Jon Chavez
The Toledo Blade
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Past articles by Jon:
Fast-growing Andersons to be firmly planted in Fortune 500
Last month, Pat Bowe gathered members of his family and drove down to the Maumee River to give them some insight into The Andersons Inc. — the grain, ethanol, rail, and fertilizer agribusiness that he captains. He showed them the company’s grain-loading operations and downtown docks, and from atop the large grain elevator they got a bird’s-eye view of a Great Lakes freighter filling its belly… → Read More
FCC accuses Toledo firm of creating 178 fake accounts in fraud
Investigators say employees at a Toledo telecommunications firm knowingly manipulated customers’ information to create thousands of fake accounts in efforts to defraud a federal fund of millions of dollars meant to help provide phone services to the poor. During one six-month stretch in 2016, 178 individuals were listed as residing at an address that turned out to be a vacant lot. In another… → Read More
A deal gone bad: Commercial property sellers sue former CEO
Four businessmen whose Toledo-area company sold a group of commercial properties in 2016 to a New York investment fund have filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against their ex-CEO and the fund, alleging the two defendants secretly worked to undermine the sale and force the sellers into a bad deal. Christopher Campbell, Doug Dymarkowski, Jeffrey Seiple, and Todd Latham, all officers of… → Read More
Diocese reaches agreement to sell low-income housing properties
The Diocese of Toledo said Friday that it has agreed to sell six low-income housing properties in Toledo and Fremont to a California-based real estate investment company that previously had been cited by a state agency for code violations on properties it owns elsewhere in Ohio. The buyer, BLVD Capital, of Beverly Hills, has a purchase agreement to acquire Doves Manor, Madonna Homes, Michaelmas… → Read More
Cedar Fair aims to boost revenue through seasonal events
Cedar Fair LP has a plan to increase its revenue by about 4 percent annually and that plan involves a greater emphasis on seasonal events at its amusement parks like HalloWeekends, which it introduced 21 years ago, or its newer WinterFest event that began in 2016 at a California park and is now at seven of the Sandusky-based company’s 11 amusement venues. Immersive events like HalloWeekends taps… → Read More
Report: Homes less affordable, in Lucas County and nationwide
The ability to buy a home in the U.S. dropped to its worst level in 10 years during the just completed third quarter. Lucas County is part of that nationwide decline. But in a positive twist, the average worker here still earns enough to buy a median-priced home, according to a quarterly housing affordability index provided by ATTOM Data Solutions, a California-based real estate data firm. “It’s… → Read More
Marathon completes acquisition of rival Andeavor
FINDLAY — Marathon Petroleum Corp. said its $23.3 billion five-month effort to acquire Texas-based rival Andeavor is complete, making the Findlay-based refining and marketing company the largest U.S. oil refiner by capacity. The deal was completed Monday, a week after shareholders of both firms agreed to the transaction. Marathon said shares of San Antonio-based Andeavor ceased trading on the… → Read More
Spangler Candy buys Necco Wafers, Sweethearts brands
BRYAN — In a reversal, Spangler Candy Co. said Monday that it has acquired the Necco Wafers and Sweethearts candy lines following a well-publicized bankruptcy by their original maker, the New England Confectionery Co. Spangler, located in Bryan, announced in June that it had acquired the two candy products but failed to complete its purchase. The properties later were sold to Round Hill… → Read More
Meijer adds alcohol to home delivery list
Advantage, Meijer. In the heated contest to win the hearts of area grocery shoppers, Meijer leaped to the forefront Thursday by announcing that its stores in Ohio and Michigan will immediately begin including beer and wine as part of the grocer’s home delivery service. A Shipt personal shopper selects wine as part of a grocery order for a customer using home delivery. Meijer stores Enlarge Keith… → Read More
Peanut butter-tasting bean spread is a winner for entrepreneurial couple
Growing up in Sandusky in an entrepreneurial family, Taylor Crooks always imagined that one day he’d be involved in starting a business. Sarah Steinbrunner, on the other hand, sought a more nerdy path, majoring in food science in college. When the two met at a party at Ohio State University a few years ago, they became a couple and their combined talents spawned a new food product with a bright… → Read More
Companies struggle to find seasonal workers
Christmas has come early for workers hoping to score some extra money via a seasonal job this holiday period. The push to hire seasonal help is underway with many employers having increased their needs from past years. That has opened up multiple opportunities for workers interested in a seasonal job. But with an unemployment rate that’s been dropping the last several years and nearing historic… → Read More
Area home sales on the rise
Metro Toledo’s August home sales rose 4.3 percent from a year ago, according to new figures from the Toledo Regional Association of Realtors. Overall, the area’s housing market has been improving this year. Home sales have increased 4.8 percent through the first eight months, the Realtors group said. Last month, there were 637 homes sold in Lucas County and upper Wood County, figures showed.… → Read More
Off-road Roxor too closely resembles Jeep Wrangler, complaint alleges
The U.S. International Trade Commission, which investigates trade complaints against foreign companies, said Tuesday it will open a formal investigation of an alleged auto patent infringement by India’s Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., which builds an off-road utility vehicle that resembles the Toledo-built Jeep Wrangler. The investigation stems from a complaint filed Aug. 1 by Fiat Chrysler… → Read More
Japanese automotive company opens first North American plant in Toledo
Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, 2nd from left, shakes hands with Topia CEO Hideki Sasaki during a ribbon cutting for Toledo-based company TPAM, a Japanese auto parts subsidiary of Topia. THE BLADE/LORI KING Enlarge | Buy This Image Topia, a Japanese firm that makes prototype parts for the automotive industry, has chosen Toledo for the location of its first North American plant. The company —… → Read More
Cedar Fair posts record August revenue
SANDUSKY — Amusement park chain Cedar Fair LP said Thursday it had record revenues in August and attendance grow by 5 percent. But the boost couldn’t offset a sluggish start to the year that forced the company to trim earlier expectations for full-year revenues. Between Aug. 1 and Labor Day, “we have experienced strong growth across all aspects of our business, reaffirming our confidence in the… → Read More
Program helps area businesses go global
Over the last few years, about $5 billion worth of goods has been exported from the metro Toledo region of Lucas, Fulton, Wood, and Ottawa counties to all parts of the world. From auto parts to machinery to petroleum products to glass to corn and soybeans, the area’s businesses ship enough goods overseas to support over 11,000 jobs directly and another 14,000 jobs indirectly. But it isn’t just… → Read More
Toledo area auto industry talks about possible NAFTA revisions
An announcement Monday that the United States and Mexico have reached an “understanding” about revisions to the North American Free Trade Agreement was greeted with both optimism and caution by area auto industry representatives. James Kamsickas, the CEO of Maumee-based auto parts maker Dana Inc., predicted all companies affected by the proposed changes would be happy about it. Bruce Baumhower,… → Read More
Kroger to phase out plastic bags
Kroger, the Toledo area’s dominant grocery chain, said Thursday that it will phase out single-use plastic bags and transition to reusable bags at its 2,779 food stores nationwide by 2025. Cincinnati-based Kroger launched the initiative immediately, beginning with its Quality Food Centers in the Seattle area. The QFC division, which has 64 stores in Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, and the Puget Sound… → Read More
July homes sales in Ohio set record
Ohio recorded its best-ever July for home sales last month with more than 152,000 homes sold statewide, according to new data from the Ohio Association of Realtors. Homes sold totaled 152,091 units, an increase of 2.6 percent from July, 2017, when there were 148,247 units sold. Previously, the record for July sales was set in 2015 when 148,650 homes were sold. Homes sold in July in Ohio totaled… → Read More
Downsizing leaves vacant big boxes across Toledo
Commercial Realtor Pete Shawaker has attended retail conventions in Columbus for 30 years and almost every time the format was the same — dozens of executives from retail chains were present, ready to make deals for vacant space in Ohio’s malls, power centers, and strip centers. Filling vacancies in Toledo’s inventory of large retail spaces, those of 50,000 square feet or more, was challenging… → Read More