Top 10 business stories of the year

By Kalea Hall | khall@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

1. full speed ahead

There are many reasons why The Vindicator’s editorial staff voted the Lordstown-built Chevrolet Cruze as the top business story of the year.

For one, the Mahoning Valley is proud to be home to the Cruze — GM’s best-selling car.

Another is the plant employs 4,500 workers and has more than 12,000 retirees.

This plant delivers about 10 percent of GM’s production in the U.S., and, at about 6 million square feet, it is one of the largest GM plants in North America.

The Cruze has proved it’s a top seller by the numbers. GM reported the compact car’s sales up 11 percent for the year with 255,260 delivered through November.

When General Motors announced a $50 million investment at the Lordstown plant in May for the next-generation Cruze, it was met with excitement and even more pride in what the Valley produces.

To the Valley’s residents, it means a continued investment here.

2. YBi RANKED NO. 1

The Youngstown Business Incubator made headlines multiple times this year, but a top achievement for the YBI was when it was named the No. 1 university-affiliated incubator in the world by the University Business Incubator Index of Stockholm, Sweden.

It moved up 10 spots from its 2013 ranking at No. 11. Its rating came from its high economic impact through job creation from its client startups and the high sales revenue from those clients.

The YBI also was commended for having a number of clients who moved on from the incubator and were thriving.

Next year will be the local incubator’s 20th anniversary.

3. THE VALLEY’S CAR

When news broke of recalls on the Lordstown-built Chevrolet Cobalt for the deadly faulty ignition switch, it hit the Valley hard.

The defect surrounds the ignition switch, which could allow the key to switch to the accessory or off position, turn off the engine and lead to a crash. In that scenario, GM engineers would later learn, accidents could become fatal because in the accessory position, the front air bags may fail to deploy.

Issues with the switch in the Cobalts and other small cars reportedly were known about for more than a decade, yet the cars weren’t recalled until early 2014.

Former federal Prosecutor Anton Valukas was hired by GM to investigate the reason for the delay. In June, his 315-page report was released. It showed that GM engineers and others believed the issues with the switch were a matter of inconvenience for the customer rather than a matter of safety.

“GM engineers working on the Cobalt failed to understand what others at GM already knew: When the ignition switch was inadvertently turned to off or accessory — by design — the air bags would not deploy,” the report said.

Because of its Valley roots, The Vindicator saw the need to write about those on the front lines at the dealerships who were fixing the problem and those Valley residents, the big supporters of GM who bought Cobalts and other GM cars that were a part of the company’s massive 2014 recall list.

Despite the recalls, the Valley remains committed to GM.

4. MAKER CITY

America Makes seems to receive an unending amount of optimistic praise from the community.

It is the first additive manufacturing hub created by President Barack Obama’s administration.

This year, the community was able to be a part of America Makes making history in the city of Youngstown. The four-day Youngstown Maker City Initiative in August brought together local business owners, community leaders, America Makes representatives and Make: magazine officials.

Editors, writers and staff from the magazine had a “3-D Printer Shootout” at the America Makes headquarters for the publication’s award-winning 3-D printer review issue.

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, made the official “Maker City” pledge on the last day of the four-day event.

The Youngstown Business Incubator received $3 million from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to renovate the original Vindicator office building to expand its focus on additive manufacturing and business-to-business software.

5. DOWNTOWN CHANGES

Downtown has seen a host of changes this past year including the shuttering of old businesses and opening of new businesses that seem to keep Federal Street busy.

Suzie’s Dogs and Drafts on Phelps Street opened in early 2014 selling hot dogs as its staple with a list of toppings, including cricket pesto, to add to them.

Rye’s, a craft beer and whiskey bar, was added above Imbibe Martini Bar on West Federal Street.

With the closure of the Edison Financial Credit Union downtown came the future opening of a downtown liquor store.

The credit union announced it would centralize its operations to Austintown in October. Not long after, A&C Beverage put up its sign. The fine beverage store will open early next year.

Los Gallos Authentic Mexican Restaurant and Sports Cantina in the Valley Center also closed, and Greyland Gallery, an art, collectibles and furniture store on West Boardman Street, was to close after an online auction in November.

6. CAFARO CO. RELOCATION

The Cafaro Co. officially confirmed in October that it would move its headquarters from Youngstown to its Eastwood Mall Complex in Niles.

Months of speculation on what was being built at the complex next to the Residence Inn by Marriott on Youngstown-Warren Road preluded the announcement. The new location is about 50,000 square feet and will be an updated space for the company’s 200 employees. The Cafaro Co. was founded in Youngstown in 1945. The current office building at 2445 Belmont Ave., Youngstown, was built in the 1960s.

The new three-story headquarters is expected to be complete by late 2015. The Eastwood Conference Center also is expected to open in late 2015.

At the same time the company announced its new headquarters, it announced plans for a four-story, 100-room Hampton Inn that will be built on site where the Eastwood Expo Center is located. It is expected to open in 2016.

7. LUPO SENTENCED

U.S. Attorney Steven M. Dettelbach for the Northern District of Ohio told The Vindicator he thought Ben Lupo’s 28-month sentence to a federal prison and a fine of $25,000 was well-deserved for his actions.

Lupo was accused of ordering the illegal discharges of oil-field waste down a storm drain and into a Mahoning River tributary on Salt Springs Road in Youngstown.

Lupo, 64, of Springfield Township, pleaded guilty to violating the federal Clean Water Act. He was sentenced in August by U.S. District Court Judge Donald C. Nugent.

8. WCI Steel demolished

Next year, most of what was known as the Republic Steel mill and later known as WCI will be demolished.

The mill, which once offered 5,000 jobs, cycled through other company names and last operated as RG Steel. Most of the workforce, about 1,200 employees, started to get laid off in June 2012, which is the same month the company filed for bankruptcy.

BDM Warren Steel Holdings bought the mill in August 2012 out of bankruptcy for about $17 million and attempted to find a new operator. A year later, the paperwork for demolition of nearly all of the complex was filled out.

Demolition is expected to be complete by the end of August 2016.

9. SELF-CHILLED CAN SUCCESS

While there were many business success stories from the Valley this year, one that sticks out is West Coast Chill’s story. Mitchell Joseph, the CEO of Joseph Company International Inc. based in Irvine, Calif., has Youngstown roots. His creation, West Coast Chill, a beverage with no sugar, caffeine or artificial sweeteners, is the official energy drink of Youngstown State University — his alma mater. The West Coast Chill brand goes along with its cooling technology.

Joseph founded Joseph Company International in 1993, and shortly afterward created the world’s first self-chilling can.

10. STEEL RISES

As WCI demonstrated, Youngstown is not the big and booming steel town it once was. But that does mean steel has left the city’s — or the Valley’s — veins.

The days of the fully integrated steel manufacturers are over here. What remains are a number of smaller companies that make specialty products and change as the market demands.

One industry doing well locally is steel pipe. Vallourec Star, located at 2669 Martin Luther King Junior Blvd., makes steel pipe for the oil and natural-gas industry.

Companies, such as Hynes Industries in Austintown, have found a niche in the steel industry: to produce steel products.

Hynes, a custom-steel producer, offers strip steel to exact specifications, standard and custom roll-formed steel shapes, cold-rolled, wide range of tempers and fine finishes for flat wire, and the versatile FlexAngle Systems used for industrial, commercial, institutional and residential systems.

The company’s niche is to provide the customer with custom steel shapes.

Over the summer, Hynes announced it would centralize to a new headquarters and add a new, state-of-the-art, roll-forming line to increase product capabilities.