"We're a blue-collar community. We're an inner-ring suburb. People here make $40,000 a year. And we can't compete with a wealthy suburb like Westlake," Brooklyn Mayor Richard Balbier said.
View full sizeAmerican Greetings Corp. has received a package of state incentives worth up to $93.5 million over 15 years toward its new headquarters that will be in Westlake.BROOKLYN, Ohio -- Brooklyn Mayor Richard Balbier knew what was coming the minute he was invited to American Greetings Corp.'s headquarters.
Chief Executive Zev Weiss called and said he wanted to talk. They agreed to meet at 10 a.m. Thursday.
That's when Weiss let the mayor know what Brooklyn had dreaded for months: Its largest employer would move its headquarters and nearly 2,000 employees to Westlake.
But, "we do not want to leave and just put a 'For Sale' sign on the building," Weiss told him. "We want to help you" find someone to move in.
American Greetings announced its decision publicly the next day.
Around Brooklyn, merchants worried about how the move, planned for 2014, would affect their businesses, while community leaders vowed to bring another employer to town before then.
Balbier expects that some people will blame him for letting the company get away, but he said he doesn't know of anything more he or the city could have done to keep American Greetings from leaving.
"We're a blue-collar community. We're an inner-ring suburb. People here make $40,000 a year. And we can't compete with a wealthy suburb like Westlake," he said.
"In my mind, we made them a very decent offer, and it was as much as we could do."
Brooklyn had been willing to offer older companies like American Greetings tax exemptions of up to 75 percent for up to 10 years for remodeling projects, or up to 12 years for new construction.
City officials also created an exemption to its income tax laws for residents or nonresidents who exercise stock options, in an effort to appease executives of publicly traded firms.
That's on top of a generous state aid package of tax breaks, grants and low-interest loans worth up to $93.5 million over 15 years that didn't require the company to build new or hire more people.
Westlake, whose income tax rate is 1 percentage point lower than Brooklyn's, is offering a tax increment financing package that enables the company to use a percentage of its property taxes to pay for infrastructure and site improvements to its future home.
Weiss and President and Chief Operating Officer Jeff Weiss, his brother, told employees in a letter Friday that "Crocker Park is a vibrant retail center, with a variety of stores in step with the latest trends . . . that will be attractive to our current and future associates.
"You will be able to shop, dine and find a variety of leisure activities nearby. It is easily accessible from several local freeways.
"The amenities and environment at Crocker Park will give our associates in every department a place to flourish, and maximize their performance, innovation and creativity," the letter promised.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Democrat of Cleveland, said he's glad the jobs will stay in Northeast Ohio, but he worries that the move will hurt Brooklyn.
"Mayor Richard Balbier made every effort to keep American Greetings on its Brooklyn campus and to preserve the $3 million in annual income tax revenue these jobs provide to the city," Kucinich said in a news release.
"He has bent over backwards to offer concessions above and beyond what any community the size of Brooklyn could reasonably offer. Now it's up to the state of Ohio and American Greetings to help redevelop this campus."
Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, who has been vocal about advocating that American Greetings stay and rebuild its Brooklyn headquarters, said he has talked to Weiss about ways to avoid American Greetings' moving out and "leaving a hole in the ground."
FitzGerald has spoken with state legislators about "an economic exit strategy for Brooklyn," such as providing a reciprocal tax when sites are abandoned because of a state subsidy, but he doesn't know if anything will be approved.
Joe Roman, president and chief executive of the Greater Cleveland Partnership, the region's chamber of commerce, said "it's become pretty clear within the last year or two that Brooklyn wasn't a competitive fit for the company."
But, he said, "I think the Brooklyn site could be competitive for other types of companies."
The three-year window before the company leaves gives him confidence and more than enough lead time to make that happen, he said.
In the meantime, some of the small businesses in Brooklyn who rely on customers from American Greetings were dismayed at the company's plans.
Yung Kim, owner of Kensington Dry Cleaners on West 117th Street, said he enjoys tailoring suits and pressing shirts for his 25 or so customers from American Greetings.
"I hope they stay, but [after the company moves] I don't think they'll come back," he said.
At Norman Discount Tire & Service, an authorized Goodyear dealership on Bellaire Road, owner Joe Norman shook his head at the thought of losing clients whose cars he's been servicing for years, who now make up 30 percent to 40 percent of his business.
Xiuru Lin, whose family owns Ming Moon Chinese restaurant at West 117th Street and Bellaire Road, said she doesn't know how many customers work at the company, but losing any of them will hurt.
At the Subway sandwich shop at 3784 W. 117th St. next door, co-owner Marie Abirached gasped and clapped her hand over her mouth when she heard the news.
Not only do American Greetings workers buy lunch from her restaurant, they also order pizza and ribs for parties from her husband's restaurant, Geppetto's.
"The Subway on Memphis is going to get hit, too," she said.
"Too bad for Brooklyn. Too bad for us."