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6/14/2013
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$2.00/JUNE 17 - 23, 2013
Vol. 34, No. 24
Austen is reaching outside Akron CEO says change is based on backers’ financial constraints By TIMOTHY MAGAW tmagaw@crain.com
Although it was rolled out roughly five years ago as a collaborative effort among neighbors to transform a Rust Belt city into a hub of biomedical innovation, the Austen
BioInnovation Institute is looking beyond its Akron roots in hopes of generating enough revenue to transform the money-losing nonprofit into a sustainable operation. The move comes as the organization’s founding partners and bigtime financial backers — the Uni-
versity of Akron, Akron General Health System, Summa Health System, Northeast Ohio Medical University and Akron Children’s Hospital — consider whether to continue pumping funds into the fledgling institute as they stare down their own respective mone-
tary challenges. In all, the organizations have contributed $20 million in cash and in-kind support to the institute since its founding in Douglas 2008. “The signal clearly is with their
own financial constraints, they might not be able to participate at the same level they participated before,” said Dr. Frank Douglas, Austen’s president and CEO, during a recent interview with Crain’s Cleveland Business. While the institute was hatched as a collaborative effort among Akron-area institutions to spark See AUSTEN Page 12
INSIDE
Looking for a winner Did Horseshoe Casino Cleveland live up to the hype in its first year? Crain’s analyzes that and much more in this week’s special section on gambling. PAGES 17-21
Tower is poised for key tenant Several insiders say BakerHostetler is in talks to move into city’s tallest building MARC GOLUB
Laird Wynn, team leader at Keller Williams Greater Cleveland, says Realtors were “consciously choosing” to get out of the business during the downturn.
BROKERS BALANCING INCREASING DEMAND R
By LAURA STRAUB clbintern@crain.com
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Many Realtors and salespeople left industry during downturn; those who remain have higher workload
By STAN BULLARD sbullard@crain.com
eal estate brokerages lost large numbers of agents during the housing downturn. But now that the market for houses is staging a comeback, those firms are trying to offer support to existing agents carrying a heavier workload while also looking to replenish their ranks.
Some commercial real estate insiders call it Cleveland’s worst-kept secret: BakerHostetler is in talks to move to Key Tower, downtown’s tallest skyscraper, from the storied national law firm’s longtime home at PNC Center, 1900 Euclid Ave. One office leasing executive familiar with the transaction said, “I can’t believe that it hasn’t been announced. It’s the most well-known
See BROKERS Page 24
See TOWER Page 23
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