City and LakewoodAlive Winners of TeamNEO Economic Impact Award 

The City of Lakewood and LakewoodAlive efforts to attract Wholesome Burger Headquarters to Downtown Lakewood have been recognized with a 2009 Team NEO Economic Impact Award for minority business development.

The award is one of ten Northeast Ohio economic development initiatives honored by Team NEO for having a positive impact on the regional economy.  Awards were selected by Inside Business, a sponsor of the event, and independent local civic leaders and business people.  The award ceremony held on June 2, 2009 featured the best local economic development efforts that helped to retain companies, create jobs, develop new attractions and bring foreign investment to the region in 2008.  Wholesome Burger’s relocation to Lakewood reflects an investment of $2.4 million and a minimum of 10 new jobs in the city.  

“The Detroit Avenue streetscape plan as presented by LakewoodAlive’s Downtown Lakewood program was an important tool in recruiting Wholesome Burger.  The plan reflects the community’s commitment to revitalizing our primary commercial district.  Wholesome Burger was attracted to the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of that vision,” says Nathan Kelly, Director of Planning & Development for the City of Lakewood.

The new headquarters will be at 15002 - 15008 Detroit Avenue, on the northeast corner of Gladys and Detroit. Wholesome Burger will have their headquarters there, as well as a Five Guys restaurant and training facility for other Five Guys restaurants. Five Guys offers a variety of fresh, never-frozen items including all-beef hamburgers and Hebrew National kosher hot dogs. Partners Randhir Sethi, Raji Sankar, and Joseph Gorman operate Five Guys restaurants in Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania; they plan on opening three more stores in NE Ohio this year and four more in 2010. The operations here will generate approximately $70,000 in new tax revenue for the city.

The Detroit Avenue Streetscape Plan was a $75,000 study funded by a grant award from NOACA (Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency) to the City of Lakewood and Main Street Lakewood in 2007. The year-long community-based project was chaired by Paul Beegan and facilitated by City Architecture. Dozens of residents contributed hundreds of volunteer hours to the process.  The plan, as detailed in a 140-page document, was approved by Lakewood City Council in late  2008. The City of Lakewood and LakewoodAlive are actively seeking the means to implement the project, including the submission of proposals to state and federal officials requesting stimulus funding. The Detroit Avenue Streetscape Plan can be found on both the DowntownLakewood.org and OneLakewood.com websites.

Mary Anne Crampton, Executive Director of LakewoodAlive, acknowledged the value of the collaboration saying, “The City Planning Department coordinated all the necessary elements including a forgivable loan to present a strong and attractive proposal to Wholesome Burger.” Attending the ceremony with Director Kelly and Ms. Crampton were LakewoodAlive Board President Mikelann Rensel, Treasurer Mary Sue McGorray and Marketing & Development Director Shannon Strachan. Emma Barcelona, City of Lakewood Grants Administrator, and community volunteers Melissa Page and Shawn Juris also participated in the evening’s activities. For a full list of all economic development project winners and finalists go to:  http://www.slideshare.net/CLEplusBIZ/impact-awards-winners.

LakewoodAlive is a 501-(c)(3) nonprofit economic development organization whose mission is to improve the quality of life of residents by creating alliances with community leaders, leveraging community assets and expanding the pool of available resources in order to facilitate economic stabil­ity and growth in the City of Lakewood.