Cuyahoga County's first impact program investment announced

May 20, 2023

A Cuyahoga Heights-based asphalt paving and repair company is the first business to benefit from an investment program aimed at funding projects located in Cuyahoga County's underserved communities.

Arctaris Impact Investors, a Boston-based firm, announced that the first Arctaris Cuyahoga Impact Program investment "provided debt and equity capital to help finance" the acquisition of Specialized Construction Inc. by local business owner Brian Hall.

The investment, announced Wednesday, April 20, makes the company one of the only minority-led paving and asphalt companies in the country. It will retain more than 40 construction jobs and is projected to create 15 new jobs in the next five years. Specialized Construction generates approximately $10.3 million in sales annually, according to records from Dun and Bradstreet.

The impact investment program is a partnership with Arctaris, Cuyahoga County and the Cleveland Foundation launched in 2021 and includes a $10 million commitment to invest capital in growing companies and community infrastructure projects located in Opportunity Zones and low-to-moderate income census tracts.

Cuyahoga County and the Cleveland Foundation funded $1.5 million of "catalytic capital," and $8.5 million of external investment to assure a minimum $10 million program was secured.

"This was a complex transaction and the Arctaris Cuyahoga funding filled an important equity and debt gap that supported our senior lender, KeyBank, and allowed us to close the deal," said Specialized Construction president and CEO Brian Hall during a news conference.

A community advisory committee created by the partners of the impact fund assess, evaluates and approves investments based on social and community impact, according to a statement about the announcement.

The Ohio Third Frontier Commission approved $2.5 million in funding for tech startup companies in health care and defense industries and $3 million to support a statewide diversity and inclusion technology internship program.

The grants, approved Tuesday, April 19, are part of the commission's Technology Validation and Start-up Fund, which provides funding to Ohio colleges, universities and other research institutions for technology testing and prototyping to help with commercialization, the Ohio Department of Development said in a statement.

The Cleveland Clinic Foundation was awarded $1 million for the organization's Technology Validation and Start-up Fund, which deploys strategic investments to selected "promising" inventions.

The University of Akron Research Foundation was awarded $100,000 for its Spark Fund, which provides funding for prototyping and testing required to commercialize a prototype or process.

Other recipients of the tech validation grants include the following:

The $3 million for the internship program was awarded to help companies fill technology positions with diverse college students across marketing and design, engineering, mathematics and software development areas.

Former state Rep. John Patterson was appointed Ohio's executive director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service agency, according to a release Tuesday, April 19, from U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown.

"This is an excellent choice by the Biden-Harris administration to appoint John Patterson to serve as the state executive director for the Farm Service Agency. John has committed his life to public service and with his years of experience and expertise on ag issues, will work to serve farmers, growers, and producers across Ohio," said Brown, a Democrat and senior member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, in his statement.

Patterson served two terms as ranking member on the Ohio House Agricultural and Natural Resources Committee. He co-sponsored a bill that created funding for the H2Ohio initiative aimed at reducing harmful algal blooms and improve water infrastructure, and co-sponsored the Young Farmers Tax Credit bill.