AUGUST 26, 2024
CRAIN’S CLEVELAND PHOTO ILLUSTRATION
COMMERCIAL BANKRUPTCY FILINGS SOAR With higher interest rates, inflation and a more challenging economy, there’s more to come By Jeremy Nobile
Amid higher interest rates, increased inflation and a generally more challenging economic environment, more debt-saddled companies are going through bankruptcy this year, and experts suspect there is more to come.
There have been 4,562 Chapter 11 commercial bankruptcy filings — the most common type of corporate bankruptcy, which provides a route for the reorganizing of debts — nationally between January and June 30, according to data from the American Bankruptcy Institute
CSU shelves project to replace Wolstein Center University struggles to close $40M budget gap By Joe Scalzo
Following one bad bounce after another, Cleveland State is calling a timeout on one of its biggest projects: replacing the Wolstein Center. On Dec. 1, 2023, Rock Entertainment Group teamed with the Oak View Group and Geis Companies on a joint proposal
for a new multi-use, state-ofthe-art arena and basketball practice facility to replace the 33-year-old stadium. The 5,000-seat arena would have served as the home arena for Cleveland State’s men’s and women’s basketball teams, as well as the G League’s Cleveland Charge. It would have included office, training and practice facilities. See CSU on Page 21
prepared by Epiq AACER. That volume represents a 39% increase over the 3,282 comparable filings made through midyear 2023. While not every company files for bankruptcy in a federal court in their home state, a similar upward trend is playing out in Ohio,
where Chapter 11 filings are up about 29% at midyear compared with the like period in 2023. “Commercial filing trends continue to show strong double-digit percentage increases in yearover-year filings, while individual filings increased at a much lower rate compared to commercial fil-
ings in the first half of 2024,” said Michael Hunter, vice president of Epiq AACER. “I expect a strong demand in individual filings ahead of us, especially considering the large increase in commercial filings, consumer debt See BANKRUPTCY on Page 20
Pair of ICP execs jump to competitor Move shakes up local real estate industry By Stan Bullard
At busy Industrial Commercial Properties of Mayfield Heights, Chris Salata and Keith Brandt worked on industrial real estate projects, especially mall makeovers to business parks. But no longer. The two have just joined Provider Real Estate Partners of Cleveland, a real estate fund management and advisory firm, as principals and co-presidents
of a new industrial segment to undertake similar deals. Though their turf will extend through the U.S. east of the Mississippi River, they will be competing with their former shop. Salata was particularly high profile as chief operating officer at ICP and Brandt joined ICP 18 months ago to focus on retail conversions, long a bailiwick for ICP, especially with malls. Both men praised ICP and their experiences there but said they felt it was time to add coowner to their resumes, which already include 20 years in commercial real estate.
Salata
Brandt
“I was proud of the team at ICP and the projects we undertook,” Salata said. “I was ready to be a partner and start a new venture. That’s possible at PREP, where our focus is on the future in this partnership.” See REAL ESTATE on Page 20
VOL. 45, NO. 32 l COPYRIGHT 2024 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. l ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
O-HIGH-O State surpasses $11.5 million in adult-use marijuana sales over the first five days. PAGE 2
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