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Canadians tour Cleveland port as potential link
by
Plain Dealer Business Staff
Tuesday August 19, 2008, 9:58 AM
CLEVELAND -- Canadian businessmen toured Cleveland's port Monday and came away impressed with its potential to link with a proposed $400 million deep-water port in Melford, Nova Scotia.
Top officers with Melford International Terminal Inc. plan to open their port in 2011, capturing a share of the container cargo that's flowing across the Atlantic Ocean to congested East Coast ports. Port officials in Cleveland and elsewhere on the Great Lakes would like to see some of the cargo move from Melford down the St. Lawrence Seaway to Midwest markets.
Terry Johnson, administrator of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corp., joined the Melford businessmen on the tour and said boosting container commerce on the Great Lakes faces hurdles, including a harbor maintenance tax. U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a Cleveland Democrat, is pushing legislation that exempts nonbulk cargo, such as containers, from the U.S. tax.
Post a comment | View commentsAcacia Country Club sale could open prime land for development
by
Michelle Jarboe
Monday August 18, 2008, 8:28 PM
A potential sale of Acacia Country Club could bring new offices, retail, homes or a hotel to a prime slice of property in Lyndhurst.
Acacia's members are considering whether to sell the 83-year-old golf course, which spans roughly 160 acres off Cedar Avenue near the Beachwood Place and Legacy Village shopping centers. If the property hits the market, it's likely to bring more high-end development to an affluent pocket of Cleveland's eastern suburbs.
Businesses want state to borrow to prop up unemployment fund
by
Tom Breckenridge
Monday August 18, 2008, 6:20 PM
Click on graphic to see jobless fund balances (PDF)Previous story:
• Jobless fund could run dry
Ohio businesses also appear willing to pay more into the ailing fund, projected to end 2009 at more than $225 million in the red.
Ohio's rising unemployment rate -- 7.2 percent in July -- is straining the fund, which has needed an overhaul for years.
An advisory council of business, labor and legislative leaders is expected to recommend at least a short-term fix next month. The state legislature must vote on any changes to the plan.
Continue reading "Businesses want state to borrow to prop up unemployment fund" »Business Accelerator assists minority-owned companies in Northeast Ohio
by
Tom Breckenridge
Monday August 18, 2008, 5:24 PM
Daryl Lackey's company is the first to take advantage of a regional program focused on building black- and Hispanic-owned businesses. Lackey, president of Key General Contractors Inc., poses with his crew during renovation of a hotel suite at East 88th Street and Euclid Avenue.
Business Accelerator
What it is:
The Minority Business Accelerator 2.5+ helps minority-owned businesses with sales of $2.5 million or more. The program matches them with business opportunities in 16 counties.
For more information:
Check the Minority Business Accelerator Web site
To reach the Greater Cleveland Partnership:
(216) 621-3300, (866) 553-5427 or email
Lackey, 51, is the first business owner to enjoy the benefits of a program targeted at expanding minority-owned businesses in Northeast Ohio with sales of at least $2.5 million.
The accelerator, backed by $1 million from the Fund for Our Economic Future, seeks to build jobs and economic spin-off in black and Hispanic communities.
Research shows that minorities start businesses at a greater rate than whites, but their companies lag in growth.
Locally, there's a dearth of medium- to large-size companies owned by minorities, officials said.
It reflects a national reality. Blacks and Hispanics make up nearly 25 percent of the population yet own just 10 percent of businesses, according to a 2005 study for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
Developers may learn soon about state historic tax credits
by Michelle Jarboe
Tuesday August 12, 2008, 3:01 PM
CLEVELAND -- Developers hoping to revamp Ohio's historic buildings could know next month whether they'll receive state tax credits considered critical to their projects' success.
The state is reviewing dozens of lingering tax credit applications, confirming their eligibility and considering their economic worth, according to an Aug. 6 letter to applicants from the Department of Development. Once the review is complete, the state will announce its first historic preservation tax credit awards since March, when officials abruptly cut off the pilot program based on budget concerns.
Bob Golic part of team opening new Warehouse District pub
by Joe Crea / The Plain Dealer
Monday August 11, 2008, 6:13 PM
CLEVELAND -- Former Cleveland Browns linebacker Bob Golic ranks among one of the citys most popular sports figures. These days, from 3 to 7 p.m. weekdays and noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays, Golic hosts a radio program on Akron-based WNIR-FM/100.1. Soon he'll be playing another new role in the city: hosting a sports bar in the Warehouse District.
Look for Bob Golics Sports Bar & Grille to open by Labor Day or possibly sooner, says operating partner Pete Bosinger. (The third partner is Henry LoConti, owner of The Agora.) Their 5,000-square-foot restaurant will be located at 1213 West Sixth St. at the corner of West Sixth and Lakeside Avenue. The most recent tenant of that space was Synergy nightclub.
Continue reading "Bob Golic part of team opening new Warehouse District pub" »Motor sports training program could rev up North Randall finances
by Michelle Jarboe
Friday August 08, 2008, 5:18 PM
Students walk through the PowerSport Institute, where mock dealerships have replaced racks of clothing at the former JCPenney store at Randall Park Mall. A branch campus of Ohio Technical College, the PowerSport Institute is growing rapidly and is seen as a bright spot for troubled North Randall.By late 2011, a school dedicated to the mechanics of motorcycles, snowmobiles and personal watercraft could bring more than 500 students a year into the tiny village of only 850 residents.
The PowerSport Institute, a branch campus of Ohio Technical College, moved last summer into the former JCPenney space off Miles Road, in the ailing Randall Park Mall. The hop -- from 35,000 square feet at the college's Cleveland campus to 210,000 square feet on 15 acres -- paved the way for the institute's aggressive expansion plans.
Continue reading "Motor sports training program could rev up North Randall finances" »Geis brothers, partners look to invest $200 million in Northeast Ohio real estate projects
by Michelle Jarboe
Wednesday August 06, 2008, 6:54 PM
A Streetsboro industrial developer is working on at least $200 million worth of Northeast Ohio projects and has designs to buy other properties throughout the region.
Less than nine months after the Geis Cos. sold a $51-million chunk of its Greater Cleveland industrial portfolio, the homegrown company is reinvesting its cash in Boston Heights, Brecksville, Mayfield and Warrensville Heights.
Within the past two months, Geis has fixed up and filled up an industrial building, put land under contract and drawn up plans for developments including hotels, offices, manufacturing and retail.
This buying and building boom is backed by Hemingway Development, a new Geis division dedicated to acquisitions and development. In addition to its Northeast Ohio purchases, the group is working on deals in Arizona and North Carolina and plans investments in Brazil, Germany and India.
Continue reading "Geis brothers, partners look to invest $200 million in Northeast Ohio real estate projects" »
