County to spur business innovation; Grants would create two special zones

BYLINE: Tom Breckenridge, Plain Dealer Reporter

Cuyahoga County commissioners are using tax dollars to seed business-growth zones in Beachwood and Mayfield.

Commissioners approved two $20,000 grants on Tuesday to create Innovation Zones - clusters of growth that could expand even faster with a focus on business support and incentives.

"The county is becoming a bit of a venture capitalist," said Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones, whose economic development task force recommended the zones last year. "If we don't take risks, we don't propel our economy forward."

In Beachwood, the zone is likely to include the Beachwood Business Development Center and the nearby Commerce Park, between Richmond and Green roads.

In Mayfield, the zone would focus on a technology park near Wilson Mills Road and Interstate 271.

At both locations, partners will match the $20,000 county money with $10,000 of their own to produce a business plan by year's end.

The zone partners must detail the kind of incentive package they would offer, such as rent subsidies, tax incentives and in-kind services from law firms, banks and business consultants.

If the county's Department of Development endorses the plans, zone partners could qualify for hundreds of thousands of dollars more from the county, to help build new businesses and attract companies from outside the region.

Innovation zones are patterned after programs in Pennsylvania and Michigan, said Gregory Zucca, a development analyst for the county.

"We don't want to reinvent the wheel," Zucca said of the proposed zones. "We want to use existing networks and build on them for economic development."

In Beachwood, the Chamber of Commerce will partner with Cleveland State University's Nance College of Business Administration for a zone at Commerce Park, officials said.

The Beachwood chamber and CSU already work closely at the Beachwood Business Development Center, home to some 20 domestic and international firms from a variety of industries.

Beachwood has tapped high-tech Israeli companies for business growth.

"We want to create an ambience so that business innovation starts to grow on its own," said Tom Sudow, executive director of the Beachwood chamber.

In Mayfield, a nonprofit consortium of city, school and business interests will partner with the Beta Strategy Group, an offshoot of Panzica Investments.

The village has already invested $50,000 to subsidize rents for fledgling companies in the technology park, said Phil Brett, Mayfield's director of finance and economic development.

The village, working with Panzica Investments and others, has also established a powerful wireless Internet connection at the park, Brett said.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: tbreckenridge@plaind.com, 216-999-4695