The idea for the Hanna Tech Hotel (“HTH”) was borne during a brilliant dinner at Jac’s (W. Sixth & St. Clair – go check it out, people) with Art Falco and Tom Einhouse, both of Playhouse Square, this past December. Great company and good food will always bring out the creative flow for me. (The occasional Kettle One Gimlet has the same effect on my creativity and it makes me happy to boot.) The discussion at the table centered on the fact that all of us felt that despite the great success we had in making the IdeaCenter a center for the tech community we were missing a large number of entrepreneurs and their real estate needs. The consensus at the table was to develop a unique real estate offering that could provide the entrepreneur all the trappings of a completed office environment (i.e. – furniture, connectivity, presentation/conference rooms) without the need of a long-term lease.

In late spring, Playhouse Square began development of the facility on the third floor of the Hanna Building (E. 14^th & Euclid Avenue). If you have ever been in the Hanna Building you would have noticed the gorgeous architecture and the “old school” look and feel on each floor. So, it was decided early on to create a destination within the building that had gravitational pull. Now if you haven’t been to the Tech Hotel space, I cannot provide the rich description that you would need – but I can say that the Hotel is a fantastic destination place in the building and the suites offered are unlike anything in the Cleveland marketplace. Each office is decked-out in Ikea gear, the color palette of the office kicks ass (lime with various shades of gray), tons of connectivity for start-up tech companies and a cool, collaborative environment. All for a great monthly rent rate.

The HTH is the type of product that we should be offering to the growing entrepreneurial class in Cleveland. An inexpensive office (“business-in-a-box”) for start-up or fledgling tech companies with no long-term arrangement. If you grow, no worries we can keep expanding office for you, need to regroup and shrink your office floor-plan. Again, no worries mate. We will simply move you into a smaller office. Do me a favor, my friends, a take a tour of the HTH – contact Tom Einhouse @ Playhouse Square (www.playhousesquare.com) and arrange a time to take a peek at the space.

Good-Morning Everyone:

I wanted to send out a very heartfelt thank-you for all your support these last few years. As many of you may know, I will be leaving my post at the City of Cleveland to join SchoolOne – a tech company located in Playhouse Square. This was a difficult decision. My tenure at the City was incredibly robust, challenging, invigorating – never has one professional post meant so much to me. I was truly living the dream. Who would have thought that over the last three years more than 30 tech companies would have decided to call the City of Cleveland home or that we would have built out nearly 450,000 square feet of the most provocative office space on the planet, or that the City would welcome over 800 new employees to the City? And I am happy to report that there are a handful of companies nearing a decision to join us – in the best City in the world – to continue the tech renaissance that is happening right in the center of Cleveland .

The tech industry must make a commitment to Cleveland and the City must make technology development and on-going exercise. We could have our own mini-Silicon Valley along Euclid Avenue, West Ninth and Superior Avenue (these are the streets were most of the new tech companies have decided to take roost) – the seeds are there and the soil is tilled to make it so. I ask - will you make this commitment? I have. Many of your compatriots have and I hope that all of you will join me in solidifying Cleveland as the next new tech hub for the U.S. and beyond. Don’t scoff – it is very conceivable that this could happen. Don’t let the negative vibe merchants tell you otherwise. They are wrong. And we, my friends, are right. We are the next best hope for a bright and rich future for this city. It is the creative class and the entrepreneurial class that are going to propel this City to its rightful place of national prominence.

We must demand a new paradigm of capital (both human and financial) from the institutions around us (i.e. – the foundations, the banks, the equity funds, the colleges and universities, the various economic development institutions, our government). We, as the collective creative and entrepreneurial class, must demand the championship spirit that defines us from these institutions as well. We must demand attention and loyalty from them, too. It is our manifest destiny to make Cleveland enjoy a new bounty. We must have more tech companies bless our buildings downtown. It is the clustering of tech companies in a tight geographic constraint that spurs all sorts of wonderful things (tinkering, collaborating, inventing and the like). Downtown is ready for you. Please stay connected with me. I have enjoyed talking to each and everyone of you and consider all of you my friends. My personal contact information is:

Mobile :             216.212.4067

E-Mail               mdealoia@mac.com

I hope we can all stay in touch and talk shop. Many, many thanks for allowing me to work with you.

Regards,

Michael C. DeAloia

Post-Scipt: I will continue to write my blog and look forward to a healthy dose of dialogue and debate. Rock on, Cleveland!