ENTERTAINMENT At 30 years, iconic music venue Grog Shop weighs its future in the wake of the COVID pandemic.
MEETING AND EVENT PLANNER: Up your meeting game with these venues. PAGE 10
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CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM I SEPTEMBER 26, 2022
‘TURNAROUND GUY’ Monte Ahuja’s investments boost Barrington and Mayfield Sand Ridge golf courses
BY JOE SCALZO
In the mid-1980s, when Monte Ahuja first started golfing, he applied to become a member of Chagrin Valley Country Club. At that point, the club was very particular about its membership, Ahuja said, and it only took one “no” vote from the members for him to get rejected. When Ahuja wasn’t selected, he was so upset, he made a vow. “I said, ‘Someday I want to own the golf course,’” said Ahuja, a high-profile philanthropist and chairman and CEO of Walton Hills-based Transtar Industries Inc. “That was the motivating thing.” Fast forward to 2011. Barrington Golf Club in Aurora found itself in bad financial shape, with both the membership and the surrounding neighborhood in decline. Ahuja loved the Jack Nicklaus-designed course and saw the club’s potential, so when he heard Barrington was for sale, he moved quickly. See GOLF on Page 20
The fourth hole of the Sand Ridge Golf Club, which will host a qualifying tournament for the Korn Ferry Tour from Sept. 27-30. | SAND RIDGE GOLF CLUB
$100M VISION
Historic buildings in Cleveland Heights are the catalyst for potential project BY MICHELLE JARBOE
When the city of Cleveland Heights solicited redevelopment proposals last year for a trio of Tudor Revival buildings on South Taylor Road, officials were looking for preservation plans. What they got, instead, was a potential $100 million vision. A team led by WXZ Development not only aspires to restore the historic Taylor Tudors but also aims to erect new buildings across the street, while reimagining the eastern gateway into Cain Park. Plans drawn up by RDL Architects show new apartments, for-sale homes, dining and parking in the tired business district, a short stroll north of Superior Road near the University Heights border.
WXZ, based in Fairview Park, plans to apply for competitive state historic preservation tax credits this month to help revive the near-vacant Taylor Tudors as 44 apartments over first-floor storefronts and live-work spaces. If the company wins an award, construction could begin in early spring. The broader development might take five years to realize, said Matthew Wymer, the company’s vice president. “Obviously, the massive asset that you can’t ignore is Cain Park,” said Wymer, who lives in Cleveland Heights and oversees WXZ’s projects in Cleveland and its close-lying
Cement shortage snags builders BY STAN BULLARD
Daniel Tonelli, of Engineered Construction of North Royalton, sweats bad weather delaying a concrete pour even more than in the past. “When we lost a day recently, it meant we lost deliveries,” he said. “We don’t know when we will get that order filled again. Concrete suppliers are taking orders a week out now. It’s become an incredible burden.”
The burden is widespread because cement suppliers have placed local ready-mix concrete suppliers on allocation, sometimes cutting daily deliveries in half. That slows down supply of the critical ingredient, which has to be installed in a given period of time before it hardens, in residential and commercial construction. Most observers have not seen such an allocation for their professional lives.
Andrew Gotlieb, business development manager for Keystate Homes of Bedford Heights, said that during the week of Labor Day, a vendor he declined to name was not able to supply concrete for two days. So plans to pour four floors of concrete at a custom home had to be broken up into more phases to match deliveries. See CEMENT on Page 17
CLEVELAND’S HIGHEST-PAID ATHLETES For the first time in four years, Kevin Love isn’t at the top of the list. PAGE 3 Cavs grab eight of top 10 spots. PAGE 17 See the full list. PAGE 18
See BUILDINGS on Page 20
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