Design + Build
There’s no shortage of food trucks on Cleveland streets these days, but Ron Nelson offers a way for aspiring mobile food entrepreneurs to hit the road for less thanks to his food buggies.
When Cleveland launched its pilot street-food program back in 2009, Nelson was working for a non-profit that helped down-on-their-luck folks re-enter society. He saw food trucks as one way to do this, yet the costs were too high for the average person just starting out. And back then, there were no commercial kitchens around in which to do prep work.
So Nelson developed his buggies, which have lower startup costs, lower licensing fees and lower operational costs. He launched his company Food Buggy in 2013.
Food Buggy units cost between $4,000 and $12,000 compared to the $40,000 to $200,000 for fully equipped food trucks. The buggies have a lower operating cost, are lightweight and fit into a single parking space. “The food buggies have two advantages,” says Nelson. “The cost is much lower, and it also allows you to transport it using your own vehicle. And it’s easy enough for two people to set up quickly.”
Nelson is quick to point out that his buggies don’t replace food trucks – they are an alternative. “It allows the entrepreneur to start up with limited resources,” he explains. “Yet it gives all the flexibility to get exposed and build a business.”
Nelson touts other advantages his buggies have over the competition: “It’s far better than a hotdog cart because with a hotdog cart you can’t cook anything,” he explains. “It’s better than a food truck because it doesn’t take up space. You can build up your business to the point you need a food truck.” And commercial kitchens like the Cleveland Culinary Launch and Kitchen allow cooks access to prep space.
Food Buggies already has received orders from a couple of Cleveland food entrepreneurs. Nelson expects more custom orders as word gets out of his products’ advantages and custom designs.
When Cleveland launched its pilot street-food program back in 2009, Nelson was working for a non-profit that helped down-on-their-luck folks re-enter society. He saw food trucks as one way to do this, yet the costs were too high for the average person just starting out. And back then, there were no commercial kitchens around in which to do prep work.
So Nelson developed his buggies, which have lower startup costs, lower licensing fees and lower operational costs. He launched his company Food Buggy in 2013.
Food Buggy units cost between $4,000 and $12,000 compared to the $40,000 to $200,000 for fully equipped food trucks. The buggies have a lower operating cost, are lightweight and fit into a single parking space. “The food buggies have two advantages,” says Nelson. “The cost is much lower, and it also allows you to transport it using your own vehicle. And it’s easy enough for two people to set up quickly.”
Nelson is quick to point out that his buggies don’t replace food trucks – they are an alternative. “It allows the entrepreneur to start up with limited resources,” he explains. “Yet it gives all the flexibility to get exposed and build a business.”
Nelson touts other advantages his buggies have over the competition: “It’s far better than a hotdog cart because with a hotdog cart you can’t cook anything,” he explains. “It’s better than a food truck because it doesn’t take up space. You can build up your business to the point you need a food truck.” And commercial kitchens like the Cleveland Culinary Launch and Kitchen allow cooks access to prep space.
Food Buggies already has received orders from a couple of Cleveland food entrepreneurs. Nelson expects more custom orders as word gets out of his products’ advantages and custom designs.
For those who have suffered a traumatic injury to the skull and face -- be it from an accident, cancer or deformity -- OsteoSymbionics leads the way in facial reconstruction. The Cleveland-based manufacturer of custom craniofacial implants serves surgeons at hospitals across the United States. OsteoSymbionics’ products provide both skull rebuilding and is cosmetically attractive.
Founded in 2006by Cynthia Brogan, OsteoSymbionics is known for using a special plastic in its craniofacial implants that doesn’t break and exactly fits the patient's face or skull. “We’re a well-respected player in the marketplace,” says CEO Dorothy Baunach. “The type of plastic we use is a market niche and it’s done really well in its ability to be shaped to the skull opening without crumbling or breaking.”
Today, OsteoSymbionics has a line of products that range from a clear implant that allows surgeons to see brain function during placement, to hard and soft tissue implants. Housed in the Incubator at MAGNET, the company employs six full-time and two part-time employees who have backgrounds that range from medical artists and sculptors to biomedical engineers and materials scientists.
Many of the artists on staff are graduates of Cleveland Institute of Art’s biomedical program. “They’re really our secret weapon,” says Baunach. “The fit and forming is more of an art than a science. Because of the talent of the students at CIA, they can do things that are pretty complex.”
Baunach plans to double sales by the end of the year and add sales reps across the country. “It’s really about growing sales and the company,” she says. “Sales are built on surgeons’ preferences.”
Founded in 2006by Cynthia Brogan, OsteoSymbionics is known for using a special plastic in its craniofacial implants that doesn’t break and exactly fits the patient's face or skull. “We’re a well-respected player in the marketplace,” says CEO Dorothy Baunach. “The type of plastic we use is a market niche and it’s done really well in its ability to be shaped to the skull opening without crumbling or breaking.”
Today, OsteoSymbionics has a line of products that range from a clear implant that allows surgeons to see brain function during placement, to hard and soft tissue implants. Housed in the Incubator at MAGNET, the company employs six full-time and two part-time employees who have backgrounds that range from medical artists and sculptors to biomedical engineers and materials scientists.
Many of the artists on staff are graduates of Cleveland Institute of Art’s biomedical program. “They’re really our secret weapon,” says Baunach. “The fit and forming is more of an art than a science. Because of the talent of the students at CIA, they can do things that are pretty complex.”
Baunach plans to double sales by the end of the year and add sales reps across the country. “It’s really about growing sales and the company,” she says. “Sales are built on surgeons’ preferences.”
Remember the skate park built for the Dew Games held at North Coast Harbor in 2008? Well, it's been dismantled, but the concrete slab remains, surrounded by a metal-flame fence. Very soon the space will be home to the city's first shipping container-based restaurant, Blazing Bistro, which is scheduled to open in late July, adding to the amenities on downtown's lakefront.
"We've recognized for a while that one of the missing amenities on the lakefront is a gathering place for people while they're at the Rock Hall etc.," says Michael Deemer, Vice President of Business Development and Legal Services at Downtown Cleveland Alliance. "We worked with the city and with Lutheran Metropolitan Ministries to build off the success of Cleveland's food truck renaissance."
Blazing Bistro will take up residence in a recycled shipping container repurposed by Cleveland Customer Trucks. Lutheran Metropolitan Ministries (LMM), which operates the successful Manna food truck and employs formerly incarcerated and homeless individuals, was awarded the contract after responding to an RFP from the city.
The days and hours of operation are not set in stone, but likely will be lunch Wednesday through Sunday with some evening hours added as well. The shipping container idea grew out of the Small Box Initiative, a program of the Historic Warehouse District Development Corporation to develop retail in parking lots on West 9th Street.
As the new lakefront development takes off, Blazing Bistro can be picked up and moved to other locations, either in the harbor or other parts of downtown.
Blazing Bistro also will be open during various events taking place at North Coast Harbor, including the new Anchors and Ales event, held August 22-23 and September 13-14 in conjunction with Cleveland Browns home games.
Deemer says the seasonal restaurant is a win-win-win for the city, residents and visitors. "It's not enough to have a park on the lakefront; we have to actively drive people there with events and amenities," he says. "We've seen food truck owners open up brick and mortar stores with great success. This is a new wrinkle."
"We've recognized for a while that one of the missing amenities on the lakefront is a gathering place for people while they're at the Rock Hall etc.," says Michael Deemer, Vice President of Business Development and Legal Services at Downtown Cleveland Alliance. "We worked with the city and with Lutheran Metropolitan Ministries to build off the success of Cleveland's food truck renaissance."
Blazing Bistro will take up residence in a recycled shipping container repurposed by Cleveland Customer Trucks. Lutheran Metropolitan Ministries (LMM), which operates the successful Manna food truck and employs formerly incarcerated and homeless individuals, was awarded the contract after responding to an RFP from the city.
The days and hours of operation are not set in stone, but likely will be lunch Wednesday through Sunday with some evening hours added as well. The shipping container idea grew out of the Small Box Initiative, a program of the Historic Warehouse District Development Corporation to develop retail in parking lots on West 9th Street.
As the new lakefront development takes off, Blazing Bistro can be picked up and moved to other locations, either in the harbor or other parts of downtown.
Blazing Bistro also will be open during various events taking place at North Coast Harbor, including the new Anchors and Ales event, held August 22-23 and September 13-14 in conjunction with Cleveland Browns home games.
Deemer says the seasonal restaurant is a win-win-win for the city, residents and visitors. "It's not enough to have a park on the lakefront; we have to actively drive people there with events and amenities," he says. "We've seen food truck owners open up brick and mortar stores with great success. This is a new wrinkle."
From Charles F. Brush to John D. Rockefeller, Cleveland has been home to entrepreneurs with innovations that helped shape the world. We take a look at some of Cleveland’s ground breaking companies -- some old, some new -- to see what makes the company unique, how it achieved its success, and where they stand today.
new york times takes a shine to cleveland's reuse policies
In the Travel section of the New York Times, writer Peter Larson details the robust reuse approach to development taking place in Cleveland. Titled “Cleveland, a City Repurposed,” the article describes various projects in the city that made use of vacant historic structures.
“If there had to be a slogan to describe Cleveland as it is today, ‘what’s old is new again’ would undoubtedly be it,” Larson writes. “In the last few years, locals and businesses in this Midwest metropolis have been repurposing historic buildings from its heyday in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and turning them into restaurants, stores and draws for both residents and tourists. Many of these structures had sat empty for a decade or more before restoration efforts began infusing a vibrancy into this once-somewhat-downtrodden city.”
Examples given include Cowell & Hubbard, Zack Bruell’s upscale French restaurant that opened in a former jewelry boutique of the same name. The Horseshoe Casino, which now occupies the first four floors of the former Higbee’s department store. Ohio City’s Transformer Station, which was built in 1924 as a power-converter station for the local streetcar line. And the Greater Cleveland Aquarium, also built in a defunct power station.
Read the rest right here.
“If there had to be a slogan to describe Cleveland as it is today, ‘what’s old is new again’ would undoubtedly be it,” Larson writes. “In the last few years, locals and businesses in this Midwest metropolis have been repurposing historic buildings from its heyday in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and turning them into restaurants, stores and draws for both residents and tourists. Many of these structures had sat empty for a decade or more before restoration efforts began infusing a vibrancy into this once-somewhat-downtrodden city.”
Examples given include Cowell & Hubbard, Zack Bruell’s upscale French restaurant that opened in a former jewelry boutique of the same name. The Horseshoe Casino, which now occupies the first four floors of the former Higbee’s department store. Ohio City’s Transformer Station, which was built in 1924 as a power-converter station for the local streetcar line. And the Greater Cleveland Aquarium, also built in a defunct power station.
Read the rest right here.
After decades of population loss, cities like Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Pittsburgh are now growing faster than the rest of their metro areas. Urban developers are trying to attract the right amenities to support the new wave of urbanites. So what’s needed to sustain a dense and vibrant city? The answers might surprise you.
wall street journal digs into cleveland's lakefront development plan
In a feature titled, “In Cleveland, Developer Puts Down Stakes by the Lake,” Wall Street Journal scribe Chelsey Dulaney writes about the ambitious lakefront development plans currently taking shape in downtown Cleveland.
“Cleveland's longtime dream of developing its Lake Erie waterfront took a step forward last month when its City Council approved plans for a $700 million development,” she writes.
Spurred by increasing residential demand from new residents interested in a more urban lifestyle, the project is on its way to fruition.
“The downtown's population has risen by 88% since 2000 to more than 12,500, according to a Downtown Cleveland Alliance report published in April. Restaurants, microbreweries and art galleries dot Cleveland's once-lifeless streets.”
Among the plans is a school, boutique hotel and restaurants. Apartment rents will range from $1,000 to $2,000 a month, “making them affordable to young professionals, empty-nesters and families.”
"When I left Cleveland after college, downtown wasn't the place to be," Mr. Halloran said. "Now everybody coming back to Cleveland wants to be downtown. There's life there."
Read the rest right here.
“Cleveland's longtime dream of developing its Lake Erie waterfront took a step forward last month when its City Council approved plans for a $700 million development,” she writes.
Spurred by increasing residential demand from new residents interested in a more urban lifestyle, the project is on its way to fruition.
“The downtown's population has risen by 88% since 2000 to more than 12,500, according to a Downtown Cleveland Alliance report published in April. Restaurants, microbreweries and art galleries dot Cleveland's once-lifeless streets.”
Among the plans is a school, boutique hotel and restaurants. Apartment rents will range from $1,000 to $2,000 a month, “making them affordable to young professionals, empty-nesters and families.”
"When I left Cleveland after college, downtown wasn't the place to be," Mr. Halloran said. "Now everybody coming back to Cleveland wants to be downtown. There's life there."
Read the rest right here.
Graphic design is a form of visual storytelling, where a few well-crafted images can speak to the viewer in a language more powerful than words. Cuyahoga Community College's graphic design program helps students to harness that power for themselves, with the story they're telling going straight into their portfolios.
Artists are often the first to move into urban neighborhoods, and also the first to move out when rents escalate. Yet in the post-recession landscape, many communities are working with artists to transform blight, engage residents and reimagine their neighborhoods.
There has been a flood of new businesses that tout the city through an assortment of Cleveland-themed apparel and products or by integrating the city name right into the company’s branding. Many point to the recent recession as the dawn of this entrepreneurial movement, which coincided with a newfound pride of place.
V.L. Finley is a nature lover. After seeing the success of games like Temple Run and Candy Crush, the filmmaker decided to try his own hand at developing a game that would combine his love for wildlife with his movie background. The result is Bird Fishing, a downloadable app for Android phones where the player is a bird of prey attempting to catch fish.
“The objective of the game is to catch fish and survive for the next level,” explains Finley. “As you move up levels, you will get stronger birds. Each level is harder -- from catching the fish, flying and rewards.”
A Cleveland native, Finley moved to Phoenix to start his film company, AGP Films, after studying cinematography at Tri-C. The company makes short films based on life in Cleveland. He then decided to move back to Cleveland and dive into the app business with his wife and two other partners.
“The goal is to create a major film in Cleveland for the next 10 years and to create a major game app or sequel every year,” Finley says. “I feel this will change the way the people look at Cleveland, and the film and game app scene in Greater Cleveland.”
Bird Fishing is designed to appeal to all ages. Finley is hoping to make the game available for free download on National Geographic, zoos and national parks websites. “Bird Fishing will convert many people to the parks, hunting, fishing, birding and all things nature,” he says.
Finley is still trying to raise money through gofundme.com. The app should be available in August.
“The objective of the game is to catch fish and survive for the next level,” explains Finley. “As you move up levels, you will get stronger birds. Each level is harder -- from catching the fish, flying and rewards.”
A Cleveland native, Finley moved to Phoenix to start his film company, AGP Films, after studying cinematography at Tri-C. The company makes short films based on life in Cleveland. He then decided to move back to Cleveland and dive into the app business with his wife and two other partners.
“The goal is to create a major film in Cleveland for the next 10 years and to create a major game app or sequel every year,” Finley says. “I feel this will change the way the people look at Cleveland, and the film and game app scene in Greater Cleveland.”
Bird Fishing is designed to appeal to all ages. Finley is hoping to make the game available for free download on National Geographic, zoos and national parks websites. “Bird Fishing will convert many people to the parks, hunting, fishing, birding and all things nature,” he says.
Finley is still trying to raise money through gofundme.com. The app should be available in August.
Cleveland Public Library's Eastman Reading Garden once again will be transformed with public art this summer, as Mexican artist Ivan Juarez has recently completed the fifth temporary installation of the See Also program. The work, entitled Drawing Lines, features custom-built steel shapes threaded together with rope. The pieces are intended to be functional spaces in which visitors can sit and read, have lunch or talk, but they also are intended to inspire reflection on our relationship with the urban environment.
"I am an architect who combines architecture with other disciplines, in this case landscape and art," Juarez explained during a recent visit to the garden. "I wanted visitors to be able to go inside and see different views and layers of the city."
According to the website of LAND Studio, the organization that coordinates the program, "Juárez brings a global perspective and a new interpretation of the space that imaginatively frames views of the garden’s natural beauty."
The site explains the meaning behind the installation: "A continuous thread moves across new and existing elements in the garden to filter the natural light and create new passages and spaces to gather and reflect. At the same time, the installation’s architecture is being broken apart. Its walls are transparent. Anyone can explore the installation, discovering new spaces, shadows, and frames. Similarly, Cleveland Public Library strives for greater openness and access for all, keeping its place as a community anchor with engaged learning and diverse programming."
About 20,000 feet of rope was used to create the installation, along with custom-built frames. The rope was provided by Samsel Supply in the Flats.
Drawing Lines will be illuminated during AHA!, a festival of lights that will take place August 8-10 during the Gay Games. The purpose of the festival is to highlight the transformation of downtown, local artists and public artwork.
"I am an architect who combines architecture with other disciplines, in this case landscape and art," Juarez explained during a recent visit to the garden. "I wanted visitors to be able to go inside and see different views and layers of the city."
According to the website of LAND Studio, the organization that coordinates the program, "Juárez brings a global perspective and a new interpretation of the space that imaginatively frames views of the garden’s natural beauty."
The site explains the meaning behind the installation: "A continuous thread moves across new and existing elements in the garden to filter the natural light and create new passages and spaces to gather and reflect. At the same time, the installation’s architecture is being broken apart. Its walls are transparent. Anyone can explore the installation, discovering new spaces, shadows, and frames. Similarly, Cleveland Public Library strives for greater openness and access for all, keeping its place as a community anchor with engaged learning and diverse programming."
About 20,000 feet of rope was used to create the installation, along with custom-built frames. The rope was provided by Samsel Supply in the Flats.
Drawing Lines will be illuminated during AHA!, a festival of lights that will take place August 8-10 during the Gay Games. The purpose of the festival is to highlight the transformation of downtown, local artists and public artwork.
Developer Rich Cicerchi of Cicerchi Development Company was scouting for an investment opportunity downtown when he met Matt Howells, owner of the Park Building and the Southworth Building. The two developers stayed in touch, and Cicerchi later purchased the vacant Southworth building from Howells. Now he plans to convert it to 18 high-end apartments that will add to downtown's rental housing boom.
Cicerchi's interest in downtown goes back to when he was a kid. "I remember going downtown with my dad,” he says. “I'd grab his big hand in my two little hands and he'd swing me from one sidewalk line to the next, having a good old time. He was twice my height, and I'd look past him at all the big buildings, all the activity and people. That's what got me enamored with downtown."
Cicerchi, who is primarily a residential developer, watched downtown's decline and resurgence and decided that he wanted to be a part of the efforts to improve Cleveland's urban core. In 2006, he purchased the Krouse building on East Fourth Street and converted it to apartments.
The Southworth Building is located at 2013 Ontario, across from Tower City and the casino. Built in 1850, the four-story building will be converted to nine one-bedroom and nine two-bedroom apartments. The plans call for an atrium to be constructed in the center of the building to bring in natural light, Cicerchi says. On the lower level, there are two retail spaces that house a Subway and an Indian restaurant. Parking will be a short distance away in the May Company garage.
Perhaps the coolest feature, other than the suites themselves, will be the roof deck overlooking Public Square and downtown.
Cicerchi plans to preserve the building's historic features wherever he can, including refinishing existing wood floors that can be salvaged. High-end features likely will include granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. The suites will have a lofted look, with exposed spiral ductwork and high ceilings. One bedrooms will be about 750 square feet, two bedrooms about 1,100 square feet. The building also will boast many green, energy-efficient features. Tri-State Capital will soon provide financing for the $4 million project.
The first suites should be completed by early 2015, the developer says.
"I always look at properties with the eyes of potential," says Cicerchi. "I saw a great way to add more downtown living and integrate it with the downtown community."
Cicerchi's interest in downtown goes back to when he was a kid. "I remember going downtown with my dad,” he says. “I'd grab his big hand in my two little hands and he'd swing me from one sidewalk line to the next, having a good old time. He was twice my height, and I'd look past him at all the big buildings, all the activity and people. That's what got me enamored with downtown."
Cicerchi, who is primarily a residential developer, watched downtown's decline and resurgence and decided that he wanted to be a part of the efforts to improve Cleveland's urban core. In 2006, he purchased the Krouse building on East Fourth Street and converted it to apartments.
The Southworth Building is located at 2013 Ontario, across from Tower City and the casino. Built in 1850, the four-story building will be converted to nine one-bedroom and nine two-bedroom apartments. The plans call for an atrium to be constructed in the center of the building to bring in natural light, Cicerchi says. On the lower level, there are two retail spaces that house a Subway and an Indian restaurant. Parking will be a short distance away in the May Company garage.
Perhaps the coolest feature, other than the suites themselves, will be the roof deck overlooking Public Square and downtown.
Cicerchi plans to preserve the building's historic features wherever he can, including refinishing existing wood floors that can be salvaged. High-end features likely will include granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. The suites will have a lofted look, with exposed spiral ductwork and high ceilings. One bedrooms will be about 750 square feet, two bedrooms about 1,100 square feet. The building also will boast many green, energy-efficient features. Tri-State Capital will soon provide financing for the $4 million project.
The first suites should be completed by early 2015, the developer says.
"I always look at properties with the eyes of potential," says Cicerchi. "I saw a great way to add more downtown living and integrate it with the downtown community."
The new Circle of Wildlife carousel at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo features 64 animals hand-carved by Carousel Works in Mansfield, Ohio, and grouped according to their natural environment. The carousel opened a few weeks ago just in time for the busy summer season.
"The response has been extremely exciting," says Zoo Director Chris Kuhar. "Folks are amazed by the carousel, which is extremely large and very beautiful, as well as the murals. Then there's the story that it was carved just down the road in Mansfield, by one of the world leaders in the creation of wood carousels."
Single ride tickets for the carousel are $3 ($2.50 for Zoo Society members). All-day ride passes are available for $8 ($6 for members). Directly adjacent to the carousel is the brand new Nature Discovery Ridge play area, which features natural habitats of rocks, water and trees where kids can play.
There also are new restroom facilities, concession stands, picnic shelters and an observation deck at Nature Discovery Ridge. The pavilion is available for rent, and the Metroparks is planning to build an events center called Stillwater Place adjacent to the carousel, which can be rented for weddings and other events.
Carousel Works created eight custom animals that don't appear on any of its other carousels, including an Anatolian shepherd, lynx, ocelot and ring-tailed lemur. The animals and their habitats were selected by zoo conservation staff.
"This project is all about connecting the dots between people, animals and habitat," says Kuhar. "All of the animals on the carousel either have a conservation or education component. They're either animals in the collection or they're animals we support in conservation and education projects."
The project also features a number of historic sculptures of endangered bird species by local artist Viktor Schreckengost. The sculptures were repurposed from another project.
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"The response has been extremely exciting," says Zoo Director Chris Kuhar. "Folks are amazed by the carousel, which is extremely large and very beautiful, as well as the murals. Then there's the story that it was carved just down the road in Mansfield, by one of the world leaders in the creation of wood carousels."
Single ride tickets for the carousel are $3 ($2.50 for Zoo Society members). All-day ride passes are available for $8 ($6 for members). Directly adjacent to the carousel is the brand new Nature Discovery Ridge play area, which features natural habitats of rocks, water and trees where kids can play.
There also are new restroom facilities, concession stands, picnic shelters and an observation deck at Nature Discovery Ridge. The pavilion is available for rent, and the Metroparks is planning to build an events center called Stillwater Place adjacent to the carousel, which can be rented for weddings and other events.
Carousel Works created eight custom animals that don't appear on any of its other carousels, including an Anatolian shepherd, lynx, ocelot and ring-tailed lemur. The animals and their habitats were selected by zoo conservation staff.
"This project is all about connecting the dots between people, animals and habitat," says Kuhar. "All of the animals on the carousel either have a conservation or education component. They're either animals in the collection or they're animals we support in conservation and education projects."
The project also features a number of historic sculptures of endangered bird species by local artist Viktor Schreckengost. The sculptures were repurposed from another project.
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