Protecting your clients, customers and employees during difficult economic times is something many companies talk about doing, especially in this day and age. The sad reality, however, is that this type of talk is just that: all talk and no action.
But accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP isn’t just talk. Not only is the company taking care of its clients and employees during these tough times, it’s also doing its part to revitalize the city it was founded in, Cleveland, Ohio.
According to Don Misheff, the Northeast Ohio managing partner of Ernst & Young, the company and its 1,200 employees will leave its current downtown location in the Huntington Building and move to the Flats in 2011.
The much-maligned Flats, once the focal point of downtown Cleveland, went from the entertainment Mecca of Ohio in the 1990s to a deteriorated ghost town in the 2000s. However, local developers are leading a new charge to convert the waterfront area into a bustling neighborhood filled with housing, offices, shops and restaurants. The new Ernst & Young building will be a landmark building and one of the crown jewels of the revitalization.
“We wanted to be a catalyst to the first renovation of downtown Cleveland in a long time,” Misheff says. “We were founded in Cleveland in 1903. We’re loyal to our city and want to continue our legacy here.”