

CALL NOW! 216.535.0557 | checkoutcb.com

Strength inPlanning

Joseph S. ArnoldFounder and President

27476 Detroit Road • Suite 104Westlake, OH 44145

www.foundationwa.com

(440) 899-7535 • Fax (440) [email protected]

Securities and advisory services offered through National Planning CorpMember FINRA/SIPC - A Registered Investment Advisor. Foundation WealthAdvisors, LLC and NPC are not affiliated companies.

1-YR. TOTAL 1-YR. NET NET INCOME RETURN RETURNTOTAL RETURN INCOME % CHANGE ON ON EQUITY

RETURN* RANK % CHANGE RANK EQUITY RANK

COMPOSITESCORERK COMPANY

5 Nacco Industries Inc. 33 149.85 8 111.46 13 13.35 12

CRAIN’S SUPERSTAR 10

1 Omnova Solutions Inc. 8 219.92 6 4,771.43 1 156.42 1

2 PolyOne Corp. 20 231.89 4 132.14 10 25.73 6

3 Lubrizol Corp. 25 101.93 15 893.25 5 28.38 5

4 American Greetings Corp. 27 253.31 3 135.82 9 12.83 15

6 Jo-Ann Stores Inc. 35 111.38 13 177.09 8 13.14 14

7 Park Ohio Holdings Corp. 38 334.72 1 101.80 16 10.02 21

8 Associated Estates Realty Corp. 52 148.10 9 181.71 7 2.13 36

9 Progressive Corp. 53 22.61 43 1,557.22 3 18.04 7

10 RPM International Inc. 54 35.10 39 2,289.47 2 13.15 13

SOURCE: CAPITAL IQ, A STANDARD & POOR'S BUSINESS/WWW.CAPITALIQ.COM * — FOR THE PERIOD ENDED MAY 28, 2010

Trip back to black helps 2010’s superstarsOne-year returns jumpas investors take noteof better balance sheets

By MARK [email protected]

The Great Recession had agreat — make that a gigantic — impact onwhich companies made

the Crain’s Superstar 10 Class of2010.

Companies that lost money intheir abysmal 12-month reportingperiods that ended on or aroundMarch 31, 2009, began to see theirbottom lines improve dramaticallyover the next 12 months thanks to acombination of cost cuts and risinglevels of business. The result is thatinvestors who were heartened bythe sales and earnings gains recordedat many publicly traded companiesin Northeast Ohio sent their stockprices upward, and so pushed thosecompanies’ one-year returns on investment to solid double- andtriple-digit percentage gains.

Many of the companies that arepart of this year’s Superstar 10 areamong those that went from red inkto black. They include four of thetop five Superstars — No. 2 Poly-One Corp., No. 3 Lubrizol Corp.,No. 4 American Greetings Corp.and No. 5 Nacco Industries Inc.(The percentage changes in net income found for these companiesin the accompanying chart werecalculated by our friends at CapitalIQ, a unit of Standard & Poor’s,based on an equation using absolute values — ask a math majorif you want details.)

Our No. 1 Superstar, Omnova

Solutions Inc. in Fairlawn, almostfit into that group. But rather thanreport a loss in the 12 months thatended in February 2009, the makerof specialty chemicals, emulsionpolymers and wallcoverings ekedout a small profit of $700,000, according to Capital IQ’s figures.So, when Omnova’s earningssurged over the next 12 months to$34 million, its percentage changein net income would register agaudy 4,771% — the biggest increase by far of any public company in Northeast Ohio.

It isn’t surprising, then, that investors would notice the reboundand would send Omnova’s one-year return on investment skywardby nearly 220% — thus cementingits place as this year’s superstaramong Superstars.

A trio of performance indicatorsdetermines which companiesmake up the Superstar 10. A

composite score for each publiccompany in the 15 counties Crain’stracks was obtained by adding itsrank on three different lists — 12-month total return to share-holders, percentage change inprofits in the trailing 12-month period reported before May 28 versus the like period a year earlier,and return on equity during thelatest 12 months reported by thecompany.

As in golf, the lower the compositescore, the better a company’s overallperformance is considered to be.

Take Jo-Ann Stores Inc. in Hudson. The fabric and craft retailerranked 13th in one-year return toshareholders, eighth in percentagechange in profits and 14th in return on equity. Adding 13, eightand 14 gives Jo-Ann a total score of35, which is good for sixth place onthe Superstar list.

The 2010 Superstar roster shares

little in common with the Class of2009. For one thing, Associated Estates Realty Corp. is the only repeat performer from last year.The real estate investment trustthat specializes in apartment properties was No. 2 last year andchecked in at No. 8 this year.

Also, because the severe eco-nomic slump beat down stockprices in late 2008 and early 2009, anumber of last year’s Superstarsrecorded negative 12-month returns to shareholders when thatlist was put together. Even the No. 1Superstar of 2009, aircraft supplierTransDigm Group Inc., saw a modestdip in its stock price back then.

By contrast, the weakest return toshareholders among this year’sgroup of Superstars was the nearly23% increase recorded by Flo’s employer, auto insurer ProgressiveCorp., which sits at No. 9 on the latest list.

Indeed, only Progressive and theNo. 10 Superstar, coatings andsealant maker RPM InternationalInc., had one-year returns to share-holders that were below 100%.

The Superstar that best rewardedinvestors was No. 7 Park-OhioHoldings Inc. The one-year returnto shareholders of the diversifiedmanufacturing and logistics company was an impressive334.7%. Honorable mentions go toAmerican Greetings (up 253.3%)and PolyOne (up 231.9%). ■

HOW STARS ARE MADE

Crain’s determines its Superstar 10list by obtaining a composite scorefor each publicly traded company inthe 15-county coverage area. Thecomposite score is the total ofthree rankings:■ 12-month total return to shareholders■ 2009 percentage growth in profits■ 2009 return on equity

INVESTINGGUIDE

MORE CHANGINGINVESTMENTS: Page I-9

CHANGINGINVESTMENTS

MANAGER: BRENT LUCE

Brent Luce spends nearly allhis time thinking about investments as a portfoliomanager for Lakefront

Partners, aCleveland investment-management firm.

He and hisfirm pride themselves onoutperformingthe marketwhether it’s up

or down, believing investmentsshould be monitored and changed,if needed, on a constant basis — analternative to the buy-and-hold approach many investors have usedfor decades now.

“The next 25 years or so is unlikelyto be like the last 25 years. With thisin mind, I do not believe that traditionally successful investmentmodels like ‘buy and hold’ will workgoing forward,” Mr. Luce says. “Webelieve that an adaptive and flexiblestrategy that does not depend on aspecific market direction will bestserve investors going forward.”

He thinks it will take close atten-tion to both fundamentals, like anindividual company’s performance,as well as technical factors that drivebroad market moves to succeed going forward.

He also thinks diversification willbe more important than ever — andrequire more attention to achieve.

“We have argued that diversifica-tion is not about diversifying assets,but diversifying risks,” Mr. Luce said.

To do that, he said, investorsmust realize that many investmentsare closely linked, and do not offerreal diversification. In other words,it doesn’t do any good to invest inboth a small cap and a large capcompany if their fates and fortunesare bound together. Such thinkingallowed many investors to be tooheavily weighted toward equitiesbefore the markets crashed, he said.

He advises that investors and theiradvisers look closely at individualstocks — and to always be adaptiveand responsive to whatever factorsaffect each individual investment.

But if those messages were hardto sell in previous years, when itseemed anyone could make moneyin the stock market, investors todayare willing to listen.

“In the past two years, as a resultof the volatility and failure of traditional strategies, it appearsthat more investors are questioningtraditional methodologies and thatwe are not as much a minority inthis approach as we once were,”Mr. Luce said.

— Dan Shingler


JUNE 28-JULY 11, 2010 CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS I-3

The truth is most investors’ portfolios did not handle the past years’ market volatility well. A more alarming truth is that most plans have not been changed to mitigate future risks or capture opportunities. We have helped many investors with an honest assessment of their current portfolio and plan. May we help you?

Can you handle the truth?

Bill Caster(216) 464-4244bnymellon.com/truth

©2010 The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation. All rights reserved. Products and services may be provided by various subsidiaries of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation.

INVESTINGGUIDE

Health care reform’s local impact leaning neutralExpansive legislation may hurt med device makers, but more insured a plus broader stock market, didn’t move

much after President Obama signedthe health care bill.

Even Invacare Corp.’s stock priceremained steady, despite the world’slargest maker of wheelchairs vocallyopposing the issue. The firm has softened its stance because the im-plementation of the medical devicetax was pushed to 2013 from 2010,said Lara Mahoney, Invacare manag-er for corporate communications.

Some feeling ill effectsIndividual stock market investors

haven’t made big moves into or outof health care stocks because ofhealth reform efforts, said CharlesRotblut, vice president with theAmerican Association of IndividualInvestors in Chicago.

The health reform bill might leadto greater demand for tax-free municipal bonds in the future, hesaid: It included two new federaltaxes on individuals earning morethan $200,000 per year and couplesmaking more than $250,000. Thetwo taxes combined would apply toabout 4.7% of earnings over thoseamounts starting in 2013.

Mr. Rotblut added that the healthcare sectors that should benefit themost from health reform are healthcare-focused information technologycompanies, pharmacy benefits man-agement companies and urgent careclinics. The “losers” most likely willbe insurance companies, he added.

“They have very few friends inWashington right now,” Mr. Rotblutsaid. ■

By CHUCK [email protected]

Reading the headlines, itseemed like the worldshook in March whenPresident Barack Obama

signed what has been called thebiggest change in the United Stateshealth care system since the cre-ation of Medicare and Medicaid.

Judging by the reaction from investors in Northeast Ohio, however, the quake wouldn’t rateall that high on the Richter scale.

Several local health care investors said that, while they areconcerned about certain aspectsof the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the overallimpact of the bill on their invest-ments would be a wash.

That’s not to say it won’t haveany impact. Some said they believe that having millions morepeople insured means a biggermarket for the health care compa-nies that they’re financing. Otheraspects of the bill, such as the 2.3%tax on medical device sales, mayhurt some of the companies inwhich they invest.

The law likely will have a neutralimpact on Lakefront Partners LP,said Ed Matuszak, senior vicepresident and portfolio managerof the Cleveland private equityfirm. The intricacies of the expan-sive law will have positive effects

on some companies and negativeeffects on others, Mr. Matuszak said.

It’s hard to “positively spin” themedical device tax, said Dr. BrianDuncan, a Cleveland-based venture partner for life sciencesventure firm Arboretum Venturesof Ann Arbor, Mich.

Regardless, Dr. Duncan notedthat the increased size of the insured population will be a plusfor investors. On top of that, hesaid that his venture firm puts anemphasis on backing companiesdeveloping devices that lower thecost of health care.

“There’s going to be an evengreater premium placed on thosesimple solutions that decreasecosts,” he said.

‘Still a very good sector’B.J. Lehmann, president and

chief operating officer of AthersysInc., said the government’s ongoingpush to reduce health care costscould have a positive impact onthe publicly traded Clevelandcompany, assuming the productsit is developing and testing — whichinclude stem cell therapies for various conditions and an obesitydrug — work as well as the companyexpects.

The recently passed health carebill shouldn’t have an impact onAthersys’ ability to raise more capital and has had little overallimpact on the company, Mr.

Lehmann said. Companies withproducts on the market are morelikely to feel the effects of the law,he said.

“My sense is those folks in thelonger term will be more affectedby health care reform,” he said.

Not all biomedical companieswithout a product on the marketwill be immune to the impact ofhealth reform, said Baiju Shah,president of BioEnterprise Corp., anonprofit that assists health carecompanies in Northeast Ohio.

Health reform in the broadestsense — including the new law,pending Medicare and Medicaidcuts and anticipated changes inhow the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves newdrugs — has made some investorsmore risk averse, Mr. Shah said.The overall impact of thosechanges will drive more companiesto repurpose existing drugs and tomake modifications to devices instead of inventing new ones, hesaid.

He noted, however, that manypieces of the broader health reform effort still are in flux, andthat the health care market presents too many opportunitiesfor investors to turn away.

“Health care is still a very goodsector for investment,” Mr. Shahsaid.

Stocks for a handful of localhealth care companies, like the

Large pensions improveThe funded status of the 100

largest U.S. corporate pensionplans improved slightly in 2009, according to a review by Pensions& Investments, a sister publicationof Crain’s Cleveland Business.

The aggregate funded ratio ofthe top 100 plans rose to 83.9% in2009 from 81.2% in 2008. Theplans had an aggregate fundingdeficit of $180 billion in 2009, basedon projected benefit obligations.

Ten firms reported a funding surplus. FPL Group, Juno Beach,Fla., reported the highest funding ratio, 162%. The utility had $3.03billion in plan assets compared with$1.87 billion in projected obligations.

The rest of the top five wereMeadWestvaco Corp., Richmond,Va., with a funded ratio of 138%;JPMorgan Chase & Co., New York,128%; Bank of New York MellonCorp., New York, 118%; and SunTrust Banks Inc., Atlanta, 116%.

Airlines were at the bottom of therankings. Delta Air Lines Inc., Atlanta, reported plan assets of$7.62 billion compared with$17.03 billion in projected benefitobligations, for a funded ratio of44.8%, the lowest of the top 100.

Rounding out the bottom fivewere American Airlines Inc., FortWorth, Texas, with a funded ratio of58.7%; ConocoPhillips, Houston,62.4%; Whirlpool Corp., BentonHarbor, Mich., 62.5%; andGoodyear Tire & Rubber Co.,Akron, 63.9%.

— Pensions & Investments

IN BRIEF


TOP MARKET CAPITALIZATION GAINERS*

II--44 CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS JUNE 28-JULY 11, 2010

H E A LT H C A R E R E F O R M

Practical Advice & Usable Tools

Changing for a

Business Environment

Employee Benefits International Presents:

Healthcare Reform and its implications for your business are of central importance

in today’s challenging business environment. The goal of this forum is to educate you through

a panel of experts who will provide you with real applications for your business.

The forum’s panel will include experts in the following areas related to Healthcare Reform:

LEGAL

The panel will also include employers and is designed to be interactive in nature.

Topics for panel discussion:

[email protected]

Thursday, July 22, 2010 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Complimentary Luncheon

Complimentary Valet Parking

ursuline.edu1 888 URSULINE

Empowering women since 1871, Ursuline charges students to grow and develop their values.

Ursuline is a place where expressing yourself is encouraged and fi nding your voice is a requirement.

In the likeness of the Ursuline’s heroic founder, each student is inspired to shape a unique, personal vision.

MARKET CAP MARKET CAP PERCENT5/28/10 4/20/09 CHANGERK COMPANY

SOURCE: CAPITAL IQ, A STANDARD & POOR'S BUSINESS/WWW.CAPITALIQ.COM * — VALUES IN MILLIONS

1 Developers Diversified Realty Corp. $2,854.8 $332.6 758.3%

2 Ferro Corp. 776.0 113.7 582.6

3 Omnova Solutions Inc. 358.9 77.5 363.0

4 Park Ohio Holdings Corp. 172.5 41.8 312.9

5 PVF Capital Corp. 55.4 14.0 295.7

6 PolyOne Corp. 926.6 237.1 290.7

7 Athersys Inc. 52.5 14.6 260.4

8 Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. 7,565.2 2,101.1 260.1

9 Associated Estates Realty Corp. 306.4 92.4 231.7

10 Forest City Enterprises Inc. 2,059.6 694.4 196.6

11 Keithley Instruments Inc. 147.7 50.4 193.2

12 Jo-Ann Stores Inc. 1,197.5 422.2 183.7

13 Morgan’s Foods Inc. 11.7 4.1 183.0

14 American Greetings Corp. 930.9 332.4 180.1

15 Nacco Industries Inc. 704.5 274.0 157.1

INVESTINGGUIDE

Surge fuels DDR’s market cap gainOf public companies with values above $10M, 74% post increasesBy SCOTT [email protected]

Sorry, Ferro Corp. Your582.6% increase — no, that’snot a typo — in market capitalization since the

publication of Crain’s 2009 InvestingGuide wasn’t quite good enoughto lead the list of Northeast Ohio’smarket value gainers.

For that honor, you have to lookto Beachwood-based DevelopersDiversified Realty Corp. Theshopping center-focused real estate investment trust saw itsmarket cap rise 758.3% — again,no typo — to $2.854 billion as ofMay 28, 2010, from $332.6 millionon April 30, 2009, the 13-monthperiod covered in the 2010 Investing Guide.

The numbers mark a hugecomeback for Developers Diversi-fied, which posted the worst market cap plunge of NortheastOhio public companies listed inCrain’s 2009 Investing Guide. Lastyear’s guide covered a period fromApril 30, 2008, to April 20, 2009. Inthat period, Developers Diversifiedhad lost a stunning 93.6% of itsmarket value, falling to the 26th

largest public company in the region.

With the comeback of the last 13months, Developers Diversifiedhas climbed back to 12th on the2010 list of Northeast Ohio’slargest companies ranked by marketcap. However, the company stillhas much ground to make up toget back to its $5.23 billion marketcap recorded as of April 30, 2008.

The massive market cap increases for Developers Diversified,

Ferro and many other NortheastOhio companies are, of course, theresult of the stock market come-back from the depths of the deep,painful recession of 2008-2009. Indeed, of 61 companies on thisyear’s list with market caps above$10 million, 45 posted increases inmarket values while just five posteddecreases. (Eleven companies onthis year’s list were not included inthe 2009 Investing Guide.)

By contrast, in the 2009 InvestingGuide, only one of 53 companies inthe region posted an increase inmarket cap for the recession-plagued period from April 30,2008, to April 20, 2009. And thatcompany, TravelCenters of America LLC, posted a minisculemarket cap increase of 1.3% during that period.

The market cap hikes by compa-nies in this year’s Investing Guideare eye-popping.

Seventeen of the 46 gainers sawtheir market values rise more than100% in the 13-month period ending May 28. That includes ninecompanies with market valuegains exceeding 200%, and four ofthose posted gains of more than300%.

It’s one thing to post a big marketcap increase from a relatively smallbase, as Developers Diversified did.But it’s especially noteworthy thattwo of the companies with marketcap hikes above 100% — iron orecompany Cliffs Natural ResourcesInc. of Cleveland and specialtychemical company Lubrizol Corp.of Wickliffe — are among the 10largest companies in NortheastOhio.

The market value of Cliffs,

which has benefited from rebounding demand for steelmaking raw materials, rose260.1% to $7.565 billion.

Lubrizol’s market cap, mean-while, increased 140.5% to $6.037billion. The company in Februaryprojected steady earnings growthduring the next several years andsaid it established a 2012 goal forearnings of $10 per share, whichwould be an increase of 32% compared with 2009 results as adjusted for various charges.

Reality checkLet’s be clear about one thing,

though: Even with these big gainsin market value, few NortheastOhio public companies have yet toshake off the full impact of the recession. Economic recovery stillis in the early stages, and the marketvalue gains don’t necessarily reflect better bottom-line results.

Developers Diversified is a casein point. The company occupiesspace in two heavily battered industries — commercial real estate and retail — and in 2009posted a loss of $468.2 million. Developers Diversified last year issued 32.9 million shares to German investor Alexander Ottoand certain members of his familyas it looked to bolster its finances.The REIT also issued warrants forthe Otto family to buy up to 10million common shares at an exercise price of $6 a share.

Results at Ferro, a Cleveland-based manufacturer of specialtyperformance materials, improvedin 2009, but the company stillposted a loss of $22.6 million lastyear as manufacturers cut back

their spending in the recession.Of the 45 companies with

market value increases, 25 had favorable net income comparisonsin 2009 vs. 2008 — that is, theirearnings improved, they swung toa profit from a loss or they reducedthe amount of their loss — but 20saw results that were worse.

Signs of lifeEven so, the market capitalization

rebound is a welcome developmentfor Northeast Ohio companiesfighting their way out of the severeeconomic downturn and seekingto regain investors’ confidence.

Joining Developers Diversifiedand Ferro in the 300%-plus clubwere two industrial businesses:Omnova Solutions Inc. of Fairlawn,a producer of emulsion polymers,specialty chemicals and wallcoverings,which saw its market value rise363% to $358.9 million, and Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. of Cleveland,a diversified manufacturing andlogistics business that saw its market value increase 312.9% to$172.5 million.

Omnova in March announcedits fifth consecutive quarter ofearnings improvement and thesecond consecutive quarter of volume improvement. Park-Ohioin May reported a first-quarterprofit compared with a year-ago

loss on a modest increase in sales,and chairman and CEO Edward F.Crawford said most of the company’sbusiness units “performed aheadof our expectations and continueto build momentum for the balance of the year.”

Two other companies werewithin striking distance of a 300%market capitalization increase.Bank holding company PVF Capital Corp. of Solon saw marketcap rise 295.7%. In April, PVF announced it has raised its capitallevels above regulators’ require-ments on its way toward earning aprofit in its fiscal third quarter.And polymer company PolyOneCorp. of Avon Lake posted a market cap increase of 290.7%.

There was a bit of a shuffle at thetop of the list, as Northeast Ohio’slargest public company based onmarket value now is Mayfield Village-based auto insurer Progressive Corp. Its market caprose 26.6% to $13.135 billion.(Good job, Flo!) The previous No.1, Akron-based electric utilityFirstEnergy Corp., fell to the thirdposition as its market cap dropped9.7% to $10.733 billion. Moving upto the No. 2 spot from No. 3 a yearago was Cleveland-based diversifiedmanufacturer Eaton Corp., whichsaw its market value rise 75.8% to$11.723 billion. ■



A SECOND OPINION SAVED US

*

TIMES ARE TOUGH, BUT WE’RE STILL GOING, and a Citizens Bank Second Opinion helped us get there. After examining every aspect of our business, a Citizens Banker found ways we could save more money, be more efficient – for our business and personal accounts.

Make time to meet with a Citizens Banker. To schedule your Citizens Bank Second Opinion, CALL 800-946-2264 or go online to CITIZENSBANKING.COM/OPINION.

* Results may vary depending on your business situation.

INVESTINGGUIDE

Banking on antique payday? These days, it’d better be really rareBy JAY [email protected]

If you’ve been holding on to thatcute Hummel limited-edition,“Come Back Soon” plate —trimmed in 23-karat gold —

planning to cash in when you haveto send your daughter’s first tuitionpayment to Ohio State or Harvard,start looking at scholarships.

One sat unsold on eBay recently, noone making an opening bid of $9.99.

Beanie Babies? Sorry. But if you’ve got a painting by a

well-known artist, grandma’s goldlocket or a cache of old silver dollars, maybe you’ve got at leastthe first payment.

It’s the economy, of course, and it’sgot antique and collectibles dealersscrambling to keep their businessesgoing.

“House sales are down; decoratorsaren’t decorating,” said Terry Kovelof Shaker Heights, explaining thesluggishness she sees in some sectors of the antiques and collectiblesmarkets she’s been watching for nearly 60 years. “It was really bad lastyear. Some shows weren’t held, antique malls closed.”

Mrs. Kovel continues to write asyndicated newspaper antiquescolumn, and she publishes “Kovels’Antiques and Collectibles PriceGuide,” which she and her late husband, Ralph, began publishingmore than 40 years ago.

“The dealer community may haveshrunk a little, but I’m not sure ofthat,” Mrs. Kovel said. “There’s a lotof them that are retiring.

“The malls, most of them that wentout of business deserved it becausethey weren’t run by antique people,they were run by people with a lotof empty real estate and they didn’tknow how to do it,” she said.

Dealers who handle a broadspectrum of merchandise, though,still are making money since somemarket segments remain strong.

“If you have an absolutely fabulousrare piece, it will go for a record pricetoday,” Mrs. Kovel said. “Mechanicalbanks are setting records.”

She added that in her latest priceguide, due out in August, she reports on 20 bottles that sold forrecord prices in the past year. “Oldones, flasks, that sort of thing fromthe 19th century,” she said. “On theother hand, brown furniture, as theycall it, wooden furniture, is dying.”

Whimsy also is holding its own,according to Robin Sweeney, whohas owned and operated CosmicCollectibles on Detroit Avenue inLakewood for 12 years.

Her small, 1,000-square-footshop is filled with furnishings andbric-a-brac from the late 1940s, the1950s and the 1960s.

Ms. Sweeney thinks part of hereclectic collection’s attraction isthat it’s catching the trend towardrecycling and all things green. “That’swhat buying used is,” she said.

She says business may not bebooming, but she intends to stickwith it. “I have some $8 days, and Ihave some $800 days,” she said.

Some bling keeps its shineIf there is one segment of dealers

doing especially well right now it maybe those buying coins and jewelry,though their brisk business has moreto do with the prices of gold and sil-ver than the allure of collecting.

“Nobody collects for collecting’ssake anymore,” said Jim Irwin,whose modest Shaker Coin &

Jewelry shop sits across from theposh Eton Place shopping centeron Chagrin Boulevard. “(Avid collectors) are 1% of my business;most people collect for investment.”

He no longer has coins out indisplay cases for collectors to poreover, instead he waits on cus-tomers who dump out their oldjewelry or the jewelry boxes oftheir mothers and fathers on blackvelvet. The pace of his business, hesaid, is tied to the price of gold.

“People are selling their jewelrythat is no longer in vogue,” Mr. Irwin said. “You can get somethingfor it because gold is so high.

“You never got anything for itwhen gold was $300 an ounce;now it’s $1,200 or more,” he said.

While he buys old jewelry, he’sbuying for the value of the metal,not for resale. “People now don’tcollect or spend $500, $1,000 or$2,000 on jewelry,” he said, remembering wistfully the days ofMr. T and his display of bling.“People say, ‘You know, I’d rathertake the money (they get sellingjewelry) and buy an iPad or an Apple computer.’”

The only coins he deals in are therare gold and silver dollars. Even thehalf dollars are no longer moving.“There’s still a market for currencybut it’s got to be rare items — bigbills from the early 1900s,” he said.

He does have a case up frontwith porcelain and glass figurinesbut he despairs about ever selling

the Hummels, Lladros andLaliques he has.

Pointing to a couple of Hummelfigurines, he said, “I can’t givethem away. They’re $100 in the(price) book, I’m selling them for20 cents on the dollar.

“If you look on eBay, 100 peopleare selling them and only one person is buying,” he said.

EBay is a serious competitor tolocal dealers in some categoriesbut it serves mostly to set prices.“EBay makes the market tighter,”Mr. Irwin said. “It makes peoplemore knowledgeable.”

Swing and a missAnother area of the collectibles

market that is struggling is sports

memorabilia, particularly sportscards.

Jerry Katz, who, with Greg Ward,co-owns Mezzanine Sportscardson Mayfield Road in MayfieldHeights, said his business has declined as children have movedaway from card collecting to videogames and other hobbies.

Card collecting took off in the1980s as new companies started issuing an avalanche of cards.With so much product, the marketwas glutted and prices collapsed.He said the country had 20,000card stores in the early 1990s, nowthat number is down to 400.

“In the ’90s sports cards werecollected by adults and children,”he said. “Now it’s just adults.” ■


II--66 CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS JUNE 28-JULY 11, 2010INVESTINGGUIDE

LARGEST PUBLIC COMPANIESRANKED BY MARKET VALUE

Market value(millions)

Net income(millions)

Thisyear

Lastyear

Company/Ticker symbolHeadquartersPhone/Web site 5-28-2010 4-30-2009

Percentchange 2009 2008

Percentchange

2009 returnon equity Lines of business

Top local executiveTitle

1 2Progressive Corp./PGR6300 Wilson Mills Road, Mayfield Village 44143(440) 461-5000/www.progressive.com

$13,135.1 $10,373.9 26.6% $1,120.6 ($76.9) NM 18.0 Insurance and financialcompany

Glenn M. Renwickpresident, CEO

2 3Eaton Corp./ETN1111 Superior Ave., Cleveland 44114(216) 523-5000/www.eaton.com

$11,723.6 $6,669.3 75.8% $588.0 $761.0 -22.7 8.8Electrical, hydraulic,aerospace, truck andautomotive products

Alexander M. Cutlerchairman, president, CEO

3 1FirstEnergy Corp./FE76 S. Main St., Akron 44308(800) 646-0400/www.firstenergycorp.com

$10,733.2 $11,888.6 -9.7% $1,042.0 $1,185.0 -12.1 12.2 Electric utility holdingcompany

Anthony J. Alexanderpresident, CEO

4 5Parker Hannifin Corp./PH6035 Parkland Blvd., Cleveland 44124(216) 896-3000/www.parker.com

$9,897.3 $6,129.4 61.5% $381.4 $711.6 -46.4 8.3Fluid power systems,electromechanicalcontrols

Donald E. Washkewiczchairman, president, CEO

5 4Sherwin-Williams Co./SHW101 Prospect Ave., NW, Cleveland 44115(216) 566-2000/www.sherwin-williams.com

$8,409.0 $6,493.9 29.5% $431.2 $436.2 -1.2 28.8 Coatings and relatedproducts

Christopher M. Connorchairman, CEO

6 10Cliffs Natural Resources Inc./CLF1100 Superior Ave., Cleveland 44114(216) 694-5700/www.cleveland-cliffs.com

$7,565.2 $2,101.1 260.1% $306.0 $491.7 -37.8 10.8 Full-service iron orecompany

Joseph A. Carrabbachairman, president, CEO

7 6KeyCorp/KEY127 Public Square, Cleveland 44114(216) 689-6300/www.key.com

$7,050.0 $3,689.4 91.1% ($902.0) ($2,174.0) NM NM Bank holding company Henry L. Meyer IIIchairman, CEO

8The J.M. Smucker Co./SJM1 Strawberry Lane, Orrville 44667330-682-3000/www.smuckers.com

$6,577.9 NA NA $467.8 $208.7 124.1 8.9 Manufacturer of brandedfood products

Timothy P. Smucker, chmn.,co-CEO; Richard K. Smucker,exec. chmn., president, co-CEO

9 8The Lubrizol Corp./LZ29400 Lakeland Blvd., Wickliffe 44092(440) 943-4200/www.lubrizol.com

$6,037.3 $2,510.7 140.5% $598.9 ($75.5) NM 28.4 Specialty chemicalcompany

James L. Hambrickchairman, president, CEO

10 7TFS Financial Corp./TFSL7007 Broadway Ave., Cleveland 44105(216) 441-6000/www.thirdfederal.com

$4,082.1 $3,563.8 14.5% $9.0 $38.1 -76.4 0.5 Bank holding company Marc A. Stefanskipresident, CEO

11 9Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co./GT1144 E. Market St., Akron 44316(330) 796-2121/www.goodyear.com

$2,890.7 $2,181.3 32.5% ($89.0) ($557.0) NM NM Tire manufacturer Richard J. Kramerpresident, CEO

12 26Developers Diversified Realty Corp./DDR3300 Enterprise Parkway, Beachwood 44122(216) 755-5500/www.ddr.com

$2,854.8 $332.6 758.3% ($468.2) ($24.7) NM NM Real estate investmenttrust

Daniel B. Hurwitzpresident, CEO

13 17Timken Co./TKR1835 Dueber Ave., S.W., Canton 44706(330) 438-3000/www.timken.com

$2,787.5 $1,434.7 94.3% ($106.2) $184.1 NM NMFriction management andpower transmissionproducts and services

James W. Griffithpresident, CEO

14 14TransDigm Group Inc./TDG1301 E. Ninth St., Suite 37120, Cleveland 44114(216) 706-2939/www.transdigm.com

$2,597.0 $1,578.5 64.5% $151.8 $153.9 -1.4 31.2Designer and producer ofhighly engineered aircraftcomponents

W. Nicholas Howleychairman, CEO

15 11RPM International Inc./RPMP.O. Box 777, Medina 44258(330) 273-5090/www.rpminc.com

$2,567.4 $1,686.0 52.3% $158.8 ($7.3) NM 13.2Specialty coatings forindustrial and consumermarkets

Frank C. Sullivanchairman, CEO

16 13Lincoln Electric Holdings Inc./LECO22801 St. Clair Ave., Cleveland 44117(216) 481-8100/www.lincolnelectric.com

$2,376.4 $1,592.4 49.2% $75.9 $155.2 -51.1 7.0Designs andmanufactures weldingproducts

John M. Stropkichairman, president, CEO

17 18Nordson Corp./NDSN28601 Clemens Road, Westlake 44145(440) 892-1580/www.nordson.com

$2,273.5 $1,098.7 106.9% ($125.9) $88.1 NM NM Adhesives, coating andsealant applicators

Michael F. Hiltonpresident, CEO

18 22Forest City Enterprises Inc./FCE-A50 Public Square, Suite 1100, Cleveland 44113(216) 621-6060/www.fceinc.com

$2,059.6 $694.4 196.6% ($30.7) ($113.2) NM NM Owner and developer ofreal estate

Charles A. Ratnerpresident, CEO

19 19GrafTech International Ltd. /GTI12900 Snow Road, Parma 44130(216) 676-2000/www.graftech.com

$1,998.1 $1,022.4 95.4% $37.6 $172.3 -78.2 6.3 Manufacturer of graphiteelectrodes and cathodes

Craig S. Shularchairman, president, CEO

20 12Diebold Inc./DBD5995 Mayfair Road, North Canton 44720(330) 490-4000/www.diebold.com

$1,915.1 $1,632.4 17.3% $48.3 $76.4 -36.8 4.7Integrated self-servicedelivery systems andservices

Thomas W. Swidarskipresident, CEO

21 16Steris Corp./STE5960 Heisley Road, Mentor 44060(440) 354-2600/www.steris.com

$1,885.2 $1,446.1 30.4% $128.5 $110.7 16.1 17.1Maker of sterileprocessing and infectionprevention systems

Walter M. Rosebrough Jr.president, CEO

22 15FirstMerit Corp./FMERIII Cascade Plaza, Akron 44308(330) 996-6300/www.firstmerit.com

$1,692.7 $1,490.5 13.6% $70.8 $117.5 -39.8 6.1 Bank holding company Paul G. Greigchairman, president, CEO

23 25Jo-Ann Stores Inc./JAS5555 Darrow Road, Hudson 44236(330) 656-2600/www.joann.com

$1,197.5 $422.2 183.7% $76.2 $27.5 177.1 13.1 Fabric and craft retailer Darrell Webbchairman, CEO

24 20Applied Industrial Technologies Inc./AIT3301 Euclid Ave., Cleveland 44115(216) 426-4000/www.appliedindustrial.com

$1,167.0 $793.8 47.0% $30.2 $74.7 -59.6 5.7Distributor and providerof industrial parts andservice

David L. Pughchairman, CEO

25 27American Greetings Corp./AMOne American Road, Cleveland 44144(216) 252-7300/www.americangreetings.com

$930.9 $332.4 180.1% $81.6 ($227.8) NM 12.8 Greeting cards; characterlicensing

Zev WeissCEO

26 34PolyOne Corp./POL33587 Walker Road, Avon Lake 44012(440) 930-1000/www.polyone.com

$926.6 $237.1 290.7% $95.5 ($297.1) NM 25.7Provider of specializedpolymer materials,services and solutions

Stephen D. Newlinchairman, president, CEO

27 21OM Group Inc./OMG127 Public Square, Suite 1500, Cleveland 44114(216) 781-0083/www.omgi.com

$910.6 $779.9 16.8% $13.0 $71.5 -81.8 1.1Producer/marketer ofmetal-based specialtychemicals

Joseph M. Scaminacechairman, CEO

28 37Ferro Corp./FOE1000 Lakeside Ave., Cleveland 44114(216) 641-8580/www.ferro.com

$776.0 $113.7 582.6% ($22.6) ($69.9) NM NM Manufacturer of specialtyperformance materials

James F. Kirschchairman, president, CEO

29 23Invacare Corp./IVCOne Invacare Way, Elyria 44035(440) 329-6000/www.invacare.com

$773.7 $524.1 47.6% $41.9 $35.0 19.5 6.4 Home health careequipment

A. Malachi Mixon IIIchairman, CEO

30 31Nacco Industries Inc./NC5875 Landerbrook Drive, Cleveland 44124(440) 449-9600/www.nacco.com

$704.5 $274.0 157.1% $51.8 ($452.1) NM 13.4 Coal mining, lift trucks,small electrical appliances

Alfred M. Rankin Jr.chairman, president, CEO

31Cedar Fair LP/FUNOne Cedar Point Drive, Sandusky 44870-5259419-626-0830/www.cedarfair.com

$701.5 NA NA $48.8 ($3.8) NM 47.7Amusement and waterparks in the United Statesand Canada

Richard L. Kinzelchairman, president, CEO

continued on PAGE I-8



Akron C inc innat i Cleveland Columbus For t Lauderda le For t MyersNaples New York Or lando Ta l lahassee To ledo Washington, D.C.

Partnering For Success as yourTrusted Business Advisors

One Cleveland Center, Ninth Floor • 1375 East Ninth Street • Cleveland, OH 44114 • 216.623.0150

222 South Main Street • Akron, OH 44308 • 330.376.2700

Roetzel & Andress’ entrepreneurial businessculture drives our attorneys to thoroughlyunderstand our clients’ businesses, embracetheir goals and craft innovative solutions to achieve those goals.

With over 130 years of experience, we partnerwith our clients to serve as their trustedbusiness advisors to provide accurate andvaluable legal counsel to a diverse regionaland international client base.

210 attorneys • 40 areas of practice • 12 offices ralaw.com/cleveland

A L E G A L P R O F E S S I O N A L A S S O C I A T I O N

Set your network free.Your business will follow!!

Advanced Service provider in Network Security,Network Integration

&Server upgrade and maintenance

To schedule a network evaluation or learn more about OpenNetSolutions, visit www.OpenNetSolutions.com or call (216) 752-5344

INVESTINGGUIDE

TOP ONE-YEAR RETURNS

RANK COMPANY AS OF MAY 28, 2010

1 Park Ohio Holdings Corp. 334.72

2 Shiloh Industries Inc. 315.06

3 American Greetings Corp. 253.31

4 PolyOne Corp. 231.89

5 Athersys Inc. 230.24

6 Omnova Solutions Inc. 219.92

7 Stoneridge Inc. 199.69

8 Nacco Industries Inc. 149.85

9 Associated Estates Realty Corp. 148.10

10 Ferro Corp. 144.17

11 Developers Diversified Realty Corp. 142.73

12 Keithley Instruments Inc. 120.20

13 Jo-Ann Stores Inc. 111.38

14 Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. 106.60

15 Lubrizol Corp. 101.93

16 Energy Focus Inc. 98.46

17 Forest City Enterprises Inc. 87.02

18 Nordson Corp. 75.71

19 Timken Co. 72.96

20 Hawk Corp. 71.46

SOURCE: CAPITAL IQ, A STANDARD & POOR'S BUSINESS/WWW.CAPITALIQ.COM

REVENUE CHANGE

RANK COMPANY PERCENT CHANGE

1 J.M. Smucker Co. 40.42

2 Athersys Inc. 31.53

3 PVF Capital Corp. 20.35

4 Progressive Corp. 16.02

5 Brush Engineered Materials Inc. 6.86

6 First Place Financial Corp. 6.03

7 Jo-Ann Stores Inc. 5.01

8 Middlefield Banc Corp. 4.71

9 TransDigm Group Inc. 3.73

10 National Interstate Corp. 3.66

11 CBiz Inc. 3.38

12 Lubrizol Corp. 1.59

13 Energy Focus Inc. -0.35

14 Preformed Line Products Co. -0.43

15 Associated Estates Realty Corp. -0.86

16 Forest City Enterprises Inc. -1.82

17 Shiloh Industries Inc. -2.13

18 LNB Bancorp Inc. -2.23

19 KeyCorp -2.26

20 Invacare Corp. -2.30

SOURCE: CAPITAL IQ, A STANDARD & POOR'S BUSINESS/WWW.CAPITALIQ.COM

European crisis tames optimism

Just when the U.S. economy wasappearing to turn around withmodest job creation, increasingcorporate profits and a recovering

car manufacturing sector, investors now have to deal withnew fears surrounding the currentEuropean financial crisis.

Adding to the apprehension is alack of understanding of the linkbetween European financial markets and U.S. investor results.In addition to normal concernssuch as economic growth, unem-ployment and consumer spending,additional factors such as currencymovement, exports, cultural differ-ences and regulatory oversight arecausing uncertainty.

Because these factors can movein opposite directions (even in response to the same piece of information) it is incredibly difficultto identify the opportunities andchallenges that exist as a result ofEurope’s financial struggles.Armed with clear information andhistorical relationships, however,investors can find success andavoid the traps presented by theEuropean financial crisis.

Let’s take a look at the potentialimpact of the crisis on investmentssuch as cash, bonds and stocks, aswell as foreign currencies and commodities. By looking at eachtype of investment individually, itmay be easier to find opportunitiesand avoid obstacles.

Cash investors will see little direct effect from Europe’s financialtrouble. Even if the crisis in Europespreads dramatically, it is extremelyunlikely that investors’ cash balanceswould be affected.

However, most cash held inbanks currently earns less than 1%interest annually, and cash holderscan see their purchasing powerdrop dramatically during inflationaryenvironments. The risk withbailout packages (in any country) isthat they can generate inflation ifmanaged improperly.

U.S. government and highly ratedU.S.-based corporate bonds alsoare not likely to see much of an effect from the European crisis. As

BRETTD’ARCYBRIANDEAN

ADVISERS

long as the issuer does not have asignificant European presence, thebonds should remain relatively stable.

Although bonds typically performpoorly during periods of inflation,they can offer slightly higher yieldsthan cash. By contrast, Europeangovernment and corporate bondsgenerally are not a good opportunityat this time because they are directlyreliant on their respectiveeconomies to distribute interestand repay principal.

Additionally, even good Europeanbonds can lose money as currencyexchange rates fluctuate.

Keeping in mind that past perfor-mance doesn’t guarantee future results, history suggests U.S. stocksmay offer the best opportunity for in-vestors suited for this type of investing.

Subsequent to recent comparableforeign currency crises, U.S. stocks(as represented by the Standardand Poor’s 500 Index) have per-formed quite well. After the Mexican peso crisis of 1994, theS&P 500 gained 38.92% in the next12 months; after the Thai baht crisisof 1997, it gained 23.52%; and afterthe Russian ruble crisis of 1998, itadvanced by 25.76%.

This relationship may be explainedby investor demand increasing forU.S. stocks as foreign trouble increases.With the slide in the euro, this cor-relation may be repeated in 2010.

In the current global environment,commodities such as gold and oilcould present more of an investingobstacle than an opportunity.These markets are driven by globaldemand, and even a moderate

economic slowdown in Europe canhave a profound negative effect.These investments also can be difficult to value, are subject tospeculation and can experienceshort-term price volatility.

Currency investing may providean additional method for benefitingfrom Europe’s troubles, as the European crisis has eroded the value of the euro relative to the U.S.dollar. There are now securitiesthat perform based on the relation-ships between currencies.

For example, the PowerShares DBDollar Index Bullish (NYSE: UUP)replicates the dollar’s movementagainst a basket of foreign currenciesincluding the euro, Japanese yen,British pound, Canadian dollar,Swedish krona and Swiss franc. Thisinvestment was up more than 9.5%from Jan. 1 through May 31 of thisyear (up 1.64% since inception inFebruary 2007 and up 2.74% for thetrailing 12 months).

There is no certainty on how theEuropean financial crisis will be resolved. However, history does notsupport the dire predictions that suggest it will create major financialproblems for global investors. Manyinvestors believe turmoil presentsopportunity, and for those investorsobstacles appear manageable.

Investing always is a forward-looking proposition, and the currenteconomic uncertainty makes investinga challenge. Motivated investorswho are up for a challenge shouldgo forward in search of opportunitieswith prudence and care. ■

Mr. D’Arcy is the chief investmentofficer and Mr. Dean is a Cleveland-based executive vice president forCBiz Financial Solutions Inc. CBizFinancial Solutions Inc. is an SECregistered investment adviser.


II--88 CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS JUNE 28-JULY 11, 2010INVESTINGGUIDE

LARGEST PUBLIC COMPANIESRANKED BY MARKET VALUE

Market value(millions)

Net income(millions)This

yearLastyear

Company/Ticker symbolHeadquartersPhone/Web site 5-28-2010 4-30-2009

Percentchange 2009 2008

Percentchange

2009 returnon equity Lines of business

Top local executiveTitle

32 28A. Schulman Inc./SHLM3550 W. Market St., Akron 44333(330) 666-3751/www.aschulman.com

$582.9 $315.2 84.9% $9.8 $9.5 3.9 2.8 High-performance plasticcompounds and resins

Joseph M. Gingochairman, president, CEO

33 32Chart Industries Inc./GTLSOne Infinity Corporate Centre Dr., Suite 300, GarfieldHeights 44125(440) 753-1490/www.chart-ind.com

$528.2 $273.2 93.4% $42.9 $83.7 -48.7 9.1 Maker of cryogenicprocesses and equipment

Samuel F. Thomaschairman, president, CEO

34 29Brush Engineered Materials Inc./BW6070 Parkland Blvd., Mayfield Heights 44124(216) 486-4200/www.beminc.com

$512.2 $298.7 71.5% $2.5 $5.6 -55.3 0.7 High-performanceengineered materials

Richard J. Hipplechairman, president, CEO

35 24CBiz Inc./CBZ6050 Oak Tree Blvd. S., Suite 500, Cleveland 44131(216) 447-9000/www.cbiz.com

$411.7 $448.5 -8.2% $29.2 $32.3 -9.7 10.1 Provides outsourcedbusiness services

Steven L. Gerardchairman, CEO

36 33National Interstate Corp./NATL3250 Interstate Drive, Richfield 44286(330) 659-8900/www.nationalinterstate.com

$397.9 $270.3 47.2% $44.4 $13.7 223.2 15.6 Specialty property andcasualty insurance

David W. Michelsonpresident, CEO

37 40Omnova Solutions Inc./OMN175 Ghent Road, Fairlawn 44333(330) 869-4200/www.omnova.com

$358.9 $77.5 363.0% $34.1 $0.7 4,771.4 156.4 Decorative and functionalinterior surfaces

Kevin M. McMullenchairman, president, CEO

38 30Myers Industries Inc./MYE1293 S. Main St., Akron 44301(330) 253-5592/www.myersindustries.com

$316.9 $281.9 12.4% ($0.3) ($49.8) NM NMPolymer and metalproducts; equipment fortire service

John C. Orrpresident, CEO

39 39Associated Estates Realty Corp./AEC1 AEC Parkway, Richmond Heights 44143(216) 261-5000/www.associatedestates.com

$306.4 $92.4 231.7% $3.2 ($3.9) NM 2.1 Real estate investmenttrust

Jeffrey I. Friedmanchairman, president, CEO

40 35Olympic Steel Inc./ZEUS5096 Richmond Road, Bedford Heights 44146(216) 292-3800/www.olysteel.com

$299.9 $223.1 34.5% ($34.1) $29.1 NM NM Steel service center Michael D. Siegalchairman, CEO

41Stoneridge Inc./SRI9400 E. Market St., Warren 44484(330) 856-2443/www.stoneridge.com

$246.6 NA NA ($19.3) ($115.7) NM NMHighly engineeredelectrical and electroniccomponents

John C. Coreypresident, CEO

42 38Hawk Corp./HWK200 Public Square, Suite 1500, Cleveland 44114(216) 861-3553/www.hawkcorp.com

$181.1 $106.1 70.7% $8.6 $19.3 -55.5 11.2Supplier of frictionproducts and powdermetal components

Ronald E. Weinbergchairman, CEO

43 44Park-Ohio Holdings Corp./PKOH6065 Parkland Blvd., Cleveland 44124(440) 947-2000/www.pkoh.com

$172.5 $41.8 312.9% $2.3 ($128.7) NM 10.0 Diversified manufacturer Edward F. Crawfordchairman, CEO

44 36Preformed Line Products Co./PLPC660 Beta Drive, Mayfield Village 44143(440) 461-5200/www.preformed.com

$164.5 $188.0 -12.5% $21.8 $17.4 25.1 12.7 Wire and cable products Robert G. Ruhlmanchairman, president, CEO

45Shiloh Industries Inc./SHLO880 Steel Drive, Valley City 44280(330) 558-2600/www.shiloh.com

$164.0 NA NA ($2.9) ($9.1) NM NM Steel processing Theodore K. Zampetispresident, CEO

46Agilysys Inc./AGYS28925 Fountain Parkway, Solon 44139(877) 374-4783/www.agilysys.com

$155.7 NA NA ($109.7) ($174.7) NM NM Electronic componentsand industrial products

Martin Ellispresident, CEO

47 43Keithley Instruments Inc./KEI28775 Aurora Road, Solon 44139(440) 248-0400/www.keithley.com

$147.7 $50.4 193.2% $2.3 ($47.3) NM 5.0 Precision electricalmeasuring equipment

Joseph P. Keithleychairman, president, CEO

48First Place Financial Corp./FPFC185 E. Market St., Warren 44481(330) 373-1221/www.firstplacebank.com

$81.0 NA NA ($31.1) ($94.8) NM NM Bank holding company Steven R. LewisCEO

49 47Sifco Industries Inc./SIF970 E. 64th St., Cleveland 44103(216) 881-8600/www.sifco.com

$59.8 $35.7 67.7% $7.0 $6.9 2.1 14.8Production, repair,plating, machining andmarketing of jet engines

Michael S. Lipscombpresident, CEO

50 51PVF Capital Corp./PVFC30000 Aurora Road, Solon 44139(440) 914-3900/www.parkviewfederal.com

$55.4 $14.0 295.7% ($3.7) ($14.9) NM NM Bank holding company Robert J. King Jr.president, CEO

51 42United Community Financial Corp./UCFC275 Federal Plaza West, Youngstown 44503(330) 742-0500/www.ucfconline.com

$54.7 $60.9 -10.2% ($25.2) ($36.1) NM NM Bank holding company Douglas M. McKaychairman, CEO

52 50Athersys Inc./ATHX3201 Carnegie Ave., Cleveland 44115(216) 431-9900/www.athersys.com

$52.5 $14.6 260.4% ($14.3) ($17.0) NM NM Biopharmaceuticalcompany

Gil Van Bokkelenchairman, CEO

53 45TravelCenters of America LLC/TA24601 Center Ridge Road, Suite 200, Westlake 44145(440) 808-9100/www.tatravelcenters.com

$50.3 $39.6 27.0% ($113.1) ($9.8) NM NMInterstate travel plazas;fuel, food, conveniencestores and truck repairs

Thomas M. O'Brienmanaging director, president,CEO

54Ohio Legacy Corp./OLCB600 S. Main St., North Canton 44720(330) 263-1955/www.ohiolegacycorp.com

$48.7 NA NA ($8.5) ($5.5) NM NM Bank holding company Rick L. Hullpresident, CEO

55First Citizens Banc Corp./FCZA100 E. Water St., Sandusky 44870(419) 625-4121/www.fcza.com

$40.0 NA NA $0.9 ($39.5) NM 0.9 Bank holding company James O. Millerpresident, CEO

56 46LNB Bancorp Inc./LNBB457 Broadway Ave., Lorain 44052(440) 244-6000/www.4lnb.com

$36.8 $37.6 -2.0% ($2.0) $3.3 NM NM Bank holding company Daniel E. Klimaspresident, CEO

57 48Middlefield Banc Corp./MBCN.PK15985 E. High St., Middlefield 44062440-632-1666/www.middlefieldbank.com

$29.4 NA NA $1.8 $2.5 -26.5 4.8 Bank holding company Thomas G. Caldwellpresident, CEO

58Wayne Savings Bancshares Inc. /WAYN151 N. Market St., Wooster 44691(330) 264-5767/www.waynesavings.com

$24.8 NA NA $2.2 $1.9 20.1 6.0 Bank holding company Phillip E. Beckerpresident, CEO

59 52Energy Focus Inc./EFOI32000 Aurora Road, Solon 44139(800) 327-7877/www.energyfocusinc.com

$23.5 $13.8 70.4% ($11.5) ($14.0) NM NM Fiber optic lightingsystems

Joseph G. KaveskiCEO

60 54Morgan's Foods Inc./MRFD.OB4829 Galaxy Parkway, Suite S, Cleveland 44128(216) 359-9000/www.morgansfoods.com

$11.7 $4.1 183.0% $0.3 ($2.1) NM 13.9 Restaurants Leonard R. Stein-Sapirchairman, CEO

61Avalon Holdings Corp./AWXOne American Way, Warren 44484(330) 856-8800/www.avalonholdings.com

$11.2 NA NA ($1.0) $0.4 NM NMHazardous andnonhazardous wastebrokerage andmanagement services

Steven M. Berrypresident, CEO

Numerical information provided by Capital IQ, a Standard & Poor’s business, www.capitaliq.com. The Market Cap and Total Return data used the May 28, 2010 close price foreach company and have switched from annual data to trailing 12-month data through the quarter ending February, March or April. NA=Not available. NM=Not meaningful. Crain'sCleveland Business does not independently verify the information and there is no guarantee these listings are complete or accurate. We welcome all responses to our lists andwill include omitted information or clarifications in coming issues. The Book of Lists and other specialized business lists are available to purchase at www.crainscleveland.com.

RESEARCHED BY Deborah W. Hillyer


But Mr. Noble, who saidhe had “a lot of good momentum” before the recession began, haspulled back.

“My strategy’schanged,” he said. “It’s justnot being able to take asmuch risk as I wouldhave.”

Mr. Noble said he’s taken a more passive role in investing in some startups, for

example, has been moreconservative in his plansand less willing to takerisks with his money. Hedecreased his 401(k) investment to 5% of hissalary, from more than10%.

He said, though, thatthis is a short-term strategy. Hehopes to become more aggressivein the next year or so and thinks “alucky break” with one or more of

the early-stage companies he invested in could lead to an increased number of opportuni-ties.

Still, Mr. Noble said he expectsto continue doing due diligence,even once he is more comfortableinvesting again.

“I’d like to think I get back to that point here soon,” he said. “I’m not super-deep in the game.”

— Arielle Kass


Lending to small businessesis a #1 priority for us

All applications are subject to normal credit approval. Call your business banking expert for current rates and terms. Standard fees apply. Refinance of existing U.S. Bankbusiness loans are excluded. Member FDIC.

usbank.com

Visit your local U.S. Bank today and we’ll help you get the type of financing solution you needto grow your business.

At U.S. Bank, we realize that the success of small businesses like yours drives the Americaneconomy. That’s why your success is a #1 priority for US.

To help you succeed, we’ve developed a variety of flexible business solutions designed to keepcash flowing and businesses growing. And, it’s backed by the expertise and stability of one ofAmerica’s strongest banks.

• Working Capital Lines of Credit

• Owner & Investment Real Estate

• Treasury Management Services

• Payment Solutions

Dave Bozak Business Sales Manager

216-896-1032

Mark Rowland Business Sales Manager

216-623-9274

Bill Larion Client Manager Team Leader

216-623-9276

600 Superior Avenue, East, Suite 2100, Cleveland, OH 44114216.348.5400

Carl J. Grassi Shawn M. RileyPresident Cleveland Managing Member

A business advisory and advocacy law firm

Attorneys on a Mission®

Your mission is our mission. We never lose sight of it.

Insightful legal solutionsthat help our clients find time

to take their summer vacations

The attorneys at McDonald Hopkinsare on a mission to solve

the business and legal issuesthat interfere with your work-life balance.

Chicago • Cleveland • Columbus • Detroit • West Palm Beach

www.mcdonaldhopkins.com

Mission Vacation!

INVESTINGGUIDE

CHANGING INVESTMENTS

The recession has made PaulNoble a much more conservative investor — fornow.

The 28-year-old national account manager at Sherwin-Williams had been starting to invest in real estate, buying a plot

of land on which to buy a house,with an eye on perhaps owningmore property in the future.

He had put money into a portfolioof startup businesses in the area.He was investing a lot in his 401(k)and was starting to play the stockmarket.

Alot of guys wouldbe retired, or atleast thinkingabout it at age 67,

but Roger Sustar has nosuch plans.

That’s not because themarkets took a nosedivewith his money — thoughhe says that certainly didn’t speedhim off into the sunset. The ownerof Mentor-based Fredon Corp., acontract machining shop, likes going to work.

But his age and the market’s recentcontortions have nonetheless madeMr. Sustar a more cautious investor.

When the markets tankedthrough the fall and winter of 2008and 2009, stock prices plunged byhalf in many cases — and investorssuch as Mr. Sustar saw losses they’dnever encountered before. It scaredmany away from investments instocks and into more conservativeinstruments like bonds.

Mr. Sustar said his money islargely in bonds and other safe-haven investments now. He feels

much safer, but figureshe’ll be able to tap less ofhis savings if he ever doesretire or if his childrentake over the business.

“We were thinking wecould take about 5% out ayear and use it, without affecting the principal —

now we’re down to 4 (%), andsomeone said, ‘You should startthinking about 3 ½,’” he said.

But Mr. Sustar says he’s one ofthe lucky ones. He didn’t own muchreal estate — a small condo inFlorida that he says has lost value,but not enough to really affect him.His business survived the down-turn and is doing well, and he’sdone a good job of saving money.

“I’m not even caring that muchabout it,” he said. “But I worryabout my kids and grandkids.”

He worries whether he’ll be ableto leave them what he had hopedto — and whether they’ll have thesame opportunities he didthroughout his economic lifetime.

— Dan Shingler

YOUNG INVESTOR: PAUL NOBLE

SMALL BUSINESS OWNER: ROGER SUSTAR


Jim Robenalt, a business litigationpartner at Thompson Hine and co-chair of the task force, said he’sinterested in determining what thebar can do to convince potentialcandidates that, if they ran, theywould have a chance at winning.

Mr. Robenalt said candidates atpresent can be felled if they don’thave popular last names that votersoften see on the ballots. While someof those names have been connectedto good judges, Mr. Robenalt said,a name alone shouldn’t qualifysomeone to rule from the bench.

Some ideas the task force mayconsider for improving the judicialcandidate pool are identifying younglawyers who have the characteristicsto be good judges and mentoringthem as to what direction to taketheir careers to ascend to the bench;reviewing the candidates that politi-cal parties are considering beforetheir names are on the ballot to en-courage the selection of qualified in-dividuals; and helping underfunded

candidates raise money.Both Mr. Robenalt and Mr.

Ungar said they hope to work withthe political parties on ways to ensurethe candidates they are puttingforward are qualified for their jobs.

Sharpening the competitionWhile Mr. Robenalt said he has a

certain amount of admiration foranyone who goes through theprocess of getting elected, he alsonoted that some people run forjudgeships because they view themas cushy jobs, while others look tobe on the bench because they’renot good lawyers.

Worse still, voters often aren’tgiven a choice of candidates for judicial seats. For example, in thecoming general election in November,only seven of the 25 judicial races inCuyahoga County are contested,Mr. Robenalt said.

Barbara J. Howard, president ofthe Ohio State Bar Association anda family law attorney in Cincinnati,said she applauds the efforts of the

Cleveland metropolitan bar to engen-der more competition in the races.

“I think the effort to increase thepool of candidates, to have a deeperpool, is a good thing,” Ms. Howardsaid. “I’m very interested to see howit works. If you can increase yourpool, you probably increase the like-lihood of good, better talent in thelong run.”

Ms. Howard cautioned, though,that simply producing more candi-dates would not be enough — the baralso must improve voter education.

Quality matters to businessTaras Szmagala, senior vice

president and chief counsel in theindustrial sector at diversified manufacturer Eaton Corp. and amember of the task force, said hisprimary interest in improving thejudiciary is to do a better job of disseminating the ratings of judicialcandidates in Cuyahoga County thatthe bar association posts online atjudge4yourself.com.

The web site has been receiving

increased attention; it had 14,072unique visitors in the May 2010 primary, as compared to 7,780 uniquevisitors for the May primary in 2008.

Mr. Szmagala contends that ifmore people knew about the ratingsystem and studied the recommen-dations, better candidates wouldbe drawn to the races.

The election of quality judges is important for the business community, he said, because busi-nesses want a fair judicial system.Businesses in this area would “certainly say the quality of the judiciary in the region could be improved,” Mr. Szmagala said.

Mr. Ungar expects the process totake time. The next two people inline for the bar association’s presi-dency are on board with the taskforce’s work, he said, though Mr.Robenalt said he hoped the processwould conclude within the year,with recommendations.

A judge jumps aboardJudge Tim McMonagle at the

Cuyahoga County Court of CommonPleas is the other task force co-chair.He said the group’s goal is to “levelthe playing field” so that the bestcandidates are able to mount acampaign and win.

Judge McMonagle said he favorsmid-term evaluations of sittingjudges and would like to see morediversity of background on thebench. Now, he said, the biggestpipeline is from the prosecutor’soffice, though judges who comefrom there — or any other area —may only have experience in onespecific area of the law.

Judge McMonagle, who is retiringthis year, also said he would like tofind a way to increase the financialsupport for highly qualified candi-dates, so they do not have to raiseas much money on their own.

“It’s a very important job; itshouldn’t be a name game,” hesaid, noting the popularity of hisown judicial name. “This is notabout individual judges. This isabout the system.” ■


REAL ESTATEContact: Genny DonleyPhone: (216) 771-5172Fax: (216) 694-4264E-mail: [email protected]

Copy Deadline: Wednesdays @ 2:00 p.m. All Ads Pre-Paid: Check or Credit Card

FOR LEASE

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY

SPORTS &ENTERTAINMENT

FORSALE

REAL ESTATEAUCTION

COMMERCIALPROPERTY

OFFICE/WAREHOUSESPACE

RREEAALLTTOORRSSNow is a great time to promote your Luxury Properties

AND receive reduced rates on your advertising.

Call Genny Donley at (216) 771-5172 for info

Crain’s Cleveland BusinessOnline Property Search

Powered by LoopNet,No. 1 in Commercial Real Estate online

Looking for property? Search thousands of local listings

Selling or leasing a property?Get your property featured through Crain’s

www.CrainsCleveland.com/LoopNetFor advertising opportunities

contact Genny [email protected]

216-771-5172

BUSINESS CONDOOFFICE/WAREHOUSE

1800 SqFt. $73KOAKWOOD at I-271

440-439-5686

Restaurant SpaceFor Lease

7,300 square foot facilityinside established naturalfoods retailer in eastern

suburb of Cleveland, OH.Includes expansive diningarea and full bar. Kitchen

equipment included.Available for natural or

organic foods restaurant only.

[email protected]

for details.

FOR SALERocky River

Detroit Rd - Gas Station/Auto Repair, $675k

Lake Rd. – Gas Station/Auto Repair, $629k

FOR LEASEMentor

Pinecone Dr.Warehouse/Office.2450 to 5100 sf.

Starting at $868/mo.

Coldwell Banker Hunter

Maurice Helou440-725-6340

www.MoSellsForYou.com

AUCTIONMULTIPLE

COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES

8/12/2010 - Columbus, Ohio

15+ Office, Medical & IndustrialSome 100% Occupied Investments

For further information contact:

Bradford L. Kitchen, SIOR - Broker(614) 545-2155

www.AlterraRE.com/REauction

Fred J. GraftAuctioneer - Broker

(614) 989-3030

For daily on-line

updates, sign up @

CrainsCleveland.com/Daily

CLASSIFIEDBUSINESS SERVICES

COMMERCIAL LOANSDiscover the benefits of working with bankers who build

strong relationships and deliver one-stop solutions.

LYNDA NOWAKVice President Commercial Team Manager(216) 529-2734 [email protected]

LanderhavenBBQ Season

Begins!440.449.0700

ExecutiveCaterers.com

FLYNNENVIRONMENTAL

For Assessments(800) 690-9409

www.flynnenvironmental.com

CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTSThe Cleveland Treatment Center (a non profit agency) issoliciting proposals from qualified CPA (persons and firms)interested in performing the financial audit for fiscal year2010. Specific requirements and/or information can beobtained from J. Joel Nacion , Fiscal Director. [email protected] or call 216-861-4246 and ask forcopy of Audit Requirements.

Indians Private LogeShare our Home Plate suitefor the Indians! Perfect for

your special event!Please call Jen at

614-218-3884www.SuitePartners.com

MOVING SALECustom office built-ins.Perfect for your small

business or home office.Cabinets, tops, equipment

Call (216) 464-6500

CCrraaiinn’’ss EExxeeccuuttiivvee RReeccrruuiitteerr

Association Executive DirectorReport to the Board of Directors and lead active tradeassociation in the consistent achievement of itsmission and financial objectives. Provide leadershipand promote active broad participation by volunteersincluding meetings, events, educational opportunitiesand membership. Represent the programs and pointof view of the organization to agencies, media andthe general public. Maintain budget and marketingresponsibilities.

Send cover letter, salary requirements andreferences to [email protected]

To place your Executive Recruiter adCall Genny Donley at

216-771-5172

Judges: Business community has interest in improving system’s qualitycontinued from PAGE 1


Calling all lawyers with a heart for giving back■ Lawyers willing to serve as mentors are inhigh demand.

The Supreme Court of Ohio is searchingfor attorneys for its Lawyer to Lawyer Men-toring Program, a one-year program thathelps new attorneys transition from lawschool to practicing.

More than 600 attorneys serve as mentorsin the state, but more are needed in Akron,Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus. Theprogram is seeking to pair attorneys in mid-July for a session that starts at the beginningof August. Those not matched this summerwill be available for a February term.

Mentor lawyers receive continuing legaleducation credit for participating, and menteescan use the program to help complete theirNew Lawyers Training requirement.

The topics in six in-person meetings overthe course of nine hours include law officemanagement, client communication, workingwith support staff, and balancing work andpersonal life.

The registration deadline for new attorneysis July 9. For more information or to submitan application, see www.sc.ohio.gov/mentoring or contact Lori Keating at (614)387-9317 or [email protected]. —Arielle Kass

And you thought youhad an insect problem ...■ A local agency wanted to make sure its adcampaign for pesticide client Black Flag was

a real killer of an experience. So, Marcus Thomas on June 4 in Houston

launched what it says is one of the first 3-Dmapping projections to be done commer-cially in the United States.

The projection featured gigantic antscrawling out of and overtaking a buildingfollowing a Houston Astros game at night.Then the Black Flag bug spray can emerged,spraying and killing the creepy crawlers,which cascaded down the multistory structure. The agency said it chose Houstonbecause of its notorious bug problem.

To view the 56-second video, visithttp://tiny.cc/obpim. — Kathy Ames Carr

Our man at the EPA■ Cleveland has a connection at the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency: Its newinspector general got his law degree atCleveland State University.

Arthur Elkins Jr. was a 1993 graduate ofCleveland-Marshall College of Law, theschool reports. Mr. Elkins, who was nomi-nated for the post by President Barack Obama

last November, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate last week.

Mr. Elkins will have a tough job. The EPAlast December ruled that greenhouse gasesare dangerous and subject to future EPA reg-ulations. The Supreme Court cleared the wayfor EPA regulation of greenhouse gases in2007, and the Senate this month voted notto block such regulations.

Oh, and we also expect him to put an endto those burning-river jokes once and for all.— Dan Shingler

Message to young people:We want YOU for NE Ohio■ Young professionals have a target on theirbacks and the hunter is Northeast Ohio.

With so much talk about young profes-sionals leaving the region, those young professionals who call Greater Clevelandhome recently teamed up with seasonedleaders to figure out how they can work together to retain and attract young profes-sionals to Northeast Ohio.

The “intergenerational summit” washosted by Cleveland+, which hired marketresearch firm Next Generation Consulting ofMadison, Wis., to moderate the meeting.The group decided to focus on 10 areas suchas public education reform, government reform and connecting students to local opportunities — and they will support can-didates for office who share those priorities.

Professionals from employers such as theCleveland Clinic and FirstEnergy Corp. participated. More meetings are planned forthe future. — Shannon Mortland

WHAT’S NEW

COMPANY: GLT Products, SolonPRODUCT: IV-7 Ultimate Germ Defense

The company says its non-toxic, hard-surfacedisinfectant “kills 99.999% of bacteria, virusesand fungi, fast and safely.” It boasts the lowestEPA toxicity rating possible — a 4 (“practicallynontoxic”) on a scale of 1 to 4.

IV-7 “contains no alcohol, no bleach or other toxic ingredients,” GLT Products says.As such, it’s designed for use in publicvenues including day care centers, gyms, hotels, restaurants and schools.

At the core of IV-7 are silver dihydrogen citrate-based antimicrobials (SDC), a patented,electrolytically generated source of stabilizedionic silver, the company says. Its active ingredient has been approved for use by theU.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

SDC “enters the microorganism, binds tothe DNA and destroys the microbe’s DNA andprotein structure,” according to the company.It also destroys the microbe’s outer mem-brane. “This dual attack (from the inside outand the outside in) makes SDC a powerfulweapon against germs,” GLT Products says.

For information, visit www.IV7GermDefense.com.

Send new product information to managingeditor Scott Suttell at [email protected].

REPORTERS’ NOTEBOOKBEHIND THE NEWS WITH CRAIN’S WRITERS

THEINSIDER

THEWEEK JUNE 21 - 27

What’s shakin’? We were: We always knewthat Cleveland rocks, but an earthquake lastWednesday afternoon took things to a new level.Buildings throughout Northeast Ohio swayed forseveral seconds as the 5.0-magnitude quakewith origins along the Ontario-Quebec bordersent shock waves through the region. There wereno reports of structural damage to buildings.However, crowds of office workers in downtownCleveland exited their buildings when the struc-tures they were occupying began to sway.

Weighing anchor: The Cleveland-CuyahogaCounty Port Authority is starting to look beyondEast 55th Street for a place to rebuild the maritimeagency’s shipping operations. The port boardvoted unanimously to send a letter to the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers requesting that thecorps “no longer invest time, effort and resources” into planning for the use of 200 acresin Lake Erie at East 55th as a site for dumpingdredge material from the Cuyahoga River. Theport had intended to build new docks on top ofthe filled-in acreage. The port instead is hiring ateam of consultants to conduct a review ofCleveland’s competitive position as a port and to examine alternative locations for the Port ofCleveland’s docks and terminals.

Huntington hunted down: The hulking butvacancy-riddled Huntington Building in Cleve-land is in new hands with fresh plans for

the structure. CuyahogaCounty land records indicate Optima Inter-national LLC of MiamiBeach, Fla., bought the property for $18.5 million from investorgroups led by Clevelandfinancier and real estateowner Carl Glickman.That figure is well belowthe building’s marketvalue of $42 million fortax purposes. Optima isconsidering putting ahotel in a portion of the

21-story building, downtown’s second-largestoffice property by square footage.

Planning ahead: FirstEnergy Corp. plans tomove up by more than two years the replace-ment of the reactor head at its still-idle Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station in Oak Harbor,near Toledo. The electric company plans to shutdown the 908-megawatt unit in the fall of 2011to install the new reactor head. The project orig-inally was slated for 2014. Problems within thecurrent reactor cap were discovered after theplant was idled in late February for a scheduledrefueling. FirstEnergy found cracks in 24 of theplant’s 69 reactor head nozzles. It has wrappedup repairs to those nozzles and plans to resumeoutput at the plant next month.

Dig it: Food and industrial giant Cargill said itsCargill Deicing Technology unit will invest $13.8million to increase the capacity of its rock saltmine near the mouth of the Cuyahoga River inCleveland. Cargill cited competitive reasons fornot disclosing the mine’s current capacity or thesize of the expansion. However, Cargill Deicingdid say the investment will add about 20 jobs,which would bring total employment at themine in Cleveland and its headquarters in NorthOlmsted to about 270.

Best of the rest: The giant Jones Day lawfirm has eliminated an undisclosed number ofstaff positions in Cleveland. No lawyers were affected, the firm said. ... Testa Cos. of CuyahogaFalls plans to develop a $16 million MarriottCourtyard hotel in downtown Akron.


Excerpts from blog entries on CrainsCleveland.com.

BEST OF THE BLOGS

China’s yuan pledge couldbolster industrial companies■ Cleveland-based Cliffs Natural ResourcesInc. was among the companies cited in aReuters piece about U.S.-based multinationalcompanies with large exposure to China’s economy that couldreceive a boost after Beijingpledged over the weekend to allow the yuan to rise in value.

“A higher yuan would helptemper inflation in China bypushing down import prices,which in turn could mean Beijingwould have less need to aggres-sively tighten monetary policy,”Reuters said.

A chart with the piece looked atthe revenue exposure in Chinafor companies in the S&P 500. Cliffs was listedwith 30% revenue exposure there, the sixth-highest among S&P companies.

Think the Gulf’s bad? Takea trip back to the Dust Bowl■ The New York Times tried to assess whetherthe oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico really is theworst environmental disaster in American history, as President Barack Obama has said, and a Case Western Reserve Universityprofessor is among the experts weighing inwith a different possibility.

For sheer disruption to human lives, TheTimes said, several scholars of environmentalhistory “could think of no environmentalproblem in American history quite equalingthe calamity known as the Dust Bowl.”

Ted Steinberg, an historian and professor oflaw at CWRU, told the newspaper, “The DustBowl is arguably one of the worst ecological

blunders in world history.” Prof. Steinberg andothers made a compelling case.

The Times noted that across the HighPlains, stretching from the Texas Panhandleto the Dakotas, “poor farming practices in theearly part of the 20th century stripped away thenative grasses that held moisture and soil inplace. A drought that began in 1930 exposedthe folly.”

Boiling clouds of dust “whipped up byharsh winds buried homes andcars, destroyed crops, chokedfarm animals to death and sentchildren to the hospital withpneumonia,” The Times said. Bythe mid-1930s, “People started togive up on the region in droves. …By 1940, more than two millionpeople had left the Great PlainsStates.”

In short, it might be decadesbefore we know the true cost ofwhat has happened in the Gulf.

Come for the science, stayfor fun in the sun■ Christopher M. Coburn, the Cleveland Clinic’s chief of technology commercializationand executive director of Cleveland ClinicInnovations, is one of the featured attractionsin a November cruise with geek chic.

TravelAgencyCentral.com reports an “Experiences of Discovery” voyage by CrystalCruises, “will focus on science and technology,from space travel to the latest in medical tech-nology, while cruising the Mexican Riviera.”

In addition to Mr. Coburn, the roster of experts includes Captain Robert Gibson, an18-year NASA astronaut, and Rhea Seddon,one of the first six women to enter NASA’s astronaut program.

Sailing round-trip from Los Angeles, thevoyage visits Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlán andPuerto Vallarta, Mexico — all while talking science, of course.

FILE PHOTO/RUGGERO FATICA


$9999*

Imagine what you’ll do when you can send files while you talk.

You canfit 24 hours

into 12.

3G not available in all areas.

BlackBerry® Bold™ 9700 Offer: Offer valid only for new Corporate Responsibility Users (CRU). Subject to credit approval. Price before AT&T Promotion Card and 2-year contract is $199.99. Allow 60 days for debit card fulfillment. Card may be used only in the U.S. Is valid for 120 days after issuance date but is not redeemable for cash and cannot be used for cash withdrawal at ATMs or automated gasoline pumps. Card request must be postmarked by 9/10/10 and you must be a customer for 30 consecutive days to receive card. While supplies last. Offer ends 7/31/10. CRU Data Plan Requirement: Smartphones require a DataPro (2GB) plan. If you exceed your initial data allowance, you will automatically be charged an additional $10 for each additional 1GB provided. All data allowances, including overages, must be used in the billing period in which the allowance is provided or they will be forfeited. A DataPro Enterprise Plan is required for Corporate email, Intranet sites and business applications. For more details on Data Plans, go to att.com/dataplans. Phone Return Policy/Early Termination Fee: No Early Termination Fee (ETF) if service cancelled within 30 days of purchase, but up to $35 Restocking Fee may apply for returned devices; Thereafter, up to $325. Independent agents may impose additional equipment-related charges. Sales tax calculated on un-activated price of handset. Early Termination Fee subject to change. Coverage not available in all areas. See map at www.wireless.att.com or visit store for details. © 2010 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the AT&T logo and all other AT&T marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. BlackBerry,® RIM,® Research In Motion,® SureType,® SurePress™ and related trademarks, names and logos are the property of Research In Motion Limited and are registered and/or used in the U.S. and countries around the world.

Get Simultaneous Voice and Data for Small Business and take your productivity to new heights.

Now there’s nothing you can’t do. Edit contracts while you talk to clients. Send files while you’re on a conference call. Multitask while you

multitask. All without ever hanging up. See what’s possible by visiting your local AT&T store or att.com/simultaneous. And amaze

yourself with what you can do on the nation’s fastest 3G network.

BlackBerry® Bold™ 9700 smartphone.Ready for Simultaneous Voice and Data on the nation’s fastest 3G network.

* After $100 mail-in AT&T Promotion Card rebate. Requires new 2-year service agreement on eligible voice and data plan.

1-800-423-2965 ATT.COM/SIMULTANEOUS VISIT A STORE


Crain's Cleveland Business

Documents

tech page

condos page

bar association cannotchange

runsee judges page

cleveland topittsburgh

mike ungar

bar associations helm

business runningfor