facilities in the United States and in Panama. He is currently the program manager for land use services for the City of Centennial, a new community of 100,000 for which URS is providing turn-key current and long-range development services.27LtasteRK

Soon, Greater Cleveland could be home to a pair of cider houses.

(Roadell Hickman, The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The folks behind Platform Beer Co. are planning on opening a cider house in the Flats. That makes at least two cider houses in the works in Northeast Ohio in the coming months.

"The cider market is growing," Platform's Paul Benner said. "Craft ciders have grown so quickly."

Real-estate investor Rafid Fadul owns the Tenk Machine Building on Center Street.

Benner and Carson "have a small stake" in Urban Apple. Reed Jaskula is the force behind the cider house. The goal is dual-pronged and ambitious: Open a tasting room and plan for a massive distribution push.

The goal, Benner said, is to produce "drinkable, lower-alcohol ciders."

And striving for that goal is Benner's colleague, Jaskula,