Expanding the vision: Deal Maker Forum ponders Cleveland's role in the Great Lakes Region.

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If you're going to grapple with regional economic-development issues, at some point, you must consider them from the widest perspective. That's exactly what the 2007 Commercial Real Estate Deal Maker Forum will do this year, when it dives into Cleveland's role

John C. Austin, nonresident senior fellow of metropolitan policy for The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., will be the keynote speaker at the forum's eighth annual breakfast presentation on Tuesday, Nov. 20, from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. in the ballroom of the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel.

As architect of the institution's Great Lakes Economic Initiative, Austin will ask attendees to expand their vision for the successful, ongoing economic development of the Northeast Ohio Region by viewing it as an integral contributor to the larger Great Lakes Region.

"John Austin's message is one that should be of great interest to the Deal Maker Forum audience," predicts Bill J. Gagliano, chair of the Real Estate Group at Ulmer & Berne LLP, one of the event's sponsors, along with CB Richard Ellis and Inside Business magazine. "While his message applies to the entire Great Lakes Region, it is particularly relevant to Cleveland as we compete with East Coast cities, the Research Triangle and other communities for facilities like the Medical Mart to advance our claim as a leader in health-care services and medical technology."

Austin believes that while older industrial cities in the Midwest like Cleveland, Detroit and Pittsburgh have unique challenges to overcome, they also have distinctive opportunities to capitalize on their location on the Great Lakes and their historic assets that cannot be replicated. These resources represent attractions to knowledge workers, who prefer residing in vibrant cities.

"If we can rebuild our infrastructures, improve transportation and open up our waterfronts," Austin says, "we have a chance to revitalize our great industrial cities and make them attractive places to live and work."

Gagliano concurs: "A city like Cleveland needs to capitalize on its assets, such as its low cost of living, great cultural institutions and temperate climate in order to compete head-on with other parts of the country in attracting and retaining young, talented professionals. Austin takes both a scholarly and practical approach to this challenge."

Cleveland is aggressively enhancing its economic-development efforts in exactly the way Austin recommends, starting with the major infrastructure projects now underway, says David Browning, managing partner at CB Richard Ellis. At the heart of this reconstruction, of course, is the Euclid Corridor project, the refurbishment of East Fourth Street and the Gateway neighborhood, as well as housing and retail developments throughout downtown, including the Warehouse District and East 12th Street.

Browning believes the combination of new construction and renovation on the retail and residential side will converge with a more recent, unexpected trend to continue a substantial rejuvenation of Cleveland's core. "A lot of us in the market didn't see it coming, but we probably are going to build some high-rise office buildings downtown," he says. "So we are on the verge of hitting on all fronts in terms of great activity in Cleveland, and that is good news."

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"We have a lot of buildings that, because the market is healthy, existing owners are selling, and new owners are putting more money into the building," adds Browning's colleague at CB Richard Ellis, Brian A. Hurtuk, vice president in the Office Specialty Group. "These are all positive components for the market's growth."

Although the Deal Maker Forum draws its audience primarily from the commercial real estate brokerage, banking, developer and construction industries, along with public officials and other local business professionals, the forum is intended to focus on important civic issues that will affect the Northeast Ohio community as a whole. The previous six forums have addressed a variety of issues. At the first forum in 2000, Chuck Ratner, CEO of Forest City Enterprises Inc., discussed the company's local and national development projects, while the next forum featured a discussion of the redevelopment of inner-ring suburbs, including a representative from The Brookings Institute who talked about urban policy and development in an inner-ring community.

The following year, newly appointed president of Case Western Reserve University Edward Hundert revealed his vision for the university, and in 2003, the topic was retail development throughout the region, from the just-opened Legacy Village in Lyndhurst to the under-construction Crocker Park in Westlake. The forum in 2004 centered around the hot topic of convention centers and whether or not they could serve as an effective economic engine to transform the city. Mark Rosentraub, dean of the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University, and Mark Levine, a professor at the University of Wisconsin, took opposing sides on the issue. In 2005, Mayor Richard Daley from Chicago was the sole speaker, and the charismatic civic leader regaled the attendees with facts and figures of the Windy City's redevelopment.

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And last year, forum attendees witnessed sparks flying, as the two speakers presented a point-counterpoint perspective on legalizing gambling in Ohio. "We had the two national advocates for and against casino gambling, and it was just great," Browning recalls. "Those guys really didn't like each other, so Brian and Bill had a real challenge moderating the event, but it was highly informative."

Because the Deal Maker Forum typically draws 500 to 600 people, it offers a productive networking opportunity. A broad spectrum of the business, real estate and government sectors of Cleveland attend, and though the doors don't officially open until 8 a.m., many arrive by 7:15 a.m., according to Gagliano, to network.

"The Deal Maker Forum continues to be one of the best-attended annual networking opportunities for those interested in Northern Ohio real estate," Gagliano adds. "Our attendees have many things in common, but chief among them is a deep-seated civic interest in the rejuvenation of this community through forward-thinking commercial development."

For additional information, contact Karolyn Isenhart at Ulmer & Berne LLP at (216) 583-7308 or kisenhart@ulmer.com or visit www.ulmer.com.