CLEVELAND-Dallas-based Mohr Partners Inc. has hired James Robey, a local economic development expert, as managing director of its office here. Robey previously was vice president of research for the public-private economic development partnership Team NEO, an organization created by mostly chambers of commerce to promote a coordinated economic development agenda that leverages the strengths of Northeast Ohio.

Robey has also served as director of economic research at the Greater Cleveland Growth Association, and as part of the economic development team at Cleveland State University’s economic development program with the Levin College of Urban Affairs. Dennis Burnside, managing partner Mohr’s local office, said the firm needed a strong economic development expert.

“We’re primarily concerned with the tenant-rep, user side, and we think Jim can provide advanced research for client site relocation, economic impact studies, work studies and just generally enhance our ability to serve the client better than our competition,” he tells GlobeSt.com. Burnside says even though Robey is based in Cleveland, he can help provide company-wide leadership on site selection research.

Ted Fredericks, president of Mohr, tells GlobeSt.com that Cleveland is important to the company in both geographic and strategic terms. “Cleveland is an excellent hub,” Fredericks says. “It’s an important positioning point in the Midwest, we touch all of Ohio, plus into Indiana and western Pennsylvania.”

The city is starting to see large-scale growth in development and investment, Burnside says, and is turning into a healthy and robust market. “You’ve got the $275 million Flats East Banks Project, a brand new convention center, a planned medical merchandise mart by Vornado, the $197 million redevelopment of the Euclid Corridor, as well as the casino being built by Quicken Loans CEO Dan Gilbert, the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers,” he says. “You’ve got close to $1 billion of new construction within the CBD.”