Evergrey

http://www.clevelandfed.org/research//Trends/2007/0807/02regact_080607.cfm 08.06.07 Regional Activity The Cleveland Metropolitan Statistical Area By Kyle Fee and Bob Sadowski The Cleveland metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is located along the southern shores of Lake Erie. Counties within the MSA include Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, and Medina. Ever since the turn of the twentieth century, Cleveland has been recognized as a manufacturing center, and despite the sector’s downturn, the region retains a high concentration of manufacturing jobs. In 2006, Cleveland’s concentration of manufacturing employment was 31 percent higher than the nation as a whole. In recent years, the region has built an international reputation as a major player in the health care sector. Employment within the sector has grown rapidly, to the point where health care edged past manufacturing as Cleveland's largest sector employer. The region’s employment concentration in health services and education is about 22 percent greater than is found nationally. However, the rise in the number of health care jobs is not characteristic of the overall employment picture. Since the employment turnaround began after the last recession, total nonfarm employment in the U.S. has grown over 6 percent. In Cleveland, by contrast, employment growth has been flat. Decomposing the employment data into manufacturing and nonmanufacturing sectors, we see that the U.S. outperformed the local area in both categories. Since the last business cycle peak through 2006, the U.S. shed 16.6 percent of its manufacturing jobs, while Cleveland lost 23.4 percent. Likewise, in all nonmanufacturing sectors, employment in the U.S. rose 6.6 percent, while in Cleveland it declined 1.4 percent. Looking at the components of annual employment growth helps us to pinpoint why Cleveland is lagging the nation. Manufacturing job loss is the main culprit, especially for the 2001–2003 period. Further, in 2002, several other sectors played significant roles in the region’s employment decline: the financial, information, and business services sector and retail and wholesale trade. In contrast, the education, healthcare, leisure, government, and other services category made a positive contribution to employment change in each year except 2003. In fact, this component was the major contributor to the region’s positive growth—albeit slight—in 2005 and 2006. Employment trends similar to those observed in the Cleveland MSA and the United States between 2001 through 2006 continued into 2007. For the 12-month period ending in May, the U.S. reported higher employment growth than Cleveland in all industry sectors except natural resources, mining, and construction. On a year-over-year basis, total nonfarm employment in the U.S. grew by about 1.5 percent, compared to a 0.5 percent decline in the region. Prior to middle of 2003, the MSA’s unemployment rate closely tracked the nation’s. However, since the beginning of 2004, the unemployment rate in the U.S. has averaged 0.6 percentage point less than is found regionally. In addition to Cleveland’s overall decline in employment, the region has also lost population. Since 1970, the region’s population has declined almost 9 percent, to 2.1 million. This compares to 7.7 percent growth in Ohio and 47 percent across the U.S. It should be noted that Cleveland is not unique among MSAs in the Fourth District in this respect. Many regions in the district have seen their populations remain flat or decline over the past few decades. Between 1980 and 2000, per capita personal income in the Cleveland metro area exceeded that of aggregate U.S. metro areas by an average of just over 4 percent. Part of this disparity can be attributed—at least until the recent past—to the large number of high-paying manufacturing jobs and Fortune 500 company headquarters in the region. Beginning in 2001, average per capita income in U.S. metro areas rose slightly above Cleveland’s and has continued to do so since. In 2004, per capita income in Cleveland was $34,078, compared to an average of $34,688 across all U.S. metro areas. Looking at some selected demographic statistics, we see that the Cleveland metro area is almost on par with the United States in terms of the percentage of people who hold a bachelor’s degree or a higher degree—26.6 percent and 27.2 percent, respectively, and it exceeds the state’s share by 3.3 percentage points. The share of Cleveland’s minority population is slightly less than that of the United States. However, the share of black residents in Cleveland exceeds that of the nation by over 6 percentage points. Other minority groups are not as well represented in Cleveland as they are across the nation. Finally, the median age in Cleveland is slightly higher than in Ohio or the United States.

Station Square explores life without slots on 5-acre site Thursday, August 09, 2007 By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette After losing its bid for Pittsburgh's lone slot machine casino, Station Square's owner is preparing to move on. Forest City Enterprises, which owns the South Side riverfront complex, is marketing for redevelopment the five-acre site that once housed the Chevrolet Amphitheatre. The company put up signs last week advertising it as a "development site." More at http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07221/808065-336.stm

Cincinnati has a pretty decent climate... but it doesn't get enough snow for my liking.

My "dream project" for Cleveland has already been fulfilled with the completion of Steelyard Commons. http://www.steelyardcommons.com

I just heard "Amie" by Pure Prairie League (Columbus) for the first time (somebody performed a great version of it at a karaoke bar last night)... what an amazing piece of early 70's country-rock... Anyways... I thought this brief write-up about them on RHAPSODY was amusing: "Columbus, Ohio, may seem like an unlikely place for a harmonious country rock band to form, but believe it or not, the warm sounds of Pure Prairie League hail from one of the coldest cities in the country. It's unfortunate that so many twang rockers were thought to have formed in the wake of the Eagles' success, but like Poco or the Flying Burrito Brothers, Pure Prairie League predated the chambray-clad quartet from Los Angeles. Their biggest hit was the infectious "Amie," which garnered them enough gusto to keep the band going (albeit with myriad personnel changes) up until 1998. Their ongoing album mascot was a rootin' tootin' saloon-patronizing cowboy character named Luke who was originally painted by Norman Rockwell."

A ghost... was accused of sexually assaulting a sorority girl... ???

I've been there!

I passed through Smithville a hundred times or more during my brief stay in Wooster.... whether I was returning home to north-central PA... visiting friends and family in State College, PA... or taking a trip up to Akron's Highland Square... 585 was my first introduction to Wayne County... scenic... but challenging road. Alas... I never made it to The Barn. btw, do you go to Wheeling Jesuit, OHGeneral?

so lush and green... why would anybody take a desert wasteland like Phoenix over this!?

I never made it here when I lived in Wooster (other than a midnight detour due to a closed ramp on I-71).

ColDayMan is my baby daddy.

Werd.

85 for my place in Bloomfield, Pittsburgh

Rochester, NY

Maybe it has the lowest vacancy rate because it has the lowest asking price??? Maybe some of these Columbus tenents would choose to set up shop in Cleveland if that area's rents were competitive? I don't know... I'm just speaking in hypotheticals.

Yes, the numbers I quoted are for all classes. You can find the breakdowns for A,B and C on the Grubb and Ellis regional research page. However, there are no formulas to determine what is Class A, B or C... and these standards vary from market to market.

That's what I thought too... for example... Cincy Metro has the least office space... but is building the most by far right now... yet is the only market to not have anything under construction in its CBD... and despite having the most under construction has the highest metro office vacancy rate yet has also seen the most metro office absorption this year... and on and on... it's quite a tangle of numbers and trends amongst the three C's.

data from http://www.grubb-ellis.com Total Metro Office Space: Columbus 40,069,000 Cleveland 37,819,000 Cincinnati 36,281,000 CBD Office Space: Cleveland 21,139,000 Cincinnati 12,575,000 Columbus 12,427,000 Metro Office Space Under Construction This Quarter: Cincinnati 1,049,000 Columbus 676,000 Cleveland 131,000 CBD Office Space Under Construction This Quarter: Columbus 165,000 Cleveland 30,000 Cincinnati 0 Metro Office Vacancy: Cincinnati 19.7% Cleveland 18.3% Columbus 15.8% CBD Office Vacancy: Cleveland 20.1% Cincinnati 19.4% Columbus 14.1% Metro Net Office Absorption Year to Date: Cincinnati 538,000 Columbus 515,000 Cleveland 181,000 CBD Net Office Absorption Year to Date: Columbus 177,000 Cincinnati 1,000 Cleveland -21,000 Metro Class A Asking Rent: Cleveland $22.84 Cincinnati $21.31 Columbus $19.56 CBD Class A Asking Rent: Cleveland $23.64 Cincinnati $22.60 Columbus $20.66

awesome

I really loathe these "best cities" lists by Money, Forbes and the rest of their ilk. The lists by Places Rated Almanac and The Economist are one thing... but Money and Forbes value lowest-common-denominator sprawlburbia over all else. To them... "sleepy" is a prized attribute.

This is a 5/3 Bank thread. ;) ;) ;)

news about the 5/3 in my neighborhood :drunk: Bloomfield gears up for several new business improvement projects [/img]http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/Dev%20News/Issue%2068/fifth_third_bank_300.jpg] By: Jennifer Baron Bloomfield’s Liberty Ave. corridor is gearing up for several new business improvement projects. On July 30th, Bloomfield's central business district will welcome Fifth Third Bank at 4724 Liberty Ave. The bank is creating an adjacent 600 square-foot park that will feature brick walkways, bushes and small trees. The new green space will be augmented by benches, wrought iron fencing and a clock tower.... For full article click: http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/pittsburghpark0711.aspx ... 5/3 knocked down a perfectly good 3-story historic commercial structure for a flippin' 600 sq. ft. "pocket park"! ughhh...

:clap: :clap: :clap: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07189/800149-139.stm [glow=gold,20,3000]Passion[/glow] crushes Cleveland in semifinal Sunday, July 08, 2007 From local and wire dispatches John Heller, Post-Gazette Lisa Horton completed 9 of 12 passes for 179 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Pittsburgh Passion to a 49-15 victory against the Cleveland Fusion in the semifinals of the National Women's Football Association playoffs last night at Cupples Stadium. Torina Henley had 19 carries for 90 yards and two touchdowns for the Passion (11-0), which advances to the NWFA title game July 21 in Nashville, Tenn. ...

http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/stories/index.ssf?/base/sports-1/1183710994192830.xml&coll=2 Fusion hopes to end Cleveland's Pittsburgh playoff jinx Friday, July 06, 2007 Steve Silver Plain Dealer Reporter The Browns have lost seven consecutive games to the Pittsburgh Steelers and have never beaten the black and gold in the playoffs. But Cleveland's other professional football team, the Fusion, hopes to change this city's fortunes against Pittsburgh as they prepare to face the Passion in the National Women's Football Association Northern Conference championship game Saturday. ...

I saw the Pittsburgh Passion play the Cleveland Fusion last year. These women's football teams display a suprisingly high quality of play and level of skill. It's really inspiring to see a diverse group of local women coming out to play a competitive form of football. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07184/798834-66.stm NWFA: Pittsburgh women's team faces Cleveland squad for conference title Tuesday, July 03, 2007 By Tyler Batiste, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette It is one of the most bitter rivalries in the NFL, but the grudge between the Steelers and Browns still has something missing -- the two teams have never faced each other in a conference championship game. It has been a long time coming, but Pittsburgh and Cleveland finally will battle for a conference crown Saturday. The title up for grabs isn't the AFC championship. It's for Northern Conference bragging rights in the National Women's Football Association. ...