cell hyperlink

I am currently using polymer iron-list and am in the process of converting content to a vaadin-grid. everything is working well except I cannot add the hyperlink to cell content. I have tried the rederer from the related sample below, but without any results. I assume this is a basic functionality, but am unable to find anything definitive in documentation. Any assistance would ve appreciated. Thanks
<iron-list id="itemsList" items="[[places]]" selected-items="{{selectedItems}}" selection-enabled multi-selection>
          <template>
             <div class="card">
             <div class="circle"><iron-icon icon$="[[iconForItem(item)]]"></iron-icon></div>
              <div class="pad"></div>
             <h2>[[item.IndexType]]: [[item.FormattedAddress]]</h2>
             <p> <a href="#/place/{{item.RegionID}}" class="paper-item-link">Median home Value: $ [[item.Zhvi]]</p>
             <p>Year over Year HPI: [[item.YoY]]%</p>
            </div>
            <div class="border"></div>
          </template>
        </iron-list>

example used: grid.columns[0].renderer = function(cell) { cell.element.innerHTML = "<img style='width: 30px' src='" + cell.data + "' />"; };
link to insert: <a href="#/place/{{item.RegionID}}" class="paper-item-link">Median home Value: $ [[item.Zhvi]]