Press Releases

Cleveland – October 25, 2023 – A labor strike by hundreds of Canadian workers along the St. Lawrence Seaway has, in effect, paralyzed a critical maritime trade route connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. Over 100 vessels remain stranded outside the Seaway system, unable to access it, and this backlog will worsen as the strike endures.

The dispute is between Canadian entities St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation and UNIFOR, the union representing its workforce. The striking workers walked off in a labor dispute three days ago, casting a shadow of uncertainty over the extensive economic activities that the St. Lawrence Seaway System supports in both Canada and the United States. This lifeline is not just pivotal for Cleveland but also for North America’s broader economy and transportation network. The strike threatens to disrupt the flow of crucial commodities, including steel for example.

The Port of Cleveland will feel the impact of the strike soon if the matter is not quickly resolved. Annually, the Seaway facilitates the movement of approximately 550,000 metric tons of cargo to and from the Port.

In response to this crisis, the Port of Cleveland has urgently dispatched a letter to the Canadian Ministers of Labor and Transportation, along with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, imploring them to promptly help resolve the labor impasse. (See attached letters)

Will Friedman, President and CEO of the Port of Cleveland, expressed deep concern.

“This shutdown is a matter of grave concern for us and numerous local businesses, given its substantial economic ramifications,” he wrote. “This vital waterway is the linchpin of trade and the movement of goods to and from Cleveland. The interruption is particularly disruptive, occurring just before the end-of-season cargoes are expected, and as winter approaches. The consequences include a halt in exports from Cleveland to overseas destinations, and end-of-year cargoes cannot reach businesses relying on them in Cleveland.

“The longer this stranglehold on commerce in and out of the Great Lakes persists, the more significant the consequences will be,” he continued. “It not only jeopardizes the operations of ships and cargoes but could result in substantial daily economic losses. Ultimately, it may negatively impact Port workers due to dwindling traffic, and severely impact local businesses.”

Friedman said the Port is anticipating several vessels this autumn with imports that are crucial to regional manufacturing, and the longer this crisis endures, it may lead to increased costs for consumers both locally and beyond.

“Much of the high grade imported steel that moves through the Port of Cleveland is destined for local businesses, where it is processed and/or made into products such as nuts, bolts, screws, food grade tin cans, battery casings, automobile parts, and appliances that consumers use daily,” Friedman added in the letter.

Immediate intervention is imperative to avert an escalating economic catastrophe, Friedman said.

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Port of Cleveland Recognized with Ohio Auditor’s Financial Excellence Award

Cleveland – October 16, 2023— The Port of Cleveland has been honored with the Ohio State Auditor’s Award for Financial Excellence, underscoring the agency’s robust financial health and exemplary management.

“This prestigious award validates the unwavering commitment, meticulous attention to detail, and fiscal responsibility exhibited by our dedicated financial team and leadership,” expressed Carl Naso, the Port’s chief financial officer. “I am exceptionally proud of my team, who consistently perform at the highest standard of financial reporting and accountable government.”

Board Chair J. Stefan Holmes said the award is a testament to Port staff. “We’re very pleased with this award because it shows our commitment to financial accountability, transparency and responsibility to the taxpayers.”

Naso noted that the Port has maintained a spotless audits for at least five consecutive years in the State of Ohio’s audits. This accomplishment signifies that the audit reports have consistently been free from any findings, management recommendations, internal control weaknesses, significant deficiencies, Uniform Guidance (Single Audit) findings or questions regarding costs. Naso has been with the Port for the past six years.

Kathryn Semo, Northeast Regional Liaison, presented the award from Ohio Auditor of State Keith Faber.

“There are not many entities that receive this award,’’ she said, noting that very few of the nearly 6,000 entities which are audited each year are eligible to be considered. “We are happy to have had the opportunity to come in person and present this Auditor of State award to the Port.”

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Left to right: Port Board Chairman Stefan Holmes, Carl Naso Port’s Chief Financial Officer, Kathryn Semo, Northeast Regional Liaison, Ohio Auditor of State and Port financial team Margaret Rivalsky, Renee Snipes and Rhonda Winslow. (missing is Justina Dugan).

CLEVELAND, July 13, 2023 — The Port of Cleveland board or directors today approved the hiring of an Ohio construction company for nearly $60 million to stabilize and rehabilitate the Irishtown Bend hillside, a project critical to maintaining the Cuyahoga River shipping channel that will also lead to the creation of a 23-acre park.

Goettle Inc., a Cincinnati-based company with expertise in deep foundations, earth retention systems and marine construction, is expected to start work on the project by early September. Linda Sternheimer, the Port’s Vice President of Urban Planning and Engagement, said the construction project is expected to take 18 to 24 months.

Irishtown Bend is between West 25th Street and the Cuyahoga River, and between Columbus Road and the Detroit Superior Bridge. Once the hillside is stabilized and the new bulkhead is in place, plans are to transform the area into a park, a major asset for the adjacent neighborhood, which includes about 2,000 public housing residents, as well as for the entire region. The creation of the park brings the total project cost to about $100 million.

The first step in the stabilization process will be to remove fill material placed on the hillside in the 1960s that will reduce the forces causing the slope failure when combined with the natural geology of the site. That slope failure has eroded the roadbed of, and caused the 2007 closure of, Riverbed Road and threatens a key sewer line that services Cleveland’s west side. The project also includes replacing more than 2,100 linear feet of bulkhead

The Port has been leading the effort to stabilize Irishtown Bend since 2013. “Many people don’t understand how much work has been involved in getting us to this point,’’ said Sternheimer. “Such a large infrastructure project requires intricate coordination and funding efforts.  This is a big milestone.’’

Port President and CEO William Friedman said many government entities and non-profits have been crucial partners in getting the project started.

“The danger that this hillside could slip into the shipping channel and impact our waterfront economy and thousands of jobs is very real,’’ he said. “Such a disaster would have drastic, adverse economic ripple effects throughout the region. Many area leaders understood this and supported our efforts.’’

A video simulation of such a collapse can be viewed here.

Friedman noted those leaders included Grace Gallucci, Executive Director and CEO of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordination Agency, which helped secure at least 40 percent of the funding for the project.

“NOACA is very excited to see the Irishtown Bend project finally move forward into the construction phase,” Gallucci said. “”This transportation project is crucial to economic development and quality of life in Northeast Ohio, which is precisely the reason NOACA identified it as regionally significant and contributed nearly half of the necessary funding to bring it to fruition.’’

Additional critical funding for the project has come from the Port, the City of Cleveland and various Ohio and federal agencies.

“Goettle is thrilled to be on the Irishtown Bend project team,” said Brian Heck, the company’s vice president. “We look forward to lending our expertise in sheet pile construction to stabilize the landslide and build the foundation for the future greenway.  We know this is a significant project that has been in the works for a long time.  We are excited to engage not only with the project team but also the community stakeholders to provide a successful, on time and on budget project.’’

The project was delayed by a lawsuit to acquire an easement on the last parcel needed to start stabilization. That delay of more than two years took place during an unprecedented time of inflation in the construction sector. In total, project costs increased 32%, about half of that in steel costs alone, said Sternheimer. To help with that, the Port board today authorized accepting more than $3.5 million in grant funds that they sought from Ohio Department of Transportation Maritime Assistance Program.

Painesville project key to remaking property across from Veterans Park

In other action, the Port board approved providing up to $7 million in conduit bond financing for a $25.1 million project to redevelop a downtown Painesville office building. The Victoria Place Office Building is being redone by Renew Partners and will include residential units and space for offices, retail, restaurants and a conference center. The Cleveland Port is working collaboratively with the Lake County Ohio Port & Economic Development Authority via a Cooperative Agreement which is subject to approval by the Lake County Port board.

When completed, the Victoria Place Office Building will have three stories including 75 residential units, about 29,800 sq. ft. of office space, 7,400 sq. ft. of retail space, 5,800 sq. ft of restaurant space and about 1,200 sq. ft. for a conference center.

The 1.84 acre site is on the Painesville Square, across from Veterans Park. This isn’t Renew’s first project in that immediate area. The company is working with Lake Erie College on student housing at the square.

Renew Partners is a development and management company focused on the adaptive reuse of historic buildings throughout Ashtabula, Lake and Geauga counties. Notable projects include the Historic Hotel Ashtabula; the Historic Mentor Village Mall; the Historic Chardon Port Office; a four-story, 82 room Hampton Inn; AQUA OHIO Operations Center; and Kids College Daycare Center in Ashtabula.

Renew Partners is led by Shawn Neece and Charles Borsukoff. Borsukoff also is chairman of JCI Contractors Inc, the general contractor for Renew’s projects.

“Port bond financing allows us to lock-in a favorable long-term rate, which is the difference in making our project viable,’’ said Neece. “We are very appreciative of the collaboration between the Port, the City of Painesville, and Painesville City Local Schools in making this a reality.”

CLEVELAND, June 8, 2023 — The board of the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority agreed today to provide up to $32 million in conduit bond financing for Roundstone Insurance’s new headquarters, helping to keep the growing company in Greater Cleveland and providing the space to accommodate additional employees.

Roundstone Insurance is planning a three-story building with approximately 57,000 square feet of office space located at 19621 Lake Road in Rocky River.

“We’re excited for this next chapter in our company’s history. This financing will help us to build a strong foundation in Rocky River, allowing us to stay and grow in Northeast Ohio,” said Michael Schroeder, president and founder of Roundstone. “We’ve outgrown our current location and this new headquarters will give us the space to attract top talent from the local area, create a positive culture, and keep delivering on our mission: creating affordable, quality healthcare for all.”

The Port Authority is providing taxable lease revenue bonds to assist with financing a portion of project costs. Construction is expected to begin this year with completion anticipated in the third quarter of 2024.

Vocon, a well-known Cleveland architecture firm, is designing the project, which will replace the growing company’s 20,000 square foot office in a former Lakewood church. Roundstone had outgrown the space but was able to make the space work due to remote working conditions over the last several years.

The new headquarters will accommodate Roundstone’s 140 employees and will provide room to add another 100 or more over the next five years.

“This is a winning proposition for business and jobs here in Northeast Ohio,’’ said William Friedman, president and CEO of the Port of Cleveland.  “We’re pleased our economic development incentives can support our region’s companies by assisting with capital financing challenges.”

Roundstone was founded in 2003 and has been recognized as an INC 5000 Fastest-Growing Companies honoree for the past five years. The company provides a solution that gives small and midsize businesses a better alternative for affordable, high-quality healthcare for their employees. Their unique and innovative approach bands employers together in a group captive, enabling them to share costs and self-fund their employee health plans like larger Fortune 500 companies do.

CLEVELAND, May 25, 2023 — High school students and Argonaut employees are hard at work removing floating debris from the Cuyahoga River and North Coast Harbor using a pair of specially designed tandem Port of Cleveland vessels, Flotsam and Jetsam, that are back in the water to keep the navigation channel clean for commercial and recreational traffic. 

The Port of Cleveland contracts with Argonaut to captain the vessels and work with Davis Aerospace and Maritime High School students.  Argonaut’s mission is to build adventurers through immersive learning experiences that challenge assumptions and shift norms for growing empowered talent in aerospace and maritime fields. Argonaut co-leads the Davis Aerospace and Maritime High School in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. 

Two to three Davis A&M students help out three to four days a week after school and then throughout the summer with the clean-up, as well as helping with special events including River Sweep, Blazing Paddles, rowing regattas and the July 4th boat parade. 

“Annually, the vessels remove on average 300,000 pounds of debris from the water,’’ said Jared Magyar, The Port’s Vice President of Operations and Facilities.

In addition to removing debris from the water, the students help with mechanical, fueling and safety inspections and operations of Flotsam and Jetsam.

Argonaut is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation founded by D. Andrew Ferguson and Douglas McConnell, incorporates a project-based learning environment and real-life experiences for Cleveland high school students, and increase the number of youths who enter careers in the fields of maritime and aerospace.

The partnership with the high school is growing. Recently the Port’s board of directors approved development of the Maritime Learning and Resource Center for the school.

“We’re enthusiastic about helping these high school students who are interested in careers on the water and keeping our waterways clean and safe,” said William Friedman, Port president and CEO.  “The center will give students a new learning space on the port and place where they can stow some of their gear and store their boats in the winter.”

Flotsam and jetsam are terms that describe two types of marine debris associated with vessels. Flotsam is defined as debris in the water that was not deliberately thrown overboard, often as a result from a shipwreck or accident. Jetsam describes debris that was deliberately thrown overboard by a crew of a ship in distress, most often to lighten the ship’s load. The word flotsam derives from the French word floter, to float. Jetsam is a shortened word for jettison.

To see Flotsam & Jetsam in action: https://bit.ly/3MyZ01y

CLEVELAND – May 11, 2023 — The Port of Cleveland board of directors today took several measures that invest in critical infrastructure and better position the Cleveland Harbor to remain competitive while at the same time enhancing a publicly accessible lakefront.

”Today’s actions solidify our commitments to responsible stewardship of our lake, finding ways to remake the water’s edge into a natural habitat to be enjoyed by more people and continuing to modernize our port to maximize economic and community benefit,” said William Friedman, Port president & CEO.  Below are summaries of key board actions approved today:

Continued progress on CHEERS project with added design and engineering work

The Port board approved additional consultant services with Arup, a global engineering consultant, to take the CHEERS project to the next level of design.  The additional services will be paid for from a $2 million grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

CHEERS is short for the Cleveland Harbor Eastern Embayment Resilience Strategy, a collaborative effort with partners including the Cleveland Metroparks, the City of Cleveland, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the Ohio Department of Transportation and the nonprofit Black Environmental Leaders Association.

When complete, the project will create a new lakefront park with open spaces, trails, fishing and other amenities along roughly 80 acres between the East 55^th Street Marina and Gordon Park on the city’s east side.

“This project will be transformational for the city and particularly east side neighborhoods that currently do not have the same access to lakefront property as those who are living on the west side,” Friedman said. “We are committed to engaging community members throughout the planning and development of the site.”

The parkland would be developed using clean sediment dredged along the navigation channels, with the Port spearheading the creation of the in-water infrastructure to create the park on top of it, which will be led by the Metroparks. The park will fully be developed over the next two decades, but construction by the Port can begin potentially within the next three years with the initial park phase open within the next seven years.

Investments in improved infrastructure, environmental sustainability

A combination of port funds along with state and federal grants will be invested in significant port upgrades:

• Zero Emissions Master Plan for General Cargo Terminal and development of a Maritime Learning and Resource Center for CMSD students: Approved today was the first contract in support of what is currently estimated to be a $34 million dollar project to modernize a key warehouse on-site, expand stormwater collection and treatment, and upgrade the electric infrastructure servicing the Port Authority’s General Cargo Terminal to prepare it for the next 50 years.

 The modernization project will include power upgrades to the terminal and a complete rehab and upgrade of “Warehouse A,” built more than 50 years ago. The improved 144,000-square-foot warehouse will become an electric distribution hub for the rest of the port, allowing cargo handlers and crane operators to switch from diesel combustion engines to more environmentally-friendly battery-electric and other zero-emission emerging industrial power alternatives.

Friedman said the Port is enthusiastic about the development of the Maritime Learning and Resource Center for students from the Davis Aerospace and Maritime High School, part of the Cleveland Municipal School District.

“The Port has enjoyed partnering with this program in the past several years and helping these high school students who are interested in careers on the water and keeping our waterways clean and safe,” Friedman said.  “This facility will give them a learning space on the port and place where they can stow some of their gear and store their boats in the winter.”

• New storage containment capacity for dredge materials: With all permanent fill storage capacity exhausted, the Port must construct new storage containment facilities in advance of next year’s dredge season. The cost – slightly over $1 million — will be recovered by fees paid for by users of the facilities.
• Improvements to the dock used for the Cleveland-Europe Express: The Port of Cleveland is the only Great Lakes port with regular container service to Europe. Directors today approved a bid to pave and improve the infrastructure of Dock 20N, which is used for the Cleveland-Europe Express. The existing surface of the dock needs to be upgraded to handle the growth of containerized cargo.  The project will cost slightly over $4 million. Funds will come from a grant awarded to the Port by the Ohio Maritime Assistance Program, ODOT and Port matching funds.

Cleveland, OH (April 13, 2023) – The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority’s Board of Directors approved a financing agreement with Bridgeworks LLC for the redevelopment of the former Cuyahoga County parking garage into a mixed-use building. The Bridgeworks Project, located on W. Superior and Detroit Ave., will feature a 130-room hotel, 140 residential units (70 of which will be affordable housing), a 120-seat restaurant and bar, office space, and ground floor retail.

“It’s an exciting time for downtown Cleveland, and the Bridgeworks Project is the latest renovation effort that the Port has made possible for our city,” said Rhonda Winslow, Vice President of Development Finance for the Port of Cleveland. “Transforming an old parking garage into a newly designed mixed-use attraction will be a direct and tangible benefit to both Cleveland residents and visitors.”

The Board approved two resolutions Thursday related to financing the Bridgeworks Project. One authorizes the issuance and sale of $80 million in taxable Lease Revenue Bonds and the other authorizes the issuance and sale of $4.23 million of taxable Bond Fund Tax Increment Financing Bonds.

The project developer, M. Panzica Development, plans to complete construction on the Bridgeworks Project by Q4 of 2024. Total costs for the project are an estimated $103,096,325.