General• Northeast Ohio construction companies are adding inventory and hiring

more aggressively in light of an uptick in building activity in this market and beyond. Spending in commercial and residential construction rose 5.4% in the 12-month period that ended in May, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

• Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, a leader in residential real estate services in Northeast Ohio, announced that it will absorb the Chartwell Group, a commercial real estate services business and auction company based in downtown Cleveland. The new company, Hanna Chartwell, will maintain an affiliation with TCN Worldwide Commercial Real Estate, a global consortium of independent real estate brokerages. The merger became official October 1st, according to Howard “Hoby” Hanna IV, president of Howard Hanna’s Midwest Region.

• The number of mortgage foreclosures filed in Cuyahoga County is receding rapidly but left in the wake are thousands of blighted houses that would cost tens of millions of dollars to demolish, a new study says. At the current pace, the total of new mortgage foreclosure cases will drop to slightly under 7,300 this year, the lowest level in 10 years. And while a slowdown offers the chance to stabilize real estate markets, the county has 26,000 vacant houses, including 16,000 in Cleveland. According to the study, more than half of the Cleveland houses are candidates for demolition that would cost an estimated $83 million.

Multifamily• K&D Group is converting the 21-story office building that once housed East

Ohio Gas Co. at 1717 East Ninth St. into 223 apartments. The development being called Residences at 1717, is expected to cost $65 million and be completed by August of 2015.

• Florida developer The Finch Group hopes to start construction early next year on a 177-unit apartment building at East 97th Street and Chester Avenue. The $42 million project is the first step toward remaking Upper Chester, a broad stretch of land north of the Cleveland Clinic’s main campus and west of University Circle. The first six-story apartment building will occupy one corner of Finch’s 38-acre target site which itself covers less than half of the potential 100-acre Upper Chester footprint.

Office• CNL Healthcare Properties Inc. purchased the 40,000 SF Cleveland Clinic

Elyria Family Health and Surgery Center at 303 Chestnut Commons Drive in Elyria for $20,204,800.

• A $132 million foreclosure case involving nine office buildings owned by Gotham Realty Partners of New York may be nearing a settlement that would put the high-profile portfolio of properties in the eastern suburbs back on the market. The buildings in the case include Corporate Place in Beachwood, Landerbrook Corporate Center I, II and III in Mayfield Heights and Metropolitan Plaza in Highland Hills.

• Omnova Solutions will move its headquarters from suburban Akron to suburban Cleveland, now that Beachwood’s City Council has approved a five-year job-creation incentive grant, worth $629,000. Omnova will acquire 8.5 acres at the Chagrin Highlands corporate park for a 57,000-square-foot headquarters project.

Retail• Crop Bistro chef Steve Schimoler and developers of the Flats East Bank

Neighborhood plan to plant two new Crop concepts with views of the Cuyahoga River in the project’s next phase. Mr. Schimoler plans to open Crop Kitchen & Vine and Cropicana in spring 2015 in 10,000 square feet in the proposed second phase of Flats East Bank. Crop Kitchen will be a casual version of the original bistro in Ohio City that will offer comfort cuisine with a “bit lower” price point in a rustic atmosphere. Cropicana will offer upscale Mexican food and an extensive tequila selection.

• University Square, the multi-level shopping center in University Heights dogged by vacancy, is going on the Internet auction block. With occupancy of just 24% in the almost 290,000-square-foot multitenant portion of the retail center, the 10-year-old complex is the subject of an Auction.com online auction that begins October 8th. There is no starting bid listed for the property, but prospective bidders must show they are serious by making a $50,000 deposit.

• Kafeteria is the name of a new eatery set to open on the third floor of 200 Public Square, in downtown Cleveland by Zack Bruell who also owns and operates several other restaurants in the city. Kafeteria is expected to debut by year’s end, and will encompass 8,500 square feet. Initially the casual self-serve eatery will offer food service to the building’s roughly 2,400 employees, and will also be open to the public.

• Shopping malls in Canton and North Olmsted are among seven properties that Westfield Group announced that it has agreed to sell to affiliates of Boston-based Starwood Capital Group for about $1.64 billion. Belden Village has 826,140 square feet of selling space and Great Northern almost 1.2 million square feet. After the transaction is consummated, Belden Village in Canton and Great Northern in North Olmsted will join SouthPark in Strongsville as Starwood Capital Group assets. Starwood bought the Strongsville mall last year.

Knowledge That SellsCleveland, OhioOctober 2013

• Heinen’s Fine Foods, a suburban grocer, plans to step into the city next year with a 33,000-square-foot store in the heart of downtown Cleveland. The homegrown grocer, led by twin brothers Jeff and Tom Heinen, will occupy a key corner at East Ninth Street and Euclid Avenue. Their store will anchor the northern edge of the transformation of the former Ameritrust complex into a hotel, apartments, offices and Cuyahoga County’s new headquarters. Developer Greg Geis confirmed that he is finalizing a 15-year lease with Heinen’s and hopes to open the market, and the rest of the rehabbed complex, in fall 2014.

• Operators of the International Exhibition Center are extending their lease for five years beyond its current 2014 expiration. The building that is now the I-X Center was constructed by the federal government in 1942 to assemble World War II bombers.

Industrial• Professional Plastics Inc. is moving its Ohio office to Twinsburg from Brooklyn Heights

and has committed to growing its payroll by $250,000 in the near term, in part because Twinsburg has granted it a tax-based incentive to buy a vacant property. The company is slated to move “no later than the first week of November,” said John Boris, regional manager for the central region.

• Sifco Industries Inc. of Cleveland, a supplier to the aerospace and energy industries, is closing its turbine components services and repair business.

• ArcelorMittal is investing in its Cleveland plant that produces an important, part of the company’s steel output. ArcelorMittal is positioning the plant as a place where new, advanced high-strength steel will be piloted and produced.

• Republic Steel said it will resume steel production on the No. 7 furnace at its Canton melt shop. It expects to increase production in the fourth quarter of 2013. The investment, valued at about $85 million, will allow Republic to create more than 1 million tons of liquid steel for making the company’s bloom, bar and coil products. The company expects it will create almost 450 new jobs in the next few years.

• Or Derv, a maker and developer of custom products for private label customers, is starting construction on a new 16,000 SF plant in Akron; construction is expected to start in October and is expected to cost $2 million.

• Highland Road Partners Limited Partnership sold its 31,600 SF industrial facilities in Macedonia Corporate Park at 1380 E. Highland Road in Macedonia.

Investment/Development• University Hospitals is creating a $30 million proton therapy center. The 11,000

square-foot center, which is expected to open in 2015, will be used to treat pediatric cancer patients as well as those with certain brain and spine malignancies.

• Compass Self Storage LLC plans to convert the 70,000 SF former Ganley Nissan and one-time Blauschild car dealership at 16005 Chagrin Blvd. in Shaker Heights to a climate-controlled mini-warehouse.

• A local retail investment group has a contract to buy the Club Corbo building at 12312 Mayfield Road in Little Italy. Musca Properties LLC is seeking a demolition permit for the one-time eatery and nightclub. The Cleveland Landmarks Commission, which has a say because the building sits in a historic district, expects to review Musca’s request. The building was condemned and has been listed for sale for several years.

• Akron Children’s Hospital is expanding its hospital by developing a 100-bed neonatal intensive care unit, a high-risk delivery area, an expanded emergency department, an outpatient surgery center, and an enclosed concourse that takes patients and staff to a new 1,250-space parking garage. The $200 million expansion began last spring.

“Knowledge That Sells” is a monthly publication compiled

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COLLIERS CLEVELAND CELEBRATES

Colliers International in Cleveland celebrated its one year anniversary this month by hosting an open house in its new space at 200 Public Square. The commercial real estate firm has grown significantly since opening its doors in the Cleveland market last year. To learn more about Colliers International in Cleveland, visit www.colliers.com/cleveland.

• Cleveland developer expects to start construction next month on the second phase of Steelyard Commons, a large shopping center in Cleveland’s industrial valley. Cuyahoga County Council agreed to issue $5 million worth of taxable economic development bonds for the $20 million project. Anchored by a Wal-Mart Supercenter, Target and Home Depot, Steelyard Commons opened in 2007.

• Jacobs Real Estate Services has agreed to sell 4.27 acres in Avon to a hotel developer. Jacobs, an affiliate of the Richard E. Jacobs Group of Westlake, is marketing a 132-acre site north of the new Interstate 90 interchange as a master-planned development called Avon Place. The site could accommodate hotels, offices, restaurants and other medical facilities. The first project will be a limited-service hotel with 110 to 125 rooms and a 5,000-square-foot conference center. It will be part of the Marriott family, which includes the Courtyard, Springhill Suites and Fairfield Inn & Suites brands.

Sources: Cleveland Plain Dealer, Crain’s Cleveland Business, CoStar Group, Inc., RE Business Online,

GlobeSt.com, RealCapital Analytics, The Conference Board, The Federal Reserve Board, Xceligent

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