Developer of sites for co-working goes big

The surging number of coworking facilities is getting another entry.

But Versa, the new sharedworkspace entry at 1201 Dublin Road, is more than the usual furnished flexible office, said real estate developer Kyle Katz. For one thing, it's big. With 37,000-square-feet dedicated to co-working — and another floor of almost 10,000 square feet available if the demand warrants — the building easily dwarfs other co-working facilities that have opened in the past year. And that's only the first of three buildings planned for the Versa business, which officially opens on Monday.

A second location, at 305 W. Nationwide Boulevard in the Arena District, is set to open in the summer, and a third location, at 3450 Indianola Avenue in Clintonville, will open some time after that.

The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service hopes new regulations will better align egg processors — facilities that break eggs and produce liquid or dried egg products — with meat processors and make inspections more efficient by standardizing inspection criteria across industries.

Ohio, the secondlargest egg producing state behind Iowa, has six processing plants that would need to adapt to the new rules, according to the USDA.

At first glance, the changes could be a step in the right direction, said Ahmed Yousef, professor of food microbiology and a food safety expert at Ohio State University.

“It seems that regulations covering egg-processing facilities are far behind what has been implemented in poultry and meat facilities,” Yousef said. “It’s timely. Maybe it should have happened sooner.”

The effects of the rule changes, which came as something of a surprise, are not entirely known yet. The 254-page report issued by the USDA will take time to figure out, said Jim Chakeres, vice president of the Ohio Poultry Association.

“The proposal was just released, and it appears to be very complex,” he said. “We are going to need to take some time to study and review it.”

The clock has started on a 120-day comment period, after which the USDA will make a decision on the rules.

The egg industry is vast, and eggs are in all manner of foods. The U.S. produces more than 90 billion eggs a year, and each American consumes more than 250 annually, according to the USDA.

The Trump administration has made it a focus to peel back regulations on all sorts of industries. The rule change appears to scale back the role of government inspectors at egg processors and allows the plants to selfregulate many areas, which the USDA argues will save money and let the industry be more innovative.

“As we continue to modernize inspection systems and processes, we are committed to strengthening consistency across the services that (food-safety) personnel carry out for the consuming public,” Carmen Rottenberg, acting deputy undersecretary for food safety, said in a press release. “This proposed rule will ensure the same level of inspection and oversight of all regulated products as we carry out our public health mission.”

The new rules also would eliminate certain steps and checks, such as reviews and some permit requirements for new building designs and equipment purchases.

Yousef thinks much of what he understands of the changes might be favorable for the industry, yet he cautions that eggs remain sensitive to contamination.

“I am for less regulation,” he said, “but regulation has a place to keep us safe.”